Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,52
she’d gotten a few months ago during a raid on a house which was harboring a known cell that was plotting against the United States. She’d been shot because she went in first and came out last. She’d been hurt because she was the bravest woman he’d ever met.
“Yes. But she knows her stuff. So does her husband Payton and Lilliane’s husband Shamus. If they tell you to do something, I want you to listen to them as if I were telling you. They’ll keep you safe. Grace too.”
Trace came to sit on the bed and he played with one of the few things Michael was taking back with him. He waited for Trace to say whatever it was he needed. He was shocked when he finally spoke.
“I have a friend, Taylor Bennett. His dad just got married last year. His new mom was okay, he said, and he was excited about having someone to have fun with.” Trace didn’t look up as he spoke, his voice low and tense. “Then about a month ago, she decided that she wanted her own kid and had his dad put him in a different school. Taylor has to stay there all the time and wear this uniform like he’s in the army or something. He only gets to come home once in a while. I miss him.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Grace said from the doorway. “Never in a million years would I send you away from your father, and especially not away from me.”
“But what if you get tired of me? I’m not your kid, you know. I’m his.” Trace pointed at him, and Michael nearly told him to take it down a notch as his voice had hardened. “And my mom and dad weren’t even married when I was born. She didn’t want me.”
Grace walked into the room and sat in the chair. Michael knew that this was something the two of them had to resolve so he excused himself and left the room, closing the door behind him. Leaning back against it he closed his eyes, overwhelmed. The thought of Grace swollen with his child and Trace being a big brother had him thinking that he was the luckiest man in the world. He went down the stairs to find Cain’s little boy Connor, who he knew was tormenting Walter.
~~~
“I have something to tell you. Something that I’ve never shared with anyone in my life,” Grace told Trace when they were alone. “I’m telling you this so that you’ll know just what you’re going to be related to when I marry your dad. All right?”
“Yes. But if you think I’m going to let you go and run away then it won’t work. I love you even if you send me away.” Trace moved to lean against the headboard. “Are you going to have Dad’s kid?”
“No. Not yet. We’ve never talked about having other children. Though I would like to, but it’s a family decision, not just something that he and I can decide without your input. We’re going to be a family, all three of us, and any other child that comes along.” She watched as he absorbed this. “Trace, what do you know about my parents?”
“Your dad is dead. Captain Grant killed him when he tried to kill your sister, Aunt Quinn. He was in prison for a long time and he…” He didn’t finish, but looked at the empty fireplace.
“He killed someone. Yes, it’s true. He was drunk and drove up on a sidewalk because the cars in front of him weren’t going fast enough for him and he killed a man. My mother isn’t any better.”
Trace got up and sat on the footstool at her feet. “I heard Aunt Alyssa say that she was a peach. I don’t think she meant the warm and fuzzy kind that Molly cuts up on my oatmeal.”
Grace laughed. “No, she’s not. She’s…she’s evil. Do you know what that word means?” He nodded, but she didn’t wait for him to tell her. “My mother has split personalities. I’ve told your dad that. He also knows that she killed someone when I was a teenager. I didn’t see her do it, but I knew that she had. Or at least one of the people she has in her head did it.”
“She has people in her head that kill people? She’s crazy then?” Trace reached out for her hand. “I’ll protect you, Grace. I swear I won’t let her hurt you.”
“You have