Duplicity

Chapter 15

Fitz felt almost giddy as he took his seat on the plane. Finally the day had come; he was going to see Olivia in less than twelve hours. He glanced over at Mellie as she settled into her seat, he smiled at her, and she scowled in return. His focus then shifted to his children dutifully taking their seats both dressed in their Sunday best.

“Daddy, why do we have to dress up?” asked Karen, “My tights are itchy.”

“We all have to look our best because our picture might be in the paper, Sweetie,” Mellie interjected in a syrupy sweet voice that Fitz barely recognized, “If we want Daddy to be President we have to always be on our best behavior.”  She reached for his knee giving it a squeeze, “Isn’t that right, Honey?” He ignored her grip on his leg, “That’s right.” He smiled at his daughter, “but if you want to take off your tights until we get to California that’s fine.”

“Fitz, you spoil her. She needs to wear the tights.” Mellie said with a bite in her voice, “You’re always letting them get their way.”

“Mellie, can we not do this now? I am absolutely not in the mood to argue with you.”

“I just want to be sure our family is portrayed in the best light we can be” stated Mellie as a means of explanation.

Their exchange was interrupted by Gerry’s voice, “Dad, are we going to see Grandma when we’re in California?”

“Definitely, she’s meeting us at the airport.” Fitz replied with a smile. He had never been close with his father, always feeling the pressure to be perfect but his mother was always his protector. They shared an extremely close bond and he wished she lived closer. His mother was so proud of her only son; she had planned a dinner for Fitz’s family and his senior staff for the following night.

“I can’t wait to see Grandma,” beamed Karen, “Are we staying at her house?”

“You two are going to stay with her a few nights while your Mom and I attend some dinners but we will be staying at the hotel” Fitz answered.

“I’m going to ask Grandma if I can stay at her house every night” added Gerry, “I love her house and she makes the best pancakes.”

“Are we going to see Uncle Cyrus?” asked Karen, “Is he going to be in California?”

“Yes, everyone from the campaign will be there” Fitz explained, “You’ll see Uncle Cyrus, his friend James. You’ll get to meet some of the volunteers for the campaign, and you’ll get to meet Olivia.” Fitz mentioned her as if she was an afterthought when he had been looking forward to them meeting Olivia for weeks.

            Fitz felt Mellie’s nails dig into the flesh of his leg at the mention of Olivia’s name; he looked in her direction only to be met with the iciest glare he had ever seen.

“Oh yes, you’ll get to meet the amazing Olivia Pope,” seethed Mellie.

“Is Olivia nice Daddy?” asked Karen. It brought physical pain to Fitz to look into his innocent daughter’s eyes and think about Olivia. He wanted this situation to work, he wanted everyone to be happy, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone. But staring into his daughter’s blue eyes he wasn’t sure it was possible to have Olivia without losing his bid for the presidency or, more importantly, without losing his children.