Finding Gracie's Rainbow (30 page)

“
I asked her and she
insists on having a chaperone.” Jackson smiled as he caught the
look on Gracie’s face before turning back to his cousin. “So it’s
up to you now.”

“
You’re forcing me to be a
third wheel.” Annie looked at them. “I take it that you have a
babysitter for the kids.”

“
Kim said she would be
more than happy to look after both Bea and Garrison.” Gracie
informed her after she had the kids wash up for supper. “If you
don’t go, I won’t.” Gracie turned to Jackson, who had groaned when
she said that.

He stood and walked towards
her. “You're playing this game a little too well.” He whispered
when he started to grab the plates from her hand.

“
You started it.” Gracie
said softly so Annie didn't over hear them talking. “You're such a
liar.”

“
I will atone for that.
You just lied, also." Jackson informed her.

Gracie opened her phone and
showed Jackson the text that Sammie had sent her. “Did
I?”

“
No, I guess you didn’t.”
Jackson read the complete text. “You were busy while I was talking
to her.”

“
I just figured it out and
wanted to cover our bases.” Gracie smiled at him as she followed
with the silverware. “But how are you going to. . ?”

“
I have it all figured
out.” Jackson looked up as Annie walked towards the
table.

“
Have what figured out?”
Annie asked after she inspected Garrison’s hands.

“
Our night out,” Jackson
looked up as he placed a pair of tongs into the salad. “It’ll be
fun.”

“
I’m sure it will. Why do
you want a chaperone?” Annie asked before Bea started to laugh at
her.

“
Because we always have a
chaperone when we take Jackson on a date.” Bea watched her mother
place some salad on her plate. “It's just a fact.”

Gracie nodded as she
finally sat down. “And since Bea is going to spend time with Sammie
that just leaves you.” She addressed Annie before she held Bea’s
hand to say the blessing.

“
So much for catching up
on my reading,” Annie frowned after the blessing was said, and they
started eating.

“
I could probably tell you
what the book is about.” Gracie was smiling as she had seen the
book that Annie had just bought.

“
I don’t know how. It was
just released this week.” Annie looked up as Gracie stared at
her.

“
Via Salem Publishing Plus
by Gaige Forrester,” Gracie had sped the publication of the book up
to get it on the shelves.

“
Don’t tell me anything
about it, Gracie.” Annie watched Gracie pick the carrots out of her
salad. “Why do you always pick the carrots out, why not just put
them on the side?”

“
Habit.” Gracie had always
loved carrots. She looked over at Bea, who had started to pick her
own carrots out as Gracie laughed at her.

“
Like mother like
daughter.” Jackson had been watching them. “Next time I won’t put
the carrots in the salad.”

“
That shows how well you
know us.” Gracie glanced at him as he frowned at her.

“
I know you well enough.”
Jackson looked back at her with a smile.

“
Really? You think?”
Gracie was about to have some fun as Annie saw the mischief come
into her eyes. “Favorite movie?”

“
Too easy.
Cinderella
.”

“
Wrong, mister,” Gracie
was smiling. “I’m not a child anymore.”

“
Then what is it?” Jackson
was puzzled.

“
Steel Magnolias,”
Gracie was finished eating as she looked over at
him. “Let’s try another one. What is my favorite color?”

“
Pink.” He watched as she
wrinkled her nose.

“
That is Bea’s. Mine is
sunshine yellow.” Gracie put up two fingers on one hand and kept
the other hand closed. “Want to try for three?”

“
Why not, I’m on a roll.”
Jackson was determined to get one right.

“
What is my favorite
flower?” Gracie glanced over at Annie as Jackson thought about his
answer.

“
I'm going to guess a
yellow rose.” Jackson really didn't know because it had never come
up in a conversation. He watched as she put a finger up on her
other hand. “Really?”

“
Yes, really,” Gracie
stood and took her plate to the trash can to scrap out the food she
didn't eat. “And since you didn’t strike out, I won’t ask any more
questions.”

“
Thank you, I was starting
to sweat there.” Jackson smiled as he looked down at Bea. “She’s
tough, isn’t she?”

“
You should let her help
you study for a spelling test.” Bea stood before she answered. “I
ace them all the time.”

“
I bet.” Jackson helped
clear off the table and was standing next to Gracie as the children
took off to play outside again. He looked over at Annie, who had
sat down to read the book that Gracie had been talking about. “I'm
going to ride around the block to call Christian. Do you need
anything from the store?”

“
Ice cream.” Gracie looked
up from the sink as he talked. “You were so sneaky.”

“
And you loved it,”
Jackson watched as Gracie narrowed her eyes as she
thought.

“
I loved the fact that it
wasn’t me this time.” Gracie smiled as she started to load the
dishwasher.

“
So do I.” Jackson grabbed
his keys and glanced over at Annie. “I’m going on an ice cream run.
Do you need anything?"

“
No, I'm fine.” Annie had
answered as she still read. She glanced up at Gracie after he left
and put the book down, “A chaperone?”

“
Bea’s rule,” Gracie had
walked into the living room; sitting after she glanced down at the
book. “This is going to be tricky if we have to keep having
chaperones when we go out.” Gracie was laughing as Annie looked at
her. “She kept asking to take Jackson out on a date, and Jackson
would call and ask her on a date. It was a game they played; now I
have to follow my own rule.”

“
Who was their chaperone?”
Annie picked the book back up after she had asked.

“
Yours truly,” Gracie
stood and started walking restlessly around the room. “What other
books do you have? I've read everything I have.”

