Finding Gracie's Rainbow (5 page)

“
What does he
want?”

“
The money I just handed
you. It’s Bea’s money.” Gracie looked at her with panic in her
eyes. “He hasn’t seen you yet so walk out the other door.
Quickly!”

“
When I get back, we’ll
talk.” Addison walked out the back door and towards the parking lot
where she saw Jackson talking on the phone. She walked over to him
and told him that Gracie had an unexpected opening, and that he
should really go back to the office before she jumped into her own
car and took off.

Jackson was talking to
Steven on the phone as he had taken notice of the panic that was on
Gracie’s secretary’s face. “Steven, something doesn’t feel right
here. I’ll call you back.” He walked into the office when he saw
Gracie being lifted up by the throat. “Oh, man.” Steven was still
on the phone as Jackson had forgotten to hang up. Jackson looked at
one of the employees and had her call 911 before he tried to open
Gracie’s office doors. “This is so going to hurt in the morning.”
He mumbled stepping back to Addison’s desk and taking a running
start to the doors; throwing his cell phone down before he crashed
into the glass.

He grabbed Mark as Gracie
was fighting to breathe.

Gracie slumped down on the
floor while she watched. She felt like she was watching a movie
while Jackson was fighting with Mark. The police officers came into
the office to take over. She watched as Steven walked into her
office and sat down next to her as Jackson gave his statement to
the police. She watched him bleed and closed her eyes.

Addison walked back into
the office and took in the whole scene as she fought to maintain
her composure. Jackson pointed her out to a police officer while
the paramedic looked over his cuts.

“
Are you Addison?” The
officer asked as he walked up to her.

“
Yes, sir,” Addison put
the deposit slip down on her desk.

“
I need to ask you some
questions.” He noticed that she was looking for her boss. “She'll
be alright. They just left with her to go to the
hospital.”

“
Hospital?” Addison told
them everything she knew before she saw Kim walk into the office
looking around until she spotted Steven and Jackson.

Steven looked at his sister
as he walked out of Gracie’s office followed by Jackson. Kim looked
over the cuts that covered Jackson and then down at the broken
glass. “Gracie?”

“
She’s at the hospital. I
called Mom, and they're on their way there as we speak.” Steven
looked at Kim as he answered. “Gracie is pretty bad off. I need to
call Terry and tell him that Paige is going to pick up
Bea.”

“
Can you have Paige pick
up Sammie, too?” Kim started to walk out the door. “Which
hospital?”

“
The MK,” Jackson answered
wincing as he pulled his shirt off some of the cuts.

~

Gracie woke and looked
around the hospital room, listening to the hums and beeps before
she saw her mother. She watched as her mother cried while her
father stood by her.

Gracie tried to talk, but
all that came out was a moan.

Janet looked at her. “Oh,
baby girl,” she whispered as she sat down in the chair next to the
bed and took the hand that didn't have an IV. “Don’t try to talk,
it’ll hurt you.” She couldn't help but to look at the hand prints
that were on Gracie’s throat.

Gracie whispered.
“Bea?”

“
Paige has Bea with her.”
Janet answered after she watched Chandler leave the
room.

He walked to the waiting
area where Kim and Steven were waiting for news. “She's awake now.”
He saw the relief spread over their faces. “The first thing she did
was ask about Bea.”

“
Bea is her life, Pop.”
Kim spoke as she stood.

“
And I'm grateful for
that.” Chandler looked over at Steven. “Where is
Jackson?”

“
He went home.” Steven
followed Chandler and Kim down the hall. “I forgot to thank
him.”

“
We all did.” Chandler
walked into Gracie’s hospital room.

Kim stared at her sister as
she saw the swollen eyes and the bruises on her arms and throat.
“Oh, my,” she started crying as Chandler hugged her.

“
Pull it together, Rev.”
Chandler whispered to her as Gracie watched.

Gracie looked over at
Steve. “Thank Jackson for me.” She whispered as he walked towards
her.

“
You can thank him.” Steve
kissed her on the cheek.

Gracie shook her head as
she put a hand on her throat. She closed her eyes before Steven
could say anything else.

Steven looked at Kim and
his parents before walking out of the room. He told them that he
was going home before the door shut.

Chapter 3

Paige heard Steven as he
walked into the apartment and looked up at him wanting to ask about
Gracie.

There were tears in his
eyes while he watched Bea sleeping on the couch. He looked at Paige
and spoke softly. “I’ll put her in the bed, and then I’ll talk to
you.”

Steven told Paige
everything that Jackson had told him after he had walked back into
the room. “And now I can’t find Jackson anywhere.”

“
He’s here.” Paige stood.
“He's been waiting for you in the kitchen for about an
hour.”

Steven stood and looked in
shock as Bea stared at him with tears in her eyes.
“Princess?”

“
I want to see Momma.” Bea
looked at him with those big brown eyes as Steven picked her up.
She started screaming for Gracie as Steven started to
panic.

Jackson walked out from the
kitchen as he watched Steven trying to calm the little girl before
taking her away from his friend. He walked with her, talking
soothingly as Steven watched him. “I’m a pediatrician; I have to be
good at calming children down.” Bea laid her head on Jackson’s
shoulder after she had stopped crying.

“
Well, then, I guess I
need to thank you twice.” Steven smiled. “Gracie woke before I
left.”

“
That’s good news.”
Jackson was still holding Bea, who had gone back to sleep. “I’ll
put her down and then I guess I had better go home to get some
sleep myself.”

Paige looked at her husband
after Jackson left. “A knight in shining armor.”

“
Excuse me?” Steven
glanced over at her.

“
Cinderella isn't the only
fairy tale, Steven.” Paige started to walk down the hall. “Are you
sure you don’t want to add Jackson to the list.”

