Aging with Gracie

by Heather Hunt

  “You just might be right, Jack Ellis,” Grace grabbed her jacket off the coat rack and followed him outside.

  “Me? Right?” Jack feigned disbelief. “You don’t mean it, Gracie Woodhouse.”

  “Jack...”

  But she didn’t have a chance to continue. He had already tucked her into her car and slammed the door closed. He gave her a wave and headed toward his truck.

  “Dear Lord,” Gracie whispered in the quietness. “Tonight was a hard one. You know that more than me. But here’s the thing, God. I’m just going to keep trusting you. Like Jack said, you’ve got a very special plan for me, even for Jack and me, and I’ve just got to follow your lead. Thank you for helping me, Lord. Thank you for guiding me through the most difficult...and the most amazing...time of my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.”

  Chapter Five

  Love and “Freindship”

  (Austen spelling)

  The following Saturday morning, Grace grabbed Mr. Knightley’s leash and headed out for a walk. English Bulldogs were sometimes high-maintenance, but her little fellow was worth the work. Every time she looked at his short, stubby legs and pouty little underbite, her heart melted.

  As if he knew she was thinking about him, Mr. Knightley flashed freshly-brushed teeth. Grace leaned down, gave his huge head a gentle rub, and clipped the leash onto his collar.

  She stood up, pulled her hair into a loose ponytail, and tugged on a lightweight pink fleece jacket, all the while trying to keep Mr. Knightley from taking a nosedive off the porch. With autumn, cooler weather had arrived, and the brisk morning air and the anticipation of a walk had the little fellow almost frantic with excitement. It was quite the opposite image of the pouty pooch Grace normally had to coax off his doggy bed with a treat.

  It must be this place, Grace thought.

  She breathed in the fresh mountain air and closed her eyes, letting the tranquility of the setting rain down upon her. Because of Mr. Knightley, she had decided to continue on at White Mountains instead of moving to a suite at Mansfield Manor. The inquisitive dog was a sweetheart, but he had a tendency to cause havoc at the residence. Grace figured that the canes and walkers simply offered too much of a temptation to the curious dog, and neither she nor the residents needed any more broken bones.

  Grace was so absorbed in the colors of the fall foliage that she barely noticed Jack making his way up the sidewalk to the house. She cocked her head and tried to rein in Mr. Knightley. He’d already seen Jack, and if previous encounters were anything to bank on, the dog was expecting a treat.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked with a questioning smile.

  “Rescuing you,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  “And what makes you think I need rescuing?” Grace propped her free hand on her hip and arched her dark brows.

  “Every princess needs rescuing,” he paused, then smiled. “You just seem to need it more than others.”

  “How rude!” She pushed at his chest. The action was a big mistake because her palm ended up flat against his firm chest muscles. She clenched her hand before she completely embarrassed herself by going back for seconds.

  “Come on, Gracie. Be honest.” He took Mr. Knightley’s leash from her grasp and led him down the steps. “You’re killing yourself at Mansfield.”

  “It’s my job.” As she began to argue, she noticed Jack sneaking Mr. Knightley a treat. “Plus, my name is Grace, not Gracie,” she pointed out. “And you’re going to make him even fatter than he already is.”

  “No, I think you’re much nicer as a Gracie,” he contradicted her. “Plus, I have it from a very reliable source,” he nodded toward the bulldog, “That Knightley, here, has lost almost five pounds since arriving in Manhattan.”

  “He has not,” Grace groaned. “I can barely pick him up. He’s seventy pounds if he’s an ounce.”

  Jack ignored her. In a smooth move, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward a path Grace had never noticed at the back edge of Mrs. Elderman’s property.

  “Are you wearing a good pair of running shoes?”

  “Running?” She looked at him in disbelief. “I’ve only been off the Injured Reserve List for a few weeks now, Coach.”

  “We’re not going running,” he assured her, “But you’ll need a pair of comfortable shoes. Besides, everyone knows that the best way to bounce back after an ankle sprain is to keep it limber.”

  “Oh, I’m limber enough,” she blurted out before she realized how the remark sounded. Sure enough...

  “You are, are you?” Jack gave her a lecherous grin. “Well, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

  “Grow up, Jack Ellis,” she huffed with a red face.

  “Gracie Woodhouse, I think we both know that I’m all grown up.”

  “Well, I...” Grace was nearing the point of speechlessness.

  “Let’s get going,” he finally said, giving her a much-needed reprieve.

  “Excuse me,” she finally forced herself to say a couple of minutes, and a lost measure of pride, later. “Jack! Hold on a minute.”

  “Yes?”

  “Uh, one of my shoestrings has come untied. I tied them before I put them on earlier. Unfortunately, I’m going to need to sit down to retie it. It’s still hard to straighten out my elbow enough to reach it standing up.”

  Before she could find a place to sit, Jack knelt in front of her and slapped his knee. With a sigh, she placed her shoe on his knee and prayed that she would keep her balance.

  “When will you be able to straighten all the way?”

  “The doctor says that I’m almost there,” she told him. “He actually said that I’m a little ahead of schedule. Sometimes it takes people almost a year to recover, and I’ve already managed the other range of motion exercises.”

