“Oh yeah?”
I decided to take Leanne into my confidence. It was funny, telling Kiegan, and having him actually believe me, felt so liberating. I felt like for the first time people might actually understand what happened to me, and that I wasn’t making things up.
“One of Kiegan’s uncles… he… touched me, when I was seventeen.” Leanne looked horrified.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Anyway, no one in the family believed me, and that was why I left them. But so when our parents found out about us, they flew over to Hawaii to confront us, since you know, it’s bad for the family name and all.” Leanne rolled her eyes, and I continued. “And it turns out my mom’s pregnant. With a daughter.”
Leanne’s mouth dropped open.
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. Exactly. So now Kiegan and I are just not going to comment on our relationship at all while we try and figure out what to do.”
“Of course. Oh my God, that poor girl.”
“Yup.”
“Hey, the Uncle that touched you… he’s not… the one running for President?” Leanne asked curiously.
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
We just looked at each other for a minute as the full gravity of what I’d just told her sunk in.
“So do you know what you’re going to do yet?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“No. We have no idea. I know Kiegan is as upset about it as I am. I mean, it’s going to be his sister too, you know.”
“Of course, yeah.” Leanne put a hand on my knee. “Thanks for telling me, you know. About the abuse. It can’t have been easy.”
I smiled at her. “Thanks. It’s not. It’s a lot of memories that I’d repressed flooding back, but after I told Kiegan and he actually believed me, it’s become a lot easier to accept. I don’t feel like I have to pretend it never happened anymore.”
“I’m so happy for you. It’s funny, you guys are somehow really well suited for one another. You’re the calm, collected brains to his impulsiveness.”
“Thanks, Leanne. You’re awesome,” I told her, reaching across the aisle and giving her a big hug. As long as my best friend didn’t care about the fact that I was dating my brother, well that was enough, wasn’t it?
Chapter Eighteen
It was in Dallas that Kiegan finally came up with a plan. He told me about it over dinner, at a great little barbeque joint. It was somewhat busy and out of the way, and we asked for a table at the back so that we wouldn’t be bothered so much. The hostess flashed us a smile, nodded, and led us past a bunch of old booths and tables, complete with plastic red-and-white checked tablecloths.
“Gross, incest in the house,” yelled out some obviously drunk college bros sitting at a table as we walked in. I tried not to let it bother me, and Kiegan just flashed them a smile and waved. Still, I could feel my face go red and avoided their gaze. A woman came up and politely asked Kiegan for his autograph as we were led to our table and he obliged and took a selfie with her.
“Don’t listen to those guys, I think you guys are adorable,” she added with a wink, and that was enough for the blush in my face to go three shades deeper. We thanked her, without being committal about our relationship, then followed the waitress to our table. Once we were seated no one bothered us, and once we’d placed our orders, Kiegan told me about what he’d thought.
“I want to know what you think. To me, the most important thing is making sure we have proof. We can kill Ed’s career, but that’s not going to stop him from being a pervert with our sister.”
“Agreed. Stopping him from being President has to just be the icing on the cake.”
“Then the question becomes, how vengeful do you want to be? Do you want to be the one to take him down, or do you not care as long as it happens?”
“I don’t care at all. Whatever is easiest and has the greatest chance of success.”
“Ok, good. I think it’s good to have an option that doesn’t involve you seeing him again, since I don’t want to have to put you through that unless we have to.” I nodded and Kiegan continued. “So all that said, here’s what I had in mind.”
He outlined his plan, and the more he explained, the more I knew it was perfect.
We spoke quietly, and the hustle and bustle of the busy BBQ joint around us created the perfect cover for our private conversation. Two hours later, everything was hashed out, and we left the joint both full, and motivated.
It was really interesting, knowing that right there in a small restaurant in Dallas, over ribs and macaroni and cheese, we had planned the absolute downfall of one of the most powerful men in the country.