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MY GUESTBOOK
�That is really sweet, Mallory,� I said, choked up. �But I�m sure the fact that he got to spend time with you and become a grandfather had something to do with how happy he was.�
Mallory smiled. �He was such the proud grandpa,� she agreed.
�Never went anywhere without a picture or ten,� I said with a smile. The baby was truly loved by his grandfather and it was a tragedy that he would never remember Leo outside of stories and photographs. �I�m sorry I couldn�t make it to the baptism.�
�That�s alright. He loves the outfit you sent. Or, well, I love how he looks in it, so therefore he loves it and wears it all the time,� Mallory said with a blushing smile. �Josh is really getting into the �Uncle Josh� thing. He�s already fully outfitted my kid with the latest in baby-Democrat fashion.�
�I hope he didn�t threaten to ritually sacrifice any stuffed elephants in sight.�
�Only once and I don�t think he was entirely sober at the time,� Mallory replied. �There is, however, a growing family of stuffed donkeys filling my house.�
I grinned. If the kid ended up voting Republican it wouldn�t be for lack of brainwashing on the part of his Uncle Josh. Since I joined the Santos campaign I had been with Josh to four different toy stores in four different states and each time he had found a donkey of some sort to send to Mallory in DC. �Josh thinks of you as a sister, you know. And not in the �replacement for Joanie, I have to protect her� way that he probably did while you two were growing up. I know it meant a lot to him when you asked him to be godfather. Even though his spiritual guidance will lean more towards the glory of a Democratic majority and the wondrous miracle that is the New York Mets than the traditional.�
�There are worse altars to worship at,� Mallory said. She smiled at me softly. �Thank you. For� you know. Taking my mind off of things� for a little while. It�s good to feel like it won�t always be this way,� she said honestly.
�Hey, we never really got to know each other that well, but any time you need to talk I�m here. Well, not �here� here, but I�m around and I�m a pretty good listener,� I said. �Plus I can spot a shoe sale a mile away.�
�How are you with clothes?� Mallory asked.
�I�m a girl on a budget who has had to buy maybe forty ball gowns in the last eight years while still getting suits regularly dry cleaned. I can find a fifty-percent-off DNKY at forty paces.�
�Impressive. We should go shopping for gowns together, you know, if I end up going to the Inaugural Ball�Balls,� Mallory said.