Jack's Widow

Jack's Widow Read Online Free PDF

Book: Jack's Widow Read Online Free PDF
Author: Eve Pollard
Tags: Fiction, General, Contemporary Women
shoulders, he moved toward the samovar for some more tea. She followed, having decided on defiance.
    It had not occurred to her that her husband had warned him off.
    “Well, I am not giving up. Maybe they’ll return to their old afternoon haunts. It’s worth a try.”
    There was, he was relieved to think, no way that he could order her not to watch out for the women from the comfort of the grand salon.
    She did not see them again until they were all checking in at the airport. They were in the Aeroflot line. Jackie, noting that they and three other couples seemed to have much less luggage than the rest of them, tried to lip-read to see if she could discover any more, but when they were with their husbands they reverted to Russian.
    She wondered if Guy could speak Russian. He had told her just a little about his upbringing. How he was good at languages because his grandfather, his only family after his parents had died in a car crash, had sent him off to boarding school when he was thirteen, fearing that his uncontrollable grandson was going to end up in jail.
    She would have liked to have told him about the other couples who were also traveling light, but Jack told her to leave that to him. He had decided that they should take no more chances with this baby. “From now on you are to put your feet up. I promise I’ll spend more time with you in New York, where you’ll be just a few blocks away from the best obstetrician in the country.”
    As the Cold War iced up and rumors that the French were close to having nuclear capability, the Americans became more determined to push on with the Atoms for Peace agenda.
    They called the next nuclear club conference in 1958.
    Once again the venue was neutral Switzerland and the senator for Massachusetts was included among the political invitees.
    Now that he was seriously thinking of running for president in 1960, he thought it was worth impressing the inhabitants of the smoke-filled rooms of power that though he might be young, he was already involved in foreign policy. No matter that these talks were low-key and not publicized; these influential men would know of their existence and their importance.
    Meanwhile America was convinced that to increase their influence the Soviets were selling arms and giving atomic secrets to third world countries.
    The CIA was sent in to do what they could to bug and wiretap the Russians’ hotel rooms and villas.
    Having taken these precautions, the Yanks sat back and waited.
    Now, surely they would find out what the Communists were up to. When nothing resulted from their electronic handiwork except discussions about the weather or which shop did the best deals on watches, they were unprepared. It was almost as if the Soviet delegation knew they were there.
    In desperation, the day before the conference began they called Prague for help.
    Jackie knew nothing of this as she came off the boat from the first of the wives’ excursions.
    Already she was not enjoying this trip as much as the last. Not only was she missing her baby daughter, but her husband had changed. To get over jet lag, they had, like many of the delegates, arrived forty-eight hours early.
    “Do you remember that little café we went to in Prague? In the Art Deco district? I’ve seen a charming place, not exactly the same of course, but at least not covered in cuckoo clocks, for us to have lunch,” she eagerly told him the first morning.
    “Jackie.” He barely looked up from his background notes. “I’d love to, but there are people here that I never get a chance to talk toat home. My father has fixed up one or two meetings, as well. I’m sorry, but we’ll have some time together when we get back.”
    “I am not sure the presidency is worth it,” she muttered but stopped when she saw his disappointed face. “I mean, look at this.” She picked up a cerise shantung pillbox hat and perched it on her head.
    “Jackie, you look good in it. You look great in anything. We
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