‘I still cannot reach any of them.’ Tristan buries his head in his hands. Three days and not a word from his children. They’d left a note for him saying they had some errands to run and wouldn’t be back for some time, but that they would be in touch soon. He’d called Rellie, Zainab, and Jacob over to deal with the crisis because he is sure, he is losing his marbles, what little he has left.
‘They’re fine Tristan, if they weren’t we would have heard something by now.’ Jacobs assured.
‘Where do you think they could have gone?’
‘To look their mother. Isn’t it obvious?’ Zainab answers, this whole thing is a fucking shit show. A mistake and they should have all seen it coming, with Ife’s tendency to veer left when everyone expected her to go right they should have known. Not even she, the brilliant lawyer of the group, had foreseen this going so wrong. She looked over at Rellie, her friend looks drawn and tired, the press is giving her a pounding. Of the three of them, she is the one taking the hit.
‘Hey. Come here.’ Zainab goes over to Rellie and gives her a hug. ‘You did nothing wrong, and you will always have us to fall back on.’
‘Always.’ Jacob squeezes their hands. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise, we all know what we signed up for, maybe not to such an extent. But we will get through it.’
‘I’m going to make a statement.’ Tristan sees the friction on their bond, this bond of friendship he destroyed is taking more than a toll on him. It is his fault; all of this is his fault and now his children have gone AWOL. He could not stand idly by letting others take the hit for him.
‘You will do no such thing. Tristan you are going to keep laying low.’ Zainab says in her no-nonsense tone that brooked no argument. She knows how he must be feeling, what he must be going through.
‘We know this is hard for you Tristan,’ Jacob says, taking his hand momentarily, ‘we gamed out every scenario. It’s a hard hit but you must let us see it through.’
‘Look at this! Look at what it is doing to Rellie and her family? I cannot stand by and let this destroy lives of people I love.’
‘Listen to me Tristan,’ Rellie’s tone takes a hard edge, ‘this is not how we come out of this, we stick to the script and see it through. We knew this was going to be hard. Ralph is holding down the fort and their cover has not been blown-’
‘Fucking hell how many lives have to be on the line for this?’
‘That is how many people love you and what to help us.’ Zainab says, ‘hold the line.’ Her military upbringing, comes through in that tone, and the others mentally fall in formation.
Tristan nods.
There is a knock on the library door, Albert the butler is about to announce the caller when Tristan II walks in. The butler does not look best pleased at the roguishness from the elder statesman but says nothing, instead he leaves them to it and shuts the door with a bit more bite than needs be.
…
‘Is everything okay in there? Mrs Agatha, the head steward, asks Albert. Since the scandal broke the staff have been on tenterhooks to find out what information can be had. One morning Mrs Walden was there the next she was gone. The children came home from their travels and time away and are now nowhere to be found. This is the most they have seen of Walden senior in his son’s home and each visit comes with even more frost. The friends who have always been in and out of the house, have been even more so this time.
‘Beats me. The old codger came in with a face like thunder.’ Albert says shutting his door and taking his seat behind the desk in his butler’s office, inviting Mrs Agatha to do the same. They have worked for the Waldens for two decades, among the first set of staff hired for the family, whilst some have moved on and others returned, they have remained staples in the household. The Waldens are good people. A good family to work for, a better family hardly exists. No matter what the public think or say about Ife Walden the woman they know, is kind, funny, too funny, warm, and loving. Her love her for husband and children knows no bound. They are very much a couple in love or were before all this malarkey. Having worked with Walden senior a while before transferring his services to the son, Albert knows the history of the family. Josephine had confided in him, matter of fact she pushed for him to work for her son, and so he knows what is really going on, but he dares not share it with anyone else, not even the woman who has been his ally and friend for over two decades.
‘And still no word from the children?’
‘None at all. I do hope they are alright.’ Albert frowns with worry. They have seen all four children grow up before their eyes, wonderful people they are, their pedigree regardless, they were raised to be polite, kind, generous and loving. This feels personal because it feels like this is happening to his family.
‘You ought to tell him to be careful with Jacob.’
Albert bristles ‘what do you mean?’ Bloody hell where is this going? What does she know?
‘He came here the other night, back entrance. There were no reporters about but they went out the back way again into the woods. Leading to the park. He ought to be careful is all I’m saying.’ Mrs Agatha stands to leave.
‘Why haven’t you said anything to me?’
‘Same reason you haven’t Albert. Come on, we have been with the family from the beginning of their lives, together. I notice things and I keep confidences. I know you are loyal to them but so am I.’
Albert sighs deeply, almost with relief. ‘Sit. Stay. I’ll get the whisky and we’ll talk.’
…
‘What is it you want dad?’
‘What is it I want?’ Tristan senior is spitting with rage. He’d just come from seeing his father who has given him the marching orders, to get his son in line. Enough of this nonsense.
‘Yes, what do you want?’
‘To talk about salvaging your damned career is what! You prance around here with your head buried so far up your fundaments you refuse to see the fire burning down your house. If you mean to make a go of it as PM, we need to fix this son. Please do not throw away what we have worked so hard for.’
‘You mean what you have worked him so hard for.’ Rellie gets in the old man’s face.
‘I am talking to my son.’
‘Your son? You talk about him like you love him. What do you know about it. About him?’ Jacob wants to knock the old man out so badly.
A hand touches Jacob’s shoulder and he knows, without looking, he knows it is Tristan and his heart drops like stone inside him.
Tristan senior sees the whole interaction that unfolds between them in the twenty seconds or so, and it makes him bristle. He’d always hated Jacob coming around.
‘Give us a minute will you.’
The others leave the room and shut the door behind them.
‘Have you heard from the leadership?’
‘Only so far as to tell me to sort this shit out otherwise there will be a by-election in your seat. We have held this seat in our family for over a century it cannot end with you.’
‘It always is that with you, isn’t it?’ Tristan squares up to the man whom he has come to loathe, ‘it is always about the power for you. Never mind that your son’s life is going to hell- ’
‘And whose fault is that?’
‘Mine. It is all my fault. I got caught cheating. My wife has left me. My children are God knows where. I have lied to my constituents and the country, so it is my fault. Why am I going to expect that they support a candidate who has lied? Who ran on integrity and leadership and family and broke all those fucking values, I possess none of it. None. Why should I expect them to forgive me, support me. Elect me. I am poison.’
‘What the ever-loving hell are you talking about lad? This is your future, and your children’s. Tell the truth now and then what? Everything you have worked hard for disappears! Because you suddenly grew a conscience. You sound like one of those fucking champagne socialists.’
‘Well maybe I am because I most certainly am not you dad. I cannot hide behind this wall of hardness and lies and manoeuvring, and if that makes me a lesser man in your eyes, so be it. I’d rather that than become someone like you.’ Tristan stands straighter, the look on his face mirroring that of his father’s, steel. ‘I’ve spoken to the party and come the new year I will step down. Nothing is official but I have asked that they no longer involve you or grandpa in this business anymore. Now,’ he walks past his father and holds the door open for him, ‘please leave I have quite enough to be getting on with for today.’