"Josh, do you know where you're going?" Donna asked him as she intently studied a map of Connecticut they had picked up at a rest stop.
"Donna, I grew up in Connecticut," Josh explained superiorly, not noticing the roll of Donna's eyes as he was focused on the light traffic ahead of him. "I spent my childhood, my adolescence, and even a portion of my young adult life here in this land that is known as Connecticut. This is where you and I shall grow gracefully old together and where our children and grandchildren will one day migrate back to for every holiday that we see fit. This is the land of the great people who will someday soon elect me to a life of economically challenged, yet noble, public service. This is the place…"
"Oh for love of God, Joshua, you're lost so just look at the damn map and stop giving me that stupid soliloquy for the hundredth time, all right?" Donna cut in forcefully, glancing back to make sure she hadn't woken up a dozing Emma, which she hadn't. 'That kid could sleep through a stampede of wildebeests,' she thought to herself.
"What is wrong with you?" Josh asked her. He reached over to rub her shoulder with his free hand, trying to ease some of the tension out of her. "You were so excited about this the other day, now I'm getting to afraid to open my mouth around you."
She sighed regretfully as she placed a hand over his. "I'm sorry, I know I'm being a total bitch but I just feel so lousy," she apologized. Josh had noticed it too. Over the past few weeks, she'd had a nasty flu bug she couldn't seem to shake. He felt guilty for dragging her out of the city when he knew she needed her rest but they needed to get moving to Connecticut and they needed to do it now.
The President hadn't made a public announcement yet as to his plans for resignation, so to the public it was just business as usual in the nation's capital. But privately, everyone who knew so far was quietly making plans for next year. Leo was going to make the round on the speaker's circuit again, for a little while anyway, and then he'd take much needed vacation before he made any more decisions. CJ was going to move back to California to start her own public relations firm, this time without an entertainment department. Toby had been let in on Josh's political ambitions and had agreed to start on as his campaign director when he started running. After that, they'd see what happened. Charlie and Zoey were both moving to Boston where Zoey was going to finish her liberal arts degree at BU while Charlie had been accepted into Harvard Law School. Charlie also had a certain jewelry accessory, along with a question, that he was saving for Zoey's birthday next month. All the senior assistants had been guaranteed jobs at the White House or the OEOB under the new Hoynes's administration, if they wanted them, but Margaret had decided to go with Leo and the others hadn't made up their minds yet. Hoynes meanwhile had been keeping his ego in check for the moment but everyone knew it was a matter of time before he found something that would give him center-stage and the cat was out of the bag. But that day wouldn't be for a while and when it came, they'd be ready for it this time, all of them. Except for Sam.
Sam hadn't been able to deal with President's decision to resign and it had led to heated arguments between him and the rest of the Senior Staff, particularly Josh, who's been let into the secret society before Sam once again. Finally, after another fight with Josh one night a few weeks ago, Sam cleaned out his office, left his letter of resignation on Leo's desk, and hadn't spoken to anyone in the White House since. Josh had gotten worried after a week or so and telephoned Sam's mother to see if she knew where her son was. Carol Seaborn told Josh that Sam was fine but that he didn't wish for anyone, especially Josh, to know where he was. It pained Josh to know that after nearly twenty years of friendship, Sam didn't want him to be a part of his life anymore.
"Honey?" Donna's voice broke through Josh's haze. "You okay? You looked kinda spaced out there for a minute."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about things." He looked back at the highway signs. So where the hell are we anyways?"
"Um," Donna glanced at the map again, "take the next exit and head right. That should take us to Fairmount Street." Josh did as he was instructed and half an hour later, they found themselves even more lost than they were previously. They were driving through a series of marked streets, trying to find the neighborhood of their choice but having no luck, even after they stopped twice for directions that just ended up getting them even more lost than before.
"Okay that's it," Josh huffed as he walked out of yet another home-grown convenience store that had provided little convenience for them. "I quit. We'll live here, in the great state of Connecticut, in shack until we're elected, then we'll move back to DC where they actually have different names for different streets!"
"Mommy, why is Daddy yelling like a crazy person?" Emma, who had just woken up from her nap, asked her mother as they sat on the trunk of the Audi.
"Because Daddy is a crazy person, sweetie," Donna replied. "He just hides it better than most." She gave him an angelic smile as he smirked back at her.
"Ha ha ha, very funny, Donnatella. Do you have any suggestions on what we should do on this fine Saturday afternoon, seeing as how we're never going to find this house?"
"I do! I do! I do!" Emma cried, waving her hand around.
"And what would that be?"
