Chapter Twenty-One #2
“That was pretty funny—and the best part was that even as a quadriplegic, he could’ve done it if he’d wanted to.”
“I know! Why do you think I was so freaked out?”
“He never would’ve killed you after he saw how much I love you—and more important, how much you love me. That made him very happy.”
“I’m glad he had peace of mind where you’re concerned.”
“As much as he ever had where I’m concerned.”
Nick laughed. “You must’ve been one hell of a handful when you were younger.”
“I kept him on his toes.”
“I can only imagine. What’s on your docket for today?”
“Breakfast with my mother and then pounding pavement with some of the leads that have come into the tip line.”
“You’re not doing that alone, are you?”
“Yeah, but I’m visiting my mom and Alice Fitzgerald, so I’ll be fine. What’re you up to?”
“Meetings on top of meetings. Another day in paradise.”
“Not sure how you stand the excitement.”
His eyes glittered with anticipation. “We’re doing more budget stuff today.”
“You’re not right in the head if you find that exciting.”
“Someone’s gotta do it, and the president has asked me to take the lead in dealing with Congress to get the budget hammered out so we can be done with this continuing resolution and have an actual budget in place.”
“Did I pass out from boredom? I think I blacked out for a second there.”
He gave her a gentle spank and a quick kiss. “Don’t make fun of your policy wonk husband. It’s not nice.”
“That was me being nice.”
Leaving her with a smile, he headed for the door. “Call me if you need me today. I mean it, Samantha. I will come running.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“Be careful with my cop today. I love her so much.”
“Be careful with my VP today. I love him so much.”
Winking, he went out the door, leaving her feeling settled and loved and well supported. She finished the coffee he’d brought her and headed downstairs to see her kids before she left for the day.
Forty minutes later, Sam approached her mother’s townhouse in Arlington.
The house had a white brick facade with black shutters and a black door, as well as pumpkins on each of the three cement stairs that led to the front door where Brenda waited to let her in.
Sam tipped her face to receive the kiss her mother placed on her cheek.
“This is a nice surprise.” Brenda had her shoulder-length brown hair up in a bun and her brown eyes were warm with welcome for her youngest daughter.
Sam wondered if this was as weird for her mother as it was for her, seeing each other and acting normal, like there’d never been twenty years of silence between them.
“Sorry it’s been a while since I stopped by.” In fact, Sam hadn’t been there once since she and her sisters helped her mother move in earlier in the year.
“Like your father, I suspect it takes an act of Congress to get you to cross the Potomac.”
Sam sent her a sheepish grin. “That’s kinda true.”
Brenda laughed. “That’s okay. I know how busy you are. I’ll take what I can get. Come on back.” She led the way to the kitchen, which was painted a dark taupe that somehow made the room seem brighter than it would’ve been with a lighter color of paint.
“I like that color.”
“Do you?” Brenda glanced at the wall. “I’m not a hundred percent sold on it.”
“It works in here.”
“I’m glad you think so. I needed a second opinion. I did it a couple of weeks ago and was hoping it would grow on me.” She poured coffee for Sam and put it on the high-top table along with a small porcelain creamer. “You don’t take sugar, right?”
Touched that her mother remembered that kind of detail from so long ago, Sam shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
Brenda toasted two corn muffins, buttered them and put them on plates that she delivered to the table.
Sam broke off a piece of the muffin and popped it into her mouth. “Thanks for feeding me.”
“My pleasure. I’ve been thinking about you nonstop. I know how hard it must be for you since losing your dad. He loved you all fiercely, but you…”
“I know.” Sam’s throat closed as her eyes filled. To keep from losing her composure, she focused on the coffee and picked at her muffin. “It seems impossible to imagine going on without him.”
“I’m sure it does. I remember when my father died. I wondered if I’d survive it. At the time, my mother said something that’s stayed with me ever since. She said it’s the circle of life, and it’s important to remember that life is a fatal illness. Ain’t none of us getting out of here alive.”
“That’s true, but it sure does suck when someone has to leave us.”
