How Could She Not Have Known?

Gayle: Did you believe you had a good marriage?

Dina: Yes. It wasn't a perfect marriage; I don't know if that exists. I wanted him to spend more time with our family. On the other hand, because I didn't know anybody else who was married to a governor, I assumed all governors were away from home as much as Jim was.

Gayle: You were smiling as he gave that resignation speech.

Dina: I did that for myself. For my dignity. I didn't want people to think I was falling apart.

Gayle: Were you?

Dina: I felt like someone was stabbing me. I thought my life was over. I wanted to die.

Gayle: Why did you even go to the press conference? Why not just say, "I'm not going out there to carry on this charade"?

Dina: One, I was in shock. I couldn't think straight. But also, you don't just turn off your feelings overnight. You don't stop loving someone just because he's done something terrible to you.

Gayle: At that moment you were still in love with him?

Dina: I hated him. But I still loved him. And I was considering my daughter. This was her father, and as she grew older I wanted her to know that I had been there for him. I had taken a vow to stick with him in good times and bad, and if ever there was a bad time, this was it.

Gayle: At that point, did you think that your marriage was going to continue?

Dina: No.

Gayle: What happened after the press conference? You both went home, right?

Dina: I had no place else to go.

Gayle: And you slept in the same bed with him that night.

Dina: Yes.

Gayle: When I read that in your book, I'm thinking, Oh, Dina! How and why did you do that?

Dina: I don't know. Maybe for my daughter's sake.

Gayle: Your daughter was 2.

Dina: And very perceptive.

Gayle: But she wasn't sleeping in your room. And there were other rooms in the governor's mansion. You could have told Jim, "Look, buddy, I don't care where you sleep, but you're not sleeping in this bed."

Dina: You're right. I wasn't thinking. In a crazy way, I think I felt pity for him. In an instant, he'd just destroyed his entire life's work.

Gayle: He announced his resignation on August 12, but it didn't take effect until November 15. What happened during those months?

Dina: We had to figure out what we were going to do, especially in terms of my daughter, but beyond that there wasn't much communication.