She turned and pointed across the street. "We could go there and play," she suggested. Josh and Donna turned to find that their daughter was pointing to a park. It was unseasonably warm for the Northeast, it was almost in the sixties and there were many other kids playing at the playground right then. "We haven't done anything fun all day and I've been good while you guys looked for the house. Please?" she put on her best pout and put her hands together like she was begging for something. As always, her parents were putty in her hands.
"Sure, why not?" Josh said as he lifted Emma down onto the ground. They walked across the busy street together and as soon as they got there, Emma made a beeline for the monkey bars. Josh and Donna headed for a bench where they could still see Emma but they could also look over the real estate ads some more.
"What about this one?" Donna asked him, pointing to a particular ad. "Five bedrooms, three baths, kitchen, study, a living room and a den…"
"And also right in the heart of Greenwich," Josh informed her, keeping half an eye on Emma. "Home of the incumbent Republican Senator Kevin Brooks, whom I'll be challenging in about two years. Not exactly they location where we want our campaign headquarters."
"Okay," Donna drawled out. "What about this one? A four-bedroom, four-bath Colonial with a greenhouse…"
"That is located in the second-worst school district in the greater Connecticut area," Josh interrupted again, flicking the paper open violently.
"Ok, now what is wrong with you?" Donna asked him frustrated. "My crappy mood vacated my body and pitched a tent in yours?"
"I'm not in a crappy mood," he countered.
"Well then you're a better actor than I give you credit for. You were peachy when we were trying to find the house an hour ago and now all of a sudden you're acting like this is a great chore for you."
"It's not a great chore, it's something I want. I just…" he stopped, running his fingers through his hair.
"What is it?" she asked, calmer than before. "Tell me what's wrong."
Josh bit down hard on his lower lip before saying, "He hates me. He really hates me for this."
Understanding finally dawned on Donna. "Sam? You're thinking about Sam again?"
"If you could have seen the look in his eyes when I told him I was gonna run," Josh hung his head low. "He looked so betrayed, liked I'd tried to kill him or something."
"Why?"
Josh looked at her, debating whether or not he should continue. "Sam was
supposed to run in California," he admitted. "He was going to run
for Governor in 2006, after the second term was supposed to be over. We'd lay
the groundwork in 2004, he'd take a leave of absence, and we'd join him California
after he won, working at the statehouse. And after his first term…"
"He was going to run for President," Donna finished.
"Yeah," Josh sighed, not meeting her eyes. "And I'd be running his campaign and work as his Chief of Staff. But since the President's resigning, he wouldn't have the foot in the door he'd have had if we were going out in style. He was angry enough about that but when I told him I was gonna run against Brooks in the midterms, he lost it. He said I already took him away from his future once, with the first campaign and with Lisa, and I was just doing it again."
"That's not what you're doing, Josh, you know that."
"I do know that and I think Sam even knows that too, he's just so pissed at the President and me now for making running harder for him. He actually punched me in the last meeting we had."
"He hit you? Donna was shocked. "That's how you got that bruise on your cheek? You told me you ran into a door."
"Yeah, I was lying about that one." He rubbed his cheek self-consciously were the bruise was fading. "He said he'd never forgive me for this and I'm pretty sure he's not bluffing this time. I just…I saw how much it took out Leo. He worked even harder and longer than the President most days and all he got for it was a broken marriage and ten extra years on his heart. I don't want it to be like that for us."
"It won't be like that for us, we won't let it be like that for us when we get to Congress and we won't let it be like that for us when we get back to the White House." Donna leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. "I'm so sorry. I know how much his friendship meant to you."
"Well, life goes on," he responded cynically. He patted her hand to show that he wasn't angry anymore. "Let's hurry up and find this dream house of ours, I'm starving. Where do you want…?"
"Where's Emma?" Donna asked him, her eyes scanning the large park area.
"I thought she was on the monkey bars," Josh said as he looked around with her.
"I don't see her over there," Donna got up and started for the monkey bars. Josh headed in the opposite direction, towards the slide. There were several other children in the park by then and Donna looked carefully at the faces of all of them, hoping to see her daughter's. She and Josh met up at the swings a minute later. "Where she is?" Donna was getting frantic.
"I'm sure she's around her somewhere." He looked around again, feeling the bitter taste of panic in his mouth as he tried to find the small blonde head in the green headband and green winter coat. "Emma! Emma Wilder!"
"Emma!" Donna joined him in his shouting, turning in full circles to try to fins the girl. Just when she was ready to pull out her cell phone and get the police, she spotted the child on the edge of a wooded area a ways ahead. "Emma!" she cried in that direction. Emma didn't turn; she actually headed further into the area. "Oh God, she's over there," Donna threw out to Josh as she started running in the direction with Josh quick on her heels.