“It does. No way around that, especially when it’s your soul mate.”
“One of them anyway.”
“He was so damned proud of you, Nick and Scotty. The day I stopped to see him and Celia, he glowed when he talked about all of you. He absolutely loved how happy you are with Nick, and Scotty was the apple of his eye.”
“I’m glad he got to meet Nick and Scotty and the twins.”
“How’re they doing? I think about those poor babies all the time, too.”
“They’re adjusting remarkably well. They still have their difficult moments, but we’re trying to get them back on a regular schedule, and Shelby has been a godsend. They adore her, but then again, we all do.”
“She’s amazing. You’re lucky to have her.”
“And we know it. Nick and I say all the time that she’s the glue that holds the whole operation together. We’d be lost without her.”
“What will happen with the twins when their brother graduates from college or maybe I shouldn’t ask?”
“It’s okay to ask. Nick talked to him about that yesterday, and he agreed that we’ll figure something out that’ll keep them in our lives.”
“I hope you’re not setting yourself up for more heartbreak, Sam.”
“I hope not either but offering to help them didn’t feel like a decision. It felt necessary.”
“I can understand that. They sure are cute.” Brenda had met them at the reception that had followed Skip’s funeral, when Shelby brought them to the Hay-Adams.
“Yes, they are, and they’re very sweet, too. We love them very much.”
“I can see why.” Brenda stirred sweetener into her coffee and then glanced at Sam. “As much as I love catching up and any excuse to see you, something tells me you didn’t cross the river for small talk. That never was your strong suit.”
“No, it isn’t, and you’re right.” Sam used a paper napkin to wipe her mouth after devouring the rest of the delicious muffin. “We’re making some headway in solving Dad’s case—the first real headway since it happened.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. You must be thrilled.”
Sam shrugged. How to describe how the elation of getting much-needed answers was muted by the pervasive grief of his death? “I am, but part of me feels like it doesn’t matter as much now that he’s gone.”
“It matters very much. The person who shot him robbed you and your sisters and your children and Celia of possible decades with him. And don’t look at me like that.
I loved that man for most of my adult life, and even after everything that came between us, I never stopped loving him.
The day of his shooting…” Brenda shook her head and looked down.
“I’ll never forget that call from Tracy.
My heart broke right along with all of yours. ”
Her mother’s passionate words touched Sam deeply. In all the years she’d spent estranged from her mother, it hadn’t occurred to her that her mother might still love her father. “Could I ask you—”
“Anything you want.”
“If you loved him so much, why did you leave him for someone else?” It was a question that had tormented Sam for twenty years, and even though it wasn’t the question she’d come here to ask, there’d never been a better opportunity to put it out there.
Brenda sighed and sat back in her chair.
“Marriage is a complicated thing, as you certainly know. After Steven Coyne was killed, nothing was ever the same between your dad and me. I felt like I lost him almost as completely as Alice lost Steven. I tried for a long time to make things right between us, but after a while, when I didn’t get anything back from him, I quit trying.
By the time I met Bill, I didn’t feel married anymore.
It was wrong. I knew it then, and I know it now, but my only defense is that I was lonely and vulnerable, and I liked the way he made me feel important again.
None of this is intended to excuse my behavior.
I should’ve asked your father for a divorce, and I’ll always regret how I handled that time in my life.
I hurt you and your sisters and your father, the four people I loved the most. I’m very sorry for that. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
Sam appreciated the apology, as she had the first time her mother offered it.
“I hope you believe me when I tell you it’s my biggest regret, the one thing I’d do differently if I had it to do over.”
“I believe you. But we can’t go backward. Only forward, and I’m glad you’re back, that we can see each other again.”
“You have no idea how glad of that I am.” Brenda blinked back tears as she placed her hand over Sam’s. “No idea. I missed so much with you.”
Sam gave her mother’s hand a squeeze.
“Enough of that.” Brenda wiped her eyes and smiled. “You came here to talk about the case. What can I do to help? I’ll do anything I can.”
“Talk to me about Paul Conklin.”