I stood on the back porch and watched as Scott and Gunner made their way toward the barn. Gunner had insisted on building a barn by the house, and now, I was wishing he never had. If we hadn’t built that barn, Scott wouldn’t have fallen asleep in there that night, and Bryce would have found him.
“Ellie, you’re so deep in thought, sweetheart,” Grace said from behind me.
I placed my hand on my stomach and turned to smile at her. “I was just thinking that if we had never built that barn, then…” I shook my head. I couldn’t even finish my sentence.
I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. Everyone would be here soon for Alex’s first birthday party, and I couldn’t help but think that it didn’t feel right, not having Jessie here.
Grace walked up and put her arm around me as she looked out toward Gunner and Scott. “I know, honey, but the barn is not to blame for what happened. Honestly, I’m so shocked Jessie has not gotten in touch with anyone. Drake is about to go crazy with worry. My heart hurts for him and for Scott.”
“I’ve never in my life met anyone like Chelsea. I mean, I thought Rebecca was bad, but this girl makes Rebecca look like an angel. I just can’t believe she lured Jessie over there, and then she was able to talk Bryce into having sex with her, for Pete’s sake.”
Grace let out a small laugh. “Well, Bryce is a man, and sometimes, men make poor decisions because they don’t know how to think with anything but their dicks.”
I snapped my head over and looked at my mother-in-law. “Grace! Oh my god!”
She rolled her eyes and sat down on one of the rockers. “Oh please, I’ve heard you and your friends talk. Just because I’m in my forties doesn’t mean I can’t say the word dick.”
I let out a giggle and put my hand on my stomach as I felt the baby move. She’d been moving for about a week now, and every time she moved, I felt my face blush because I thought back to the night she’d been conceived. I was almost positive I knew which night it had happened. When I’d told Gunner about this, he had laughed at me. He’d said we made love too much to know when she could have been conceived, but I knew. I had known it the moment we were done making love.
“Grace, can I ask you a question?” I asked as I sat down in the rocker next to her.
“Of course you can. You can always ask me anything,” she said with a smile.
I smiled back at her. “Did you ever think that you knew the moment when you’d conceived Gunner?”
She looked out toward Gunner. I slowly followed her gaze, and I couldn’t help but smile. Just the sight of him caused me to catch my breath. I didn’t think it was possible to be so in love with someone or to feel this way after being married for a few years, but with Gunner, I swore that I fell in love with him more and more every day.
I glanced back at Grace and watched as the smile grew on her face. It was followed by a blush of her own.
“Grace, you’re blushing!”
She let out a small laugh and threw her hands up to her cheeks. “Am I?”
I nodded and settled in for a story.
She looked at me and made the cutest face before she started talking. “Well…Jack and I had been fighting. I mean, knock-down fighting. We didn’t talk or see each other for probably almost three weeks.”
“What? Wow. I could never go without seeing Gunner for three weeks. I’d die.”
Grace started laughing. “Trust me, if you were as mad as I was, you might think twice about that.”
I set the baby monitor I had been holding in my hand down on the side table, and then I crossed my legs. “Oh, this sounds good. I wish I had popcorn.”
Grace shook her head. “It started off at a Thanksgiving Day party. One of Jack’s friends invited us over to his parents’ house. Everything was nice—the dinner, the people. It felt like home. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings we had spent together since being married.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Jack flirted with his friend’s sister. I mean, he flirted, and she was just as guilty. Oh, I was so mad that I couldn’t even think straight. Listening to the two of them made me sick to my stomach. I asked to talk to Jack outside, and I told him that his flirting was getting out of hand and that he needed to stop.”
I let out a gasp. Jack flirting…in front of Grace? “Jerk! What did he say?”
“Well, he said he wasn’t flirting. He was just having a bit of fun. I told him it was the same thing, and I asked him how he would like it if I did that with his friend. He laughed and told me I was just being jealous. That was the last straw. I gave him a look and said if he did it one more time, I was leaving. He’d also been drinking, and when he drank, he acted like an ass sometimes.”
