O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [72]
“There is this mystique about the Corps,” Nathaniel went on. “They aren’t going to phase out quietly. In the past month, Richard X. Maple has joined them and he waves a big stick at the Academy. Senator Davenport is now in their camp. You know what he means when it comes to military appropriations. I just received word that an army brigadier of note intends to testify next week that it is not, repeat not, the army’s job to sail the high seas and take on penny-and-nickel expeditions.”
“What general?”
“Brigadier Pete Wyatt.”
“Jesus Q. Christ, Wyatt is so ancient they’ll never get the fart stains out of his uniform.”
“Precisely,” Nathaniel answered. “We don’t make Pete famous at this point by attacking him. Horace, we have reached a sea of smooth sailing. I am taking the majority position of the admirals, but at the same time I have advised them to proceed with caution on the Marines and I have told the Republican leadership to back off. We have a great navy in the dry docks ready to go down the ways. Your own problem is not with the Corps, now is it?”
“What the hell am I asking? This is not the war of the world, Nathaniel. This is merely a case of sending one little Marine out of sight. I am not without recourse in this matter.”
“Horace, I’ve always enjoyed you at my side. You are a magnificent bully. I’ve watched you bully two presidents and tongue-tie a secretary of state. I know it must be very difficult for a bully of your stature to have to stand down over such a trifling matter. If Lieutenant Zachary O’Hara is suddenly transferred aboard ship, it could open a Pandora’s box.”
“Nonsense, Nathaniel. Outside of a tight circle of a few friends, no one has the slightest hint that O’Hara and Amanda are anything other than casual friends.”
“Amanda is not your run-of-the-mill schoolgirl with a crush,” Culpeper said. “She is this year’s toast of Washington, as prominent as any young unmarried woman in the East. Unfortunately, O’Hara is not your run-of-the-mill soldier boy. He comes with a pedigree.”
“Earned by his father’s blood.”
“Indeed, we all climb on our fathers’ backs. Their romance is just too juicy for there to be any smell of foul play on the navy’s part, like a transfer of assignments because Daddy Kerr has pull. Do you actually believe you can keep a lid on it in Newport, the gossip capital of the universe?”
“The risk comes with them rattling around together for an entire summer.”
“I can see the headline in the Baltimore Sun: “ ‘Marine Sweetheart of Shipbuilding Heiress Shanghaied.’ “
“I’ll buy the goddamn Sun and shut down its goddamn presses.”
“Alas, democracy breeds pamphleteers. Every poor working family in America will hate your bloody guts, Horace. Romeo and Juliet, Baltimore style. You’d be setting the two of them up for martyrdom. If there is the slightest hint of conspiracy in this boy’s transfer, the navy will have too much to lose. Your request is declined.”
“You can’t know what I’ve been through. Your daughters are well married. As for Upton, I tried with him. If you had a son, you’d know.”
“Don’t ask me to shoot one across your bow.”
“Say it.”
“It seems to me one must stand by one’s son, no matter what.”
“It was Upton who fled to England.”
“Beware, Amanda may be more Horace Kerr than Horace Kerr is,” Culpeper pressed.
His words struck deep. Horace had played on his people like a master. At Dutchman’s Hook, he’d press his managers into a corner, make his point by raw power, then reward them afterward to retain their loyalty.
Better to back off with Nathaniel Culpeper. “What am I to do?” Horace groaned.
“This summer you will practice restraint and compassion. Restraint, compassion.”
“I wonder,” Horace wondered.
“I have known of this affair from the day O’Hara stood guard at my door and Amanda came crashing into the office. The moment was lightning, their infatuation has lasted over three years. She cares for him, I daresay, because he is strong, as strong as she is. Neither of them will bend to threats. They got themselves into it, Horace.