Fatal Destiny (12 page)

“I’ll be right along.” When they were alone, Sam turned to her father. “Well, nothing like a little drama to keep things interesting.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby girl. I sure wish Nick could’ve seen that.”

“I was just doing for him what he’d do for me.”

“What was it exactly that you asked of Harry?”

“When Nick was a kid, she’d promise to come visit and then never show up. He’d wait all day for her only to be disappointed. Then when she would come, he’d be able to smell her perfume on his skin for days afterward. He’d refuse to take a bath until his grandmother made him. To this day, the smell of her perfume sends him off a cliff. It just happened the last time he saw her. Takes him a while to get past it, which is the last thing either of us needs today.”

“And Harry knows this?”

Sam nodded. “Nick told him once in a weak moment. He cued me in after Nick saw her in Cleveland. Harry won’t let her get close enough to do that to him again.”

“It’s amazing Nick came through it all as well as he did.”

“Isn’t it?” Sam glanced at the clock on the wall. Five minutes to four. Feeling euphoric and victorious and ready to marry the love of her life, Sam looked down at her dad. “Well, my friend, you and I have a wedding to get to.”

“After you, my love.”

As the soloist Shelby had hired sang “At Last,” Sam stood next to her dad’s chair in the back of the church and watched Nick’s brothers, her nephews, nieces and sisters precede her down the aisle. She had yet to allow herself to look at Nick for fear she’d lose her cool if she caught his eye before she was ready.

“I like the song,” her dad said gruffly. “Perfect.”

“I thought so too. I’m glad you approve.” Sam bent at the waist to look him in the eye. “And I’m glad you stuck around so you could give me away today, but don’t get any ideas about punching out now that all your girls are happily married.”

The right side of his face lifted into a smile. “As it happens, I am too.” His Valentine’s Day wedding to his faithful nurse Celia had given them all something to celebrate. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got plenty to live for, and I know it.”

Shelby approached them. “Ready?” She handed Sam her bouquet of dark purple orchids.

“Thank you, Shelby. For everything. I truly couldn’t have gotten through this without you.”

“My pleasure. You have a very handsome senator waiting anxiously for you.” Shelby gestured to the doorway. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Sam placed her hand on her dad’s shoulder. “I’m with you, Skippy.”

“Let’s go then.”

When they moved into the doorway, Sam took a deep breath and finally dared to look at Nick. Her throat closed at the sight of him. Tall, handsome and sinfully sexy in a sharp black tuxedo that emphasized his broad shoulders and muscular build. The orchid on his lapel matched her bouquet. Despite the sleepless night, he appeared happy and relaxed and maybe just a tad bit nervous. In fact, he looked so good standing with Graham, Harry, Andy and Scotty that Sam deduced he had no idea his mother was in attendance.

And there was no chance of him noticing now because he never took his eyes off her as she moved with her father down the aisle.

Nick told himself to keep breathing.
Just a dress
. Right. He’d never seen her looking more beautiful. That wasn’t even a good enough word. Breathtaking was more like it. And happy. Her pale blue eyes were bright with excitement, and she positively glowed as she and Skip came toward him. Everyone else in the crowded church faded away, and there was only her.

When they reached the front, Nick stepped forward to squeeze Skip’s right hand.

“Take good care of her,” Skip said so softly that only Nick could hear him.

“Always,” Nick said.

Sam bent to kiss her father’s cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too, baby girl. Go be happy now.”

Celia stood to help Skip get his chair settled next to the front row. Across the aisle, the kids in the wedding party sat with Nick’s father, his stepmother Stacy and Laine O’Connor.

Nick held out his hand to Sam, feasting his eyes on his stunning bride. “That’s the best you could do?”

She threw her head back and laughed, and it was all
he
could do to resist the urge to lean in and kiss the spot on her neck that drove her wild. Instead, he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and escorted her to the altar.

Nick tried to pay attention to the ceremony, but truthfully, he wanted it over with. When he thought about the crazy, wild ride they’d taken to get to this day, he just wanted to hear the words “husband and wife.” He tuned back into the proceedings to hear Celia read the passage from the Book of Ruth that he’d chosen. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

Angela read from the Book of the Corinthians. “Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, hopes all things. Love never ends.”

He and Sam lit candles, and the pastor spoke to them about love and fidelity and the importance of working every day to make their marriage successful. The pastor led them through the recitation of the traditional vows to love, honor and cherish each other that they’d wanted included in the ceremony.

