Beyond Grace's Rainbow: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

by Carmel Harrington

  ‘Sorry, I was asleep and didn’t hear the bell,’ Grace said to Liam as she answered the door. ‘Hi sweetie-pie did you have a good time?’ Grace winced as Jack threw himself at her for a big cuddle. It felt like every bone was about to jump outside her skin.

  ‘Grace, you okay, baby?’ Liam asked. He was worried. She looked terrible and was far too thin. Before Grace could answer, Jack chimed in.

  ‘Mommy, I’m starving. Daddy said we couldn’t have another McDonalds. He said chips once a day was enough for one boy, even a big one like me!’

  ‘He never stops eating,’ Liam said. ‘We had lunch at one o’clock, and ice cream an hour ago. I don’t know where he puts it all!’ Liam was worried Grace would think he wasn’t feeding Jack properly, but she didn’t seem to be listening.

  ‘Mommy, can I watch my programmes?’ Grace obliged him by putting Disney Junior on. Mickey Mouse would once again have to take care of Jack right now.

  ‘What’s going on Grace? You look terrible,’ Liam said.

  ‘Thanks a lot. You certainly know how to charm the ladies.’

  ‘You know what I mean, Grace. Don’t try and deflect.’

  ‘I had a crap week at work that’s all. Demanding client who doesn’t know what she wants. I just needed to catch up on some sleep. A bath and I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Something to eat too by the looks of it. You’ve lost a lot of weight. You’re not on that crazy low-carb diet like Tara, are you?’ Liam said with irritation.

  ‘No you daft fool,’ Grace laughed. ‘You know me; my weight has always been up and down.’

  ‘Right, I’m not saying I believe you, but I’ll go along with your charade for a while longer. But here’s the deal. You go up and have that bath, and I’ll see what kind of dinner I can manage to put together. Non-negotiable Grace. Go!’

  Grace hadn’t the energy to argue and to be honest the thought of a hot bath was lovely. To add insult to injury, she felt like she was getting the flu too.

  An hour later, Grace came down feeling like a new woman. The bath was glorious. Gerry had brought over a beautiful beauty hamper from Benefit yesterday and she’d indulged herself totally. Afterwards, she threw on some combats and a baby tee. She’d have to borrow some of Abby’s clothes soon. She’d spent most of her adult life being a size 12-14, but she’d lost a stone and a half in the past month. And all her clothes were getting too loose. Grace came downstairs to the beautiful aroma of chicken roasting. She had planned on making a roast dinner for Jack and herself this evening.

  Jack was panned out on the sofa, dead to the world, his cartoons playing away in the background. He looked so innocent sleeping there. Looking at her son, she knew she couldn’t give in to this evil illness. She had to beat it for his sake. She sat on the sofa beside him and lifted his head onto her lap, stroking his hair. God, she loved him so much it took her breath away. She was in awe that she’d actually created him.

  ‘You look better.’ Liam had come into the room and was watching her.

  ‘Thanks. It wouldn’t have been hard. I looked like the bride of Frankenstein, didn’t I?’ Grace asked sheepishly.

  ‘Nah, you were still gorgeous, even if you did look a bit rough!’ Liam dodged the cushion Grace threw at him.

  ‘Dinner will be ready in about an hour. I raided your fridge, its roast chicken and veggies. That okay?’

  ‘That’s great Liam. I appreciate it. But if you want to get off now, go ahead. I’m sure you have plans made for a Saturday night.’

  ‘Nope, no plans at all. Sure where else would I be on a Saturday night, but with my two favourite people in the world. Besides, I couldn’t leave right now, even if I wanted to. I’m at a delicate stage in the cooking. I’ve got to get the veggies in to roast in about five minutes, not to mention making the gravy. A chef’s work is never done!’

  Grace smiled at him and their eyes locked. He couldn’t look away and neither could she. She looked so vulnerable sitting there with her legs curled up under her. And so young, with her hair tied back and no make-up on. Grace was the first to turn away. ‘Can I help?’

  Liam walked over to Grace and told her to stay put and relax, leaning down to give her a kiss on her forehead as he left. It was only when he walked out into the kitchen that he realised what he’d done. He’d kissed Grace and she didn’t go ballistic. He started to whistle as he chopped the carrots. Maybe he had a shot here after all!

