LITMIR.BIZ

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know.” Desperate to find a way to comfort him, she settled him back on his pillow. “How about we have our own little party right here? We’ll watch whatever movie you want and play video games.”

      His shoulders lifted ever so slightly.

      She was no substitute for his friends, but she’d do whatever she could to fill the void. “You want to get up and try to eat something?”

      He shook his head. “No, thanks. Not yet.”

      “Let me know when you’re ready.” She tucked him in and kissed his forehead.

      “Thanks,” he said, “for taking care of me and stuff.”

      “It’s my pleasure.”

      “Sure,” he said with the tiniest hint of a smile. “Cleaning up puke is a pleasure.”

      “Being your mom is a pleasure. The good, the bad and the ugly. I love it all.”

      “Something’s wrong with you if you like the ugly.”

      “I hear that every day.” She left him with a smile and went back to her room, crawling in bed next to Nick, who hadn’t stirred. When she placed a hand on his back, the heat of his body alarmed her. She felt his forehead and launched out of bed to find the thermometer Harry had left for her. Running it over his forehead, she gasped when it registered at 104.5. Dear God!

      “Nick.” She shook his shoulder. “Babe, wake up. You’ve got to take something for the fever.” Kissing his cheek, she said, “Nick, wake up.” He didn’t respond, even when she shook him vigorously.

      Frantic, Sam grabbed her phone from the bedside table and called Harry. “Nick is at 104.5, and he won’t wake up,” she said the second Harry answered.

      “Call 911. Right now. I’ll meet you at GW.”

      “I can’t leave Scotty with only his detail!”

      “Call Tracy to stay with him.”

      “Okay. I’ll do that. Harry—”

      “Make the call, Sam.”

      Her hands shook as she called 911 and requested an ambulance. In the hallway, she said to Darcy, “I called rescue for Nick. He’s unresponsive.”

      “Oh my God! I’ll let them know downstairs.”

      After nearly dropping the phone in her haste, Sam found Tracy’s number and willed her sister to answer the phone. “Trace! I need you to come over here. Hurry. Nick and Scotty are sick, and I have to take Nick to GW—”

      “What? Okay, I’m coming. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

      “You have to stay with Scotty.” Her voice broke and tears flooded her eyes. “I can’t wake him up, Trace. Nick. He won’t wake up.”

      “I’ll be right there.”

      Sam went to Nick and shook him again, looking for something, anything. “Please,” she whispered. “Wake up.”

      But like before, he didn’t move.

      She laid her hand on his chest where the strong beat of his heart was the best thing she’d ever felt. Then she noted the rise and fall of his breathing. Those were good signs, weren’t they?

      It seemed to take hours for the paramedics to arrive when it was probably only minutes. Everything moved very quickly. They had him on an IV and strapped to a gurney in a matter of seconds and were whisking him out of the house, escorted by the Secret Service.

      Sam was torn in two very distinct directions—go with Nick or stay with Scotty until Tracy arrived. She looked in on Scotty, who’d gone back to sleep. The fact that he was sleeping through this cemented her decision.

      “My sister Tracy is coming to stay with him,” Sam said to Darcy. “If he wakes up before she gets here, tell him I took his dad to see Harry. Don’t say anything about ambulances or paramedics.”

      “Of course. I hope the vice president is okay.”

      “So do I.”

      Sam ran out of the house without a coat and bolted down the ramp to the back of the ambulance. The sight of Nick, unmoving and strapped to a gurney, his face ghostly pale, made Sam stagger under the weight of her fear. Thankfully, Brant took hold of her arm and helped her into the ambulance before she tripped and fell.

      “Why won’t he wake up?” she asked the paramedics when they were on their way to GW.

      “We think he’s severely dehydrated. We’re pumping fluid into him, which ought to help.”

      Dehydrated. She could work with that.

      “But he’s going to be okay, right?”

      “He should be.”

      Sam clung to those three little words on the rapid trip to the hospital, where he was taken straight into an exam room. One of the nurses put an arm around Sam’s shoulders and guided her out of the room. “Let me find a place for you to wait where you won’t be bothered, Mrs. Cappuano.”

      “I want to be with him.”

      “Give us a chance to get him stable, and we’ll get you right in with him.”

      “He’s not stable now?”

      “We’re still assessing his condition. It’ll be a few minutes.”

      Harry came rushing in, and Sam had never been so happy to see anyone in her life.

      “They’re telling me I can’t stay with him.”

      “I’ll get you in there as soon as I can.” He gave her a quick hug. “Go with Nancy. She’ll get you settled somewhere to wait.”

      “Harry, please... Please.”

      “He’s going to be fine. I promise.”

      Those were, without any doubt, among the best words she’d ever heard. While Brant and another member of Nick’s detail stood watch outside the exam room, Sam let Nancy lead her to a private waiting room. She wanted to ask why the agents could stay but she couldn’t, but she already knew the answer to that.

      “Is there someone you could call to come sit with you?” Nancy asked.

      The only person Sam wanted was Nick. “I, um, I could call my sister.”

      “Would you like me to do it for you?”

      Angela would freak out if she got a call from a nurse at the GW Emergency Room. “Thank you, but I’ll do it.”

      “Is there anything I can get you? Water, coffee?”

      “A stiff drink?” Sam said with a small smile.

      “Wish that was on the menu.”

      “I’m fine, thank you. Please let me know the second you hear anything.”

      “We will. I just want to say... All of us here, we think you and the vice president make for a beautiful couple, and we admire you both so much.”

      Sam blinked rapidly, overcome with emotion. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

      “He’s young and strong and healthy. Have faith in all those things.”

      Sam nodded because she didn’t trust herself to speak.

      Nancy left her alone, and Sam took a moment to get herself together before she called Ang.

      “Hey, what’s up? I was going to call you later.”

      “Ang.”

      “What? What’s wrong?”

      “Can you come to the GW ER? Please? Nick is here, and he’s really sick. I don’t know what’s wrong with him—”

      “I’ll

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