For the Love of Gracie (The Southern Devotion Series)

by McClung, Amy

  "I don’t want that either. When I read the report, I confronted Hudson. He swore to me that you and your friend had broken in to harass him. Normally, when he did something before, he always admitted it to me and begged for understanding and forgiveness. You must understand, I had no reason to doubt him."

  "I helped to cover up some of the details and I made sure to hire him the best lawyer who was able to get him released, based on the fact that he had no record. Then, the call came about the attack at your house and I grew suspicious of his story. It was too late to change my mind on what I had done before, though."

  "I confronted Hudson. He broke down and told me that he made a mistake. He told me that he was in love with you and heartbroken when you broke it off with him."

  Ashton tensed. "Look, she doesn’t need to be blamed for what he did to her!"

  Jackson waved his hand. "No, you're right. I don't blame her, I'm telling you what he said and that's it."

  Ashton relaxed. "Alright, continue."

  Jackson went on to say, "When I got the call that he was killed, I went to search his home. I found files on his computer where he had taped you. There were hundreds of pictures of you at your work place, school, clubs, your home."

  My chest tightened and I sat forward. "I didn’t know he even knew where I worked! What…how…why?" Ashton tried to soothe me but I pushed him away and stood up.

  Jackson continued, "It's classic stalker behavior." His focus turned to Ash. "He even had pictures of you."

  "I know now that my brother was a sick man and he needed help. I wish I had seen that sooner so that I could've saved him. Gracie, I wanted to come here personally and apologize to you for my part in your pain."

  I felt sick. "Where are the pictures, all the evidence?"

  Jackson replied, "I turned it over to the police, along with my resignation and confession. I will be charged with tampering with police evidence as well."

  "Were there any pictures, any videos of…" I couldn’t finish the thought of the compromising positions he may have captured.

  Jackson understood my concern. "No, there was nothing sexual, that I saw. I'm sorry to drop all of this on you. I felt you deserved to know everything. The police will contact you about it. I felt as though I needed to tell you myself."

  Ash interrupted, "To clear your guilty conscience?"

  Jackson dropped his head in shame. "I know it seems selfish. I'm trying to be unselfish by apologizing in person instead of Gracie hearing about it second hand."

  I stepped forward and extended my hand to him. He shook it as I said, "Thank you. I appreciate you telling me the truth. I don’t mean to be rude, but I would really like you to leave my house now."

  Ashton stood up and escorted him to the door. Before leaving, he turned and said, "I'm so sorry for what he did to you Gracie. There is no excuse for it and he deserves the ending he received."

  I looked up abruptly, shocked at his words regarding his own brother. "No one deserves an ending like that. I didn't love Hudson and I hated him for what he did to me, but I never wished that on him. I only wanted him to leave me alone and I wanted justice for what he did to me."

  Jackson nodded in comprehension as he stepped over the threshold and walked out the door. Ashton closed the door and stood there waiting to see what I needed. I collapsed to the floor in tears. He slid beside me and wrapped his arms tightly around my body. He pulled my head into his chest, comforting me silently as I sobbed. It seemed that every time it felt like I could move on, something else made the world crash down around me. Knowing that Hudson had been watching my every move, taping moments of solitude, it felt like being raped all over again.

  "If you two are engaging in happy naked fun time again, I'm going to have to bust in there and end this madness once and for all! For freaks sake you have friends in the house!" Cameron yelled into the bedroom.

  He didn't notice us on the living room floor until Gavin said, "Ash…what happened?"

  Cameron ran over and bent next to me. "What's wrong baby girl?"

  I shook my head in defiance. "Ash, please can you tell them?" Ashton went downstairs to fill everyone in at once. It was more than I could handle and I went to lie down.

  I was drifting to sleep, when a familiar cologne filled my nose and I felt the bed sink with his weight. He pulled me close and kissed my head. I grinned. "How'd you know I needed you right now more than anyone else?"

  His head leaned against mine. "Because practically from birth, it's been you and me, baby girl, against the world."

