Chapter Four
Sam felt like she’d been sucker-punched. “Where… where did you hear that?”
“At school. Someone said they asked if you were having real kids, and I didn’t know what that meant. I think it means babies, but I wasn’t entirely sure.”
Sam wanted to weep and wail and throat-punch the insensitive reporter who’d asked that question at a recent briefing. “What it means is that people are stupid.”
“Well, I already knew that much,” Scotty said with the cheeky grin she loved so much. It was very similar to Nick’s.
“A reporter asked me if Dad and I were going to have kids of our own, and I went off on her, letting her know I already have three kids of my own who I love with all my heart.”
“So she meant babies are real kids?”
“Who knows?”
He gave her the withering look that was her trademark. Apparently, he was borrowing from both their playbooks. “They meant babies that you would have, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“For what it’s worth, pal,” Nick said, “I lost my shit with that reporter’s boss and let them know how offensive we found that question.
You, Alden, Aubrey and Elijah are our family, our kids, the only kids we need, and we love you all very much.
You know that.” Elijah, a sophomore at Princeton, was the twins’ older brother and legal guardian, but Sam and Nick had let him know he had a family in them now that his father and stepmother were gone.
“I do. Of course I do. We all know that. But, if you want to have babies, too, that’d be cool.”
“That’s kind of a tough subject for us. Have you heard the word infertility before?”
“Isn’t that what your speech was about that time?”
“Yeah, it was. I have trouble getting pregnant and staying pregnant.” Sam hoped she wasn’t giving him more information than he needed, but it was important to her to tell him the truth—always.
“Oh, so like you can’t have babies?”
“Right. I would if I could, but it hasn’t happened.”
“And that’s why you adopted me.”
“No! We adopted you because we fell madly in love with you and needed you in our family. It had nothing to do with whether we could have babies. It was entirely about you.”
“Mom is right,” Nick said. “From the first time I met you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you or wanting to see you again. Making you part of our family was the best thing we ever did. You made us a family, buddy.”
“That’s nice of you to say.”
“You know I mean it,” Nick said. “We love you, Scotty. We have from the very beginning. Please tell me you know that.”
“I do.”
“People say the most insensitive things sometimes,” Sam said. “Making it sound like adopted children aren’t our own is the most insensitive thing anyone could say to someone who has adopted children. I wanted to stab her.”
“With your rusty steak knife?”
“Yes! With the rustiest steak knife ever.”
Scotty laughed. “I’ll bet you were pissed.”
“You have no idea.”
“We both were,” Nick said. “I went ballistic when I saw that. Her network got an irate phone call from the vice president.”
“That must’ve made their day.”
“I’m pretty sure it made their day very shitty, which is exactly what they deserved,” Nick said.
“There was a lot of outrage over it, not only from us. People wrote op-eds in the Post and the Star about the importance of adoption and the need to respect the sanctity of families, however they’re composed. ”
“I think our family is pretty cool,” Scotty said.
“It’s not only us and the twins, but it’s also Elijah and Shelby and Avery and Noah and the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, not to mention all the friends, like Graham and Laine, who’re like extra grandparents.
And then there’s my biological father…” Since meeting the man who’d fathered him, Scotty had maintained contact with him and saw him occasionally.
“That’s right,” Sam said. “Our family is the coolest. I’m going to be honest with you about something big. Are you ready for this?”
Scotty glanced at Nick. “Is it normal to be afraid when she says something like that?”
“Completely normal. You never know what she’s going to say.”
“I can hear you two,” Sam said, amused as always by them.
“Before you joined us, my most pressing need was to have a baby. It was all I thought about. I’ve had a lot of disappointments in that regard.
” The statement glossed over years of infertility, miscarriages and heartbreak her son didn’t need to know about.
“But after you came to live with us, and I got to be your mom, that stuff doesn’t hurt me the way it once did.
I’m still sad about the fact that I can’t seem to do what comes so easily to other women, but I’m not heartbroken anymore, and that’s because of you.
” She placed her hand on his face and looked him in the eyes.
“You made me a mom, and you’re the realest and bestest kid I’ve ever known.
I wouldn’t want any other boy in the world to be my son but you. ”
His lips lifted into a small smile. “Bestest isn’t a word.”
“I say it is, and you are the very bestest.”
“So are you. Thanks for telling me all that gross stuff about babies.”
“It’s certainly not for a lack of trying on our part.”