Finally, he had them turn to each other and join hands.

Sam passed her bouquet to Tracy and reached for his hands, linking their fingers.

The pastor gestured to him. “Nick?”

He squeezed her hands and tried to forget that more than a hundred people were watching them. “This day was six years in the making.” Nick hoped he could get through this without embarrassing himself. “From the first instant I ever laid eyes on you, Samantha, I knew you were the one for me. It took far longer to get here than it should have, but all that matters is that we’re finally here. Since I already promised all the most important things, I thought I’d throw in a few things that I know are important to you.”

Sam’s smile warmed his heart and gave him the courage to continue.

“So I promise to be a little less freakishly neat—”

That drew a laugh from his bride.

“—and slightly less obsessed with your safety.” He paused for another laugh from her. “You’re not supposed to find
all
of this funny.”

Sam tried—and failed—to wipe the grin from her face.

“I promise not to let my phone ring more than twice, to do my best not to constantly clean up after you and to let you be you—even when you drive me crazy.” He stepped closer and leaned his forehead against hers. “I promise I’ll always love you and put you and our family first in my life because there’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than with you.”

Sam looked up at him with bottomless eyes full of tears.

“That works out rather well,” she said, “since there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you. I had the same plan—to offer you a few things I thought you would appreciate.”

Smiling, Nick raised his head to give her some space.

“I promise to
try
not to leave my shoes all over the place, to hang my coat in the closet rather than tossing it over the sofa where it belongs, to make the bed once in a while and to stop rearranging your desk every time I sit there.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

Smiling back at him, Sam brought their joined hands to her lips. “I promise to try very hard to not protect you by keeping things from you. And even though it may sometimes seem that my job and the case of the moment are more important to me than you, I promise you they are not. I’ve loved you for as long as you’ve loved me, and I always will.”

Overwhelmed, Nick took a deep, shuddering breath and accepted the rings from Graham. After they were in place, the pastor uttered the words Nick had often wondered if he would ever hear: “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

“At last,” Nick whispered as he drew her in close to him.

Sam linked her arms around his neck and slipped him some tongue, making his blood race.

“Brat,” he said against her lips.

She laughed at the face he made at her and reclaimed her bouquet from Tracy.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the pastor said, “it’s my pleasure to introduce Senator and Mrs. Nicholas Cappuano.”

Nick winced. His Samantha was no one’s Mrs., but oh well. For better or worse, she was his.

Finally and forever his.

Hand in hand they made their way down the aisle. Sitting behind Sam’s family was her Metropolitan Police family, including Chief Farnsworth, Deputy Chief Conklin, Captain Malone and their wives. Freddie and Elin, Gonzo and his fiancée—Nick’s chief of staff Christina Billings. Sam was pleased and relieved to see her friend and colleague Detective Jeannie McBride there with her boyfriend Michael.

Nick’s side of the church was also filled to overflowing. What he lacked in family he more than made up for in friends. John O’Connor’s sister Lizbeth, her husband Royce, and John’s brother Terry—Nick’s new deputy chief of staff—were there along with most of his staff. Sam recognized the leadership of the Virginia Democratic Party along with Virginia Governor Zorn and his wife Judy. Behind them were a number of Nick’s colleagues from the Senate and another of Nick’s close friends, White House deputy chief of staff Derek Kavanaugh, and his wife, Victoria.

When Nick seemed to founder all of a sudden, Sam realized he’d spotted his mother waving from the back row. True to their agreement, she was being quiet, but of course she’d had to make sure Nick knew she was there. Sam wished she could wave a magic wand and make the woman disappear.

“Just keep moving, babe,” she said to Nick. “Keep moving.”

“But… that’s—”

Sam tugged him along with her. “I know who she is.”

They emerged from the church to an enormous crowd that had grown during the hour-long ceremony. Shelby’s security folks shepherded them through the gauntlet so they could cross the street to the Hay-Adams. The photographer had let them know ahead of time that he would be angling for a shot of them crossing H Street with the White House in the background. Shelby’s people had cleared the street to allow for the photo.

While Sam sensed the lingering tension in Nick, he played his part to perfection, dashing slightly ahead of her to give the photographer the shot he’d claimed would be the iconic image from their wedding. All Sam cared about was getting a moment alone with her groom to soothe and assure him that his mother wouldn’t bother him today.

