by Marie Force
“Thanks, Doc.”
“Anything for you, FLOTUS.”
“Don’t call me that, or I’ll stab you.”
“You need me too much to stab me.”
Sam let him have the last word, closed her phone and her eyes and tried not to think about how the throbbing in her face was getting worse rather than better.
Chapter Nineteen
“Was that Mom?” Scotty asked Nick after he got off the phone. They were on the sofa, watching football while the Littles played with their toys on the floor in front of them. They’d cried when Elijah left and had been subdued for the last hour or so.
“It was.”
“Is she hurt again?”
“Yep. Took an elbow to the face while arresting a bad guy.”
“Ouch.”
“She’s worried about looking like she just got out of a boxing ring when she sees Mrs. Nelson later.”
Scotty tried not to laugh but failed. “I know it’s not funny, but of course this happened when she’s going to be in pictures.”
“And on TV.”
“That too. I can’t believe everything that’s happened this weekend. Thanks again, you know, for taking me with you for the swearing-in and making me part of it.”
“Of course you’re part of it. You’re part of us.”
“Thanks for that too. When I think about how much my life has changed in the last two years…”
“Right there with you, pal. On this day two years ago, I was still John’s chief of staff. I probably played basketball at the gym with my friends and went out for beers and nachos afterward. And then I went home by myself to prepare for work the next day. That was my life. And now…”
“Now you’re president and have a family that keeps you from going out for beer and nachos with the boys.”
“I got to do that for a lot of years. This is way better. Except for the being-president part, of course.”
“I think you’re going to end up liking being president.”
“Is that right?”
“Uh-huh. You’re the most powerful guy on the planet. That’s super cool.”
“Ah, but as Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben would say, with great power comes great responsibility.”
“Spider-Man’s uncle was right.”
“Spider-Man was John’s favorite. He was always quoting him and his uncle.”
“It must be weird to think that if your friend hadn’t died, none of this would’ve happened.”
“It’s very weird. Who knows if I ever would’ve seen Mom again, even though I wished for years after we first met to see her, and I never would’ve met you. There’d be no family or presidency.”
“One event led to all of that.”
“And another event led us to Elijah and the twins. You ever hear the expression about life turning on a dime?”
“I think so, but I’m not sure what it means.”
“When a car is super maneuverable, they say it turns on a dime. The same is true for life. One big or small event can change everything.”
“Like you coming for a tour at the home in Richmond changed my life.”
“And mine, and Mom’s.”
He gestured to the twins, who were playing with their Little People village that Nick and Scotty had helped them set up after Elijah left. It included several new pieces from their birthday party. The volume of the TV made it so they couldn’t hear what Nick and Scotty were saying. “Do you think they’re really okay?”
“They will be. In time. According to the therapist, they’re doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. Having Elijah here for almost a week was like old times to them, so it’s natural for them to be sad about him leaving.”
“They were so happy yesterday at their party. I was hoping that would last awhile longer.”
“They’ll bounce back. Eli will FaceTime with them tonight, which will help.”
“I just feel really sorry for what they’re going through,” Scotty said.
“I’m sure it’s brought back some memories for you too.”
He shrugged. “A few. I understand how they feel. I wish there was more we could do to make them feel better.”
“All we can do is love them. That’s what they need most right now.”
“I love them so much. They’ve only been with us a month, and they already feel like my brother and sister. Eli too.”
“I know what you mean, buddy. It didn’t take long for them to become part of us.”
“It took, like, an hour.”
Nick laughed. “It’s because they’re so damned cute and sweet.” He glanced at his adorable, thoughtful, sensitive son. “You’ve been so great with them. We’re so thankful for that.”
“You don’t have to thank me for helping with them.”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to anyway. And I also want you to know that I’m sorry you’re going to be stalked by Secret Service agents while you’re in high school. I’m really sorry about that.”
“It’s fine. I’ve gotten used to them. I mean it when I say I barely notice them anymore.”
Nick laughed. “Sure, you don’t.”
“It’s hard to believe that this time next week, we’ll be living in the White House.”
“I know.” Nick took a look around at the place that had become the first real “home” he’d ever had, a thought he shared with his son.
“A big part of me doesn’t want to move,” Scotty said, “even if I know it’ll be cool to live in the White House.”
“All of me doesn’t want to move. I hate moving, even when other people come in and do all the work for us. But we need to remember that home is the people we’re with. It’s not a building. As long as we’re all together, we’ll be home wherever we are.”
“I guess. I’ll miss this place, though. We became a family here.”
“I’ll miss it too, but we can come back here anytime we want. This will always be our home.”
“That makes me feel a little better about moving.”
“I want you to spend some time today deciding what you want to take and what can stay here. We don’t need to take every single thing we own.”
“Mom said moving is a good chance to get rid of crap.”
“Mom is right, as usual.”
The agent working the front door let Terry in a few minutes later.
“Duty calls,” Nick said to Scotty. “We need to find a vice president.”