“Stop it right now.”
Sam lost it laughing at his look of complete horror, and when she hugged him again, he let her.
“Can we talk about something else?” Nick asked as he stepped into the room.
Scotty gave him a wary look. “Something bad?”
“No, buddy. I think it’s good news. I’ve decided I’m not going to run for president.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How come?”
“Because I’d much rather be here with you, your mom and the twins than on the road campaigning for more than a year.”
Scotty appeared to give that careful thought. “Are you sure? Because I read on NPR’s website that you’re, like, the most likely candidate to be elected if the election were tomorrow.”
“You’re reading NPR?” Nick asked, seeming amazed.
“I keep track of what’s going on,” Scotty said with a huff of indignance that made his parents laugh. “And I thought it’d be kind of cool to live in the White House.”
“I think it’s one of those things that sounds good on paper, but it occurred to me that if I ran and somehow managed to win—”
“You’d so win,” Scotty said.
“Thanks for your vote, but it occurred to me that if I did win, you’d live in the White House the whole time you’re in high school, and that might begin to feel a bit confining for you.”
“Hmm, yeah, that might kinda suck after a while.”
“That’s my fear. One of them, anyway.”
“And Mom would hate it.”
“That, too.”
“That’s not true!” Sam said. “I’d do it for you.”
“And you’d hate it,” Scotty and Nick said together before laughing at their own joke and sharing a high five.
“If you two are finished…”
“I hear what you’re saying,” Scotty said, “and I get why you’re saying it, but I wouldn’t want to be the reason you don’t run.”
“Me either,” Sam said.
“You’re not the reason, but you’re both part of it.
I waited all my life to have a family, and now that I do, the last thing in the world I want to do is be separated from you guys for any reason.
It’s enough that I have to travel as VP, but campaigning would be an eighteen-month grind of primaries and then the general election.
I don’t want to do that. I don’t want the job badly enough to put any of us through that, not to mention the scrutiny, the security, the attention and nonstop media coverage.
Ack, no. Being VP has been more than enough for me. ”
“As long as it’s not because of me, then I support your decision,” Scotty said.
“I appreciate that,” Nick said, clearly amused by his intelligent comment. “Do me a favor and don’t mention it to anyone until I can talk to Graham?”
“I won’t say anything.”
“Appreciate it, buddy.”
“And with that,” Sam said, “we’re outta here. Finish your homework and go to bed.”
“Did you get that line from the mother website, too?”
“Nope, that one’s all mine.” She kissed the top of his head. “If anyone gives you shit about anything at school, let me know. I’ll make sure they get arrested and sent to juvie.”
“You can’t do that,” he said, his tone dripping with disdain.
“They don’t know that. I could make them sweat, and I’d do it for you in a red-hot second.”
He rolled his eyes, which was another trait of hers. “It might be better for all of us if I take care of the middle school nonsense while you worry about the killers.”
“You’re a wise young man, Scott Cappuano,” Nick said. “And we love you.”
“Love you, too. Go away so I can finish this nightmare called homework.”
“Don’t stay up too late,” Nick said.
“I won’t.”
Sam got up to leave the room, giving Nick a murderous look that she knew he’d understand. That they’d even had to have a conversation with Scotty about “real kids” made her crazy.
“You guys?”
They turned back to him.
“I’m thankful all the time that you came to Richmond that day and we met each other. I wanted you to know that.”
“That was one of the best days of my entire life,” Nick said.
“Better than becoming VP?”
“A thousand, million, bazillion times better. See you in the morning.”
Smiling, Scotty said, “Night.”
Nick let Sam go ahead of him, closed Scotty’s door and followed her into their bedroom, where she whirled around to face him.
“I want to kill that woman.”
“Don’t do that, babe. Think of the paperwork…”
“I’m going to call her and let her know what her dumbass, ignorant, what-the-ever-loving-fuck-is-wrong-with-her question led to.”
He smiled at her choice of words. “That might not be a bad idea.”
“It’s the best idea I ever had. In fact, maybe I’ll go there and have it out with her in person and make her day.”
“Uh, well…”
“Don’t tell me not to protect my kid, Nick. Please don’t do that.”
“I’d never tell you not to do that, but you tend to shy away from the kind of publicity a confrontation like that is apt to generate.”
“In this case, I don’t care.” She glanced up at him. “Unless it’ll cause heartburn for you.”
“I couldn’t care less about that.”