And if anything is to happen to her. . .
It’s a dark thought that I don’t want to entertain.
Framing her sweet face in my hands I plant the most chaste kiss I have ever given her on her lips. A soft yet tender kiss that holds everything I want to say but can’t.
And because Grace is Grace, because she knows me so well, because she can read me like a book, she receives the kiss without kissing me back.
She allows the kiss, my lips pressing so softly and tender against hers, to say it all for me. And she accepts it. She acceptsme.
As the kiss ends her eyes gaze into mine with a sheen mist and love pouring from them. “I know, Oak,” she breathes the very same words I say to her. Her lips pull in a small smile. “I know.”
I lay my hand palm flat on her chest, right where her heart lies underneath. Even if I can’t say the three words I know she’s dying to hear I can say this. “You’re my heart, Grace. And the minute yours stops beating so does mine.”
Gracie Mae
“Do you really think the FBI has enough evidence to charge Oak with homicide?” I ask to all the Old Ladies. We’re currently in a bridal shop for Alice. She has just come out in a stunning mermaid style wedding dress that has a long tail and a lace bodice. Although it does amazingly at accentuating her body we all agreed it’s not the one.
Alice steps down from the platform expertly in the high heels they have paired with this particular dress. “I think if they had the evidence he would be behind bars right now. Isn’t that why they asked you for a confession?”
Before the men had entered Church I had told all of them of how the FBI offered me custody of Connor in exchange for a confession from Oak stating he killed Chris Townsend.
And as much as I love Connor, will lay down my life for him, do anything for him, I can’t do this.
I can’t convict the man that I love. I won’t.
“If you’re worried about him turning himself in Reed will most likely knock him out cold before he can leave the doors,” Alice lets us know with a small smile on her face. There’s teasing in her tone but in her eyes we all know she’s telling the truth.
Snake would rather find a way to shift the blame on him rather than seeing his best friend in handcuffs.
Alice raises a brow. “Shall I try on the next dress?”
“Yes,” we all say in unison.
As we all wait for Alice to try on her next dress we all talk meaninglessly to keep our minds from drifting to the murky waters.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, since I have it on silent to not be rude, and I pull it out while giving an apologetic look to the ladies.
Giving a quick glance at the number I take notice of how the area code is for Hollows Point.
Releasing a quick breath that does nothing to quell the anxiousness I answer the call. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Gracie Mae Vale?” The woman with a monotone voice greets me back and I just know.
“Yes, this is she. May I ask who is calling?” I try to keep the anxiousness out of my voice but I fail. My voice falters and Nora who sits next to me notices.
Offering the same gesture I had just earlier her hand lays gently on top of mine. I give her a smile that I don’t quite feel and she only tightens her fingers around my hand.
“This is June, from Hollows Point Memorial Hospital, and we are calling in regard to your mother, Vivian Vale, as she has you placed as her emergency contact.”
Dread hits the pit of stomach like an anchor in the middle of the sea. It unfurls, spreading vast and wide until it swallows my entire being. I swallow but the motion is rough. My mouth has gone dry and forcing the little bits of saliva I have is painful.
I breathe, though it’s strained. “Is she okay?”
“I am sorry to inform you with the unfortunate news but your mother suffered a respiratory arrest from an overdose and is now placed in a coma.”
I feel the blood drain from my face as my heart stops beating.
My hand clutches around my phone in a death grip as if it’s the life raft keeping me from drowning. But it feels as if my head is barely grazing the surface of the rough waters. And I’m afraid that all it will take is one more tidal wave to pull me under.
