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“Turn it off,” I said, reaching for the switch.
Kendra beat me to it. One second later, the rain ceased.
“What the hell was that?” she asked.
“Look at the drapes,” I said. “Can we get someone in here to clean these up?”
Cyan’s red hair looked like a shiny helmet. “I’ll get housekeeping,” she said. And she was off.
Kendra held a hand to her mouth, surveying the sad scene.
My next worry was for Marcel’s gingerbread house. Fortunately, however, it was far enough away that it missed the sudden rain shower. “Thank goodness the fountain only had a couple of gallons in it,” I said.
“What’s wrong with this thing?” she asked.
I had no answer. “Good thing you tested it tonight.”
With a forlorn look around the room, she nodded. “This could have been a whole lot worse tomorrow.” She closed her eyes. “Champagne can get sticky.”
“This really isn’t too bad,” I said. “I think we bore the brunt of it. Look, the furniture didn’t even get winged.”
“You’re trying to make me feel better,” she said. “But what am I going to do for a fountain? It’s too late to get a new one at this juncture.”
Ma
Kendra explained and he seemed to take it all in stride. As I left them, I heard him say, “I’ll get this fixed in no time.”
CHAPTER 21
“TODAY’S THE BIG DAY,” BUCKY SAID UNNECESSARILY when he arrived the next morning at six. “What time did you get in?”
“Four,” I said.
He whistled. “I thought you said we were all caught up.”
I gave a so-so motion with my head. “We are. In fact we’re in great shape. I just…” I shrugged, unwilling to share my feelings with Bucky. Give him an inch and he’d probably take the opportunity to ask if I’d come in early to sniff for bombs. I wasn’t in the mood for his special brand of humor today. “I just like mornings here.”
“Me, too,” he said, surprising me with the sudden far-away expression on his face. “There’s something impossible to describe about this place, isn’t there?” As he tied an apron around his waist, he granted me one of his rare smiles. “Like knowing there’s endless potential here. Like knowing we can make a difference.”
Bucky never ceased to baffle me. One minute he would crab at nothing, the next he’d echo the very same protectiveness I felt about the White House.
“Exactly,” I said.
He walked over to the computer and wiggled the mouse, bringing the monitor back to life. “What’s the final count for today?”
I told him.
He whistled again. “What were they thinking when they invited so many?”
“Remember, this is a combined event. Everyone from Sunday’s cancellation and all of today’s invited guests as well.”
“Still,” he said, a
“Thank goodness it’s just finger food today.”
“But you’ll be upstairs for the photo-op, won’t you?”
I’d almost forgotten about that. “Yeah. Marcel, too.”
“Great,” he said. “Just what we need-to be shorthanded down here when we’re expecting a full house.”
Ah… cranky Bucky. We were back to normal.
I didn’t bother to respond, and minutes later the rest of the crew trooped in. In short order, we were going full force, producing attractive and delicious hors d’oeuvres for today’s crowd to enjoy. There was almost no sound in the room as the clock struck the next hour… and the next.
After we sent Mrs. Campbell’s breakfast to the residence, I stole up to the first floor with Marcel to get another look at where the press conference would be held. “I do not appreciate the way they have been moving my house around,” he said as we headed up the steps. “They can easily break it, and then where would we be?”
“They moved it?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “They tell me this is a better location for crowd control.” He sniffed.
“Maybe it would be better to display it in the State Dining Room after all,” I said, trying to sound encouraging. “The photographers would have more room to maneuver and get better pictures.”
“This, unfortunately, is not my decision.”
“No matter where it’s displayed, your gingerbread house will undoubtedly be the center of attention.”
He acknowledged the compliment in his customary way. “Very true,” he said, “but I still believe that the house should not be moved as often as it has been. We placed it properly and that is where it should remain.”
When we made it to the Red Room, we were both surprised to find the gingerbread house against the east wall. “Where’s the fountain?” I asked, turning in a circle to look for it.
Marcel wasn’t paying me much attention. “Look at what they have done,” he said, pointing to the house’s back corner. “The clumsy fools!”
I rose to tiptoes to peer where he was pointing. “I don’t see anything wrong.”
“I took great care to cover the wiring with special décor,” he said, huffing. Tugging his tunic, he straightened and informed me that he would see to repairs at once.
The moment he was gone, I looked again. A small green wire winding around the back of the structure had poked out from the white, snowy groundcover. Unless you were looking for it, it could easily go u
I poked into the Blue Room and into the State Dining Room, but saw no sign of yesterday’s gusher. I knew that was not my concern; I needed to worry about providing food for our guests, making sure whatever we served was properly hot or cold, and ready to go precisely when the guests were shown to the State Dining Room. Marcel would accept accolades for his gingerbread creation and I would be expected to discuss the items we pla
This would be my first Christmas talk to the media. Henry had always handled these and he’d told me they were a piece of cake-sometimes literally. Just as sweet and easy to enjoy. But nervous flutters danced in my stomach and I doubted I could handle any sort of cake right now. Having it or eating it.
I hadn’t noticed the gingerbread men when Marcel and I were in the Red Room, because I’d been first taken aback by the fact that the house had been moved, and then my attention had been further drawn by Marcel’s concerns about the visible wire.
Yi-im was back, evidently having been dispatched to make Marcel’s repairs. He nodded to me as I came in. “See?” he said, pointing to the three Blanchard gingerbread men. They were positioned on the wall just above the gingerbread house, each of them co
“This looks great,” I said. “Thank you.”
Even though I’d asked Yi-im to make sure the kids’ creations were placed properly, I was no longer sure it mattered that they sat in such a place of honor. With Blanchard’s pronouncement that he would no longer visit the White House, the pretty little decorations weren’t doing that much good now.
As I inched to take a closer look at the piece, Yi-im moved me away. “Marcel say no one come close. Only me.”
A
He gri
Kendra’s heels clipped at a brisk pace, and I heard her call out instructions to her staff even before she walked in from the adjacent Blue Room. “Ollie,” she said. “Ready for the cameras?” A quick look at her watch. “Just a couple of hours away from the big unveiling.”