I saw Carl hop out of the driver’s side, looking ragged, his shirt untucked, and he ran around to get the door. By this time, I’d caught up to the kids, and we were just standing there, watching it all unfold like it was television, like it wasn’t real at all.
Madison scootched out of the car, holding Timothy, who was wrapped up in this baby-blue towel. He was asleep, but as she stepped away from the car, he opened his eyes, gazed up at the mansion.
“Hey,” I said, lame as hell. Madison looked at me, took a deep breath, and then nodded.
“Can we say hi?” Roland asked Madison, who looked so tired. She didn’t say no, just stood there, and the kids came up to her.
“Hey, Timothy,” Roland said.
Timothy seemed to regard them for a moment, placing them in his mind. “Hello,” he said.
“You were amazing,” Roland said, but Timothy just fell back against Madison.
“He doesn’t remember,” Madison said to me. “At least I don’t think he does.”
Jasper stepped out of the car and, seeing the children, said, irritation running all through his voice, “Madison, let’s get him inside. Could we please go inside?”
What was the formal greeting for the secretary of state? Mr. Secretary? That sounded like a horse that finished last in the Kentucky Derby. He looked at me for a second, as if I were responsible for any of this shit, and then, once Madison went into the house, he followed her inside.
Carl took me by the hand, squeezing it tightly. “We’re going to talk,” he said.
“We saw it on TV,” I told him. “Holy shit.”
“It was . . . it was ill-timed,” he admitted.
“What happened?” I said. “Afterward?”
He looked down at the kids. I told them to go ask Mary for something to eat, and they scampered into the house before anyone could stop them.
“It was chaos. Nobody else could really understand what had happened, especially since Timothy was unharmed. Of course, we knew what had happened, but that’s not a human being’s first instinct, to assume that a child spontaneously combusted on the steps of the Capitol. It was all Madison. She moved so quickly, called media outlets, gave them updates. It was like two seconds after it all happened, she had a response ready. It really was impressive,” he admitted.
“So, like, Jasper’s going to resign, right?” I asked.
“Are you fucking crazy?” Carl said. “There’s no way he’s going to resign. Because his kid caught on fire? No way. And why would they take it away? They just confirmed him. They’d look like idiots.”
“But if it happens again?” I asked. “Why risk it?”
“It’s complicated,” Carl admitted.
“Everyone keeps saying that,” I told him. “It seems not that complicated to me.”
“Let’s go inside,” he told me.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Lillian?” he said. “Just try to think about it rationally. Try to consider the situation.”
“I want to talk to Madison,” I said. I ran ahead of him into the house. In the kitchen, Bessie and Roland were sitting at the counter, while Mary heated up some chicken nuggets. “Stay here,” I told them. I went back into the living room, where I’d first had iced tea with Madison. Jasper was standing there, pacing around the coffee table, running one hand through his silver hair.
“Where’s Madison?” I asked.
“She’s putting Timothy to bed,” he told me. Carl walked into the room and stood beside me.
“Lillian,” Jasper continued, “as you can imagine, this has been a very stressful few days. The confirmation hearing alone, good lord, but now . . . now this.”
“It’s crazy,” I said, but Carl kind of leaned against me, a signal to keep quiet. I shut up.
“I want to thank you for your service,” he said. “You have helped us immensely, and we are so grateful for that. I know that you have done everything in your power to make sure that Roland and Bessie have been cared for.”
“It’s okay,” I said. Thanking me for my service seemed weird, but it also felt like something political people said to mean any number of weird things that you had to do for them.
“I’m afraid that the circumstances have changed, that we were perhaps naive to think that we could do this on our own, that you, without any training, could handle this.”
I looked at Carl. “What’s going on?” I asked.