Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
S am rushed through a shower and got dressed in jeans and a top that could use ironing, but who had time for such things? She headed to the kitchen to whip up some French toast sticks for the twins and an egg sandwich for Scotty.
He was pouring coffee when she walked in.
She stopped short. “What is happening?”
“A man needs a kick of caffeine to survive the eighth grade. That’s what is happening.”
“A man does, huh?”
“That’s right. My friends have been getting Starbucks for two years already. I promise it won’t stunt my growth or whatever else you might think.”
She held up her hands. “I’ve got no objection, but I’d recommend only one cup and none after noon if you want to sleep at night.”
“Done. Excellent negotiation.”
“It doesn’t count as a negotiation if you’re already doing the thing you know I’m going to object to before negotiations begin.”
He gave her a shrewd look. “That’s fair.”
“Next time, we negotiate first , you got me? ”
“Yes, Mother.”
“French toast sticks for everyone,” Alden yelled as he and Aubrey came running into the kitchen, wearing their adorable burgundy-and-gray plaid school uniforms.
Sam held out her arms to hug them. “How are my sweeties today?”
“Good!” Aubrey said with a fist pump that just missed connecting with Sam’s jaw.
She gave a tug to the little girl’s ponytail. “Nick did a good job with your hair.”
“And it didn’t hurt at all!”
Sam served their breakfast along with the syrup and confectioner’s sugar they loved, as well as the orange slices she insisted they have so they’d get something healthy. She’d learned to tuck a hand towel over their school clothes to protect them from syrup and sugar.
Scotty sipped his coffee and scrolled through his phone as she made eggs and toast for his breakfast sandwich.
“What’s going on in the world?” Sam asked him.
He gave her a look that was all Nick. It still took her breath away whenever she saw her husband in him, proving nurture was every bit as important as nature. “You really want to know?”
“Give me the highlights—or lowlights, such as they are.”
“Troubles in Iraq, which we knew because Dad had to go downstairs last night.”
“What are they doing now?”
“Warring factions causing concern for a wider conflict in the Middle East.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s not good.”
“Ah, thank you for that succinct summary.”
“What does that mean, Sam?” Alden asked. “Suc-cinct.”
Sam put an egg sandwich in front of Scotty. “It means summing things up in just a few words. ”
“Oh, okay.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said between bites, before continuing his recitation of the headlines. “There’s flooding in upstate New York and talk of a labor strike in a chicken processing factory in Arkansas.”
“Chickens come from factories?” Aubrey asked, wide-eyed.
“No, silly,” Alden said. “They come from eggs .”
“Wait, so if Scotty eats the egg that Sam made for him, will he have a chicken?”
Scotty and Sam tried not to laugh, but it exploded out of them anyway.
“No,” Scotty said when he could speak again. “I won’t have a chicken.”
“Why do they need a factory, then?”
“That’s a story for another time.” Sam figured that telling her about chickens being slaughtered so they could be eaten wasn’t the best visual to send Aubrey off to school with. “Go brush your teeth and wash the sugar off your faces.”
After they took off, Sam cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher.
“Nice deflection, Mom. You know we haven’t heard the last of that question.”
“Probably not, but oh my God, when she asked if you would have a chicken…”
“Hilarious.” He put his plate and mug in the sink and kissed Sam’s cheek. “Have a good day.”
“You, too. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
She heard him talking to his detail, telling them he needed a minute and then he’d be ready to go.
The twins returned from brushing their teeth, and Sam loaded them up with backpacks and the lunch boxes Nick had packed for them the night before. Sometimes she could make herself believe they were just another ordinary American family going about their morning routine. That was, until Secret Service agents came to collect the twins to deliver them to school.
Sam kissed them goodbye and waved them off, thankful for the agents who would see to their safety when she and Nick couldn’t.
Glancing at the clock, she called Carlucci for an update before she and Dominguez punched out for the day.
“Hey, LT, I was just going to call you.”
“How’d it go last night?”
“We waited at the Myerson home for the daughters to get home. As far as we could tell, they were shocked and devastated as well as confused about why they had to leave the house to go to stay with their aunt. We didn’t get much of a chance to ask them where they’d been all day or anything like that yet.”
“We’ll get on that today.”
“We knocked on doors up and down the street. None of the neighbors saw anything suspicious going on at the house during the day yesterday. Archie is working on getting film from cameras in the area. I printed out social media posts from both daughters and the mother, which was all pretty routine stuff. We didn’t find anything for the father online. We started on the financials and have turned that over to Green to finish.”
“Good work, Dani. Thank you.”
“You got it. I’ll check in later.”
