Sam had seen her niece in action enough times lately to appreciate some of what Tracy was dealing with.
“What about a shrink?”
“She’s been seeing one for a year, and we’ve tried family therapy too, but now she refuses to go unless we let her see her friends. So we’re at another standoff over that.”
“Have you thought about sending her to boarding school?” Sam asked, only half joking.
“More often than I’d care to admit. I’ve even looked into it a little. I found the perfect program outside of Richmond. They run the place like a military academy, but it’s not actually military. It’s just what she needs.”
“Do it, Trace. She might hate you now, but someday she’ll see that you saved her life by sending her there.”
“I’d do it in a minute, but it’s twenty grand a year. We can’t swing that.”
“I can. Let me pay for it.”
“No way, Sam. I could never let you do that.”
“Why not? After Peter and I split and Dad got hurt, I lived there rent-free for two years. Nick won’t let me pay for much of anything around here. My check goes in the bank and a lot of weeks I barely touch it because I’m too busy working to do much of anything. I’ve got the money. Let me help you the way you would help me if the shoe were on the other foot. Please, Trace. After all you do for me, this is the least I can do for you.”
“I didn’t come here hoping you would bail me out.”
“To quote Ethan, ‘fuck off.’”
That made Tracy snort with laughter that was quickly replaced by more tears. “It’s too much. I can’t let you do that.”
Sam gripped her sister’s hand. “Listen to me—who loves your kids more than you and Mike do?”
“Probably only you,” Tracy said begrudgingly.
“And who has always loved Mike almost as much as you do?”
“You,” Tracy whispered.
“I love all of you as much as I love anyone. If I can’t help you, who can I help? You do so much for me. Please let me do this for you.”
“If I let you do this, she’ll hate you as much as she hates me. She knows we can’t afford something like this.”
“I can live with that if it means getting her back on track and keeping your family together.”
“I don’t know if Mike will go for it.”
“Yes, he will, Trace. He wants her out of the house. This accomplishes that and puts her in a safe place where she’ll be watched and monitored. He’ll go for it.”
“What about Nick?”
“What about him?”
“He’ll stand by and let you give me twenty thousand bucks without blinking an eye?”
“He’d say, ‘It’s your money, babe. Do what you need to do.’”
Tracy offered a faint smile. “You sound just like him.”
“Come here.” Sam gathered her sister into a tight hug. “Let’s get this done before things get any worse, okay?”
Tracy nodded. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I wish I could say it’s my pleasure, but I hate that you’re going through such an awful thing.”
“So do I. It would certainly be a relief to not have to deal with her anger every day.”
“Has she been seen by a doctor?”
“I dragged her to mine a couple of months ago. She chalked the whole thing up to hormones and teenage years and promised me she’d grow out of it. I wish I was convinced.”
“She needs to get back into counseling.”
“Group and individual counseling is part of the program at the school. That was one of the reasons it was so appealing to me.”
“It sounds like where she needs to be. What do we need to do to make it happen?”
“I go there and fill out all the enrollment paperwork, pay the tuition and they come pick her up.”
“Would you tell her this is happening?”
Tracy’s eyes filled again as she shook her head. “If I did, she’d run away. That’s my greatest fear.”
“I know it feels awful to be doing this, but it’s the right thing for her—and for you, Mike, Abby and Ethan. In your heart of hearts you have to know that.”
“I do,” Tracy said as tears spilled down her cheeks. “But I wish it didn’t have to be so drastic.”
“I worked with this cop on a detail once, and we were talking about his kids. One of them had big-time drug problems that the family had dealt with for years. The son had been arrested a couple of times, which is a huge embarrassment for any cop. They sent the kid to rehab three times, and every time they had hope. But then he’d come home and fall back in with the same crowd that got him into drugs in the first place, and the whole ugly cycle would start up again. He finally OD’d when he was twenty-five. You know what that dad told me?”
“What?”
“His single biggest regret in life is that he didn’t move his son away from those kids when he’d had the chance. He thought all the time about how different their lives might’ve been if he’d just moved.”