The two of them ran as fast as they could, a million terrible thoughts running through both their heads. What if someone was luring her there? What if she was hurt when they found her? What if they didn't find her? What if…What if…What if…? The fear from those thoughts provided the adrenaline that pushed them forward even faster. They raced further into the wooded area, shouting her name while their eyes searched about for when they would spot Emma. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Josh and Donna but was no more than five or ten minutes, they spotted the child at a clearing, kneeling on the ground to look at something, miraculously alone. They ran straight to her with Josh getting there first.
"Emma," Josh breathed thankfully as he bent down and wrapped the girl in his arms, never wanting to let her go. "Oh thank God you're okay."
"I'm fine, Daddy," she told him innocently. "I'm not hurt. Look what I found!" She didn't have time to show him as her mother arrived just then.
"Give me my baby!" Donna ordered Josh when she caught up to him. She grabbed Emma out of his arms and grasped the girl to her tightly. There were worried tears streaming down her face as she couldn't seem to stop the images of what could have been from entering her mind.
"What happened? Why did you run away like that?" Josh demanded of the girl, never knowing he could feel this much relief and this much anger all at once.
"I saw a rabbit," Emma pointed down to the furry white creature. "I wanted to pet it so I followed it here."
"Emma Antonia, don't you ever do that again!" Donna cried out angrily, looking right into Emma's eyes with fire burning in her own. "You never wander off like that from me or Daddy, ever again! Do you understand me?! Never again!"
"Yes Mommy," Emma feebly whispered. The expression of guilt on her face caused Donna to soften slightly.
"We were so worried about you, baby. We thought something bad had happened and we were so scared," she hugged her daughter back to her, rubbing her back. "You have no idea how scared we were. You can never do that to us again, not even for a minute. You have to tell us where you are so we don't get that scared again. Okay?"
"Okay Mommy," Emma promised. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"I know you didn't, Emma, and we're not mad at you. You just can never leave us like that. It makes us have a nutty." Donna took a deep breath and set Emma down on the ground. "Why don't the three of us head out to get some lunch. Josh?" She turned to him and found that her fiancée had now pulled a disappearing act on her. "Josh?"
"There's Daddy," Emma said, motioning to Josh's figure that had gone further into the clearing. "Where's he going?"
"I don't know. Why we go find out." She took Emma's hand and the two of the walked quickly to catch up with Josh. When they got to him, they found him looking at something. "Josh what is it?"
"Whoa, look at that house!" Emma squealed causing Donna to look towards it as well. What she saw was not so much a house as it was a mansion, a gloriously huge ramshackle mansion. Judging by the weather-damaged red brick walls and the unweeded garden, Donna surmised that the place was probably abandoned.
"What is this place?" Donna wondered out loud.
"I think it might be the old Langley estate," Josh surprised her by answering. "My Aunt Hannah used to tell me about when she lived in this town," Josh continued when he saw the expression on Donna's face. Emma started tugging Donna towards the house and she let herself be pulled with Josh right next to her.
"The way the story goes is," Josh elaborated as they made their way closer to the house, "Joseph Langley made his fortune in the textile business in the late-eighteen hundreds. He lived in Lowell, Massachusetts until one day he was in Hartford on business when he met this young woman, Danielle Molling and he fell head over heels for her. But her father wouldn't let her get married to anyone that didn't live here in New Haven, where they were from. So Joseph goes and builds this mansion here for Danielle so her father will let her marry him."
"And it worked?" Donna asked dreamily, always loving a happy ending.
"No, by the time the place was finished Danielle had already been married off to someone else and Joseph ended up drinking himself to death a few years later," Josh finished.
"Oh," was Donna's only response. By that time, they had reached the front porch and they found themselves climbing the steps to the broken glass door. "Who owns this place now?"
"As far as I know, no one does. I think the last I heard was that since there was no family who wanted it and no one else wanted to build on the land, the state decided to just leave it as is for the time being." Gingerly, Josh reached out his hand for the door and slowly turned the knob. He was surprised when it opened, the hinges creaking after years of disuse. The trio stepped carefully into the house and looked around they entered the main hallway.
Dusted, broken French windows lined the walls and Donna could see that the floor was the finest gray marble. A glass chandler hung above them and dust caked what was once brilliant white wallpaper. A sweeping marble staircase sat in the middle of the room, splitting into a curved hallway at the top.
As the searched further, two different hallways that led in opposite directions. Josh looked at Donna. "You want to look around?"
