Finding Gracie's Rainbow (3 page)

Steven shook his head
before he stood. “I have to go before Paige sends out a search
party. Jackson, I’ll get up with you later.”

“
Wait a minute, Steven.”
Gracie stood and saw the look that her mother shot at her. “I’ll be
back.”

She walked with her brother
out of the front door. “I need to thank you for what you did last
night and today.”

“
What did I do today?”
Steven asked as he hugged her.

“
I know Kim doesn't have a
lot of money to spare, and my pantry is full.” Gracie saw the look
on her brother’s face before she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his
cheek.

“
If you really want to
thank me, get your health back. That's all I’m asking.” Steven
waved before he walked to his car.

Gracie grabbed one of Bea’s
hands, and they walked into the kitchen sitting down at the table.
Jackson smiled at Bea as she sat down beside him while Gracie
watched.

Jackson caught her staring,
“Cinderella?”

“
Uum,” Gracie picked up
her spoon as Bea looked at her. “Jackson nicknamed me when I was
about your age. It was a long time ago, and my favorite movie
was
Cinderella
.”

“
Start off slow, Gracie.”
Jackson was watching her eat. He was a pediatrician and had seen
plenty of teenagers go through what she was going through now.
Steven had consulted with him about Gracie’s situation.

“
Excuse me?” Gracie placed
the spoon down. “Bea, are you finished?”

“
Yes, Momma.” Bea took her
bowl and spoon to the sink before walking with Janet into the
living room.

Gracie turned her attention
towards Jackson. “I’ve only to assume that Steven told you he
thinks I'm anorexic.”

“
That assumption would be
correct, Gracie.” He studied the blue eyes that were starting to
shoot daggers and stood up smiling. “Eat slow and not too much.
Doctor's orders.”

“
You aren't my doctor, my
brother, or Bea’s uncle!” Gracie stood and grabbed her bowl of soup
that she had managed to eat half. “You’ve no right to tell me what
to do.” She turned to him and smiled as they stood face to face.
She grabbed his face and kissed him not expecting him to kiss her
back. She was surprised when he started kissing her slowly drawing
her more deeply into it.

“
Point well proven,”
Jackson smiled when she backed away from him.

“
You weren’t supposed to
enjoy that, and you certainly weren't supposed to kiss me back.”
Gracie was caught off balance when she saw the smugness on his
face.

“
Well, Cinderella, you
forgot to explain the rules, and who said I enjoyed it?” He asked
watching her walk out of the room.

“
Bea!” Gracie was calling
for her daughter. “I told Kim we would go to service tonight, so
let’s go.”

She put her fingers to her
lips as she remembered that kiss. ‘Okay, what you were thinking and
why did you kiss him?’ She asked herself before she pulled away
from her parents’ house.

Chapter 2

Gracie was expecting Kim
when she showed up at her office door. She had the secretary order
them something from the cafeteria so that they could eat in her
office. Gracie motioned her sister in.

“
Expecting me this time-
were you?” Kim laughed when she saw two plates at the table where
Gracie usually held her office meetings.

“
Yes, m’am,” Gracie wanted
to talk with her sister in private. “I messed up.”

“
And do I need to know
this as a sister or as a reverend?” Kim looked at her
curiously.

“
A sister please.” She
played with the food on her plate as she thought about what she
wanted to say. “I might’ve, well I sort of, oh dang, I kissed
Jackson last night before we went to church.”

“
You kissed Jackson?” Kim
smiled at her. “And you feel guilty why?”

“
He’s a friend, and I was
mad because he was telling me what to do. Plus, he has Bea calling
him Uncle.” Gracie laughed at herself. “I kissed him because I was
mad.”

Kim was laughing at her
then. “What better reason.”

“
Is it?” Gracie looked
serious. “Mark never touched me, unless I made him mad.”

Kim stopped laughing. “Did
I just hear you right?”

“
I'm afraid so.” Gracie
stood. “Maybe I just needed to say that out loud, but I still can't
understand it. However, while I'm at it, I want to make a full
confession to my sister, not my reverend.”

“
I'm listening.” Gracie
had Kim’s full attention as her sister focused on her.

“
Mark was dating others
while I dated him, was engaged to him, and after, I'm going to
assume, we were married.” She sat back down and picked at her
sandwich. “I only found this out after I found out about Bea.
However, there is more, and I don’t know how much Mom told you, so
I'm going to tell you everything.” Gracie paused as her secretary
came up to the door. “Yes, Addison.”

“
There is a Jackson Carter
here to see you, Gracie.” Addison waited for her to
respond.

“
I can see him in ten
minutes, Addison.” Gracie glanced over at Kim. “What have I
done?”

“
We can figure that out
later. Tell me the rest of the story first.” Kim had finished
eating and was looking straight at her sister.

“
Mark beat me.” Gracie
took a swallow of her water. “The night that Bea was born, he beat
me so bad I couldn’t stand by myself. He called Mom and told her I
was at the hospital. That was the last time I saw him until the
divorce.”

“
Gracie,” Kim was hugging
her as they both stood. “Baby, you don’t need to keep stuff bottled
up like that. Does Steven know?”

“
Is Mark still alive?”
Gracie watched as Addison had Jackson sit down in the reception
area before looking nervously at Kim as she walked over to her
desk.

“
You have a point. I guess
you don’t want him to know.” She watched Gracie shake her head.
“I'm glad that you’ve finally talked about this anyway. I'll tell
Jackson he can come in now.”

“
You could tell him to go
jump in a lake.” Gracie tried to put on her office demeanor. “What
have I done?”

“
You kissed him because
you were mad.” Kim laughed at her as she walked out. “You dealt it,
Baby Girl. Later.”

