America 1982-Chapter 489 - 91: How Much Do You Love Him?_4

Ever since the arrival of that patriotic hound wearing a bandana with the American flag design, the paper boy who delivered newspapers and milk in the morning had wet his pants from fright for four consecutive days.

The home that was once a bit cluttered but absolutely cozy was now renovated to look like half a military barrack, neat indeed, but it always felt alien, as if she were serving there, not living.

All the photos that captured beautiful memories had been packed away into storage boxes in the attic, replaced with various images she found horrifying, like the one of Jeff in camouflage, holding a shotgun with a Whitetail Deer lying in front of him, or the pile of photos his father sent from Vietnam years ago, now hanging all over the house. The most outrageous one was her high school picture from the rifle club shooting practice, now hanging in the bedroom. Every time Jessica lay in bed and saw the ridiculous photo of herself in high school holding a rifle, she felt so embarrassed she wanted to cover her head with the blanket. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Four children, except for the two youngest ones who were temporarily safe, the older two were sent off to the Boy Scouts’ weekend military training camps for some drilling. Her two kids, whom she had kept squeaky clean, were now trained into two little ragamuffs covered in mud, and she had to hold the family video camera, giving them a hypocritical thumbs-up and praising them for doing a good job, for being tough little guys.

Then there was Martin, who had found that goddamn effeminate stylist from who knows where, buzzing around her every day like a fly, teaching her how to dress, designing her look, choosing her jewelry, and ridiculing her with cold sarcasm the moment she showed the slightest resistance. If she didn’t comply with him, he threatened her that it would cause Jeff to lose the election. That man also forbade her from bragging about her specialty in cooking flavorful Chinese dishes and from eating foods with strong smells and so on.

But even so, Jessica still chose to be tolerant, because she thought all these sacrifices were made for the sake of fulfilling her husband’s dreams. She was willing to endure because she loved her husband.

Tommy seemed like a savior, so Jessica, weeping miserably, clutched at his sleeve and poured out the recent changes at home: "I can put up with everything... Tommy, but that damned effeminate stylist and that damned Martin..."

"Relax, Jessica, Tommy’s right here, take it slow," Tommy said calmly as he pulled his arm back, then picked up a box of tissues and handed them to Jessica: "What exactly happened?"

Jessica wiped her tear-streaked face with the tissue, and frantically exclaimed, "They want to make me pretend to be an invalid and stay in bed until Jeff’s election is over."

Upon hearing this, Tommy looked at Martin: "There can’t be any issues with family relations."

Martin spoke with an apologetic tone, but his expression was utterly unfluctuating as he said, "You taught me, Boss, to make the most of everything. The stylist said, Jessica... Sorry, Jessica, I’m just telling it like it is, you’ve let yourself go a bit lately, and you’re too conservative and introverted. You’re a good wife, but not a good helper. Most importantly, Jeff’s core voters are either rough-and-tumble military types or poor fools. Between you and your younger and perkier sister Gina, who do you think stands a better chance of getting votes with Jeff by visiting constituents, bending over to shake hands, earnestly begging those lechers to support him?"

After addressing Jessica, Martin turned back to Tommy: "The interns have calculated that if it’s Gina who goes canvassing, the votes could increase by about 3%-5%."

Upon hearing the name Gina, Tommy remembered she was Jessica’s younger sister, youthful and pretty, with a hot figure. She was once a cheerleader in high school, outgoing and highly attention-seeking.

Jessica, who had given birth to four children and whose figure had changed, indeed had no advantage over Gina in terms of image.

"Tommy, I know they all listen to you, including Jeff. Please, don’t let them do this to me, go talk some sense into Jeff. He’s gone crazy with those old soldiers and Martin! He’s obsessed with going to Washington to fight for those veterans’ rights. I can accept him going to Washington, but I can’t accept Gina appearing with Jeff, hand in hand. I love him..." Jessica pleaded tearfully as she looked at Tommy.

"Of course, I know you love him, Jessica," Tommy said after addressing her and then decisively instructed Martin:

"That’s a good idea, but don’t have Jessica just lying in bed. Make it a car accident where she injures her leg so that she appears to need to use a wheelchair temporarily. If we can tie the accident to Cubans, that would be even better. When it’s time to seduce the lechers to vote, let Jeff’s niece Gina flaunt her assets to them. When we need to show off a loving couple in front of the neighbors, have Jeff with the kids, pushing the wheelchair-bound Jessica."

With his mouth agape, Martin was shocked. His campaign had merely wanted Jessica to pretend to be sick in bed, but his boss went even further, suggesting a fake car accident and a wheelchair.

Tommy stepped forward, embraced Jessica’s head gently, kissed her forehead, and then released her, saying to the stunned woman:

"There’s just one question left, how much do you love him, Jessica?"