by Ashlee Price
“But you said we were going back to Hope Creek together.”
“I promised Nancy and Phil I’d bring you back. That’s all. To that end, I would have done anything.”
She purses her quivering lips.
“You’re Michael’s fiancée,” I tell her, even though each word pushes the thorns in my chest deeper into my heart.
Grace shakes her head as tears spill out of her eyes.
I try to hold back mine. “Michael, tell her where her birthmark is so she’ll believe you.”
Michael’s eyebrows crease as he glances at me. Then he turns to Grace.
“Inside your left thigh. It’s shaped like a lily pad.”
Grace grows still.
I swallow. “See, Grace. Michael is telling the truth.”
“No,” she whispers as she wraps her arms around herself.
“You came here to City Q, to the Lab, to find out who you are. Well, as it turns out, you’re my brother’s fiancée. And this is goodbye.”
I turn on my heel and leave the room, ignoring the sobs behind me and my own voice in my head telling me I’m making the worst mistake of my life by walking away from the woman I love.
Maybe I am. Maybe I’m a fool. But I’d rather be a fool than be the man who steals the woman my brother loves away from him, especially when she loved him, too. When she loved him first.
She’ll remember it soon enough, and when she does, everything about her world will fall into place even as mine crumbles apart.
My hand clenches into a fist.
Damn. I suddenly wish I had amnesia, because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to forget her.
And yet I’ll have to pretend. I pretended to live with her. Now, I have to pretend to live without her.
Goodbye, Grace.
Chapter 24
Michael
Grace.
I watch her through the glass as she lies in bed in a white robe, her sandy blonde hair tied and draped over one shoulder. Her full lips are parted slightly. Her blue eyes stare at the ceiling. Her button nose twitches as she gives another sniff.
I’d seen her new face in the file. I was aware of how drastically it had changed, and I was amazed.
Looking at her now, though, I’m even more in awe.
I still can’t believe that’s her. I still can’t believe she’s back.
The woman I love is back.
My joy evaporates, though, as I remember the circumstances of our reunion.
She’s not crying anymore. She’s calmed down. But I can still see the tearstains on her cheeks. I can still see the sadness in her eyes.
My hands clench into fists.
I conjured a lot of possible scenarios about Grace after I learned she was alive. None of them involved her being in love with another man, much less a man I thought was dead, a man who shared my own blood.
Why does Travis always get the best girls?
While we were growing up, he had no shortage of women chasing after him, wanting his attention. I was the geek. He was the hunk. And his rebellious nature only attracted the opposite sex more. And as if that wasn’t enough, he joined the Marines.
He could make any woman fall for him.
I didn’t mind it then. I was a little envious, yes, but I didn’t mind because I didn’t like any of the girls who fell for him. Well, there were some I liked to begin with, but the moment they met Travis and fell for him, I stopped liking them.
I told myself that one day I would find a woman who would love me for me.
And I thought Grace was that woman. But then she had to go and meet Travis, didn’t she? And she had to fall for him, of course.
I should have stopped loving her at that moment, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Now, as I stare at her lying there, I realize how much I really love her. I don’t think I can stand losing her again.
Not to anything or anyone.
The door to the room opens and Courtney comes out.
“Hey,” she greets me.
I give her a weak smile. “How’s Grace?”
“As you can see, she’s calmed down,” Courtney says as she glances past the glass. “And I’ve run a few tests and her health seems to be fine. She’s ready for the procedure.”
“Are you sure it will go well this time?” I ask her.
She nods. “I’ve already made the recalibrations. Grace will only regain the memories that she’s lost. Well, actually, she didn’t lose them. They’re just dormant. The machine will wake them and restore them to her. Then she’ll remember you.”
“But she won’t lose any other memories?”
“You mean the ones she’s made since she left the city?”
I don’t answer.
Courtney shakes her head. “No. Not unless you want her to.”
“No,” I say quickly. “I don’t want her to forget anything this time.”
As much as it hurts to know she was with my brother, I can’t make her forget Travis. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to choose. And I want her to choose me over Travis.
Courtney nods. “Okay.”
“And you said her face will stay the same?”
Courtney nods again. “Yes. Facial reconstruction can only be done once. Once a face is changed, it can’t be changed back.”
“I understand. I don’t mind, really. It’s not her face I want back.”
Courtney places a hand on my shoulder. “I know.”
I glance at Grace. “So the procedure is about to start?”
“Yes.”
I narrow my eyes at Courtney. “So why are you still here?”
She draws a deep breath. “Michael, there’s something I have to tell you. It won’t affect the procedure, but I thought you should know.”
My chest tightens as I sense the imminent bad news in her voice.
“While I was doing a check-up on Grace, I discovered something… about her health, her body.”
“What?” I ask. “Is she terminally ill? What’s wrong with her?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s wrong, but I guess it is if you look at it one way, your way.”
I grab her arm. “Courtney—”
“Grace is pregnant,” she blurts out.
