Chapter Forty-Three
Grace
When the car I'd hired pulled into the drive that evening, all the lights in the house were burning brightly, and as I stepped out on to the gravel, I could smell the scent of pot roast and pie wafting from the kitchen. I smiled as I grabbed my bag and walked up the front steps calling, "Hey, Danny, Honor, Verity, I'm home!"
No one answered, but I heard voices in the kitchen so I dropped my bags at the door and went to join them.
"Hey, you guys, what are you—" I stopped abruptly as I saw Adam sitting at the table showing Verity how to navigate an iPad and Honor laughed loudly and Danny signed advice.
"Grace!" Honor shouted as she hopped up from the table and ran toward me. "You're home!"
"What's going on?" I asked hugging my sister as I tried to maintain a calm outward appearance. I could feel Adam staring at me, but I avoided his gaze as I smiled at my family.
"Adam bought Verity an iPad so that she could stay in contact with us when we go back to the city," Honor said. "He's trying to show her how to use it, but she's a little behind the tech curve."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Verity laughed as she looked down at the screen and timidly tapped something. "I'm new to the tech world, give me a little bit of a break."
"What's this ‘we’ business?" I said looking down at Honor.
"I want to go with you, Grace," she whispered. "I can't stay here. Please?"
"We'll discuss it," I said, kissing her forehead before turning my attention to Adam. "So, you brought technology to the Amish, did you?"
"I just thought it was a good idea to give her a way to communicate with you, if she needed to," Adam said looking at me and then quickly turning his attention back to the tablet. "She can keep it tucked away for emergencies."
"Aren't you the great, white savior from the big city?" I said trying not to sound bitter, but failing miserably.
"Grace, are you okay?" Verity said looking up from the tablet. "You sound mad."
"Mad? Oh no, why would I be mad?" I asked. "What reason on earth would I have to be mad?"
"Grace?" Danny signed with a concerned look on his face. Everyone in the room went silent and all eyes were on me.
"You want to tell them or should I?" I asked looking straight at Adam.
"They already know," he said quietly.
"Oh, nice, you tell my whole family what's going on before you tell me?" I shouted. "You're a real piece of work, Adam Wallace!"
"Grace, let me explain—" Adam began.
"No! I don't care what your reason is!" I shouted knowing that I was being unreasonable, but powerless to stop the flow of hurt and rage that spilled over. "You lied to me and you humiliated me! You made me think you cared about me and then you...you...how could you?"
The dam broke and I began sobbing. All the pain from the past month bubbled to the surface as I sunk to the floor and cried like a child. Verity rose from the table and came and sat with me on the floor wrapping her arms around me and rocking me as she rested her chin on the top of my head.
"There, there, it's okay, Gracie," she whispered as she stroked my hair and hummed softly. "We've all been there. You've just been so busy being strong that you didn't get your turn to grieve. It's your turn now."
Her words cut the last thread of control I'd been holding onto and I began keening as Verity rocked me gently back and forth, back and forth. No one moved a muscle as I purged my grief.
"Gone...can't believe...nothing's the same...alone," I choked out as I cried into my sister's shoulder wailing, "I want them back!"
"We all do, Gracie," Verity murmured. "We all do, but they're not coming back, so we have to make do with what we have."
"I'm so sorry," I sobbed. "I was supposed to fix everything and it's all a mess now."
"It's not nearly as much of a mess as you think it is," Verity said rubbing my back. "Adam and I have figured out a way to take care of the store and get the turbines into the community."
"What? How?" I said looking up at her through teary eyes and wiped my nose with the back of my hand.
"Eeew, Grace! That's so gross!" Honor protested as she grabbed a dishtowel from the sink and threw it at me.
"And a dish towel is less gross?" I laughed weakly as I wiped my face with the towel and blew my nose into it.
"We can bleach it or turn it into a cleaning cloth," Honor said grinning.
"Grace, we've got a plan for the store, but you're going to have to forgive Adam for his mistakes if we're going to make this work," Verity said as she patted my shoulder and stood up offering me her hand. She pulled me up off the floor and pointed to a chair as she moved to the counter and fixed me a plate of leftovers.
