“Can I get that for you, ma’am?” Dustin asked.

“I’ve got it. Thank you.”

“As you wish, ma’am.”

Sam arrived to silence on the second floor, which meant everyone was probably upstairs in the conservatory, their favorite gathering spot. She sat on the bed and sent a text to Nick. I’m home. Just getting changed and finding some food.

Dinner is in the oven for you. I’ll come down to get you.

How long would it be, she wondered, before an innocuous sentence from him, such as I’ll come down to get you, wouldn’t make her heart skip a beat? Hopefully forever. Since he was on his way, she stayed seated to wait for him.

He came through the door two minutes later, wearing sweats and his favorite ratty Harvard T-shirt, looking very much like her husband and not the leader of the free world. When he smiled at her, she could forget he belonged to the entire country. Right now, he was only hers.

She held out her arms to him, and he came to her, wrapping her up in his special brand of love.

“Tough day?” he asked.

“Aren’t they all?”

“Are you okay?”

“I am now.” Before she’d had him to come home to, the idea of clinging to any man would’ve been unthinkable. Now the clinging was as necessary as breathing. “What’s for dinner?”

“Tenderloin and potatoes.”

“My mouth just watered.”

“Let me get it. You can eat upstairs while the kids have their ice cream.”

“Sounds perfect.”

She stood, took a second to make sure her legs were under her and then went to lock up her weapon. “Lead the way.”

They stopped in the small kitchen to get her plate from the oven and then used the elevator to get to the third floor, where another small kitchen housed the ice cream.

“Have you heard anything from Eli?” she asked.

“Only that Candace was due to arrive in New Jersey today.”

“I guess we won’t be hearing from him for a while.”

Nick smiled. “Probably not.”

“Have we established an opinion about her moving in with him?”

“I don’t think we’re allowed to,” Nick said. “He’s twenty, and we’re not paying for the apartment or the tuition. Even if we were, I’d have a hard time working up an objection after what they’ve been through. I do think there needs to be a fatherly conversation about keeping his eye on the ball with school and all that.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll take care of that in the next few days.”

“Imagine how excited they must be,” Sam said.

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

Chapter Thirty-One