Give Me Grace (33 page)

His eye
s were flat and unhappy. “Mum and Dad already tried that. It backfired. Big time.” He glanced at his watch. “I need to get to the office. I want to see what Seth has managed to pull together for us on Morgan.”

“Is Tim there?”

It was Saturday and Tim rarely worked weekends, but I’d asked him to clear my schedule. It would probably involve some heavy duty grumbling because it meant dumping all my current cases on Travis, Jared, and Coby. They would have to deal. I was due time off.

“He was just turning up when I left so he’s probably still there.”

“Do me a favour? Tell him I’m going to be out of town for at least a week once Grace gets out of hospital. Then get him to contact the property agents for the cottage, have someone come in on Thursday and give it a clean and stock the fridge and pantry.”

“Good idea,” Jared replied
and then smirked. “But you can tell Tim yourself. He mentioned plans to visit you sometime this morning. Said he wanted to bring you coffee and a brownie.”

“Awesome,” I muttered
, hoping he took pity on me just this once and got my coffee somewhere else.

When Jared left, I picked up the envelope off the floor.
With everything going on I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace to deal with whatever was inside it. Reading it would have to wait. Opening the cupboard beside my bed, I pulled out the bag Travis dropped off for me. After tucking it inside, I zipped it back up, put the bag away, and went in search of Henry again.

First I did a quick detour by
Grace’s room. She was fast asleep, her head tilted back on the pillow, mouth open and emitting a light snore. Nate sat by her bed, reading glasses on while he perused
The Sydney Morning Herald
.

I stepped up to the side of her bed, watching her breathe noisily. Grace had put her family before herself.
It was admirable and I was proud of her, hearing how she’d stepped up for her family during such a shitty time, but that needed to stop
now
. Her family was strong enough to stand on their own feet, and from the sounds of her father, they had been for some time. She needed to learn how to put herself first for a change. That would start now.

Nate looked at me over the top of his newspaper. “How’s my Henry? Cooled off yet?”

“I hope so but I’m not sure. I got waylaid,” I explained. “I just wanted to check in on Grace again before I went looking for him.”

Nate’s eyes, blue like Henry’s, lit with amusement. “As you can see
here…” he jerked his chin towards his snoring daughter “…my little girl is resting just fine and I have no plans to be anywhere else today. If you’re looking for Henry, try the cafeteria or the vending machine at the end of the hall. The boy never stops eating.”

“Will do.” I ran the backs of my fingers gently down Grace’s cheek,
reassured when it felt warm to the touch. When I looked up, Nate was watching the gesture. I drew my hand back. “Can I get you anything while I’m gone?”

“Coffee,” he boomed and went back to the article he was reading, adding, “Black, no sugar.”

“Oh, and Casey?” he called out when I was halfway out the door. I turned back, meeting his eyes. “My Gracie needs a man who looks after himself. You’re useless to her if you don’t give yourself time to heal too, yeah? So after you’re done talking sense into my bullheaded son, go lie down.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Nate,” he barked.

My lips twitched. I gave him a short nod and
left.

Grace’s dad was right. I found Henry in the cafeteria. He was sitting alone at a table with a packet of chips, but by no means had his presence gone unnoticed.
I watched two girls, maybe around twenty, approach him. One of them said something and Henry grinned. After replying, he stood up and the girls took turns getting their photo with him. More giggly chatter followed before they left, one of them slipping a piece of paper into his pocket. They moved a distance away, nearer to me, and paused to look at the photos on their screens, both arguing over whose picture was better.

Henry looked up when I reached his table. He sighed and waved for me to sit down, saying, “Nothing like a couple of pretty fans to make you feel less like a fucking loser, right?”

“Looking out for your little sister makes you a loser now?”

“I’m sorry, Casey.” He looked at me, his eyes sad and defeated. “You were a friend and telling you to stay away from Grace was pretty much saying you weren’t good enough. I guess after everything that happened with Evie and then Quinn, I got scared.”

My brows flew up, surprised. “You think I
am
good enough?”

Henry shrugged. “Yeah, I do.”

“I’m not. But for Grace I want to be. Do you get that? I’ve never cared about being good enough for anyone until I met your sister. I’m sorry for going behind your back, and I had every intention of speaking to you about it, but I’m not here to give you excuses. I’m here to tell you that no one is in safer hands than she is.” I locked eyes on his, letting him see the seriousness of my words. “No one.”

Henry swallowed, and after a pause, nodded.

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief because that just went down a whole helluva lot easier than I thought it would. “This whole thing with Grace and stepping up for your dad when he needed help, that’s something you need to talk to your sister about, but she did it because she loves you and she wanted you to have your dream. You would’ve done the same thing for her. So rather than get pissed off and make Grace upset, let it go. In her eyes, you’ve already paid her back because you didn’t stuff around. You worked your ass off to get where you are now and you’re doing something you love, just like Emma and Ava are. And because of that, she gets to sit back and be happy with the choice she made to put her family before herself. Let her have that happiness, Henry, because without it, you’ll make everything she did mean nothing.”

