Campaign Wife

Chapter 4

"Do you see it?" Liv asked excitedly, pointing out the car window.

Amelia grinned and strained in her car seat. "Yes!"

The secret service driver pulled the car up the gravel driveway to David Callahan's large, cod style home, which loomed over a large grass yard that backed up to the cape. Long summers had been spent on the Massachusetts coast, ever since Liv had married into the family ten years before. David and his wife, Diane, had owned the home since before Jack was born. He had grown up in the house, spending winters in their Palm Beach estate. Now Jack and his brothers James and David owned homes within a short walking distance, and the remaining siblings- 2 sisters- stayed in the main house when they visited with their families.

"My dad wants a helipad put in," Jack commented, motioning to the large back yard.

"Of course he does," Liv sighed. "I hope that he doesn't get his hope up."

"It would be his dream for the presidential helicopter to land in his yard," Jack said with a grin. Liv shook her head, but a smile took over her face when a stampede of children came pouring from the main house.

She stepped out of the car and squealed, kneeling down so that her nieces and nephews could envelop her. Liv- who had no siblings of her own- was the aunt of 16 children, ranging from age 14 to 2. Seven of them belonged to James and his wife Carrie, four to Jack's sister (Jill), three to his other (Kate), and two to his youngest brother (Danny).

The result was almost constant chaos, kids everywhere, screaming, playing, fighting. Liv loved it, however. She was an only child herself, and her parents had been somewhat hands-off. Liv promised herself long ago that she would never have just one child, and would smother them with hugs and kisses.

"Aunt Liv I missed you!" a voice screeched.

"I missed her more!" another taunted.

"I missed you all the most," Liv promised, rising from the ground to pull Em from the car. The Callahans followed the children up the porch steps of the expansive, white, main house. Inside, adults were lounging about, not bothering to stand to greet the arriving couple.

"Liv!" a familiar, energetic voice called from the kitchen.

Liv scrambled to greet her best friend of all the Callahans, Carrie. James's wife was a beautiful, competitive, supermom, and had quickly become Liv's favorite of the Callahan women. Carrie had married James long before Liv had joined the family, and seemed like she naturally fit into the fast paced, successful bunch.

Carrie hugged Liv tightly, pressing her hugely pregnant stomach onto Liv's much less noticeable one. It seemed as though Carrie was always pregnant, and her eighth child was due in just a month. Liv had disclosed her own pregnancy to the family a few weeks before, swearing them all to secrecy.

"We watched you on the Today Show yesterday," Carrie gushed. "You did so good!"

"Thank you," Liv said with a grin. "I was so nervous!"

"Well, I guess you're a natural then." Carrie said sarcastically, not mentioning all of the lessons Liv had taken to become comfortable at public speaker. The sister in laws laughed before joining the rest of the family in the large living room that faced the ocean.

"Jack, where is your next campaign stop?" his sister Kate asked. Liv figured that Kate would make an amazing politician, but the blonde, woman version of Jack preferred to raise her children rather than have a career.

"Right here. I was going to take Amelia out for a walk and talk to some reporters about spending time with my family at the Cape."

Liv chewed her lip, glancing at Carrie. She had told Jack before that she didn't want Amelia to be used as a campaign tool, and explained her protest to her sister in law. It didn't seem right that poor Em had no idea what she was doing, and Liv didn't want her daughter growing up to be anything other than normal.