She returned to her office and unlocked the top drawer with trembling fingers. She took the stack of copies from the drawer and tucked them under her arm, then charged back down the hallway to her husband’s office. She reached the doorway in full stride, stiff-arming the half-open door with the butt of her hand and sending it crashing back into the wall.

The senior senator from Virginia and his chief of staff both jumped like startled deer.

“Darling,” the senator fumbled. “I didn’t know you were still—”

“It’s a little late for a staff meeting,” she said. “Funny—it wasn’t on the schedule. What’s on the agenda?”

“Brad and I were just discussing—”

“I know what you were discussing—I’ve been standing outside the door for the last five minutes. Tell me something, John. How are you planning to explain my sudden absence to the American voters? Am I supposed to just drop out for ‘personal reasons’—or am I supposed to suffer a ‘nervous breakdown’ from the stress of the campaign—something that might win you a little more sympathy? Or do you have even bigger plans? Tell me, who do you have in mind to replace me on your ‘winning ticket’? I think a wife has a right to know that, don’t you? Or maybe I’m not supposed to think of myself as a wife—maybe I’m more like a campaign volunteer who just happens to share your bed.”

Brad rose awkwardly from his chair. “Maybe I should—”

“Sit down, you little quisling.” She tossed the copies onto the floor at her husband’s feet. “I want to thank you for being so understanding this evening. I know how important good breeding is to you, and it must have been shocking for you to learn that your purebred wife has been tainted with common blood. It was so noble of you to just sit there and say nothing. Not a single insult or contemptuous laugh—not even a roll of your eyes—what self-restraint! But that’s so like you, John—never looking down on anyone until after they’ve left the room.”

“Sweetheart, I never once thought—”

“Don’t bother. I understand completely—really I do. It’s just not easy to be in the presence of an inferior—believe me, I know. And the idea of being married to one—it almost turns your stomach. I mean, what if we’d actually had children together? Can you imagine the consequences, mingling good blood with bad like that? What kind of moral or intellectual half-wits would we have produced?”

“Victoria, please.”