“I can’t move. Not with Dad’s situation, and you and Ang nearby. Our whole lives are here. Mike’s job. The kids’ school and their friends.”
“If you can’t move, you have to move her. Before this gets any worse.”
“I know. You’re right. I’ll talk to Mike tonight, and I’ll go there tomorrow to sign her up.”
“I wish I could go with you, but I can’t right now.”
“Because of the Vasquez case. I know.”
“Not just that. Nick is going out of town for a couple of days, and I need to be around if Scotty needs me. He’s taking Willie’s murder kind of personally since he met him last summer.”
“I’m so happy you’re getting to be a mom, Sam.”
“So am I.”
“Don’t let what’s going on with Brooke scare you. Hopefully, it’s just a phase and she’ll come back to us on the other side.”
“Let’s hope so. Do you want to ask Mike to come over here so you can talk to him without Brooke around?”
Tracy shook her head. “He won’t leave Abby and Ethan home alone with her. I’ll talk to him later when they’re all in bed.”
“Wait right here for a sec.” Sam got up, went into the study and found her checkbook. She signed a blank check and tore it out of the book. When she returned to the living room, she handed the folded check to Tracy. “Whatever you need. There’s plenty of money in the account. What’s mine is yours.”
Tracy stood to hug her. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
“I’m happy to help you for a change.”
“Can I stay with you a while longer? I don’t want to go home yet.”
“Of course you can. Have you eaten?”
Tracy shook her head. “I don’t think I could. My stomach has been a mess over all of this.”
“Let’s just sit and talk about nothing.”
They resumed their positions on the sofa with Tracy resting her head on Sam’s shoulder and holding her hand. “Tell me about the case.”
“Do I have to?” Sam asked with a sigh. “It’s a mess. About a million people wanted him dead. He had a chaotic personal life, and now another member of the team is missing.”
“Who?”
“Lind, the closer.”
“What’s up with that?”
“I wish I knew. His wife says it’s not unprecedented for him to go off and lick his wounds after a big loss, but it’s starting to be a long time without anyone hearing from him.”
“Do you think he’s dead too?”
“I don’t know what to think.” Sam brushed at a ball of lint on her jeans. “Nick is going on a top-secret trip with the president tomorrow.”
“For real? How cool is that?”
“Pretty cool for him. Not so much for me. Scares the hell out of me.”
“Why? Where’s he going?”
“He can’t tell me, which means it’s dangerous. I get this pain...” She pressed a fist to her breastbone. “Right here. Whenever I think about him being in danger.”
“He lives with that same pain every day.”
“I know, and I wish he didn’t have to.”
“So now it’s your turn.”
“I guess so.”
“You know he’ll be fine. He will be with the president and all his security. It’ll be the safest trip he’s ever been on.”
“Keep telling me that. Maybe by the time he gets back I’ll believe it.”
“Awww, poor baby.” Tracy squeezed Sam’s hand.
“I feel like such a wimp when I say I couldn’t live without him, but there it is.”
“There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way, Sam. Being madly in love with your husband doesn’t make you any less of a badass. I promise.”
“Really? It doesn’t?”
Tracy’s laughter made Sam feel better. “No, it doesn’t. Who wouldn’t love him? He’s amazing.”
“He is that. Things between us have been better than ever lately. Just when I think it can’t get any better, it does.”
“I wondered if having Scotty here would be tough on you guys. You haven’t been married all that long, and it’s a lot to take on a child when you’re still figuring out the married stuff.”
“Somehow it’s all working perfectly. I keep waiting for problems, but we both feel like Scotty has always lived here. It just works.”
“I’m happy for you, Sam. After all you went through with Peter and the miscarriages, no one deserves to be happy more than you do.”
“Thanks. I keep hoping I might get another chance to be pregnant. Despite significant effort, I still get the monthly event.”
“It’ll happen when it’s meant to be.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m your big sister, and I say it is so, thus it is so.”