"Sure," she told him, still focused on the house. Josh could see the way her eyes lit up as she thought about the love this house was built on and all the memories that should have been made here. They headed down the hallway to their left that led into a large parlor room with dark mahogany floors and cherry wood walls. A stone fire place stood at the end of it with huge bay windows all around it. Moving forward through a door, they came into a dining room with pale blue walls and more mahogany flooring. Donna could almost visualize in her mind what the room should have looked like had Joseph and Danielle gotten their way. The dining room led them to a dusty, out-of-date kitchen with a cast-iron stove in it. After that, they passed through a series of other rooms including a library, a study, what looked to be a music room, and ended with an identical parlor to the one they started out with.
"This place is amazing," Donna sighed softly. "It's so romantic; you could tell just what he was feeling when he built this place."
"Yeah, it's incredible alright," Josh concurred with her. "I wonder what it looks like upstairs."
"Let's go look," Emma interjected, loving the place as much as her parents did. "Maybe there's treasure up there!"
Just then, Josh's cell phone went off. "Let me take this, I'll catch up with you," he told them as he pulled the phone out of his jacket pocket.
"If you can find us!" Emma teased as she dragged her mother up the marble steps, their boots making a loud smacking noise against it. When they got to the top, they went right this time and opened a pair of white double doors. The room on the other end was magnificently large with more windows letting sunlight in and even a terrace with a pair of French doors. Looking out them, Donna could see they overlooked an even larger backyard than front and even had a partially frozen pond sitting on it.
"Oh this so beautiful," Donna told her daughter. "This place was fit for a queen when it was first built." They left that bedroom and went to look at another one, this one captivating them even more than the first. Donna concluded that this one must be the master bedroom. It had a huge, four-poster bed that had sustained some damage from Father Time but was otherwise in mint condition. Another terrace overlooked the backyard from a different vantage point and one adjoining room showed them to a master bath, with the largest oval tub that Donna had ever seen, while the other showed them a sweet, smaller room. 'It would have been perfect as a nursery,' Donna reflected in her mind. All of a sudden, Donna had a quick dizzy spell.
"Mommy, are you okay?" Emma asked worriedly, clutching her hand.
Donna took a deep breath to steady herself and shook it off. "I'm fine sweetie," she assured her daughter. "Just got a little dizzy for a second. It's gone already." Although she'd been having spells like that for the past couple of weeks and hadn't had the guts to admit it to anyone yet. She had an idea of what was wrong with her and she didn't want Josh to freak out about it until she was sure.
"This place is so big, I bet I could get lost in here," Emma observed, seemingly satisfied with Donna's answer. "I wonder how many rooms there are here."
"Six bedrooms, three baths," Josh said from the doorway. "A dining room, a solarium, two parlors, a library, a music room, a study, a guest house in the back…" Josh ticked off his hand.
"How'd you know all that?" Donna questioned him as she gazed out the terrace with Emma at her side.
"The real estate agent. That was who I was just talking to," Josh replied. "He was wondering why we didn't show up at the other place." He pursed his lips and swung his arms together. "So…would do guys think? Do you like this house?"
"It's awesome," Emma told him. "I bet you could fit a whole city in here and still have room!"
"Well I don't know about that," Josh said moving closer to them but not standing with them. "Donna?"
She smiled brightly at him. "I would die a happy woman if I could live in a place like this one."
"Well you will," Josh said. Donna turned to frown at him. "Die a happy woman and live in a place like this. Because I just put an offer on it with the real estate agent." He smiled hesitantly as he stepped up to her. "If all goes according to plan, we'll close on the end of next month."
"You…you bought this house for us?" Donna asked, not letting herself believe him. "I…I don't understand. I thought the state owned it."
"And they were more than obliged to have it taken off their hands," Josh explained. "Apparently, a lot the taxpayers aren't too thrilled to be footing the bill for the land this place sits on so the state turned it over to Abertville Realtors after the last election and Abertville Realtors…"
"Are our realtors." Donna put two and two together. She started to let herself get excited before another thought entered her mind. "But we could never afford this place, especially with a campaign…"
"Shh," Josh silenced her by putting a finger on her lips. "I have money saved up for buying a house and this place was a lot cheaper on paper. The real hardship is going to be cleaning it up but even that won't break my bank account."
"Well, I'm paying for it too," Donna said, finding her voice. "Mena put money for Nicole, T.J., and I in trusts. I haven't really touched mine since I moved to DC. We could make this place great again."
"Yeah we could." Josh grinned at her. "So we're gonna do it?"
