Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Do you want to play NHL?” Scotty asked Ethan when the other kids went to play in Tracy’s small backyard while the moms had coffee in the kitchen. He and Ethan often played their favorite videogame when they were together.
“Nah.”
“It might be fun to do something normal, you know?”
“Not sure anything will ever be normal again.”
“Remember how I used to live in a home for kids in Richmond, before Sam and Nick adopted me?”
“Yeah.”
“Mrs. Littlefield was my guardian then, and she used to talk to us about how there’s a new normal after something bad happens, and the good news about the new normal is we get to figure out for ourselves what that looks like.”
“Did she say how to do that?”
“First, she’d say, you have to figure out what you need to be happy and healthy. Then you have to figure out how to get it.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be happy again. They killed Luna.” Ethan’s eyes went bright with tears. “They actually killed her, all because she didn’t like Brecken.”
“That’ll never make sense to you as someone who cares about other people. Not everyone does, you know.”
“I know that now. I wish I didn’t know that.”
“You knew it before now. Remember what happened to Grandpa Skip and Uncle Spencer? Those things happened because people who don’t care about others did bad things that harmed them.
You and me… We’re not like that. We care about what happens to others, which is why you’ll be happy again someday.
Caring about other people will make you happy. ”
“I can’t stop thinking about Luna and how nice she was to me. And that she thought she was coming to meet me. Did she die thinking I betrayed her?”
“She was probably smart enough to figure out who betrayed her—and it wasn’t you. You were nowhere to be found when she was harmed. You didn’t do it. They did.”
“I hope she doesn’t think I’d ever try to hurt her.”
“She doesn’t, and wherever she is now, she knows the truth.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Well, obviously, I don’t know for certain, but if you believe there’s an afterlife, then you have to also believe it’s where everyone knows the truth about what happened in this life. It’s where they set the record straight.”
“You really think that’s what happens?”
“Would be nice if it did, right?”
“Yeah, that’d be cool.”
“Look, what happened to you and your friends was horrible. But it wasn’t your fault. An adult man who’s been a waste of space his whole life and his equally useless son were responsible for it. The way I see it, you’ve got a choice about what you do now.”
“I do?”
“Uh-huh. You can let those assholes ruin your life, too, or you can decide not to let them win. You can decide to survive it and to do good in the world. My dad says all the time that we get to choose our destinies, and yours could have something to do with protecting kids from people like those Mayfield guys.”
“How do you do it, though? Every time I think of her… I want to die myself.”
“When I first went to live with Mrs. Littlefield, it was right after my mom and grandfather died really close together. I was left with no one, and it was super scary. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.
I asked her if I’d always feel so sad and scared, and she promised me I wouldn’t.
She said there was a great big, beautiful life waiting for me to find it.
She said my mom and grandfather would always be with me, and they wouldn’t want me to suffer forever because they were gone.
I bet Luna wouldn’t want that for you either. ”
“I didn’t know her well enough to be sure of that.”
“I’m pretty sure she was probably a good kid who’d want the best for you.”
“Why’d this have to happen?”
“I don’t know, bud. I really don’t get why bad things have to happen to good people. But one thing I know for sure is that you’ve got a lot of people who care about you, and if you let us, we’ll get you through it.”
“Thanks for talking to me.”
“I’m here any time you need me. And I mean that.”
“I know. My mom is really mad with my dad because he let me go out with my friends. She said it was too soon. I wish I’d listened to her.”
“I’m sure they’ll figure it out, but that’s not your fault either. That’s between them.”
Ethan cracked the first hint of a grin. “How’d you get so smart, anyway?”
“Life, man. It does that to ya.”
Sam retreated from the doorway back into the kitchen, where her sisters were talking at the kitchen table. She’d wanted to check on the boys and had overheard their conversation. “You guys… I just heard Scotty talking to Ethan, and… my heart can’t handle it.”
She returned to her seat at the table, reaching for a napkin to dab at her eyes.
“What were they saying?” Tracy asked.
“Scotty was giving him advice about how to handle bad things, and it was just so… It was lovely.”
“That’s just what Ethan needs right now.”
“Sometimes I forget what Scotty went through before we knew him,” Sam said. “He’s so well adjusted to his new life, but the trauma is always there.”
“And now Ethan has trauma to carry as well.”
“Scotty gave him some good advice on how to handle it, and Ethan seemed really open to it.”
“It’s nice of Scotty to try.”
Sam checked her watch. “We need to head home to get him ready for baseball practice.”
“Thanks for coming, you guys. It means a lot to us.”
“We’ll come any time you need us,” Angela said.
“Always,” Sam said.
