Part 20 (2/2)
Jo put her head in her hands, wanting more than ever before to simply disappear. She thought for some reason of those Southwest Airlines commercials. The ones that said, ”Wanna get away?” at the end. Right now, her life could be turned into one of those commercials. Jo would lay money that no one in their right mind would want to change places with her right now.
Finally Jacquelyn arrived. Ian cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the room.
”Thank you all for coming tonight on such short notice,” he said.
Jo looked around the room. His greeting was really not necessary in this setting. He and the others looked shaken and on edge. Their faces suggested they already knew the truth or thought they did. How they knew, Jo was not sure, but it was clear they knew something.
Ian continued, ”Mayor Stratton, Jo, this is our second meeting of this nature today. Jacquelyn, Gabe and I had one earlier. We understand you have something that you need to bring to our attention now. So, I will let either of you-or both of you-speak. Then we can discuss what action needs to be taken.”
Jo glanced at Madeline, who simply nodded.
”Okay,” Jo said, her voice shaking as much as the rest of her body. ”I guess I will be the one to fill you in.” She tried to remember to breathe. ”I want to start by offering everyone in this room an apology.”
She turned to look each of them in the eye. Gabe stared right through her. Jacquelyn's look could have killed, and Ian sat stone-cold at the end of the table.
She swallowed. ”I apologize for my hesitation too, but...there's no easy way to jump into this. What I need to say is that I'm...a...lesbian.” The sentence was the hardest one she had ever had to string together.
”I'm a lesbian,” she had to repeat it aloud to confirm to herself that she had just publicly admitted it for the first time. ”And though I am not really sure how or why...things have happened between Mayor Stratton and me.”
”What kind of things?” Jacquelyn demanded.
Jo glanced toward Madeline for help, but she was staring at the ceiling again. Jo let out a sigh. She was on her own here.
”We slept together,” she admitted. ”We didn't do it before she filed for divorce, and we did our best to keep it from public attention, but the truth is, we slept together.”
Gabe looked like he might cry. Jo could not bear to look at him. In addition to driving his job into the ground, she had crushed his heart.
”Why are you bringing this to our attention now?” Ian asked.
Jo and Madeline had rehea.r.s.ed what she would tell them, but even so she felt as though she were betraying Madeline's confidence. ”I wasn't her first,” Jo said softly.
”We need the whole story, Jo,” Ian prompted impatiently.
”Natalie Longworth,” Jo said. ”You all will remember the name. She was the woman John Stratton was caught with and photographed with. She was the woman who started this whole mess. She was also Mayor Stratton's roommate in college.”
Jo hated talking about Madeline as though she was not in the room, but she had little choice, given Madeline's sudden aversion to speaking with staff.
”They were lovers in college. Natalie is now threatening to tell the press about her and Mayor Stratton-and about what she a.s.sumes happened between Mayor Stratton and me,” Jo finished. She hung her head at the admission, wanting desperately to crawl back into the hole where no one knew her secrets.
No one spoke, and the silence threatened to swallow Jo whole.
”I'm sorry,” she said again, wanting to cry.
”Don't apologize.” Madeline spoke with such strength that Jo did a double take.
Was this the same woman who had sat motionless through her entire confession? Was she now jumping to Jo's rescue?
Jo met Madeline's gaze and saw a new fire burning within her eyes.
”I want to say to all of you as well that I'm sorry who I am was not who I always appeared to be. I was not straightforward with you all, and I am the one who owes the apology.” Madeline took a deep breath. ”What Jo has said to you all is true, and it took great courage for her to take that step tonight.”
Suddenly Madeline was not some weak victim. She was the mayor again-the strong, confident boss who had led them all thus far-and she was making her power known. Jo felt a tingle of relief go through her body. She would not have to face this fight alone.
”I think you all owe Jo some respect,” Madeline added. ”To be sure, our actions have not been the most admirable. In fact, they were wrong-not because we are both women, but because of my position and because of the effect that they will have on the work that we have been doing. I apologize for trying to keep this out of the public eye, but I will not apologize for sleeping with a woman. That part of our relations.h.i.+p is not wrong, and neither was my relations.h.i.+p with Natalie Longworth.”
The silence lasted for only a few seconds. This time it was Gabe who broke it.
”Why didn't you tell us, Jo?”
”Which part was I supposed to tell you?” Jo asked.
”That you're a lesbian. I think that you know you could have trusted us.” Gabe appeared genuinely to be hurt, but his words made no sense to Jo given the tacit warning he'd given her when he'd told her about his brother. He seemed to realize at the same time that he might be on shaky ground with his comment. A look of fear flashed across his face as she began to answer him.
”Gabe,” she said carefully, ”I think it is unfair that I should have to disclose to my colleagues who I choose to sleep with. You are not required to go around telling everyone that you like to sleep with women. Nor are you required to disclose information about acquaintances of yours who date individuals of the same gender. Why should I-or anyone else for that matter-be held to a different standard?”
The question obviously hit its target. Perhaps what they all needed was a little bit of perspective.
”How would you like it?” she asked, turning to Jacquelyn and Ian. ”What would you do if your decision to follow your heart made you a criminal in the eyes of your co-workers?”
Ian shook his head. ”It is not the same thing, Jo.”
”What do you mean it isn't the same?” Jo asked.
Ian was normally calm and collected, and his level-headedness made him a great manager. But now, suddenly, he was transformed. He was enraged.
”I have a wife,” he bellowed. ”Because that is how it is supposed to be. I am a man, and she is a woman. That is how it is supposed to be. You don't get to decide on a case-by-case basis, and you do not get to change the rules.” He shot an angry look at Jo and then turned to Madeline. ”What the h.e.l.l were you thinking to engage in such depraved and unnatural behavior?” he demanded of her.
”Ian,” Madeline said calmly but with authority, ”I do not demand much, but I demand that you drop the h.o.m.ophobia. We have stated clearly that we know what we did was inappropriate, and we are prepared to deal with the consequences. You will show respect to Jo and me both as people and as lesbians.”
At her use of the word ”lesbian,” Jacquelyn and Ian sat up straight in their chairs looking as if someone had doused them with ice water. The word struck a chord within Jo. She smiled, noting it as the first time Madeline had identified herself so clearly. At the table, Gabe remained motionless, defeated.
”You may disapprove of us, you can fault us for our affair-but be civil, all of you,” Madeline continued with unparalleled confidence. ”Am I understood?” As she asked the question, she made a point of surveying each individual face.
Gabe nodded and Jacquelyn looked away.
Ian continued to fume in the corner. ”I am not going to sit here and listen to the two of you explain this away. You may be my boss, but I will not stand by while you say that you have done nothing wrong by sleeping with another woman. We are not going say that to the media, to the public or to the rest of the staff.”
”And just what do you expect me to tell everyone then?” Madeline asked. ”Remember when you answer that you are not only impacting me and my career, my life and my future, but you are impacting the career, life and future of this promising young woman.” She pointed to Jo.
”She forfeited a say in the matter the minute she came to work for you,” Ian said. ”It is all a part of the job. We accept that when we come to work for a public official. Anything you say or do can be called into question. When it does, we each have to step up and 'take one for the team.'”
He pointed at Jacquelyn. ”If something you were quoted as saying in a press release went terribly wrong, if we took a position on something and the 'facts' we based it on turned out to be incorrect, she would take the fall for you. Plagiarism, faulty statements, a spelling error, being misquoted-any of that and she would be the public scapegoat. It comes with the territory.”
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