Campaign Wife

Chapter 8

"It's so hot," Carrie sighed, fanning her face with her hand as she pushed open Liv's from door.

Liv smiled at her sister in law from her seat on one of the floral printed couches in the living room of her Cape home. "Thanks for helping out today," Liv said breathily, pushing herself up off of the couch. The summer heat was sweltering, even the blasting air conditioning inside of the white-washed home wasn't much relief.

"What time are the reporters arriving?" Carrie asked as she followed Liv up the wooden, slightly creaky stairs.

"They are setting up in about half an hour, but I have three before I go out," Liv answered. The candidate's wife was holding her first press conference that day from the large, covered porch of her home. One of David's plans for the campaign was to play up the fact that the family homes were being used as campaign headquarters. He wanted to show how family-oriented the presidential hopeful was, and felt that the image of Jack's pregnant wife speaking on the front porch of her home was a fabulous opportunity.

"Have you decided what you are going to wear yet?" Carrie asked thoughtfully, swiping through the racks upon racks of clothes in Liv's large closet.

"I was hoping you could help me with that," Liv said, sounding a bit flustered. "It has to be perfect, or I'll be shunned from the next dinner at David and Diane's."

Carrie laughed light-heartedly. "Well, obviously it has to be sleeveless. And you want to play up how pregnant you are."

"Right."

Carrie emerged from the closet with her arms full of countless dresses. Liv modeled each one, and the women stared critically at her reflection in the mirror.

"This one is it," Carrie said with a large grin. Liv smoothed the soft fabric of a pale coral colored sleeveless shift dress. "I think some pearls and maybe a tan shoe would look beautiful."

"What would I ever do without you?" Liv wondered aloud as Carrie chose a single strand of pearls from Liv's antique jewelry box.

Both women did their hair in Liv's large master bathroom. Liv brushed her shoulder length brown hair so that it shone with a slight curl that brushed her shoulder. Carrie's shorter, lighter hair curled softly at her chin.

A huge, paned window was covered with breezy white curtains on the far side of the room. When Liv was completely finished doing her hair, she strode to the window and peeked out of the curtains. A campaign aide was directing a swarm of news crews from their cars parked on the circle, gravel drive to the grass on the front lawn. White ocean waves crashed near by, and the American flag flying on a pole in the front yard was billowing in the wind.

Liv smiled nervously to Carrie. "It looks like they are about ready."

"LIV!" a voice called from downstairs. Liv and Carrie hurried from the bathroom to the railing at the top of the stairs. David Callahan stood at the foot of the stairs, near the front door. His red face was sweating, and he wiped at his forehead with the sleeve of his white button down shirt. "Are you completely confident with your answers?"

"Of course, David, I have been going over them with Jack all night," Liv answered, feeling the usually sense of intimidation from her father in law.

"Great. They are ready for you." The patriarch turned to leave, but stopped abruptly. "Carrie- they need you at the big house-" David said, referring to his and Diane's home- "to organize luncheon in Atlanta."

"I was hoping to watch Liv-"

"Now, Carrie. If we want Jack in the White House we need all hands on deck," David interrupted.

Carrie glanced at Liv, who shrugged apologetically. "Tell me how I look on TV, I'll be over as soon as I'm done," Liv promised.

"Good luck," Carrie said with a wink before she descending their stairs with boundless energy.

Liv herself was extremely nervous. She met David at the bottom of the steps. He patted her arm reassuringly, a kind gesture, before basically pushing her out the door.

Liv walked carefully across the white painted boards that made up the front porch. Immediately cameras started flashing, and hands were shooting up to get the first question. Liv stood at the carefully chosen section at the railing, which not only placed an American flag in the shot, but also blue hydrangea bushes and some old white rocking chairs.

"Thank you all for coming," Liv greeted airily. "I know it's hot- I hope you can all stand it for a little while."

There were a few gracious smiles from the crowd. "Okay- I'll answer all of your questions now."

"Mrs. Callahan, how is Amelia?" the first reporter asked.

Liv couldn't help but to smile widely. "Em is doing great. She is playing at her grandma and grandpa's house right now with her cousins."

There were more questions about the little girl before things got into more serious topics. Liv answered what she hoped to do if she were to become the first lady, and how she would achieve it. As David had carefully instructed, Liv kept things light hearted and optimistic.

"Mrs. Callahan, obviously you have become one of the most talked about fashionistas lately," a reporter started. Liv raised her eyebrows slightly and smiled a bit. "There are reports that you spend about 50,000 dollars on clothes each year."

Liv felt her eyes widened and she couldn't hold back a laugh. "I've never heard that statistic before. I don't think I could spend 50,000 dollars a year on clothes unless I bought solid gold underwear."

There was a burst of laughter from the reporters. Liv felt herself relax a bit, and she allowed her sense of humor to come through a bit in her answers. By the end of the allotted time, the crowd was roaring with laughter, along with the campaign aides that stood to the side, just out of frame. One of the aides motioned to her to end the press conference.

"Thank you all so much for coming out today, I hope I've given you the answers you need." Liv smiled brightly and held one hand out to wave. There was some applause before the senator's wife climbed the steps from the porch and set off across the grass lawn towards the big house, surrounded by a swarm of aides.

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Later that night Liv, Jack, Carrie, and James sat around in David's living room, eating plates of dinner while looking over plans for a fundraising dinner to be held later that month.

"Look!" Carrie cried, pointing to the TV, which played silently in the corner of the room. "Jim- turn it up!"

Jack's brother scrambled to turn up the television. Liv sat forward on the couch, seeing a photo of her waving from the front porch of the home flash onto the screen.

"Senator Jack Callahan's wife, Olivia Callahan, dazzled reporters today on the lawn of her Cape Cod home. Charm and beauty aren't the only qualities of the expecting mother- she has great sense of humor as well as quite a few outstanding ideas up her sleeve."

Liv couldn't help but beam at the reporter's praise. Clips from the press conference were shown, mostly of when Liv got the crowd roaring with laughter, as well as some more serious moments with her insight on political going-ons.

"It seems America just can't get enough of Olivia Callahan.

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