Donna threw her arms around his neck and squealed with joy. He lifted her up and spun her around quickly. "Of course we're gonna do it! Oh thank you so much for this, it's my dream house!" She kissed him furiously as he set her down. He wrapped his arms tight around her and deepened the kiss even more. Things might have escalated from there if a mischievous giggle hadn't interrupted them.
"Yuck, that's gross," Emma informed them even as she was laughing.
"Oh it's gross huh?" Josh said as he started chasing her around the room. "I guess we'll just have to stick you in the basement so you won't have to see it anymore!" He caught her and pinned her down on the floor, tickling without mercy.
"Ahh! Mommy, save me!" Emma cried happily from the floor where she was wiggling like a fish out of water.
"Mommy can't save you now, missy!" Josh growled playfully, not letting up.
"Oh yes I can!" Donna countered as she lunged at Josh. She pulled him off Emma and started tickling his own ribs. Soon Emma joined in and Josh was trapped as the family's laughter reverberated off the walls of their new home.
Later that night, once Emma was settled in bed and Donna was checking her voicemail on her cell phone in the living room, Josh lay in his darkened bedroom on the bed and thought about the all the mixed blessings his life had received over the past few months. He's help win an almost impossible campaign yet he'd be forced to give it up in another year. Of course, if that hadn't happened he never would have made the choice to run in the midterms and he and Donna wouldn't have found their dream house. But then again, if he didn't run, he'd probably still have Sam with him, which would have caused him to push aside his own ambitions to help his best friend achieve his own. He wondered if this was how Leo ever felt about the President and their relationship.
"Josh?" he heard Donna whisper to him. "You awake?"
"Yeah I'm up." He reached over to turn on their bedside light and when he did, he noticed the scared look on her face. "Are you okay?"
"Um, I'm not sure yet," Donna told him mysteriously.
"What is it?" He sat up and asked, his eyes narrowing with worry.
Donna sat down next to him and pulled his hands into her own before she started. "I got a message from Dr. Flynn's office on my voicemail…"
"Wait, when did you see him?"
"Yesterday, when you met the Majority Leader and T.J. and Ellie took Emma to the park. I, uh, haven't been feeling well lately. I thought it was the flu at first but then I started getting tired and having dizzy spells like I did before…"she coughed nervously, not looking into Josh's frightened eyes. "So I went to see him yesterday to see if I could be relapsing and…"
"Oh God." Josh started breathing heavily and he pulled Donna to him. He remembered the words the President had spoken to him about Abbey, about not being ready. 'Please God. Please Abbey, I'm not ready either,' his mind silently cried out.
"Josh, Josh no! I'm not relapsing," Donna hurried to explain, pulling back and meeting his eyes. "I'm not relapsing."
Josh heaved a deep sigh of relief. "Oh don't ever do that again," he told her bowing his head to calm the rapid beating of his heart. Then he remembered the look on her face from before. "Then what is it? Is it something else?" He could see the tears welling up in her eyes and he started getting nervous again. "Donna please tell me, I'm about to have a heart attack here. Just please whatever it is…"
"I'm pregnant," she told him quickly. "I'm pregnant."
Everything in the universe stopped moving at that moment for Josh. The only thing that his mind processed was what Donna had just told him and what it meant for them. "You…you're pregnant?" he repeated, wondering if he'd heard her wrong, hoping he hadn't.
"Yeah," Donna nodded. "About two months give or take. I thought I might have been relapsing at first but then I realized I was late and…" she stopped as she burst into tears. "Oh Josh, I'm so sorry," she told him between sobs.
"Sorry? Why would you be sorry?" he questioned lightly as he held her.
"Well the timing's bad," she explained tearfully. "We're supposed to get married in September and I'll be nine months along by then, it wouldn't be the right image to start a campaign with. And with the new house, being away from everyone, and the campaign itself I figured you'd be…"
"Ecstatic, overwhelmed, and never more in love with you than I am right now?" he asked her laughing.
Donna raised her head and looked at him hopefully. "You're not mad? You really okay with this?"
Josh didn't answer, just leaned in and gave her the most loving kiss she could ever remember him giving her. Then he gently turned her body onto the bed so she was lying flat on her back. When she was settled, he crawled down her body and lifted up her tee shirt slightly to reveal the smooth expanse of her stomach to him. With the utmost tenderness and care, he placed a long kiss on her belly. He rested his cheek against her stomach and wondered if the new life inside of her could feel his presence there. He did feel Donna weave her fingers through his hair and could tell by the catch in her breathing that she was crying. He looked up at her to find his suspicions confirmed and made his way back up her body to take her face in between his hands.
"Thank you," Josh whispered to her just before his lips crushed her own and he let his body say to her what words could not.