Chapter Sixteen
Sam released him and sat back as he fished the phone out of his pocket.
“What’s up?” he asked in a gruff tone that probably told Terry exactly what he was interrupting.
Only because she was watching him so closely did she notice shock register on his face. What now?
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
His entire body tightened with tension that pissed her off. She’d had him on the way to relaxed.
To Sam, he said, “Turn on the TV. Channel 26.”
Sam was almost afraid to do as he asked, but she got up to find the remote. And when she turned on the TV, she had to blink twice in rapid succession to believe what she was seeing. Nick’s estranged mother was giving an interview about his decision not to run for president. What the actual fuck?
The caption at the bottom of the screen read, “Nicoletta Bernadino, mother of Vice President Nick Cappuano.”
Nick sat on the bed and put the phone on speaker as he stared at the face of his mother, who’d been told all her life she resembled actress Sophia Loren.
Sam sat next to him as they listened to Nicoletta talk with authority about the vice president as if she spoke to him regularly.
She didn’t.
When Sam looked at her mother-in-law, she didn’t see the serene beauty of Sophia Loren. She saw a shameless user who’d neglected her son all his life and now wanted to capitalize on his success.
“He very much wants to be president, but not now,” Nicoletta said.
“Did you tell her that?” Terry asked.
“I haven’t talked to her in months, since I threatened her with legal action if she didn’t stay out of my business.”
“Might be time to take that legal action to shut her up.”
“It’s apparently overdue,” Nick said, sounding incredulous.
Sam wished she could get her hands on the woman so she could wring her neck. Hadn’t she hurt him enough during a childhood full of broken promises? Anytime she crawled out from under her rock, she made trouble for Nick, and Sam wasn’t having that.
“Let’s not watch this train wreck.” Sam shut off the television. “Terry, will you please issue a statement for the vice president?”
“Of course.”
“Have it say this: Vice President Cappuano is not in contact with his mother. She has no inside information about his deliberation process and speaks with no authority about or for him. She has been, at best, an occasional walk-on character in his life, which was entirely her choice from the beginning. Anything she says about him, his family or his career should be taken as complete fiction. You got that?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Issue it immediately.”
“Will do. I’ll speak to you in the morning, Mr. Vice President.”
“Thank you, Terry,” Nick said as he ended the call.
“Now,” Sam said, dropping back to her knees in front of him and placing her hands on his thighs. “Where were we?”
He twirled lengths of her hair around his fingers and smiled down at her. “Remind me never to cross you.”
The sadness she saw so plainly in his eyes infuriated her. She’d love five minutes alone with her mother-in-law, but there’d probably be blood and paperwork to contend with afterward. “Is it okay to say I hate your mother?”
“It’s okay.”
“Can we get back to what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted?”
“You know I never say no to one of your superdeluxe treatments, but would it be okay if we did this instead?” He gave a gentle tug to bring her to her feet, then wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head against her.
Sam wanted to rage over the way his mother continued to hurt him. She ran her fingers through his hair and held on tight, giving him as much love as she possibly could.
“That statement you drafted on the fly was perfection,” he said after a long period of quiet.
“I do what I can for the people.”
He pulled back to gaze at her. “Thank God I have you and our family.”
“You’ll always have us. You’re our hero, and we love you more than anything.”
“Thank you for loving me.”
She smiled at the reminder of their wedding song. “Easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
Sam carried the incident with Nick’s mother and his shattered reaction to it with her as she left the house the next morning after having breakfast with him and the kids.
He’d put on a good front for the kids. They probably hadn’t noticed the sadness in his eyes, but Sam had seen it and continued to be furious by what his mother could do to him with her selfishness.
No doubt the network had paid her to come on and spread her bullshit.
Sam glanced toward the checkpoint, her eyes bugging at the massive media presence, and then groaned when her detail approached her.
“Mrs. Cappuano,” Vernon said, “we’d like to drive you today.”
“That’s not happening. Anything else?”
He started to say something, seemed to think better of it and then shook his head.
