Chapter Twenty-One
Sam saw her dad out and then went to check on the kids, who were playing a game of Candy Land with Shelby at the table. “Where’d that come from?”
“Tracy brought it with the clothes.”
“Who’s winning?”
“Alden,” Aubrey said. “He sent Shelby all the way back to the beginning.”
Shelby pretended to glower at him, and Alden laughed. The joyful noise was the best thing Sam had heard all day. Then she remembered what was ahead for Alden and his sister, and her heart began to ache for them again.
“Hey, guys, I was thinking you might want to take a little rest since you were up so late last night.”
“That’s a good idea,” Shelby said. “There’s been some yawning during the game.”
“Can we finish the game later?” Aubrey asked.
“I’ll make sure no one touches it,” Shelby said.
“Okay.”
Sam and Shelby took them upstairs and got them settled in the room Nick had made up for them the night before.
“Can we go in Scotty’s room?” Aubrey asked.
“Not this time,” Sam said. “He’ll be home from school soon, and he needs to do his homework, but I’m sure he’ll want you to come see him when you wake up.”
They tucked in the kids and drew the blinds to darken the room.
“We’ll be right downstairs if you need us,” Sam said, leaving the door partly open so they could hear the kids if need be.
Their little faces looked particularly tiny in the big bed, and Sam’s eyes welled with tears as she left the room and leaned against a wall to gather herself.
“I feel the same way,” Shelby whispered. “It’s unbearable.”
Sam took a step toward Shelby, who had moved to hug Sam.
They pulled back from each other a minute later, wiping their faces and laughing at themselves.
“We’re a hot mess,” Shelby said.
“This is why my dad is always telling me not to bring my work home.”
“You did the right thing. Those babies needed us, even if it’s only temporary.”
“Keep telling me that when I have to let them go.”
“I will if you do the same for me.”
“It’s a deal.”
The portable baby monitor attached to Shelby’s pocket came to life with a little cry from baby Noah. “One nap ends as the other begins.” They walked downstairs together. “What’s the plan for telling the kids about the parents?”
“We’ll do it after their brother gets here from New Jersey.”
“I’ll stay if you think it would help. I can have Avery pick up Noah.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I’d like to be there, if you don’t mind.”
“I’d appreciate it, but I didn’t want to ask.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to make this easier on them. Please feel free to ask for whatever you need.”
“Thanks, Shelby. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. My colleague from the shop got waylaid by a bridezilla, but she said she’ll be here soon with the clothes I asked her to pick up for the kids. Just to make sure they have what they need wherever they end up.”
“The mother’s family doesn’t want them. What do you suppose will become of them?”
“How could their family not want them?”
“They were living under a threat from a former associate. Cleo’s family believes he’s responsible for their deaths. Hell, everyone thinks so. Cleo’s mom said they can’t live like that anymore. Neither she nor the aunt I talked to even asked about the kids.”
“Unreal. They’re family. How do you turn your back on two innocent five-year-old kids? There is nothing—and I do mean nothing—that would keep me from taking my sisters’ kids if the need ever arose, God forbid.”
“Same. I don’t get it, but we aren’t the kind of people to let fear drive us.”
“Well, you’re not,” Shelby said. “I’m afraid of my own shadow.”
Sam laughed at that. “I worry all the time about something happening to him.” She nodded toward the dining room where Nick was still sequestered with his team and Harry. “Especially when he’s far away.”
“He’s surrounded by the best security in the world.”
“I still worry. So many people love him, but those who don’t, really don’t.”
“He wouldn’t want you to worry about him.”
Sam smiled. No, he wouldn’t, but she did anyway, the same way he worried about her.
The front door opened to admit Scotty with his Secret Service detail in tow.
“Are they still here?” he asked when he spotted Sam and Shelby.
Sam knew exactly what he was asking. “They are. They’re taking a little nap right now, and their older brother is due to arrive later.”
“Will you have to tell them then? About their parents?”
Sam nodded, slipped an arm around him and kissed the top of his head. He’d brought the scent of fresh air in with him. “Yeah, buddy.”
“I should be there when you tell them. I’ve been through it myself. I understand better than anyone what it’s like to lose the most important people in your life when you’re way too young to understand it.”
Struck by his maturity and insight, she hugged him tighter as Shelby dabbed subtly at her eyes. “You’re absolutely right. We’d appreciate your help when we tell them.”
“How about a snack?” Shelby asked.
“Do we still have the brownies you made yesterday or did Mom eat them all while she worked from home?” he asked with a cheeky grin for Sam, who play-punched him.
