Chapter 192: State Dinner

The knock on my door woke me. I opened the door to find Ileana, Nicky, and Adriana with a Blair House staffer pushing a cart with my hanging clothes for this evening. I could see that they had been pressed since arriving from New York. Ileana was also carrying a leather-bound case, slightly bigger than a breadbox.

They immediately began laying out my clothes for the evening as Nicky ran her hand over my chin.

“I don’t think he’ll need to shave again,” she told the other girls.

“Good,” Ileana replied. “We have to go finish getting ready. Can you dress yourself?” I just looked at her. I had been dressing myself for a long time. “I mean, do you need help tying your tie?” she added.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied.

“Okay, then. When you’re finished, come to my room and we’ll help you with your crown.”

Then, still with the case under her arm, she left, followed by the other two.

I was just finishing up tying my white tie when I felt Vickie’s thoughts.

“Michael, I think you need to come to our room right now. It’s at the end of the hall on the right,” she thought.

I got the impression that Vickie was hiding something, but it didn’t sound like there was anything wrong. However, I decide to play along and so I headed down the hall to the last room on the right without bothering to scan. It became obvious something was up because most of the girls, except the princesses, were in the room waiting for me with the door open.

“Michael, all of us were so excited when you invited us to be a part of this,” Vickie started.

“And we want to thank you for including us,” Grace continued.

“But there was one of us that was sad because she would miss it. Fortunately, Catherine was able to work out some things, and well ... now she’s here and she wanted to thank you too!” Adriana finished.

The group parted and there she stood. I know that my mouth was hanging open because Allie had to reach up and shut it for me. But I didn’t know what to say at first.

“YOU are the sexiest security chief in the whole world,” I finally told her.

Penny was blushing as she slowly turned to show me her gown. She was dressed in a strapless, floor-length sheath of deep presidential blue. Her hair was twisted in an elegant braid on top of her head and her long neck was adorned with a double strand of pearls.

She walked the gauntlet between the other girls and stopped in front of me. Then slowly turning around one more time, she leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“Thanks, Boss,” she whispered.

“I’m glad you’re here. Did you know that the Blair House is actually larger than the White House? Why don’t you walk with me and we’ll explore it a little before we have to leave. That way, you can also catch me up on what’s happening with the rest of my security detail,” I suggested as I offered her my arm. Behind me, I heard the others scurrying to finish getting dressed.

Stopping by my room, Penny helped me with my sash as I buckled my sword around my waist. Then taking my arm, we headed for the Rear Drawing Room and the gardens outside while she filled me in on the CIA’s training facility and the eight trainees.

Penny had lived in DC while working for the FBI, and during that time, she had been in the Blair House a number of times for meetings, conferences, and such. So with her help, we were able to locate the small kitchen behind the Jackson Place Dining Room. There, one of the staff provided us with drinks and a tray of veggies and dip to snack on while we talked. Since I was afraid of taking drinks into the exquisitely decorated dining room, we sat on a couple of stools as we snacked at the counter in the kitchen.

Penny and I had been talking for about an hour when I received a panicked thought from Vickie.

“Michael! Where are you?” she cried.

“Easy, sweetie. I’m in the kitchen with Penny. What’s wrong?” I asked.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong...? You’re what’s wrong! You just up and disappear and nobody knows where you are and I had to get Vickie to find you! I’m gonna ‘kitchen’ you when I get my hands on you, buster. You can’t do this to Kalani. Now get your butt to the front room pronto! We’re late!” Grace screamed at me.

Penny and I deserted our hiding place and headed for the front room. On the way, I was trying to decide what to do about Grace screaming at me.

“Be gentle, Michael. Remember, this is the first time she has ever had the responsibility of shepherding a group this size through a function like this,” Catherine thought to me.

“Point taken. I keep forgetting she’s still a teenager,” I replied. “I know you have decided to step back and let my assistants take on a lot of the responsibilities for my schedule, but I’m glad you’re here. If only to train me.”

