Like the president before him, Nick stopped to embrace Graham and Laine on his way back to his seat.
Sam slipped her arm around him and brought his head to rest on her shoulder. At that moment, she couldn’t have cared less who might be watching or who might gossip about them later. Right now, all she cared about was Nick.
The mass ended with a soprano’s soaring rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and the family followed the pallbearers down the aisle and out of the church.
Dignitaries milled about, speaking in hushed tones as the church emptied. Watching them, Sam realized this was as much an official Washington political event as it was a funeral.
With Nick’s hand on her elbow to guide her, they worked their way through the crowd. He stopped all of a sudden, and Sam turned to see who had caught his eye.
“You came,” Nick said, clearly startled to see the youthful man with brown hair and eyes and an olive complexion that reminded Sam of Nick’s.
“Of course I did.” After a long pause, he added, “You looked real good up there, Nicky. Real good.”
An awkward moment passed before Nick seemed to recover his manners. “This is Sam Holland. Sam, my father, Leo Cappuano.”
“Oh.” Sam glanced up to take a read of Nick’s impassive face before accepting Leo’s outstretched hand. He seemed far too young to be Nick’s father, but then she remembered he was only fifteen years older than his son. “Pleased to meet you.”
“You, too,” Leo said. “I’ve read about the two of you in the paper.”
Nick winced. “I meant to call you, but it’s been kind of crazy…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I appreciate you coming. I really do.”
“I’m very sorry this happened to your friend, Nicky. He was a good guy.”
“Yes, he was.”
Neither of them seemed to know what to say next, and Sam ached for them.
“Well,” Nick said, “the family’s having a thing at the Willard. Can you join us?”
“I need to get back to work,” Leo said. “I just took the morning off.”
Nick shook his hand. “Give my best to Stacy and the kids.”
“You got it.” With a smile for Sam, Leo added, “Bring your pretty lady up to Baltimore for dinner one day soon.”
“I will. I have Christmas presents for the boys.”
“They’d love to see you. Any time. Take care, Nicky.” With a smile, Leo left them.
“Dad?”
He turned back.
“Thanks again for being here.”
Leo nodded and headed for the main door.
Nick exhaled a long deep breath. “That was a surprise.”
“A good surprise?”
“Yeah, sure.”
But she could tell it had rattled him. What would it be like to expect so little of your father that you’d be shocked to see him at your best friend’s funeral? Sam couldn’t imagine.
On the way out of church, numerous people stopped Nick to compliment him on his heartfelt eulogy. He accepted each remark with a gracious smile, but Sam could feel his tension in the tight grip he kept on her hand. When they finally made it outside, he took a deep breath.
Gonzo met them. “No sign of either of them.”
Removing the ear piece she’d worn during the funeral, Sam took a measuring look around at the crowd. “I really thought they’d be here, if nothing more than to pour salt in the O’Connors’s wounds. She told Cruz they were planning to attend.”
“We’ll keep looking,” Gonzo assured her.
“Any word on autopsies on Tara or Natalie?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Get with Lindsey and put a rush on Tara’s. We’ll have to bug Alexandria for Natalie’s.” Sam glanced up at Nick, whose attention was focused elsewhere. Lowering her voice, she said to Gonzo, “I need to hang with him for a while longer. Call me if anything breaks.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks.” Taking Nick’s arm, she directed him to the row of taxis lined up at the curb.
“It was a good idea you had to take the Metro in this morning,” he said once they were in a cab.
“I knew security would make it tough to park anywhere near the cathedral.” She snuggled into him and wrapped her arm around his waist. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better.”
“You were really great up there, Nick. I was so proud of you, my heart felt like it might burst.”
He hugged her tight against him and touched his lips to her forehead. “Thanks for coming. I know you had other things to do—”
She tilted her face to kiss him. “I was exactly where I needed to be. Where I wanted to be.” Glancing up at him, she found him staring out the window. “Can I ask you something?” she said tentatively, not sure if this was the best time. But she needed to know. For some reason, she had to know more.
“Sure you can.”
“What you said about growing up in Lowell with your grandmother…”
“What about it?”
“If you lived in a one-bedroom apartment, where did you sleep?”
“The sofa pulled out to a bed.”
She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to deal with the sudden need to weep. Her every emotion seemed to be hovering just below the surface, and it wouldn’t take much for the floodgates to swing open. “Where did you keep your stuff?”
“I didn’t have a lot of stuff, but what I had I kept in the hall closet.”
Her heart cracked right in half. “That’s why you’re so particular about the things you have now, isn’t it? And I’ve made fun of you for that. I’m so sorry, Nick.”
“Don’t be sorry, babe. You’re right to razz me. You lighten me up, and I need that.”
“I had no idea…”
“How could you? But it doesn’t bother me at all when you tease me about being anal. I swear it doesn’t, so please don’t stop.” He tipped up her chin and flashed the cajoling smile she couldn’t resist. “Please?”
