Page 72 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
After they made her feel more beautiful than she had ever been, she was excited and nervous about seeing Reed. What if he hated her in ruffles?
With the support of her sisters, each linked arm in arm, she walked out onto the porch, which was beautiful in and of itself because of Reed’s hard work.
Reed looked over and his jaw dropped. His eyes found Grace’s, full of love, heat, and everything in between, and her heart tumbled anew.
“WOW, GRACIE,” REED said as she stepped off the porch. “You look amazing. I mean, you always look beautiful, but you look…Aw,babe.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her through her smiles, dipping her over his arm as he took the kiss deeper.
Their family and friends cheered them on, making them both smile, but he continued kissing her until Brindle said, “Dude…”
Reluctantly bringing her upright, Reed said, “You look like the sexy small-town girl I fell in love with, only ten times hotter.”
“Now, tell me that didn’t make all your sisters’ efforts worthwhile,” her mother said.
“I’m not sure. Maybe I should come back out and get that kiss again,” Grace teased. “Reed, Morgynmadethis dress and embellished the boots. Aren’t they cute?”
“Almost as cute as you,” Reed said.
“That’s my sweet-talkin’ boy,” Roy said, and opened his arms to Grace, drawing her into a hug. “You look beautiful, darlin’.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m so glad you both are here. We’ve waited a long time for a get-together like this.”
“The best things in life are worth waiting for,” his aunt said.
A troubled expression washed over Grace’s face as she returned to Reed’s side. She turned away from the others, speaking quietly. “I feel guilty that your family has known about us for all these years and my dad and sisters didn’t. Would you mind if we told them? I want them to know that this was a long time coming.”
“Baby, I am so done hiding, you have no idea. Let’s do it.” He kissed her softly. “But you know within fifteen minutes of being at the jam session everyone in town will know.”
“I know. I’m kind of counting on that.” Her smile reached all the way up to her eyes. “It bugs me that no one knows we have history together. I love our history.”
“Are we ready to go?” her mother interrupted.
“Go ahead, baby,” Reed urged.
“Actually, we have something we wanted to say.” Grace drew in a deep breath, her eyes moving from her parents to her sisters. “You know that Reed and I would never purposefully hurt any of you, but we have a confession to make, and we hope you’ll understand why we did what we did.”
She turned a nervous expression to Reed, and he squeezed her hand encouragingly. She smiled and said, “Reed and I dated in high school.”
“I don’t remember that,” Morgyn said. “When?”
“Our senior year,” Reed explained. “We kept it a secret because Grace was a cheerleader here, and I was the quarterback for Meadowside. I didn’t want her to be ostracized by her friends.”
“And I didn’t want his friends to give him a hard time,” Grace added.
“Oh my gosh,” Brindle said. “See? That’s justonereason why the schools have made strides to eliminate that ridiculous rivalry stuff that used to go on. I amsoglad life is not that complicated for kids anymore. Being a teenager is hard enough without worrying about whether your friends will hate you for something like who you’re dating. And I have to say, I wondered if you two had hooked up before, because Grace never gets all lovey-dovey with guys. Like…ever.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Reed pulled Grace closer. “We missed out on doing a lot of things together, and I want to make up for each and every one of them.”
“Well, you obviously didn’t miss out oneverything,” Brindle said under her breath.
Grace glared at Brindle, and her eyes shifted to their parents, as if to remind her of their presence. “Dad, I’m sorry for lying to you. And Ella and Roy, I’m sorry we asked you to keep our secret. It wasn’t a fair position to put you in.”
“That’s okay, honey,” Ella said, exchanging a glance with Marilynn that Reed couldn’t quite read. “We did the right thing.”
“And I’m sorry, Cade and Marilynn,” Reed said. “It wasn’t our intent to be disrespectful, but we worried if Grace’s siblings knew, it would be too much to ask for them to try to keep a secret.”
“What?” Brindle threw her hands up. “You’re blamingus? We’re awesome secret keepers!”
Grace smirked.
