Ethan knelt, too. “Gracie? Marry me?” He kissed her other hand.
Her heart felt like it would pound from her chest. She fell from the chair into their arms, sobbing. Martha and Rose quietly sniffled and sobbed.
They gave her a minute to settle down before Jack said, “Darlin’, you would make us the happiest men in the world if you would say yes.” He offered her his handkerchief and helped her back into her chair.
“Yes, with all my heart. Yes, yes, and yes. I don’t know how this will work, but yes!” She did her best to stifle the sobs that threatened. “The roses are stunning. Your sweet cards,” she held them to her breast again, “are priceless beyond words. I’ll save them forever.” She held out a hand to Ethan’s cheek and gazed into his damp, sparkling eyes. She placed the other hand on Adam’s damp cheek, and he looked up into her eyes, so vulnerable and happy. Then she placed both hands on Jack’s cheeks and leaned in to touch her forehead to his. “Thank you, Jack, for bringing me into your lives. Nothing could make me happier than to marry y’all. You really surprised me.” She smiled as she wiped away her tears.
“Your ring won’t be ready until next Wednesday. Clay is rushing it but couldn’t have it ready any faster than that,” Jack said. “I’m sorry. I really wanted to have it in hand when we proposed, but we decided we couldn’t wait that long.”
“Couldn’t wait, huh?” She kissed him, and then she sat up straight. “Clay Cook? Clay Cook is making a ring for me? When did you order it?”
“Last Saturday while you and Charity were at the spa.” He chuckled at her gasp of surprise.
“You boys do work fast! You knew back then you were going to propose? When we were at the restaurant? And my necklace?”
Ethan reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “All those things were for our future wife, Gracie. Yes, and we knew that night in the restaurant we had been right to order the ring. Every moment we’ve spent together only confirms it. We wanted to propose and give you the ring before you came to live with us, but then the storm happened. We’ve been in love with you since the day of Rose Marie’s funeral, at least Adam and I have. Jack’s been in love with you forever, I think. We couldn’t stand to wait until Wednesday.”
“I love my flowers, and the crystal vases are lovely, too. You must have spent a fortune, and the roses are beautiful colors.”
“How’d you like that pink, darlin’? Did I do good?” Jack asked softly.
“Well,” she whispered with a crooked grin, “I think Ethan, Adam, and you are probably a better judge of whether it’s the exactly perfect color.” She blushed.
“I’m hard just looking at them and thinking about it.” Adam snickered.
“Me, too!” Ethan waggled his eyebrows at her as she put her finger over her lips.
“Shh! That’s too much information for Martha and Rose,” she whispered, laughing.
Martha returned to the front room. “I found my camera. Why don’t I take your picture?”
“I look awful!” Grace wiped under her eyes and mopped her nose with Jack’s handkerchief.
“You look beautiful!” all of them said at one time, and then they all laughed.
Martha took charge. “A girl wants to look good for pictures. Here’s your purse. Go powder your nose.” She handed Grace her purse, and Grace went to the restroom and fixed her face, then returned. Martha had arranged the roses and her men at the sales counter. She positioned Grace amongst her men and took several pictures. Then she surprised Grace by saying, “Now y’all go enjoy your afternoon off.”
“You’re giving me the afternoon off?” Grace asked in surprise.
Martha nodded and put her hand on Grace’s shoulder. “Honey, you need to adjust your thinking. You’re a self-employed woman taking a well-deserved afternoon off.”
“That’s not official yet.”
“Go, before I have them carry you out. Enjoy your evening. Go dance, go eat, go make out, go have fun. We love you, honey. Congratulations,” Martha said, kissing her cheek. “Consider it our gift to you.”
“Martha, you got a box and some padding we can use to get these arrangements home in?” Ethan asked.
“Why don’t you leave them here until after lunch?” Martha said. “You could take her out then just swing by and pick them up on your way home.”
“I’m starving for a good steak,” Adam said. “What do you think, baby? Can we take you to lunch?”
“Sure, I’m hungry, and it is noon.”
“That settles it. Ladies, we’ll be back.”
