Private Scandals

talk, had driven her out again with a thick file of clippings and a bag of mail. She’d worked the rest of the evening, ignoring the phone. Without checking her messages.
    Having a baby and a war was certainly distracting, she thought as she hit Play.
    There was a call from her mother. One from Simon. Dutifully, she scribbled the messages on a pad. There were two hang-ups, each with a long pause before the click of the receiver.
    “Kansas?” Deanna dropped her pencil as Finn’s voice filled the room. “Where the hell are you? It must be five A . M . there. I’ve only got this line for a minute. We’re out of Baghdad. Christ, the place is a mess. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get through again, so catch me on the news. I’ll be thinking about you, Deanna. God, it’s hard to think about anything else. Buy yourself a couple of flannel shirts, will you? And some wading boots. It can get cold at the cabin. Write, okay? Send a tape, a smoke signal. And let me know why the hell you’re not answering your phone. Later.”
    And he was gone.
    Deanna was reaching down to press Rewind and listen to the message again when Loren Bach’s voice flowed out. “Jesus H. Christ, you’re a hard woman to get in touch with. I called your office, and your secretary said you were at the hospital. Scared the life out of me until she explained it was Fran having her baby. Heard it’s a girl. Don’t know why the hell you’re not home yet, but here’s the deal: Delacort would like to renew your contract for two years. Our people will be contacting your agent, but I wanted to be the first to tell you. Congratulations, Deanna.”
    She couldn’t have said why, but she sat down on the floor, covered her face with her hands and wept.
     
    Things moved quickly over the next five weeks, at home and away. With the new contract with Delacort signed and sealed, Deanna found both her budget and her hopes expanding. She was able to add to her staff, and furnish a separate office for Fran when she returned from maternity leave.
    Best of all, the ratings began a slow, steady climb during the first weeks of the new year.
    She had ten cities now, and though she still fell behind Angela’s whenever the shows were scheduled head to head, the margin had slimmed.
    To celebrate the success, she bought a softly patterned Aubusson carpet to replace the flea-market rug in her living room. It went, she thought, perfectly with the desk.
    She had a cover on Woman’s Day scheduled for April, a feature in People and, for old time’s sake, agreed to appear on a segment of Woman Talk. The Chicago Tribune did a Sunday spread, calling her a star on the rise.
    She turned down, with a combination of amusement and horror, an offer to pose for Playboy.
    When the red light blinked on, Deanna was seated on set. She smiled, slipping easily, comfortably into thousands of homes.
    “Do you remember your first love? That first kiss that made your heart beat faster? The long talks, the secret glances?” She sighed and had the audience sighing with her. “Today, we’re going to reunite three couples who remember very well. Janet Hornesby was sweet sixteen when she had her first romance. That was fifty years ago, but she hasn’t forgotten the young boy who stole her heart that spring.”
    The camera began to pan the panel, focusing on giddy, nervous smiles as Deanna continued to speak.
    “Robert Seinfield was just eighteen when he left his high school sweetheart and moved two thousand miles away with his family. Though a decade has passed, he still thinks of Rose, the girl who wrote him his first love letter. And twenty-three years ago, college plans and family pressures separated Theresa Jamison from the man she’d thought she’d marry. I think our guests today are wondering, What if? I know I am. We’ll find out, after this.”
     
    “God, great show.” Fran, Aubrey snug in a baby saque at her torso, marched out on the set. “I think Mrs. Hornesby and her fellow might have a second chance.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I wanted Aubrey to see where her mother works.” Nestling the baby, she looked longingly around the set. “I’ve missed this place.”
    “Fran, you’ve just had a baby.”
    “Yeah, I heard about that. You know, Dee, you should think about a follow-up show. People love the sentimental stuff. If any of those three couples get together, you could do a kind of anniversary thing.”
    “I’ve already thought of that.”