  I turned to face Cameron. He kept his arms around me. I sighed deeply. "When do I get to be happy, Cam? When do Ash and I get to move on and enjoy our lives?"

  Cameron kissed my head. "Soon. Your time is right around the corner."

  He lifted my chin to look at him. "You can't let every obstacle that gets in your way, stop you from going after what you want. You're about to marry the man of your dreams. Hudson is gone. I can't imagine anything else will come out regarding that. I know it hurts, but his brother offered you closure today. You now know everything that was going on and you know that Hudson was a sick man."

  "Tell me you and Gavin are planning on living in Nashville. Please, I beg you." I placed my palms together, the way we were taught to pray in church.

  Cameron scoffed, "You can't get rid of me, you know that." The thought of losing all my friends at once scared me. Angel and Mary Jane were the two closest girlfriends I had ever had and soon they would be hundreds of miles away.

  The bedroom door opened, Ash walked in. He sat on the edge of the bed next to me and reached for my hand. Cameron glanced up. "You wanna join us in bed Ash? You can cuddle with me if you'd like." He batted his eyes at Ashton playfully. I giggled as Ash shook his head.

  He brushed my hair aside. "I may need to move you in with us Cam so you can keep the smile on her face."

  I sat up instantly, worried that I had made him feel inadequate. "You make me smile too."

  Cameron sat up. "I'm going to go round up the gang to head home and give you two some alone time."

  I stood up and hugged Cameron. "Call me later?"

  He kissed my cheek. "You know I will. I'll need to hear all the dirty details of the dirty deeds you're about to take care of."

  I smacked his butt as he walked out of the room. He howled and stuck his hips out toward me. "Do it again, baby!" I shoved him through the doorway, laughing as I followed behind him to say goodnight to my friends.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  The next two weeks went by incredibly fast. Mary Jane, Angel, and I tried to spend as much time together as we could by running errands to get them ready for their move. Packing the house got in the way of that, a lot.

  Ashton was helping me pack my room. I had gone down the hall to Angel's room so that we could switch back the clothes we had borrowed of each other. When I returned a few minutes later, he was sitting on the bed with his back to me.

  “Oh no, you found my senior scrapbook,” I said, as I groaned and took the seat next to him.

  He smiled. “These pictures are awesome. I had no clue you went to private school.”

  I sighed. “Yep, not just private school, a catholic private school. Don’t ask if I still have the uniform.”

  He snickered. “What? Why would I ask that?”

  Rolling my eyes, I responded. “Every time a guy finds out I went to Catholic school, his next question is always ‘Do you still have the uniform?’.”

  He flipped through the album remaining quiet. I watched his face as he fought with the urge to ask.

  Finally, he grinned and looked up “So…do you?” I tackled him to the bed. He guffawed with laughter, as I rolled around on the bed with him.

  After we settled down, he flipped through the book some more. “Oh what is up with Cameron’s hair in this one?” It was striped with purple and pink.

  “He was going through a phase, trying something new. It lasted maybe a week before he grew bored with
it. I snapped the picture as a reminder in case he got the idea again. A definite don’t.”

  There was a knock on the door, Mary Jane entered. "Ash can you help Cameron and Gavin with loading the van for Angel and me?"

  Ash handed me the scrapbook and jumped up. "Absolutely." He left and Angel came in behind Mary Jane.

  "We got you something," Mary Jane said as she sat next to me on the bed. She handed me a small velvet bag that was tightened with rope to hold it closed. "We wanted you to have something that you could carry with you to remind you of us." I opened the pouch and dropped out two charms.

  Mary Jane lifted one from my hand. "High heels seemed appropriate for both of us. These look like the ones you borrowed from Angel the night you met Ash." She lifted the other charm which was a pea pod with three peas inside. "This charm is to represent how we are three peas in a pod."

  Together they held up their wrists to show matching bracelets with the same two charms. My emotions got the better of me and I began to cry. Three sets of arms entwined in a huddle hug as we all cried together.

