Chapter Twenty-Four
“Have a nice day, Mr. Ferguson, and say hello to Mrs. Bethany.” Grace handed the elderly gentleman the small bag with his purchase wrapped securely inside it.
“I sure will. See you next time, Grace. And it’s good to have you back, Grayson.”
“Good to be back,” Grayson replied. “Have a good day, Henry.”
Grace looked over at her dad when the man left. “I can’t believe they all believe that you were just traveling. I mean the entire town thought you were dead.”
“The power of magic,” he said and gave Ida a kiss as he headed for the back room.
Grace looked at her mother. “That’s magic, Mom.”
“It sure is, sugar.” Ida smiled and shrugged. “But it was the easiest way to deal with his return. You can very well explain a man rising from the grave.”
“No, I don’t guess so. It’s so good to have him back, to have us all together.”
“Yes, it is. Oh, my goodness.” Ida’s gaze went to the door.
Grace looked and a split second later was grinning. “You don’t know how wonderful it is to see you walk through that door.”
Ily laughed. “I think you said that the last time I walked in.”
“And the time before,” John Luke added.
Grace laughed and held up both hands. “Guilty as charged and I’ll probably do it again.”
“That’s fine with me,” Ily said. “I wanted to tell you all in person about the antidote.”
“Hold on,” Ida said and called out. “Grayson?”
A couple of seconds later, Grayson looked out of the door to his workshop. “Ily. How did it go with the formula?”
“Thanks to you, we now not only have an antidote for the poison that was killing the Were population but a vaccine as well.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“It is and we couldn’t have done it without you. I know Michael would be so pleased and proud that we were able to save so many of our people.”
“Yes, he would.”
“Which brings me to another reason we’re here. I don’t know if Severin has approached you yet, or perhaps Lucan, but you’re part of the royal family and the Council would like you to take your rightful place and join them. Lucan is more than willing to step down or act as your Aide.”
Grayson shook his head. “I’ve never been interested in politics and governing and still am not. I will support Lucan and am always willing to lend an ear and share what little advice and knowledge I possess, but I have no wish for power. I’m quite happy serving here.”
“I told them you’d say that. You haven’t changed at all.”
“You have.”
“Oh?”
Grayson gestured toward John Luke. “Love has made you more beautiful and, I suspect, more powerful than ever. I’m glad you found happiness, Ily.”
“Thanks, so am I.”
Just then Beau entered the shop. Everyone greeted him as he walked over to get a kiss from Grace.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“The antidote was a success and Ily created a vaccine so the Weres are safe.”
“That’s great news. It’s nice to have a victory.”
“Indeed,” Ily agreed. “What brings you here? Well, aside from the obvious?”
Beau grinned. “I just got a call from Logan, who had a call from Conner. Apparently, Augustus has gone off the deep end and kidnapped some romance writer, Layla Storm.”
“Are you serious?” Ily asked and looked at John Luke. “That’s the writer Mysti and Ravyn were going on about. She’s on some national book tour and supposed to come to Texas. They wanted me to go with them to Houston to a book signing.”
“Have you read her books?” Grace asked.
Ily shook her head. “I’m not much of a reader, to be honest. Have you?”
“No, but I’ve heard of her.” She looked up at Beau. “Augustus really kidnapped her?”
“Yeah. According to Conner, he has her on his ranch here in Texas.”
Grayson chuckled. “It’s been a long time since Augustus has been impulsive. That must be some author.”
“According to Mysti, she did this interview on television and basically asked to be kidnapped,” Ily said.
“Seriously?” Ida asked.
“Yes.” As Ily started telling about the interview, and how Augustus kidnapping the writer might affect the upcoming summit to announce the presence of the Far to the world, Beau nudged Grace. “Come outside with me.”
She nodded and they walked out onto the front sidewalk. The first thing Grace noticed was her two children, sitting on the bench in front of the shop.
“What in the world are you doing here?” she asked as she walked over to them.
“It’s a surprise,” Sherri said.
“A surprise?” Grace looked at Beau.
“Yep. I picked them up because I have something I want to show all of you. Will you all go for a ride with me?”
“Yeah!” Sherri and Theo chirped simultaneously.
“Well, yeah, sure,” Grace agreed. “Just let me tell Mom and Dad.”
“Okay, I’ll get the kids in the car.”
Grace stuck her head in the door to tell her parents she was going for a ride with Beau and the kids to see surprise and then walked the half a block to get into his car.
Beau talked and kidded with the children as they drove and Grace couldn’t help but compare it to times she and Tad had been in the car with Sherri and Theo. There was never any laughter or chatter. He certainly never taught them songs and sang along with them the way Beau was doing now.
It warmed her heart to see the smiles on her children’s faces and on Beau’s, and she gave thanks to have this moment. With all that had happened the last couple of months, it was a real blessing to have an ordinary moment of simple happiness.
