responsibility to teach our children obedience. I know you’re all familiar with the verse that says very clearly, spare the rod, spoil the child. I understand that the secular world has moved away from teaching obedience to their children, and it shows. Just look at the state the world is in right now. You have all these young people who call themselves social media influencers, and their behavior is just appalling.”
“And you believe that’s due to a failure on their parents’ part.”
“Absolutely.” Then with a self-satisfied smirk, she said, “Not that I would know anything about raising godly children or anything. I’ve only raised two children. Neither of which has ever been arrested or involved in a scandal, unlike some other people whom I won’t name here. On the contrary, Malcolm here has just graduated with his master’s in political science and has joined his father’s campaign, and Rebecca is engaged to an absolutely delightful young man.”
“I assume you’re referring to your husband’s opponent’s son, who was arrested for drunk driving last year.”
“All I’m going to say, Tom, is that you sow what you reap, and as the bible says, if you train up a child in the way he should go, he won’t stray. Poor behavior in a young adult can always be traced back to the parent.”
The interviewer was nodding his head like she had just said something very profound. Then he turned to Trey. “So, Malcolm, I’m sure your father is thrilled you’re following in his footsteps and have joined his campaign. What do you think about what your mother said? And when you have children of your own, will you follow the guidelines in your mother’s book?”
“Tom, I think the way my mother and father raised us is largely responsible for me being the man I am today. As far as using my mother’s methods on my own children, well, let’s just say at this time, I don’t plan on having any children.”
“Oh well—” Tom started, but Cynthia gave a nervous chuckle, interrupting him.
“Now, Tom, Malcolm is still a young man, barely twenty-four. I think we should work on finding him a wife before he starts thinking about children. Now Rebecca, on the other hand, already has names picked out for her children.” She smiled. “But that’s only right. The children and the home are, after all, the focus of the wife more than the husband, don’t you think?”
After that, Tom didn’t ask Trey any questions, so he just sat there. This was nothing like watching the man who sat by the pool and argued with me whether or not it would actually be possible for the bad guy and the hero in the book he was reading to fight on top of a moving train. I had to wonder if this was the root of our problem. The letter writer seemed to be implying that Trey wasn’t being honest about who he was. Maybe this guy was someone who had spent time with Trey, at college maybe, and took offense to his public persona.
Chapter 7
Trey
Over the last week, we’d fallen into a routine. Roman seemed to sense my mood and didn’t talk much, which suited me fine. I went to work at my father’s campaign headquarters, and he followed me. I went to the grocery store; he followed me. I went to get a haircut; he followed me.
At the house, he either watched television, or he sat out on the patio reading. I spent a lot of time on the computer, pretending to work, but I was actually putting proposals together for when this election was over. I needed to work on something I could believe in instead of all this crap my father supported. I had some feelers out for work, but nothing solid. It was tough because I had no way of knowing who was safe to contact. Even just the mention of me looking for a job on other campaigns would raise eyebrows. For me to express an interest in the types of places I would like to work would be the equivalent of setting my current life on fire and walking away. If it only affected me, I would do it, but I needed time to get through to Rebecca. Time, I wasn’t getting out here in the pool house.
For right now, I was stuck. If I went public, jumped sides, and didn’t get a job, I would have no way to make enough money to survive. If living with my