Suddenly, the weight of her deepest fears pushed on Gracie’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe. Wordlessly, her mouth opened and shut, then opened again.
Councilman Ben Gartner looked at his colleague and nodded. “Second.”
With an involuntary gasp, respiration kicked back in. But the rapid shallow inhalations and exhalations made Gracie light-headed in seconds. She gripped the sides of the chair until the pads of her fingers tingled with pain in order to keep from falling over.
“Let’s vote, then.” The mayor wasted no time in moving things along. “Regarding the proposal for Maximized Revenue Zones on Gulfview Boulevard, let all those in favor raise their hand and say ‘aye.’”
Four hands went up, including the mayor’s. An affirmative chorus pierced Gracie’s eardrums.
Everything happened so quickly. Gracie couldn’t keep up with the speed of the City Council as they approved the ordinance.
“We have four votes in favor. All those against raise your hand and say ‘nay.’”
Only Angela Ruiz’s hand rose in dissent.
The gavel came down with a crack. It sounded like the breaking of Gracie’s heart.
“Let the record show that the proposal for Maximized Revenue Zones on Gulfview Boulevard has passed, four to one. All affected parties will be notified this week and the new ordinance will be effective at the first of the coming month.” The mayor laid the small mallet back in the cradle at the edge of the table. “Next up, Councilman Gartner has requested that we discuss a change in the water rate.”
Just like the final buzzer sounding at a championship game, the battle came to an end.
Gracie’s world changed with lightning speed. One day before, she’d been secure in her work and her relationships. Now, she didn’t have a school and she couldn’t find Jake.
Jake.
Is this what he’d felt like Friday when he lost his job and his family heritage?
Jake.
The same person who told her El Centro would be okay. The same person who cared for her.
She’d spent so long building her walls back up after David’s disregard for her feelings and her school. Gracie had repaired her broken heart and wounded trust by promising herself she’d remain self-sufficient. That she’d take care of El Centro and herself by herself.
And then, in a short period, she’d allowed Jake Peoples and his fancy law school talk to make her forget every hard lesson she’d ever learned. She almost couldn’t forgive herself for her own stupidity. How could she have trusted him?
She couldn’t think about Jake now. She couldn’t think about anything. Whirring at blazing speed just moments before, her mind now cooled into a numb crawl.
The City Council members began their next debate, but Gracie couldn’t hear another word through her frozen haze. She rose unsteadily, not caring about protocol. She knew she shouldn’t just walk out of the meeting like this, but Gloria was right. No one in this room would care what someone who came from the wrong side of the border did anyway.
Pushing the solid door open took every ounce of Gracie’s remaining strength. Her footfalls across the marble foyer sounded to her ears like echoes in a mausoleum.
Truthfully, that’s what City Hall just became to her. The place that housed the death of her dreams. All of them.
Her school, which she’d built from nothing.
And Jake, for whom she’d let down her guard.
She’d been so wrong to waste her time on both. She didn’t have anything to show for either effort. Until this minute, Gracie had believed with all her heart in faith and hard work.
God answered all her recent prayers with a clear “no.” That broke her heart more than anything.
She’d been so wrong about it all.
Gracie reached out for a nearby wall to steady herself. She leaned back, wanting to take a few moments to compose herself. Instead, her knees buckled and she slowly slid down the length of the cold green stone.
She reached the floor and pulled up her knees, then rested her head, too exhausted by the battle to fight anymore.
* * *
The nurse’s shoes squeaked on the linoleum outside the door to the room in the ICU. Jake hadn’t left Nana’s side since arriving at the hospital more than twenty-four hours ago. He needed a shower and a shave.
More than that, he needed to apologize for his words the other night. He couldn’t bear the thought that those might be the last words he ever got to say to Nana.
Jake squirmed a little in the chair. Whoever bought furniture for Provident Medical Center clearly put cost before comfort. The thin cushions were covered in a burnt-orange vinyl that squeaked when anyone sat down. He rolled his shoulders back and around once, twice, three times. Anything to get comfortable.
Jenna touched Jake’s shoulder, shaking him from his thoughts.
“Jake, we have to talk.” Her usually sparkly voice sounded flat.
“I know, Jenna. The doctor said we may have to make some decisions soon. I’ve just been hoping it wouldn’t come to that. Do you think we’re there?”
She nodded. “We may be close. And before we get there, we have to decide what to do with the foundation.”
The Peoples Family Foundation easily rated as the last thing on Jake’s mind. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I turned in my resignation after I found out I was expecting. My last day is next Friday. With my history of hypoglycemia, Gloria felt that it would be best if I eliminated as much stress from my life as possible for the next few months. And Mitch and I have always wanted me to be a stay-at-home mom.”
Between the revelations about her brother and Nana’s stay in the ICU, Jake knew that the past few days had been anything but stress-free. “Okay. I understand.”
“But even if Nana...comes back to us...she can’t keep up with the demands of the foundation and being on the board at the company.” Jake could hear Jenna forcing words around the lump in her throat. He recognized the sound because he’d been battling the same stone hardness ever since he got that fateful phone call.
