For the Love of Grace: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 2)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  Grace looked at the contents of each tub before deciding to just have a scoop of each. Baby was feeling adventurous. When she was done, Bennett put the ice cream back in the freezer.

  “Feel free to join us,” he said as he returned to his stool across from Tristan.

  “I don’t want to interrupt.” She picked up the bowl and spoon.

  “You’re not interrupting,” Bennett said. “Tristan came for supper, so we’ve been talking for a while now.”

  “Okay.” Grace settled onto a stool next to Tristan. “I went to Makayla’s for ice cream, but no one was home.”

  “I think they took Sierra and Danica out to a concert or something,” Tristan said. “Dani’s been talking about it non-stop for the last few days.”

  Grace took a bite of the ice cream, savoring its coolness on her tongue. “Thank you, Bennett. This really hits the spot.”

  “I’m going to have to make sure that I always keep ice cream on hand.”

  Tristan chuckled. “Like you don’t already.”

  “Oh, but now I have a reason to keep even more on hand.” Bennett grinned.

  Grace listened as Tristan and Bennett discussed some work-related stuff. Though she wasn’t really participating in the conversation, it felt nice to not be alone. She could have taken the ice cream back to her apartment and eaten it while watching something on TV, but this felt better. It was good that Tristan was there because she wasn’t sure she would have been comfortable staying there with just Bennett. Too much of Makayla’s conversation still played in her head.

  “I forgot to send you a name this morning,” Bennett said as he picked up his phone.

  “You’re planning to send me a name every day?” Grace asked.

  “Yep. Just presenting you with some options,” Bennett murmured as he bent over his phone.

  When Grace’s phone chirped a short time later, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

  Bennett: Briella: God is my strength

  Grace looked up at Bennett. “That’s actually kind of pretty.”

  “It’s shortened from Gabriella.”

  “Well, Astrid went on the definitely not list, but this one…well, I think I’ll put it on the maybe list.”

  “Really?” Bennett sounded surprised and pleased.

  “I never thought much about the responsibility of naming a child,” Tristan commented. He set his spoon in his empty bowl and pushed it away. “I must say, I have wondered about the names of a few people I’ve come across. Like, what their parents were thinking?”

  “Yeah,” Grace agreed. “Maybe I’ll have to set up a Twitter poll or something. Give my top five and let people vote.”

  “So you don’t have any strong feelings about a name yet?” Bennett asked.

  Grace shrugged. “Not really.”

  “Would you want to have Franklin’s name as part of it? I’ve heard of girls named Frankie.”

  “I’ve thought about it, but I’m not sure.” The thought had briefly crossed her mind, but she hadn’t let herself think about it too much. “Part of me just thinks I won’t know the name for sure until I look at her face.”

  “I suppose you don’t really need to have a name until after the baby is born,” Bennett agreed. “Some people choose the name sooner as a way to connect with the baby, but I doubt you’d be the first person who waited until the baby arrived to settle on a name.”

  Grace wondered if maybe her reluctance to pick a name had to do with that connection Bennett had mentioned. It seemed her desire to remain detached ran so deep she wasn’t even aware of it sometimes. Maybe that was why she was so resistant to doing anything in advance of the baby’s birth. If she had it her way, she wouldn’t even set up the nursery until she knew for sure that the baby had been born healthy.

  She lived in fear of the worst happening. Was that really a surprise, though? After all, the worst had happened to her…several times.

  Grace looked at Bennett, taking in the way his eyes sparkled when he laughed at some of the names Tristan had heard when he was in university. There was so much good in the man. Oh, he had his not-so-good attributes as well. His protectiveness could be overwhelming and annoying at times. She knew that his younger siblings chafed at that a lot. She’d heard more than one of them talk about how they felt like they had two dads.

  He’d been responsible as a teenager, ready to step into adulthood when so many guys had just been counting the days until they were legal and could party. At eighteen, Bennett had already been working with Steve and going to university full-time. He took his responsibilities very seriously. Too seriously sometimes. Grace knew that if she ever needed help from someone, Bennett would be there for her as surely as Makayla would be.

  They were her safety net, and maybe that was why she didn’t want to take a risk with Bennett. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. And she would take his presence in the only way she could get it. As a friend.

  “Tristy,” Bennett said.

  “Trixie?” Grace asked, tuning back into the conversation.

  “No. Tristy. Short from Tristan.”

  “Oh my goodness,” Grace said with a snort. “And for Bennett? Benny?”

  “No. No, no, no,” Bennett said with a vicious shake of his head. “Please no for a girl.”

  “How about Bennetta?” Tristan suggested.

  “And once again, I say no.” Bennett gave Tristan a horrified look. “How about we just say that all versions of your and my name are off limits?”

  “I can agree to that,” Tristan said.

  The three of them laughed again.

  “I think I’m just gonna call her Baby. This picking a name is too hard.”

  “Well, you might change your mind about that the first time you hear a teenage boy call her Baaaaby,” Tristan said, sounding amazingly like a teenage boy though it had been a good six years since he’d been one.

