Chapter Eighteen #2
“That’s what Sam said, too. But still… I spent a year with her, and I knew she could be intense at times, but I never saw anything to indicate she was capable of vandalism.”
“At least that’s all she did. I had a few rough moments when I thought about how she could’ve been waiting for you out there with a gun.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m lucky it was only my tires.”
“You’re very lucky.”
“I don’t understand why I’m not allowed to say this relationship isn’t working for me anymore without having to worry about having her come for me or my stuff or other people I care about.”
“People are crazy.”
“You’re not.”
“I’ve got a tiny bit of crazy in me. I bet you do, too.”
“Maybe a little, but I’d never flatten your tires or burst your spleen if you told me you didn’t want to be with me anymore.”
“Well, since I no longer have a spleen, that’s good to know.”
Smiling, he reached up to caress her face. “I’d never hurt any part of you, no matter what you said you wanted—or didn’t want.”
“Same. I don’t have puncturing tires in me, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t, but that’s good to know.”
“Can we get back to kissing now?”
Smiling wider now, he said, “If we must.”
“We must. We absolutely must.”
When Sam got home to the residence, she had to go looking for the kids, who were in the third-floor conservatory playing a game of Jenga with Eli.
“You’re still here,” Sam said to him as she hugged Aubrey and Alden and messed with Scotty’s hair. “I thought you had to go back to Princeton.”
“Tomorrow. The one class I had today was canceled, so I decided to stay. Celia got invited out to dinner with her sisters, so I told her I’d hold down the fort here.”
“We’re glad to have you, and I bet these guys are, too.”
“I’m so happy Lijah is here,” Aubrey said. “He gets to come for a whole month next week.”
“That’s going to be so much fun,” Sam said, smoothing her fingers over the little girl’s damp hair. “Thanks for overseeing baths.”
“My pleasure,” Eli said. “I wish I could do it more often.”
“You’ll have a whole month together very soon.”
“I can’t wait.”
“No sign of Dad yet?”
“We heard he got called to the Situation Room around seven,” Scotty said.
“Ugh,” Sam said. “What now?” She’d already grown to hate the Situation Room and everything that went on there.
“Mom, wait until you see how high Eli can get the Jenga,” Scotty said.
Sam hung with them for an hour, heard everything that’d happened that day, was impressed by Eli’s Jenga skills and delighted by the squeals of laughter from the twins when the tower collapsed with a huge crash. She and Eli wrangled the Littles into bed around nine.
“Three more school nights, and then you’re on vacation,” she told them as she tucked them in after one quick story from their big brother.
“Will you be here in the morning, Lijah?” Alden asked.
“I certainly will. I’ll see you before school, and then I’ll be back this weekend.” He gave them both noisy kisses that made them giggle before leaving them to sleep. “They’re so damned cute.”
“They certainly are.”
He ran a hand over the back of his neck, his expression tense. “I hate having this custody thing hanging over us with Christmas coming.”
“Hopefully, the judge will agree to hear the case this week. If there’s any benefit to living here, it’s that when the president asks for something, people tend to listen.”
“I sure hope so. I’ve got some work to do for class tomorrow.”
Sam gave him a quick hug. “I’ll see you in the morning. Keep reminding yourself what Andy said about having the advantage in this situation because your dad and Cleo were very specific about what they wanted for the kids.”
“I’ll try. Thanks for everything, Sam.”
“We love you guys. We’ll do whatever we can for you.”
“We love you, too. Your support means everything to me.”
“Try to get some rest.”
“You, too.”
She left him at the door to his room and went to knock on Scotty’s door.
“Enter.”
Sam stepped into a room that looked remarkably similar to his room on Ninth Street. He had the Caps game on the TV as he did homework. “You put up your posters.”
“Yeah, Eli helped me do it earlier.”
“Looks like home.”
“Starting to feel like it, too.”
She went in to sit on the edge of his bed. “I’m glad to hear that. How’d school go today?”
“Another day in paradise.”
“That’s one of my lines, and it’s trademarked.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say.” After a pause, he said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“This custody thing with the twins…”
“I don’t want you to worry about that.”
“I’m worried. It’s the weirdest thing. They’ve only been with us for a couple of months, and it’s already like they’ve been here forever.”
“I know. We feel the same way.”
“We can’t lose them,” Scotty said, his chin quivering.
Sam moved closer to hug him. “We’re not going to lose them. Andy says our case is really strong because their parents were very clear about who they wanted to be their guardian. Eli gets to decide where they live and make all the important decisions for them.”
“But now that Dad is president, the judge might think they’re in danger or something.”
His concern made her sad and mad at the people causing it. “They have the best security in the world looking out for them.”
“I love our family,” Scotty said softly. “It’s the family I’ve always wanted.”
“Same, buddy. Dad and I will fight to keep everything just the way it is. I don’t want you to worry.”
“I can’t help it. I love them—and Eli. For the first time in my life, I have siblings. I don’t want to lose them.”
“You won’t.”
He hadn’t let her hug him that tightly since he became a teenager who disdained maternal affection. But he clung to her just as tightly.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said. “I promise.” As she said those words, she prayed it was a promise she could keep.
“Will you tell me what’s happening?”
“Of course. Try to think about the good things—Christmas is coming, we’re all going to be on vacation for a week together at Camp David, which I hear is very fun, and no algebra for, like, two whole weeks.”
“That’s better than Christmas,” he said with the dry humor that was more like his usual disposition.
“Tracy, Angela, Celia, Shelby and all the kids are coming, too. You’ll have so much fun.”
“I am looking forward to all that, but do I really have to wear a tux on Christmas Eve?”
She gave him a playful bop on the head. “Take that up with your dad. He’s the one who thought it would be fun to make Christmas Eve formal.”
“Ugh. He becomes president, and suddenly he gets all fancy.”
Sam laughed. “I know, right?” In truth, she thought the formal party with their friends and family would be a lot of fun, but she couldn’t tell Scotty that.
She was especially excited about the designer gown her friend Marcus was creating for her to wear.
“I want you to talk to us about how you’re feeling about the custody situation. ”
“I will.”
“But I also want you to not worry. Andy is all over it, and he’s the best.”
“I know.”
“You want to know something else?”
“Sure.”
“I loved you a whole lot before the twins came to live with us, but I love you a hundred million times more after seeing you as a big brother.”
“I love being a big brother—and a little brother, too. It’s the best.”
“We won’t let anything mess that up.”
“Thanks for that and everything else, too.”
“Love you to the moon and back.”
Again, he rolled his eyes. “People say that to babies.”
“I didn’t get to say it to you when you were a baby, so you gotta let me make up for lost time.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so, and what I say goes.”
“I’m glad I’m only your son and don’t work for you. Poor Freddie.”
“Haha, very funny. He knows how lucky he is to work with me.”
“Sure he does.”
She kissed his forehead and got up to leave. “Don’t stay up too late.”
“I’m staying up all night on vacation.”
“I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Drove my dad crazy.”
“I sure do miss him.”
“Me, too. Can’t you picture him rolling around the halls of the residence, being into everything?”
“He’d love it—and he’d be ordering all the food on the menu from the butlers.”
“Especially the endless ice cream.”
“That’s my favorite, too.”
“We’re going to need to make frequent use of the gym with the way they feed us here.”
“I’ll go if you go.”
“It’s a date. Add it to our vacation to-do list. See you in the morning, buddy.”
“Night, Mom.”
Mom.
God, she never got tired of hearing him call her that.