Mary listened, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Mr. Rogers, I want you and the President to know that I appreciate everything you’ve said. But I couldn’t accept it. I have Beth and Tim to think about. I can’t just uproot them like—”
“There’s a fine school for diplomats’ children in Bucharest,” Rogers told her. “It would be a wonderful education for Tim and Beth to spend time in a foreign country. They’d learn things they could never learn in school here.”
The conversation was not going the way Mary had planned.
“I don’t—I’ll think about it.”
“I’m staying in town overnight,” Stanton Rogers said. “I’ll be at the All Seasons Motel. Believe me, Mrs. Ashley, I know what a big decision this is for you. But this program is important not only to the President but to our country. Please think about that.”
When Stanton Rogers left, Mary went upstairs. The children were waiting for her, wide awake and excited.
“Are you going to take the job?” Beth asked.
“We have to have a talk. If I did decide to accept it, it would mean that you would have to leave school and all your friends. You would be living in a foreign country where we don’t speak the language, and you would be going to a strange school.”
“Tim and I talked about all that,” Beth said, “and you know what we think?”
“What?”
“That any country would be really lucky to have you as an ambassador, Mom.”
She talked to Edward that night: You should have heard him, darling. He made it sound as though the President really needed me. There are probably a million people who could do a better job than I could, but he was very flattering. Do you remember how you and I talked about how exciting it would be? Well, I have the chance again, and I don’t know what to do. To tell you the truth, I’m terrified. This is our home. How can I bear to leave it? There’s so much of you here. She found that she was crying. This is all I have left of you. Help me decide. Please help me…
She sat by the window in her robe, looking out at the trees shivering in the howling, restless wind.
At dawn she made her decision.
At nine o’clock in the morning, Mary telephoned the All Seasons Motel and asked for Stanton Rogers.
When he came on the line, she said, “Mr. Rogers, would you please tell the President that I will be honored to accept his nomination for the ambassadorship.”
11
This one’s even more beautiful than the others, the guard thought. She did not look like a prostitute. She could have been a movie actress or a model. She was in her early twenties, with long blond hair and a clear, milky complexion. She wore a designer dress.
Lev Pasternak came to the gate himself to conduct her to the house. The girl, Bisera, was a Yugoslavian, and it was her first trip to France. The sight of all the armed security guards made her nervous. I wonder what I’ve gotten into? All Bisera knew was that her pimp had handed her a roundtrip plane ticket and told her she would be paid two thousand dollars for an hour’s work.
Lev Pasternak knocked at a bedroom door and Groza’s voice called out, “Come in.”
Pasternak opened the door and ushered the girl inside. Marin Groza was standing at the foot of the bed. He had on a robe, and she could tell he was naked under it.
Lev Pasternak said, “This is Bisera.” He did not mention Marin Groza’s name.
“Good evening, my dear. Come in.”
Pasternak left, carefully closing the door behind him, and Marin Groza was alone with the girl.
She moved toward him and smiled seductively. “You look comfortable. Why don’t I get undressed and we can both be comfortable?” She started to get out of her dress.
“No. Keep your clothes on, please.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Don’t you want me to—?”
Groza walked over to the closet and selected a whip. “I want you to use this.”
So that was it. A slave fetish. Strange. He did not look the type. You never know, Bisera thought. “Sure, honey. Whatever turns you on.”