In the SUV, she told them, “I am so happy, I may have a hard time not showing my feelings to y’all. I feel like I could burst with it.” She was trying to get her emotions under control.
“We’ll ask for a quiet table, and you can sit with your back to the room if you’re worried, but we’re not concerned. I think it will be fine.” Ethan took her hand as they climbed from the SUV.
They asked for a quiet corner table, and Rudy was able to accommodate them. They seated Grace so she wouldn’t feel so self-conscious. Jack sat next to her and held her hand. She wished she could show equal affection to all of them. Trying to see the humor in the situation, she imagined ways she could be sneaky with her affections with them in public.
“Grace is up to something, I think,” Ethan said softly as Adam and Jack looked on in confusion. “Let me guess. She’s thinking up ways right now to be sneaky in public.”
Jack looked over at her and chuckled, “I think Grace can do whatever she sets her mind to do. Far be it from me to curb her from showing affection to the two of you. I mean, it’s not like we have to worry about her crawling under the table and sucking one of your cocks or anything.”
“Oh, no. That’s for when we’re at Tessa’s,” she said enthusiastically, giggling at the smirks on their faces. “Yum.” Then she licked her lips and grinned.
Adam shifted in his seat and smiled at her, saying, “Now, Grace, there’s a difference between showing affection and teasing us.”
“I wasn’t teasing you. I was giving you a sneak preview of a coming attraction.” She giggled some more. Their mouths popped open for a second, and they all did a little shift in their seats.
“I’ve been meaning to give Tessa a call and make reservations.” Ethan smiled at her. “Would you like to go back sometime soon?”
“Tessa’s was a major turning point in my life. I’d love to go back.” She squeezed Jack’s hand and looked at all of them. “I’m still reeling. That was quite a proposal.”
“We can’t wait for your ring to be ready. I hope you like the design.” Jack rubbed her knuckles soothingly.
“I’m sure it’s beautiful. If the three of you designed it, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Can he put an inscription inside of it?” she asked.
“Yes, I think he could. Is that something you would like, darlin’?” Jack asked. “Ethan said you might like that.”
“Very much. It just seems like a very romantic thing to do. Like wearing a love letter.” She hoped they didn’t think it was silly.
“Did you have something in mind that you wanted inscribed inside it?” asked Ethan.
“No. No. I’d leave that up to you.”
“I’m glad you said something, darlin’. We want it to be perfect for you,” Jack said as their waiter delivered their steaks. Grace thoroughly enjoyed her filet mignon and salad and did her best to behave herself during the meal.
Ethan turned to her and said, “Are you looking forward to dancing tonight?”
She reached out and placed her hand over his upper thigh and replied, “Oh, yes, I’m—” Dammit! She looked down at her hand and looked up at him, then over at Jack and Adam before glancing at the tables nearby. She slowly withdrew her hand and finished her statement. “Yes, I’m really looking forward to it, Ethan.” This is gonna take some getting used to. Good going, dunce.
Ethan and the other men smiled at her, understanding in their eyes, but that only made
her blush harder. She sighed and looked at her hands in her lap and tried to calm the fast pace of her heart. Now she was afraid to look around and see if anyone else had noticed. She sat back in her chair and breathed calmly. Jack reached out and took her hand, clasping her fingers in his, and smiled encouragingly at her. The rest of the meal was uneventful, but her lapse and resulting embarrassment tainted the celebratory occasion.
The waiter brought the check, Jack paid him, and they got up to leave. She headed to the ladies’ room for a few minutes, and the three of them waited in the foyer for her.
* * * *
Ethan muttered softly in disgust, “It’s bullshit that she has to stop herself from doing something loving for someone else that comes from a pure heart. There wasn’t a single person in that dining room that doesn’t have one type of skeleton or another in their closet, and they’re all still mostly decent people. She looked down like she was ashamed that she’d messed up already.”
Ethan hated seeing the embarrassed blush creep over her cheeks when she reached for him. What was even worse to him was that he knew she would eventually learn to curb those expressions publicly. It seemed a terrible loss to him. She could be as circumspect as a saint, but all anyone would have to do is take one look in her expressive eyes when she gazed at him or Adam and know the truth in an instant. The depth of her love for them glowed in her eyes.
