“It was kind of like that,” he explained. “I drove the car and we had an accident. Your mommy and I both got hurt, but she never got better. Your Uncle David was very mad with me, and he still hasn’t forgiven me for hurting your mommy.”
Gracie studied him again, and she frowned slightly. “Did you tell him you were sorry?” She asked seriously.
Steve nearly laughed out loud at the childish answer to all life’s mistakes. “Yes, I did, many times. But Uncle David is still mad at me, even today.”
“But if you say you’re sorry, he’s supposed to forgive you,” she protested.
“I wish he would someday, but hurting your mommy is a much bigger accident than breaking a window. Uncle David is mad and sad. He’s not ready to forgive me yet.”
“Gracie, I loved your mommy. We wanted to get married and have lots of beautiful babies, just like you. I am very proud and happy to be your real daddy, and I promise I will never do anything to hurt you.”
Slowly, a tiny smile tugged at the corner of the little girl’s lips. “You’re really my daddy?” she asked timidly.
“Really,” he agreed with an answering smile. Suddenly, she reached for him and Steve gathered her into his lap, reveling in the wonder of holding his daughter in his arms at last.
Ch 28
Home Again
Steve and his mother sat at a table inside the McDonalds, watching Gracie as she clambered through the chambers of the giant Playland Activity Center.
Lora Williams was making steady progress on the road to becoming a proud Grandmother, but she was still trying to settle on her grandmotherly title. Should it be a more formal title, like Nana Williams, or simply Nanny? Or, something more southern, like Mama Lora? She and Gracie were making a game out of it, and tried a new title possibility at every meeting. Gracie giggled whenever she hugged her “Granny Go-Go”, or wheedled her “Sugar Mama” into taking her out for ice cream. Today, she was simply “Nanaloo”.
She thought that she might be kind of partial to this version, but she had promised Gracie when they had officially met and realized the problem, that she could make the final choice. With the child’s imagination, though, Lora Williams suspected the game could last for a long time to come!
No matter, Lora was captivated by her new granddaughter, and had even gone out and bought a digital camera and printer. Pictures of Gracie now papered her refrigerator. The best ones she had framed, and they had joined the other family photos on the piano. Steve’s old toy box had been cleaned out and set up in the spare bedroom, which now sparkled in a fresh coat of Gracie’s favorite shade of purple, eased by white eyelet curtains and bedspread. A couple of trips to the Toys R Us in Wilmington had quickly overfilled the old toy box. There was no doubt that ‘Princess Gracie’ was now in residence at the Williams’ house.
Steve and his mother watched contentedly as Gracie progressed through several tubes, and waved gaily from the bubble window at the top of the slide to make sure her audience was still watching. Moments later her feet shot out of the slide and she ran to the table for a drink. Steve watched his black haired daughter adoringly. “Can I have my hug?” He asked, holding open his arm in invitation.
Gracie grinned and wrapped her small arms around his neck, planting a sticky wet kiss on his cheek. “There!” She said, taking another gulp of her soda. “A hug AND a kiss, Daddy. That will keep you happy until I get three more slides.”
Steve gave a mock sigh. “I guess I’ll survive. But if you want three more slides, you’d better get moving. Gramma wants you home early tonight.”
Gracie grinned joyfully. “Uncle David comes home tomorrow!” She exclaimed, hopping off of Steve’s lap and dancing around the table in anticipation.
Steve forced a smile and nodded. “Yep, he sure is, so you need to be rested up and ready to celebrate!”
“He’s been gone for-ev-er!” She sighed dramatically.
“It has been a long time,” Steve agreed. “So go slide some more already, ‘cause we don’t have all night.”
Gracie raced off to the Playland entrance and Steve slumped moodily back in his seat.
His mother watched him sympathetically. “Maybe he’s regretted everything that happened. Once he finds out that everyone knows what he did, he may be relieved to have it out in the open, and ready to put it all in the past,” she offered encouragingly.