Beau turned onto the street where Grace’s parents lived. She looked at him questioningly.
“You’ll see,” he promised.
When he pulled into the driveway of the house beside her parents, she thought she got it. The house had been for sale for nearly a year, according to Ida, and had sold last month but no one knew who the new owners were. A lot of work had gone on since the sale.
The place had a new roof, new paint, the yard had been spruced up, a pool had been put into the backyard with a new porch on the back of the house, and from the way workers were coming and going, improvements and updates had been made inside the place as well.
Everyone who lived on the street was curious to see who the new owners were. Now Grace got it.
“You bought it.”
Beau grinned, turned off the car, and got out to help the kids from the car. When Grace met them in front of the car, he gestured toward the house. “Have a look.”
Grace took the hand he offered and started up the driveway.
“Yeah!” Sherri yelled and took off toward the back with Theo on her heels. Grace and Beau had barely made it to the corner of the house when Sherri came tearing back around the rear of the house. “There’s a pool! A big pool with a slide and a diving board and a waterfall. Come see, Mama, come see!”
Grace laughed. “You know you’ll never get them out of your backyard.”
“Wouldn’t even try,” Beau replied.
“Wow!” Grace stopped dead in her tracks when she got a look at the backyard. Not only was the pool spectacular, but there was a covered outdoor barbecue and a brand new screened porch on the back of the house with a dual level deck that extended out from it. “This really is something.”
“Wait ‘till you see the inside.” Beau fished out a set of keys from his pocket and yelled to the kids. “Wanna go inside?”
Their enthusiastic yells and subsequent mad dash to the door had Grace smiling even wider. The moment Beau opened the door they ran in and tore through the kitchen. As Grace admired what she could only describe as a dream kitchen, she listened to the kids’ enthusiastic chatter and then a few seconds later, the thunder of their feet up the stairs.
“Mama!” Sherri’s scream had Grace’s smile fading and her heart leaping up in her throat. She took off at a run and bounded up the stairs two at a time.
“What’s wrong?” She grabbed her daughter by the arms. “Where’s your—“
“Look, Mama!” Sherri pointed at a closed door.
Grace looked up and her mouth fell open. On the door was painted Sherri’s Room in pretty purple lettering.
“Me too, Mama, me too!” Theo pointed to a door across the hall.
Sure enough, his name was on the door.
“Can we go in?” Sherri asked.
“Absolutely,” Beau answered as he reached the top of the stairs.
The children excitedly entered the rooms. Grace turned to Beau. “What’s this?”
“Pretty much what it looks like.” He took both her hands. “I want us to be a family. You’re divorced now, so there’s nothing to stop you except that you don’t want me.”
“Oh, I want you.” He had no clue how much, but she was still shocked that he had done all this. If it was just her, she’d say yes in the blink of an eye. But she had two children to consider. “But it’s more than just me.”
“I know. Hey kids!”
Sherri and Theo answered the call. “Come here, guys, there’s something I want to ask you.” Beau sat down on his heels to put him more at face level with them. “You know I love your mom, right?”
“Yeah, you kiss her and tell her she’s pretty all the time,” Sherri answered.
“Yes, I do. And I want to marry her. But I also want us to be a family and I’d really like to be your stepdad. I promise I’ll always be good to you and always have time for you and I will love you a whole lot. So, what do you say?”
Sherri and Theo looked at one another and then Sherri took her brother’s hand. “We need to talk about it,” she said to Beau and then added to Theo, “Let’s go into my room.”
Grace and Beau watched them go into the room and close the door. “Well, I didn’t expect that,” he admitted.
“To be honest, neither did I. I know they’re crazy about you.”
“I thought they were but maybe—“
He stopped as the door opened. The kids walked out hand-in-hand. “We don’t want you to be our stepdad,” Sherri said.
Grace felt her heart sink and looked at Beau, seeing a crestfallen expression appear. She felt the same way and wanted to cry. Until Theo spoke.
“Could you be our dad?”
There was probably nothing under heaven that would have stopped Grace’s eyes from welling over at Theo’s words. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away and noticed that Beau’s eyes were glistening as well.
He knelt again before the children. “I’d like that more than anything.” He then looked up at Grace. “If your mom agrees, that is?”
“Please, Mama?” Sherri asked. “Please?”
“I needs a dad,” Theo said solemnly. “Please Mama?”
“Please, Grace?” Beau added as he stood. “Will you marry me and let us be a family?”
“Just try and stop me.” She said and went into his arms.
The kids giggled as Beau kissed her. When the kiss ended, she hugged him tightly and whispered, “No more yellow brick road, Lion.”
“No?” He looked at her.
“There’s no need to look anymore. We finally found our way back. And you know…”
“No, you’re not gonna say it.”
Grace grinned. “Oh yes, I am. There’s no place like home. And you’re home, Beau. Always and forever.”
Beau just smiled as the kids crowded in with them for a big group hug. She was right. There was no place like home.