Finding Gracie's Rainbow (4 page)

“
I wish I could.” Steven
shook his head. “I wonder what he was looking for.”

“
His money,” Gracie stared
at him agitated. “The money is in my office with a bank deposit
slip.” She sat down on the floor as she watched the police come out
of her bedroom.

“
It's all clear, Mr.
McBride, and we have some nice prints to run.” The police officer
shook Steven’s hand before looking down at Gracie.

Gracie looked up at him.
“Can you do a run by on Salem Publishing Plus? He might try to go
there next."

“
Who?” The officer looked
at her as he asked.

“
My ex-husband, Mark
Cameron,” Gracie took the hand her brother offered her and stood.
She walked into Bea’s room and picked up the worn teddy bear her
daughter slept with and sat down on the bed when she felt tears
starting to sting her eyes. “I can do this.” Gracie stood back up
and started grabbing clothes for her daughter before heading to her
own bedroom. Steven was standing in the doorframe watching her as
she picked out a couple of outfits.

“
Gracie?” Steven took the
bag from her.

“
I'm fine, Steven, this is
just a shock.” Gracie gave him a halfhearted smile as she stepped
around the empty drawers lying on the floor. “This is going to take
a month to clean.”

“
We’ll do it together.”
Stevie squeezed her hand after she stood beside him. “Let’s
go.”

“
I don’t want to tell Bea
about this.” Gracie still held the teddy bear in one
hand.

“
That might not be a good
idea. She needs to be on the lookout.” Steven was still holding her
hand as they walked out to his car.

Gracie sighed in her
frustration. “Is it okay if I get mad?”

“
I would love it if you
got mad.” Steven laughed at her. “Would you like me to call
Jackson?”

“
For what?” Gracie asked
glancing over at her brother.

“
I don’t know. Maybe you
want to kiss him.” Steven held the door open for her while he
talked. “Men talk, Cinderella.”

“
You've got to be kidding
me.” Gracie studied the teddy bear as she thought of her behavior
from the night before. “You're not mad about that- are
you?”

“
Should I be?” Steven
asked after they pulled into his driveway. “And Jackson isn't mad
either.” He grabbed Gracie's bag, and they walked into the house.
Bea was asleep, curled up on the couch next to Paige.

“
That’s good because it
was like kissing you.” Gracie whispered as she looked at Bea. She
had convinced herself that it was brotherly so it wouldn't be a
problem later.

“
That’s not what Jackson
said. He enjoyed it.” Steven smiled when he saw the anger build in
Gracie' eyes. He handed her the bag as he picked up Bea to carry
her to bed. “Good night, Gracie

“
Night, Steven, and thanks
again.” Gracie tucked the covers around Bea and handed her the
teddy bear before putting on her pajamas.

She tossed and turned as
she thought about Mark showing up at the school. She finally gave
up and left the bed. She walked into the kitchen and poured a glass
of water as she watched Paige traipse into the room.

“
Are you having trouble
sleeping?” Paige asked noticing the stress in her friend’s
eyes.

“
You could say that.”
Gracie sat at the table. “I keep thinking about what Mark said at
the school.”

“
I haven’t heard any of
that.” Page went over to the cabinet and pulled out some snack
cakes. “Would you fill me in?” She handed one to Gracie

Gracie told her everything
as she nibbled on the cake. “He threatened to take Bea from me. I
wonder if there's something mentally wrong with him.”

“
You know, if I told
Steven everything you swore me to secrecy, Steven would've beaten
him to death already.”

“
Then we should be
grateful that he doesn’t know.” Gracie looked at her very
appreciative to have a friend like Paige. “What Steven doesn’t
know. . .”

“
Will hurt him.” Steven
finished for her as he walked into the kitchen looking angrily at
Paige and Gracie. He saw the look Gracie had shot him and gave it
right back to her. “I think it's time to spill it.”

“
No, Steven,” Gracie was
irritated as she stood. “It's the past and it’s over.”

“
Is that really the game
you want to play?” Steven glared at her. “Don’t you think. .
.?”

“
What I think is that
there are some things big brothers don’t need to know.” She started
walking back to the spare bedroom when Steven walked in front of
her. “We weren’t even in the same state when all this was going on
anyway.”

“
When was it going on?”
Steven looked at Paige then. “You can either tell me or Paige can
tell me, but one way or the other, I'm going to know what was going
on.” He picked up the phone and dialed a number walking into the
other room, so they couldn't hear him talk.

“
Great- Did he just call
Mom?” Gracie sat at the table as she looked over at Paige in
disbelief.

Steven walked back into the
room as he looked down at his sister. “Have you made a
decision?”

“
Fine, Steven.” Gracie
looked at him angrily as Paige frowned at her husband. “You win.
I'll give you all the details.”

Steven listened to her as
she talked growing angrier as he heard all the details. “Mom didn’t
even say anything.”

“
What were you doing a
week after Bea was born?” Gracie asked, hardening herself as she
talked so that tears didn't sting her eyes. “I believe that you and
Paige were getting married. That’s why nobody told you about what
was going on.”

Gracie was still angry when
she saw Steven get up to answer the door. Expecting her parents,
she was taken aback when Jackson walked into the house. “Cute,
Steven, I'm going to bed.”

Paige stood and grinned at
Steven after she saw Jackson. “Finish your cake,
Gracie.”

Jackson glanced at her
before turning his attention to Steven. “What is going on, and
where is this emergency, Steven?” He looked at his friend who was
glaring at his sister.

“
Steven wants to kiss
you.” Gracie threw the cake into the trashcan looking at her
brother angrily. “Good night.”

“
I thought we were keeping
our affair secret, Steven.” Jackson looked at him after watching
Gracie throw the cake away. He heard her laugh as she walked down
to the spare bedroom.

