Fatal Deception (43 page)

Instead of going to Ohio, she’d stayed home to support her husband as he prepared for the biggest moment of his career and to mother the child who’d been staying with them for two of the most spectacular weeks of her life. They’d been to see the Red Sox play the Orioles at Camden Yards in Baltimore, they’d seen the Nationals play at home several times, had attended Freddie’s “surprise” thirtieth birthday party and had enjoyed Scotty’s pleasure in the baseball camp that had been deemed righteous, especially after the visit from the Nationals’ star center fielder Willie Vasquez.

Sam’s heart would break in two when they had to take him back to Richmond, and she knew Nick was equally despondent at the thought of Scotty leaving. They’d loved every second they’d spent with him, and he seemed equally thrilled to get so much uninterrupted time with them. He’d even told them they got the exact right mac ’n cheese and chicken nuggets, which had pleased them to no end.

The only thing that had marred their time together were the threats Arnie Patterson had made against Sam and her family, leading the Secret Service to offer protection to Nick for the remainder of the campaign. Because they were worried about some of Patterson’s supporters going rogue, Sam had urged Nick to accept protection while she’d refused it for herself—much to her husband’s dismay.

She might be willing to take her colleagues’ ribbing about being on TV, but she wasn’t at all willing to be trailed by Secret Service agents, as if she couldn’t take care of herself. At this very moment, her service weapon was holstered to her leg under the glamorous folds of the red dress. She’d insisted on a dress that could be worn with the gun she never left home without, especially when some douche-bag murderer was threatening her family.

Nick’s speech, which was supposed to have been twenty minutes in length, was now at thirty minutes as he’d been interrupted so often by rousing applause. Taking Terry’s advice, he’d gone with a speech similar to the one he’d given at John O’Connor’s funeral, drawing on his humble beginnings, the academic scholarship that’d landed him at Harvard and the friendship he’d struck up with the son of a senator.

As he talked about John O’Connor’s tragic death and the impact it’d had on him, a hush fell over the crowd, and Sam blinked back tears. The pain of his loss was still so raw, even all these months later. Watching him take a long pause to gather himself, Sam ached for him. Then he rallied and ended by talking about his hopes for a second Nelson administration and his optimism for the country’s future that drew a final, thunderous round of applause.

“He killed it,” Terry said euphorically.

“Totally,” Christina said. “This’ll catapult him into the big time.”

Sam wasn’t sure how she felt about him being catapulted anywhere, especially the big time, so she focused on watching for the signal from the stage manager as her heart beat fast and erratically. Nick was always so there for her. She wanted to be there for him and prayed to a God she didn’t much believe in to let her make it across the stage without calamity.

The stage manager waved for them to proceed.

Sam reached for Scotty’s hand, thankful to have him as her escort. “Ready, pal?”

His grin nearly split his handsome face in half. “So ready. Let’s go!”

As if they were attending a Sunday picnic in the park, she and Scotty strolled onto the stage to join Nick as the applause rose past deafening to whatever level came next. Sam kept her eyes fixed on Nick, who waited patiently for them to the left of the dais. When they reached him without incident, he put an arm around both of them and bent to kiss Sam’s forehead.

“Can you believe this shit?” he whispered in her ear.

Somehow she was able to hear him over the roar and smiled up at him. The lights on stage were so bright she couldn’t see beyond the first few rows. Taking their cues from Nick, she and Scotty waved to the audience, and she tried to forget that millions of people—including her coworkers—were watching at home.

They’d talked about this ahead of time, about how the media would latch on to the fact that Scotty had been out there with him. They’d ask who he was and what he meant to them. Sam and Nick had wanted to be sure he’d be okay with the scrutiny.

“I’ll be fine with it,” he’d said with twelve-year-old confidence.

“Are you sure?” Nick had asked. “They can be relentless when they think they’ve got a juicy story, and once your face is broadcast across the country, you may need security too, which will be no fun.”

“It’ll be fine,” Scotty assured them.

“How do you know that?” Sam had asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said with an adorable smile. “After the speech.”

