Chapter 51

XoXoXoX

"Hello, I have a reservation under Samantha Spade," Samantha said to the woman behind the counter of Hotel Sax. While the young woman typed her name into the computer she glanced over her shoulder to see Martin talking to the car attendant. After he gave the car keys to the valet and it was driven off, he realized he didn't have his wallet on him. So now he needed the valet to give him the keys and tell him where it was parked in the garage so he could go search for it, telling her he would just meet her up in their room later.

"Here you are," the young woman announced and Sam turned around. "We have a double occupancy in a Deluxe King. Is that correct?"

"Yes," she replied, handing the woman her credit card for processing. It was taking every effort she had to concentrate on this simple transaction knowing she was in the same city as her father and she was going to see him in less than two hours.

"You are in room 1013," the clerk said, sliding back her credit card and a paper folder. "Here are your room keys."

Sam pulled one out and handed it back. "Can you please hold this for my husband and let him know what room we're in. He should be back in about fifteen minutes."

The clerk nodded and Sam pulled her small suitcase towards the elevator. It immediately opened up and she boarded. She pressed the button for the tenth floor and she leaned back against the wall as it ascended.

Once she was ready to commit to making contact with her father she quickly booked the entire family on a flight to Milwaukee. She decided that this would be a great opportunity to see the entire Spade family. She called her mom, Diane, and said that she and Martin were going to meet up with his old frat buddy and his wife in Chicago and if it would be okay to leave the kids with her for a weekend. She knew her mom wouldn't refuse a chance to see her grandkids. And it wasn't a complete lie. His friend Charlie lived in Chicago, they just weren't planning on seeing him. She hated lying to her mom but decided to not tell her mom or sister what she was really doing because she didn't know how it was going to end up. And she really didn't want to hear her sister try and talk her out of it again.

It was hard to not talk about it though, especially since they spent the previous night at her mom's house.

XoX

"So you must be excited to go see your friend," Diane commented to Martin as she passed him the mashed potatoes.

He took the bowl and glanced at Sam as he served himself. "Yeah, it'll be good to catch up," he lied.

She averted her eyes, afraid that her mom would see their glances and know that they were lying. While she was certain that her mom didn't notice the exchange she knew that her sister, Bridget, would so it was best to just not look at Martin too much when she was around. Instead she focused on making sure Nate wasn't making too much of mess with his peas. He liked to eat them one by one. He was careful about eating such small pieces of food, delicately plucking each one and placing it on his tongue to eat it. That or he would just squish them between his fingers to make a green paste.

Since they were only in Kenosha for one night before taking the rental car up to Chicago her mom wanted to have the entire family over for dinner. This not only meant her, Martin and the kids but also her sister, Gus, her niece, Terry and John McCoy, her mom's boyfriend.

"Can we go to your house tomorrow?" Grace asked John, as she gnawed on her drumstick. The little girl had taken a liking to him immediately since he had a loud booming voice and loved to talk as much as she did.

"You betcha," he replied. The last time they visited they all went up to John's house for the afternoon. He owned a small farm on the outskirts of town where he kept some mules, a goat, and a large chicken coop. To a little girl living in New York City the animals were exotic and incredibly fascinating. He wiped his bearded chin with a napkin and said, "I got a couple of cows now. You should see them."

Sam smiled as both Nate and Grace listened with wonder as John went on to describe his cows and how to best milk one. Even Terry and Martin managed to look equally interested and disgusted when he started talking about how to best grip the udders to get a nice steady stream.

She turned her head to look at her mom who was smiling affectionately as John talked. It was nice to see her mom dating someone that who she not only adored but also clearly adored her in return. She could see that John was a good guy and it made her happy to know that her mom had someone like that in her life.