“Good, now can you please get me out of here? I’ve got to get to work.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It took her two agents working with six others at the checkpoint to get her through the crowd that shouted questions at her as she drove past them. She picked up bits and pieces of what they were saying: “convince him to run,” “his mother,” “want to be president,” “because of Nelson.”
Did they think she was going to stop, roll down her window and suddenly get chatty with them about her husband’s career when she’d never said a word about it or him in all the months he’d been in office?
Not going to happen in this or any other lifetime.
But she was curious about what was being said about them, so she turned on WTOP and caught the broadcast in the midst of covering Nick’s decision and the subsequent fallout.
“The vice president’s office immediately issued a statement that discredited Ms. Bernadino and referred to the apparent estrangement between Vice President Cappuano and his mother.
According to sources close to the vice president, he’s never had a relationship with his mother, who was largely absent from his childhood.
Ms. Bernadino has given several interviews since her son became vice president, but each time, the vice president has reaffirmed the fact that he’s not in contact with her.
Last night’s statement was the most pointed one yet on the topic of his mother.
“In other news, after the announcement from the vice president that shook Washington’s halls of power yesterday, the Democratic National Committee finds itself back to square one with the party’s assumed frontrunner out of the race.
We’ve got DNC chair Brandon Halliwell with us for an exclusive interview.
Mr. Halliwell, when did you find out the vice president had decided not to run in the next election? ”
“A little before the rest of the world heard the news.”
“Was it a surprise to you?”
“Not completely. In hindsight, the vice president has been indicating for some time in private meetings and other deliberations that he might not run. I’ll admit that I and others within the party leadership had fervently hoped he’d change his mind.
That said, I do respect his reasons for sitting this one out. ”
“Did you expect the outpouring of disappointment and even anger since the vice president released his statement yesterday?”
“That didn’t surprise me. I already knew how popular he has become, which is why I was so excited about his potential run. I was disappointed that he decided not to run, so I get why others are, too.”
They went on to talk about other potential contenders for the Democratic nomination, and Sam could almost feel the lack of enthusiasm in Halliwell’s voice.
She understood how he felt. No one but Nick Cappuano would do for her either.
With her beloved husband in mind, she flipped open her phone and, while stopped dead in traffic, put through a call to Avery Hill.
She hadn’t yet figured out how to use the Bluetooth to make an outgoing call, but didn’t want to admit that to anyone, especially Freddie.
He’d take too much pleasure in mocking her.
“Good morning. Don’t tell me you’re blowing me off this afternoon.”
“I reserve the right to blow you off later if my day spins out of control, but that’s not why I’m calling.”
“What’s up?”
“I need an inappropriate personal favor.”
“I’m a married man now, Sam. I don’t give out those kinds of favors to other women anymore.”
Sam snorted with laughter at how his suggestive words were dipped in the sweetest of honey thanks to his accent. “Very funny. This is about Nick’s mom. Did you see her bullshit interview last night?”
“I might’ve caught part of it.”
“We have to do something about her. If you could see what it does to him when she slithers out from under her rock… It’s unbearable.”
“Ugh. That sucks. What can I do?”
“Find her, send some agents to talk to her, put a scare on her?”
“Hmm, well, that might be considered an inappropriate use of government resources.”
“Not if you’re using your resources to protect the vice president.”
“That’s true.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Where is she?”
“Last I knew, she lived in Cleveland, which is why I called you. I don’t have federal jurisdiction like you do.”
“I’ll look into it. I can’t promise you anything, but I will take a look.”
“Thank you.”
“Regardless of Nick’s standing as the VP, this still counts as an inappropriate personal favor.”
“Understood. I’ll owe you one.”
“Nah, it’s fine. It’ll be fun to scare her into shutting her mouth.”
“Trust me when I tell you, almost no one I know is more in need of a scare from the FBI than she is.”
“I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you.”
“Thanks, Avery. How’s Shelby feeling? I haven’t seen her in a couple of days.”
“The mornings are rough, but the rest of the day, she feels good. She’s always tired, though. Her sister told her to expect this pregnancy to be tougher than when she was expecting Noah because she has to take care of him, too.”
“I’ll check in with her to make sure we’re not working her too hard.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you this afternoon. Don’t blow me off.”