Under Construction by J. A. Armstrong

Jessica. Michelle was only fourteen, and Jonah twelve. Both of
Candace’s younger children seemed to accept, if not always support their
mother’s decisions both personally and professionally. It was always Marianne
who seemed to need to stir the pot.
    “You
never know,” Jameson said softly as Candace looked up and caught her attention,
offering a soft smile.
    “You
never know what?” Marianne asked pointedly.
    Jameson
turned to Candace’s eldest child. “You never know what the future might have in
store,” Jameson winked. She smiled at Dana and made her way across the room to
Candace.
    Dana
looked over and saw Jameson place a kiss on Candace’s cheek and whisper
something in her ear. “Truer words,” Dana chuckled.
    “Excuse
me?” Marianne asked.
    Dana
motioned across the room. Jameson’s nephew Eli was trying to climb up her leg.
Candace was laughing while Spencer slept in her arms. “Looks good on them. You
never know, Marianne. Your mother might surprise us all.”
    Marianne’s
posture grew rigid. She watched her mother pass Spencer to Rick before she and
Jameson led two overtired little boys toward the kitchen. “Oh, I do know,” she
thought silently.
    ***
    “I hear there’s a little buzz
about the senator,” Maureen Reid goaded her daughter.
    “Buzz?”
Jameson played dumb.
    “J.D.?”
Maureen smacked her daughter lightly. “Lots of talk about the future,” she
lifted an eyebrow.
    Jameson
laughed at her mother. Maureen Reid had spent her entire career teaching
history. She relished anything political or historical in nature. Jameson was
confident that it delighted her mother to no end to have a senator in the
family. “Whose future?” Jameson winked.
    “She
could do it, J.D. I mean it. If not her own candidacy, she could easily end up
in a cabinet position; Attorney General ,
Secretary of State, even Vice President,” Maureen said.
    “Yes, I
know,” Jameson agreed.
    “Do you
not want her to do that?” Maureen asked.
    Jameson
caught a wayward beach ball from the pool and tossed it back to her brother.
“No.”
    “No!
You don’t want her to?” Maureen was shocked.
    “No,”
Jameson laughed. “I want her to do what she wants to do.”
    “What
about you? Do you think you could handle that? I mean, even governor. Geez…J.D.,
you would be really in the spotlight. A lesbian couple in the governor’s mansion?”
Maureen said with a grin. Jameson wiggled a bit in her chair. “That isn’t what you want; is it?” Maureen asked quietly.
    Jameson
gave an uncomfortable grin. “I just want her to be happy.”
    “What
about you?” Maureen asked.
    “You
won’t believe me.”
    “Try me?”
Maureen replied.
    “I’m
just happy to be along for the ride. I really don’t know what to expect, Mom. I
have no idea where she might be headed. I just hope she wants me to be a part
of it. It scares me sometimes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because
I don’t want to let her down. And, because I really don’t want to be without
her. As weird as it sounds, I don’t want to be without Shell or Pearl or God,
or any of this.”
    “It’s
not weird J.D.”
    Jameson
grinned. “You thought it might be weird having a daughter-in-law a few years younger
than you. Imagine having your daughter-in-law in The White House someday!”
Jameson laughed.
    “J.D.?
Are you and Candace getting married?” Maureen asked.
    “Huh?”
    “You
said daughter-in-law.”
    “Oh…Hmmm.
Don’t know,” Jameson laughed. “Think she’d want to?” Jameson asked.
    Maureen
rolled her eyes. “You’d have to ask her ,”
she winked.
    “Guess
that makes sense.”
    “Are
you going to?” Maureen grew wide-eyed .
    Jameson
shook her head. “Not today,” she laughed as a splash of water doused her.
    ***
    “Spencer seems to love the water,”
Candace commented to Marianne as they watched Rick swing the baby through the
water.
    “Yeah.
I guess he takes after his father,” her daughter answered.
    “What
do you mean? When you were