Time After Time: The Somewhere Under Heaven Series

Inauguration: Part I

Casey's POV

I'm terrified about this. I mean, okay, I've been here before as a mayor and an Assemblywoman but this is the big show. I'm now the governor of New Jersey.

Christmas was pretty interesting because instead of spending it mostly in New Jersey, we split it where we had part of it in New Jersey and part in London. There was a reason for this. I was the honorary grand marshal for holiday parades in both Riverside and Princeton for one and then we had to fly to London after Christmas because Rob was being knighted. Since I was already honored as a dame due to my work with education in both the US and UK and I'm able to keep my dual citizenship despite being the governor, Rob had to make the joke to reporters about how New Jersey's First Couple are also members of the OBE.

"So, I guess this means that come January you'll have Dame Casey Pattinson as governor of New Jersey joined by her husband Sir Robert Pattinson as First Gentleman. Nice work, England," he told a reporter.

I got back to Princeton and started working on some things with the transition but found time to relax. It was mostly spa days with Katie and then there's how I decided to use a gift card that a friend gave me for a tanning salon. I don't go often since I'm already a bit tan to begin with thanks to being half Native but I do tend to go every now and then, favoring the spray tan over the tanning bed. To be honest, I used to use the latter but after they found a cancerous mole on me after I got married, I stopped because I realized I really don't need a lot of sun...just a little. Also, I'm pretty outdoorsy so I'll get a lot of the color that way.

Four days before the inauguration, I went with Rob to New York because he wanted to treat me to a day where it was just us. Michael was going to spend time with Jax and Dion after school and Jalen promised to pick him up from school so it was just my husband and me in the big city.

I won't lie, it was nice. One of my old students is behind the production of the Broadway return of Avenue Q so we were going to take that in tonight but before that we went shopping at American Dream and just like our first date, I took him ice skating at the rink.

That night we went to the play and then had dinner at the Rainbow Room which was so nice and because neither one of us felt like braving the train back to Princeton that night, we stayed in this very nice hotel in the city. I'd tell you what happened next but...we all know he can't keep his hands off of me.

We head back to Princeton and the day is spent where I'm getting ready for the big day. I got press to meet with, people to talk to, and of course I had lunch with Trey.

"This is so surreal," he says to me.

"Going from Attorney General to a State Assemblyman...I could see why."

"I'm also going to probably be engaged soon."

"You are?"

"Casey, I already talked to Rob about this but I knew if anyone, I needed to talk to you since I know how close you and Dion are. I want to marry him."

I look over at Trey with tears in my eyes and say, "Baby, I couldn't imagine anyone better to be with Dion than you."

After lunch I went to meet with Chris followed by a Sixers game with Jalen and Michael.

CBS3

Natasha Brown: All eyes tonight are on New Jersey as Casey Pattinson gets ready to be sworn in tomorrow as the state's 70th governor.

Cut to video of Casey with Chris

Yesterday the governor-elect met with her predecessor, Chris Dunn. In the meeting Governor Dunn told reporters that he is looking forward to the next chapter in his life which includes teaching at Rowan University but is also feeling like the end of this chapter is coming back full circle.