A Touch of Grace (23 page)

“What! Girlfriend, are you smokin’ crack? The man’s nuts about you.”

“Ian has a good heart. He cares about people, about their souls. That’s probably all I mean to him. One more broken soul rescued.”

“Oh, please. Give me a break here. I think I’m going to throw up.” She stormed over and yanked Gretchen’s Fudgsicle away.

“Hey, give that back!”

“Not until you wake up. Love doesn’t come along very often. I’m your best friend and I won’t let you blow this chance. Ian’s a keeper.”

“Yeah. He’s everybody’s keeper.” She grabbed for the Fudgsicle but Carlotta was too fast for her.

“Do you love him or not?” She waggled the ice cream just out of reach. “Admit it.”

“I told you I do.” She reached for the bar.

“I can’t hear you.” Carlotta taunted.

Her voice rose a notch. “I love him.”

“Louder.”

Leave it to Carlotta to tease her into feeling better. Gretchen bounced up, standing on the chair to shout, “I am crazy in love with Ian Carpenter!”

Though she had no idea what to do about it.

A nanosecond later the doorbell rang. Wearing a smirk, Carlotta returned the Fudgsicle and went to answer.

One peek through the security window and she burst into laughter. “Why don’t you scream that again right now?”

Gretchen’s heart slammed against her rib cage. “Why?”

“Because there is a very handsome, rather harried-looking preacher standing on our front porch.”

“Oh, no.” She slithered into the chair. Had Ian heard her yelling like a deranged baboon?

“Oh, yes.”

She looked a mess. Her hair was sticking up all over the place. Her makeup had long since melted away. And she probably had chocolate on her face from the tussle with Carlotta.

Nevertheless, her roommate opened the door.

Without a word, Ian marched right in.

He looked wonderful.

“You look exhausted.”

With a grin as wide as the Mississippi, Carlotta edged
around the two. She pumped knowing eyebrows at Gretchen. “Want a fudge bar, Ian?”

“No.”

A fudge bar was the last thing on his mind. All he could think about was Gretchen. If Collin was right, she had risked her job for him. And he needed to know why. What changed her mind?

Carlotta snickered. “Want me to get lost for an hour or two?”

At the risk of being rude, he shot her a glance. “Would you?”

Her response was another laugh. Any other time, he would have wondered about Carlotta’s behavior. Today, all he could think about was Gretchen. A ridiculous hope beat inside his weary chest. Although her decision may not have a thing to do with him, a fool could always hope. She
had
said she loved him.

“Cool. I’m gone.” Carlotta grabbed her purse, jangled her keys and disappeared. Ian hardly noticed when the door snapped shut.

Gretchen sat in a big stuffed chair, eyes wide and greener than spring, a fudge bar dripping onto her fingers. He had never seen her this quiet.

He stood over her, hands on hips. “What happened to the story?”

She licked her lips. Chocolate stained one spot. “I killed it.”

“Why?”

“For a lot of reasons. But mostly because, last night, I woke up.” The threat of tears deepened her eyes to moss. He wanted to yank her into his arms and kiss her and pro
claim his love. But he couldn’t, and the pain of holding such a beautiful thing inside was almost too much to bear.

“Woke up from what?”

“What you said really got to me. When I walked out of your room, I was so confused. I stopped in the chapel to think. The next thing I knew, I was praying.”

He needed so badly to touch her. This time he didn’t refrain. Pulse thundering, he knelt in front of her and gently took her hand. “You prayed?”

Gretchen nodded, tears glistening. “You were right all along. I didn’t realize it, but I’ve blamed God for what happened to me as a teenager. After I started reading the Gospels—”

“You didn’t tell me that.”

“I had to be sure for myself this time. I couldn’t take a chance on being fooled again.”

“And?” Ian thought he would explode from the anticipation.

“Last night, everything came together. I recognized the truth I’ve always searched for. Not the truth of a reporter’s facts, but a greater reality. The one in here.” She touched her heart. “A wicked man hurt me and Maddy, not God. He gave his Son for me. And now that I’ve let Him into my life, I’m free for the first time since my parents joined the commune.”

He’d come here for some answers about the story and to thank her. Never in his wildest hopes had he imagined anything this wonderful.