  “Well, that’s no surprise.” He finished one shoe then reached toward the other. He tied a double knot as if she were a kindergartner. “I’ve learned that when you set your mind on something, you somehow find a way to accomplish it.”

  “Is that a compliment, Jack Ellis?” Grace blushed.

  “It just might be, Gracie Woodhouse.” He stood up and touched her cheek. “Do you need to run in for your sling?”

  “No,” she shook her head. “Dr. Adams said that I need to continue using my arm as much as possible.”

  “Alright, then. Are we ready?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good. It’ll take a while to get where we’re going.”

  Jack latched the gate, and they followed a meandering path of hard-packed Georgia clay from Mrs. Elderman’s white picket fence toward parts unknown...at least for Grace.

  The path was well-worn and littered with crisp brown leaves. Despite the thick covering of leaves on the ground, the trees still boasted an abundant mix of color. Deep red maples and yellowed oaks vied for the attention of the sun. They seemed to know that cold weather was on the way and wanted one last day of basking in the warmth.

  Mr. Knightley barely noticed the display. He was more interested in what was buried beneath the leaves that had already fallen than in the beautiful display of color waving in the wind. With his little pug nose breathing a staccato of snorts, he intently scoured through the leaf debris in search of doggie treasure.

  Grace was enthralled by the sights around her. Being a city girl, she had always preferred the inner sanctum of her home to the noise and pollution of the outdoors. She had never actually had much of an opportunity to enjoy nature except during her mission trips, and she was utterly amazed at God’s design. Amazed that there could be such a range of beautiful and interesting things in the scope of just a few feet.

  I didn’t come as a surprise to Grace that Jack was a nature enthusiast. He was a virtual expert on both the flora and fauna of the region. While they walked, she used his knowledge to her advantage and called upon him numerous times to act as a guide.

  The path was a narrow one that led them farther and farther from the pristine gentility of the B
&B and into the dense, fascinating depths of the forest.

  Jack lagged behind, letting Grace take the lead. He wanted her to enjoy the scenery. To take in the world that he and his grandfather before him had come to love.

  “What’s that?”

  She motioned him forward then pointed toward a rocky edifice that soared straight up from the side of the path.

  “Looks like a rock to me,” he drawled.

  “Funny, Jack Ellis,” Grace huffed. She shook her head in mock annoyance. “What I mean is, the path seems to be going straight up. Are we actually mountain climbing?”

  “Not quite,” he assured her. “Our destination isn’t much farther.”

  “But where are we going?” she persisted.

  “Just believe me when I say you won’t be disappointed.”

  That seemed to pacify her, and she trudged on, continuing every now and then to quiz him on her finds.

  “What kind of tree is this, Jack?” She plucked a heart-shaped leaf from a small, spindly tree and traced its shape. A leaf in the shape of a heart! Imagine that!

  “That’s an Eastern Redbud,” he told her.

  “Redbud?”

  “Yeah.” He took the leaf from her and retraced the lines her own fingers had just followed. “There’s an interesting story about the Redbud.”

  “Really?”

  “Some folks say that Judas hanged himself on one after he betrayed Jesus.”

  “On that skinny thing?” she wondered aloud.

  “Well, not quite that one,” he grinned at her. “The kind that grows in the Middle East is a lot sturdier,” he explained. “Of course, I hate to think that a tree would be saddled with that kind of guilt. Its flowers are actually very pretty in the spring.”

  “Interesting.” She nodded her head. “I guess there is always some bad to go along with the good.”

  “Most of the time,” he agreed. “But I sure do prefer the good to the bad.”

  He took the heart-shaped leaf and closed her palm around it. Taking her hand to his lips, he placed a quick, but firm, kiss on her knuckles.

  Before she could respond, he gave Mr. Knightley’s leash a tug and walked on ahead.

  They were silent then, trudging along up the hilly path. Both of them seemed a bit overwhelmed by the turn of events, each pretending that nothing had happened. Of course, inside, they were a puzzle of emotions

  Grace wasn’t just puzzled. She was absolutely flustered. Her chest was so full that it ached. It seemed that with each interaction, each time they were together, Jack Ellis overwhelmed her senses more and more. She’d never felt such strong, or such strange emotions, in her entire life.

  Jack, on the other hand, was furious with himself. He’d had every intention of taking Grace for a simple nature walk. She was so beautiful, though, so completely adorable in her fascination of nature, that he’d been unable to keep his hands off her. He’d touched her before. Heck, he’d even held her in his arms, but today, simply having her hand in his had hit him in the chest like a ton of bricks. Hard.

  And now he’d scared her off.

  “You dumb jerk,” he muttered to himself.

  “Did you say something?” Grace called from several yards back.

  The distance between them had been steadily increasing, but in the stillness of the woods, his voice had carried straight back to her.

  “No,” he answered as he looked over his shoulder to check on her progress. Seeing that she was starting to lag, he slowed his pace to allow her time to catch up

  She reached him in a few minutes. As she approached, she reached down and picked up an object.