After she ended the call, Sam ate some yogurt and finished her coffee before heading downstairs to meet Vernon and Jimmy for another day in paradise, suspecting the best part of the day had already transpired with her loved ones. She couldn’t wait to tell Nick about the chicken and the egg. The Littles never ceased to entertain them with their innocence and curiosity.
Speaking of Nick… Her phone lit up with a call from him. “Hey, I was just thinking about you.”
“Sam. ”
“What’s wrong?”
“Andy heard from an attorney in California that the twins’ grandparents intend to file for custody.”
Her heart stopped for a second, and her stomach turned. “ What? We already took care of that.”
“Apparently, they’re basing their case on the fact that living with us, the kids are surrounded by Secret Service agents, and that’s no way for two children who’ve tragically lost their parents to live.”
“Oh my God. Do they have a case?”
“Andy doesn’t think so, but he isn’t a hundred percent sure.”
“Come on. How can this be happening again?”
“I don’t know, but Andy said we should take comfort in the fact that Jameson and Cleo’s instructions were airtight. Elijah is their legal guardian, and it’s very rare for a court to undo the wishes of the parents.”
“Rare but not unprecedented?”
“He didn’t say that, but it was implied, and this is certainly an unusual situation.”
“Have you told Eli?”
“Not yet. You were my first call after I heard from Andy.”
“I was thinking of you because they were so cute this morning, and I wanted to tell you…” Her voice caught on the huge lump in her throat.
“Try not to panic, Sam. We still have their parents’ wishes on our side, and that counts for a lot.”
“We could adopt them. All of them. Eli, too. If we did that, maybe then…”
“That’s not a bad idea. Let me run it by Andy and see what he says. Don’t forget that the twins are old enough to speak for themselves about what they want. That’ll matter.”
“God, I hope so. I feel like I’ve had the legs knocked right out from under me.”
“Me, too. Tell me what happened this morning. ”
Sam smiled as she relayed the story about the chickens and the egg.
He laughed. “I love that, and good call about not telling them what goes on at a chicken processing factory. They’d never let us eat chicken again.”
“That was my fear.” Her heart contracted painfully. “We can’t lose them, Nick. We just can’t.”
“We won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”
She wanted so badly to believe he had the power to fix anything, but life didn’t work that way, even for the president.
“Try not to worry, babe. We’ve got the best people on this, and I’ll talk to Elijah about adoption and see what he thinks.”
“Let me know.”
“I will. I’m sorry to have to drop this on you with everything else you’ve got going on.”
“I’m glad Andy is on it. He doesn’t fuck around.”
“No, he doesn’t. I have to run to a meeting, but I’ll keep you posted. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Sam felt hollow inside as she tucked the BlackBerry into her pocket.
“Everything okay?” Vernon asked.
“The twins’ grandparents are making noise about custody again.”
“Oh damn. No way.”
“It’s unbearable.”
“Did I hear you say something about adoption?”
“I suggested to Nick that we should consider adopting all three of them and putting an end to this madness.”
“That’s a great idea. Will Elijah go for it?”
“I really hope so.”
She couldn’t bear to think of a world without Aubrey and Alden in their daily lives .
The call to Eli was as difficult for Nick as the one to Sam had been.
“How can they do this? The will is airtight.”
Nick heard panic in every word the young man said. “Yes, it is, and Andy says that’ll matter more than just about anything.”
“But you’re worried. I can hear it in your voice.”
“They have a point about the kids living with Secret Service, security concerns, high profiles…”
“They’re living with people who love them! That should matter more than anything else.”
“You and I agree on that, but who knows what the courts will say?”
Nick feared getting a judge who thought he was an illegitimate president and who might stick it to him, but he’d never say that out loud, even to Sam or Eli. They were upset enough.
“Sam had an interesting thought.”
“What’s that?”
“What if we adopted all three of you?”
“Can you adopt a legal adult?”
“I don’t see why not. Would you be down for that?”
“We’d keep the Armstrong last name?”
“Whatever you want.”
“That’d be important to me.”
“Totally understood.”
“What does Andy think?” Eli asked.
“I haven’t asked him yet. I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
“I’d be for it, if it would put an end to these people trying to take the twins from us.”
“It would certainly do that, and not for nothing, it would make us a legal family. I like the idea of that.”
“I do, too, since we’re already a family.”
“We love you all, Eli, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep our family together. Try not to worry too much. Your parents’ wishes will be heavily weighted, like they were before.”
“Since they’ve barely checked on the kids in months, this makes me wonder if Cleo’s family is having financial trouble and they want to get their hands on the kids’ money.” Jameson Armstrong had been worth billions, which his three children had inherited.