Henry, eyes trained on the table as I spoke, nodded again. Then he looked at me. “I know you’re right.” His voice was hoarse and he cleared his throat. “I’m not pissed at her. I’m pissed at myself.
For not knowing. For giving her hell for leaving us when the whole time leaving us was the last thing she wanted to do. We lost our mother, and we had each other to lean on, but Grace left and she had no one, and I was an asshole because I hated her for leaving. I
hated her
because I thought we didn’t matter enough, when all along, we mattered too much. And the whole time I was a prick to her about it, she didn’t say a word.” His eyes filled and he let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

“You
can’t fix the past,” I told him because I knew that firsthand.

“No, I can’t.” He shook his head. “But I can be there for her now, right?”

“You can.” I stood up to leave. After stealing a chip from the packet on the table, I slapped him on the back. “We cool now?”

Henry’s
voice hardened. “Not quite.”

I paused, the chip halfway to my mouth. “Oh?”

“Is someone trying to hurt Grace?”

I pressed my lips together
. I didn’t want to scare him but after the whole speech I just gave, I needed to be honest. “Possibly.”

Henry closed his eyes at the word, muttering a low, “Fuck.
Who would do something like this?”

“Henry.” He opened his eye
s. “We’re looking into it. Right now I think it’s best if I take Grace away for a while. Our firm has a house up the coast. She’ll be safe there with me. It’ll give her time to heal while we work out what’s going on.”

He stood up. We were the same height so he was looking at me directly. “On one condition.”

“Okay. What?”

“You keep me in the loop. If I find out you’ve been keeping any more shit from me, I won’t care if you’re my sister’s boyfriend or the fucking Pope. I’ll punch you out.”

I wouldn’t have expected anything less. Popping the chip in my mouth, I crunched it hard between my teeth and held out my hand. Henry took it, shaking firmly. “Agreed.”

I spent the next few days in hospital because it was a good excuse to keep watch on Grace. Her room was situated opposite a small bench of seats. Beside that sat the vending machine Henry liked to frequent, Evie too, judging by the number of chocolate bars stashed in her bag. When I wasn’t with Grace,
either Travis or Coby sat on the bank of seats, keeping watch on her door and fielding conversation from Henry and Evie when they visited the vending machine to replenish their stash. The rest of my time was spent in clandestine meetings, dodging Houlihan, popping painkillers, and getting to know Grace’s dad.

When I asked, Grace
was adamant the crash was an accident. She couldn’t come up with a single name of anyone who might have it in for her. I made her ring John so he could weigh in on the conversation via speakerphone. He told me the modelling industry was a bitchy, jealous world but it wasn’t full of people trying to kill off the competition. Regardless, we kept Seth busy looking into all her current and past jobs.

By
the time Friday morning rolled around, we had yet to find answers. I got up and showered early. Today we were both getting out of here. I wanted to be ready so I could help Grace.

After
pulling on a pair of board shorts, Houlihan materialised. With military style precision, she began re-strapping my ribs and barking post-care instructions.

“The car’s all fuelled up,” Coby told me as he strode into my room. I was borrowing his car for the trip—the same tricked out Toyota Hilux that Evie had, only in black. Seeing Houlihan, he started backing
away.

“You know
you’re a big girl, right?” I called out.

“Yeah, so?” he called out over his shoulder.

“I’ll tell Evie about the fishing charter incident if you don’t get back here with those car keys.”

Coby changed direction, coming back in the room. “You’re such a bitch, Daniels,” I was told as he
dug his hand in his pocket. “Besides, she already knows.”

“Yeah?” I chuckled. “How’d that work out for you?”

“My ears are still fucking ringing,” he muttered.

“Language!” Houlihan snapped.

Coby set his jaw and tossed the keys on the bed while I fought not to laugh. I’d been copping it all week. It was refreshing to have it directed on someone else for a change.

“Thanks,” I told
him and pocketed the keys, causing Houlihan to grumble. “You pick up Grace’s suitcase from the duplex?”

“Yep.”

“You’re blocking my light,” Houlihan growled at Coby.

He scowled and shifted back a step, folding his arms. Houlihan returned to her task. When done, she scooped up the empty bandage packets off the bed, tossed them in the bin in the corner
, and left the room, over her shoulder, saying, “Goodbye, Mr Daniels. I see you in this hospital again, I’ll have your balls for breakfast.”

My balls shrank back up inside my body at the thought of Houlihan anywhere near them.

“Jesus,” Coby muttered, cupping his own protectively while I tugged a tee shirt over my head and yanked it down. “Does the father-in-law know your whisking his little girl away for a week of sex?”

I tucked my wallet in my back pocket and picked up the duffel bag
off the bed, sparing Coby a glance. “Father-in-law?”

He smirked as he snatched the duffel bag from my hand. “You know his only son is into playing his guitar and partying, right? And then you come along and bond with him all week over fishing and cars.
And then
rather than ask him, you go all take charge and
tell
him
you’re taking Grace away until
you’re
satisfied she’s safe. The man was impressed. But then we’ve all heard about Dalton.” Coby shrugged. “Any guy following that douchebag would look like the Second Coming to Nate. In his eyes, you and Grace are already hitched. Welcome to the Paterson family, mate,” he said with a grin.

I looked at him sideways as we left the room,
not hiding the smirk.
“Of course the man’s impressed. No one can handle this much awesome and remain unscathed. If you’re lucky,” I told him as we walked side by side down the hall towards Grace’s room, “I might let a little of it rub off on you.”