Saving Sycamore Bay (Destined for Love: Mansions)

by Cami Checketts

  He pulled quickly out of the driveway. The dark road slid by underneath his car. He’d drive back to Montgomery and tell his boss he’d failed. The prospect of gaining Henry’s clients was gone, and he might even lose his job. Jace, Nixon, and Zander had all offered to hire him out of college. He’d wanted to make his way on his own, but that was silly. He could work for one of them and be happy. Well, happy was stretching it without Grace. He could be busy.

  14

  Grace lay curled into a ball and listened like a hawk. Listened to Harrison pack up his bag, listened to him walk past her room without stopping, listened to the finality of the back door closing. All she could hear was his deep, wonderful voice asking her, “No?”

  Why couldn’t she have screamed, “Yes! Of course I’ll marry you, you amazing, wonderful, kind man!”

  But that was so unfair to him. He didn’t really know her, couldn’t possibly love her. He’d said nothing about love. He truly was an accountant: it was all about crunching the numbers, and him offering to marry her had seemed so analytical and thought-out. It was also thoughtful and kind, and she refused to be a charity case, especially to this perfect and handsome and superb man who she still thought of as the football hero, even though he was so much more to her than that now.

  His car engine fired. She rolled onto her stomach and screamed into her pillow. Could it be possible that he’d just offered for the money? They would both be worth a whole lot of money with her inheritance. She didn’t think Harrison was the type of man to want a marriage of convenience just so he’d be wealthy. He’d sounded so altruistic, like he was doing it for her, for the children, but he’d originally come here for money so who knew?

  He’d kissed her like the sun wouldn’t shine tomorrow. He’d called her “his girl.” Obviously he cared for her. Was it enough?

  His car lights pulled away and the fear of losing him raced through her. She scrambled off her bed and sprinted for the back staircase. Maybe he didn’t love her yet, but he did care for her. She’d told him no without even talking about it. It was possible he loved her and that his intentions to marry her were sincere and pure like she’d come to expect with Harrison.

  She pumped down the stairs and was out the back door in seconds. “Harrison!” she screamed. “Stop! Please stop!”

  A hand covered her mouth and she was knocked to the spongy grass next to the back porch. Disoriented, she peered past the pain in her head and into Beau’s blue eyes.

  “Beau?” she muttered.

  “I’m here,” he said, which seemed like a weird comment. How could he know Harrison had left her and her life was a mess? Or was he here to try to hurt her and her house?

  The ground rumbled underneath her as if an earthquake was happening. A whoosh of light caught her eye and she looked up. A huge fireball exploded out of the top floor of her home, spraying shingles, plaster, and bits of wood into the air. Grace screamed, pushed away from Beau, and jumped to her feet. Her body shook uncontrollably as she cried out in horror. Sycamore Bay. Her house. Another loud blast rocked the earth and the house exploded outward—windows shattering and wood flung everywhere. She was thrown onto her back. Her head slammed onto the concrete patio. Her last conscious thought was wondering if Harrison would ever know that she loved him.

  15

  Harrison heard a loud boom. He slammed on his brakes and whirled, seeing the fireball above the tree line.

  “Grace!” Her name ripped from his throat. Spinning his car around, he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and prayed like he’d never prayed in his life. “Please, Lord, protect her. Please!” he begged over and over again.

  He pushed the button on his steering wheel, and when Siri asked him to please say a command, he said, “Call 911.” Another boom rattled through his chest and fear took his breath away.

  Seconds later the call connected and he yelled, “There’s been an explosion.” He was amazed he could remember the address. He begged for fire trucks and medical help, then hung up on the operator.

  As he flew up the driveway, horror clawed at his gut. Grace’s house was an inferno, fire and smoke pouring from the roof, the windows, the doors. And he’d left her in there. How could he have left? He should be there with her.

  What could he do in there? Die with her? Yes! Grace was in there. He gasped for air and tears streaked down his face. He jammed the vehicle into park and jumped out, trying to see a point of entry, some way to get to her.

