Beyond Grace's Rainbow: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

by Carmel Harrington

  To supplement the sales of her art, Abby also sold really cool charcoal portraits. Grace had an 8x10 charcoal picture of Jack and herself when he was 8 months old and it was her absolute favourite possession. Abby had managed to make Grace look like Mother Earth – not to mention about a stone lighter than she was post-baby! And more importantly – is there anything more important than a painting that makes you look a stone lighter?!!! – she had captured the very essence of Jack. In that one portrait she portrayed that Jack was all at once fiercely independent, kind, funny, stubborn, yet had the most loving of natures. Some days Grace found herself just staring at that picture and could lose twenty minutes.

  Abby was really intense when it came to her art. She was totally focused on it and was happy to miss out on so many luxuries to finance it. Mind you, Grace thought with a smile, Abby was certainly no saint, having been known to party hard with the rest of the gang. Grace always teased her that she was the queen of the one-night stand. She hoped that Abby would meet her Prince Charming soon.

  Picking up the last of her photographs, Grace smiled. There was something about this duo that cheered her up no matter what, whenever she thought of them. The last of their gang – Tom and Gerry. When they met, Tom used to joke that he was going to change his name as they couldn’t possibly date – the jokes about their names too much to take. But they had survived the Looney tune jibes and had been a couple now for three years and were living together in a beautiful Victorian house in Clontarf. Tom was the joker of the bunch and all of the friends had been on the end of his high jinks at some time or other. He was also the oldest of them all at the ripe young age of 42. He’d been grey since he was 15 and to use Tara’s words to describe him – was like a comfortable old slipper. A little bit shabby on the outside but the most perfect fit! But appearances can be deceptive. Tom was a Detective Sergeant in the Gardaí and could be one tough cookie when necessary.

  Gerry on the other hand, was the complete opposite of his partner. He was 6’2, wore only designer clothes and never missed his daily workout in the local gym. He was also the baby of the bunch, at a mere 30 years of age. Gerry, an Image Consultant, loved giving people a makeover. The opportunity to insult someone and get paid for it was too good to be true for him. He had recently done a few appearances on breakfast TV doing makeovers, so he was also the mini-celebrity of the group.

  Many people at first glance had thought Tom and Gerry were an unlikely couple, complete opposites, but as it often is, that’s what made them work so much. Tom was the more grounded of the two, whereas Gerry was a drama queen of the highest order! If he could cause a scene where he was the central character, he’d orchestrate it. He adored movies and was a major movie buff. He had this great knack of equating all big events in life to a suitable movie, and forever quoted lines, sometimes at the most annoying times. He also lived his life like he was in a movie where, of course, he was the leading man. So he loved the fact that he could now tell everyone he was a TV star. Tom told the gang he had found him practising his autographs at home just in case he was recognised. They had all teased him endlessly about that one!

  Grace smiled as she remembered the night when she had told Tara, Sean, Abby and Liam about her new friends. Grace just knew that they would all get on well together. And they did. Grace met the boys through her work as it happens. As an interior designer they hired her to redesign their house. It was to be the job of her career. Their house was featured in the Sunday Independent, and during the interview, the journalist asked who had done the decor and ‘Interiors by Grace Devlin’ was launched into the public eye. Before she knew it, she was the hot new talent in town, her phone ringing off the hook with enquiries. Grace remembered calling round Tom and Gerry’s with a magnum of champagne to say thanks and Gerry had opened the door to her, saying ‘Grace Darling, from the moment we met you, we just knew you were going to be our fag hag!’

  Grace glanced at the clock, it was almost one and that meant it was almost time for Tara and Sean to arrive. Tara was never late. Still Grace was pretty organised. She had tuna steaks ready to put on the griddle and the salad and couscous were already on the table. She also had several bottles of wine in the fridge along with some large bottles of Bulmers cider. Tom wouldn’t drink anything else, much to Gerry’s disgust. As she predicted, Tara and Sean were the first to arrive. Tara was all tumbling dark curls and big rosy cheeks, holding a beautiful bunch of white roses. She knew they were Grace’s favourites.