He’d left them to wonder what he had to tell them as they’d gotten dressed in their carefully chosen clothes. They were sharing a hotel suite across the street from the convention center, and Nick had promised Scotty ice cream sundaes from room service after the speech.

For ten minutes, the crowd roared and chanted. Sam couldn’t figure out what they were saying until the chant crystalized, and she heard exactly what they were saying: Cappuano for president.

She looked up at him, and he shook his head in amazement.

He gave one last wave to the crowd and then ushered them to the wings. The minute they were clear of the stage, Nick reached for her and gave her a bear hug.

Sam returned the embrace, thrilled for him that it had gone so well.

“That was awesome,” Scotty said. “I’ve never seen that many people in one place—ever!”

“Neither have I, buddy,” Nick said.

“And they were all cheering for you. That’s so cool.”

Nick ruffled his hair. “Glad you thought so.”

“You were amazing, and I’m so proud,” Sam said.

“Thanks, babe.” Nick leaned in to kiss her and wiggled his brows to let her know he’d do better later. “Let’s get back to the hotel. I promised a boy an ice cream sundae.”

“Don’t you have stuff you need to do?” Sam asked.

“Nothing more important than keeping my promise to Scotty.”

“I could take him back if you need to stay here for a while.”

“I’d much rather be with you guys. Let’s go.”

It took an hour for Nick to break free of the masses who wanted to shake his hand and share in his moment of glory. By the time the Secret Service detail escorted them across the street to the hotel, darkness had descended upon the city of Charlotte. The oppressive heat was almost a welcome relief after hours in the frigid convention center. Sam couldn’t wait to kick off her shoes and get comfortable with her guys.

They wandered into the hotel, where more well-wishers awaited them. Twenty minutes later, they cleared the lobby and made it onto the elevator.

“You’re crazy popular,” Scotty said, summing up the madness in three simple words that made Sam and Nick laugh.

“It wouldn’t have been any fun without you guys there with me,” Nick said as he loosened his tie and released the top two buttons on the light blue dress shirt that had been deemed more suitable to the bright lights than white would’ve been. He wore a new dark navy suit with a subtle pinstripe, and Sam would venture that he’d won the vote of every woman in America tonight—a thought that sent an odd stab of insecurity to her belly.

“You’ll be staying in for the rest of the evening, Senator?” one of the agents asked.

“Yes, we will.”

“Have a nice evening. We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

Nick gestured for Sam and Scotty to proceed ahead of him into the room and closed the door behind them, leaning back against it and closing his eyes. He let out a deep breath, which was the only sign of nerves he’d shown all day. He was one cool, collected customer.

“Can I order the ice cream now?” Scotty asked.

“Go for it,” Nick said.

Scotty scampered off to his room.

Sam went over to Nick and unbuttoned the rest of his shirt buttons, kissing his chest. “Glad it’s over?”

“How can you tell?”

“The deep breath was a big giveaway,” she said with a smile as she planted more kisses to his chest and neck. Turning to him, she said, “Unzip me. I want out of this getup. Immediately. And the next time Shelby talks me into three-inch heels, she is so fired it’s not even funny.”

He took his own sweet time unzipping her, planting a few strategic kisses on the way. “Will you put the shoes back on later?”

“Really? You like them?”

Nodding, he did an impression of a panting dog that made her laugh. “Hot. Seriously, hot.”

When he reached for her, she dodged him. “Not with the boy in the next room, Senator,” Sam said, smiling at him over her shoulder and leading him by his tie into their room to change into sweats and T-shirts.

“So that’s a yes on the shoes for later?” His hands landed on her hips and his lips on her neck, sending a shiver of need rippling through her. Things between them had been hotter than ever after the night in the loft, where they’d spent a lot of nights since Scotty had come to stay with them, as it was on the other side of the house from where he slept.

“We might be able to negotiate something.”

“It’ll be here in ten minutes, you guys,” Scotty said, knocking on their door. “Hurry up. You can do all that gross kissing stuff later.” He loved to tease them about all the gross kissing that went on in their house. He’d commented that he’d had no idea how much kissing they really did until he lived with them. Of course there’d been more kissing than usual, as they’d been making up for lost time since her face finally healed to the point where kissing no longer hurt.