“If you want my opinion,” Adam shoved his hands in his pockets, “people get hot enough and need their AC fixed, they don’t really give a shit what circumstances surround my marriage. If they do, I don’t want their business. There’s plenty of holier than thou AC repairmen around. She’s a lady through and through, and she’d never shame us with her behavior. Even at The Pony, where she can let her hair down, she acts like a lady, and she treats us like kings. I don’t want to see that get messed up.”
Jack nodded. “I saw her reach out for you, Ethan. She blushed like she’d done something wrong. It’s not right to expect it of her. If I lose a contract from someone who judges me over our marriage because they don’t understand, that’s something I can live with. I can’t live without her. We’ll tell her this afternoon when we show her the foals. But you do know there is a downside to this. People probably won’t say anything to her when she’s with us. They’ll wait until she’s alone and offer her their opinions then, when she’s defenseless. Dammit.”
Ethan growled softly. They were no closer to a solution over that issue than they were before they met her.
She rejoined them a few seconds later, red-cheeked, furious, and looking ready to kick someone’s ass. She angrily wiped tears from her eyes, and as she made eye contact with them, her chin started to wobble. She reached with both arms for Adam, who immediately caught her and wrapped his arms around her protectively.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adam held her as she trembled violently in his arms. “Baby, what happened? What is it?” he asked quietly. Her body quaked, and she was trying hard to contain sobs.
Rudy came hurriedly into the foyer, which was thankfully empty by this point, wringing his hands. He spoke in a soft voice so no one would overhear.
“Miss Stuart, Miss Stuart, I am so, so sorry, I heard what happened. He is stupid, ignorante, maleducado! I will fire him. Please forgive me. I will fire him today. Please do not cry. If word gets out about this, no decent women will come to my restaurant. Please let me take care of this!” The poor man looked like he was about to cry. His words sank in, and Adam felt a dull rage begin to develop in his gut.
“Is there somewhere quiet we can talk, figure out what happened?” Ethan asked. The restaurant had gotten very quiet even though they were not visible from the dining room.
“Of course.” Rudy nodded and pointed to a nearby doorway in the foyer. “My office is right here.” Rudy unlocked the door and held it open for them.
When the door was closed, Adam hugged Grace and then released her and looked into her flushed, tearstained face. The hurt in her eyes fanned the flames of rage that had ignited in his chest. “Can you tell me what happened, baby?”
“One of the busboys accosted me on the way into the r–restroom.”
“What?” All three men growled at once. Rudy hung his head and looked mortified.
Adam moved toward the door, ready to deal out some retribution, but Ethan stopped him. “Let her tell the whole story first before you go kicking someone’s ass. Then I’ll go with you and help. Go ahead, Grace.” Ethan folded his arms across his chest.
“He said one of the waiters saw me with y’all at The Dancing Pony, pointed me out to him, and told him that I was one of the girls that hangs out at the club that is interested in group sex and told him I participated in group sex in the bathroom that night with two other girls and the three of you. He followed me into the ladies’ room when I tried to get away from him. He pinned me against the wall and put his hands on me. He had a filthy mouth.”
“Now he’s dead,” Adam said.
Rudy cringed.
“He evidently mistook the utter shock on my face for eager interest and thought he’d see what my breasts felt like.”
“No, now he’s dead.” Ethan growled.
“I popped him one in the eye and flattened his balls with my knee. He said he heard I was nothing but a whore, bad move when you’re in that condition, and that I was just playing h–h–hard to get. I punched him in the nose when he wouldn’t let go.” She looked anguished for a second, as if she were in trouble, then burst into tears.
“Rudy,” Jack asked calmly, “are either of those men family?”
“No, Jack. What can I do to make amends? Please?”
“We want two minutes alone with both of them, the busboy and the waiter.”
“Are you going to—?”