My hand drops along with my jaw.
“She’s about five weeks along,” Courtney adds.
I run my hand over my face.
“You know what that means, don’t you?”
I nod.
“I’m sorry,” Courtney whispers.
Then she goes back into the room.
I clasp my hand over my mouth as I struggle to deal with the shock, my fourth of the day.
First, I found out my brother was alive. Then I saw my fiancée again. Then I found out she and my brother were together. And now I learn she’s pregnant?
I punch a wall.
Do I know what it means? Of course I do.
She’s been missing nearly two months, and during that time, she was with my brother.
Grace is carrying my brother’s child.
I sink to the floor and bury my face in my hands.
No.
How am I supposed to marry Grace now? How am I supposed to make her fall in love with me again if she’s carrying another man’s child?
“Michael?” My mother’s voice breaks into my thoughts.
I lift my head to see her towering over me.
She pulls my arms. “Good Lord, what are you doing down there?”
I wrench my arms away and stand up on my own. “You did this. This is all your fault.”
Her eyebrows furrow. “What? I thought Grace came back. I thought everything was going to be fine now.”
“Fine?” I shake my head and point a finger at her. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
I march off.
“Michael!” my mother calls after me.
I turn on my heel. “Stay away from Grace! And stay away from me!”
I continue walking until I reach my office. I lock the door and sit behind my de
sk, burying my face in my hands.
Because of what my mother did, Grace ran off. Because of what my mother did, Grace ended up in Travis’s arms.
And now, she’s pregnant with his child.
I run my hands through my hair in exasperation.
How is she going to choose me now?
Suddenly, a thought occurs to me.
Wait a minute. She doesn’t know she’s pregnant. Courtney hasn’t told her, and I’ll tell her not to.
That way, she’ll be able to make a decision based on what she truly feels and not what she’s done. She’ll be able to choose for herself and not for her baby.
And if she chooses me, then I’ll simply pass off the baby as my own. I’ll marry her as soon as possible, and somehow, I’ll make her believe the baby is mine. Ours.
And she’ll be mine forever.
I’ll do anything to make her mine forever.
But what if she doesn’t choose me even without knowing about the baby, even after regaining her memories? What then?
It’s so painful that I can’t even think of it.
No.
Grace is mine.
She has to choose me.
I have to believe that she’ll choose me when she wakes up, or I’ll go crazy.
Chapter 25
Grace
The first thing I notice when I wake up is that I feel cold.
The room is cold. The bed I’m on feels cold. My skin feels cold.
And I don’t like cold. It reminds me of Rudy.
Rudy.
The Icebreaker.
I blink.
I remember it now. I remember it all now.
I remember the cold and the heat and the flood. I remember how Katie and my parents died. And I remember emerging from the shelter and trying to survive in those first few days after Rudy. I remember almost dying. I remember wanting to die. And I remember the pod from the Vessel descending and City Q being built. I remember living in it, working at the Wardrobe Quarters. I remember Elisa.
And yes, I remember everything leading up to the fateful day when I went into that machine, just as clearly as I remember being back in that machine earlier.
My memories are back.
“How are you feeling, Grace?” A man wearing eyeglasses stands by my bed.
I smile at him. “Gordon. You’re Gordon, right?”
He holds my hand and smiles. “You remember me.”
I nod. Then, remembering something else, I run my fingers over my chest. I feel a wave of relief as my fingertips come in contact with gold.
“Yes. You still have it,” he says.
I give him a puzzled look. “But I took it off before, and I’ve had it with me this whole time.”
“I put it back on you before they took you away,” Gordon informs me.
I feel even more confused. “Took me away? Who’s they?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t say more,” Gordon says. “I’m glad you’re back, though, and that you’re safe. And now you have your memories back. Oh, and your scar’s gone, too.”
I run my finger over my face. Right. I don’t have my scar anymore.
“So how do you feel?” Gordon asks again.
I shrug. “Okay, I guess.”
“Better than before?”
Am I? I don’t know. I know I’ve regained my memories, but I also know I’ve lost something possibly more important.
Travis.
At the thought of him, my chest feels tight and prickly. My heart aches.
How could he just leave me behind like that when we said we’d go back to Hope Creek together? How could he tell me again that it was all a lie when we both knew it was real?
The tears threaten to burst again and I place a hand over my chest.
How could Travis just say I belonged with his brother without even asking how I felt?
“Grace?” Gordon places a hand on my shoulder.
His eyes overflow with concern.
“I’ll be okay,” I tell him. “How long was I out?”
“Nearly a day,” he answers. “And Michael has been by your side throughout most of it.”
Michael.
“He left just now to check on something, but he’ll be back soon. He’s been so anxious for you to wake.”
Yes, I remember him.
I remember how we met and all those times we spent together, all the dates we had and all the times we had sex. I remember how he liked it when I bit his shoulder as I came. I remember the smell of his cologne. I remember how he proposed and how I said yes.