  Grace turned to stare at Tristan before she burst out laughing. She’d laughed at times over the past few months but for some reason, Tristan’s comment and the way he’d said it struck her as hilarious. No matter how she tried to stop, every time she looked at Tristan who was regarding her with a lifted brow, she started laughing again.

  Before long, the guys were laughing with her. Tears pricked her eyes, but this time they were brought on by laughter instead of grief. She pressed a hand to her side as she took a deep breath and tried to stop once again.

  “Really, Gracie, it wasn’t that funny,” Tristan said when he finally stopped laughing. “Why are we laughing so hard?”

  Grace took a deep breath and let it out with a huff, wiping at her eyes. “Well, maybe it was just how you said it. Which was hilarious.”

  “It was rather funny, Tris,” Bennett said. “Especially when you’re the serious one. I do have to say, however, that your observation is worth taking into consideration.”

  “I agree. Baby is on the not a chance list,” Grace said then sighed. “And now I’m back to square one.”

  “Don’t worry. You’re not alone on your quest,” Bennett assured her. “There’s a whole lot of us happy to help you out.”

  Grace let out another sigh, suddenly feeling exhausted by the fit of laughter. “That is a battle for another day. I am beat.”

  “Are you feeling okay?” Bennett asked, his brow furrowed.

  She gave him a smile. “I’m fine. Just tired. The ice cream hit the spot, and the laugh…well, that was needed too. Thanks, Tris.”

  She got to her feet and took her empty bowl to the sink.

  “Just leave that, Grace,” Bennett said from behind her. “I’ll put it into the dishwasher with the rest from dinner.”

  Grace turned from the counter. “Thanks for the ice cream rescue.”

  “Anytime.” Bennett smiled. “You know I always have it on hand.” He walked with her to the door and then stood there as she walked to her apartment. “Sleep well, Grace. See you tomorrow.”

  22

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nbsp; Bennett closed the door and went back to where Tristan sat at the counter, his head bent over his phone. “So, what are you up to this week?”

  When Tristan had called to see if he could hang out with him, Bennett hadn’t hesitated to say yes. Tristan did that every couple of months. Bennett was never sure what prompted it, but he always had a good time with the guy.

  Ever since their families had met, Tristan had been the one that sort of faded into the background. With strong personalities like Gabe, Kenton, and Makayla in the family, it wasn’t a surprise that a few of the other kids would be overshadowed. Tristan had been more than overshadowed. He was like the short kid in the back row that no one could see because everyone in front of him was taller. But…Tristan had embraced the role. Every once in awhile, though, he liked to have some one-on-one time with his siblings, and that’s when Bennett would get a call.

  “I’m working on designs with Everett for the new subdivision.” Tristan set his phone down and leaned back in his bar stool.

  “How’s it been, working with him? I’ve heard he’s really hands on.”

  Tristan sighed. “Yeah. He has had a lot of input. I have a feeling he’ll be in the office several days this week. He likes to see designs in the beginning stages and give suggestions early on. It does help me to be able to incorporate the things he wants.” He shrugged. “Better than going to him with designs and then needing to make changes. I don’t mind working with him.”

  They talked a bit more about the project then Tristan paused and looked at him. “Do you think Grace is doing okay?”

  Bennett knew that as a quiet person, Tristan tended to observe more than others might…when he wasn’t wrapped up in a project. “Considering it’s only been four months since Franklin died, I think she’s doing as well as could be expected. Especially when you add in the fact that she’s pregnant. I honestly don’t know if the pregnancy has helped or hindered her grieving.”

  Tristan nodded. “I was glad to see her laughing tonight. She always makes me laugh.”

  “Me, too,” Bennett said as he recalled the warmth that had flooded him when Grace had started to laugh. It had been ages since he’d seen her laugh like that. To know that she could still find humor in life was a relief to him.

  “We need to try and make her laugh more,” Tristan stated as if it was that easy.

  “Yep. We can certainly try.”

  The next day, Grace was late getting into the office. She’d had a doctor’s appointment so Maya, their new receptionist, was manning the front desk. Bennett greeted her when he went to get a cup of coffee.

  “Good morning, Maya,” he said. “How are you today?”

  “I’m fine. How are you?” She looked at him with wide brown eyes and a small smile. Even though she’d been with them for almost a month, she still seemed a little reserved at times.

  “I’m fine as well,” he said, giving her what he hoped she interpreted as a friendly smile. “When Grace comes in, could you come to my office, please?”

  Her brows rose slightly, and her smile disappeared altogether. “Sure.”

  “It’s nothing to be concerned about. I just have a project that I’d like you to take on. Since Grace has her own work, I thought maybe you could help with this one. And it will help you to understand better what we do here.”

  Relief relaxed her face, and she smiled again. “Okay. That sounds like fun.”

  “I hope so,” Bennett said. “If it’s not fun, at least I hope it will be interesting.”

  Back in his office, Bennett began to put together the notes he had on the project he wanted to involve Maya in. He wanted the young woman to feel like she was important to the company. To have her feel as if she had an important role. Though she was there to help Grace and to cover for her when the baby was born, he hoped that she would continue to work for the company in years to come. They were growing and expanding and needed someone like Maya who could help out where needed and be there to work alongside Grace.

