Finding Gracie's Rainbow (19 page)

“
Dallas was spouting his
mouth off at the mill, and I had managed to get all the details.
I'm willing to bet that what is on your phone doesn’t come close to
what he was telling his friend that he was going to do.” Robert
looked at her seriously as she listened to him. “We didn’t let you
know because none of us wanted you as stressed out as you were
Monday.”

“
I do appreciate that.”
Gracie leaned her head tiredly against Jackson’s shoulder as
Chandler smiled. Jackson smiled down at her after she closed her
eyes.

Gracie opened them a little
calmer than she was before. “Did it feel good to deck
him?”

“
I wanted to do more.”
Jackson answered before Steven chimed in.

“
You didn’t even give me a
chance to deck him.” Steven turned around to look at them. “I’m not
going to let you down again, Gracie."

Gracie just smiled at him.
“You haven’t let me down, Steven. We were both busy at the same
time. Besides, what would I do if your girlfriends hadn’t become my
friends?”

“
Don’t remind me that they
liked you better.” Steven moaned before he faced the front again.
“You could win anybody’s heart.”

Jackson smiled as he hugged
Gracie. "Is anybody else hungry? I'm hoping that somebody is
cooking something.”

“
Janet is.” Chandler had
forgotten to mention that and Robert turned at the last minute to
drive to Chandler’s house.”

“
Bea?” Gracie asked as she
lifted her head up.

“
Kim has her with them.
She's waiting on you.” Chandler answered as they drove up in the
driveway.

Janet, Paige, Kim, and
Annie were waiting on the front porch and cheered silently after
Gracie got out of the backseat with Jackson without a scratch on
her. Sammie stepped out on the porch with Bea following behind
her.

Gracie smiled as her
daughter ran to her. “Princess Bea, how do you do?” Gracie curtsied
as she laughed.

Steven looked over at
Jackson and whispered softly. “Are you ready to compete for her
affection?”

“
I don’t have to compete.”
Jackson said softly as they walked up to the porch. “I just have to
find the magic that she buried a long time ago.”

Gracie heard what Jackson
said and looked at him hard after everybody went into the house.
Gracie stepped in front of the door blocking him. “There’s no magic
for you to find, Jackson.”

“
Yes, there is Gracie.”
Jackson pulled her away from the door. “It’s still there.” He put a
hand on her heart as she looked at him.

“
If you say,” Gracie
started as Jackson pulled her to him, “so. What are you
doing?”

“
I'm going to kiss you.”
Jackson looked at her seriously before she pushed away from
him.

“
No, you’re not!” Gracie
walked into the house as Jackson followed her. “I told you there’s
no such thing, and I asked you not to kiss me.” Gracie looked
around as everybody stared at them.

“
No such thing as what,
Momma?” Bea looked at the anger in her mother’s eyes.

“
Nothing, Bea,” Gracie bit
her lip as Jackson watched her. Garrison tagged Bea, and they
started running through the house.

“
Wow. You almost blew it
there, Cinderella.” Jackson sat down. “Why are you letting her
believe in something that you swear up and down doesn’t
exist?”

“
I'm really starting to
dislike. . .” Gracie was silent as Jackson stood and kissed her in
front of all of her family. “There’s nothing wrong with just being
friends.” Gracie added walking back to the front door lost in her
own thoughts.

Kim walked out and sat down
on the front porch beside her. “You have had quite a day.” She
watched as Gracie shut her eyes. “That doesn’t work with
me.”

“
No, but it works for me.”
Gracie answered as she opened her eyes back. “It’s very calming.
What do you want, Kim?”

“
I want you to talk to
me.” Kim rubbed Gracie’s back as she sat patiently beside her.
“There’s something going on, and it’s bothering you.”

Gracie laughed at her when
she stood. “I'm not letting anything bother me. Let’s go eat, I’m
hungry.”

She sat down at the table
opposite Jackson as Bea watched her. Her daughter looked at both
her and Jackson.

Gracie looked up as Bea
slammed her fork down. “What is the matter with you?” She asked
after she saw the look her daughter shot her.

“
Uncle Jackson is going to
find the glass slipper one day, and it’s going to fit your foot.”
Bea stood and walked to her. “And you'll live happily ever after.”
She kissed her mother on the cheek. “If you can believe in fairy
tales for me, then I can believe in them for you.”

“
I think it's time we went
home.” Gracie took the keys out of her purse before she thought
about her car still being at work. “Too bad I don’t have my
car.”

Bea walked outside to the
back to swing, and Gracie followed her.

“
Okay, Bea, when did you
grow up?” Gracie sat down in one of the swings after she studied
the expression on Bea’s face.

“
That morning in the
hospital,” Bea swung her legs back and forth to pick up
momentum.

“
There’s a difference
between fairy tales and nightmares.” Gracie got out of the swing.
“All I want is for you to be happy and carefree.”

Bea slowed down before she
looked at her mother. “Like you were at my age?”

“
I don’t remember what I
was like at your age.” Gracie smiled at her. “You've always been a
happy child, and I don’t want that to change.

Gracie hugged Bea as Janet
watched them from the door. Paige noticed the tears in her eyes as
she turned towards them. “One down,” Janet rolled her eyes towards
Jackson. “One to go.”

Gracie and Bea walked into
the house, and Bea started playing with Garrison again. Gracie sat
down on the floor as Jackson stared at her. “Didn’t you get
everything straightened out?”

“
Yeah, sure,” Gracie
looked over at her sister. “Kim, can you please take us home. It’s
been a long day, and I'm tired.”

“
Sure, let me get Robert
and Sammie.” Kim hugged everybody bye, whispering something to
Jackson before they headed out the door.