  ‘Be my valentine, Grace?’ Tara squealed.

  ‘Too late, she’s mine,’ Sean retorted, handing Grace a bottle of wine.

  ‘Thank you both, but I’m afraid my heart’s already taken – Jack and I exchanged cards at 6.30 this morning, while you too were still snoring your heads off!’

  ‘Oh my god, that’s inhuman Grace. How are you still awake? I’d need an afternoon nap if I’d been awoken by a three year old at that ungodly hour!’ Tara said with a laugh.

  ‘That’s because you’re a lazy old tart,’ drawled the unmistakable Kerry accent of Tom.

  ‘Move aside Tom, let me kiss this vision in front of me,’ Gerry chimed in.

  And then all of a sudden Grace was the filling in a Tom and Gerry sandwich. Tom giving her a big slobbery kiss on one cheek and Gerry with his standard air kisses on the other. She closed her eyes for a moment to savour it. Her friends all huddled in her hallway, creating chaos within seconds of arriving, and she started to believe that maybe, just maybe, all was going to work out.

  ‘Jaysus, this is like a bad episode of friends! I demand we stop all this right now and get pissed!’ Tom boomed. With that, Abby arrived and the noise level in the apartment jumped by 10 decibels. And it felt great. Grace left the gang to chat while she put the finishing touches to the dinner and also got the drinks ready.

  A few minutes later they were all tucking into lunch and Gerry begged Tom to tell everyone about the latest investigation he had handled. Tom loved an audience and everyone was eager to hear the latest instalment from Tom’s work.

  ‘Well my last case involved eight victims who was conned by the same guy.’ Tom took a gulp of his Bulmers before continuing. ‘Each of them was looking for an apartment to rent in Dublin and answered an advert in the Evening Herald for a stunning apartment in the IFSC centre. The rent was really reasonable – €1000 per month.’

  ‘That’s for nothing,’ Sean said amazed. He knew those apartments; they usually cost at least €1500 per month.

  ‘I know. That’s why the “landlord” got so many takers. He showed the apartment to the eight prospective renters and then promptly agreed to rent it to each of them!’

  ‘That’s crazy!’ Tara exclaimed. ‘Sure how did he think he’d get away with it?’

  ‘Well the landlord took €500 deposit from each and a further €1000 for one month’s rent in advance. They all signed contracts and were given a set of keys, telling them they could move in the following Saturday.’

  ‘That’s €12,000!’ Abby said, quickly doing the math.

  ‘Not too shabby, hey?’ Tom said. ‘Well, Saturday comes and eight new tenants all arrive within a couple of hours of each other complete with bag and baggage! You can imagine the chaos when each of them produced an identical contract!’

  There was a suitable amount of oohs and aahs from the group, Tom noted with a grin.

  ‘Did they call the landlord? Did he come to the apartment to explain?’ Tara demanded.

  ‘Yes and yes to answer your questions. The landlord was traced and called by the property management company for the building. But the problem was, when he arrived it wasn’t the same guy who had rented the apartment to them!’

  ‘Oh my god!’ Tara and Abby exclaimed in unison.

  ‘Who was the guy who gave them the contracts then?’ Sean asked.

  ‘Well after a lot of explaining – the landlord was as confused as these guys – they discovered that the existing tenant was the con artist. He was leaving, but decided to sc
am a few quid before he left. He lost his deposit but that was only €1000. He’s still quids in.’

  ‘How do these guys think of such things?’ Tara asked. ‘The imagination of them!’

  ‘The cheek of them more like!’ Tom answered. ‘More than likely he’s done this before. He was only in the apartment for six weeks. I’d say he does this on a regular basis. The contracts he gave each of the “new” tenants were very professional.’

  ‘So you’re trying to find him?’ Abby asked.

  ‘That I am princess. And I’ll get him too! I feel sorry for those poor eejits who lost out. They were devastated.’

  ‘Darling, don’t worry too much about them,’ Gerry interrupted. He turned to the group and told them, ‘I was waiting for Tom outside the station and saw the tenants all leaving after giving their statements. Tom, did you see the way that the tall dark guy, Morgan, was looking at the blonde girl, Amy? I’m telling you there were sparks flying between them two!’