She returned his smile with a pout. “If it doesn’t bother you, that takes some of the fun out of it.”
He laughed. “I love you, Samantha Holland, and all your crazy twisted logic.”
Wanting to give him absolutely everything he’d ever been denied, but satisfied for now to hear him laugh, Sam closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his neck. “I love you, too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
THE CAB CAME to a stop in front of the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, two blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The O’Connors reserved the ballroom, and the food here is amazing,” Nick said, hoping to convince her to stay for a while.
“I really need to get to work.”
“I know. I’m just being selfish wanting you with me.”
Sam studied him. “Let me check in with HQ. Maybe I can stay for a few minutes.”
Nick watched her while she talked on the phone and wished he could take her home to decorate the Christmas tree he planned to buy. He’d never bothered with a tree before, but this year he wanted the bother. This year, everything was different.
“I’ll be there shortly,” Sam said as she ended the call. “I’m only a couple of blocks away at the Willard.”
“So you can come in?” Nick asked when she had returned her phone to her coat pocket.
She hesitated, but only for a second. “Sure. There’s not much else I can do until we get a sighting of one of them.”
Before they entered the hotel, Sam rested her hand on his arm to stop him. “You know it’s going to be like this, right?”
“Like what?”
“I’ll want to be with you, especially on a day like this, but I’ll need to be somewhere else a lot of the time.”
Nick smiled, touched by the hint of vulnerability he detected. “I know what I’m signing on for, babe.”
“Do you? Do you really?”
Something in her tone and the expression on her face told
him this too had been a problem in her marriage. He leaned in to kiss her. “I really do. I’m sorry you can’t spend the day with me, but I understand you have a job to do, and in this case, I have a vested interest in you getting it done.”
“Okay,” she said with a sigh of relief.
“I’m never going to hassle you over your work, Sam,” he said as he guided her inside with an arm around her shoulders.
“Never say never. It has a way of screwing up plans, vacations, meals, sleep…”
“I’ll do my best to understand, but I’ll always be sorry to see you go.”
She looked up at him, a small smile illuminating her beautiful face. “I want to be with you today.”
“I know, and that counts for a lot.”
They checked their coats and wandered into the elegant ballroom where Graham and Laine greeted each guest as they entered the room.
Nick embraced them both.
“You did a beautiful job, Nick,” Laine said, grasping his hands.
“Thank you.” Nick had such admiration for the aura of dignity the older woman projected even in the darkest hours of her life.
“No, thank you, for everything this week. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”
“It was no problem.”
Laine shook Sam’s hand. “Thank you for coming today.”
“The service was lovely,” Sam said.
“Yes,” Laine agreed. “I thought so, too.”
“Any developments?” Graham asked.
“A few,” Sam said. “I’m heading into work shortly, and I hope to know more by the end of the day. I’ll keep you informed.”
“We’d appreciate that,” Graham said. “Nick, look me up in half an hour or so, would you?”
“Sure.” With his arm around Sam, Nick steered them through the crowd toward one of the bars in the corner. “I know you have issues with them, so thank you for that…just now.”
“This isn’t the time or the place.”
“Do you plan to do anything about them lying to you?”
“What would be the point? If they had told me the truth, it would’ve saved me some time. I don’t have anything to gain by going after them.” She glanced over at the O’Connors who were greeting the senior senator from Virginia and his wife. “In fact, I kind of pity them.”
“Because of John?”
“That, too, but also for what they’ve missed out on with Thomas. And for what?”
“I wonder if they regret what they did,” Nick said as he accepted coffee for himself and a soda for her.
“They will if we can prove Thomas’s mother murdered John.”
Nick shook his head. “What a tangled web.”
“It amazes me that people think they’re going to get away with trying to hide a baby. A secret like that is a time bomb looking for a place to detonate.”
“True. I see it all the time in politics. The stuff people try to keep hidden usually blows up in their faces during a campaign.”
Sam took a measuring look around the room. “I wonder where the cops who are supposed to be protecting the O’Connors are. I don’t see anyone.”
“Could be undercover.”
“If there was a cop in this room, I’d know it.”
Lucien Haverfield, the O’Connor family’s attorney, approached them. “There you are, Nick. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Lucien.” Nick shook hands with the distinguished older man and introduced him to Sam. “Nice to see you.”
“Fine job you did today at the funeral.”
“Thank you.”
“The will is being read tomorrow at two at the O’Connor home. I need you to be there.”
“Why’s that?” Nick asked, surprised.
“You’re a beneficiary.”
“But he left me money,” Nick stammered. “Insurance money, and a lot of it.”
“Can you be there at two?” Lucien asked, clearly not willing to shed any light in advance of the reading.
“Yes, of course.”
“Great.” Lucien patted Nick’s shoulder. “I’ll see you then.”
“Wonder what that’s all about,” Nick said to Sam.