“You’re right, Jenna.” Jake nodded in agreement. “But I’m starving and I can’t think straight. Let me run down to the cafeteria and get a candy bar or something and I’ll come back and we can talk it through. Do you want anything?”
“No. I’m fine for now. All I want is for things to be the way they used to be.” She turned her gaze back to Nana and her soft words got lost in the steady beeping of the machines monitoring Diana Peoples’s vital signs.
“I know.” He blew a kiss to his sleeping grandmother on the narrow hospital bed. “Be right back.”
He couldn’t look at Nana under the blanket of wires and tubes for long. It reminded Jake that the doctors considered her prognosis touch and go.
Even the strongest of hearts could wear out.
Jake walked down the long, fluorescent-illuminated hallway, alone with his thoughts. What would become of him without Nana—especially now that the secret about his heritage had come out? How would he rebuild his life without the foundation on which he’d always relied? He didn’t see how he could help Jenna with the burdens on her shoulders now that it was revealed that he was a Peoples in name only.
As he rounded the corner to the cafeteria, his train of thought drifted, and Gracie came to his mind. The image seemed so clear—almost as if she was standing in front of him.
“Jake?” The voice cut into his thoughts. “You need to get out of here before she sees you.”
“What?” He did a double take. Gloria Garcia Rodriguez blocked his path to the vending machine.
She narrowed her eyes and gritted her jaw. “Gracie. After what you did to her...” She paused, then launched in again. “You need to leave.”
“Gloria, I don’t understand.” He looked over Glo
ria’s petite frame and saw Gracie near the soda fountain. “What are you doing here?”
“I work next door, remember? One of my clients had complications in labor and had to be admitted here. I’m bringing lunch to the family. Gracie’s with me. She needed a shoulder to cry on today.” Gloria looked him up, then down. The searing anger in her gaze locked on Jake like a missile that had found its target. “No thanks to you.”
What?
Gloria kept talking in blame-filled riddles. Clearly he wasn’t going to get answers from her. He needed to make his way to Gracie and ask her personally.
If he could get her pit bull of a sister to let him through. She dogged each step he tried to take. “Let me pass, Gloria.”
“No.” One determined syllable said it all.
Only one tactic remained for him to try.
“Gracie!” At his shout, every cafeteria patron’s head snapped around and stared straight at him. He took a quick step and edged past Gloria.
As he neared, Gracie put her hand out. He could see a sheen of tears across her chocolate-brown eyes, clouding them. “No, Jake,” she said softly.
“You’ve got to tell me what’s wrong. Why is Gloria giving me the evil eye?”
Gracie looked down at the floor, then up at Jake. She stuck a fingernail in her mouth and bit down before speaking softly through clenched teeth.
“Because you lied to me.”
“I did what?” Jake began to doubt his ears. First, he couldn’t believe his entire family hid the truth of his parentage from him his whole life. Then, he couldn’t believe Nana’s life was in jeopardy. And now, he couldn’t believe Gracie thought he’d been untruthful with her.
“I trusted you, Jake. You let me down. I’ve never really believed anyone when they said they wanted to be with me. I trusted you. You said you called Carter Porter and that I could keep my school.” Tears squeezed out of her eyes, but she continued. “But you stood me up yesterday, just like every other man from your side of town has. You’ve figured out I’m not good enough for you. Then today that ordinance you said you’d stopped passed. Did you even really make that phone call? How could Carter Porter ask for a vote on your special proposal if you told him not to? Your actions closed El Centro. Everything was clearly a lie.”
It all sounded like the teacher from the Charlie Brown specials, spoken with a bitter Spanish accent. None of her words made any sense. “You’re not good enough for me? What do you mean, Gracie?”
“Come on, Jake. You and your family can’t afford any more scandal this week. Why else would you be afraid to be seen on the wrong side of the tracks with the wrong girl or to actually go to bat for her school?”
“Gracie, that’s nonsense.” The whole room could hear them arguing—some of them Nana’s friends—but Jake didn’t care. He needed to make this right. But how? He didn’t understand, much less know where to start.
“No, it’s not.” She turned her face away. “I can’t...I can’t talk to you any more.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth and dropped her head, then turned and quickly made her way through the maze of tables. Jake started to follow her, but Gracie’s chief protector intercepted him.
“Leave her alone,” Gloria said in a tone that left no room for discussion. “You’ve done enough damage. She’s been calling and calling for two days. Why won’t you answer your phone?”
“I haven’t gotten any calls.” Jake reached in his pocket to prove his point, but it was empty. His stomach grew queasy. “Oh, no. I bet it’s still in my car. I’ve been at the ICU with Nana since I left Gracie’s house Saturday night. Nana had a heart attack. My whole world has been a haze of surgeries and consent forms and standing vigil with my sister.”
Gloria gave him a wary look.
“Look at this chin if you don’t believe me.” Jake pulled his hand across two days’ worth of stubble. “I haven’t had a shower in forty-eight hours. I haven’t been home. I haven’t left Nana’s room. These are the same clothes I was wearing when I left Gracie’s house Saturday night. I don’t know what she’s talking about. Gloria, you have to help me.”
