The country was lucky to have her. In addition to intelligence, she possessed vision, experience, integrity, and a stunning lack of personal ego. Just as important, her time in Congress had demonstrated her rare ability to bring people together, even longtime political enemies. Somehow she managed to get the most out of everyone, maybe because no one had the courage to disappoint her. She’d also aquired a bone-deep serenity that came from learning how to live a public life and still be true to herself.

“. . .and will to the best of my ability . . .”

He’d given a lot of thought to his new position as the republic’s first First Husband, and he intended to do a kick-ass job. He was the man who’d set the precedent for all the others who followed, and he understood his priorities.

Along with Nealy’s welfare came the well-being of his five children. In a series of columns he’d written since the election, he’d made it clear to the American public that he and the new President were the parents of kids who were sometimes angels, sometimes brats, and frequently everything in between. The President was answerable to the American people, but her children weren’t, and anybody who had a problem with that could just vote for someone else next election, then take the consequences.

“. . . preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

He was awed to think of his wife as the defender of that most precious document. And if she ever forgot, even for a moment, what a responsibility that was, he’d be right there to remind her. It was about time a topflight journalist had an inside seat on history, and Citizen Mathias Jorik had decided there was no more noble role for the First Husband than that of the people’s watchdog.

The next few hours flew by until it was finally time for the Inaugural Parade. He and Nealy had decided to walk the route, and they started off hand in hand with the kids following. Before long, however, Andre and Charlotte got into a spat and had to be separated. Holly was too young to walk for long, and she wanted to be carried. Then Charlotte wanted up, too, so he passed Holly off to Lucy.

Andre was definitely captivating the crowd, but Mat wondered if he and Nealy had made him too aware of his place in history as the first African-American child of a United States President. They exchanged amused glances as their eight-year-old son once more raised his small brown fist to the crowd.