Saving Grace (16 page)

              “Mmmm-hmmm.”  Grace trailed her finger along her stomach, thinking about how Burke’s touch made her feel.

              “Stop it.  I can see your face now.  You’re grinning, aren’t you?”  Mercy was happy her friend finally found someone that made her smile.

              “Maybe.  He’s really nice, Mercy.  Really nice.”

              “Nice looking?” 

              Grace belly laughed, and then said, “Well, yes.  But nice … as in good heart.”

              Mercy’s heart filled with appreciation for the man that was giving Grace what she’d always needed.

              “Good.”  Mercy paused.  “Hey, I’m sorry.  With all my wedding planning and your recent issues – I was so stuck on your safety and your new man...”

“He’s just a friend- I think.”  Grace interrupted.

“I knew it! You’re falling for him.  Before you give me any details and get me sidetracked again – I need to tell you about Anne.”

Grace immediately sat up and listened.

“After you told me what your grandmother had done  - I googled her.”

“I know nothing came up.  I tried the white pages. And, nothing.”  Grace sighed.  “I found an old address in California, but she didn’t live there anymore.”

“Not the white pages.  Girl, you need to get out more.  Google.  Bing.  Chrome.  Do you use any of those?”

“Lilah usually has me so tied up, that there’s no time to think - let alone browse the Internet.  And any free time I have, I come out to sit on the beach.  It’s where I am now.  Did you find anything?”

“Yes!  That’s what I’m trying to tell you.  I found her.  Well …” Mercy paused, before continuing, “I found out information about her.  And for future reference, use Google and type in her name and you’ll see what I’m about to tell you.”  Mercy laughed at her friend’s expense. 

Grace was not like anyone else she knew.  It’s like she grew up in a cocoon, without knowledge of modern technology.  It was a wonder she could work her phone.

“Where is she?”  Grace urged.

Mercy could hear the emotion in her friend’s voice.  She knew this next part would come as a shock.  “Well, currently I don’t know.”

“Well that doesn’t help!”  She blurted out.

“But, I know where you can watch her.”  Mercy’s voice was enthusiastic.

“Okay, so fill me in.  Hurry!”  Grace fired.

“She’s currently a cast member on that hit reality dating show, Broadcast Affair.  Heard of it?”  Mercy asked.

Grace laughed.  “Oh, I’m sure Lilah is fit to be tied.  Some of the girls I know watch it.  Anne’s a cast member?”

Mercy noticed she kept referring to her grandmother by her first name, but didn’t stray off the subject.  That was another conversation all together. 

“Yes, there are few episodes online you’ll want to catch up on. Go online and watch, and then the next live episode airs tonight!”

“What time?”  Grace cried out in excitement.

“Eight p.m. my time, so for you it will be early afternoon.  Check your local listings.  Does your man have a T.V. or a computer?”

“He’s not my man.”  Grace laughed.  “And yes, he does.  Thanks Mercy!  Got to run.  I’ll call you later.”

“Bye sweetie.  Call me after you watch.  I’ll be watching it tonight too.”  Mercy said and then hung up.

In a hurry, Grace grabbed her towel, and threw open the back door, in search of a computer.

              From behind her she heard a stern voice, “Oh, no!  You track sand in from outside!” 

              Grace spun around to see not only a small trail of sand, but also a tiny Asian woman glowering at her with dark eyes.

“Oh!  You scared me.  I – I’m sorry,” Grace stammered.

              “Shoo.”  The Asian woman waved her hands toward Grace, and pushed her back out on the lanai.  “Use ‘da hand sprayah.  Get clean before you come in Mr. Burke’s home.” 

              Grace thought the lady to be in her early seventies, but there was nothing frail about her.  With eyes wide, she nodded once and turned to follow instructions. 

“Sorry…” Her voice trailed as she left the room.

Once outside, the woman threw Grace’s towel out, which landed on her head, and yelled, “Then afta’ – dry off please.  I don’t need wet foot prints in ‘da house.”

