I moved to the side, where Fallon and Rhett stood, as the rest of the staff took their positions.
“Wow. I’m shocked you managed to tear yourself away from Bergdorf’s long enough to show up,” my brother whispered.
I elbowed him sharply in the ribs, quickly enough that no one noticed. “Sounds like someone’s been checking out the latest online gossip. Gotta say, I’m a little surprised. I figured a law student would spend his time reading something a little more intellectual.”
“I’ve got all of us on Google Alerts, little sister. No one in this family does anything that I don’t know about.”
“You realize how creepy that sounds, right?”
Fallon and I fell quiet as Mom stepped up to the podium and began her welcoming remarks, though Fallon kept nudging me just to be irritating. How I survived growing up with two brothers, I’ll never know.
“Knock it off,” I warned through gritted teeth, my smile fixed for the cameras.
Fallon didn’t look at me, but the corner of his mouth curled into a smug grin.
While the crowd applauded something our mother said, I shifted my foot and very discreetly pressed the sharp point of my heel into the top of his shoe.
“Ow. Seriously?” he hissed under his breath, while keeping his composure for the press.
Once Mom’s speech ended, we were escorted out of the foyer and toward the State Dining Room.
“Do you always have to be annoying?” I asked. “I swear, you were poking at me just to see if I’d lose it in front of the cameras. That’s super immature.”
He grinned again. “Relax. I know you’d never let the media see you lose your shit.”
I glared at him. “That’s not the compliment you think it is.”
“But you still love me,” he said, brushing away imaginary lint from his suit.
“I tolerate you,” I corrected. “Barely.”
As soon as we were in place around the drape-covered gingerbread house, Mom delivered her second speech of the afternoon, then pulled the cord to reveal an exact replica of the White House, complete with the tiniest wreaths on the windows.
The room erupted in applause, and Mom posed for photos with the pastry chefs. As people moved around to get a better look at the edible masterpiece, Donna seemed to materialize beside me.
“You have two hours before you need to meet your parents for the tree lighting.”
“Great,” I replied.
Two hours wasn’t much, but it was likely the biggest chunk of downtime I’d get over the next couple of days.
Since the treelighting was outdoors, I slipped on my favorite gray wool coat over a green silk blouse and paired it with tailored black pants. We’d be walking as a family from the White House to the Ellipse, so I chose black leather boots instead of my usual heels. Sensible footwear wasn’t exactly on brand for me, but I wasn’t about to risk twisting my ankle or falling in front of everyone on the grass.
When I opened the bedroom door, Agent Leeds was waiting to escort me to where our family was gathering.
“There she is.” Dad’s face lit up the instant he spotted me. “So glad you could join us this week.”
“Me too.” I rose onto my toes to kiss him on the cheek.
My brother Finn stood next to my mom but didn’t try to speak to me or Fallon, which was probably for the best, since neither of us were in a hurry to forgive him for everything he’d done. At least we were willing to appear in public with him. For a while after Fallon was shot, we had refused to even be in the same space as our sibling.
Donna joined our group. “President Donnelley, Madam First Lady, we should begin walking.”
We stepped out onto the South Portico. Floodlights washed the walkway in bright white, casting long shadows across the lawn while the rest of the estate disappeared into darkness. Our small procession moved across the grounds, while a large contingent of Secret Service agents formed a perimeter around us.
Dad walked beside me. “Did you have a good time in New York?”
“I did.”
