Fearless Hero

“There you go,” I said, putting the finishing touches on the tie my father was wearing. He beamed and pulled me into a hug, which I gratefully returned. It felt like ages since I’d seen my father in person, and I had missed him so much.

“I’m so glad you could be here today, sweetheart,” he said. “I know it’s been rough. Hopefully we’ll have some time to catch up once this rally is over.”

“Yes,” I said with some hesitation. While I would have loved nothing more than to catch up with my father, I knew he still didn’t know the full story regarding what had happened with Brady and why I had requested to permanently have another guard on my detail. It was a conversation I wasn’t looking forward to, to say the least. “Are you nervous?” I asked, changing the subject.

Dad laughed. “Not nearly as much now that you’re here! You know you’ve always been my good luck charm!”

“Really? I was afraid that I’d lost my place to Ms. Peters!”

“Oh, you hush up now,” Dad said, a slight blush coming to his face. It warmed my heart to see it though. Ms. Peters was the waitress from the restaurant we’d been at before the gunman ruined everything. I hadn’t been aware that she and my dad had stayed in contact afterwards, but I was certainly pleased to learn that they did. Things had been so stressful for him lately; he deserved someone to help him unwind every once in a while.

The backstage curtain cracked open, and a young woman poked her head through. “Speaker Harper, you’re on in two minutes.”

“All right,” he said. “Thank you.”

Not before long, we heard the polite applause from the crowd as the opening speaker finished delivering Dad’s introduction. “Are you staying back here?” he asked before preparing to take the stage.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m not up for being in the crowd today.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

“Break a leg,” I said as my father disappeared behind the curtain and out onto the stage. His presence was greeted with thunderous applause, which made it overly abundant how popular he had become over these past few months. We didn’t want to celebrate prematurely, but all signs were pointing to him being in the lead as the vice-presidential pick. His popularity would undoubtedly give a much-needed boost to the presidential ticket; he connected with voters in a way that most politicians never managed to achieve.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before we looked back to these days as the simpler times…

It was a bittersweet feeling indeed.

I retreated farther backstage, where various people from my father’s political team smiled and offered me warm greetings. I politely said hello back, and made my way to the television room, where I could watch the live broadcast of my father’s speech and see how he worked the crowd. I’d heard him practice this speech before, he had recited it in the car, so I would know when he was nearing the end of it. When he got toward the end, I would meet him out on the stage, and we would wave at the crowd and shake as many hands as possible before leaving. It would be tiring, and times like these made me wish my sister was more actively involved so that I had someone to share the burden with. But I knew there was really no time for such laments now.

Settling onto the couch before the television, I couldn’t help smiling as I watched my dad pace the stage, speaking to his riveted audience. He was a natural, and his charisma leapt off the screen. I knew he had to look even more impressive to those actually in the audience.

As I sat there watching my father’s speech though, I began to wish I had gone out to watch from the crowd when my mind started wandering in ways I didn’t want it to.

If I’d been out in the big crowd, it would have been easier to keep thoughts of Brady at bay…

But as usual, whenever I sat idly for too long, he popped into my mind, particularly the last time I had seen him.

Every night, I’d been tossing and tur

ning, thinking about him and convinced that he hadn’t truly meant those hurtful words he’d said to me. But I didn’t want to be in denial; I refused to be one of those girls who couldn’t accept what was right in front of their faces.

Brady had openly resisted me that night. He hadn’t even wanted to be in my presence. And most of all, he hadn’t been able to say that he loved me back. After all we’d been through, he just didn’t feel the same.

In his words—it didn’t matter.

My heart broke a little more each time I thought about it, but I knew the only thing I could do was move on and wait until time mended my heart back together again.

I just wished it wouldn’t take so damned long.

“Autumn…”

I jumped at the sound of someone calling my name in a sing-song voice. Turning around to the sound of clicking high-heels, a smile spread across my face. “Elise!” I cried out.

She skipped toward me, her arms outstretched and ready for a hug that I gladly returned.

“Girl, it feels like it’s been forever!”

“I know!” I said. “What are you doing here?”