“She turned eighteen today, and the first thing she did was call me.” The young man had tears in his eyes. “She apologized for the ordeal her parents put me through and said she’s never stopped thinking about me or caring about me.” Her parents had had him charged with statutory rape when he was seventeen and Candace was fifteen, after they learned the two of them had been having sex. He hadn’t seen or talked to the young woman he loved in the three years since then.

Sam hugged him. “I’m so happy for you, Eli.”

“I still can’t believe it. I was so hoping I’d hear from her.”

“This is such great news,” Nick said, hugging him.

“I’m going to call her back from the car, but I wanted to say goodbye to you guys, Scotty and the twins before I go.” He hugged them both again. “Thank you for a great Christmas and vacation, for the adventure of living in the White House, for the family you’ve given me and the twins, for all of it. I, um, well… I love you guys.”

Sam was ridiculously moved by his heartfelt words. “We love you, too. So much. We can’t wait to have you home again.”

“Especially for spring break so you can go to Bora Bora, right?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

“You said that, not us,” Sam said.

They shared a laugh before he went to find Scotty and the twins to say his goodbyes.

The entire family went downstairs, Sam and Nick via the elevator since stairs were still a challenge for her, to see off Eli. Before he got into the Secret Service SUV for the ride back to Princeton, he hugged them all again, giving extra attention to the twins, who clung to him.

“I’ll be back in a couple of weeks,” he told them. “I promise. And I’ll FaceTime tonight at bedtime.”

He held them for five more minutes before they were ready to let him go.

Sam wiped away a tear as she watched them. The poor babies had been through so much, and Eli was their bridge between the past and the present. It was always hard for them to let him go when he had to return to school. And she could see that it broke his heart to leave them.

“Love you guys all the way to the moon and back again,” Eli said as he kissed them both and wiped away their tears. “I’ll be back before you miss me.”

Aubrey shook her head. “No, you won’t. I already miss you.”