Addison walked Jackson in
and grabbed the plates that were sitting on the table before she
left. She was about to shut the door before Gracie asked her not
to.

“
Jackson, I'm not really
sure what this about, and I'm awfully busy.” Gracie pointed to the
seat in front of her.

“
I was just in the area
and wanted to check up on you.” Jackson studied her eyes. “You have
a little color back anyway.”

“
Your office is across
town. How is this ‘just in the area’?” Gracie was writing something
on a piece of paper before she looked over at him.

“
Fine. Steven asked me to
check up on you. I'm betting he didn’t know that Kim was going to
be here.” Jackson found himself looking at her mouth, and she
laughed when she caught him.

“
I kissed you because I
was mad, Jackson.” Gracie informed him. “It won’t happen
again.”

“
That’s too bad,
Cinderella,” Jackson stood and walked to the door. “I won’t admit
that I liked it then.”

Gracie watched as he walked
to the exit, narrowing her eyes. "Neither will I.” She mumbled
before she took the phone call.

She left work for a parent-
teachers’ conference at Bea’s school and pulled up into the parking
lot five minutes early. Walking into the school, she ran into Mark.
She was more shocked than surprised when she looked at him angrily.
“What are you doing here?”

“
I wanted to check up on
Bea.” He looked her over. “Are you on drugs, Gracie? Is that why
you needed that money so bad?”

“
No, I'm not on drugs, and
how dare you accuse me of that!” Gracie glared at him hard.
“Please, tell me. What is the real reason you're here? You
absolutely have had nothing to do with us since the day she was
born.” Gracie walked towards the school office. “Why do you want to
see her now?”

“
I don’t.” Mark pulled her
arms hard. “I want you to tell your brother not to come near me
again.”

“
And if I don’t?” Gracie
asked as she was about to open the door.

“
Then I'll take my
daughter away from you on the pretense that you're on drugs. You
sure do look like it.” Mark pulled on her arms harder and raised
his hand as the office door opened. “You don’t want that- do
you?”

Gracie had shrunk back when
she saw his hands.

The principal opened the
door and saw the hand rose to slap her. “Ms. Cameron, please go
into the office.”

He escorted Mark off the
campus. “Next time you come here, you'll be escorted off by a
police officer.”

Mark glared at him before
he got into his car and drove off, squealing his wheels.

The principal walked back
into the office and saw the tears streaming down Gracie's cheeks.
“Dry off your face before your conference. I'm going to call Steven
so that he can make sure you get somewhere safe.”

“
Thank you, Principal
Rogers.” Gracie was scared, and he could tell it when he walked
back to his office to call Steven.

She walked to her
daughter’s classroom to meet with Bea’s teacher. The principal had
also called her on the school phone to let her know what had just
happened. After the conference, Mrs. Dalton walked both Gracie and
Bea to the office where Steven was talking to Bea’s
principal.

Gracie took one look at
him, and she could feel the anger in his body language. “I’m sorry,
Steven.”

“
Again it isn't your
fault.” Steven picked up Bea and took Gracie's hand. “Thanks,
Terry, for giving me the heads up.”

“
Terry?” Gracie had never
thought about his name.

“
Yes, another friend of
mine that was mean to you when you played like you was Cinderella.”
Steven glanced at her. “I’m grateful that he remembered
you.”

“
So am I.” Gracie looked
around outside and glanced at her car. “Great, just great! When did
he have time to do that?”

“
What?” Steven asked
before he looked at the car noticing that all four of the tires had
been slashed. “What exactly did he want?”

“
I'll have to tell you
later.” Gracie smiled at Bea. “The teacher really bragged about
you, Princess. You're a hard worker.”

Bea smiled at her sadly.
She was old enough to know that something bad had just happened to
her mother, and she closed her eyes while Steven carried her to his
car.

“
We'll have a tow truck
come and pick up your car.” Steven drove them to his apartment.
“Tell me what you need from your place. The best thing you can do
will be to spend a couple of days with us.”

“
I’ll make you a list, or
I could come with you and pack the bag myself.” Gracie answered
walking beside Bea into the apartment. “And on the way there, I can
tell you what happened.”

“
Sounds like a plan. Let
me tell Paige and I'll be right back.” Steven called for Paige and
followed her voice into the bedroom. He came back out with Paige,
who stared at Gracie while she hugged Bea.

“
Hello, Princess, would
you like to help me cook?” She asked Bea after studying Grace for a
couple of minutes.

“
Sure!” Bea ran into the
kitchen before Paige hugged Gracie.

Gracie looked at her
brother after they were on their way to her apartment. “He
threatened to take Bea away from me because he thinks I used that
money to buy drugs. That's his story if I don't tell you to stay
away from him. Accused me of having the habit.” She told him the
rest as an afterthought because that was the one thing that stuck
in her mind. She watched her brother grow angry.

“
He was never a ‘Prince
Charming'. That's for sure.” Steven looked around the complex
before he allowed Gracie out of the car. They walked into the
apartment, and Gracie just stared at her belongings in shock before
Steven grabbed the phone to call the police. “Don’t touch
anything.”

Gracie looked around her
apartment in horror before she glanced back at her brother. Steven
watched her as he was talking on the phone.

“
I have to ask, Steven.”
Gracie said after he hung up while she massaged her temples. She
could feel a headache starting to form. “How exactly did you get
the money from Mark?”

“
I threatened him with the
law. I can promise that I didn't lay one hand on him.” Steven
hugged her after he walked to where she was standing. “Not to say
that I didn't want to.” He looked at his sister’s belongings
scattered around the rooms. “You don’t deserve this.”

“
Bea’s school, my car, and
my apartment. Where is he going next? My office?” Gracie watched as
police officers started to comb through her apartment. “Please tell
me he doesn’t know where I work.”