“Done it. A hundred times. She doesn’t give a shit.”

Angela came back for them. “Are you guys coming?”

“Yeah,” Tracy said.

Sam nodded to Angela who went back to rejoin the others. To Tracy, she said, “If there’s anything I can do…”

“Don’t worry about us. This is your week.”

“But still—”

“Let’s get this bride into her dress,” Tracy said, dragging Sam along with her. “I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait to see her.”

Sam drove home thinking about the ugly scene with Brooke, which had overshadowed the thrill of seeing her wedding ensemble finally and fully fitted to her. After Sam wore one of her dresses at a White House State Dinner, Vera Wang herself had contacted Tinker Bell about designing Sam’s dress. The ivory silk dress was strapless and formfitting on top, flaring into a full, embroidered skirt with no train. Sam loved it and had a feeling Nick would too.

She cringed when she remembered Shelby flipping out about the bruise the birth control shot had left on her arm. It had never occurred to Sam that it would leave such a big mark. Post flip-out, Shelby had assured her they could cover the bruise with makeup on Saturday. Sam was far more concerned about explaining it to Nick who kept a running inventory of her injuries.

She hated keeping things from him, but she didn’t want to upset him the week of their wedding by getting into an emotional discussion about the baby they’d lost. Sam simply couldn’t talk about that subject without coming unglued, and her emotions were already raw enough without tearing off that scab during this of all weeks. She’d tell him when they were on their honeymoon, when they were relaxed and removed from the stress of work and wedding planning.

That was the best plan. Hopefully, once she got around to telling him, he’d understand why she’d gotten the shot and why she’d kept it from him. Pulling up in front of their townhouse on Ninth Street, Sam debated stopping over to see her dad before going home. Since she’d moved in with Nick, she tried to see her dad every day, but right now she wanted Nick. She decided to go by her dad’s house before work in the morning.

Grabbing the Gardner file, she stood outside their place, taking a moment to appreciate the ramp Nick had had installed as a surprise for her so they could have her dad over. When she’d first seen the wreckage of their front stairs, she’d mistakenly thought her newly freed ex-husband had planted another bomb. The sight had given her a few rough moments before Nick arrived and set her straight. That he’d opened their home to her paralyzed father meant the world to her. There was no denying that her fiancé was one of a kind.