  “What is this?” Grace stopped to catch her breath with the question. She had no idea how long they’d been walking, but even in the cool morning, her brow was damp, and the muscles in her legs were protesting..

  He looked at her for a moment. Thankfully, his previous faux pas hadn’t deterred her as much as he’d assumed. He watched her face for a sign of something. Anger. Confusion. Anything that would give him a clue of her thoughts.

  But all he saw was her beautiful face, full of excitement and joy, if not a little worse for the wear. After all, they’d been walking for almost an hour. His Gracie was a trooper, though. That was one of the reasons he loved her.

  Loved?

  His Gracie?

  Jack felt the pressure return to his chest again, but it had nothing to do with the exercise. Amazing! He was actually falling in love with Grace Woodhouse.

  “Jack?” Her hair had come undone from the clip she’d used to pull it back, and her long bangs drooped across her brow.

  “It’s a hickory nut,” Jack finally found his voice. “Actually, the nut is the fruit of the tree.”

  He took the rock-hard fruit from her hand and peeled away the husk. He held up a small nut as an offering.

  “Is it edible?” she looked wary as she took the little gift.

  “Of course,” he laughed. “Many things around here are. You just have to know what. Some people even eat the flowers of that redbud tree we saw a while back.”

  She took a tentative nibble.

  “Hmmm,” she tried a smile. She found the nut bland in taste, but she didn’t want to offend Jack after he’d taken the time to shell it for her. “I suppose...”

  “You think it’s awful, don’t you?”

  “Well, not quite,” she hedged.

  “You can take the city out of the girl,” Jack began.

  “Don’t even go there,” Grace kicked a pile of leaves his way. “It was just something I’m not used to…something different,” she defended her tastes.

  “And are you interested in different, Grace?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Just come with me,” he took her hand. “I want to show you something. It’s only a few more steps.”

  A few moments later, they stepped out of the trees and into a small clearing which seemed to hang suspended on the edge of a cliff. Jack secured Mr. Knightley’s leash around the limb of a sturdy oak. Within seconds, the dog had slumped down for a nap.

  Grace eyed the sight before her, the open sky that surrounded the ledge, and began to slowly inch her way back toward the path. Gently, so as not to scare her, Jack placed his hands on her shoulders and urged her forward.

  “Trust me, Gracie,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

  She grasped his forearms and allowed him to lead her forward. Finally, she stood at the edge and looked at the reason for his previous secrecy. He’d wanted to surprise her, and as he’d predicted, she was definitely not disappointed.

  “It’s the top of the world, isn’t it?” she gasped at the sight.

  As she looked out over the expanse of land, she was almost speechless. In places, the fog still hung over the mountains, blanketing them with a silvery gauze. In other areas, sunlight glanced off ridge after ridge to form a ripple of color. Above all that was a sky so blue Grace imagined that God had taken his paints to it only moments before.

  “We’re standing at the top of the world,” she repeated.

  “Sometimes I think that it is,” he told her. “There’s a house farther up the mountain, almost right above us, but I still think this is the best view.”

  “And you shared it with me.” She felt a prick of tears with the realization.

  Jack wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  “It’s a lot different from the city,” his thoughts slipped out. He was worried that he might have offended her, but her body remained relaxed. “I wasn’t sure if you would like it here, but I thought that I’d give it a try. I wondered if you might like being different for a change,” he continued.

  “Different,” she murmured as she leaned back into the security of his embrace. “I suppose I could learn to like that, Jack Ellis.”

  “I thought so.”

  They were so close that she felt his grin.

  “Don’t be so smug, Mr. Ellis.” She gave his arm
a gentle pinch.

  “Never with you, Gracie.” He leaned into her and kissed her cheek. “Never with you.”

  •∞•∞•

  They spent over an hour enjoying the view from Jack’s Mountain. At least, that was what Grace was calling it now.

  Jack, on the other hand, wasn’t sure enough of their relationship to share with Grace that this actually was his mountain. His property. Other than Mrs. Elderman’s little place, Jack and his grandfather owned just about the entire mountain. His grandmother was even living in Jack’s house, just yards above the clearing where they were presently standing. He was hoping that someday, he’d have the chance to show Grace that place, too.

  As they walked back to Mrs. Elderman’s, things were peaceful between them. Content to simply share one another’s company, the two of them held hands, Grace’s slim fingers linked with Jack’s strong, calloused ones, while Jack kept a loose grip on Mr. Knightley’s leash.

  All of them, particularly Mr. Knightley, had seemed reluctant to leave the tranquility of the mountain overlook. The dog had almost resorted to a temper tantrum when it was time to leave. Apparently, he’d been quite content on his little bed of grass in the shade of the ancient oak. Jack had coaxed him into a sluggish trot, however, with a doggie treat.

  “So, do you have plans for tonight?” Jack asked.

  He knew that he’d taken up much of Grace’s day off, but he enjoyed spending time with her. She was so different than the other women he’d known over the years. Like a breath of fresh air, she’d floated into his life and filled him with an immeasurable sense of vitality. Of completeness. Of love. And now, he was loath to part with that.