  Cameron pushed open the door and exclaimed, "What the hell is all this crying about?" When we showed him the bracelets he stepped back, placed one hand on his hip and stuck the other out palm up. "Where's mine?"

  Mary Jane reached into her pocket and pulled out a velvet bag that matched mine. "We didn’t forget about you." Cameron pulled out his charms that were attached to a key ring. He had two charms as well, one was a princess crown and the other was a tree symbol.

  Mary Jane took the keychain from him and said, "The princess crown is obvious. The tree is the Celtic symbol for guardian or protector. You're our protector and we'll never forget that."

  He stepped back and fell to the bed covering his mouth. He cursed, "I am so pissed at you bitches." His face screwed up as he began to cry.

  The three of us embraced him. "We love you Cam."

  He sniffed and whimpered out in a high-pitched voice, "I can't believe you made me do the ugly cry today. I freaking hate goodbyes and you know that crying totally makes my face puffy and gross looking." We tried to laugh through the tears, the tears won.

  Ashton opened the door and said, "Cars all packed and…what did I miss?"

  Cameron stood up and threw his arms around Ashton. "Hold me." Ashton hugged Cameron tightly. I loved how he would appease him no matter what.

  Displaying my wrist, I said, "Check out what MJ and Angel gave me, more charms for my bracelet."

  Ashton smiled at them. "I have one for you as well." He pulled a small silver charm out of his pocket and it was a tree that matched Cam's. "They told me about the idea and I went with them. This is a matching charm to Cam's, to represent him as your protector on your bracelet. That way, you have all of us on there now."

  From behind Ashton, Cameron shouted, "Son of a bitch!" I moved to see what was wrong. His hands were tangled in his shirt as he used it to blot the tears from his eyes. "That's it! I need out of this cryfest!" He stomped out of the room and down the stairs.

  Angel snickered. "He's such a drama queen."

  From down the hall, Cameron's voice yelled out, "I'm a drama princess! Gah! Get it right!"

  The last of the boxes were packed. The house was emptier than I ever remembered it being. I remembered the day I moved in and it wasn’t this empty. Angel had moved in the day before and her things were strewn everywhere. Mary Jane and I gave her a hard time for staking her claim on her bedroom before we ever had the chance.

  Everyone had moved outside where they were standing around, desperately trying to avoid saying goodbye. I stood in the doorway and as I looked in the living room I could see all of us sitting around the table playing cards. The laughter, the music blaring, the drinks sloshing, it was a constant party in this house at one time.

  Angel came up behind me and put her arm across my shoulder. "You ready to go, chica?"

  I sighed. "I'm going to miss this place."

  She leaned her head against mine. "Me too. We had a lot of good times here." We left the spare keys on the stairs in an envelope for the landlord, along with a nice gift of thanks for always being good to us.

  She pulled me outside and I closed the door on some of the best years of my life, when I closed the front door to that house. Mary Jane, Angel, Cam and I stood in a group hug, not wanting to let go. After more tears, we broke apart.

  Angel turned to me one last time. "I'll be hopping on a plane to New York in a few days! Next time I see you, you'll be getting married!"

  I smiled excitedly. "Can't wait. Love you guys! Be careful, please! Call me as soon as you get to Florida."

  Mary Jane hugged me tightly. "I love you. I'm so sorry I'll miss the wedding." She pointed a finger in Cameron's face. "You'd better get a great video of it for me!"

  He raised his hands. "Yes ma'am! When did you become Ms. Bossy Britches?" She tugged him into her embrace and gave him a kiss. As they were saying their goodbyes, a car pulled into the driveway.

  Derrick stepped out and I looked to Mary Jane for her reaction. She hadn’t seen him yet. He stepped out of the car with a giftbox and ran to her. "MJ!" She turned and smiled as he ran straight for her. "I know you didn’t want me to see you again. I had to get this to you though." She opened it up and found a painted coffee mug. It had a handprint painted on the mug in pink with 'I love you' in black, the background of the mug was baby blue. "Katelyn painted it for you. She wanted you to have something to remember her by," Derrick said. She glanced inside and found movie stubs, a pink carnation and some tokens from Chuck E Cheese. "I added those to remind you of me. I won't forget our time together and I hope you won't either."

