“I love Phoenix,” Henry was saying. “It’s hard to believe that only fifty years ago the population here was just sixty-five thousand. Now it’s over a million.”
Leslie was curious about something. “What made you decide to leave Kentucky and move here, Henry?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t my decision, really. It was my damned lungs. The doctors didn’t know how long I had to live. They told me Arizona would be the best climate for me. So I decided to spend the rest of my life—whatever that means—living it up.” He smiled at her. “And here we are.” He took her hand in his. “When they told me how good it would be for me, they had no idea. You don’t think I’m too old for you, do you?” he asked anxiously.
Leslie smiled. “Too young. Much too young.”
Henry looked at her for a long moment. “I’m serious. Will you marry me?”
Leslie closed her eyes for a moment. She could see the hand-painted wooden sign on the Breaks Interstate Park trail: LESLIE, WILL YOU MARRY ME?…“I’m afraid I can’t promise you that you’re going to marry a governor, but I’m a pretty good attorney.”
Leslie opened her eyes and looked up at Henry. “Yes, I want to marry you.” More than anything in the world.
They were married two weeks later.
When the wedding announcement appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Senator Todd Davis studied it for a long time. “I’m sorry to bother you, Senator, but I wonder if I could see you? I need a favor…Do you know Henry Chambers?…I’d appreciate it if you’d introduce me to him.”
If that’s all she was up to, there would be no problem.
If that’s all she was up to.
Leslie and Henry honeymooned in Paris, and wherever they went, Leslie wondered whether Oliver and Jan had visited those same places, walked those streets, dined there, shopped there. She pictured the two of them together, making love, Oliver whispering the same lies into Jan’s ears that he had whispered into hers. Lies that he was going to pay dearly for.
Henry sincerely loved her and went out of his way to make her happy. Under other circumstances, Leslie might have fallen in love with him, but something deep within her had died. I can never trust any man again.
A few days after they returned to Phoenix, Leslie surprised Henry by saying, “Henry, I’d like to work at the paper.”
He laughed. “Why?”
“I think it would be interesting. I was an executive at an advertising agency. I could probably help with that part.”
He protested, but in the end, he gave in.
Henry noticed that Leslie read the Lexington Herald-Leader every day.
“Keeping up with the hometown folks?” he teased her.
“In a way,” Leslie smiled. She avidly read every word that was written about Oliver. She wanted him to be happy and successful. The bigger they are…
When Leslie pointed out to Henry that the Star was losing money, he laughed. “Honey, it’s a drop in the bucket. I’ve got money coming in from places you never even heard of. It doesn’t matter.”
But it mattered to Leslie. It mattered a great deal. As she began to get more and more involved in the running of the newspaper, it seemed to her that the biggest reason it was losing money was the unions. The Phoenix Star’s presses were outdated, but the unions refused to let the newspaper put in new equipment, because they said it would cost union members their jobs. They were currently negotiating a new contract with the Star.
When Leslie discussed the situation with Henry, he said, “Why do you want to bother with stuff like that? Let’s just have fun.”
“I’m having fun,” Leslie assured him.
Leslie had a meeting with Craig McAllister, the Star’s attorney.
“How are the negotiations going?”
“I wish I had better news, Mrs. Chambers, but I’m afraid the situation doesn’t look good.”
“We’re still in negotiation, aren’t we?”
“Ostensibly. But Joe Riley, the head of the printers’ union, is a stubborn son of a—a stubborn man. He won’t give an inch. The pressmen’s contract is up in ten days, and Riley says if the union doesn’t have a new contract by then, they’re going to walk.”