“Good for you, Grace. Gunner must have inherited that from Jack.” I glanced over right as Gunner threw his head back and laughed at something Scott had said.
Grace grinned and shook her head. “Yes, Gunner does act just like his father when he’s drinking. Anyway, when we walked back in, Jack’s friend’s parents and everyone had started decorating the Christmas tree. I was so excited. You know how much I love Christmas and decorating the tree!”
I rolled my eyes and nodded. Grace loved decorating for Christmas more than anything. When she decorated for Christmas, the little cabin would be so full of white and green lights that it was almost blinding.
Poor Jack. His back has to kill him after hanging all those lights.
“They started playing Christmas music, and my favorite singer ever came on. Nat King Cole was singing “The Christmas Song,” and I looked around for Jack because everyone started dancing. He knew how much I loved that song, and he always danced with me when it would come on. Well, I found him…dancing with her. Gesh…I can’t even remember her name anymore, but he might as well have kicked me in the stomach. He knew how much I loved Nat and that song.”
She started shaking her head. “I called a friend to pick me up a few blocks down from the house, and then I grabbed my coat and purse and left. I stayed with my friend for almost three weeks. So, a part of me understands Jessie’s need to just get away. I mean, what she thinks she saw is ten times worse than what Jack had done.”
“Did you tell Jack where you were?”
She looked at me with a sad face. “No. I didn’t talk to him for two and a half weeks. Nothing. Not a word. My friend had begged me to call him and at least let him know I was okay, but I was so mad at him that I wanted him to worry. I wanted him to think about the idea of losing me.”
I peeked down at the ground. “Wow. I’m not sure if I could ever do that. I mean, I guess if I were mad and hurt enough, I could, but—”
“Oh, believe me, at the time, it made perfect sense to me. Today, I see what a terrible mistake it was. I could have driven him into that tramp’s arms. One time, I drove by our place. I almost died when I saw her standing on the porch, talking with Jack. My heart broke, and I spent three days wondering if she had just stopped by…or maybe she was leaving after they had just had sex. I about drove myself mad before I broke down and called her. I told her to tell me the truth.”
I sat up straighter. “You called her? Look at you, you gutsy bitch. Ari would be so proud!”
Grace giggled. “I guess so.”
“What did the tramp say?”
Grace winked at me and said, “That she had stopped by to see if she could help in any way because she felt guilty. She had liked the attention Jack had given her, and she’d egged on the flirting. She had asked him if she could help with trying to find me.”
“Gasp! What did you say to that?”
“I asked her to please leave my husband alone. Then, I told her that I really hoped when she married the man of her dreams someday, some little bitch would do the same thing to her. I hung up, and then I picked up the phone and called Jack. The moment I said his name, he broke down, crying. My heart had never beat so hard in my chest like it did in that moment. He begged me to come home, and he promised to never hurt me again if I would just come home.”
“Jack cried? Hard-core Jack from the Army?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Yep, that same Jack. I asked my friend to give me a ride home, and when I walked through the door, he pulled me to him and kissed me like I’d never been kissed before.”
Her cheeks were stained a beautiful rose color as the memory must have been coming back to her.
“One thing led to another, and…well…” She looked over at me and smiled a huge smile. “I’d never felt so loved in my life as I did when Jack made love to me that afternoon. Let’s just say that afterward, something told me that we had just made something magical together. Nine months later, Drew was born.”
She felt it, too. I smiled and nodded. “Gunner thinks I’m crazy, but I know when the baby was conceived. I just felt it afterward one night. Everything was just…perfect. It was…”
Grace and I both said, “Magical,” at the same time.
We looked at each other and started laughing.
“Grace, thank you so much for always being here for me. I’ll always appreciate how you treat me like your daughter.”
I watched as Grace’s eyes filled with tears.
“Ellie, you are my daughter, and I love you more than life itself. Thank you for loving my son and for being an amazing wife and mother. I watch you, and you just amaze me.”
My eyes betrayed me as I struggled to keep the tears from falling. We both stood and hugged each other before I heard Alex laughing over the monitor.
Grace hooked my arm with hers and said, “Come on, let’s get the birthday girl ready for her big party.”