“I’ll mention that possibility to Andy. He’ll put someone on it. I’ll be back to you as soon as I hear anything. In the meantime, try not to worry too much.”
“Not sure how I’ll think about anything else.”
“I know. Hang in there. More to come.”
After he ended that call, Nick asked Julie to get Andy on the line for him.
“Hey,” he said to his longtime friend and lawyer. “I spoke to Sam and Eli, and we have an idea. What if Sam and I were to adopt all three of them?”
“You could certainly take those steps. I’m not sure if it would shut down this latest volley by the mother’s family, though. You might still have to go through the motions of a hearing and whatnot.”
“How can they do this when Elijah is their legal guardian?”
“They’re claiming extraordinary circumstances, and the presidency certainly qualifies as extraordinary.”
“Worst thing I ever did was become the VP.”
“Don’t look at it that way.”
“How should I look at a decision that upended my life and the lives of my family and put a level of scrutiny on us that gives these people a case for custody?”
“It’s a long-shot case. Remember that.”
“All we need is one judge with an ax to grind against the president or his wife, and we’ve lost our kids.”
“A lot of other things would have to happen for that to occur, so don’t go there yet. Let me look into the adoption angle and see what we can do. ”
“Hurry, Andy. We need to get this locked and loaded before they can take those kids from us. It would ruin us.”
“I understand. I’m on it.”
“While you’re at it, have someone look into the family’s financial situation. Eli suspects they’re more interested in the kids’ money than they are in them.”
“Will do. I’ll be back to you soon.”
Terry came into the Oval Office as Nick was concluding the call with Andy. The news about the twins’ grandparents had sent his morning careening off the rails. “We’re due to head to Baltimore, Mr. President.”
“I’m ready.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Nope. I’ll tell you about it in the car.”
Nick’s lead agent, John Brantley Jr., led the way to the West Wing foyer and to The Beast outside. Once ensconced in the back seat of the presidential limousine with Terry, Nick updated his chief of staff and friend on what was happening with the twins’ grandparents.
“Oh, jeez. I thought you’d seen the last of them.”
“Me, too, but they’re suing this time using the special circumstances of me being president to make a case that the kids would be better off with them. Eli suspects it’s got more to do with the kids’ money than with wanting them.”
“Of course it does. Does Andy have someone looking into that angle?”
“Yeah, he’s on it. Sam suggested we adopt the three of them to put an end to this once and for all.”
“That’s a great idea. What did Elijah say?”
“He’s for it if they can keep Armstrong as their last name.”
“They could also hyphenate.”
“I guess.”
“Are you okay?”
“It’s exhausting, all this shit happening simply because of the office I hold. If I’d had any idea it would be this crazy, I never would’ve become vice president.”
“Lindsey and I were talking about Juan last night and everything that’s happened since you took over for Nelson. She made a great point about the difference between internal conflict and external. You have some control over the internal stuff, but not the external. Going all the way back to Raskin and the bad decisions he made in Iran—that was on him, not you. The Fort Liberty shooting was on the shooter, not you. What the Joint Chiefs did and what happened to Juan is not on you.”
“I get that, but it’s all happened because of me holding this office.”
“Sure, but other people’s actions are no reflection on you.”
“Aren’t they, though? A soldier shoots up his colleagues because he’d rather do that than serve under me as his commander in chief. Take me out of the picture, and those people are alive today. Juan is alive today.”
He experienced a twinge of guilt at keeping the news about Juan from Terry, but for now, discretion was important. That whole situation was beyond fucked up, and he dreaded the fallout that would occur when the truth came out. It would be more bad publicity, especially if the twins’ grandparents went public with their efforts to gain custody. And why wouldn’t they appeal to the public’s sympathy for the poor grandparents denied access to their orphaned grandchildren?
“I wish there was something I could say to relieve you of this burden of responsibility for other people’s actions, but I know how hard it is for you.”
“I’ll survive. Don’t worry.”
“The DNC is circling, wanting to hear you’re running for reelection.”
Nick laughed. “No fucking way. I’m three years and out. Make that two and a half now. Can’t go by fast enough for me.”
“Nick…”
“Terry. It’s not happening. ”
“They’ll be very disappointed.”
“They’ll survive.”
Nick watched the world go by as they traveled north on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, trying to shed the shit mood he was in so he could give his brothers a day they’d never forget. Brock and Brayden were more than thirty years younger than him, so they’d never be brothers in the traditional sense of the word, but Nick loved them and wanted to be there for them as they grew into men. As the younger brothers of the president, people would be interested in them, always watching them. He intended to do everything he could to make sure they succeeded in this world, despite the added scrutiny that came from being his brothers.