  ‘God you’re an incurable romantic Gerry!’ Tara said with a laugh.

  ‘Can I help it if I notice things? You mark my words; they’ll be looking for a double apartment next time!’

  ‘Well there’s one way I never considered on how to meet a man,’ Abby said with a laugh. ‘Maybe I should start flat hunting!’

  While everyone was listening to Tom’s story, it gave Grace a moment to compose herself. Only Sean looked distracted and kept giving her worried looks. It had been really hard on Sean, she was aware of that. He’d been amazing and she knew it’d been a strain keeping things from Tara in particular. She had been adamant that nobody was to be worried unnecessarily until all the facts were discovered. Looking back, Grace hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of weeks now. Grace had lost some weight too and Tara had nagged and nagged her to get antibiotics. Thinking it was a bad cold initially, one that wouldn’t go away, she went to see Sean. He did an initial examination and although he agreed with Grace that it was probably the flu, he decided to do some blood tests. Grace had been a bit annoyed at that, thinking Sean was going overboard in his Dr McDreamy routine. But hindsight was a wonderful thing and of course he was right to do those tests. Thank God he did!

  Grace was abruptly pulled back from her daydreaming by a demand from Gerry. ‘Right Grace, I’m in suspenders here for too long! Why are we all here? Don’t tell me you’re preggers again!’ Gerry laughed.

  ‘Nah couldn’t be that Gerry, the spawn of the Devil hasn’t been around for years now!’ Tara joked about Liam. She never missed an opportunity to have a dig at him, never forgiving him for leaving Grace on her own.

  ‘Very funny Tara. When are you going to stop laying into Liam? He’s guilty of a lot of things, but spawn of the Devil is going a bit far I think. Remember he’s Jack’s dad,’ Grace responded a bit sharply.

  Seeing Tara’s hurt face made Grace feel instantly guilty for snapping at her. She was only joking after all. She smiled lamely to try to take the sting out.

  ‘Gerry is right though. I’ve put off telling you my news for long enough now. I did get you guys around here for a reason.’ Making sure everyone had a full glass, Grace figured it was now or never.

  ‘No getting anything past you lot! Though I’m not sure how to start,’ Grace faltered. ‘This is harder than I thought.’

  ‘Are we talking It Could Happen to You kind of news?’ Gerry interrupted with a smile. ‘Nicholas Cage, Rosie Perez winning the lotto. Nick giving half his winnings to a waitress played by Bridget Fonda. Rosie goes frigging nuts!’ With every word Gerry’s voice had raised a pitch with excitement.

  ‘Jaysus Gerry, you don’t have to give a synopsis of every movie you quote – we have been to the cinema on occasion too you know!’ Tom quipped.

  ‘'Fraid not, Gerry. No lotto wins here. No Nick Cage either for that matter! I suppose it’s more of a Terms of Endearment moment actually,’ Grace responded.

  Gerry loved it when his friends played along with him. With a big grin he started his narrative.

  ‘Jack Nicholson, Shirley McClaine, Debra Winger. God, Jack was gorgeous in that movie. As for Shirley, divine. Can you guys remember that scene in the hospital? I swear I needed Valium because I was crying so much.’

  And with that Gerry stopped. The meaning of what Grace had just said hit him and everyone else. Four pairs of eyes turned away from Gerry and looked at Grace.

  ‘Right, I need you guys to be strong. No tears, okay?’ They all nodded silently, so Grace continued, ‘It’s a bit of a bitch, but I’ve got cancer.’

  It was the first time that Grace’s friends had all been silent. Tom found his voice first. ‘Grace, this is one sick joke. Not even a good one. See, nobody’s laughing.’ He gestured around the room.

  Grace thought this was the first time she’d ever seen Tom look scared.

  ‘It’s not a joke though, is it?’ Abby asked Grace.

  ‘No pet. It’s no joke. Or at least if it is, the joke’s on me.’

  Sean then spoke quietly, ‘If you guys have any questions, I’ll answer them for you.’

