Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 130

BOOK NINE

It just so happened that Jay and Erin were at Raquel and Zelina's place for dinner on election night. None of the four were overly interested in politics, but they had kept half an eye on the Illinois gubernatorial race because Bayley Martinez was the candidate on the Republican side, and according to opinion polls it was a close race. Personally, Jay didn't want to see Martinez win. Not only did some of the things she professed to stand for go against his own beliefs, even worse, he didn't think she meant a lot of what she said anyway. He knew Bayley well enough to know that the power, the status and the money were her motivations for running, not to try and improve the state or the lives of the people who lived there. That kind of cynicism didn't sit well with him.

Pleasingly, as election night had unfolded, it had become apparent that Martinez was not going to win. She had done well considering Illinois was a blue state, but not well enough. Her opponent for the Democrats, Dominic Boyd, seemingly had the race won.

After dinner, the four friends (for over the past several months Erin had allowed herself to become friends with Raquel and Zelina, to Jay's great delight) had settled down in the living room with a Chicago news channel on quietly in the background while they chatted.

"Oh, here we go," Raquel said when a breaking news screen appeared. It showed renders of Martinez and Boyd, and said a result was to be announced. Both candidates were smiling on the screen, but only one would be smiling shortly in real life.

"We are now ready to make a projection in the Illinois gubernatorial race," a female anchor said as Raquel turned up the volume. "We call the race for Dominic Boyd, who currently stands at 52% of the vote, against 48% for Bayley Martinez. In some ways a good result on her part, but Boyd holds onto the governor's mansion here in Illinois for the Democrats."

Erin laughed. "Good. She even looks smug in that picture. I bet her face is a bit different right now. If only we could see it."

"Would be funny to see," Jay admitted.

"Yeah, well, I voted for her," Raquel said with some disappointment.

"Don't worry about it. Have some more wine," Zelina said, taking the bottle off the coffee table and topping up her glass. "Do you guys want any more?"

"We'd better head off soon," Erin said regretfully. "Henry has probably kept Kayla up all evening. It's a godsend having a nanny, but I don't know how she does it. He sleeps through the night when we're home, but he plays up big time if he's left alone with Kayla at night."

"How old is he now?" Raquel wondered, considering it for herself. "You've been off work about what now? Nine months?"

"Eight," Erin said. "I'm making plans to come back soon, maybe next month. I'm surprised I've not been leant on harder about it by Miller. I guess it helps that she's a woman."

"Yeah, definitely," Jay said. "It'll be good to have you back, even though Ruze has done a great job."

Raquel nodded. "He really has."

"Well don't worry, I'll be back in charge soon," Erin promised.

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Elsewhere in Chicago, Bayley Martinez and her campaign staff had hired a conference room and suites at one of the city's finest hotels, in the hope of celebrating an election victory. There was a podium in the conference room, and it was full of supporters that she had picked up along the way. Combining the policy platform that had gotten Stephanie McMahon elected president with an endorsement from said president, and the fact that she was young, female and of Latin descent had made her campaign a formidable one. But it hadn't been enough, as had just been confirmed by Melina Perez, the head of the campaign, as well as by the news networks.