  “Grace! Grace!” he screamed over and over again. The tall front doors spouted fire and smoke. He covered his head with his arm and tried to get up the steps, but the heat pushed him back.

  No, no, no! Not Grace. Please, Lord, Please!

  He ran around to the back of the house, hoping, praying for some way to get in and get to her. His brain tried to tell him that she was gone, that there was no hope, but his heart would not accept it.

  “Grace!” he hollered. “Please, Grace!”

  A man rose into his field of vision. “Help me,” he croaked.

  As Harrison sprinted toward him, the flames outlined the good-looking face and blond hair. Beau. Harrison reared back. “Grace?” he managed.

  “She’s here. Help me lift her away.”

  Harrison caught his first full breath. Grace had made it out?

  He ran to the spot Beau indicated, and it was true. Grace was lying on her side in the grass. He didn’t think of any rules of correct emergency techniques as he rolled her over and lifted her into his arms. He felt the sweetest exhalation of breath and murmured, “Oh, thank you, Lord.” Then he ran toward the water. If the fire got even more out of control, the water had to be the safest place.

  When he reached the edge of the bay, he knelt there on the beach and tried to think how to check her more thoroughly. She was breathing, but what else could be wrong?

  Beau knelt next to them. “Is she okay?”

  “You stay away from her!” he roared. Grace was alive and he would forever praise the Lord for that, but this guy had started the fire and had no right to ask if she was okay.

  “Hey, man. I came to save her.”

  “You did this!” Harrison jerked his head toward Grace’s beloved house, burning out of control.

  “I wouldn’t do this. I love her!” He pointed to the edge of the woods. “They did this.” Two men’s shadows stood, silently watching the fire take Grace’s home, her every memory of her parents and her innocent, happy childhood.

  Harrison’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Stay with her,” he murmured, setting Grace gently on the sand. He stood and sprinted for the trees. The men noticed him and started running. Harrison put on speed and tackled the taller of the two.

  Sirens blared through the night. The other man was escaping, but Harrison figured if he caught one, hopefully his prisoner or Beau would rat out the other one. The whole thing was making him dizzy. Had he really just left Grace in that snake Beau’s care to chase after her arsonist?

  The man struggled in his arms, but Harrison was an expert at wrapping a body up. He put a stranglehold on the guy and then jerked him to his feet, dragging him back to Beau and Grace and hopefully the cops who would be there soon. As they got closer to the fire, the man fighting and writhing against him came into view with the help of the flames.

  Harrison almost lost his grip. “Uncle Mike!”

  Mike glared at him.

  “How could you?” Harrison asked.

  “How could I?” Mike snarled at him. “How could they?” He gestured to the house. “The entire Addison family owed me everything. I’m the one who kept this place running all my life. Addison always wanted to help everybody, and he would’ve given his entire fortune away if it wasn’t for me. They owed me everything, but Addison would never listen to my visions and thought he was doing me some favor leaving me enough money for a pitiful cottage.” He was frothing with anger now. “If Grace would’ve sold to Steele, I would’ve gotten my piece of the brilliant resort I’ve always planned to build her
e. But she wouldn’t sell, so I finally had to kill her. I was next in line on the will and now I’ll have everything.”

  They were almost to Beau and Grace now. Grace still wasn’t moving, and all Harrison wanted to do was wake her up and hold her.

  “You didn’t kill her.” Harrison jerked the man around so he could see Grace’s beautiful face. “Take him to the police,” Harrison commanded Beau. “And tell them where your father went. He was the other man, correct?”

  Beau nodded, looking meek for possibly the first time in his life. He stood and grabbed Mike’s arm in a death grip. “I stole their boat keys so they couldn’t escape,” he told Harrison.

  Harrison finally understood why Mike and Beau’s dad were still close by, but Beau’s help was too little, too late in his mind.

  “You idiot, Beau!” Mike yelled, straining to free himself. “Use that little brain for a second! You lose everything if I get arrested.”