“I was thinking about that. You ought to have a woman. It’s time for that, don’t you think?”
Amused, Nick said, “Long overdue. Your thinking matches mine. I asked Terry to come up with a list of five or six women who’d be outstanding candidates.”
“That’s cool.”
“I’m glad you think so. Keep an eye on the Littles and let me know if you need me. I’ll be in the dining room.”
“Okay.”
“And get your homework done.”
“Was that really necessary?”
He ruffled Scotty’s hair, earning a playful scowl from the boy. God, he loved that kid and had from the first minute he met him that fateful day in Richmond when he’d been campaigning for the Senate seat he’d inherited from John. That seemed like a lifetime ago in light of everything that’d happened since then.
“Mr. President,” Terry said. “How are you this morning?”
“I’m fine, Terry, and you know that because you’ve already talked to me three times today. And you can cut out the Mr. President stuff when it’s just us.”
Terry smiled. “Yes, sir.”
“I asked Derek to join us for this. He’s got the inside scoop on everyone who’s anyone.”
“Good call.”
“He’ll be here shortly. In the meantime, what’s the latest on Ruskin? There was no mention of him in this morning’s intelligence briefing.”
“We’re still working on putting together what actually took place,” Terry said. “We have a team meeting the plane a
t Andrews. They’ll be taken to a secure location for the night and brought to the White House to be debriefed in the morning. We’ll get Ruskin in to see you as soon as we have all the info you need.”
“Thank you for handling that, Terry.”
“That’s my job, sir. Next up is vice presidential vetting.” Terry put five eight-by-ten photos on the table in front of Nick, all women he recognized. The first was Evelyn Hodges, the Transportation secretary, followed by Michaela Johnson, a congresswoman from Maryland; Inez Cortez, the governor of New Mexico; Jessica Sanford, the senior senator from Illinois; and Gretchen Henderson, a well-respected political operative who’d done an outstanding job of turning out the young adult vote in the last presidential election.
“The Nelson team thoroughly vetted Johnson, Hodges and Cortez when he was considering them before his first election. He ended up going with the safe choice in Gooding and then with you because he wanted your approval ratings to transfer over to him. We all know how that worked out.” Nick had only become more popular as vice president, which had annoyed Nelson—and his murdering son, Christopher.
“So we’d only need to vet Sanford and Henderson, then?”
“Right. I’ve got people working on both right now, with orders to keep it low-key. We don’t want to tip our hand in any direction until we have a front-runner.”
“Johnson would be my first choice. I’d love to have the first woman and first Black vice president.”
“And she’d be an excellent choice, but I’m actually more interested in Henderson myself.”
“How come?”
“Roll with me here. Your youthfulness is going to be a big part of what your administration is remembered for, and the way I see it, we have an enormous opportunity to engage young people in government service, voting, activism, etc. That plays nicely with the work you’ve already been doing in engaging kids and young people in government. That’s why I think Henderson is the ideal choice.”
Nick picked up the photo of the dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty who was a Rhodes scholar, a fellow Harvard graduate and a former Miss New Jersey. “I don’t know much about her beyond her successful get-out-the-vote work in the last two presidential elections.”
“She’s a go-getter,” Terry said. “Her story isn’t all that different from yours. She was raised in public housing in Newark, won an academic scholarship to Harvard. She’s worked for a number of New Jersey governors and members of Congress and is very well regarded by everyone who knows her.”
Nick was aware that whoever he chose to be his vice president would also be the party’s heir apparent, like he’d been as vice president. He was also painfully aware that this first major decision as president would be thoroughly dissected, which further amplified the need to get it right.
Derek joined them a few minutes later. “Sorry I’m late. My parents came to stay with Maeve for a few hours, and they got caught in football traffic.”
Washington’s football team had a home game that afternoon.
“No worries,” Nick said. “We were just talking about Gretchen Henderson. Any thoughts?”
“I like her, but her personal life has been messy.”
“How so?” Nick asked. “We don’t have any formal vetting on her yet.”
“She’s been divorced twice. The second divorce was ugly, from what I heard, with restraining orders filed on both sides.”
Nick winced. “Both sides, huh?”
“I don’t know all the details,” Derek said, “but we’ll need to take a deeper dive before we seriously consider her. Or, I should say, before you seriously consider her.”
Nick glanced at Terry, who smiled and nodded, agreeing with him that this was the perfect time to tell Derek they hoped to retain him in their administration. “I was hoping you’d consider sticking around.”
“Oh,” Derek said. “Really?”
“Of course,” Nick said, laughing. “You can’t be all that surprised that I want you on my team.”
“I didn’t want to assume anything.”
“I’d love for you to stay as deputy chief of staff, continuing your role as our liaison to Congress,” Nick said. “If you’re willing, that is.”
“I’d be honored.” Derek paused before he added, “Mr. President, sir.”
“Terry, what’s the rule on the Mr. President and sir stuff?”