I bet that the only thing he regrets is not finishing me off last summer. Steve thought with a grimace. He smiled at his mother though. “Yeah, mom. It could be possible, I guess,” Steve conceded, in an attempt to reassure her, than from any hope that David would have changed.
“You don’t believe that, though,” she said flatly, not fooled by his words. He glanced at her tiredly. “He called me a murderer, mom.” Steve reminded her. “I saw his face that day. If Pete and Chuck hadn’t held him back, he would have at least beaten me to a pulp, and I don’t think he meant to stop with that.”
Lora Williams was silent for a minute, trying to reconcile Steve’s boyhood best friend with a man that was willing to lie and hurt, possibly even kill, her son. “That was right after Sarah had died, though, Steve,” she reminded him. “Perhaps it was grief for her death after such a long time of suffering, and he will be calmer now. Surely, for Gracie’s sake…” her voice trailed off uncertainly.
Steve stared unseeingly at the Playland. “When the Bolton’s talk to him tomorrow, they will tell him that we know how he lied to keep us from meeting, to keep me from Sarah, and to keep me from finding out about Gracie. They will also tell him that the papers have already been drawn up, giving me full custody of Gracie, although she will continue to live here for the next school year, at least.”
He turned his head to look at her. “Their hope is that he will see that it is pointless to deny what he did, and that Gracie’s future has already been settled. He will realize that we are all family now, and it is in everybody’s interest that we all get along.” Steve took a final slurp of his milkshake and crushed that paper cup in his hand. “Then we’ll be one big happy family again.”
“But that’s good, Steve,” she told him enthusiastically. “Once he knows you have all moved on, he should realize that he needs to move on as well.”
Steve rolled his eyes at her determination to see a happy ending to tomorrow’s meeting. “I don’t know mom,” he said doubtfully. “David’s been angry an awfully long time. It takes something really big to help you see past that much anger, and I don’t know that he will want to let go of it.”
“Well, he loves Gracie, from everything I’ve heard. It won’t take him long to realize that Gracie loves you too, and doing anything that will hurt you will hurt her. David’s a smart boy. He’s not going to want to do anything to hurt Gracie, surely.”
Steve smiled at his mother’s eternally optimistic spirit. “I wish I felt as sure as you do,” he told her. “I’ve been praying for a change of heart for him, but frankly, I don’t expect any miracles.”
Now his mother rolled her eyes. “Ever since you fell off that cliff, you’ve gotten big into religious nonsense,” she scolded him.
“That’s because when I landed, God was waiting for me,” he explained to her patiently. “You don’t meet God every day, mom.”
“You don’t fall off a cliff every day, either,” she retorted. “How do you know that it wasn’t simply a hallucination?” She challenged him. “You were down there by yourself an awfully long time.”
Steve grinned. “Believe me, you know when God talks, mom. Even if you decide to ignore Him, you know.”
Mrs. Williams looked uncomfortably at her watch. “Call Gracie down, it’s time we got her back to Lee Ann and Richard,” she announced abruptly.
Sighing slightly at her refusal to hear anything that had to do with God or church, Steve walked over to the Playland, and peered up into several passages before spotting Gracie near the top. He pointed at his watch and waved for her to come down. Gracie disappeared from the Plexiglas
window and a minute later, she shot down the spiral slide on her belly. Steve scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Grace squealed with indignation as she hung half upside down with dangling arms on Steve’s back.
“Let me down, Daddy!” She laughed, pounding his back ineffectually with her small fists.
"Not until you answer me a very important question!" Steve laughed.
Gracie paused, letting her hands hang straight down. "What question?"
"Do you love me, Sarah Grace?" He asked her softly.
"Yeess!"
Steve pulled her up and held her in his arms so he could see her red and laughing face. "Really?" He asked her softly.
Grace wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Yeah," she said with a happy smile. "I do love you, Daddy."
