Page 50 of Holding Grace

“You knew about this?”

She wasn’t upset – I could tell that much – but her pretty eyes were unreadable.

“It might have been my idea,” I confessed.

A small smile bloomed on her face even as she shook her head. If we’d been alone, it would have been impossible not to drop my head the few inches required and cover her curving lips with my own.

As it was, Grace stepped away from me as she looked around the room at Mercy, Ace, Levi, and Ry smiling back at her. “You all are too much. You didn’t have to do all this.”

“All this” wasn’t that much...a few balloons, a huge bouquet of bright flowers, and a sparkly plastic crown thing that said “Birthday Girl” across the front. To look at the expression on Grace’s face, you’d have thought we’d gone all out.

As the others pulled Grace into their conversation, I headed to the kitchen to unbox the cake for later. With that done, I rejoined the party in the great room.

Once we’d all talked for a while and stuffed ourselves with the taco bar Levi had set up, Mercy got everyone’s attention.

“We can’t have a birthday party without presents so Grace, here you go.”

Mercy handed Grace a big white envelope. Grace looked up at me where I sat next to her on the couch, and I shrugged, although I knew exactly what her gift was.

All eyes were on Grace as she carefully ripped the end off the envelope and pulled out a printed image of a couch and matching chair.

She looked at Mercy, forehead wrinkled in confusion, then her eyes went wide as Mercy explained.

“We know you need a new couch and chair. We’re all chipping in to get you them for you, but you have to approve the choice, of course.”

I felt Grace stiffen and saw the sheen of moisture in her eyes as she shook her head quickly.

“It’s too much. Thank you but I can’t accept.”

“It’s probably not as much as you think, Grace,” Levi inserted gently from his chair on the other side of Grace. “Mercy has contacts who give her deals no one else gets. It doesn’t make sense for you to spend three times as much for the same thing somewhere else. We’d all like to do this for you, and I swear you’re not breaking the bank or stretching anyone’s budget here, but we won’t if you really don’t want us to.”

Grace dipped her head and swallowed, then took a breath and raised her chin again. “You make it hard to say no.”

“Levi’s good at that. It’s an oldest sibling ‘I know best’ thing, I think,” Ace said with a grin as Levi flipped him off.

After a few seconds, Grace gave in gracefully with a watery laugh. “Alright. If you really want to, I’ll let you buy me a couch and chair. And you have to promise to let me host you all at my apartment so you can try them out.”

We all promised, and the conversation picked up again. I kept an eye on Grace to make sure she really was okay, and she seemed to be.

Even when I was convinced she was alright, I continued to watch her because I had no choice. If Grace was in the room, my focus was on her.

The longer I knew her, the more wrapped up in her I was. I knew she was naturally shy and reserved – I remembered what a scared little mouse she’d been when she’d started at the pub – but here, with my family, she was warm and funny, still quiet in her own way, but joining in. She just fit, both here and with me.

I went into the kitchen to grab a drink and Levi followed me in to do the same.

“I like her,” he told me seriously. “I like her a lot.”

“Mine,” I returned mildly, and he laughed.

“No doubt about that,” he said. “No doubt at all.”

He went back into the great room and I went the other direction, through the French doors out on to the deck. It was my favorite spot in Levi’s house, nearly always quiet with an incredible view.

I drank my beer and let my mind go where it wanted to, so of course it circled around and around Grace.

It was no surprise when Mercy joined me a few minutes later. I kept my eyes on the view as she came to stand next to me.

Just like her presence, her words weren’t a surprise either.

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