  I clung to Ash as I watched the immense joy and heartache roll over Mary Jane, all at once. With his index finger, Derrick lifted Mary Jane's chin to look at him. "Are you mad I came by with it?" Instead of answering, she pulled him forward into a very passionate kiss. His hands tangled in her hair as her hands went around his waist and pulled at his shirt as though she couldn't bring him close enough to her. Cameron said, "Whew honey…" and before he could finish, Gavin and I both slapped our hands over his mouth to muffle him from interrupting. We stood watching them lose themselves in each other, for a moment. When the moment ended, they stood smiling at each other. "I'll call you when I get to Florida?" she asked, not sure how Derrick would feel about it.

  His grin widened. "I'd love that. Be careful, sweetheart." He kissed her forehead, took her hand and walked her to the car.

  We waved goodbye as they drove away. I couldn’t stop waving, until they were completely out of sight. My shoulders slumped, I turned back towards the house one last time. Ashton put his arm around me. "Come on, let's go home."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  When the plane landed in New York, Cameron broke out into song. He walked through the airport singing 'New York, New York' as he kicked his legs up Rockette style.

  Once inside the city, he was elated about everything. "This is just how it looks in the movies! I love this town! Look!" He pointed at a group of people that were all same-sex couples. "I'm in gay heaven." He turned to Gavin, grabbing his hand. "We may need to move here!"

  My heart clenched at those words. He turned to me and winked. I relaxed knowing he was teasing me. Angel would be arriving later this evening. They had been gone for two weeks. Though we spoke every other day, I missed them immensely. Mary Jane and Derrick decided to be friends, as hard as that might be. They decided that they could see where their lives were and how they still felt in two years when her program was complete.

  Ashton checked us into the hotel. Cameron and I shopped in the boutiques while he took our bags upstairs.

  After an hour, we headed to the room. Ashton and Gavin would share a room tonight and I would be with Cameron. This was to keep up the tradition of not seeing the bride the night before the wedding.

  I opened the door to the suite and stepped inside. The suite seemed to be bigger than my house. I flopped down on the plush whi
te couch, propping my feet on the coffee table. Ashton smiled. "Go check out the bathroom. You can have your Pretty Woman bath moment in there."

  I jumped up and ran to see. The tub was humongous and I couldn’t wait to use it. I ran across the living room to the bedroom and flopped on the bed, bouncing as I landed. I smiled at myself and the thought I had. I slipped my shoes off and pulled myself up on the bed. I began to hop up and down, using the bed as a trampoline.

  "Can't take you anywhere, can we?" A female voice rang out. I screamed and fell to the bed as I was tackled by Angel. We rolled around, hugging. "Come help me with my damn bags."

  For the next few hours, we explored the city. We didn’t have a lot of time to go to all the museums and shows that we would've wanted to. We visited the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Those places were fun, and we took crazy pictures to send to Mary Jane. Cameron wanted a picture of himself as he went up, inside the Statue of Liberty.

  He posted it on Facebook with the caption of, "The one and only time I'll ever be inside a woman."

  We texted that to Mary Jane, with the same caption, and she texted back immediately with as many LOL's as she could type.

  Our last stop was to the 9/11 Tribute Center. Ashton stepped up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and bent to rest his head on my shoulder. "This puts so much in perspective about things that are important in life." I ran my hand along the list of names on the plaques in front of us. "These people walked into work on a normal day and whether they were a victim or a survivor, their lives changed in that moment the first plane hit that tower."

  "Nothing in this world has been the same since that day. I was a little girl when it happened, only nine. Yet I remember asking my mom about why the buildings fell. I remember asking how someone could be so mean. Do you remember where you were?"