Tread Softly by Ann Cristy Page A

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the
rift that had developed between them. She wondered now if they would ever have
offspring, and if not, would it be her fault? She sighed and put the thought
from her mind, smiling at the youngsters who had run up to the car.
    Rafe seemed to have limitless patience as he answered their
questions and told them that he thought that Kansas, their state, was quite
beautiful and that he was fond of sunflowers.
    They left the children and were driven to the entrance at
the back. They took the elevator to Rafe's office, which had been Cady's office
for many months. She could hear Bruno's voice before Rafe pushed open the door.
    "Rafe."
Bruno's croak reached them just ahead of his outstretched hand. He leaned
toward Rafe, whispering, "You'll have to back down some. These boys mean a
lot of blocks in the voting booths." His eyes shifted to Cady, but he
didn't speak to her. She shivered and stepped closer to Rafe.
    Rafe waded into the group, talking and smiling. For an
instant Cady felt her faith in him waver. Would he be coerced by his father's
political cronies into defeating the latest environmental bill? Then she heard
the man called Greeley whine, "Listen, Rafe, you'd better back down. If I
tell my people you ain't comin' across"—he shrugged, wiping one hand down
his overstuffed jacket— "you'll lose enough votes to put you out of a
job."
    The others
muttered loudly, nodding. "I'm not backing down," Rafe announced,
pulling a pencil-slim cigar from a flat case. "I'm just not contributing
to the health problems of my constituents because you want a cheap way to dump
chemicals. Forget it. My wife made an in-depth study of chemical dumping, and
I'm against the method you're lobbying for."
    "Then
the men I've got will bury you, Rafe," Greeley growled.
    Cady stepped forward to her husband's side. "And the
women in the Coalition to Protect Our Children will hear about you, Mr.
Greeley. We'll stump the state and tell every mother and father we can that you
wish to kill their children in a very protracted and painful way." She
lifted her chin. "I wouldn't be surprised if the women lynched you, sir.
We're through letting people like you destroy our state. If you try to cross my
husband, you'll find that we hit back, too... and hard." Cady could feel
her knees quaking, and she laced her moist hands together to conceal their
tremors.
    "Feisty
broad, aren't ya? Emmett told me you were a troublemaker." Greeley wet his
thick lips with his tongue.
    Rafe leaned
forward, putting his index finger into the middle of Greeley's corpulent belly.
"If you ever call my wife a broad again, Greeley, I'm going to put my fist
where this finger is," he announced conversationally, his smile widening
when the man retreated a step. "I don't think I have to repeat what Cady
just said. If you want a fight, you'll get one." Rafe stepped away from
his desk. "Get out of here. You're ruining my Sunday."
    The
men filed out, still muttering.
    Bruno
stood to one side of the open door. "You're making a mistake getting their
backs up like that, Rafe. Emmett won't like it, and you'll weaken your own position
in the party."
    "Cut
the crap, Bruno." Rafe's face was as harsh as his voice. "No matter what
you or my father thinks, my political leverage has never depended on men like
Greeley. I've never underestimated him, but I'm not afraid of him,
either."
    "Damn
it, Rafe, you used to be smarter than this!" Bruno all but shouted.
"Greeley knows a lot about you— your early days in the House. Remember
those parties he arranged? Remember the trouble you had... ?" Bruno
flicked a hard look at Cady, then shrugged.
    Cady
could feel Rafe standing rigidly at her side. She flashed a quick glance at him,
seeing the red staining his neck and crawling up his cheeks. His face looked
hewn from granite. She cleared her throat. "If you're referring to the
party at Durra when the highway patrol were called and it was discovered that
the youngest congressman from the state of New York