Chapter Eleven
Sam’s inclination was to keep it from him until she knew for sure, but wrapped up in his arms, she couldn’t do that to him. “I’ve been feeling weird lately. I asked Shelby to get me a test, and she said she’d leave it under the sink in our bathroom.”
With his hands now on her shoulders, he held her back from him so he could see her face. “For real?”
“I don’t know.” Her throat closed around a lump of emotion that made her crazy for being so emotional over this issue, even after all this time.
“Let’s go take the test.”
“Right now?”
“This very minute.”
“Nick… I have other stuff I need to talk to you about.”
“We’ll get to that.” He took her hand and gave a gentle tug.
“This first.” Without much participation from her, he got them both upstairs and into the bathroom in the master suite with minimal fuss.
Bending to look under the sink, he retrieved three different pregnancy tests and put them on the counter.
Shelby was nothing if not thorough.
While Sam looked on, feeling a surreal detachment to the scene unfolding before her, he took the three wand thingies out of the boxes and packaging.
“You want me to go in with you?”
The question snapped her out of the detached state to shake her head. “That’s where I draw the line.”
“Get in there and start peeing.” He nudged her toward the separate room that housed the toilet. “Hand them out to me when you’re done.”
“That’s kinda gross.”
“Just do it, Samantha.”
She took the sticks from him and went into the adjoining room, all thumbs as she unbuttoned her jeans. Was this happening? Could it be, after all this time… Don’t get ahead of yourself. One step at a time. She peed on the first stick.
“Here’s one.”
Keeping to the minimal fuss routine, he reached into the room and took it from her. She did the other two and handed them out to him. Her hands trembled as she righted her clothes and joined him in the bigger part of their master bathroom where he had lined up the tests on the counter.
“How long does it take?” he asked.
“A few minutes.” She had far too much experience with this ritual for someone who’d never had a baby.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her head to rest on his chest. “Hold on to me, Samantha. Either way, we’ve got this. A plus or a minus won’t change anything that matters.”
She clung to him and his sweet words and told herself he was right. A baby would only make an already-beautiful life more so. Not having a baby wouldn’t take anything away from what they already had.
Once again, she felt the change in him because they were holding each other so tightly. When all the air seemed to leave his body in one long exhale, she had her answer and blinked back tears of disappointment. By now, she ought to be used to it.
“We’ll keep trying,” he said gruffly. “We’ll try and we’ll try until it happens. Think about all the fun we’ll have trying.”
Tears ran unchecked down her face, wetting his shirt, but he never let her go. He held on until she got it all out, running his hand over her hair and her back, whispering more sweet words of love and giving her everything she needed to get through this latest setback.
“If it’s meant to be,” he said, “it’ll happen. And if not, we’ll be fine. I promise. We have everything we need and then some. We have more than I could’ve ever dreamed of.”
“I’m sorry,” she said between sobs. “I shouldn’t have told you. I hate to disappoint you.”
“Samantha, of course you should’ve told me. I’d never want you to be disappointed alone. This is our project. We’re in it together no matter what. Don’t keep something like this from me in a misguided attempt to protect me.”
“I don’t ever want you to be disappointed because of me.”
“Sam, honey, look at me.”
She lifted her face from his chest and looked up at him gazing down at her with his heart in his gorgeous hazel eyes.
“There is nothing you could do that would disappoint me except stop loving me.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.
“Then we’re all set.” Hugging her again, he made everything better with the way he loved her.
“How about we have dinner with our son, who has requested pizza for the last night of summer vacation, and then spend some time in the loft? I want to be alone with my wife tonight.”
“That sounds good.”
“You said we have other stuff to talk about?”
That stuff seemed unimportant after the pregnancy news—or lack thereof. She nodded. “We’ll talk about that later. I need a minute to get myself together.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll order the pizza.
” He discreetly scooped up the pregnancy tests and took them with him, presumably to dispose of them in a way that wouldn’t add to the headlines swirling about them.
“And Samantha,” he said, looking back at her from the doorway, “never forget how much I love you.”
“I never could.”
