Chapter Thirty-Three
Brant stuck his head into the Oval Office. “FLOTUS is on her way home.”
“Thanks, Brant.” Nick was glad to know she’d be there in time for the announcement. As always, when he knew he was going to see her soon, everything was better.
While he knew she probably didn’t approve of him going to see his mother, Sam would understand that, regardless of whether or not Nicoletta deserved a minute of his precious time, he’d give it to her anyway.
Psychologists would have a field day analyzing his tormented relationship with the woman who’d given birth to him and then foisted him off on his paternal grandmother to raise.
And what a picnic that’d been, hearing every day about how he’d ruined his grandmother’s retirement and left her almost bankrupt, even though she barely spent a dime on him.
He hated thinking about that cramped apartment in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he hadn’t even had his own bedroom.
Even while sitting in the Oval Office at the freaking White House as the president of the United States, thinking about Lowell and that apartment took him right back to how it’d felt to be unwanted and unloved.
Nick had traveled a million miles from there, had a loving family and the best of friends surrounding him, and one call from his mother could knock the legs right out from under him.
He hated that she still had that kind of power over him and wished he were the kind of son who could say fuck her and get on Air Force One and fly to Greenland without a thought as to whether he’d ever see her again.
Why should he even care if he ever saw her again? She ought to be nothing to him after the way she’d treated him all his life, wanting him around only when there was something he could do for her. Here he was, giving her time he didn’t have and thinking about the why of it all.
His goal in seeing her before he left was to keep his own conscience clear. If she died while he was gone, he could say he saw her and could go on with his life not having to feel guilty about being like her.
Sam would tell him he had nothing to be guilty about where that woman was concerned, but if she died and he hadn’t gone, he would feel guilty. That’s the only reason he could find to add seeing her to a day already packed with obligations.
Nick tried to focus on the speech Trevor had helped him write to announce Graham as his new VP nominee but read the same sentence four times before he gave up.
It’d be on the teleprompter, so he’d be fine.
He tossed the pages on the coffee table and had settled in for a brood when Harry poked his head in.
“Julie’s not at her desk. Is it safe to enter the lion’s den?”
Smiling, Nick waved him in and saw that Derek Kavanaugh, deputy chief of staff and another longtime friend, was with him.
“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”
They took seats on the sofa across from his.
“We’re just checking in,” Harry said.
“Which means you heard from my lovely wife that my mother has slithered out from under her rock and wants to see me.”
“Actually, we saw the Inova stop on the schedule and asked Brant, who told us why you’re going there,” Derek said.
“Sam would’ve gotten to us eventually, though,” Harry said.
“You guys are too funny.”
“Looking out for our buddy,” Derek said. “Congratulations on Graham. That’s an inspired choice.”
“Wish I’d made it the first time around, but I’m very glad to have had the first woman VP, even if that went south. I hope she’ll be the first of many to hold that office and this one.”
“How’re you doing about all that?” Derek asked.
“Best two days of my life, by far.”
His friends laughed at the ridiculous statement.
“Fucking Gretchen,” Derek said. “I still can’t believe she’d do something so stupid.”
“I’m having trouble with that part myself,” Nick said. “I’ve always thought she was brilliant, so it doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Is it possible she loved the guy?” Harry asked.
“I suppose anything is possible, but that she’d risk her own reputation, her freedom, being separated from her kids…”
“Is there more to it than we know?” Derek asked.
“We know she was more involved in Ivanov’s movement than she’s let on. There’ll be a full investigation, handled by Justice, and we’ll see what else they uncover.”
“How’re you feeling about seeing Nicoletta?” Harry asked.
“Same way I always do—reduced to an eight-year-old hoping his mother might actually love him someday.” Harry and Derek were among the few who had seen the worst of what Nicoletta had put him through, so there was no need to hide the truth from them.
“I hate her,” Derek said.
Harry and Nick laughed.
“Tell me how you really feel,” Nick said.
“Just did.”
“Thank you, guys, for being there for me. I appreciate your support and outrage more than you know, but I’ll be okay. I promise.”
“Will Sam be with you when you go to Inova?” Harry asked.
“She’s hoping to, but things are tense at work.”
“Speaking of what were they thinking,” Derek said. “Bombing the first lady’s workplace.”
“It had nothing to do with her, thankfully,” Nick said.
“She was having a meltdown at the thought of it being directed at her, which would’ve ended her career.
Thank goodness we’re not dealing with that on top of everything else.
