Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,78

was, it still let us pinpoint you within a few yards. Do we even want to know how it got broken?”

She held it in her hand and looked at Michael. “I was trying to call you. I was sure you could hear me and I actually thought of you finding me that way, but Guinnie told me to run. I forgot it in the car when I took off. After I was shot the first time I also managed to drop my gun.”

“I told you she had the bead on her,” Sin said with a laugh. “Didn’t I tell you my Gracie would get the jump on her and wouldn’t let me down?” She laughed again as she high-fived her husband.

“Yes, you did. Now sit down and be quiet before I have to paddle your bottom. Go on, Grace,” Payton told her. “Tell us what happened next and miss know-it-all will hush.”

Grace burst out laughing. Then she looked around the room again. These people were her family. All of them held her safe when she needed it, and even when she didn’t think she did.

“I love you guys. All of you so very much.” She wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “You’ve no idea how much I wished I could have come home, but…I should have known you’d be there for me.”

“Well of course we would. You’re our family, aren’t you?” Alyssa looked at her, then around the room. “Now let’s finish this up so that we can get this show on the road and get you home tomorrow. And I, for one, would like to know when the wedding is.”

Grace was afraid to look at Michael. She was sure he was going to change his mind about them. Before she could come up with any kind of answer, he answered. But not the way she’d thought.

“If we can hold off until she’s committed then I think we can do it anytime you can get it together. But not too long. I want to be able to claim her before we start a family.”

Grace started to ask him what he meant when she suddenly got what he’d said. “Committed? Who? Mother?”

Chapter 23

Guinevere tried to talk to any of the others, but it was entirely too much effort. She wanted to ask them what had happened, when they were going to get their money, and what the fuck they thought they were doing shutting her out. She had to force her eyes open, but it, too, was a chore.

“It’s time for your medications, Mrs. Waite. Come on now, you know they won’t let you go out into the world without some nice happy juice.”

Guinevere looked up at her with half-closed eyes.

“Come on now. It’s time to get up and get ready.”

“Ready,” was all she could manage. What the hell, ready? All she could think to do was sleep. She certainly didn’t want to go anywhere.

“Yes. Come on. The courts won’t wait all day for you. If you can put your good arm around me, I’ll lift you to the chair.”

“Verrie. Where?” She needed someone there to tell her what the hell was going on. She couldn’t function without at least one of them to help her.

Suddenly she was out of the bed and into a sitting position. There was nothing for her to do but let the person put the handcuffs on her arms and attach her to the chair. She tried to think, tried her very best to bring someone to her, but nothing. Then there was the small burn of something on her arm.

“There you go. Nice and calm now. As soon as I get you wrapped up in the blankie, I’ll get you going. There’s a good girl.”

“Verrie,” she tried again. “Where…where am I? Where are the…where are the others?”

“You can’t see anyone just yet. Not until the trial is over at any rate. Then if I don’t miss my guess, and I’ve never been wrong about one of these, you’ll be spending the rest of your life in the State House for the Criminally Insane.”

Guinevere looked at the man standing in the door way.

“After that, well, it’s anyone’s guess.”

“Who?” Guinevere asked. She felt the stirring of one of the others, but they didn’t speak to her. She had a small memory from one of the others, but there wasn’t enough of a connection to help her figure out any more than he was a man who Verrie wanted to fuck.

“I told you before, Miss Waite, when