  Chapter Nine

  It was Sunday morning and Tom and Gerry had been up early. They’d gone for a walk along the estuary in Malahide and had decided to call into Grace’s for breakfast. Stopping for rashers of bacon, sausages and eggs at the local Eurospar, they were going to surprise her. But it was them that got the surprise when Liam answered the door, with nothing on but his jeans.

  ‘Tom, Gerry, you guys are up and about early. Come on in. Grace’s still in bed. Jack and I are just about to have breakfast.’ Liam had to bite his tongue to stop himself laughing at their surprised faces. Tom and Gerry followed Liam inside wordlessly.

  ‘Close your mouths!’ he said to them, laughing. The look of shock on their faces was priceless. But before they had chance to delve any further, Grace came downstairs wearing her robe, shouting, ‘Who’s at the door, Liam?’

  ‘Two very curious friends, who want to know what the hell happened last night. Spill, Darlings!’ Gerry exclaimed.

  Liam and Grace looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  ‘God, you’ve a filthy mind Gerry!’ Grace answered. ‘Liam cooked us dinner last night. Then we watched a DVD. It was late so he crashed here. Sorry to disappoint but it was very innocent!’

  ‘Daddy had a sleepover on my bunk bed, on the top bunk!’ Jack helpfully added.

  ‘Very comfortable too, buddy,’ Liam replied.

  ‘What has you two here so early on a Sunday?’ Grace asked. ‘Or need I ask. Here to check up on me I suppose?’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, woman,’ Tom replied. ‘We were out for a walk on the estuary and we decided we wanted a fry-up. You were nearer than our house. Make yourself useful Liam, put the pan on!’

  Liam wondered what Grace meant when she asked if the guys were checking up on her. She looked better today than yesterday, but still. With that, the phone rang.

  ‘Any money that’s Tara,’ Grace said as she walked into the sitting room to answer the phone.

  ‘Darling Liam, you should have answered that,’ Gerry said with a laugh. ‘Tara would have had a heart attack!’

  Breakfast was well under way when Grace came back in, looking a bit distracted. Liam placed a full Irish in front of her, and told her to eat up.

  ‘Bet you didn’t tell Tara that the queer fella was here,’ Tom said, pointing at Liam.

  ‘Less of the queer fella,’ Liam replied. ‘Three words mate – pot, kettle, black!’

  Jack then asked, ‘What’s queer mean Daddy? Am I a queer fella?’ He didn’t know why they were laughing, but he joined in too. He was having a great time. He loved his Mommy and his Daddy, and his uncles were here and he had sausies too. This was great!

  Tom and Gerry were cleaning up the breakfast things while the others got ready. Grace had been really quiet during breakfast and hadn’t really eaten much. Before going upstairs to get dressed, she’d whispered to Tom that she needed to talk to him.

  When Grace reappeared with Jack, the boys were all watching MTV Cribs.

  ‘Jack, say goodbye to your Daddy. No buts, Jack. If your Daddy doesn’t get home soon, his Mommy will call the guards!’

  Grace walked to the door with Liam, closing the sitting room door behind her. She was very much aware that she had an audience.

  ‘Liam, thanks a million for last night. Dinner was lovely and Jack loved having you here.’

  ‘What about you Grace, did you enjoy me being here?’

  ‘Liam, let’s not do this. Not right now. Do you want to see Jack as usual on Tuesday after school?’

  ‘Yes, of course I want to see Jack
. But I want to see you too. Would you come on a date with me, Grace Devlin?’

  ‘A what?’ Grace squeaked in response.

  ‘You heard.’

  ‘A date?’ Grace realised her voice had risen further by a couple of octaves.

  ‘God, you’d swear I suggested murder by the look on your face. Yes, a date. You know the kind of thing. A guy collects a girl and they go out together. The girl might even enjoy herself! Don’t say no Grace. Think about it.’ And with that he kissed Grace on the forehead again and walked away.

  What was this kissing on the forehead lark, Grace thought with irritation. He kept doing it then walking away! Did he think she’d hit him if he stuck around? And now he wanted them to go on a date. Oh Lord!

  ‘What put that big smile on your face?’ Gerry said.