Snuggled up to her sister, surrounded by her love and understanding, Sam debated something else she wanted to ask her but didn’t know how to say it. “Could I ask you something so personal it defies even the boundaries of sisterhood?”
“Since when does anything defy the bounds of our sisterhood?”
“True,” Sam said with a laugh that belied the nerves that fluttered in her belly at the thought of broaching this particular subject—even with Tracy, who was probably her closest friend in addition to being her big sister.
Tracy nudged Sam with her shoulder. “Just say it. After fifteen years of marriage and three kids, you can’t shock me.”
“Have you and Mike ever... God, this is embarrassing.”
“There’s not much Mike and I haven’t done, so spit it out.”
“Have you done anal?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Really?”
“Back when we were having sex—before Brooke went ballistic and ruined a lot of things, including our sex life—we did it fairly regularly. It’s been a few months since we did anything, though. At this point, plain vanilla is looking pretty darned good to me.”
“I’m sure it is.” Sam couldn’t imagine going a couple of days without sex with Nick, let alone months.
“Are you guys talking about trying that?”
“We’ve almost done it a couple of times, but we always stop before it actually happens. It drives me crazy to know he’s done it before, that he’s done something with another woman that he hasn’t done with me. Isn’t that stupid?”
“It’s not stupid that you want to be his one and only, Sam. How do you know he’s done it before?”
“I asked him if he had, and he shrugged. He’s too much of a gentleman to spill the dirty deets, but he didn’t deny it. Knowing he’s done it before, he’s done
that
with someone else but not me... I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“It’s not something you should do if you don’t really want to. It’s not for everyone.”
“I think I want to.” Sam’s skin suddenly felt too tight for her body and her palms were sweaty just thinking about some of their recent encounters. “Sometimes I think there’s nothing I wouldn’t do with him.”
Tracy fanned her face. “That’s very hot.”
“Tell me the truth, does it hurt like hell?”
“It’s more uncomfortable than painful—at first. But the orgasms...
whoa
. Unlike any others.”
“What makes it so much hotter than the regular way?”
“The fact that it’s a little bit forbidden—not to mention illegal in some places. It’s a huge leap of trust between partners, among other things, that you have to experience to appreciate. After the election, you should take him out to the cabin and rock his world.”
“I’d rather do it right here. Did I tell you about what he did in the loft upstairs?”
“I don’t think so.”
“He recreated the beach in Bora Bora, right down to the palm trees and double lounge chair. We’ve had a lot of fun up there.” Sam’s face heated as she recalled some of the time they’d spent in their hideaway.
“He’s one hell of a guy,” Tracy said.
“He’s the only one I’d want to do something like that with.”
Tracy began to giggle uncontrollably.
“What?”
“I’m trying to picture you doing that with Peter—”
“Stop! Don’t put that picture in my head! It was all I could do to have regular sex with Peter once a month. He would’ve freaked out about anything more than straight missionary. He was all about keeping it clean and tidy.”
“Why am I not surprised that he wanted to control you in bed too?”
“I don’t even like to think about him. The years I spent with him seem like a bad dream since I’ve been with Nick. It’s night and day.”
“Have you heard from your lovely ex-husband lately?”
“Not since he tried to kill himself and listed me as his next of kin at the hospital.”
“So creepy.”
“That’s Peter for you.”
“All this talk about sex—with Nick, not Peter—makes me want to go home and make up with my husband, who has put up with way too much shit from my kid in the last year.”
“You guys are solid, Trace. You’ll get back on track.”
“I hope so.” She hugged her sister. “Thanks for being here for me.”
“Happy to be here for you the way you always are for me.”
The front door burst open and Scotty came in ahead of Nick.
“Sam, we had the best time. Nick made a ton of money, and all these people wanted to shake hands with me. It was so cool.”
Sam and Tracy shared a smile as Tracy got up to hug her new nephew and her brother-in-law on the way out the door.
Chapter Fourteen
“Was she crying?” Nick asked Sam as he sat next to her and leaned in to kiss her.
“I’ll tell you about it later. Did you guys eat?”
