“Holy. Shit.” Elijah sat up on the bed. “I, um… Wow.”
Nick handed the child monitor to Elijah. “We’re going to leave the twins here with you for now. I think it would scare them if we woke them to take them with us.”
“Yes, that’s better. I’ll talk to them when they get up, and then we can figure out what’s next. But Jesus, Nick… I mean…”
“Believe me, I know. As I said to Sam and Scotty, nothing that matters will change. We’re still a family. You and the twins are still our family, and we’re going to stick together and get through this. I promise.”
The young man nodded, but Nick saw the same wariness, fear and uncertainty they were all feeling.
“Try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a crazy few days.”
“Ah, yeah, sure,” Elijah said, laughing. “Not seeing a lot of sleep in my future tonight.”
“I don’t want you to worry about anything.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“We’ll be in touch as soon as we can about what’s going on.”
“Okay.”
Nick wasn’t sure what else he could say to reassure him, so he left it at that and returned to his room, where Sam was emerging from the shower, wrapped in a towel.
“I’m hurrying.”
“Thanks, love.” Nick got in the shower and ran a razor over his face, being careful not to cut himself in his haste to get ready. His thoughts swirled a mile a minute, but he concentrated only on the task at hand. Shower, shave, get dressed, get in the car, go to the White House, take the oath. If he took this one minute and one step at a time, he could hold it together to do what needed to be done.
At least he hoped so.
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. That was the only thought in Sam’s head for the first ten minutes after The Call that changed their lives forever. Thankfully, she’d spent some time on her hair earlier in the day and needed only to give it a good brushing to make it presentable. After messing with it for a minute, she decided on a simple, elegant knot. Her hands trembled ever so slightly as she applied makeup and mascara. Dear God… Nick was going to be the president.
He’d only recently told the world of his decision not to run in the next election. Her relief had been overwhelming. She hadn’t wanted him to be president, to be subjected to the scrutiny and stress that would come with the most important job in the world. She’d been thrilled to know he would become a private citizen again in three years, when his term as vice president ended and they got back to “normal,” whatever that was anymore.
This couldn’t be happening.
Except it was, and their lives were going to be turned upside down once again. She’d believed him when he’d said nothing that mattered would change. Their marriage was solid, and they were an awesome team.
But this…
She glanced in the mirror at him in the shower, seeing the tension in his shoulders that no one else would notice. But she saw it. She saw him, and as the dizzying array of implications settled on her, the weight of it threatened to crush her.
Yes, they’d known this was possible when Nick became vice president, but David Nelson had been a healthy man in his late sixties with decades left to live, or so they’d thought. She flattened her hands on the marble vanity and hung her head, trying to relieve the tension in her neck.
Nick had said nothing that mattered would change, but they both knew everything would.
The scrutiny, the security, the criticism, the insanity… Panic bubbled up inside her. What would she do? They’d make her give up her career as a homicide detective, the job that had defined her adult life. The realization filled her with a pervasive sadness that only compounded the grief she’d been living with since she lost her beloved dad just over a month ago. What she wouldn’t give to talk this through with Skip Holland.
He’d tell her to toughen up and do for Nick what he’d always done for her—support her one thousand percent. Nick deserved nothing less from her and would get everything she had to give him, no matter what she had to sacrifice.
And then he was there, his hands on her shoulders, kneading the tension from her muscles. He kissed her neck and made her shiver. “Whatever you’re thinking, just stop. It’s you and me all the way, babe.”
Sam turned in to his embrace and breathed in the fresh, clean scent of home, taking comfort in the familiar when everything had become uncertain in the span of one phone call.
“We really have to go,” he said.
“I know.” Sam gave herself another second to cling to life as she knew it before she reluctantly let him go, donned a robe and went across the hall to get dressed in the closet he’d had built for her. Thinking of photos that would last forever and in deference to the death of President Nelson, she chose a demure black dress and put on her diamond engagement ring and the diamond key necklace that’d been a wedding gift from Nick.
Taking a quick look in the full-length mirror on the back of the door, she decided she was presentable enough to be in photos that would be studied for generations to come. She stepped into the black Louboutins with the distinctive red soles that Nick had given her for Christmas last year, ran damp hands over her skirt to smooth the lines and tried not to think too far ahead of the next couple of hours.
She took a deep breath and released it slowly, determined to be there for him the way he always was for her. So much of their life together had been about her—her job, her family, her needs. This was about Nick, and she was determined to support him in every possible way as he took on the role that would define his life—and hers, whether she wanted that or not.
“You can do this,” she told her reflection. “You can do it for him. You will do it for him.”
A soft knock on the door sounded.
Sam opened the door to him dressed in a navy blue suit, a white dress shirt, a burgundy tie and an American flag pinned to his lapel. He looked handsome, sexy, competent and slightly petrified. The rest of the world would see the calm, cool, collected man he was under pressure. Only she would know how he really felt.
“You look beautiful,” he said softly, aware of ears all around as the Secret Service hovered nearby.
“Funny, I was just thinking the same about you.” Flattening her hands on his lapels, she looked up at him. “Is Scotty ready?”
He nodded.
“Are you?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
She slid her hands down his arms and took hold of his hands, giving a gentle squeeze. “Then let’s get going.”
“Before we go, I just want to say… You certainly didn’t sign on for this.”
She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “I signed on for you, come what may.”
“But this…”
“This will turn out to be our greatest adventure yet.” She wasn’t sure she believed that herself, but she needed him to believe it. “I love you, and I’m right here with you. Always.”
“That’s all I need to know.”
“Let’s do this thing.”
Chapter Two
They met Scotty downstairs, donned their coats and followed the Secret Service agents out the door. Sam wasn’t sure how Brant, Nick’s lead agent, had gotten there so quickly after having been off on Thanksgiving Day. He’d probably known about Nelson’s death before they had. Thinking about logistics was better than contemplating the myriad ways their lives were about to change forever. Her stomach ached the way it had years ago, when she’d been a stressed-out mess addicted to diet cola.