“I guess you’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” He noticed Graham signaling to him and led Sam over to a table where Graham sat with the Virginia Democrats.
“We’d like to have a word with you upstairs, if you can spare us a few minutes, Nick,” said Judson Knott, chairman of the party.
“Sure,” Nick said with a perplexed glance at Sam.
“I’ll, um, just wait for you here,” she said.
“You’re welcome to join us,” Graham said. “This involves you, too.”
Sam looked at Nick, who shrugged. “Okay,” she said.
They followed the other men to the elevator and then to the Abraham Lincoln Suite. Nick took a moment to check out the incredible blue and gold suite, thinking he’d like to bring Sam there sometime when they could be alone. He accepted a short glass of bourbon from Judson. Sam declined a drink. Richard Manning, the party’s vice chairman, had also joined them. “What’s this all about, gentlemen?”
They gestured for Nick and Sam to have a seat at the dining room table.
“We have a proposition for you, Nick,” Judson said.
Nick glanced at Graham and then at Sam. “What’s that?”
“We’d like you to finish out John’s term,” Graham said.
Nick almost choked on the bourbon. “What? Me?”
Under the table, Sam grasped his arm.
“Yes, you,” Judson said.
“But you have any number of people better suited. What about Cooper?”
“His wife was recently diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. He’ll be announcing his resignation from the legislature the day after tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nick said sincerely. “How about Main?”
“He’s been carrying on with his son’s first grade teacher for years, and his wife filed for divorce yesterday. It’ll be hitting the papers any day now.”
“The party’s having some troubles, Nick,” Manning drawled. “We need someone of your caliber to step in and get us through to next year’s election. We’re hoping Cooper’s wife will have recovered enough by then to free him up to run.”
Nick couldn’t believe they were serious. He wasn’t the guy. He was the guy behind the guy. He named ten other Virginia Democrats he considered better suited to the job and was treated to a variety of disqualifying details about their personal lives that he could’ve lived without knowing. She’s expecting twins, he’s gay and in the closet—wants to stay there, he’s got financial problems, she’s caregiver to a mother with Alzheimer’s. It went on and on.
“Listen, you guys,” Nick said when he had run out of names to float. “I appreciate you thinking of me…”
“You struck a chord this morning,” Judson said. “With your talk of humble beginnings. The data is highly favorable—”
“You’ve polled on me?” Nick asked, incredulous. “Already?”
“Of course we have.” Richard seemed insulted that Nick even had to ask. “Most of Virginia and the rest of official Washington watched the funeral. You made quite an impression.” Richard directed a charming smile at Sam. “Between that and your very public relationship with the Sergeant—”
“Don’t bring her into this,” Nick snapped. “She’s off limits.”
Graham rested his forearms on the table and leaned in to address Nick. “You know how this works. Nothing’s off limits, especially your personal life. But the party is prepared to throw its support behind you if you want it. By this time tomorrow you can be a United States senator. All you have to do is tell us you want it, and we’ll make it happen.”
“Your name recognition is off the charts right now,” Richard added. “Factor in youthful vitality, obvious political savvy, a well-known connection to the O’Connors and you’re a very attractive candid
ate, Nick. Governor Zorn thinks it’s a brilliant idea.”
A United States senator. It boggled his mind. “I don’t know what to say…”
“Say yes,” Judson urged.
“It’s not that simple,” Nick said, thinking of Sam and their fledgling relationship. Could it handle the pressure that would come with a job like this on top of a job like hers? “I need to think about it.”
“For how long?” Judson asked. “The governor is anxious to act.”
“I need a couple of days.”
“Two,” Judson said. “I can give you through Christmas, and then we’ll need to know.”
“Why don’t you want it?” Nick asked, beginning to worry about Sam’s total silence and the sudden pallor gracing her cheeks.
“Hell,” Judson said, “I’m too damned old to keep that kind of schedule. Richard is, too. We want to spend our spare time golfing and hanging out with the grand-babies. We need someone like you to get us through this transition. We’re asking for one year, Nick. Give us that, and for the rest of your life you’ll be known as Senator Cappuano.”
The title sounded so preposterous, it was all Nick could do not to laugh.
Judson and Richard got up to leave. Both shook hands with Graham.
“Sorry again for your loss, Senator,” Judson said.
To Nick, he added, “Let me know what you decide by the twenty-sixth.”
Nick nodded and shook hands with them. When he heard the door click shut behind them, he turned to Graham and Sam.
“What do you think, Nick?” Graham asked.
“I’d like to know what Sam thinks.”
“I, ah, I have no idea what to say.”
He could tell by the wild look in her blue eyes that she was having a silent freak out and decided to wait until they were alone to address it further with her.
“You seriously think I can do this?” he said to Graham.
“If I had any doubt, we wouldn’t be here.”
Nick studied the other man for a long moment. “This was all your doing, wasn’t it?”
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