  Around ten-thirty, Maya appeared in his doorway. “Is it convenient now?”

  Bennett nodded and moved the file he was working on to the side and then got to his feet. “C’mon in. Have a seat.” Once she had settled into the chair across the desk from him, Bennett sat back down. “First of all, would you be interested in visiting a work site?”

  “A work site?” Maya’s brows drew together.

  “Yes. We have several sites with different types of work. Mitch has at least one renovation on the go and several new building sites. Visiting a site or two might give you a better idea of what we do. It will help you understand terms that are tossed around as well as give you the opportunity to meet more of the employees.”

  “Yes, I’d like to do that,” Maya said with a nod. “I would like to know a bit more about that side of the company.”

  “Great. I’ll talk to Mitch to set it up.” Bennett jotted a note on the writing pad in front of him. “Now, onto the project.”

  Grace kept glancing toward the hallway. She wasn’t jealous, just curious. Definitely just curious. When Maya had said that Bennett wanted her to come to his office for information on a project he wanted her to do, Grace had felt…anxious. And then, the longer Maya was gone, the more the anxiety morphed into something else. Something Grace didn’t want to feel, let alone admit to. It would be wrong to feel that when she was still grieving.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Makayla said as she appeared beside Grace’s desk. “How did the appointment go this morning?”

  With effort, Grace kept herself from glancing down the hallway towards Bennett’s office. “It went well. So far everything looks good. Blood pressure was normal. I’m only up a couple of pounds since the last visit, which is surprising considering the way I’ve been eating.”

  “Yeah, well, there are those other times you’ve been throwing up what you ate, so I guess it all balances out,” Makayla remarked.

  “I’m not throwing up nearly as much as I did during the first trimester. While I’m glad for that, I have a feeling that it will mean a slightly higher weight gain next month.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry too much about that. Eat healthily and don’t worry about the weight.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Grace told her. “You aren’t the one who will have to lose it all afterward.”

  “Oh, but I’ll be there to feed you diet food.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “Lovely. Just lovely.”

  Makayla gave her a grin before looking around. “I thought Maya was in today.”

  “She is,” Grace said, hoping her tone stayed neutral. “I guess Bennett had asked her to come to his office when I got in to discuss a project of some nature.”

  “A project?” Makayla frowned. “I don’t remember him talking about anything like that in our meeting last week. He’s supposed to tell me before he takes you or Maya for additional work.”

  Grace shrugged. “That’s just what Maya said.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll have a chat with him to remind him that we need to be kept in the loop. Is it a problem if she has something else to work on?”

  “No, it’s not a problem,” Grace said, because it wasn’t…on the work side of things. In fact, there were days she struggled to find work for both her and Maya, so a project would help with that.

  “Sounds good, but I still want Bennett to get in the habit of asking first. Once you’re on maternity leave, he won’t be able to just take her for his own projects whenever he wants.”

  Grace nodded and tried not to think about a time when she wouldn’t be coming into work each day. Her job was a huge part of her life. She absolutely loved working for C&M Builders and had figured she’d be doing that for years to come. Now she was having to hand off parts of her job to someone else, and her future held a time when she might be out of the office for almost a year. Her stomach knotted at the idea.

  Maya came back a short time later, a notepad clutched in her hand. She sat down on the chair in front of
the computer that had been set up for her on the semi-circular desk.

  “How did it go?” Grace asked.

  “It was good. Bennett thinks I should go out and visit some of the work sites to get a better understanding of the company.”

  “Yes, that would definitely help. When does he plan to take you to the sites?” Grace posed the question as if it were a scheduling concern because that’s all she wanted it to be—despite what her heart may be trying to tell her.

  It was too soon for anything else.

  “Oh, I don’t think Bennett plans to take me. He said something about checking with Mitch.”

  Grace hated herself for feeling relieved about that. How could she possibly be feeling this way when she’d managed not to for so many years? She needed to still be mourning the loss of her husband.

  And she was.

  There wasn’t a day that went by that something didn’t remind her of the fact that Franklin was no longer in her life. Some days the grief was more intense than others. The sea of grief didn’t hold her as deeply as it had two or three months ago, but she certainly wasn’t free of it, by any shot. Which left her feeling all kinds of confused about Bennett.

  How could she be feeling anything at all for another man when her husband hadn’t been dead even four months? People would say it was wrong. But was there a right and wrong when it came to grief and love? Would loving another mean she loved Franklin any less? Was what she felt for Bennett even love? Or was it just a connection—a sense of gratitude—because he showed her each day that she was special. He took care of her. Whether it was carrying her garbage down to the bins or carrying groceries up to her apartment, he showed her in a million small ways that he cared.

  And her heart was thirsty for that right then.

  Makayla had Ethan to focus on, and between her job and Keenan, Tami had more than enough demands on her time. Grace knew both would be there in an instant if she needed them, but she hesitated to pull them out of their lives to deal with her grief and loneliness. At times, it felt like they were moving forward while she had fallen behind. So, if she took Bennett up on his offer to help sometimes, who could blame her? Right?