"What do you know about his mistakes?" I grumbled still not looking at Adam.
"I know enough to know that good people make mistakes," she said setting the plate down in front of me. "And I also know that God's grace is dependent on us asking for forgiveness. Does God hold a grudge?"
"I don't know," I mumbled. "Did God find out about a secret fiancée during a huge party in front of hundreds of people?"
"Grace Miller!" Verity scolded as she slammed the palm of her hand down on the table. "It's sinful how full of pride you are! Mamm and Dat would be ashamed of your unwillingness to forgive!"
"It's okay, Verity," Adam said quietly. "I was kind of a jerk, and her anger isn't entirely undeserved."
I looked up at Adam surprised to hear him speak and even more surprised to hear him talk openly about what had happened at the reception.
"You told them?" I asked.
"I felt like I needed to confess my sins," he said sheepishly. "And I knew you wouldn't listen to me until you'd calmed down."
"So you thought you'd use my family as leverage?" I shot back.
"No, I thought I'd practice explaining what happened, and if they didn't forgive me, then I knew it would be unlikely that you would," he said.
"Well, it looks like it worked with them," I said icily. "Bravo."
"Knock it off, Grace," a tinny voice said from the other side of the table. I looked over to see Danny holding up the broken phone in one hand and signing at me with the other. "He's sorry he messed up. Can't you just accept his apology like you do with me when I mess up?"
"It's not that simple, little brother," I scoffed as I shot an irritated look at Adam. Now my family was on his side!
"Listen, I know you're mad at me, and I don't blame you at all," Adam said as he ran a hand through is hair and sighed. "I was caught between a rock and hard place, and I tried to take what I thought was the easy way out, but I totally misjudged the situation. And in my defense, I didn't know you'd be there!"
"Oh, wonderful," I said rolling my eyes. "So all of this is my fault because you were unable to prepare for my presence at the event?"
"God, Grace!" Adam shouted. "Can you please just cut me some slack and listen to what I have to say?"
"Fine," I said stubbornly crossing my arms over my chest and setting my jaw as I prepared to listen.
For the next half hour, Adam recounted the details of how he'd wound up standing next to his parents at the top of the stairs at the reception. As I listened, I realized that he, too, had been shouldering familial burden that he hadn't wanted to share with anyone else, and as he explained his reasoning it became clear that Adam and I were even more similar than I thought.
"So, you see? I didn't even know Veronica, and I told her that there was no way I was going to marry her," Adam finished. "I told her that there was someone else who'd stolen my heart, and I couldn't possibly betray that. Not even for my father."
I felt my heart pounding in my chest as Adam spoke. I understood what he was saying, but I wasn't ready to let go of the hurt yet.
"Grace, I'm sorry," he said looking at me expectantly. "Will you accept my apology?"
Adam looked at me expectantly.
"I'll accept your apology," I said. "We need you and your technology in order to make this plan work."
"Grace—" he began.
"Look, we don't have a lot of time and we need to get this show on the road," I said cutting him off before he could say another word.
"We need to plan for tomorrow's event," Verity said, trying to ease the awkwardness between us. "Let's talk about what we're going to do at the store."
Danny and Honor headed off to bed as the rest of us sat going over the details of the plan that Adam and Verity had worked up in my absence. It was a brilliant plan, but as I was well aware, even the most brilliant plans could go awry, but this time I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
"Okay, I need to get some sleep," I yawned as I looked at the clock and realized that we only had a few hours before we had to be up and on our way to the store. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Adam looking at me, but I ignored his pointed stare and went upstairs to get ready for bed. I could hear Verity talking with Adam downstairs before she, too, came upstairs.
"Don't you think you're being a little hard on him, Grace?" she said as she peeked into my room on her way to her own room.
"No, I don't," I said stubbornly. "He humiliated me in front of all those people and made me feel like a fool."
"And then he prostrated himself before you in front of your whole family to ask your forgiveness," she said. "I'd say it's just about even."
"Not even close," I grumbled as I turned off the light and pulled the covers up to my chin.
"Oh Grace," Verity sighed as she pulled the door shut and left me alone in the darkness with my thoughts.