Finding Gracie's Rainbow (18 page)

Steven and Paige walked
through the door with Bea following them. Bea looked over at Gracie
and walked to her. She kissed her mother’s cheek and was awarded
with a smile. “Garrison is outside with the puppies.” She looked at
her hands. “I need to turn off my bath.”

“
I’ll get it.” Paige stood
and walked down towards the master bathroom and turned off the
water before going back into the living room. “It’s ready for
you.”

“
Feeling better?” Jackson
asked as he watched her stand up.

“
I actually feel like I'm
going to be sick.” Gracie walked quickly to the nearest bathroom.
“Too many Excedrin,” she apologized as Jackson stared at
her.

“
Go soak, Gracie.” Jackson
watched as Gracie massaged her own temples on the way to her bath.
After thirty minutes, she dried off and put on some sweat clothes
before walking back into the living room.

“
That didn’t help.” Gracie
stopped as she caught herself reaching for the Excedrin again.
Jackson grabbed her hand and led her down to her bedroom where he
made her lay down on the bed.

“
Don’t worry. I promise I
won’t get the wrong idea.” He massaged her until he heard the quiet
snoring. Smiling, he walked back into the living room where Annie
and Paige looked up at him.

“
She’s sleeping, natures’
best cure.” Jackson smiled as he sat down at the kitchen table.
Annie called the children in to eat, and they sat down as Gracie
was sleeping peacefully down the hall.

“
Should we just leave
now?” Paige looked over as Jackson fixed himself a
plate.

“
Go ahead.” Jackson looked
over at his cousin. “You could ride over to the apartment and get
what we need for tonight and tomorrow.”

“
So you’re staying then.”
Steven glanced at Jackson.

“
I'll sleep on the couch.
Annie and Garrison can break in their new beds.” Jackson looked at
Steven seriously before he added. “There’s no way Gracie's going to
hear anything right now, and Princess Bea needs to be taken care
of.”

Annie laughed as she
started to go out. “And there's no need to worry about Jackson.
He'll be asleep before you know it.”

“
Why is that?” Paige asked
as she looked in her direction.

“
He didn’t sleep last
night because of a certain message he listened to.” Annie answered
before walking out the door.

Steven and Paige both
looked at Jackson as he agreed and decided to tell them about the
phone call. “It made porn sound like a child’s story.” He told them
after he stood.

After Paige finished
eating, she walked down the hall to Gracie’s room and smiled as she
saw her friend sleeping peacefully. She walked back to the living
room and spotted Bea. “Isn’t it bath time, Bea?”

“
Baths are for babies.”
Bea looked up at her aunt as Paige smiled down at her.

“
Okay, Miss Grownie, go
take your shower then.” Paige laughed at her. “Bed time is in
thirty minutes.”

Jackson looked over at
Steven. “Do you think that Gracie will have trouble out of
Dallas?”

“
We can only hope not.”
Steven stood and walked around looking at the familiar pictures
scattered around the house. “After Bea goes to bed, Paige and I'll
head home.” He grinned at Jackson then. “And you had best
behave.”

“
Don’t start, dude.”
Jackson went over to the sink and started to clean up. “I wonder
where she keeps the extra bedding.” He finished placing the glasses
in the dishwasher before he walked back into the living
room.

Steven watched him as he
went looking in the guest bedroom and then in the hall closest. He
caught Paige looking at him. “What?”

“
You could help him.”
Paige opened one of the closets closer to her as Bea walked out of
the bathroom towards Gracie’s room. “Bea, your mom is
asleep.”

“
I just want to kiss her
goodnight.” She watched as Paige smiled at her. Paige walked into
the room with Bea, noticing that Gracie hadn't moved a muscle since
she had checked on her before.

“
Would you like me to
brush your hair?” Paige asked as she walked back to the living room
with her niece.

“
I can do it.” Bea
wishfully looked back down the hall before walking into her own
bedroom. “You can listen to my prayers if you want.”

It didn't escape Paige that
although Bea was trying to act so grown up, she wanted her mother
to tuck her in. “I’ll be in there in a second.”

Chapter 9

Gracie started to relax as
the week went by without her hearing from Dallas again. She had no
idea that Robert and Kim were having a serious discussion in the
house not that far away from her.

Robert had been in the
bathroom at the mill when Dallas had walked in with one of his
friends discussing what he had planned for Friday. Gracie’s name
had been mentioned a couple of times.

He was discussing this with
Kim after she had fixed him supper, and they were both sitting at
the table.

Kim stared at her husband
as he told her every little detail that he had heard. “But she
doesn’t plan on meeting him.”

“
He said, and I quote.
‘I'll pick her up at Salem Publishing Plus at five o clock’. End
quote.” Robert pushed away his plate without eating anything. “He
doesn’t know I heard any of this.”

“
Then we'll play his game
and win.” Kim narrowed her eyes as she started forming a plan. “Ask
for Friday off.”

Robert just looked at her,
“For?”

“
You, Steven, Jackson, and
Pop can escort Gracie out to a car.” Kim was planning aloud. “Not
her car, as a matter of fact, it will be a rental.”

Robert smiled as he
listened to her.

Kim noticed the look he
gave her, “Stay with me, Robert. We don’t want anything that he can
trace back to her or us.” She stood before continuing. “We have to
protect Bea, too.”

“
Point,” Robert pulled his
plate back to him and started to eat. “You do realize that you're
going to have to call an emergency family meeting.”

Kim showed him the list
that she had been writing as she talked. “That is listed as step
number one on my agenda.” Kim walked around and frowned before she
added. “Gracie had just started to relax again.”

“
I know.” Robert stood
then and took his plate to the sink. “Is there a way to have the
family meeting without having to involve her?”