If Grace weren’t so amused by her broken English, she might be afraid of this older woman, who obviously took her job very seriously.

“Yes, ma’am.”  Grace sent her a smile. 

The housecleaner smiled in return, which revealed crooked teeth and a lopsided grin.  Despite her lack of dental care, Grace thought she was beautiful and her smile to be infectious.  She liked this old lady already.

After spraying and drying off, she tiptoed lightly inside to notice the sand had already been cleaned up.

“I would have cleaned this up.”  Grace called across to the woman, who was already across the room on to her next task.  “It was my mess.”

“Oh no.  Just don’t make new one!  Okay?”  She sweetly smiled to Grace.  “And, you’re Mr. Burke’s lady friend?”  Auntie had heard Grace’s phone conversation through the windows.

She started to shake her head in response, but then thought better of it.  They were friends after all.

“Yes.  My name is Grace.  And yours?” 

“I’m Miss Higa.  You can call me Auntie though.  I clean Mr. Burke’s place and Mr. Chet’s over there.”  Auntie pointed to the east.

“Auntie, you said?  You have a large family?”

Auntie giggled as she wiped down the windows inside.  She nodding knowingly and said, “My ohana stretches far and wide.”

Grace nodded like she understood, but had no idea what Auntie meant.  “Oh. That’s nice.”  She gave her a blank stare in return.

“And you, Miss Grace?  Where’s your ohana?”  Miss Higa saw Grace’s confused look and laughed.  “Your fam-ily?”

“Um, yes.”  Her voice sped up.  “That’s why I was running in here so fast.  I just got news about my sister.  I was coming in to see if I could find Burke’s computer to look something up on it.”

“Oh.”  Miss Higa nodded, and then clamped her mouth tight.  “Well, it’s in the study, but the door … it stays closed.  I’m not to clean in there.  But …”

Miss Higa took the rag down from the window, and wiped her brow.  She looked at Grace from head to toe and then said, “Since you’re his lady friend … maybe he won’t mind you going inside?”

Grace was torn.  She didn’t want to go somewhere that was off limits, but she’d spent most of her life thinking her sister had abandoned her.  And now, she didn’t think she could let something as simple as a closed door stop her from finding access from Anne. 

She cocked her head and shrugged her shoulders, before saying, “I’ll tell him it was my idea.  Where is his study?”

“Down the hallway, pass the bat-room.  You see da two doors.  It’s da one that stays closed.”

Grace knew of which door she was speaking of, but paused to contemplate Auntie’s dialect.  She loved how it almost had a melody to it.  Every word rolled off Auntie’s tongue in such a relaxed manner, it made Grace feel like Auntie probably knew nothing of stress.  Grace wanted that, and wondered if more island time would give her the same thing.

“Thanks, Auntie.  And, I like the way you speak.”

“Oh, you know what?  Here I was tinking you sounded funny.”  Auntie giggled, and went back to cleaning.  “But-okay. Whatevahs.” 

Auntie gave her a sharp tip of her chin, sending her on her way.

Grace giggled to herself.  She loved this woman’s spirit.  The more time she spent here, the more she felt at home.

After a couple turns down the hallway, she found the door Auntie was referring to.  She rested her hand on the knob, hesitating slightly before gripping it to go inside.

Grace looked over her shoulder before entering, feeling like she could get scolded at any minute.  This was a major intrusion of privacy, but in order to find out more about Anne it was something she was willing to do. She just hoped Burke would be okay with it.

              Grace next stepped in to what she would call a cave.  It was dark and musty, with the blinds drawn tight.  When she flipped the light on, she saw boxes stacked in two corners of the room and a bare desk, which set next to the opposite wall. 

              As most desks or offices held photos or artwork, this study was completely bare.  It was as if she’d stepped into a room that had yet to be lived in.  She wondered if Burke had lived here long enough to unpack.  And, although she really wanted to peek into a partially open box, her mission was clear; find out more about Anne LaSal. 