“I think you just made me the happiest man in the world.”

She blinked at him, puzzled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” With exquisite care, Ian wiped a tear from her cheekbone. “But I don’t understand what this has to do with killing the story.”

A tremulous smile touched her mouth. “You asked me to trust you. I couldn’t. Not until I trusted God. Then I was able to see that your life and your work speak the truth. You don’t have to say a word. I’ve watched you. I’ve seen your integrity. If you ask me for time to work something out, I have to believe there is a good reason.”

Roger. Ian bit down on his jaw to keep the secret inside him. “There is.”

She touched his cheek. “I know.”

It felt so good to hear her say that.

Heart pounding, hope soaring, he took the melting ice cream and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. Then, slowly, very slowly, he pulled her hand to his lips and tasted the sticky chocolate.

“I love you, Gretchen. I have for a long time.”

The threatening tears fell in earnest now. “I love you, too.”

From his knees, Ian gave a tug, gently bringing her to the floor in front of him. They were face-to-face, heart-to-heart. “I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.”

With pure joy, he bracketed her delicate face, sliding fingers into her hair as he stared into the deep green eyes of a soul he loved. And then, with a thankful, trembling sigh, he kissed her.

Her mouth tasted of cold chocolate and warm love, its velvet sweetness a reward for months of self-denial. When he lifted his head, her smile greeted him.

“I love you, Ian. So much.”

Though he wanted nothing to spoil this moment, he also wanted no secrets between them. If they were to have the relationship he longed for, he wanted to begin with honesty.

“You may not feel that way after I tell you something.” Not every woman wanted a man from a tainted past.

“Nothing you say is going to change how I feel. Not now.”

“I need to tell you anyway. Open and honest. Love accepts nothing less.” He played with her fingers, raising and lowering them. “You told me about your childhood. There’s something you need to know about mine.”

A small frown of curiosity formed between her eyebrows. “You sound so serious. Is it bad?”

“I’ll let you decide.” Ian leaned his back against the padded chair and drew Gretchen into the shelter of his side. If she rejected him now, he wasn’t sure what he would do. “Remember when I told you that I have a brother?”

“The man at the restaurant?”

He nodded. “Collin Grace.”

“I didn’t believe you. I thought you were trying to distract me from discovering the real reason for that clandestine meeting.”

No surprise there. “Collin
is
my brother, Gretchen, but I didn’t know until the night at the Treehouse. We were separated as boys by foster care. I was adopted. He wasn’t.”

Over the next few minutes, Ian shared the story of his broken childhood, of the amnesia and of Collin’s re
lentless search, praying all the while that she wouldn’t think less of him afterward.

“So,” he said at the end, “I’m not the man you always thought I was. I’m the product of a dysfunctional, drug-addicted mess. And if that changes your feelings, I’ll understand.”

She twisted around to stare at him. “Are you nuts?”

“Why?”

“You think your childhood is crazier than mine? That it changes you somehow to be adopted? Come on, Ian. Get real.”

“You don’t mind?”

“You silly, adorable man.” She kissed his cheek. “A smart preacher once told me that we are the sum total of our past experiences. They either make us or break us. The choice is ours.”

“Did I say that?”

“Mmm-hmm. You’re right, too. Where you come from, both as a birth child and as an adopted son, make you the incredible man of God you are today. The man I love with all my heart.”

Overjoyed, he pulled her close. “Seriously?”

“If I thought your childhood damaged you or changed you in some way, I wouldn’t want to marry you so much.”

A beat passed as her words soaked in. “That sounded a little like a proposal.”

Her voice held wonder. “I think it was.”

Ian laughed, the joy bubbled up in him like a fountain. “Then I accept.” He reached for her. “Come here, woman, I want to taste that chocolate ice cream again.”

And he did.

After a long kiss that left them both smiling and a little starry-eyed, Gretchen leaned her head on his shoulder and said, “I can’t remember ever being this happy.”

“Me, too.” Yesterday he’d thought his life’s work was in jeopardy and that he and Gretchen were finished for good. Today he held the woman of his dreams in his arms and though the problems at the mission weren’t resolved by any means, Gretchen had given him time to work them out.