“None of that shit when we’re alone,” Terry said.
Derek laughed. “Got it. And thank you. I have to confess, I’ve been reeling a bit since I got the word about Nelson’s passing and realized I was out of a job.”
He’d become a single father to his daughter, Maeve, after his wife, Victoria, was murdered almost two years ago. “I’d considered you for loftier posts, but I had a feeling you’d rather stick with the routine that allows you to be home for dinner with Maeve most nights.”
“You figured right. Thank you again for asking me.”
“Since I’m inheriting Nelson’s cabinet, I need all the friends around me that I can get. I was thinking about asking Christina to come back as press secretary.” His longtime friend and aide had married Sam’s colleague Tommy Gonzales on Thanksgiving. “What do you think?”
“I’m not sure she’d want the full-time gig, not to mention the stress, especially after what she and Tommy have been through lately,” Terry said.
“I’ve considered that, and I won’t be surprised if she declines. But I do plan to ask her. A few roles that require my own people, and that’s definitely one of them.” No way would he trust Nelson’s communications people to speak for him. “Trevor will be the communications director. I’ve already discussed Christina with him, and he’s all for it. We’ll see what she has to say about it. In the meantime, let’s get the vetting on the last two VP candidates and start meeting with them this week.”
They were still working their way through Terry’s agenda of items that needed Nick’s immediate attention when he heard Sam talking to the kids in the family room. “Excuse me for just a minute.”
He went to see how bad the damage to the face of his beloved was and had to bite back a gasp when he saw her. Her cheek was going to be badly bruised, and both hands were wrapped in gauze. “Aw, babe.”
“I told you it was no big deal,” she said, wincing when she tried to smile.
“Did you need stitches?”
“Thankfully, no, but getting the crap cleaned out of the cuts on my hands was all kinds of fun, let me tell you.”
“How did you hurt your hands?”
“Breaking my fall into a holly bush.”
He gently kissed the backs of her hands. “Ouch. You want to reschedule with Mrs. Nelson?”
“No way. I can do it. Tracy is coming to make me presentable.”
“Babe…”
“I’m fine. I’m going up to wash off the blood. I’ll be ready by the time Tracy gets here. I invited her and Ang to come with me, and yes, I asked Lilia to let Mrs. Nelson’s team know I’m bringing my sisters.” She glanced at the kids, all of whom were playing with the toys on the floor. “Scotty says they seem better than they were right after Eli left.”
“They’re hanging in there. I’ve been with Terry and Derek for the last hour, with Scotty under orders to come get me if needed.” He kissed her forehead. “Go take your shower.” He waited until she was all the way upstairs before he went to find Vernon, who was outside the front door with Jimmy. The two of them and the other agents they were with snapped to attention when he appeared at the doorway.
“Mr. President,” Vernon said. “May we help you with something?”
“I was wondering if I could have a word, Vernon.”
“Of course, sir.” He stepped inside the house and followed Nick to the kitchen, the one place on the first floor where they could speak privately.
“Can I get you anything?” Nick asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“No, thank you, sir.”
“I was just wondering if you had to get i
nvolved at the incident earlier.”
“No, sir. Your wife and her team had the situation well in hand. The perp got off a lucky elbow, which is how she got hurt. We did give her a lift to the ER, but otherwise, we weren’t needed.”
“Well, I guess that’s good.”
“If I may, sir…”
“Please, speak freely.”
“Your wife is very good at what she does.”
“Yes, I know.”
“It’d be a shame if she had to stop doing her job.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Good to know.”
“If there’s nothing else, I should get back to work.”
“One other thing.” Nick hesitated before he said, “Please don’t let anything happen to her. She’s everything to me.”
“I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe. You have my word on that. But we’re trying to stay out of her way when she’s working.”
“I understand you’re walking a fine line there.”
“Indeed, sir.”
“Thank you, Vernon.”
“My pleasure, sir.”
Alone in the kitchen, his mind swirling with worries about the many ways his job made his beloved wife unsafe, Nick wished he could go back in time to the day President Nelson asked him to replace the ailing Vice President Gooding. If he’d known then what he knew now, the answer would’ve been an unequivocal no.
Chapter Twenty
Sam showered, brushed her hair with hands that hurt like hell and made herself as presentable as possible. Now it was down to Tracy and her theater makeup to finish the job.
“I’ll try not to hurt you,” Tracy said as she came at Sam with a triangle-shaped sponge dipped in stage makeup.
Despite Tracy’s best efforts to be gentle, it was agonizing to have anything touch her face. “This could’ve only happened to me.”
“You do have a propensity for spectacular injuries at the worst possible time.” Tracy worked with intense concentration that would’ve made Sam giggle if it didn’t hurt so much to laugh.
“You look really nice.”
Her sister, who’d battled weight challenges since giving birth to the youngest of her three children, was wearing a black wrap dress with a jaunty cranberry-colored jacket and matching jewelry. “I did what I could on short notice.”