“
Positive,” Steven went to
their bedroom and stretched out on the bed, falling asleep in the
clothes that he had been wearing all day.

~

Paige walked with Bea down
the hall as they followed Steven into Gracie's hospital room. The
doctors had removed the IV, and it was quieter than it had been the
night before. Steven watched as his sister slept; the strawberry
blonde hair curling around her face as it had done when she was
little.

Paige looked down as Bea
started to pull back. Bea glanced at her after Paige smiled
reassuringly at her. “She's alright, Bea.”

Gracie opened her eyes and
watched as Paige brought Bea back into the room. “Hey, Princess,”
Gracie could talk without her throat hurting. “I just had a little
accident.”

“
No, you didn’t.” Bea sat
down on the bed next to her mother. “It was my father, and he beat
you.”

Gracie stared hard at
Steven as Bea talked. “There’s no fooling you- is there?” She asked
as she had looked back at her daughter.

“
I don’t want to meet him
anymore.” Bea laid down as she talked. “Jackson is a
hero.”

Gracie raised her eyes.
“Uncle Steve has some good friends. Jackson has always been like
another brother to me.”

Paige looked at Gracie and
then at Steven. “You're both confusing me. Another brother?” She
whispered to Steve.

“
Yes, Paige. He even
changed her diaper once.” Steven glanced at Gracie when she
moaned.

“
He changed my diaper?”
Gracie asked amused. “Things just got weird. How old were
you?”

“
We were twelve; I think,
and Kim was ten.” Steven looked over at Paige. “And that would have
made Paige about four.”

“
That’s great. I kissed
someone who changed my diaper. I could’ve gone for the rest of my
life without knowing that. Thank you, Steven.”

Bea just watched them as
they talked.

Paige looked hard at Steven
after they left Bea to talk with her mother. “You did that on
purpose!”

“
And?” Steven looked at
her. “I don’t want him anywhere near her; not unless he's in the
role he is now.”

“
You don't have the
right!” She walked away from him as she felt herself grow
angry.

“
Don’t I?” Steven waited
outside the room as he listened to Bea and Gracie
talking.

“
When can you come home?”
Bea looked over at her mother.

“
How does tomorrow sound?”
Gracie smiled at the thought of leaving the bleak room. “I'm kind
of tired right now so you're going to have to go home with Uncle
Steven.”

“
I don’t want to.” Bea was
being stubborn as Steven walked into the room. She glanced back at
her mom. “We could watch
Tinker
Bell
.”

“
We can watch that
tomorrow when I get there, I promise.” Gracie watched as her
brother picked Bea up from the bed. “Tomorrow, Bea, I love
you.”

Paige watched as Steven
walked towards her carrying Bea. She was still angry with him. “I'm
gonna to hang out here for a while. I’ll see you later.” Steven
stared as Paige walked back into Gracie's room.

Gracie was watching Paige
look out the window making sure that Steven had left. “So tell me
what it was like to kiss Jackson.”

Gracie smiled. “My thoughts
before or after Steven told me about the diaper?”

“
Before, of course,” Paige
smiled down as she sat down. “And I doubt very seriously that
Jackson changed one diaper, especially not with Kim
around.”

“
Why did Steven even say
that then?” Gracie asked as she stood.

Paige stared at her. “Your
brother thinks that he's protecting you from a one-night
stand.”

“
And of course, little ol'
me always need to be protected.” Gracie scoffed before asking. “Did
anybody bring me any clothes?”

“
In his eyes, you'll
always be his baby sister.” Paige picked up the bag that she had
placed beside the door. “And I've brought you a change of
clothes.”

“
I've always been lucky to
have a friend like you.” Gracie grabbed the clothes and walked into
the bathroom. “Much better,” she stopped when she saw Jackson
standing next to Paige.

He smiled at her. “You look
a lot better, too.”

“
Thanks.” Gracie sat down
on the bed. “Did you get hurt bad?”

“
Just a few scratches,”
Jackson looked at her chart. “You've improved a lot.”

“
Knowing that Mark is
behind bars helps.” Gracie narrowed her eyes when Jackson bit down
on his lip. “What are you not telling me?”

“
Nothing, Gracie,” he put
the chart down as he looked at her. “I have to go. I just wanted to
drop in and see how you were doing.”

“
You’re such a lousy
liar.” Gracie walked over to the window and looked down, frowning
when all she saw was the parking lot.

“
Yeah, well, I do have to
go.” He walked out the door before Gracie glanced over at Paige and
rolled her eyes.

“
The kiss?” Paige asked
her again.

Gracie laughed, “What about
the kiss? I was mad, and I kissed him.”

“
You?”

“
Yes, me, and he kissed me
back, and it was anything but brotherly.” Gracie sat down on the
bed. “I had actually stopped thinking about him as a brother after
that until. . .”

“
Until Steven said what he
did.” Paige finished for her.

“
So he’s now back on
brother status.” Gracie looked at the wall. “Do I really need to
stay here another night?”

“
Afraid so,” Paige watched
Chandler and Janet walk into the room. “I'm going to find some
supper.”

~

“
Bea?!” Gracie called out
when she walked into Steven’s apartment. “Come on, Princess, I’m
back.” She smiled as she heard Bea screaming before seeing
her.

Gracie knelt down so she
could hug her daughter. “Momma, Uncle Jackson bought me another
movie.”

“
Really? I was looking
forward to
Tinker Bell
.” Gracie smiled when she saw the movie. “
Enchanted
?”

“
A real-live fairy tale,”
Bea sat down on the couch after placing the DVD in the player.
Gracie didn't notice that Paige had sat down and was watching the
movie with them until the end.