Best-kept Secret

"I need you to do something for me." A small favor. A phone call. Still, it went against Hudson McCloud's grain to ask anyone for help. It came down to this: swallow his pride and ask his mother for help!or wait. And Hud was done waiting. "What is it?" Vivian McCloud turned from the skyscraper's view of the turbulent waters of San Francisco Bay and the few sailboats that braved the post-Christmas Pacific Ocean tides. His mother had once been full of life, but the events of the past ten years had taken their toll. And Hud was partially to blame. He couldn't turn back the clock and prevent the mistakes and losses he'd suffered from happening, but after two years of biding his time there was finally a chance he could restore his family's honor. Hud crossed the Oriental carpet in his mother's office to the cabinet that held the TV and filled the room with a sound he had come to loathe--a newscast. "!sad news for the city. San Francisco's mayor was about to deliver a speech on the steps of city hall when he suffered a brain aneurism. The mayor was rushed to USF Medical Center and pronounced dead at ten a.m." Hud was silent as his mother came to stand next to him. As a young senator's wife, she'd been a protÉgÉ of Jackie Kennedy both in politics and fashion. Despite her silver hair, she was still a striking presence in her classic suit and pearls. Her influence as the widow of a fifth-generation U.S. senator stretched across both parties, but it was a power she rarely used. There was a long silence between them, as the news changed to the weather. She had to know what Hud wanted and how important it was to him, to the McCloud legacy. When his mother didn't speak, Hud smoothed his tie, cleared his throat and said quietly, "This is just what I've been looking for." His mother gave him a sharp look. "Another chance for you to be hurt?" "It's what I want." It's what he had to do. Hud muted the volume. He'd turned out to be the screwup in the McCloud family, not Samuel. How in the hell had that happened? "You excel at running McCloud Inc. Any other man would try to be satisfied with the way things turned out." "But not a McCloud." McClouds didn't give up. His father had taught him that, along with duty before personal goals. She sighed heavily. They both knew Hudson had sacrificed his own dreams for the sake of the family. "I know the public thinks I failed." These last words came out gruffly despite Hud's resolve not to care what anyone else thought. He cleared his throat again. "But I can make it right this time." Hud wanted his mother to be able to hold her head up once more, wanted to hear her laugh with unbridled joy rather than polite response. "Mayor of San Francisco? The party would be foolish to consider you." And Hud was a fool to believe he had a chance. Still, he had one card left to play. "They won't turn me down if you ask them. No one refuses Vivian McCloud.""ROSIE, YOU HAVE two calls waiting." Rosie DeWitt's assistant, Marsha, stuck her head in Rosie's office. "Line one is Walter O'Connell." Just hours after the mayor's death, the news media and political world was in a frenzy over who was going to run in the election to replace him. Since Rosie was one of Walter's political strategists, he probably wanted her opinion. He might even want her to run the campaign for the Democratic candidate. "Line two is Casey's day care." Anxiety pulsed through Rosie's veins. She set down her coffee and quickly pushed the button for line two. "Is Casey okay?" "He's fine, Ms. DeWitt." Rosie recognized the voice of Rainbow Day Care's principal, Ms. Phan. Casey attended the Rainbow center after school and during the holidays. "I just wanted to make sure we get our school play on your calendar in late January." Ouch. She'd missed the last play when Walter had asked Rosie to accompany him to Washington to evaluate sevCurtis, Melinda is the author of 'Best-kept Secret ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373781614 and ISBN 037378161X.