Grace quickly strode across the room to open the blinds, letting in some much needed light.  From her vantage point, she could see the main house on the property and wondered if she’d ever meet Burke’s friends. 

Through the window, she watched as Auntie waddled across the soft lawn to enter main house.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  She had the house to herself.

Back to her task at hand, she took her seat in a wobbly squeaky old office chair, which looked like it had seen better days.  She lifted the lid to the laptop and was happy to find that it wasn’t password protected.

After it finished powering up, she remembered Mercy’s instructions and brought up the Internet browser to type in her sister’s name.  She then found a few links that were related to the television show, which she clicked and was redirected to the shows website. 

Here I go. 
She shuddered and felt like she just might throw up.  What if Anne had changed?  What if she wasn’t the sister she remembered?  What if Anne mentioned her on the show? 
Ugh! 

As thoughts continued to swirl through her head, she clicked on the first show and began to watch the opening credits.

Burke had been gone most of the day.  Since the beautiful tourist had arrived, he’d been preoccupied with all things Grace.  But, he still had a job to do, and as he wrapped up his errands he was happy to be coming home. 

After he unloaded the groceries in Chet’s main house, he slipped inside his own home unnoticed, noticing how clean it smelled.  He loved it when Auntie came.  He wasn’t a bad housekeeper himself, but never deep cleaned, like she did.

“Grace?”  He softly hollered, thinking she’d still be on the beach.  He quickly walked to the main living area to take a sneak peek out the window, to catch a glimpse of her in her suit.

He expected to see her laying out flat on the sand, and thought about grabbing his board and catching a few waves.  What he didn’t expect was to see her curled up on his couch in tears.

Grace had her feet tucked underneath her, and she was hugging a pillow against her chest sobbing like he’d never seen.  He looked from her to the television and almost cracked up laughing, if it weren’t for the fact she was crying so hard.

He dropped his car keys on the side table, and stepped in front of the television.  It was playing something … he wasn’t sure what but it wasn’t something any self-respecting man would watch.

Who cries at reality T.V.? 
He sat down next to her and her crumpled tissues.

“You’re such a girl.  I didn’t think you were the type to watch these things – let alone get so caught up in them.”  He half laughed in her direction, and reached for the T.V. remote to pause the show.

“No, don’t,” she blubbered, and snagged the remote back from him, explaining, “that’s my sister.”

His eyes grew wide as he turned his attention to the T.V., where he saw another beautiful brunette fill screen. 

“She looks like you,” he said softly.  “I didn’t know.” 

The more Grace revealed, the more he was intrigued.  Would she ever stop surprising him?

“Shhh,” Grace said softly, and wiped off her face.  She reached for another tissue from the table, almost knocking over her drink.

He grabbed to steady her cup, and asked, “Is this live … I mean a current episode?” 

Grace nodded, eyes glued to the T.V. before turning to Burke.  She finally paused the show.  She owed him an explanation.

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have shushed you.  That’s rude.  I …” Grace stammered, and turned to stare at her sister’s image.  “… I just found out about her.  And right before you walked in she was talking about losing touch with her sister with the woman, on camera, and her eyes were so sad.  I just … couldn’t take it.”  She drew in a breathe in and buried her head in the pillow.

Burke was barely able to follow along through Grace’s rapid speech, but got enough to understand the gist.

“So you lost touch?  Is that why you never mention your parents?”

Grace lifted her head from the pillow, grateful she wasn’t wearing makeup or it would have run all over his fabric.  Her large eyes bore into his before they started to tear up again.

“Yes.  Oh!” She breezed passed the question and changed the subject. “And I’m sorry but I snuck in your office earlier.  I needed your laptop to watch the previous episodes.”  Grace shrunk back, hoping he wouldn’t mind.

The truth is - he’d seen the open blinds when he drove up the drive.  The fact that they were open was a clear indicator someone had been there.  At first he thought Auntie went in to clean, but knew she wouldn’t.  He had clear rules about his house, and Auntie was aware of them.