Then her heart sunk knowing that tomorrow she was going to go see the man who made her mom sad and unhappy for many years. She wondered what it was going to be like seeing him again. Would he cry and beg for her forgiveness? Would she be able to give it if he did? Or would he yell and tell her to get lost and that he never wanted to see her again? Would she punch him in the face if he did? Or would he be ambivalent and not care? None of those scenarios pleased her so she just shook her head and decided to stop dwelling on something she had no idea would turn out.

"Sam?" She turned to see Bridget watching her. "Have you been listening to anything I've been telling you?"

"Sorry," she apologized. "I kind of spaced out. What were you saying?"

"I was just wondering if you were still investigating that missing person case you were telling me about," Bridget asked. It didn't take her training at Quantico to decipher that she was asking about the search for their father.

At that instant she wanted to spill her guts and tell her sister that she had found their father, that he was living a half-hour away, that she was going to go see him the next day and then drag her along so she wouldn't have to confront him alone. Sure she had Martin but he had never even met her father, he only knew what vague details Sam could recall. But the disappearance of Max Spade was something that haunted her and her sister for years. Only she would understand just how huge this was. But her sister wanted nothing to do with him so she smiled and lied, "It's ongoing. No solid leads yet."

Bridget nodded, the smallest flicker of emotion crossing her face. For a split second Sam thought she saw disappointment before Bridget smiled broadly at her mom and said, "This is the best fried chicken friend steak you've ever made."

"Well, thank you," Diane proudly replied, tickled pink at the compliment. "I found the recipe in Good Housekeeping."

"Do you drink the milk?" Grace asked John as she carefully pulled apart her biscuit.

"Sure we do," Diane interjected. "In fact I used some it to make the biscuit you are eating."

Both Grace and Nate stopped what they were doing and stared at the flaky biscuit in their head, reverence on both their small faces as they murmured, "Wow…"

XoX

The elevator stopped on the tenth floor and Sam made her way into their room.

The hotel room was decorated in a chic contemporary fashion complete with a king size pillow top bed with a padded headboard. She parked her suitcase by the desk and sat down on the classic wing chair, turning on the reading lamp. She wanted to be still but the weight of this momentous day refused to let her so she stood up and started unpacking the suitcase. She started hanging up some things in the closet when the door opened up and Martin appeared.

"Find your wallet?" she asked, putting one of her blouses on a hanger.

"Nope," he replied, sounding exasperated. "I called your mom and sure enough, I left it on the nightstand at her house." He put the card key on the desk and sat down on the bed. He bounced up on it a few times, as if testing its firmness, before sighing and looking sadly at her. "I'm sorry but we are going to have to use your card to cover our expenses."

She smiled at how guilty he sounded. "It's a joint account. It's not like you're not paying for this trip."

"I know," he replied, looking disappointed. "I just didn't want you to have to worry about anything on this trip. I wanted to do what I could to take care of you."

She nodded solemnly. "Being here with me is enough." He gave her a sheepish grin and she smiled at him as she pulled her makeup bag from the suitcase and walked to the bathroom. She stood in front of the sink and studied her reflection in the mirror, scrutinizing how she looked. Or rather how she would look to a father she hadn't seen since she was six years old. With an unexplained urgency she decided that she needed more lipstick. So she unzipped the bag and pulled out the small tube of Bobbi Brown lipstick and carefully applied it to her lips when she saw Martin appear behind her.

"What time is the reservation for?" he softly asked as he leaned against the doorjamb.

"Two," she replied, seeing him check his watch. She couldn't quite figure out how to make contact with her father so she decided to book her and Martin on one of his afternoon tours. This way she could watch him unobserved and try and find some way of introducing herself. She finished applying the lip color and lowered her head. As she carefully twisted the lipstick back into the tube she asked, "What time is it?"

"One fifteen," he replied, stepping into the bathroom and tenderly placing his hands on her shoulders. She nodded and replaced the cap on the lipstick, sticking it back in the bag. "You ready for this?"

She wasn't, not really. But it was time so she took a deep breath and finally looked up, met his eyes in the mirror and breathed, "I'm ready."