Scotty sat across from them. “They had all this fancy stuff I didn’t like too much. Nick said we could order pizza.”
“That sounds good to me.”
“I’ll do it!” Scotty got up and ran for the kitchen where they kept the takeout menus.
“He seems like his old self again,” Sam said.
“He’s getting there. We had a good talk about what happened at school.”
“I called the kid’s mom.”
Instantly amused, Nick tipped his head for a closer look at her. “And?”
“I made it clear that we won’t put up with her kid pounding on ours.”
“Define ‘made it clear.’”
Sam laughed at his insistent tone. “I let her know we’ll press charges if he hits him again.”
Her laughter fueled his. “Oh my God, I love it! Good going, babe.”
“You think so? I’m worried that Scotty will be pissed if he finds out about it.”
“Then tell him so he knows.”
“I’m scared to.”
Nick laughed again as he put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Watch out for mama bear. No one messes with her cub.”
“You know it.”
Scotty came bouncing back into the room. “Thirty-two bucks for a large, a small and a salad.”
“How much of a tip is that?” Nick asked.
“Ten percent would be three dollars twenty cents and twenty percent would be six forty. So seven bucks?”
“Excellent.” Nick withdrew his wallet from the front pocket of his suit coat and handed it to Scotty. “I know exactly how much is in there, mister.”
Scotty seemed stricken by what Nick had meant as a teasing comment. “As if I’d ever steal from you when you’ve given me everything.”
“I was joking, buddy. I know you’d never steal from me.”
The regret she heard in Nick’s voice made her ache.
“Just making sure,” Scotty said tentatively.
Sam held out her hand to Scotty. “Come sit with us. I want to talk to you.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“Don’t be silly,” she said as she settled him between them. “You’re not in trouble.” She met Nick’s challenging glance over Scotty’s head. “I wanted to tell you that I talked to Nathan’s mom about what happened today at school.”
He looked up at her, clearly distressed. “You did?”
Sam nodded.
“What did you say?”
“I told her what happened and that we were upset about it and didn’t want it to happen again.”
“You didn’t go all Police Officer Barbie on her, did you?”
Sam once again met Nick’s gaze over the boy’s head and saw that he was choking back a laugh. “Maybe. A little.” She fought the urge to squirm under the glare coming from a twelve-year-old. “But I was nothing like
Barbie
,” she added with disdain.
“Tell me exactly what you said.”
“That if he hits you again, we’ll press charges. And that he’s not to give you any grief in school. Or else.”
“Sam! I told you not to do that!”
“Technically you told me I couldn’t involve the principal, which I didn’t do. I want you to know I truly respect your wishes, buddy, but he could’ve really hurt you. I can’t let that happen again.”
“Sam’s right, pal.” Nick to the rescue. “This time it was a punch to the belly. Next time he might push you down the stairs and break a bone or something.”
“I hadn’t thought of a next time.”
“That’s the way bullies roll,” Sam said, thinking of Stahl. “When they get away with it they think they can do it again. They keep doing it until someone makes it stop. I’ll bet if you ask around, you’ll find you aren’t the first one he’s punched, but maybe you’ll be the last.”
Scotty seemed to be mulling that over.
“What’re you thinking?” Nick asked him after a long moment of silence.
“I’m kind of scared to go back there tomorrow. What if he’s mad at me and the other kids are mean to me because I got him in trouble?”
“I thought of that and made sure to mention to his mom that I’d be unhappy if that were to happen.”
Scotty’s lips curled into a small smile. “I like how you said you’d be ‘unhappy.’”
“I thought that was funny too,” Nick said. “The understatement of the century.”
“You guys can make fun of me all you want,” Sam said, “but I’m pretty sure that kid won’t be bothering you again.”
“Thanks, Sam, for getting mad and calling his mom and all that. It’s cool that you did that for me.”
Relieved that he wasn’t angry with her for butting in when he’d asked her not to, Sam ran her fingers through his silky dark hair. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. There’s nothing either of us wouldn’t do.”