Steve hugged her in return. He couldn't believe the thrill that went through him every time he heard her say 'Daddy'. He doubted he'd ever get tired of that word!
"I love you, too. Gracie. Don't ever forget that. I love you more than anything in the world."
Gracie grinned. "I know that!"
Steve sighed and set her down on the ground. Gracie skipped back to the table where her grandmother waited, and Steve watched her go with a worried frown. The last few days had been almost idyllic. He couldn't help but think that David's homecoming would ruin everything...
You don't KNOW that!
That was true. Richard seemed confident that, once confronted with the facts, David would listen to reason. With a sigh, he prayed that Richard was right, and that David would accept that Steve was now a part of Gracie's life, and that it was time for the two of them to make peace over Sarah's death. He supposed it was possible...
Ch 29
Unexpected Results
David sat at the restaurant table with Gracie, nearly asleep at this late hour, cuddled peacefully in his lap. His parents sat across from him, their faces sober and pleading at the same time. On the table, the remains of a steak dinner marked the completion of his ‘Welcome Home’ celebration. Well, the celebration was over! His parents had just shared with him some incredible news...Steve Williams was alive! Not only alive, but back in Jacksonville and playing the part of the proud father!
David held himself in disciplined stillness, the rigidity of his jaw the only indication of the turmoil raging in his head.
He LIVED!
Dismay at the knowledge quickly turned to disgust. He was Recon, for Chrisakes! How could he have botched such a simple op?
And the bomb shells just kept coming. He could barely focus on the words as his father quietly informed him that all his carefully executed maneuvers to cut Steve out of Sarah and Gracie’s lives had been discovered! And, while they didn’t approve of his actions, they could understand how at the time, David could believe he was doing it all for the welfare of the family.
“You and Steve were best friends, David. He was like a second son to me,” his mother reminded him, her eyes and voice anxious as she studied his face for some sort of emotion. “I can’t believe you can’t find it somewhere in your heart to get past the accident – for Sarah’s sake. He loved your sister, and Sarah loved him! I know she would hate it that you let an accident destroy your friendship.”
David studied his mother. She really didn’t understand. But she wasn’t a twin. Perhaps she couldn’t understand what having half of your soul destroyed by the one person you had entrusted to care for it, did to you. The void was unimaginable.
Richard chimed in as well. “Son, I expect you will want some time to get used to the idea, but you need to understand that your mother and I have welcomed Steve back as part of our family, and as Gracie’s father. She loves him already, and, to tell the truth, with our age now, and your mother’s brush with cancer, we are relieved that Steve wants to be a real father, that he will be there to raise Gracie. We believe that is what Sarah would have wanted.”
David absently played with Gracie’s jet black curls, so much like his sister’s . He didn’t look up as he spoke. “You didn’t need to worry about that. You know that I wanted to take Gracie.” Richard was taken aback by the resentful intensity of David’s voice.
“She’s Steven’s daughter. It is his right to raise his own child. You were wrong to keep him from her,” Richard admonished his son. “I’m glad that you love Gracie enough to want to be there for her, but she is not your daughter. She should be with Steve.”
For a moment, David lost control. “She is a Bolton!” He hissed adamantly, his fist slamming down on the table and making the dishes rattle. Gracie startled in her sleep, then relaxed back onto David’s arms peacefully.
Richard eyed David uneasily for a moment, suddenly catching a glimpse of how deep David’s hatred had grown for his former friend. “No,” he told his son slowly, “actually, she is a Williams. Steve acknowledged paternity. The lawyers are completing the paperwork this week. Gracie has agreed to the name change, too.”
Rage shuddered through David. “I can’t believe you’re doing this!” He shouted, lurching to his feet with Gracie still clutched in his arms. Richard and Lee Ann stared in shock at each other, dismayed that David still harbored so much anger in his heart.
Richard rose to his feet also, speaking firmly, in hopes of calming David’s outburst. “David, son,” he soothed. “Sit down so we can discuss this rationally.”