At home, Sam went to Scotty’s room to make sure he was ready to leave for practice with his detail. “It’s fun to be around to see you off.”
“It’s fun to have you around. And the fake sick day was epic.”
“We’ll do it once in a while.”
“Good luck getting that past the POTUS.”
“He might be mellowing in his old age.”
Scotty cracked up. “Right. I think that could be wishful thinking.”
“Hey, bud?”
He glanced at her. “What’s up?”
“I heard some of what you said to Ethan. I just wanted to say thank you. He thinks the world of you, and he needed to hear what you had to say.”
“I hope it helps.”
“You’re a very special young man, Scott Cappuano, and I couldn’t be prouder to be your mom.”
With his baseball bag hooked over one shoulder, he came over to hug her. “I’m pretty proud of you, too.”
“I can’t begin to tell you how you’ve made my entire life complete.”
“Same goes, Mama.”
They hugged until a throat clearing in the hallway alerted them to the arrival of Debra, the lead agent on his detail.
“Love you,” Sam whispered.
“Love you, too.”
As she watched him go down the hall with Debra, she understood the concept of her heart walking around outside her body, often used to describe motherhood. Just as Scotty reached the stairway, Nick appeared in time for a fist bump before practice.
“See you when you get back,” Nick said.
He smiled when he saw her leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching him come toward her.
“Is this what it’s like to be home when you finish work for the day, dear?” she asked when he swept her up in a hug.
“I think it might be.”
“I’m digging it. Need to do it more often.”
He buried his face in her neck, sending a cascade of goose bumps down her back. “Where’re the Littles?”
“Upstairs with Celia, looking at her pictures and videos from Alaska.”
“Will they be up there for a while?”
“Celia said she took more than a thousand photos.”
Nick grasped her hand and walked them swiftly into their room, kicking the door closed behind him. “Text her to tell her you’re taking a little nap and ask if she can keep them up there until dinnertime.”
“She might be tired after traveling.”
“Ask her anyway.”
Sam rolled her eyes at his shamelessness and sent the text.
Celia replied right away that there was nothing she’d rather do than hang out with the twins after missing them so much.
Sam read the response to Nick.
“Yes. Thank goodness for grandmothers.”
“Wait! Before you go feral on me, I have to watch Neveah give a statement to the press about the resolution of the Carver case.”
Nick moaned. Loudly.
“Put it on ice for a minute, Mr. President.”
“There’ll be no putting anything on ice,” he said with a pout as he sat next to her to watch the press briefing.
“I’m so proud of her!” Sam said as Neveah walked through the main doors at headquarters with Captain Malone accompanying her. “She’s got to be freaking out on the inside.”
“I’m Detective Neveah Charles with the Homicide division, and I’m here to brief you on the arrests of four people in connection to the murder of Dale Carver of Spokane, Washington, at the Vacation Inn and Suites on 10th Street Northwest.” She detailed the facts of the case and the investigation that’d led to the arrest of Dale’s wife and sister-in-law in Spokane, as well as the two men they’d hired to commit the crime, who were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals in Baltimore.
“How does a wife and mother arrange for murder on the other side of the country?” a reporter asked.
“They did their research and used an encrypted app to reach out to the men they hired. We’re in debt to the fine work of the Spokane Police Department as well as the U.S. Marshals, both of which were instrumental in closing this case.”
She answered several other routine questions before concluding the gaggle.
Nick had Sam naked and spread out under him in a matter of seconds after Neveah left the podium, or that’s how it seemed to Sam.
She looped her arms around his neck. “I have more good news for you, in addition to my protégé bringing home the prisoners from Spokane.”
“Better than having you naked in bed when it’s still daylight on a weekday?”
“Even better than that. Asher and Brecken Mayfield have been charged with enough felonies to keep them locked up forever. Thirty-two little girls have been reunited with their grateful parents, and Captain Malone is in line for a commendation for thinking to ask if the Mayfields had other storage units. He’s getting the rightful credit for finding those girls. ”
“That’s all very good news indeed.”
“But I saved the best for last. I’m taking a week off to be a mom and first lady.”
“And a wife?”
“That, too.”
He kissed her. “I love Vacation Sam. She’s all… uninhibited.”
“We’ve still got two kids in the house, so don’t get too crazy, Mr. President.”
“I’ll try not to but just remember what you started earlier with those texts.”
“Who, me?”
As he joined their bodies, she sighed from the bone-deep pleasure she could find only with him.
“This week,” he said, “we’ll roll out our mental health initiative, officially welcome Elijah and the twins to the family and then finally have that spa getaway you got me for Christmas.”
“It’s already the best week ever, and it’s only just begun.”