Jackson went out to the
back after Kim had left with Gracie and started walking around the
back yard.

Steven laughed at him after
he went out and watched him. “She has you walking when you get
upset.”

“
I guess some things just
work.” Jackson was frowning. “I keep hitting that brick wall, and I
don’t know how to tear it down.”

“
I think you're doing a
good job.” Steven started walking with him. “You are getting to
her.”

“
That’s nice to know.”
Jackson stopped as he looked at his friend. “Why do I feel like I'm
losing?"

“
Maybe you just need to
try a little harder or a little less.” Steven started thinking.
“What if she doesn’t see you for a while?”

Jackson looked at him
puzzled as he started walking again. “And what about Bea and
Garrison?”

“
You can figure that out.”
Steven shook his head as he noticed that Jackson looked absolutely
lost.

“
I have to help Annie and
Garrison move tomorrow, so I'll be in and out of her house all
day.”

“
And you'll go to church
with them on Sunday.” Steven knew Jackson’s routine. “So don’t go
over during the week like you have been.”

“
How did you know that I
was doing that?” Jackson stopped at the swing set and propped up on
the slide.

“
Every time I call your
apartment, Annie tells me you're over at Gracie’s.” Steven looked
at him seriously. “Give her some space and let her figure out how
she feels.”

“
Do you think that might
work?” Jackson looked over at the back door noticing that Paige was
motioning for Steven so that they could go home.

“
Try it.” Steven slapped
him on the back before he left. “Something is there, Jackson,
especially if an eight-year-old can see it.”

“
Sometimes you make sense,
Steven.” Jackson mumbled as his old friend left. Annie walked out
with Garrison as Steven went back into the house, and Jackson
watched as Garrison started swinging as Annie walked towards
him.

“
What did Steven talk to
you about so seriously?” Annie asked as he stood and watched her
son.

“
Gracie.” Jackson answered
her almost showing defeat in his eyes. “Are you ready to go back to
the apartment and finish packing?”

“
Sure, I guess you don’t
want to talk about Gracie anymore.” Annie didn't like the look in
his eyes before she called Garrison over to them.

“
Not really,” Jackson
answered stepping away from them while mulling over the advice that
Steven had given to him.

~

Gracie was busy reading the
manuscript that she had packed into her briefcase the next day as
Jackson was helping Annie move into the house. He didn’t say a word
to her when she looked up at him. Gracie was more than a little
relieved not to have to talk to him as she continued to
work.

The story she was reading
was starting to sound familiar, and she was suspicious that it
might be a stolen piece of work. She was still reading when Bea
came up and stood beside her. Bea had noticed her mother frowning.
“What’s wrong, Momma?”

“
I just have a feeling
that I’ve seen this before.” Gracie stood and held one of the pages
to a light looking for a watermark and gasped when she saw a very
light McBride on the pages. She laid the paper down and started to
look in her bedroom for her own manuscript. She didn’t find it and
tried to remember if she had even packed it. She took a CD that she
had copied it on from her last computer. After opening it, she
called Carolyn Young at home. She closed her bedroom door and was
talking to Carolyn about the manuscript while she paced.

She walked out of her
bedroom after talking to Carolyn and ran into Jackson because she
was preoccupied and wasn’t paying attention to where she was
walking. “Sorry,” she mumbled walking past him.

“
What’s going on?” Jackson
saw the look on her face.

“
Somebody stole my story
and sent it into an agent.” Gracie boxed the manuscript and taped
it shut as Jackson watched her.

“
I didn’t know you were
writing.” Jackson watched Annie step out of Garrison’s room with an
empty box.

“
I’m not.” She grabbed the
box wanting to take it to her bedroom. “It’s just something I was
doing for Bea.”

“
But you were interested
in it before you found out that it was yours.” Annie mentioned
watching Gracie.

“
It was kind of
refreshing, but I was a lot younger when I wrote this.” Gracie
stared at the box. “I can’t publish my own work.”

“
Why not?” Jackson wanted
to read what was in the box.

“
Ethics.” Gracie walked
into the kitchen. “Guess I’m done working for the
weekend.”

“
Then I want to talk to
you.” Jackson told her before she sat down on the couch.

“
I thought I said
everything yesterday.” Gracie looked up at him as Annie took charge
of Garrison and Bea. “I guess it’s your turn this time,
huh?”

“
Yes, it’s my turn.”
Jackson sat down beside her. “Since you have a roommate now, I
probably won’t be over as much as I have been.”

“
Why?” Gracie looked at
him puzzled. “You don’t want to be friends?”

“
I want to be friends,
Gracie.” Jackson saw confusion in her eyes as she tried to figure
him out. “But you mean more to me than just a friend, and I'm
tormenting myself every time I come over here to spend time with
you.”

“
I thought you were coming
over here to spend time with Bea.” Gracie stood and looked
panicked. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“
I told you before how I
felt.” Jackson stood and looked at her. “Maybe if I don’t see you
for a while I can make myself believe that you're just a friend,
but I can’t do that if I see you every day like I have
been.”

Gracie started pacing the
floor as she glanced at him a couple of times. “Maybe that would be
best.” She felt tears start to sting her eyes, and she couldn't
figure out why because she was the one that just wanted to be
friends from the beginning. She looked up, and he noticed her
eyes.

“
Gracie?” Jackson walked
over to her, and she put her hands up.

“
I need to go for a walk.”
Gracie walked out the front door and started walking around the
court as Jackson stood in the door and watched her.

“
Aren’t you going to walk
with her?” Annie had come back into the house and heard what
Jackson had told her.

“
No.” Jackson sighed as he
took his keys out of his pockets. “I'm going to get the last load
of your stuff. Stay here with Bea while Gracie walks.”