  ‘I’m not smiling,’ Grace protested. But she was. It was like she had a coat hanger in her mouth and she couldn’t get it out! What was it about that guy? Five minutes in his company and she felt like she was twenty again. ‘He only wants me to go on a date with him!’

  ‘How exciting! What are you going to wear?’ Gerry said smiling.

  ‘I haven’t agreed to anything yet, Gerry.’

  ‘But you will. I can tell. Won’t she, Tom?’

  ‘I don’t know, Gerry. Whatever you decide Grace, I’m sure it’ll be the right decision. But I’ve spent some time with Liam in the last couple of weeks. He still loves you, Grace. I didn’t want to say anything before. It’s between you guys. But from where I’m sitting, I’d say you were still in love with him too.’

  Grace didn’t answer, she just simply nodded. ‘Why didn’t this happen a year ago? Why did he have to come back now? How can I start something up with him? I’ve got cancer. It wouldn’t be fair.’

  Tom put his hand over Grace’s and said, ‘Life isn’t fair, sweetheart. What’s happening to you is far from fair. You say that it’s not fair to get involved with Liam now that you have cancer. I can understand why you feel that. But it’s not your decision to make. It’s Liam’s. Is it fair to keep this from him? He loves you Grace. Don’t underestimate him.’

  ‘It was lovely having him here last night. Really easy, you know. It’s weird. In some ways it feels really new, like having a new boyfriend. But in other ways, it’s like we’ve just picked up where we left off.’

  Gerry walked over to Grace and Tom, taking her other hand.

  ‘Give him a chance, darling. If something were to happen to my Tom, I would have to be with him. I wouldn’t forgive him if he didn’t let me help. Don’t do that to Liam.’

  ‘I know you’re right. I just need a bit more time to think this out. But if you thought my life was complicated before, hold on to your trousers! That phone call earlier – it wasn’t Tara. It was my liaison officer from the adoption centre. My biological mother has agreed to meet me.’

  Chapter Ten

  Liam couldn’t believe it when Grace rang him on Sunday evening and said she would meet him for lunch. So here he was, forty-eight hours later, big stupid grin on his face, with Grace sitting beside him in his car.

  ‘Where we going, Liam?’ she had demanded as soon as he arrived to pick her up.

  ‘Well, I had planned on booking somewhere really fancy for dinner, but you put the kibosh on that with your diva-like demands. What was it you said again? “I’ll go for lunch with you, but I don’t want anything fancy. And we have to stay local. Take it or leave it,”’ Liam said mimicking her.

  ‘I don’t talk like that! Cheek of you!’ Grace replied, laughing. ‘So come on, where are we going?’

  ‘Well your criteria didn’t leave me with a lot to play around with. I was wracking my brains where we could go. But when I got up this morning, and I saw it was such a gorgeous spring day, inspiration hit me. If I remember rightly, you were always partial to a picnic?’

  Grace let out a squeal of delight despite herself. Liam knew her so well. She’d always loved picnics.

  They got to their destination, Newbridge Park in Donabate, a few minutes later. This was a favourite haunt of Grace and Jack’s. It had beautiful landscaped gardens for picnics and a brilliant play area for kids. They came up here most weekends when the weather was good, and it was always busy. But today, it was practically empty, except for a couple of people walking their dogs.

  Liam laid a blanket on the ground and ordered Grace to take a pew while he sorted things out. It appeared he had thought of everything. Liam pressed play on the small CD player he had brought with him, and Michael Buble singing Home was softly playing.

  ‘I thought you hated Michael Buble?’ Grace said to Liam suspiciously.

  ‘Ah no, not really. I ended up with some of your CDs when we split up, and this was one of them. Some of his songs aren’t bad,’ he replied innocently. That much was true. But what he didn’t admit to was that he had spent all morning trying to decide which song he should have ready to play when he turned the CD on. He was hoping the words of this song might subliminally work their way into Grace’s mind. Let me go home. I’m just too far from where you are.

  Grace smiled. He was certainly trying hard. They’d always had very different taste in music before. If she’d tried to play this CD a couple of years ago, he’d have had a fit!