“I know.”  He whispered, not sure how he felt that someone had been inside but let go of any emotions tied to those boxes and scooted a little closer to her, brushing the damp tissues from the couch.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

He put his hand on hers to stop her.  “Not now Grace.  This is not about my room … it’s about you.  Come here.” 

He pulled her into a deep embrace and pushed the hair away from her face.  The bruise on her cheek had faded in the last few days, and as he touched her face he’d hoped she’d healed not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. 

“Let it out, sweetheart,” he whispered.

That one sentence was enough to push her over the edge.  Those were the same words her father would offer, whenever she cried as a child. 

When she scraped her knees or lost her favorite toy, her father would hold her and say ‘let it out sweetheart’.  And until this moment, she’d forgotten that memory until his kind offer reminded her.

Grace let go of every emotion she had been holding in, since the last time her father held her as a child.  She cried for the loss of her parents, the loss of her sister, and for the loss of a happy home.  She even cried for Lilah.

Soft hiccups followed her tears, which gave him reason to believe her cries were coming to a close.  He would have laughed if this weren’t such a dire situation. 

He thought Grace sounded so cute, and he happily held her, even though his T-shirt was now serving double duty as a tissue.

As her breath settled, and her cries subsided, he eased them both forward to grab more tissue from the table.

He gently lifted her chin and dried her eyes.  He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead, hoping he could be enough to fill any void she was feeling right now. 

“Thank you.”  She smiled, feeling like she should say so much more because those mere words didn’t cover what she was feeling.  She saw how much he offered of himself, and was more grateful than he’d ever know. 

Grace knew that what Burke offered wasn’t just a tissue or a shoulder to cry on – it was companionship.  It was his support.  It was his heart.

              “Tell me everything,” he said softly and wiped her face.  He wanted to kiss her tears away, but he knew she was vulnerable.

Grace nodded and slowly searched her heart.  Having him there for her gave her peace for the first time since she could remember.  Having someone, who she deeply cared about, there for her - was something she’d been missing since childhood.  It was at that moment she knew she was in love with Nathan Burkette.

She took a deep sigh and slowly began to tell him her story.

Chapter 21

              Zach looked to his surroundings and scowled.  It was a far cry from the hotel he and Grace had stayed at, when they were on Oahu last.

              Ever since Andrew had called him, he’d been reduced from a four hundred dollar a night hotel to a ninety-seven dollar a night room.  Any fine amenities were gone, and his hatred for Grace grew as he looked at the cheap art that was nailed to the hotel wall.

              Upon the first week back in town, when he still had his plush surroundings, he didn’t go overboard to flash her picture around because he knew he was the only one looking and he knew he had time.

Now that Mr. Aundine was involved, there was a reward for Grace, and Zach was not only on limited funds … but also time.

Zach crouched down to pull out a can of beer from the cooler he’d bought from the 7-11 across the street.  It was the only way he had to keep his beer cool, as there was no mini-fridge in his room.

He popped his can open, and took a swig of his cheap beer, groaning.  Mr. Aundine had driven him down a hole, and cut off the source of his expenditures. Zach knew there was no one to blame but Grace.

She was the root to his every pain, starting with his father and ending with his current situation. 

And since he needed to give reports back to Andrew, he now had to actually work for the meager sum Mr. Audine was willing to part with.  Since no tourists or obvious locations held any luck so far, he had to think like Grace.

Where would I go if I were on the run … with no baggage? 

A light bulb went off for Zach.               

Of course, why didn’t I think of this before?

So far he’d been flashing her picture on every main street from downtown and all through Waikiki with no results.  He’d picked the touristy shopping district, but never thought about the mall.

“She went to the mall!”  Zach screamed aloud and slammed his beer down on the Formica table.

He quickly ran to the nightstand in his room and pulled open the drawer.  He threw the Bible aside and scoured the drawer for the yellow pages, with no luck.

“Come on.  What kind of place is this?  There’s no directory,” he yelled, pulling the drawer out and tossing it on the bed.