Page 100 of Fall From Grace

I was putting clothes in the washer when someone started banging on the door. I raised up, holding my back as I waddled to the door. When I answered, a handsome blond with azure eyes greeted me, holding a box on his shoulder. He tipped his ballcap down at me. “You have a delivery, ma’am, it was on the porch.”

He stepped in and I smirked, wondering where this was going. “Delivery guys don’t normally step into people’s houses,” I told him politely.

His eyes skimmed over the swell of my stomach. “Are you expecting?” he observed with a whistle and inappropriate stare at my breasts.

“It’s very rude to ask a woman that,” I said as I turned around and walked towards the kitchen. I started running water to wash the dishes and felt him come up behind me. His hands wrapped around my huge stomach and he tickled my neck with his beard. I leaned back into him.

“I’ve always wanted to get it on with a pregnant lady,” he whispered into my ear and I bit back a laugh.

I turned around to face him. “Well you’re in luck, my husband keeps me this way.”

He smiled down at me before gently lifting me up onto the counter. “Where’re the kids?” he asked with lusty intent.

“Outside playing in the treehouse,” I told him, rubbing my belly against him, not on purpose, it was just always there between us. “Might need to take this somewhere else, my kids might walk in.” He arched a brow and scooped me up in his arms. “Also, my husband will be home from work soon, and my dad’s coming to see his grandkids.” He nodded as he kissed my neck.

He stopped at the window and peered outside with a strange look on his face. “Um, Grace, who’s the kid with our kids?”

“What?” I mumbled as I turned my head and looked out the window to see what Noah was talking about. Sure enough, there was a little girl playing with Nate and Allison—who was named after her late grandma who would have loved her to pieces if she had still been here. Nate was eight and Allison, four. Noah sat my feet down as we walked over and peeked out the window. “I don’t know who she is,” I told him.

Our closest neighbor was half a mile down the road so she had to have walked a good distance to get here. “More like, where did she come from?” he asked, and I was just as curious.

When she finally turned around, I recognized her. “Ah, she’s a new student,” I told him. “Jessi is her name, she’s a grade below Nate. She’s gonna be a tough one, I can already tell.”

“Look at Nate,” he said, laughing. “He looks furious.”

I joined in with his laughter when Jessi pushed him away from the ladder but let Allison come up with her. He stood there like he had no clue what was happening. “This looks strangely familiar,” he told me with a smirk.

I leaned into him, batting my eyes at my husband. “There’s something about a treehouse.”

“Well, let’s go introduce ourselves,” Noah said, and I waddled outside with him. Jessi climbed down the ladder when she saw me.

She looked at Nate. “Your mom is Mrs. Phillips?” she said it like it was horrible.

“I didn’t know you lived around here,” I said to her.

“Yeah, I’m staying with my mamaw and papaw right down the road.” She pointed toward the left even though you couldn’t see anything from our backyard.

“Daddy!” Allison screamed when she saw Noah and ran up to him. He scooped her up, tugging at her blonde curls.

“This is my husband, Noah,” I told her. “Looks like you’ve already met Nate and Allison.” I looked at Nate behind her with his arms folded over his chest. “Nate’s a year ahead of you.”

She nodded and looked back at Nate with a rotten smirk I knew all too well. I bent down a little to be eye level with her, already regretting the decision because I knew it was going to be hard to raise back up. “Come and visit whenever you want, just let your grandparents know.”

“I was wondering why no one was answering the door, you guys were all out back,” Dad said, walking around the house. Nate and Allison both ran to him.

“Did you bring me anything?” Allison asked straight away.

He chuckled and squatted in front of her. “I didn’t bring anything, but I did bring someone.” He looked at me. “Papaw has a girlfriend and she wanted to come meet you all.”

It took a long time to get Dad to date again, but I hated the thought of him being alone. I just couldn’t believe he finally found someone because he disapproved of everyone I introduced him to. “Where is she?” I asked.

He pointed toward the house. “Still on the porch.”

I sighed. “You need some serious dating tips,” I grumbled as I started walking into the house. “Allison, tell Papaw how rude it is to leave his girlfriend on the porch.”

She turned and placed her hands on his hips. “You’re not a good boyfriend,” she told him, then I heard her whisper, “but you’re the best Papaw.”

I smiled as I made my way inside and to the front door. I opened the door and came face to face with Dad’s girlfriend. She was a pretty blonde lady and when she smiled, I decided I already liked her. “You’re Grace. I’ve seen all your pictures… and the videos your mom taped of when you were little.” I think she was waiting to see if I would be upset that she had watched our home videos, but I wasn’t. If Dad spoke to her about Mom then I trusted that she was a good person.

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