Anyway, enough about us. Tell me what’s up with you guys. How’s it going with Roni, Derek?”
Derek, who’d been widowed when his wife was murdered more than two years earlier and left to raise his daughter, Maeve, on his own, had been seeing Sam’s friend and communications director, Roni Connolly. She’d been widowed, as well, after her DEA agent husband was hit by a stray bullet.
“It’s amazing,” he said, looking slightly dazzled.
“I’m so happy to hear that. You both deserve all the good things.”
“We’re taking it slow. It hasn’t even been a year for her, and she’s having her husband’s baby soon…”
“That’s a lot,” Harry said. “You’re being careful, I hope.”
“Not at all. I’m crazy about her, and so is Maeve. We spend every minute we can with her, and we’re both so excited about the baby. It feels good to be looking forward to things again.”
“Life is for the living, my friend,” Nick said. “I love seeing you smiling. It’s been a minute.”
“Yeah, for sure. How’re the wedding plans, Harry?”
“My lovely bride has it all pinned down, thankfully. I just have to show up and say, ‘I do.’”
“Probably a good call to leave it to her,” Nick said with a laugh. He’d be the best man in Harry’s wedding and Terry’s that summer, which would make for some nice headlines for a change.
“I’m doing what I was told and staying in my lane,” Harry said.
“We need to talk about the bachelor party,” Derek said to Nick. “I’m picturing a weekend in Vegas.”
“I’m picturing the headlines about the president partying in Vegas,” Nick said with a grimace.
“Good point,” Derek said.
“How about a boys’ weekend at Camp David?”
“I’d be down with that,” Harry said.
“Works for me,” Derek added.
“Let’s get it on the calendar.”
They chatted for another few minutes before the guys got up to leave.
“Thank you for this,” Nick said as he stood to hug them both. “I needed it more than you know.”
“We had a feeling,” Harry said. “We’re always close by if you need us.”
“I take tremendous comfort in that.”
When Harry opened the door, Sam was there, hand raised to knock.
“Jeez, I almost punched you in the face, Doc,” she said as Harry laughed and kissed her cheek.
“No more crazy headlines, please,” Derek said as he gave her a quick hug.
Nick was so happy to see her. It was silly, really, how excited he still got any time she walked into the room, especially looking as she did now in a burgundy dress that clung to all her curves and her hair falling in soft waves.
“How’s our guy doing?”
“He’s had better days,” Harry said, “but he’s hanging in there.”
“I’m in the room,” Nick reminded them.
“Mind your business,” Sam said.
His friends laughed as they said their goodbyes.
Sam came in and closed the door behind her, heading straight for him.
Nick kissed her and hugged her tightly. “You look gorgeous.”
“Just something I tossed together with the help of several talented people.”
“They do good work, but they have a beautiful canvas to work with.”
“You’re positively poetic this afternoon, Mr. President.”
“Inspired by my muse. I appreciate you being here. I know you had to rush.”
“It’s all good. No worries.”
They stood there, wrapped up in each other for several minutes before the phone on the desk buzzed with a call.
He kissed the top of her head and said, “Hold that thought.”
“I’m holding.”
Nick picked up the call from Julie.
“Senator and Mrs. O’Connor are here, sir.”
“Please show them in and ask Terry to join us.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. President.”
“Showtime,” he said to Sam as he went to greet Graham and Laine with hugs.
They hugged Sam and had a few minutes to marvel at the turn of events before they were due in the East Room for the announcement.
“Well, this is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Mr. President,” Laine said with a warm smile. She wore a navy blue dress and had her gray hair swept up into an elegant knot. “I can’t recall the last time I wore makeup for anyone.”
“I appreciate you both,” Nick said. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“It’s an honor, my love,” Laine said. “We’re so proud of you and proud to stand by you and Sam on this wild ride.”
“Hopefully, it’ll be a little less wild now that I’ll have adult supervision,” Nick said.
They were laughing when Terry came in.
“What’s so funny?”
“I was just thanking Mom and Dad for showing up to whip us into shape,” Nick said.
“And I was about to say you don’t need that, but I’m happy to do what I can to help,” Graham said.
Five minutes later, they walked to the East Room together.
On the way, Sam gave Nick’s hand a squeeze.
He glanced down at her. “You good?”
“I am. You?”
“I am if you are.”
The White House photographer, Adrian Fenty, snapped photos of them and the O’Connors as they waited for the signal to take the stage together.