“
Ha, ha.” Steven looked at
his friend. “I was looking after your interests.” He sat back down
at the table. “I found out that she thought kissing you was like
kissing me.” He grinned at the look Jackson gave him.
“FYI.”

“
Really?” Jackson walked
down the hall and stopped Gracie before she opened her bedroom
door. “How are you feeling, Gracie

She looked up and tried to
focus as the hallway was dark. “Are you asking as a doctor? Because
if you are, you can wait.”

Jackson reached for her
hand. “I kiss like your brother. Is that really what you think?
Because if you are, then I'm thinking I want a second
opinion.”

“
Not from me,” Gracie
wiggled away from him. “So go home or find out from one of your
one-nighters.”

She opened the door and
shut it softly behind her so as not to wake Bea.

Jackson smiled at the door
before he turned around to walk back to the kitchen. “My
interests?”

Paige looked at the both of
them as she spoke. “I have a feeling that I'm missing something
here.”

“
She kissed me the other
night.” Jackson smirked before he took the cake that Paige offered
him. “So Steven here calls me in the middle of the night because of
some emergency, and now I'm eating a Hoho snack cake with you guys
at one o'clock in the morning."

“
I thought we were getting
her healthy before we started setting her up on dates.” Paige
looked over at Stephen.

“
Blind dates?” Jackson
asked as he finished the snack cake. “I'm going to love to see
this.” He stood. “I'm going home now, and next time, Steven, make
sure there’s an emergency before you call me.” He slapped Steven on
the back.

“
Maybe that was a bad
idea,” Steven looked at the clock. “I guess we had better get some
sleep. This has been quit a day.”

“
She kissed Jackson?”
Paige asked as they walked to the bedroom. “The only guy she ever
dated was Mark. How old is Bea?”

“
Eight.” Steven answered
her as he thought about what she had just said. “I think it's high
time for her to get back into the social circle.”

“
I’ll start making a list
tomorrow of available men.” Paige smiled as she slipped into their
bed. “What about Jackson?”

“
Not with my sister!”
Steven looked at her hard. “I know his reputation. He loves the
one-night stands.”

“
Then I don't understand
why you just called him over.” Paige sat up in the bed and looked
over at Steve. “Care to explain?”

“
For fun, I guess.” Steven
kissed her good night and turned off the light.

“
That isn't funny, Steven
McBride.” Paige turned over on her side. “That's not something you
do to your best friend or your sister.”

“
I won’t do it again.”
Steven answered as he stifled a yawn. “Get some sleep.”

~

Gracie was holding the
Friday morning staff meeting when Jackson called the office. It
went to voice mail before Addison could grab it, and they all heard
what Jackson said before Gracie could mute the speaker.

Addison was smiling as
Gracie glared at the phone. “So are you going to give him a second
opinion?”

“
Staff meeting, Addison,”
Gracie frowned while she pointed towards the table. “And I don’t
believe in giving second opinions.”

“
Too bad, he's cute.”
Addison walked back to the table while Gracie stared at
her.

“
Go for it.” Gracie said
as they sat down beside each other. “He’s available. Too bad you’re
married. Now let’s get back to business.”

Addison stayed in Gracie’s
office after the meeting and looked at her boss. “Can I talk to you
for a minute?”

“
What’s on your mind?”
Gracie sat down behind her desk.

“
When is the last time
you've taken a vacation or had any kind of fun?” Addison looked
worriedly at her as she asked. “And when is the last time you
actually went on a date?”

“
Never, I can’t remember,
and before I was married.” Gracie answered all of her questions at
once. “Where are you going with this?”

“
Nowhere, I guess. The
doctor looks like he would be fun.” Addison saw the amusement in
Gracie’s eyes.

“
Addison, the doctor is a
friend of my brothers, as you have well known.” Gracie pushed a
paper towards her. “Now it really is time to get some work
done.

Addison stood after she
picked up the document that Gracie had pushed to her. “He wanted a
second opinion on a kiss. That sounds like it would be fun to
me.”

“
Well, when he calls back
you can offer your services to him.” Gracie was laughing at her as
she pointed to the door. “And I would love to hear what Dylan says
about his wife kissing another man.”

“
Touché.” Addison walked
out of the door with a smile on her face. She made a U-turn when
she saw who had walked in. “Dr. Carter just walked in so I will
offer him my services.”

“
Do that. And, Addison,
I'm not available to see him today.” Gracie looked down at her desk
when she spoke.

“
Really? I know for a fact
that you have no appointments until after lunch.” Addison saw the
serious look that Gracie shot her. “Fine. I'll send him on his
way.”

Addison knocked on the door
after Jackson left and walked into the office shooting daggers at
her boss.

Gracie looked up at her.
“Didn’t he want that second opinion?”

“
Yes, I'm sure he does,
but not from me.” Addison threw some papers on Gracie’s desk as she
spoke. “He wanted to drop off these.” She watched as Gracie’s
expression went from amused to uptight. “And these,” Addison put a
bottle of vitamins next to them.

“
And why did he want to
drop off these?” Gracie picked up the papers and tossed them into
the trashcan beside her desk.

“
Anorexic?” Addison
studied her boss. “I thought we were friends, Gracie.”

“
Friends don’t whine when
they have a little trouble.” Gracie stared out the windows of her
office. “Shit!” She grabbed the money and bank deposit out of a
drawer and handed them to Addison. “Okay, friends do whine. Take
this to the bank. Hide it in your skirt and then take it to the
bank.”

“
What?” Addison watched
Gracie’s face turn white as a ghost.

“
Mark is here, and there's
fixing to be trouble.” Gracie was visibly shaking as she talked. “I
have to get rid of him.”