Strange, though. Wasn’t that just weeks ago? And yet it feels like years.
Just then, the door opens and Michael comes in. I sit up and stare at him.
He’s just as I remember him. Warm brown eyes. Neatly combed dark brown hair. Clean shaved chin.
“Michael,” I say his name with a smile and his face lights up.
“Grace.”
He runs to me and wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tight. I hug him in turn.
He pulls away and touches my cheek. “I thought you were dead. I was crushed. I didn’t want to live anymore.”
I frown as I imagine how he must have felt when he found out I was gone.
“What did your mother say?”
“That you wanted to have your scar removed.” He runs his finger across my face. “But you didn’t have to. I loved you in spite of it. I loved every bit of you.”
Weird. Wasn’t it his mother’s idea to have my scar removed so I’d look perfect?
“And then she said you ran off, and for a moment there, I thought you were dead,” Michael goes on as he holds my hands. “But I knew you weren’t. Somehow, I always knew you’d come back to me. And here you are.”
He kisses my hands.
“How do you feel now?” he asks. “Do you remember everything about us?”
I nod.
“I’m sorry I didn’t keep my word last time and marry you as soon as I could.”
“Why didn’t you?” I ask curiously. “I was waiting.”
“My father was busy, so I couldn’t talk to him and tell him about our marriage.”
“Oh.”
“But I have now,” Michael announces happily. “And he doesn’t really care.”
“And your mother?”
“Who cares about her?” He strokes my cheek. “All that matters is us. We’re the ones who are going to get married, after all. And speaking of that…”
He goes down on one knee on the floor and takes a satin box out of his pocket.
I clasp my hand over my mouth.
“I was on my knees before, but I didn’t have a ring. Now I do.”
Michael opens the box, and I gasp at the diamond ring inside.
“And it’s your size, too, or so I hope. Shall I put it on you?”
I hesitate.
His eyes narrow. “Or maybe I should propose again.”
He clears his throat and I hold my breath.
“Grace Dawson, I love you. I thought I knew how much until I almost lost you. Now I know that losing you is unbearable. I’ve let you slip from my fingers once. It won’t happen again. I promise to always love you and to take good care of you, to keep you safe, to make sure you’re happy. I’ll give you everything you need and help build a better world for our children. Just say yes to me like you did before. Say you’ll marry me.”
I pause as I look into his eyes. In them, I see his love and his sincerity. I see the promise and the plea. I see a reminder of what we had before I met Travis.
If I hadn’t lost my memories and ended up in Hope Creek, I’d probably be married to Michael by now. I already said yes. It would be unfair to him for me to say no now just because I’ve met another man, especially since it wasn’t his fault that all those things happened.
He didn’t let me go and I didn’t leave him. I was taken from him, and by some cruel twist of fate, I ended up with his brother.
But I loved him first. Surely I belong wit
h him. Surely I can love him again.
Besides, isn’t that what Travis wants?
“Grace?”
I nod. “My answer remains the same.”
At once, Michael’s lips curve into a wide smile. He slips the ring on my finger, the right finger this time, then he kisses my hand and then my lips.
But I don’t kiss him back. Why don’t I want to? Why are my lips yearning for someone else when I’ve already made up my mind to marry this man?
He pulls away. “We’ll get married as soon as possible, this very night. We’ve waited long enough.”
My eyes grow wide. “Tonight?”
Michael nods.
“So soon?”
The smile vanishes from his face. “You don’t like it?”
“I just… thought we’d do everything properly this time, not hastily like before,” I tell him. “You said your father approves, so there’s no need to do it in a rush or in secret.”
“You want a grand wedding?” Michael asks. “Is that it?”
“I want to plan my own wedding, to make my own wedding gown.”
And to give myself time to convince myself to forget Travis.
Michael nods. “I understand. How long do you think it will take to finish a gown?”
I shrug. “Gowns usually take months, but give me a week. Oh, and Elisa could help me with it.”
“Of course. I’ll ask Sandra to send her to you. Anything else?”
I pause. “I’d like the children at the Sanctuary to be there at our wedding. I’ll make dresses for them, too.”
“Of course. They’ll be thrilled to see you. I heard they were looking for you.”
I smile.
Michael touches my cheek. “This wedding will be everything you dreamed of, my love.”
I nod.
This is what I dreamed of. This is what I wanted. This is what I was meant to have.
It’s time to put Hope Creek and Travis behind me.
Chapter 26
Travis
The chickens cluck behind me as I close the coop. In the stables, Duchess neighs in contentment after her supper. In the barn, Rosie lets out a moo as she gets ready for bed.
It’s another day at the farm.
Another day without Grace.
I gaze up at the orange sky covered in windswept clouds.
I wonder how Grace is. Has she recovered her lost memories? If so, is she happy now? Does she still remember me? Can she ever forgive me for leaving her behind?