He smiled up at her, and once again the love she felt for him bowled her over. And to think she hadn’t even known him a year ago, and now he was her son, in her life to stay forever.
She looked away from him before she embarrassed herself. “Where’s the chow? I’m starving.”
Nick’s hand on her shoulder steadied and reassured her. He got it. How could he not when he experienced the same emotions every day himself?
“They need time to cook it,” Scotty said dryly. “Can I go play video games until it gets here?”
“As long as all your homework is done,” Sam said.
“We did it in the car,” Scotty said, scurrying into the study.
“
We
did it in the car?” she asked Nick when they were alone.
“I helped with math.”
She curled into his embrace and sighed when his strong arms came around her. “How long do you think it’ll be before he stops making me want to cry with gratitude six times a day?”
“A year, maybe two. If it’s any consolation, he has the same effect on me.”
“Best thing we ever did.”
“Without a doubt.”
“I wondered if it would be weird or hard or awkward once it was permanent, but it’s none of those things. It’s amazing and overwhelming and astonishing and infuriating when someone hurts him.”
“I never had any doubt at all that you’d be the world’s greatest mom. Now I know it for sure.”
“You’re a pretty good dad too. You ‘help’ with math.”
“He did most of it. I just checked his work.”
“Whatever you say, Senator. I have to tell you what happened today with my good friend Lieutenant Stahl. You won’t believe it.” Sam took great pleasure in relating the story of Stahl’s downfall to her astonished husband.
“How could be he so stupid as to make a call like that from within HQ?”
“Who knows? Who cares? All that matters is he is done with the department.”
“Is he blaming the whole thing on you?”
“What do you think?” she asked with a cheeky grin.
“Sam... Don’t make light of it. He’s a formidable enemy, and he’s had it in for you for years. You need to be careful.”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
“Still...”
“I also got asked to be a bridesmaid in Jeannie and Michael’s wedding,” she said, deliberately changing the subject before he could fret about her safety.
“Is that right? Are you going to do it?”
“I think I will. I talked to the chief about it and he said it’s cool, so why not?”
“It was nice of her to ask you. When’s the wedding?”
“In July out at Rehoboth. So what happened today that you said you’d tell me about later?”
Only because she was sitting so close to him could she feel every muscle in his body tighten with tension as he told her about the Lexicore stock and the company’s connection to the fire in Thailand.
“Oh my God, Nick. What does that mean for the campaign?”
“Not as much as it means to our bottom line. Graham and I both dumped the stock today for a fraction of what we paid for it, so there goes about half the money John left me.”
“Oh, um, this might not be the best time to tell you that I just gave my sister twenty grand.”
His eyes bugged. “For
what
?”
Sam told him about Brooke and the school Tracy had found that might be the answer to their prayers. “I didn’t know this had happened with your stock when I gave her the money.”
“It’s okay, babe. That’s your money to do with whatever you want. There’s plenty of mine left that wasn’t tied up in Lexicore. Don’t worry.”
“Regardless, I probably should’ve talked to you before I wrote her a check.”
“It’s fine,” he said, kissing her cheek and then her lips. “You did the right thing for her. She does so much for us.”
“That’s what I thought too. How could I not give it to her so she can get Brooke the help she needs?”
“I hate to hear that things with Brooke have gotten that bad. I had no idea.”
“I’ve witnessed a few incidents in the last few months that were shocking, but I chalked it up to teenage craziness. I didn’t know it was this bad either.”
“Is that what we’re in for with the boy?” Nick asked.
“Lord, I hope not. I can’t imagine that sweet boy turning into a two-headed monster.”
“Me either.” He combed his fingers through her hair, which went a long way toward relaxing and soothing her. “Listen, this thing with Lexicore... Graham is going to release a statement about how we owned the stock but dumped it—at a tremendous loss—as soon as we learned about the connection to the factory.”
“That’s probably the best strategy.”
“He’s going to do it while I’m gone and not available for comment.”
“Oh.”
“The press is apt to be all over you, which is my one worry with this plan.”
“Nothing new there. They’re always all over me.”