  “No. I take over my father’s legit businesses while you two rot in prison for what you tried to do to Gracie Lee.” Beau seemed to have strength beyond his own as he jerked the older man toward the front of the house, where police cars, emergency vehicles, and fire trucks crowded the driveway.

  “Send the paramedics back here,” Harrison said.

  Beau nodded.

  Harrison knelt next to Grace again, starting his prayers up more diligently. He gently touched her head and neck, finding some bumps on the back of her head, and started to despair that she wouldn’t wake up. Firefighters ran toward them, and Harrison wanted them to hurry and help her, wake her up so he could tell her how sorry he was. How could he have ever left her?

  They put a neck brace on and carefully lifted her on a stretcher. Harrison followed behind them as they hurried back to the ambulance. All the while, she didn’t wake up. When they reached the ambulance and loaded her in, Harrison tried to climb up with them.

  “Are you her husband?” A large firefighter blocked his entrance.

  “No, but …”

  “Sorry. Family only.”

  “Harrison?” Her voice floated out to him.

  Harrison shoved the guy out of the way and scrambled into the narrow spot next to the stretcher. Grace’s beautiful blue eyes were open. They weren’t clear or particularly lucid, but they were open.

  “You’re here?” Her gaze swept over him, full of hope for a better tomorrow.

  “I’m never leaving you again,” he whispered fiercely.

  She smiled slightly. “I love you.” Then she closed her eyes again.

  “You need to get out.” The guy he’d pushed out of the way looked like he was ready to wrestle Harrison out of the ambulance.

  Harrison looked to the other firefighter for help. He was smaller than the first, but with the word “Captain” on his helmet. He looked between Harrison and Grace, then said firmly, “You can ride with us.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Harrison settled into a seat as the doors were slammed. While one firefighter took Grace’s stats, the other sat at the head of the stretcher, and even though she had the neck brace on, he held her head steady like he was keeping her from being flung around. The vehicle started moving. Grace might be unconscious again, but she had to know. Harrison bent down close and said, “I love you too.”

  She didn’t open her eyes, but she did smile.

  16

  Every part of Grace hurt, but her head took the prize. She tried to open her eyes, but it was too bright out there. Someone was holding her hand, and then she smelled that clean, manly scent. She couldn’t open her eyes, but she did find the strength to squeeze his hand.

  She could feel Harrison lean closer and whisper huskily, “Grace?”

  “Can’t … open … my … eyes,” she ground out.

  “You’ll be okay. The doc says every part of you is okay, but your lips might need a little TLC from yours truly.”

  She smiled, but that hurt too, her lips felt cracked and swollen. “If you … find me some chapstick and a breath mint,” she muttered.

  He laughed. “Consider it done.” He brushed his free hand gently over her forehead. Grace couldn’t stand it any longer; she forced her eyes open, and his handsome face and wide smile beamed back at her. She drank in the sight of him before closing her eyes again.

  “It’s okay, my love. Go back to sleep. Sleep as long as you need. I’ll be here.”

  Grace squeezed his hand tighter. She wanted to sleep, but she needed to know. “Do you really …” She swallowed hard and licked her lips. “Love me?”

  Harrison’s low chuckle washed over her. “Oh, Grace.” He softly brushed her lips with his. “I love you more than Jace loves Moriah.”

  She smiled at that and drifted back into the darkness.

  When she awoke again, her lips tasted like her vanilla mint lip gloss. It didn’t hurt quite as bad to open her eyes this time and she blinked, searching until she found Harrison slumped in a chair next to her bed. He looked exhausted and beat up, but absolutely irresistible to her. She stared at him as long as she could stand to have her eyes open, then let them drift shut and shifted on the bed to relieve the ache in her lower back.

  She must’ve made too much noise, because Harrison’s eyes popped open and he leaned closer to her. “Grace? Love? You need anything?”