A chime rang from the pocket on Gloria’s scrubs. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the screen. “I have a mother in early labor at the clinic. It looks like she needs me.”
“But I need Gracie.”
Gloria started to take a step and then stopped. “When you stood her up for church yesterday, I told her that I figured your family didn’t want any more scandals this week and you didn’t want to be seen with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.”
Jake shook his head. Gloria kept talking.
“Your friend on the City Council got the resolution passed. Gracie has to close her school. She’s probably gone home to pack.” She punched a button on the phone in her hand. “It’s funny. People always look to money to solve problems. Your family has all the money in the world, but it doesn’t seem to help. In our family, we never had money. We just had faith. Now Gracie thinks that’s deserted her, too.”
She slipped away quietly, leaving Jake by himself in the middle of the crowded cafeteria.
He heard footsteps behind him and hoped to see Gracie, returning to listen, to let him explain the misunderstanding. When he turned around, he saw his brother-in-law, Mitch.
“Jake, Jenna said I’d find you here. Nana’s awake and she’s asking for you.”
Chapter Eleven
Jake knew he needed to focus on Nana. But his concentration kept slipping. He felt divided. Jenna and Mitch left the room to catch some fresh air, leaving Jake and Nana alone, except for the constant company of the bank of monitors over the bed.
“We need to talk, Jakey.” Nana’s voice scratched like dry twigs in winter.
He patted her hand, thankful to hear her voice in any fashion again. “About what?”
She took a long, deep breath. “Everything that’s happened. We need to finish our conversation on why I’ve stayed silent all these years.”
Jake’s eyes widened. Forty-eight hours in ICU, unconscious, and her relationship with her not-quite-grandson was the first thing on her mind? “But you knew from the beginning.”
“Of course I did, dear boy.” Her squeeze felt like the flutter of butterfly wings. “But it didn’t matter to me. I’ve loved you since the moment you were born, just two floors above where we are now. I knew your mother was a flirt and a social climber. She and your father were alike in that way. It always pained me that your father acted that way, as if his name and his money made him special. Your grandfather thought we needed to send him to that fancy boarding school in the Northeast. I still wonder if I’d fought harder and kept him home, would he have turned out differently?”
Jake couldn’t remember his grandmother speaking so frankly before. “You’re not usually the type to talk about regrets, Nana.”
“Well, Jakey, I’m not the type to think about dying, either, but you do a lot of that when you find out you’ve had a serious heart attack and you’re lucky to be lying in a hospital bed.” The corners of her mouth turned up, warming her whole face. “I knew the secret about you, but I’d forgotten about the bylaws. I wouldn’t have ever set you up in that manner. I hope you know that.”
A lump formed in Jake’s throat. Nana’s inherent nature was too good to concoct such a scheme, but he couldn’t find the words to let her know he forgave her completely. Another pat on the hand would have to suffice.
“I’ll never regret having a reason to bring you home, Jakey. This year’s been rough for you, losing your father and your law practice. I wanted to make your road a little easier. I didn’t plan on things going this way. But I’m not a quitter, and blood relative or not, I helped raise you and I know you have my fighting spirit. This isn’t the end for you with the Peoples family or Port Provident.”
Jake let go of Nana’s hand and walked to the window. He stared blankly at the street below. “But I don’t see how to overcome this one, Nana. And now I’ve lost Gracie, too.”
“Gracie? Who is that?” Nana’s voice began to sound a little more animated.
He sat heavily in the orange vinyl chair. “Gracie Garcia. She runs a school teaching English as a Second Language and other skills to immigrants in the community. Her school sits where the pool was slated to go for the condo project. I knew I’d need a knockout punch to prove to the board I could do the CEO’s job, so to ensure I could easily end the lease on that property and tear it down, I got Carter Porter to propose an ordinance at the City Council for Maximized Revenue Zones that would eliminate nonprofit businesses along Gulfview Boulevard.”
Diana pressed a button and made the top of the bed sit up. “Jake, that sounds like a scheme your father would cook up.”
“I know, Nana. I wanted to show the board I wasn’t as bad a businessman as he said I was. But once I got to know Gracie, I saw her school filled a real need here and I learned she didn’t have the funds to relocate. So Friday night, I called Carter and told him to pull the plug on the vote. But he didn’t and the proposal passed anyway. Her school will have to close. Her American dream is dead, and it’s all my fault. I’ve lost my own business and I’ve killed Gracie’s, too.”
The first signs of color in days flushed over Nana’s pale cheeks. “Jakey, Jenna and I talked briefly before you got back here from the cafeteria. It’s about time I settle down and make some changes in my life. Maybe God’s telling me retirement isn’t the dirty word I always thought it would be.” A full smile spread across her dry lips. “I need you to run an errand for me.”
* * *
Gracie sat in the middle of her classroom. She didn’t know if she would ever smile again. Her heart had fallen somewhere around her ankles at the sound of the mayor’s gavel earlier. The three distinct thuds echoed constantly in her ears.
A knock at the door made Gracie jump. It sounded just like that stupid gavel.
She peeked through the window instead of opening the door. Gracie didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. She felt far too much self-pity to be good company.
Saving Gracie Page 18
