Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,59

sit down and talk about this mess.”

Grace wiped at the tears. “I’m so sorry he hurt you. I wish I could be there for you.” She looked over at Trace as he sat staring at her from the other chair. “Trace said you’d be all right. He seems to think you have a hard noodle.”

“I do. Tell him I’m fine. He worries as much as my mother. I’m going to be home by nightfall. Then I want to find you in that big house and make love to you several times.”

She grinned at the phone as he continued.

“At least you’ll know that I will never complain about a headache when you want to jump my bones someday.”

She tried not to think about making love with him whenever she wanted. He simply made her melt like she was an ice cube on the sidewalk in mid-July. Glancing over at Trace she decided to change the subject. “I’ve set up a meeting with my family. I…if you’re not here I’m going to start without you. It’s time they knew everything.” Grace knew that she should have told them any number of times she’d been home over the years, but just couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Cain is worried I’m going to tell them I’m pregnant. I assured him that I’m not.”

“Do you want to be? Pregnant, I mean. I know we haven’t really talked much, but I’d like to have a child or several with you. The thought of you big with my baby makes me smile like a sap.”

Grace glanced at Trace before she answered. “We’ll all need to talk about that, including Trace. If we’re going to be a family then we’ll need to make those decisions as one too.” She lowered her voice enough so that only Michael could hear. “He thinks I’m going to send him away when you and I have a child. I couldn’t do that to any of us.”

“It happened to his buddy,” he told her just as quietly. “We’ll talk more when I get there. The doctor is here now. I’ll call you from the airport. I have a car already here, ready to get me there.”

After telling her he loved her and she him, they hung up. Trace looked at her with a smile. She was beginning to think that was all he did and it made her feel good.

“He’s leaving the hospital soon. He’ll call from the airport. He should be here very soon.” She laughed when he nodded. “What is it? Are you so bored with being my protector that you have nothing to say to your dad coming home?”

“No. I was thinking about what you said about talking to your family. Are you scared?” he asked her. “I would be. I’d be really scared they’d be mad at me.”

“I am. A little anyway. They’re not going to be very happy with me for not telling them. But I’ve…” Grace took a deep breath. “Trace, if you ever need me, ever to just talk or anything, I want you to know that I’m here.”

He got up and came to her. “I know that. And Grace, why don’t you and I go tell them together? I’ll have your back and if they give you any crap, I’ll…I’ll tell my grandma and she’ll kick their butts for them.”

Grace laughed and pulled him to her lap. She was so in love with this little guy that she ached from it. She kissed his forehead and laughed again at his groan. Watching him become a man was going to be a blast.

They entered the room that had been set up to accommodate them all with snacks a few minutes later. Connor had wanted to take Trace to his playroom, but he said he wanted to stay with her. She assured him she’d be fine. After a few more tugs on his arm Trace went with her nephew and closed the door behind him.

“Nothing you have to tell us is as bad as you look like it might be,” Cain told her as he sat down. “We all love you very much and whatever it is, we’ll work it out. I swear.”

Grace nodded. “I know that, but…I guess I should start at the beginning. And before you interrupt me after I start, I know that I should have…I know that I should have told you before. Before all of this started happening, before I left home, and long before…” She took a deep breath. “Mother