  She shook her head slowly, licking her lips. “This is my favorite lip gloss. Where did you find it?”

  “Would you believe you left your purse in the back seat of my car?”

  “I did?” She remembered putting her purse there when they left Moriah’s, but she’d forgotten it when they unloaded their overnight bags at home. The thought made all of her other losses not quite as horrible. Her house was gone, but she still had her purse.

  Her house was gone. Sycamore Bay was nothing but ashes. Despair crashed over her and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Is it a total loss?” she whispered.

  Harrison pushed a hand through his short hair. “I’m sorry.”

  She swallowed hard and let the tears fall. All the memories with her parents, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Geraldine. The history of generations of her family who built, loved, and lived in that house. Pictures and family heirlooms … but most of all, she remembered the love that permeated the walls themselves.

  Harrison took her hand but didn’t say anything. He let her cry. The tears washed some of the pain and sleepiness from her eyes, but made the rest of her ache for what was lost. Finally, she couldn’t stand to sit and cry much longer. She pushed the button to raise her bed up higher. She knew more tears would come—the pain of losing her home wouldn’t go away anytime soon—but at least Harrison was here.

  Harrison straightened. “Can I get you anything?”

  “Besides my favorite lip gloss?” She smiled at him. “The breath mint.”

  Harrison laughed and pulled a packet of Breath Savers from his pocket, placing a couple into her hand.

  “Thank you.” Grace savored the peppermint flavor.

  “Oh, Grace. I’d do anything for you.”

  She knew it was true, and even though her eyes should’ve run out of water, a few more tears leaked out. She wiped them away. “Thank you.”

  “So …” He pumped his eyebrows. “What is your wish, my love?”

  “Ice water would be brilliant.”

  “That was easy.” He grabbed a cup filled with water and lifted it close to her.

  She wrapped her lips around the plastic straw and sucked down the icy goodness tinged with peppermint. When she’d had enough, she leaned back. “Thank you. So the doctors say I’m okay?”

  “Yes. You had a pretty good concussion, but no broken bones. As soon as you feel up to it, they said they’ll release you.”

  “It was Beau.” She didn’t want to admit it, but she had to. Her old friend was truly a horrific person. “He blew it up so his dad could develop the property.”

  “No.” Harrison studied her for a few agonizing seconds before admitting, “His dad and … Mike did.”

>   “Mike? Uncle Mike?”

  He nodded. “Set it all up while we were gone and Aunt Geraldine was sleeping.”

  “Oh no.” Tears rushed to the surface and she wished she’d never cry again in her life. “Why? How could he?” She sniffled and wiped at her nose.

  Harrison stood and leaned over, gently hugging her. Grace clung to his arms and his tenderness about undid her. After a few minutes, he sat down and reached for her hand. “I think he twisted it all in his mind. He felt like you and your dad owed the place to him because of all the work he did and his ancestors always working there.”

  “I never even knew he felt that way.” Her heart was so heavy. First her Sycamore Bay and now Uncle Mike? “Aunt Geraldine too?”

  “No.” Harrison shook his head firmly. “She knew nothing about it. Mike even affirmed that. She’s so distraught. It’s sad to watch how sick she is about it all. She’s been here checking on you.”

  Grace felt marginally better. At least she hadn’t been betrayed by Aunt Geraldine too. Then it hit her all over again, like a wrecking ball that kept swinging back and forth and doing almost as much damage with each swing. Her home was gone. Homeless was a horrific word. What did she do now? “Where am I going to live?”

  Harrison’s eyes got that smoldering look she loved. “I’ve been thinking about that while you’ve slept and slept.”

  She laughed.

  “Like Sleeping Beauty.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.

  “Ha!” She certainly didn’t feel like a beauty right now.

  “You’re more beautiful than ever,” Harrison murmured. “And I’ve been thinking if I asked you to marry me, and if I did a little better job of it than last time—” He winked. “—then we can be together and rebuild your house and make and adopt babies until we’re insanely busy and insanely happy.”