Page 101 of Accepted Precedent

“What can we do? It’s election night.”

“If anyone can fix this mess, it’s you, Ms. Proctor. But we’ll handle it as a team. Tonight, enjoy your much-deserved win, and give Mr. Adams and Mr. Gallagher my regards.”

He rushes off, and I move behind the back curtains in a sprint to reach Ileah, Finn and Alex—I still refuse to call him Christopher. “What are you guys doing? Jaclyn’s almost done with her speech, and you have to pretend to be normal people for five seconds as you smile and wave.”

“Haven’t you figured out that none of this is normal?” Finn chuckles, adjusting his daughter, Devon, higher onto his hip.

“Can you please do me a solid here? Maybe get rid of the… spicy toys?”

“Don’t look at me. This was all the Blakes,” he grumbles.

“Sorry, Kristin. We just needed a little fun after everything that’s happened,” Alex explains, only souring my mood. They have the rest of the night to play—this isn’t the time or the place.

As I’m about to lay into him, Ileah gently grips my bicep and whispers, “Let them have this. He’s sacrificed everything for Jaclyn.”

I take a deep breath and nod as she releases me. We watch for a few more minutes, and as Jaclyn says,“Again, thank you for believing the impossible was possible. The best is yet to come,” balloons begin to drop from above.

“That’s your cue. Go, go, go!”

I help usher them out of the wing to join Jaclyn in this historic moment. Pride fills me as I look on at hundreds of campaign signs celebrating the first two-woman, two-party presidency. It’severything we dreamed of as little girls—finally seeing the glass ceiling broken. They did it, and I was part of it.

Change doesn’t happen when you passively sit back and watch the world burn. As Jaclyn reminded me today, it happens when you roll up your sleeves and fight to make the impossible possible.