William had been an admirer ever since.
âSo, whatâs going on around here?â Reverend Chance asked. He was tall, well over six foot, nearly 300 pounds, with broad shoulders and wore neatly pressed suits that had to be tailored especially for his large frame.
âWell, the other side just released poll results showing we are behind by a significant margin.â William hated to break the news.
âWell, weâve fought uphill before,â Reverend Chance said. âThat just means we work that much harder to get our message out.â
âWe can order our own poll. I talked to the company yesterday. They are ready to go, if we want,â William said.
âYes, but we donât have the money for that,â Reverend Chance said. âI think weâll wait another week or two and run the poll then.â
âWell, weâve got to know what the public is thinking,â said Olivia, joining the conversation. She was stocky, with freshly permed hair and wore a dark blue suit.
âI know, dear, but weâll just trust the Lord for the next week or so and find out then,â Reverend Chance said.
âWe canât just leave this one to trusting the Lord,â Olivia shot back.
Reverend Chance raised a brow and his tone grew stern. âWe donât talk like that around here, Olivia.â
She insisted. âDaddy, the general election is only a few months away. And, thatâs if we make it that far.â
âI know. But I feel good about this.â
William wasnât so sure. Lo Darkâs signs easily outnumbered theirs and the media coverage seemed to favor the incumbent. There were a few other candidates running, but they didnât bear much mentioning, as they werenât doing much campaigning. William swallowed before breaking the latest news.
âJimmy Vaughn from The Times just stopped by. Iâm surprised you didnât see him leaving on your way in,â William said. âThey are trying to do a story about you and a gambling problem. I told them that was ridiculous, that you didnât have any such issues, but the guy seemed pretty intent on running something anyway.â
âOkay, well, get them back on the phone.â
âDo what?â Williamâs eyes shot to Reverend Chanceâs face.
âSet a meeting, this afternoon if you can,â Reverend Chance said.
âWhat do you mean, sir? We donât have to entertain foolishness.â
âItâs not foolishness.â
Williamâs eyebrows shot up. âExcuse me?â
âI donât mind talking about it,â Reverend Chance said.
âI did waste a lot of money on the boats in my younger years, maybe ten years ago. But thatâs all behind me now. The Lord blessed me to overcome that.â
Olivia let out a snort. âThatâs all we need, more bad stuff in the paper.â
âWell, we can just come clean to the voters,â Reverend Chance said. âHonestyââ
âIs overrated,â Olivia said flatly. She put her hand on her fatherâs arm. âDaddy, look. I understand that you want to be honest and tell folks about your past, but you and I both know you really donât want to go there.â
Reverend Chance kissed Oliviaâs cheek. âYou worry too much,â he said.
âWell, somebody has to take control of things,â she said.
Reverend Chance glanced around the campaign office, then back at his daughter. âI do have control.â A slight edge crept into his tone.
âBut, Daddy, you should just let me handle all of this,â she said. âI know how to run your campaign. Donât mess it up.â
âOlivia,â Reverend Chance said, âThis conversation is over. I have made my decision. I will go public and trust the voters to make the right choice.â
William could tell Olivia wanted to protest, so he jumped in to steer the conversation away from a
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