He gifted her with a smile that lit up his entire face. “Good.”
Sam bent over the sink and splashed her face with cold water, hoping to get rid of the puffiness so Scotty wouldn’t see that she’d been crying.
She felt like such a fool for thinking this time might be different.
Once again, her body had betrayed her by sending out a false alarm.
She’d be wiser next time, less likely to jump to conclusions.
If she ever did get pregnant, she’d be one of those women who found out they were having a baby when they went into labor.
That thought made her laugh because she’d always wondered how anyone could not know they were pregnant until the baby arrived.
Taking a cold wet washcloth with her, she stretched out on the bed and applied the compress to her eyes, which were still leaking with tears despite her fierce desire to move on from this latest in a long string of disappointments related to her fertility.
Perhaps it might be time to try something more, she thought, groaning at the idea of going through fertility treatment again. The last time she’d done that, while still married to Peter, she’d nearly come undone from the stress, the hormones and the sheer agony of one disappointment after another.
But it might be different with Nick by her side to weather the storm along with her.
That was something to think about after this latest crisis in their lives played out one way or the other.
If Nick was forced to become president, the last thing they’d need was fertility treatments on top of that madness.
After thirty minutes, she got up to go into the bathroom to check the damage to her face, which was still red but not as puffy as it had been.
She applied some concealer and brushed her hair, determined to present a cheerful front for her son, who was already glum enough about the start of school. He didn’t need a depressed mother, too.
When she felt ready, she went downstairs to join them in the kitchen where a pizza box was open on the counter. Normally, she avoided pizza and the hellacious calories that went with it, but tonight, she helped herself to two slices of the meat lovers and took her usual seat at the table.
Nick glanced her way, his brows raised in question.
Sam nodded to let him know she was okay. “How was the game, buddy?” she asked Scotty.
“It was great. Big win by the Feds. They need everything they can get between now and the end of the month if they want to make the play-offs.”
“If they keep playing the way they did today,” Nick said, “they’ll make the play-offs with room to spare.”
“If they do, can we go to another game?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Maybe you’ll be president by then,” Scotty said with a smirk.
“Shut your filthy mouth,” Sam said around a mouthful of pizza.
Scotty cracked up laughing. “At some point, we need to talk about what we’re going to do if it happens.”
“Not yet,” Nick said. “We’re still operating from a place of full denial.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Scotty said. “This whole town is about to go mad with the hearings starting tomorrow, and you’re in denial.”
“Yep, and that’s where I plan to stay.”
“Don’t you want to be president?” Scotty asked.
“Um, well, no, not really.”
Scotty’s mouth fell open with surprise—and pizza. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Being VP is more than enough for me.”
“Does the DNC know you feel that way?” he asked.
“You’re far too smart for your own good, mister,” Nick said, his eyes dancing with amusement and affection.
Sam could tell he was pleased by the smart questions from their son, who paid attention to the details when it came to their careers.
“And no, the DNC doesn’t know that.”
“You might want to give them a heads-up since they’re counting on you running in the next election.”
“What he said,” Sam said, nodding toward Scotty.
“All right, you two. Enough already with the talk about politics and my career. If you’re dreading school starting tomorrow, think about what I’m dreading that starts tomorrow.”
Scotty thought about that while he polished off another slice of pizza. “Congressional hearings that might lead to the impeachment of the president when you’re the vice president is definitely worse than school.”
“Thank you,” Nick said.
“I’m wondering… What should I say to the other kids who’ll ask me what’s going to happen?”
Nick glanced at Sam before returning his gaze to Scotty. “Tell them no one knows what’s going to happen, and like everyone else, we have to wait and see.”
“That’ll work.”
“The most important thing is not to get into any kind of speculating. Anything we say or do right now, even an innocent comment in school, could end up plastered across the front page of every paper in the country. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I gotcha. I’ll stick to the script.”
Nick laughed at Scotty’s choice of words. “You’re the best.”
They worked together to clean up from dinner and sent Scotty up to get ready for an early bedtime. “The party’s over,” he grumbled on his way out of the kitchen.