“No, we’re not going to kill them, just educate them. I proposed to Grace today, and now her day is ruined because of their behavior. Satisfaction is all I’m asking for. Nothing more.”
“Three against two?”
“No, only one of us will do the honors.” Adam hoped like fucking hell he got that duty as Jack continued, “Unless you have any other smarmy assholes working for you that need a lesson in manners to even it out. Two minutes, and it’s forgotten. If it’s okay with you, Grace?”
“Do I get to watch?”
Adam had to grin down at her. She was a bloodthirsty little thing! It was good to see her recovering, though. He was impressed she’d been able to defend herself so capably.
Jack chuckled in amusement. “No, sweet thing. I want you to wait for us in the SUV. Rudy?”
“Again, Miss Stuart, I apologize for my former employees’ ignorance. I will fire them both. Congratulations on your engagement. Gentlemen, follow me. You may use the alley.”
Quietly, they followed Rudy down a hallway that led back to the kitchen. Jack caught Adam’s eye. “I want to talk to them first.”
Adam grinned evilly, crackled his knuckles, and nodded at Jack. “I’ll try not to break any bones.” Rudy pushed the door open to the kitchen.
* * * *
Grace walked out to Jack’s SUV and used the remote to unlock it. She started the ignition, turned up the AC as the June heat blasted her, and then climbed into the backseat to wait.
All in all, she was rather proud of herself. At first she had been so shocked she didn’t know what to say, almost slipping into Owen-mode, which was avoid and escape, but opted instead for Charity-mode, which was more of a kick-butt-and-take-names sort of maneuver. She really had moved on from Owen. It felt good.
What she really wanted now was a shower and clean clothes. She could still smell the busboy’s greasy food odor mixed with sweat on her clothes. His hands must have been dirty or wet. She hoped they both needed to go to the hospital after her men finished with them. She wished she’d kicked him, too. Fucker. Then she burst out laughing. Her mindset had certainly changed in just two weeks.
A couple of minutes later, Adam climbed into the backseat of
the SUV with her, and shortly thereafter, Ethan and Jack climbed into the front seat.
Grace took Adam’s hand and gently inspected his split knuckles. “What happened?”
“Jack and Ethan let me have the honor of making them really, really sorry for molesting and upsetting you. You really did a number on that busboy, baby. I was proud when Rudy kicked him out the alley door with his buddy. The job was already half done, at least on him. His waiter friend was another story, but I fixed ‘em up good.”
She leaned in between the front seat to look at Ethan and Jack. They both shook their heads and pointed back at Adam with their thumbs. Jack said, “We just watched. Turns out those assholes were neither lovers nor fighters. But they are really sorry. Don’t worry, darlin’, Adam taught them a lesson but didn’t do any permanent harm.”
Ethan looked at her and smiled. “Rudy fired them, I banned them from The Pony, and I’m also banning Patricia and her friends. It’s because of their antics that this misunderstanding happened. I already called Ben, and he’s on it. We’re real proud that you defended yourself, Grace. We wish it hadn’t been necessary.”
“I won’t go around picking fights, but it sure felt good to stand up for myself.”
Jack said, “Rudy told me he’ll host our rehearsal dinner for free to thank us.”
“He doesn’t have to do that. I don’t even know how much that would cost. But it must be expensive.”
“Honor among gentlemen, darlin’. Those two would have eventually screwed up with the wrong person and caused Rudy even more trouble if we hadn’t called them on their bad behavior. It’s all good.”
“Thank you for defending my honor, sweethearts. Adam, I’ll clean and bandage your knuckles for you when we get home.”
“I’m going to swing by for your flowers real quick. You stay put, darlin’.” Jack pulled into the shop’s little parking lot.
Ethan popped the hatch on the SUV and got out to help him load the flowers. She waved at Martha and Rose but stayed in the SUV. The ladies would have taken one look at her red eyes and known something had happened and wanted full details. Right now, she just wanted to get home. A minute later, they were heading down the road to the ranch.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 1 [Book 1 - Divine Grace, Book 2 - Her Gentle Giant, Book 3 - Heavenly Angel] (Siren Everlasting Collection) Page 35