She’d sacrificed her credibility to save his.

“Wait a minute,” he said, as the thought took root. “I just realized something. Are you in trouble at the station?”

“A little, but don’t worry.” She pushed at a wildly out-of-control lock of hair. “If I can find another good story right away, and get some decent viewer response, I’ll be okay.”

“You’ll have the mission story soon, and even though I’d rather it never aired, it’s going to be news. Might as well be you doing the story. At least I know you’ll be fair to—”

He caught himself in time not to say Roger’s name. His bookkeeper had promised to go public about the missing money as soon as his son was in the custody of border police in Texas. Until then, Ian’s lips were sealed.

“I appreciate that, Ian. I really do, but I need something right away. The kind of story that will grab viewers. You know, a shocker or a tearjerker.” She scratched at her neck and tried to look innocent. “I don’t suppose you’d let some of the kids at the mission tell their stories?”

“Not a chance.”

“Didn’t think so,” she said agreeably.

An idea niggled at Ian’s brain. “I have a thought that might work.”

“At this point, I’m interested in anything.”

“What about a reunion story? Two brothers. A sick little boy with amnesia. A key chain they both carried for more than twenty years.”

She stilled. Excitement animated her expression. “Are you serious? Would you mind?”

Happiness expanded Ian’s chest. At last, something he could give her. “I’d have to ask Collin. He’s a pretty private guy. But I think he’ll agree.”

“Oh, Ian,” she threw herself against his chest, propelling him backward against the stuffed chair. “I could kiss you for this.”

Ian laughed. “That’s another thing I can help you with.” And then his lips met hers.

Epilogue

S
pring fragranced the air the day Ian’s big brother, Collin, returned to Louisiana, this time bringing his fiancée, Mia Carano. With her warm, effervescent personality and a smile that could melt an iceberg, Mia was the perfect compliment to Collin’s intensity. Ian liked her on sight.

Mama, of course, had insisted on a family get-together. So the clan gathered, Collin and Mia, Ian and Gretchen, along with Mama in Baton Rouge. Ian felt a pride he’d never imagined. His family. All of them together.

From the expression on Collin’s face, he enjoyed the situation just as much. After a hilarious round of golf, the foursome had returned to Mama’s house for Creole chicken.

Now they all sat in the living room, surrounded by Ian’s trophies, for which he took considerable good-natured ribbing from his big brother. Even though he laughed, Ian had a fleeting sense of sadness. Neither
Collin nor Drew even had the privilege of a mother’s doting adoration. He was indeed a blessed man.

The television, though muted, flickered scenes from CNN while they talked. Mama, in her element, bustled around filling glasses with sweet tea and offering more cookies than anyone could ever eat. To his relief, a single medication had solved the problem of her arrhythmia and she was back at the club, swimming every day and, as she put it, “Taking care of the old people.”

They were discussing Gretchen’s story on their reunion.

“How did it go?” Collin asked. He’d left Louisiana before the piece aired.

“I brought a copy for you. We can watch it later if you’d like. Either way, the DVD is yours to keep. Viewers loved it.”

“What about the other situation?” Collin looked from Ian to Gretchen.

“I told her everything,” Ian said. “My bookkeeper turned himself in the day after you went back to Oklahoma.” Channel Eleven had filmed the exclusive story on that, too, complete with Roger’s desperate attempt to help his troubled son, now in jail in Texas.

“What will happen to him?”

“Our lawyers are pushing for restitution instead of jail time. Given the circumstances, I think he’ll get it. At least that’s what I’m praying for.”

“No animosity for the bad publicity? For letting you take the blame?”

“Roger’s a good man who made a bad choice.” He
didn’t like talking about this. He was no saint himself and the mission would recover from the negative publicity. Even though the audit reported the shortfall, no other discrepancies were found. As a result donors were calling with both financial and moral support. “Do you mind if we change the subject? Gretchen and I have an announcement to make.”

He’d been waiting for the perfect time, and what better time than now when all his family was together.

His mother’s hands flew to her lips. “Oh, I knew it.”

Everyone laughed.

Ian cleared his throat, nervous, but excited, too. He reached into his pocket and took out the ring box secreted there this morning.