“
The new Nora Roberts book
came out, and I bought it last month. If you haven’t read the first
two books in the series though, you'll be missing out on
something.” Annie informed her.

“
What is the series?”
Gracie asked trying to remember the last time she had read a book
that wasn't work related.

Annie told her and Gracie
shook her head. “Do you have those?”

“
Of course, I do. I like
to zone out with a good book.” Annie stood and walked to her room.
“Takes me out of everyday life.”

“
The fantasy world, I
remember it well. I used to live there a long time ago.” Gracie
knew what she was talking about.

“
You still do, there were
just a couple of twists thrown into your life to make it
interesting.” Annie smiled as she walked back into the living room
with the whole series in her hand. “The last book of the series
hasn’t come out yet.”

Gracie glanced up from
reading as Jackson walked through the door with the ice cream, and
she started to laugh at him. “Who is going to eat all of
that?”

“
We are if you two think
that you can stop reading long enough.” He had watched as Gracie
had been laying down on the floor reading as he came in. “Was it
good?” He whispered as she stood and walked into the kitchen to
help him.

“
Was what good?” Gracie
looked at him in bewilderment as she unpacked the ice cream. “What
were you thinking, Jackson?” All the ice cream was
chocolate.

“
I wasn’t thinking. I was
talking.” Jackson started to pack the ice cream into the freezer.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“
I was hoping I wouldn’t
have to.” Gracie held out one of the ice creams as Jackson started
to reach for it.

“
He'll be there, but he
doesn’t know why.” Jackson was smiling at her as he spoke very
softly. “Annie has been set up.”

Gracie smiled at him before
talking loud enough for Annie to hear them talking again. “I'm
going to get burned out on chocolate ice cream.”

“
I have read Nora
Roberts.” Jackson saw the look on Gracie’s face as he admitted
that. “She is very detailed.”

“
Wow.” That was all Gracie
said as she started to open the box of cones that Jackson had
brought with the ice cream. She fixed Bea and Garrison a cone and
took them outside as she imagined Jackson reading a Nora Roberts
novel.

After Annie had taken her
book to the bedroom and the children were in bed, Gracie put down
her book and looked at Jackson. “So tell me about
Christian.”

“
Christian is great guy.
He was brought up by his grandparents because both his parents were
in the military. Something had happened to them. I can’t remember
what.” Jackson sat down on the couch beside her. “He has no
brothers or sisters. He graduated from NC State with a degree in
child psychology and then decided that he wanted to be a
detective.” He glanced as Gracie pushed for more information. “He
was married once, but she left him because she fell in love with
one of his best friends. It took him awhile, but I think that he's
finally over her.” He paused as Gracie looked over at Bea’s door.
“He buried himself in his work, so he wouldn’t think about it. This
happened just over three years ago.”

“
So we just sat her up
with somebody that has been scarred.” She stood as Jackson watched
her.

“
You’ve been scarred, and
she's been scarred.” Jackson looked at her seriously. “The thing
about scars is that they eventually heal.”

“
Or we hope they heal.”
Gracie picked up her book again, and Jackson took it from
her.

“
Something else is on your
mind.” He looked at her tenderly.

“
Every heroine in these
books ends up falling in love, and they all live happily after
ever.” Gracie mumbled as Jackson stared down at the
cover.

“
But they have to go
through a lot of things to get to that point, Gracie. I’ve read
this one.” Jackson looked back up at her. “They achieved and so can
you.”

“
Where are the heroines
who go through what Annie and I have gone through?” She stood when
she saw Annie’s door open.

Annie waited to see if
Jackson could answer Gracie’s question before she offered any
input. “Those books don’t exist because the heroines who have gone
through what we have don’t want to read about their own
lives.”

Jackson turned around and
looked at his cousin. “I'm glad somebody could answer that.” He
stood and smiled. “I really should go.”

Gracie walked off to the
kitchen and pulled a container of ice cream out of the freezer
before walking over to him. She handed him the ice cream, and after
he had said good night to his cousin, Gracie walked out the door
with him.

“
You know, I'm really
starting to miss my car.” Gracie said as they walked out to the
driveway.

“
Have Kim to drive you to
the office tomorrow.” He put the ice cream in his car before he
turned around to Gracie. “I can’t wait to see the look on Annie’s
face when she realizes that she was set up.”

“
I hope it goes better for
her than it did for me.” Gracie still remembered the blind dates
that Steven had set her up on and shivered. “Are you sure Christian
is good guy?”

“
I'm positive. Now kiss me
good night before I have to clean melted ice cream off of my seat.”
Jackson smiled as Gracie tilted her face to his.

Gracie walked back into the
house and went to peek in on Bea as her light was still on. She sat
down on the bed as her daughter looked up at her. “What’s the
matter, Princess?”

“
What if I have another
nightmare?” Bea looked at her mother while she hugged her blankets
tightly to her.

“
What if you sleep with me
again tonight?” Gracie answered with another question. “We’ll have
a slumber party, and we'll get a good night’s sleep. How does that
sound?”

Bea slid out of her covers
and took her mother’s hand as they walked towards the back
bedroom.

Chapter 15

Addison was watching the
monitors and noticed Gracie walking over to her car with Bea and a
little boy that she didn’t recognize.

Salem was watching her and
walked over to stand beside her to see what she was watching. He
touched Addison on the shoulder and motioned for her to call Gracie
as he needed to talk to her.

Gracie looked up at the
camera puzzled after her phone started to ring. “I thought I was on
vacation.”

“
So did I, but Mr. Foster
wants you to come in before you leave and bring the children with
you.” Addison was watching her from the monitor while she
spoke.