With that in mind, Sam planted a long, slow wet one on him, to tide them both over until later, when they could be alone.

“To be continued,” Nick whispered as they went into the sitting room to join Scotty.

“Can we get a movie?” he asked.

“Why not?” Nick said. “We’re celebrating.”

“Definitely,” Sam said. “But I want something with guns and lots of explosions.”

“You would,” Nick said, rolling his eyes at her.

Scotty glanced at Nick, did a double take and busted up laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” Scotty said, laughing so hard he had tears rolling down his face. He pointed to his own mouth. “Lipstick looks good on you. I knew you were kissing in there.”

“Whoops,” Sam said, wiping the residual lipstick off her husband’s lips. “Busted.”

“So busted,” Scotty said, mopping up his tears.

“Glad we’re available to amuse you,” Nick said, “but I’ll remember this when you start getting girlfriends and come home with lipstick on your face.”

Scotty shuddered at the thought of it. “Ewww, gross.”

“Talk to me in a year or two, buddy,” Nick said smugly. “Now how about that movie?”

“Before we do that,” Scotty said haltingly, “could I talk to you guys about something kinda serious?”

Instantly on guard, Sam said, “Sure you can. Anything you want, but we’re not quitting the gross kissing no matter what you say.”

Scotty laughed, which seemed to ease his tension. “I wondered if, you know, what you asked me a while ago... About coming to stay with you for good... I mean, I know I said I wasn’t sure if I should do it, but after being here for a couple of weeks, I can’t imagine leaving like ever, and if you still wanted me to stay... I mean, if it’s okay with you... I um... Well, it would be okay with me too, because I really love you guys a whole lot, and I think you really love me too—”

“Yes!” Sam laughed through her tears as she threw her arms around him and hugged him harder than she’d ever dared to hug him before. “Yes, we want you! Yes, we love you! We’ve been
dying
over the thought of you leaving next weekend.”

His brown eyes went wide with amazement. “You have? Really?”

“Dying,” Nick said gruffly, putting his arms around both of them.

“What about school and everything?” Scotty asked tenuously.

“Details,” Nick said, waving his hand. “We’ll work them all out.”

“Will I still be able to see Mrs. L and my friends in Richmond?”

“Any time you want,” Sam said, smoothing the hair off his face and kissing both cheeks. He made a cringing face at the kissing, which made her laugh.

“Are you sure about this? It’s a big deal to take on a kid who isn’t yours—”

“How could you be any more ours than you already are?” Nick asked, drawing a smile from Scotty. “You know how the speech tonight was kind of a big deal?”

Scotty nodded. “It was a really big deal.”

“This is
soooooo
much bigger.”

Sam reached for her husband’s hand and linked their fingers. “So much bigger,” she said.

“Bigger than all those people saying your name?”

“Much, much, much bigger. I’ve never had a son before. What’s bigger than that?”

“So you’d like adopt me or something?”

“We’d love to adopt you,” Nick said. “If that’s what you want.”

“Would I have to change my name?”

“Only if you want to.”

Scotty rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. “I’ve been kinda thinking about that. What if I kept Dunlap as my middle name and used Cappuano as my last name?”

Nick tightened his grip on Sam’s hand. “That sounds like a great idea to me. Don’t you think it’s a great idea, Sam?”

Sam was trying very hard not to cry like a baby. “It’s the best idea I’ve heard in very a long time.”

Scotty leaned into her embrace. “It’s been a very long time since I had a real family,” he said. “I barely remember my mom or my grandpa.”

“You have a great big family now that loves you very, very much,” Sam said. “Grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who’ll be thrilled to hear you’re staying for good. But no one loves you more than we do.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Scotty said, swiping at a tear. “That’s really nice of you to say.”

A knock on the door had Scotty flying out of Sam’s arms and running to let in the room service waiter.

“Did that really happen?” Nick asked quietly as Scotty signed for the ice cream the way Nick had taught him that morning when they ordered breakfast.

“It really did.”

“I think it’s possible my heart stopped for a minute there.”