  ‘So you’ve provided me with beautiful scenery, good music, what culinary delights do you have in store for me? Egg and onion sarnies?’ Grace teased.

  ‘No, smarty-pants. As it happens, it’s kind of an unusual picnic. It’s what I like to call – Grace’s smorgasbord!’ With that, Liam started laying out all the food he’d brought.

  There was a tub of home-made pâté from Superquinns, a baguette, a pineapple, cheesy coleslaw, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, Skips, chicken, sushi, rocket salad, garlic and lemon mayonnaise, pork pies, Leonidas chocolates and a bag of Monster Munch.

  ‘That’s some array of foods you have here, Liam.’ Then Grace realised what he’d done, ‘Oh my God. You’ve brought all of my favourite foods.’ She was overwhelmed.

  ‘Well, I’ve noticed that you’ve not been eating much lately. Or at least when I’ve been around. So I thought if I brought all of your favourite things, you might be more likely to eat something! So come on. I’ve been placing bets with myself all morning as to what you’d go for first! Will it be the pâté; God knows you’ve demolished tubs of this in five minutes in the past. Or will the spicy lure of Monster Munch be too much for you? Or you might even surprise me by going for the pork pies! No point pretending you don’t love them Grace Devlin, I know your sordid secret!’ Liam hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. Seeing Grace’s delighted face made the effort worthwhile. He’d even driven into the city this morning first thing for the chocolates.

  ‘Liam, this is the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me.’ She touched him lightly on his hand. He thought his heart would explode, it was beating so much. Did she have any idea what her touch did to him? He stifled a groan just in time.

  ‘This is tough, what a choice,’ Grace started, pointing to each of the foods on display. ‘But I reckon it’s got to be…’ Grace picked up the Monster Munch with a laugh.

  ‘I knew it!’ Liam shouted. ‘I’ve never known another woman who loved those crisps like you! You’re a lunatic, you do know that?’

  They spent an hour munching on the feast, talking about nothing really, just chatting and laughing. Grace surprised herself with how much she ate. She was just beginning to get her appetite back, and it was great to be able to snack on all her favourite foods!

  ‘Come on; let’s go for a walk, lazybones.’ Liam pulled Grace to her feet. They packed the remnants of the picnic away and started their stroll around the park. ‘You know the journalist in me reckons you’re hiding something, Grace.’ Liam knew he should tread carefully if he wanted her to open up.

  Grace froze. She really wasn’t ready to talk just now.

  ‘But,’ Liam continued, ‘I’m going to respect your privacy for a little while longer. I have so
me suspicions but reckon you’ll talk to me when you’re ready. But just so you know, I’m here for you, Grace. I’m not going anywhere.’

  Grace stopped and turned to Liam. ‘Liam, I’ve had such a great time today. I’m feeling really relaxed for the first time in weeks. There is some stuff going on at the moment, but it seems like a million miles away. If we talk now, I’ll lose this great feeling. Do you understand?’

  Liam didn’t understand, but Grace looked so earnest that he knew he couldn’t push her any further. So he simply nodded and pulled her close to him. She didn’t resist and they held each other tightly. This wasn’t the time for talking; that would come, eventually. For now they just relaxed in each other’s arms but the moment was broken as the heavens opened up and it started to pour. A typical Irish picnic it was to be: running for the car to dodge the downpour! Grabbing Grace by her hand they made a mad dash to the car, giggling like a pair of kids.

  It had been a perfect day, Grace thought. They were driving home and she couldn’t believe that it was almost five o’clock. Time flies when you’re having fun! She just didn’t want the day to end.

  ‘Sorry about the rain,’ Liam said.

  ‘So you should be, Liam,’ Grace said mock sternly. ‘It was only a shower.’

  Grace peered out her car window.

  ‘You still looking for the rainbow’s end?’ Liam asked her softly.

  Grace smiled in response. She’d always felt an affinity with rainbows. She didn’t know why. As a child, she’d loved it when it rained. She knew that after the rain, there was a chance there would be a rainbow. Her Dad always told her that rainbows were God’s way of giving everyone a free, spectacular light show. Now, whenever she saw a rainbow, she thought of her parents and she felt close to them. It felt like they were sending her a message.

  ‘No rainbows today,’ Grace said quietly, and then closed her eyes.