Grace (BWWM)

Chapter Twenty-Two

"You've been coming over more often now." Grace says.

We're sitting on the couch and she's leaning back against me. I've got an arm wrapped around her and I run my hand along her arm.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"That's news to me. I thought I've been coming over just the same."

"Just the same?" she murmurs, her dark browns staring up into mine.

"Yeah," I say, and we fall silent. I press a kiss to her temple, and her eyes shut before fluttering back open. Our eyes lock again, and my hand continues its movements, but slower. She gets that look on her face that I love as she melts.

"I love you," I murmur, and she nods.

"I love you too, Joe." I nod as well, grasping for words that can better encompass what I feel, but I fall short.

We're on the ground floor, watching a movie together in the living room. The twins and Rose are in the basement. Well, we're supposed to be watching a movie—that was the plan. Rather, the volume of the television has long been muted as we've been sitting here talking.

"Grace," I murmur, content. I have her in the way that I want her now—well, almost. I want to marry her, but I'll take one thing at a time. For now, I'm just happy that I get to finally be with her like this.

She gazes up at me and then presses a kiss to my chin. My eyes widen a bit at that, then I tug her closer. I've been holding off on kissing her, wanting to save that for a more special moment.

"Behave yourself," I tease, but she only looks at me with a longing in her eyes. The small smile I had on my face falls at her expression, and my thumb caresses her cheek. I never would have thought that Grace could make expressions like this. For such a stubborn woman, she can be so honest.

"Wait," I say softly, and she frowns. Before I can say anything more, Nova comes up from the basement, looking at us before giving a sly smile. Grace huffs, scooting away like a teenager who's been caught.

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm just coming through," Nova says, laughing. I grin, looking back at Grace as Nova disappears upstairs.

"Oh so now you want to stay away from me? I feel rejected," I say, and she rolls her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Rose? Why didn't you just use the bathroom in my room?" I hear Nova ask. I glance up the stairs, surprised Rose is still up there. She must have run by maybe twenty minutes ago, and I thought she had returned to the basement. But then again, she's a young woman, so she probably has her reasons.

"Um . . . pads—I thought—I . . . I thought Aunty might have some," Rose stammers. I look to Grace, whose eyes are trained on the stairs, narrowed as she listens.

"Hmm? I have more than my mom, you know that. Why are you being silly, Cuz? Whatever, let's just go back to the game. You've been gone for so long that Ty was starting to get annoyed. You're alright though, right?"

"Alright—yeah. Yes. I just . . . yes." The last word is so soft that I have to strain to hear it. Warning bells go off inside me, and I can see the same goes for Grace. But we don't say anything as the two come back downstairs. We don't even look at them. But once they're gone, we head upstairs.

No words are said as I watch Grace search, opening drawers in the bathroom vanity. Rose has been acting odd the last few days, but we didn't know why. As Grace continues to search, I feel a sense of dread.

We've both asked her what's wrong, but she's been saying that she's fine.

Grace closes the drawers and looks to the garbage bin where two tissues are covering something underneath. Something catches my eye behind the bin, and I bend to see a few thin, rectangular boxes that must have been chucked behind the toilet in a hurry. Grace lifts up the tissues but neither of us need to see what's underneath before we know.