“
We can have it at
Steven’s house after Bea’s bedtime.” Kim knew that was when her
sister called it a day herself. “Believe me when I say I don’t want
her stressing out again.”

“
Call it for tomorrow
night. Are you going to remember everything I just told you?”
Robert hugged her while he asked.

“
I couldn’t forget it if I
wanted to.” Kim looked serious as she talked. “Nobody messes with
my baby sister.” She thought about Mark, “Not anymore,
anyway.”

Kim talked to her family
and Jackson the next night. She watched Jackson as he stood up.
“This doesn’t give us a lot of time. Tomorrow is
Friday.”

Paige and Janet just stared
at each other as the men started to form their plan. Paige spoke
up. “He's going to recognize Robert and Steven.”

“
They can stay in the car.
Gracie said there were Security officers there, so we'll have
plenty of help.” Jackson started pacing the floor as he thought out
loud.

“
I don’t want to stay in
the car!” Steven stood and glared at Jackson, who gave him the
glare back.

“
He would get suspicious
if he saw you there, Steven.” Chandler interfered before they
started arguing.

Steven sat back down beside
Paige. “I guess you’re right. However, if anything happens, I'm
coming out.”

“
As we’d expect you to,”
Jackson found it hard to settle down. “Does Gracie know any of
this?”

“
Robert and I tried to
figure out a way that wouldn’t involve her. She's been through
enough already.” Kim answered before grabbing her purse. “Everybody
get some sleep. We need to be on our A game tomorrow.”

Jackson walked out with Kim
and her parents. “My office closes early so I'll take care of the
rental.” He got into his car and backed out as Kim looked over at
her parents.

“
He isn't going to sleep
tonight.” Kim told them as they walked over to her car. “He does
enough worrying for Gracie and himself.”

“
But he'll always be there
for her.” Janet spoke sadly wishing that Gracie would give Jackson
a chance at something other than friendship. Chandler squeezed her
hand.

“
Give it time, Janet
Girl.” Chandler opened Kim’s car door for her before they walked
off to their own car.

~

The day went smoothly while
Gracie started to read another manuscript. This one was refreshing
as it talked about nothing but fairy tales and some of it made her
laugh. Addison was watching her when she walked to the office as
the same time Gracie’s cell phone started ringing. She had stored
the number with ‘Don’t Answer’ so she knew who it was. “Aren’t you
going to answer that?” Addison asked as she looked at the monitors
puzzled.

“
No, I’m not answering
that. It’s Dallas.” Gracie decided to take the manuscript home with
her and placed it in her briefcase. After another ring, Gracie
punched in her password and put it on the speaker as she listened
to the message he left. She looked up at Addison with anger in her
eyes. “He's coming here.”

“
And somehow your family
got tipped off. Thank God.” Addison went back over to the monitors.
Jackson and Chandler were standing with the security officers, and
she had seen Steven and Robert get in a car that she didn't
recognize. “That was a very detailed phone call.”

Gracie stood and stared at
the monitor as she felt another headache starting to form. “How did
I get so lucky to have this happening to me?” She paced the floor
of her office while looking at the clock. “And I was having such a
good day.”

“
It'll be alright, Gracie.
Jackson, Chandler, Robert, and Steven are out there, and it looks
like they have all the security officers placed around them.”
Addison picked up Gracie’s briefcase. “Let’s go.”

“
No.” Gracie sat at her
desk and laid her head down, not wanting to deal with what was
going on outside the office building.

Addison walked over to her.
“Nobody is going anywhere until you do. You're the one that
installed that silly rule, so now you have to deal with
it.”

“
Fine.” Gracie grabbed the
briefcase from her and walked out the office doors down to the main
entrance. “I really should carry pepper spray or mace.”

“
You should.” Addison had
everybody walking around them as she explained what was going on.
“I told you, we have your back.” She watched as Jackson came toward
them, and she left watching as a guy who looked like the picture
came out of his car after watching the parade. Jackson could feel
that Gracie was tense, and he held her hand. “Relax.”

“
Can’t. I was warned by
another phone call.” Gracie looked at her father as she admitted to
what had happened no more than ten minutes ago. She was whispering
while Jackson walked her to a car that she didn’t recognize before
Dallas approached them.

“
I came to pick Gracie up
for a date.” Dallas started towards Gracie as Jackson blocked him
at the door as Gracie slid into the car.

“
I’m afraid you don’t have
a date with Gracie.” Jackson watched as Steven stepped out of the
car. “And Steven over there is looking for a fight if you come any
closer.”

“
What’s the deal, Steven?
You guys are the ones that sat us up the other night.” Dallas
looked at him. “All I want to do is take her to bed.”

“
Brutally honest, aren’t
we?” Jackson balled up his fist. “What I don’t get is why the likes
of you aren't in jail.”

“
What are you talking
about?” He reached for Gracie’s door handle as Jackson made contact
with his fist on Dallas’s face. The security officers had come over
towards them and had placed a set of handcuffs on Dallas before he
could throw his first punch back.

Gracie got out of the car
and stared at him hard as she wanted to slap him. “You really
disgust me. Rape and Child Molestation are very serious crimes, and
somehow you've managed to escape the system. Then you leave
messages on my phone that I'd be embarrassed to have my mom listen
to.” She looked at Jackson, who was trying to calm down while not
trying to think about what could have happened if her family hadn't
been tipped off. “Always my hero, aren’t you, Jackson.” Gracie sat
back down in the car. “By the way, Dallas, you now have a
trespassing charge on your rap sheet.” Gracie closed the door as
the officers waited for the state police to come take him away. “Is
it over now?”

Steven waited until Jackson
got in beside Gracie before he answered. “It’s over.”

“
Good, now it’s my time to
ask just how did you know what was going on before I did?” Gracie
looked around as Robert raised his hand.