Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,73

him as the man saluted and walked away. “You can do that? I thought you had to do whatever he wanted you to. Wow, you just told the President to take a hike.”

Trace flushed again when David laughed. “So I did. He’s not so bad, you know. He and I go way back. Your new family, they know him as well. I think your Aunt Alyssa has told him to fu…well, she’s told him to take a hike a few times as well.”

Trace looked over at his aunt. She was very pretty, but she too could cuss like a sailor, his grandma said. He grinned at her when she winked. To be honest, she was kind of scary too. Not like his Aunt Sin was, but close. He looked over at his new uncles. Two of them were detectives and another was a lawyer. His Uncle Nathan was on a trip in Japan on business and was flying home today, they’d told him. And Uncle Cain was a doctor. He had just about any kind of help if he ever needed it. Grinning, he looked over at David. “I never seen so many people come around for somebody being hurt before. When I broke my arm last year my dad and grandparents were there. Grace sure is loved, isn’t she?”

“It’s not just Grace, but your dad as well. He impressed them a great deal by barging into that house to get her for them. And the fact that he got hurt doing it makes them love him all the more.” David nodded toward the people sitting on the couch next to the rest of them. “There are the Grants. Couldn’t ask for a better group of people either. You’re getting yourself a good family, son. They’ll do right by you.”

He certainly hoped so. He wanted them to like him. He was afraid they’d want them all to go back to New York and not return. This was scary stuff. Thomas had been a bad man for a long time, almost as long as Trace had remembered. He was always drunk or high too.

There were things he knew they tried to hide from him. The fact that Thomas was a drunk was one of them. He was also mean to some of the people who worked for his grandparents. He didn’t know why he was, but Uncle Thomas seemed to have enjoyed being mean, like it was his job or something. Trace bowed his head. He shouldn’t be talking about him like this, he realized. He was dead, after all.

Trace looked up when David stood up. The doctor was coming toward him and right behind him was a wheelchair with his dad in it. Trace tried not to cry, but seeing his father, even as bad as he looked, was the best thing he’d ever seen. Rushing toward him, he started to hug him when he stopped suddenly. His dad pulled him close and wrapped his good arm around him.

“Christ, I missed you,” his dad said and Trace started crying. He didn’t realize how scared he’d been until that minute. Holding him and being held by him was the greatest feeling.

“Mom is still in surgery. The doctor said that she had been beaten up pretty bad. They won’t tell me anything ‘cause I’m just a kid.” Trace wiped at the tears and moved back so that everyone else could get a hug.

“Let me see what I can find out,” Cain said. “I’ve been up to check twice now and all they’ve been able to tell me is that she’s still in surgery.” He walked away and to the desk.

“Calling her Mom now, are you? You’re moving faster than me.”

Trace laughed at his dad.

“Next thing you know, you and she will be eloping and I’ll be left holding the bag.”

“Then you’d better get your game on, old man. I need a mom and you’re slacking.” Trace laughed when his dad cuffed him lightly on the chin. “She said it was okay. Should I have asked you first?”

“Absolutely not. You and she are going to have to work on your own relationship. I’ll just try real hard not to piss her off too much.” His dad was moved over to the couch where he’d been sitting. “You still okay with her and I marrying?”

Trace nodded, then leaned in to whisper to him. “I told you I’d protect her and I didn’t. I told…if I had gone to the airport with her instead of