  Tara jumped up then, angrily pointing at Sean, barely able to get the words out, ‘You knew about this Sean? You knew and didn’t tell me.’

  ‘Big picture Tara, please, big picture,’ Sean answered calmly. ‘Grace is my patient and my friend and asked me not to say anything to anyone until she had all the facts. I had to respect that.’ He jumped up and pulled Tara in close to him, sitting her down beside him again. Continuing he said, ‘Basically Grace’s bone marrow is faulty. It’s sending out wrong signals in making her blood.’

  ‘Or in layman’s terms, my bone marrow is fucked,’ Grace clarified helpfully. She felt guilty as soon as the words were out as she saw her friends wince.

  ‘What treatment have they decided on, will they do chemo?’ Tara asked.

  Grace nodded at Sean to continue. She couldn’t even think about the treatment, never mind say it aloud.

  ‘Grace is going to start a course of chemotherapy next Saturday. She’s going to have a small procedure in the morning, to install what’s called a Hickman. That allows the doctors to give Grace all the meds she needs without damaging her veins.’

  ‘And the chemo, that will kill the cancer?’ Tom asked.

  ‘Well, it’s not that simple I’m afraid. The chemo will stop the cancer growing anymore. But really what we need to do is to fix the problem with Grace’s bone marrow.’

  While Sean had been telling everyone her diagnosis, Grace had been watching their faces. Gerry had slipped his hand into Tom’s. He looked about ten right now, while Tom looked like he wanted to hit someone. Every word Sean said, Tom looked angrier. Abby was trying so hard to be brave, because Grace had asked her to. So she kept giving Grace a little smile, but the tears were spilling down her face, and Grace realised that Abby wasn’t even aware of them. Tara surprisingly enough looked emotionless. She was listening to Sean so attentively; it was as if her life depended on it.

  ‘So are they looking at a marrow transplant?’ Tara asked Sean.

  ‘Yes, that’s the optimum solution. Assuming that they can find a suitable HLA match that will be the way they’ll go. The chemo will also prepare the body for a transplant.’

  ‘Now we’re talking,’ Tom said, jumping up and breaking into a smile. The frown all at once disappeared from his face. ‘Why didn’t you just say that? Problem over, I’m the donor! Sign me up McDreamy; I’ve got plenty of good Kerry marrow ready for the lady!’

  Gerry squealed with delight, looking at Tom with unadulterated love on his face. And who could blame him?

  Grace walked over to Tom and kissed him firmly on the lips. ‘My big gorgeous friend Tom. I’m so sorry pet, it’s not that simple. I must have been one bad bitch in a previous life, because the double whammy here is that it will be quite difficult for me to find a suitable match. I’ve quite a rare blood type, O negative, which makes it difficult for me to get a suitable donor.’

  ‘Sean?’ Tom said, ‘I’
m A positive. Would that be a match?’

  ‘The hospital will arrange a test for you Tom,’ Sean said. ‘We’ll just cross our fingers, okay?’

  ‘What about me Tom?’ Gerry asked. ‘What blood type do I have?’

  ‘The same Gerry, you are A positive,’ Tom replied quietly.

  ‘I don’t even know what blood type I have,’ Abby stated forlornly. She got up and walked over to Grace, grabbing her hands tightly. ‘I don’t know what I am, but Grace, I’m going to get tested, and I’m going to pray that I’m a match. There’s a chance, isn’t there Sean?’

  ‘Course there is Abby, there’s always a chance,’ he responded. ‘And Tom, before you ask, I’m going to set up tests for us all. It’s only a slim chance that we’ll be a match, as we’re not blood relatives. But it’s definitely worth a shot. I’ve already started checking all options. But I’m on this, and I’m not stopping till I find a donor for Grace.’

  And with that statement from Sean, Grace was undone. She had kept calm all day, focusing on getting the dinner ready, making sure everyone had a drink, anything but think about the news she had been given yesterday. But seeing the devastation that her news had put on her friends’ faces – no, she corrected herself, these were her family now – made the whole thing terribly real. She couldn’t hold it together anymore. She had cancer. Collapsing on the couch beside Tara she finally allowed the tears to come.