“We don’t really know what to expect with this, so I feel like I’m leaving you to deal with a potential nightmare on your own. I agreed to the plan but as the day went on, I started to worry about how it might affect you guys.”
“Don’t worry about us.” She cupped his face and caressed the whiskers on his jaw. “If there’s one thing I can handle, it’s the press. I’m very good at giving them nothing they can use against me—or you. It’s a good plan. Let Graham deal with it while you’re gone, and hopefully by the time you’re back it’ll be old news.”
“That’s the goal.”
“Are you worried about it screwing up the election?”
“A little bit. Wouldn’t that be something after leading by such a big margin right up until the end?”
“You won’t lose. Your constituents love you almost as much as I do.” Sam loosened his tie and released the top two buttons on his shirt, caressing his throat before letting her fingers wander down to free the third button.
His hand on top of hers stopped her progress.
“Killjoy,” she muttered.
“Two hours to get the boy fed, showered and into bed, and then I’m
all
yours.”
“Two whole hours? That’s ages from now.”
“You’ll survive.”
Before she could object, the doorbell rang, and Scotty came running to pay the pizza deliveryman. The guys dove into the large pepperoni—Scotty’s favorite—while Sam nibbled on her salad and eyed the pizza with envy.
“One small piece won’t make you fat, babe,” Nick said, tuned into her thoughts as always.
“Yes, it will.”
He used the pizza slicer to cut a big piece in half and lifted it onto her plate. “I like you with some meat on your bones, so eat up.”
Scotty got up to refill his milk glass. It had taken a couple of weeks for him to feel comfortable helping himself to anything in their home, including the contents of the fridge, so it pleased her to see him pouring his own milk.
Sam took a delicious bite of the coveted pizza and wiggled a finger at Nick to bring him close enough to whisper in his ear. “You don’t have to charm me with pizza. I’m a sure thing where you’re concerned.”
His smile was positively sinful and left no doubt that if Scotty wasn’t there, they probably would’ve made good use of the kitchen floor. It had happened before—more than once.
Suddenly, a couple of hours seemed like a really long time.
After dinner, Scotty suggested a game of video baseball, which Nick happily agreed to. Sam followed them into the study and took advantage of the opportunity to check her email. While she was sitting at Nick’s immaculately appointed desk, she eyed the perfectly aligned frames that contained photos from their wedding, Scotty’s most recent school picture and one of Sam and her dad that Nick had once told her he loved.
With a glance over her shoulder to ensure he was fully occupied with the game, she set out to turn each of the frames upside down. When one of them wouldn’t stand upright in the new position, she rested it on its side. Then she got up and moved to the sofa to plow through the restraining orders relating to the Feds.
Almost every one of the marquee players had at least three of them attached to their name. All of the subjects were women, with the exception of Willie’s brother-in-law. Out of curiosity, Sam read some of the complaints against the women and was appalled by lengths some of them went to while attempting to snag the attention of a big-time ballplayer. One of them had draped herself naked across the hood of Cecil Mulroney’s car three times before he took action.
Another had befriended the mother of Ramon Perez hoping to gain access to him.
She read through the complaint Willie had filed regarding his brother-in-law Marco, who had threatened him physically after Willie refused to loan him the money he needed to pay off debts with dangerous people in the Dominican Republic. As she read, her vision swam and the words on the page became scrambled the way they did when she was tired and her dyslexia kicked in. A sure sign it was time to quit working.
Nick let out a shout and then a ringing laugh as one of Scotty’s players hit a grand slam.
“That is totally unfair!” Nick said. “You cheated!”
Scotty gave him an arch look. “How do you figure?”
“You’re better at this than I am. You know stuff I don’t know.”
“Don’t be a bad sport.”
“Bad sport? Did you call me a
bad sport
?” The “argument” descended into a heated wrestling match that had both of them laughing hysterically as Nick let Scotty beat the tar out of him. He was never anything but gentle, exerting just enough muscle to make the match a challenge for the boy, who had his dad in a headlock and was giving him a noogie.