With the photo taken, they arrived at the hotel where Shelby greeted them.

“We need a moment,” Sam said to her.

“Right this way.”

They followed Shelby to the elevator, which transported them to the hotel’s rooftop where the reception would take place. She showed them into a small salon. “I’ll be right outside when you’re ready for photos.”

“Thank you.” Sam closed the door and turned to Nick. “Are you okay?”

He looked confused and undone, which Sam deeply resented. “What’s she doing here?”

“She crashed. I took care of it. I said she could stay for the ceremony, but I let her know she wasn’t welcome here.”

He shook his head, his mouth set with dismay. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”

“Look at me,” Sam said.

In his eyes she saw disbelief and resignation.

“We’re not spending our first minutes as husband and wife talking about someone who’s not worth our time.” As she watched him make a huge effort to shake it off, Sam raised her hands to his face and kissed him softly. “She’s not worth our time.”

His arms encircled her waist. “Did you rip her to shreds?”

Sam smiled at his attempt at humor. “I made confetti out of her.”

“I really wish I could’ve seen that.”

“Someday, I’ll tell you all about it, but not today.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

Sam kissed him again. “Will you be all right?”

“Yeah. Thanks for having my back.”

“Always.”

He reached for her right hand and removed her engagement ring, placing it on her left hand with the low-key but elegant diamond band. Running his thumb over the two rings, he said, “Do you like your ring?”

“It’s beautiful and perfect. And it won’t get in the way at work.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

She captured his left hand. “What do you think of yours?”

“I love it. Very classy.”

“Just like you.” Sam kissed his ring. “I’ve always thought there was something so incredibly sexy about a wedding ring on a man’s finger. It tells the world he has pledged himself to someone and isn’t afraid to say so. Everyone you meet will know you’re taken. I like that.”

“Then I’ll never take it off.”

“You have to take it off at least once so you can see the engraving.”

“All right, but just this once.” He slid the ring from his finger and tipped it into the light so he could read the inscription. She hadn’t expected him to laugh. “Take a look at yours.”

Sam removed both rings and held up the wedding band so she could see inside.
You’re my home. Always, Nick
. She looked up at him, astounded. “No way! No wonder why Shelby seemed so surprised by what I’d chosen!”

Nick laughed again, and the sound warmed Sam’s heart. Thankfully, he seemed to have rebounded from the shock of seeing his mother. “What a pair we are, huh?”

“A match made in heaven,” Sam said, sighing as she kissed him.

For the longest time, they stood there gazing at each other like two lovesick fools.

“I can’t believe you’re finally my wife,” he said softly, reverently.

“And you’re finally my husband.”

He framed her face, kissing her long and hard before he seemed to remember they had guests waiting for them. “We probably ought to get out there before Shelby thinks we’re consummating in here.”

Chuckling, Sam looked around the small but elegant room that included an upholstered chaise lounge. “That’s not a
bad
idea…”

“Hold that thought for a couple of hours.”

She reached up to wipe the lingering lipstick off his mouth. “
That long
?”

“I’ll make it
well
worth the wait,” he promised with a salacious grin that sent shivers down her spine as he led her out the door to rejoin Shelby.

The room fairly shimmered in candlelight and the waning glow of daylight. Greens and purples and orchids with painted glass vases full of more flowers on the tables. Sam had seen sketches of Shelby’s vision, but nothing could’ve prepared her for the reality of just how amazing it turned out to be. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, their city stretched out before them—from the White House to the Washington Monument to Lincoln, Jefferson and the Potomac beyond.

Earlier, word had rippled through the city that the famed cherry trees that lined the tidal basin in front of the Jefferson Memorial had burst into bloom overnight. As the photographer took shots of them on the patio with the monuments in the background, Sam pointed out the sea of cherry blossom pink to Nick.

“The city is giving us its blessing,” he said.

She went up on tiptoes to kiss him, hearing the click, click, click of the camera that recorded their every move. “It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?”

Nick never left her side as they received guests, had dinner, took what seemed like a thousand photos and exchanged an equal number of on-demand kisses. Freddie, Gonzo and the others from the MPD seemed to have placed themselves in charge of regularly clinking silverware against crystal to demand more of the PDA Sam avoided like the plague. She’d get them back when it was their turn to tie the knot.