“And I keep forgetting that you are older than me,” Catherine replied. “However, I’ll point out that you are much more open to being trained than I would be. And you’re correct, I have stepped back. But I have been keeping a close eye on Adriana, Vickie, and Grace. And I’ll tell you that they are a much better executive support team than any I’ve ever seen. And yes, they are all still young and relatively inexperienced. But they are dedicated to you and eerily efficient at whatever they undertake. And best of all, they seem to work seamlessly together.”

“Well, don’t tell them that or soon, I won’t be able to afford them,” I thought to Catherine with a chuckle.

“They don’t want your money, Michael. Just your love. Remember that.”

By now, Penny and I had managed to find our way to the reception area. I went straight to Catherine and hugged her.

“I love you,” I whispered and then turned to find MY girls. Catherine was right; I wanted to make sure that they knew I loved them.

The three of them were clustered in a knot at the front door making sure everyone was there and following the somewhat long procession over to the White House.

I waited until the only ones remaining were the Queen, the Princesses, and my Executive Support Team. Catherine may have picked the name, but I liked it.

“Hurry Michael, we’re late!” Adriana said as she opened the leather-bound case I had seen Ileana carrying earlier. “Here. Let me help you with your crown.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. I happen to know that even the White House cannot start without us. Besides, who ever heard of a press conference starting on time?”

“Oh, Michael. The dinner hasn’t even started yet and I’m exhausted!” Grace told me.

“Me, too!” added Vickie.

“Me, three!” added Adriana.

“Hang in there guys, the hard part is over. Once that mob gets over to the White House, they’re someone else’s responsibility for the evening,” I told them.

“That’s not true, Michael. They are YOUR family and friends,” Grace started.

“And that means that YOU are responsible for them being here,” Vickie added.

“And WE work for YOU. That makes them our responsibility, too!” Adriana concluded.

When you thought about it, they were right. I was the one who wasn’t pulling my fair share of the load in this event. Since I couldn’t think of anything to say, I simply pulled them into a group hug as I opened my heart to them.

“Michael?” Catherine nudged my thoughts.

“Yes?”

“I’m proud of you. But the girls are right. It is usually frowned upon to keep the President waiting.”

Ambassador Mosbacher, with Kalani on his arm, led Mikeya, Ileana, and me across the street and into the West Wing through the newly built entry portico. There, after an examination of my sword by the Secret Service, while I held it, we were ushered past the Cabinet Room and The Roosevelt Room and into the Oval Office.

The President greeted Kalani again, and then she introduced him to her daughters, whom he greeted warmly as he told them about his own two daughters and shared a little of his recent experiences as a father-of-the-bride at Tricia’s wedding in the White House Rose Garden last week. The Princesses in turn shared their experiences of our ceremony on the mountainside in Colorado last month.

“So, you must be the young man who saved me from having a bad weekend,” the President said to me in reference to our phone conversation earlier this month.

“It is an honor to meet you sir,” I said politely. Despite what I knew would happen a year from now at the Watergate Office Complex, I found the President to be a likable, straightforward type of guy, even if he was secretly taping this conversation.

“I have to tell you that you impressed the hell out of my Chief of Staff. He said you were more mature than many of the bureaucrats he has to deal with,” the President said.

“I take it Mr. Dean wasn’t so impressed,” I replied.

“Ahhh, let’s just say that John isn’t as versed in dealing with young people as Bob and I are,” he said with a smile.

Just then, the door opened and Bob Haldeman came in. “Excuse me, Mr. President. They’re ready for you.”

“Thank you, Bob,” the President replied. “Look who this is. Do you remember speaking to Greg Wagner’s grandson a few weeks ago?”

I could see that Kalani, Ileana, and Mikeya were surprised as they looked at me strangely, but didn’t say anything. I figured I’d have some explaining to do later.

“How do you do, Mr. Wagner,” he said, extending his hand. “I certainly do remember you. It took me thirty minutes to calm John down after that call.”

“Yes, but ultimately, he saved our asses with the Russians,” the President reminded him.