“There’s nothing to discuss!” David shot back sarcastically. It sounds like the three of you have settled everything already!”
Startled awake the commotion, Gracie began to cry in confusion and fear. David ignored her sobs, even as he shifted the child onto his hip. “Gracie is ours!” He barked, stabbing a finger at them emphatically. “She is ours, and you are NOT going to give her to that murderer!”
Grace was fully awake now. “Daddy is NOT a murderer!” She yelled hotly, tears still streaking her cheeks. “It was an accident! You’re wrong Uncle David. Daddy loves me and he loves mommy! He’s not a bad man like you told me!”
David stared down at his niece. “You’ve brainwashed her!” He said disgustedly.
“David, you’re scaring her, sit down and lets talk calmly…” Lee Ann told him sharply.
“I won’t discuss this calmly, mother!” David replied heatedly. “He has no business trying to see Grace. You’ll be sorry you let him come back! You’ll be sorry all over again!”
“David! Either calm down, or give me Gracie! You are scaring her!” Lee Ann told David again, reaching for the child.
David ignored her request but looked around, remembering where they were. The entire restaurant was staring. The pudgy host was on the phone and talking animatedly into the receiver, glancing repeatedly in his direction. No doubt the police were on the way.
A new, more disturbing thought suddenly struck him. If Steve was alive, then what had he told them about that day on the mountain? Had they believed him? Was that why they were giving him Gracie?
“What did Steve tell you?” David demanded harshly. “Did he tell you that I cut the rope? Is that why you are taking his side against your own son?”
“Cut…the rope?” Richard repeated in bewilderment.
Lee Ann stepped around the table and reached for the struggling Gracie. “You are talking crazy, David,” she told him firmly. “We didn’t know you would have this much trouble with the truth after six years. If we had, we would have waited until another time to speak with you about our decisions. Give Gracie to me. Let’s just let it go for tonight and we’ll talk about it tomorrow at home.”
David swore in fury and thrust the screeching Gracie into his mother’s arms. He plunged his hand into his pocket and tossed a $100 dollar bill on the table.
“Go ahead and dote on your precious Steve! He’s the son you always wanted, anyway. I’m done with you!” He turned on his heel and stalked out of the restaurant. Richard and Lee Ann stared after him in stunned silence, Lee Ann automatically patting Gracie’s back and making soothing noises to quiet the child.
“Yes, yes, we’re fine,” Richard muttered distractedly. “Did he tell you I cut the rope?” Richard felt sick. David couldn’t mean…! Resolutely, he pushed the thought away. His son would never do anything like that! He had simply misunderstood David…
He flashed a weak smile at the host. “My apologies, though, for causing a scene…we had no idea…” his voice trailed off.
He looked from his wife to his still sobbing granddaughter’s tear streaked face. “Let’s get Gracie home,” he told Lee Ann tiredly.
Still apologizing to the little host, they followed David out the door.
Ch 30
Last Dive
Beth heard the doorbell downstairs and peered blearily at her alarm clock in disbelief. Seven o’clock? Who would be at her door this early on a Saturday, unless…Steve? She frowned guiltily at the sleeping figure sprawled on the bed beside her. David had polished off nearly the whole fifth of Jack Daniels before passing out around two…chances were it would be past two in the afternoon before he woke up - unless that doorbell managed to filter through his stupor! It would be just her luck, though, and Beth didn’t think it would be a good idea for the two men to meet each other on her front porch.
The door bell rang again. Sighing, Beth tossed on a robe and hurried downstairs to answer the door. Her mouth tasted like cotton balls and her head ached. She had only sipped on a couple of drinks throughout the evening, but it had been a long time since she had drunk anything at all, and the whisky had gone right to her head.
She opened the door just as Steve was reaching for the buzzer for a third time. “All right, I’m up!” She grumbled. “Lay off the bell.”
Far Country Page 24
