Grace practically felt her jaw drop open. “You…you…Mother, you knew?”
“I’m your mother, dear. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“But…but…”
“Oh, do stop gaping, dear. Your husband and I had a long talk last night, and, well, I’ve realized that there is a whole side to you that you’ve been afraid to show me. That ends today. I won’t tolerate any more such nonsense.”
Grace blinked in shock, and looked at Jack. He smiled at her and shrugged innocently. She glanced back at the envelope she held, and frowned harder. “Mom, there are…a dozen tickets in here.”
“Yes. For the girls you’ve been coaching at that gym. You all have floor seats for one of those basketball games. They’re in there, too. The, um, oh—” she wiggled her fingers in the air as she sought for a word “—freedom…or, um, independence or some such patriotic thing….”
Stunned, Grace dug and found the tickets for the New York Liberty game at Madison Square Garden, about a month from then.
“Here’s the thing, dear. One of the assistant coaches and I went to school together. And when I called him to make these arrangements for your girls, I was very surprised to hear that you’d actually turned down an opportunity to audition for this…club.”
Now it was Jack’s turn to look surprised. “You what?”
“I was being scouted…but Jack, that wasn’t…what I wanted to do with my life.”
“Gracie, if I find out you turned this down because of me—”
“It wasn’t,” she said. “It was before I’d even met you, Jack.”
“Quite right,” her mother said. “I believe she turned it down because of me. Isn’t that right, Grace?”
Grace blinked in confusion.
“No matter. You have another chance, if you want it. Whether you take it is up to you, but I want to make it clear, darling, that I’ll be behind you…behind both of my daughters whatever they decide to do. As for your girls, well, your father and I have decided to sponsor their little team. I’m going to pick out some uniforms for them this afternoon. They’ll be needing a coach, darling, so if this other thing isn’t what you want, then perhaps you can do this. Otherwise, Charlie has agreed to help in that capacity.”
Steepling her fingers together, her mother took a deep breath and said, “And that’s it. We can go ahead with dessert now.” And she sat back down.
Grace blinked. “You…you got me…a tryout with the Liberty?”
“No, your skills did that. I just…facilitated.”
“Oh…my…God.” Tears stood in her eyes as she sat there, blinking them back, not believing what she was hearing. She got to her feet and went around the table, hugging her mother hard. Then she straightened again, shaking her head.
“I think she needs some air,” Jack said, coming up beside her, slipping his arms around her. “Come on, Grace. A little walk will do you good.”
He led her through the house, outside to the patio, and then down the path to the garden, right to the spot where they had first kissed.
“What are you going to do?” he asked her.
“I… Oh, Jack, I couldn’t…I’m a married woman now. It wouldn’t be fair to you—”
“Come here,” he whispered, and he pulled her close, kissed her gently. “Anything that makes you happy is fair to me. If you want to do this, I’ll be with you. My job is gonna be here waiting when I get back. And can you imagine the bragging rights I could rack up? Hmm?”
She smiled weakly. “I don’t know.”
He took both her hands in his. “I love you, Gracie. I love you for who you are, not for what you do. And you of all people ought to understand that. You just spent the past forty-eight hours drumming the same message into my head.”
“Jack…”
“Take your time, Gracie. Just know that this isn’t a decision between me and something else. I’m a given. I’m here until you toss my sorry butt out the door. You said you could handle being a cop’s wife. You made me believe it. Now you better believe that I can handle being your husband—no matter what you decide to do with your life.”
Her smile pulled at her lips as tears ran down her cheeks. “You really mean that?”
“With everything in me, Grace. I love you. I love you, and I have from the second I set eyes on you, lady. That’s not gonna change. Not ever. No matter what.”
“Oh, Jack. You can’t know what that means to me.” She kissed him gently. “I love you, too, you know. The same way. No matter what.”
“I know.” He smiled, and for the first time they were looking beyond the masks, beyond the acts, beyond the make-believe. Grace liked what she saw in his eyes when he looked at the real her, and she looked at the real him.
The real thing.
Love.
* * * * *
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
After giving up her son as a surrogate,
PI Adeline Winters must work with Jeremy Kincaid, her
baby’s father, to save their son from a vengeful kidnapper—
who might be Livia Colton herself!
Read on for a sneak preview of
MISSION: COLTON JUSTICE
by Jennifer Morey, the next book in
THE COLTONS OF SHADOW CREEK continuity.
“So, why you? Why Jamie?”
“Not everyone is rich like me,” he said. “That would narrow down her options.”
“You suspect Livia because she had a reason to despise Tess, but other than her nefarious character, I don’t see enough to suspect her.”
“If Livia survived that accident, she’s desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.”
Adeline nodded, folding her arms. “Desperation is valid.” All this depended on Livia having survived the accident.
She went to the bookshelf along a side wall of the family room, where an electronic frame switched through several photos. Most included Jamie. His adorable, smiling face and bright blue eyes spoke of a happy boy. The pictures of Tess haunted her. She felt at odds falling for Tess’s husband, especially knowing how much Tess had loved him. Although now Adeline questioned that love. If Tess had approached Oscar with a proposal to start up their affair again, could she have loved Jeremy as much as she’d claimed?
Jeremy reached to the photo frame and pressed a button to stop its cycling. Adeline didn’t realize he’d followed her across the room until then. He’d moved closer and she felt his warmth. She also sensed his absorption with one photo, in which Jamie must have been about two. He sat at a picnic table with a cake before him, and what looked like half his piece covering his face around his mouth. He smiled big.
“That was the first time he was really happy.”
After Tess died.
“He had all his friends over. I set up an inflatable bounce house in the backyard and gave him his first tricycle for his present.”
Adeline stared at Jamie’s playful face and felt a surge of love. She’d helped to create such an angel. Now that angel was in the hands of someone evil, and they might not ever get him back. He could be killed. He could be dead already.
Unable to suppress the sting of tears, she turned to Jeremy for comfort. “Oh Jeremy.”
Jeremy took her into his arms. His hands rubbed her back, slow, sensual and firm. Then he pressed a kiss on her head. She felt his warm breath on her hair and scalp. With her arms under his and hands on his back, she snuggled closer, resting the side of her head on his chest.
“We’ll find him,” he said.
Don’t miss
MISSION: COLTON JUSTICE by Jennifer Morey,
available October 2017 wherever
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MISSION: COLTON JUSTICE
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ISBN-13: 9781488096990
Two Hearts
First published in the anthology WHO DO YOU LOVE by Silhouette Intimate Moments in 2000
This edition published in 2017
Copyright © 2000 by Margaret Benson
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