“I didn’t touch them!”
“I hid them for you,” Shelby said, hearing Noah begin to chatter in earnest through the monitor. “Let’s go get Noah up and find the brownies.”
“I want to get Noah.” Scotty dropped his backpack and took off toward the kitchen with Shelby right behind him.
Smiling, Sam picked up his backpack and marveled at the weight of it. “What the hell is in here? Rocks?” She put it by the stairs as the dining room doors opened and Nick came out with Harry.
“Did I hear Scotty?” Nick asked.
“Yep.” Sam gestured to the kitchen. “He went after Noah and brownies—in that order. How was your meeting?”
“Very good,” Nick said. “Meet the vice president’s new personal physician.”
“I thought you already were his personal physician?” Sam asked Harry.
“I was, or I should say I am. Now, however, I get to travel with him.” Harry waggled his brows. “It’s all official and stuff.”
“That’s cool,” Sam said, strangely comforted to know that Harry would be with Nick whenever he traveled on official business. “So you’ll make sure he doesn’t get poisoned or anything?”
Nick’s eyes bugged. “What’re you talking about? I’m not going to be poisoned.”
“Harry? If something like that happened, you’d know what to do?”
“I’d know what to do.”
“And you’d do anything to keep him safe?”
“Anything and everything possible.”
“Then I approve of you being his official physician.”
“I’m still in the room, you know,” Nick said dryly.
“I’m not talking to you,” Sam said. “I’m conferring with your personal physician.”
“Why do I feel like I’ve made a huge mistake here?” Nick muttered.
Harry laughed and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take good care of him. I’ve got to run, but I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“I’ll be the one standing next to the groom,” Sam said.
“What the hell was he thinking?”
“I’ve made sure he’s asked himself that every day since he was stupid enough to ask me.”
Harry was still laughing when the Secret Service let him out.
“You’re worried I’m going to be poisoned?” Nick asked when they were alone—or as alone as they ever were in the public spaces of their home these days. “This is new.”
“It was a thought that occurred to me when I was talking to my dad earlier.”
“Your imagination has run away with you, babe.”
“You’re saying it can’t happen?”
“I’m saying it won’t happen. I don’t want you worrying about stuff like that when I’m away.”
“I worry about a staggering array of things while you’re away.”
“Samantha,” he said, sliding his arms around her and nuzzling her neck. “Don’t. I promise you have nothing to worry about.”
“You can’t promise that, and you shouldn’t promise things that’re out of your control.”
“I have to go back in there and finish up with Terry. But we’re going to talk about this later, you hear me?”
“Yes, dear.”
He kissed her. “Let me go say hi to my boy real quick.”
“You have to hear what he said about Aubrey and Alden.” Sam filled him in and watched the emotion of Scotty’s statement register in the way Nick’s face softened.
“That’s amazing,” he said. “I hate that he lost his mother and grandfather so young.”
“I know.”
He kissed her again and went into the kitchen to see Scotty.
Sam watched him go, her stomach twisting with anxiety. Even though he’d shortened the duration, she wished he didn’t have to take the trip at all.
With an hour until they had to report in at Sam’s, Freddie and Jeannie hunted down Emma Knoff, head of the PTO at Northwest Academy.
After checking to see if she was at the school, they were told they could find her at her home in The Palisades neighborhood on the city’s far western border.
The neighborhood was tucked between the Potomac River and Georgetown University.
“Of course, it had to be way the hell out here,” Freddie grumbled. They’d have to battle traffic across the city to get to Sam’s and then he’d have to come back this way to go home.
“This is where the one percent live,” Jeannie said, taking in the massive house that had to be at least five thousand square feet. “What do people do with all that space?”
“I’d imagine they spread out,” Freddie said, ringing the doorbell that chimed through the house like bells in a cathedral. “Sam always says that rich people have the craziest doorbells.”
“That noise would scare the crap out of me.”
A middle-aged woman came to the door, wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt. “Yes?”
Freddie showed his badge while Jeannie did the same. “Detectives Cruz and McBride for Mrs. Knoff, please.”
She glanced between their badges. “Wait,” she said, closing the door.
“Friendly,” Freddie said.
“People are always so happy to see us,” Jeannie said, her tone tinged with sarcasm.
“We’re nice people.”
“Try telling them that,” she said, nodding toward the door.
Freddie rang the bell again. “Sam would give them a lecture about wasting our time.”
“You should do it. She’d be so proud.”
He rang the bell again.