Saving Grace

Epilogue

"Gracie! Hurry up!" Charlie groaned, refusing to step foot toward his older sister, who rolled her eyes while holding a bra over her shirt and staring into the mirror.

"Listen here, ya little puke, shopping for a bra is not nearly as easy as grabbing a pair of pants off the rack," Gracie scolded lightly, a smirk adorning her pale features.

"Ugh! It can't be that hard," he grumbled. "We've been here for like ten minutes!"

Gracie laughed. "Does this look like it'll fit?" she asked, covering her boobs with a plain black cotton bra.

Charlie barely glanced at her. "Yeah sure, it covers the right places, now let's get the hell outta here."

Gracie shrugged. What the hell? He's got a point, she thought, looking down at herself, before laughing and dropping it into the cart. "Relax, we're in the underwear department of Target, not buying lingerie in Victoria's Secret."

"Thank the lord for that!" Charlie proclaimed braving the bra section and pushing her toward the aisle.

"Gracie! You have to try those on before you buy them! Have you never been bra shopping before?" a woman cried coming out of seemingly nowhere, dragging a little boy along with her.

Gracie's cheeks reddened and Charlie snickered. "Um... no?" The tall woman with dark brown ringlets giggled as her son struggled to get away without success.

"It's a good thing you've got me, then, 'cause you've got a lot to learn." Which didn't sound nearly as reassuring to her as it was meant to be.

"Yeah..." she mumbled her agreement. Her reluctance caused that familiar mischievous sparkle to light up in her aunt's eyes.

Aunt Madeline's gaze cut to Charlie, they both wore the same smirk on their faces, and Gracie immediately knew she was in trouble. "Did you ask her yet?" she asked Charlie conspiratorially.

The boy's grin grew wider as he dragged them both toward the checkout counters, with his younger cousin, Lionel, at his heels. "Nope. You can."

"Ask me what?" Gracie asked, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Aunt Madeline looked like she'd start jumping up and down like a schoolgirl at any second. "Charlie and I wanted to know if you'd seriously consider dating Caspian. I mean seriously," she said, excitement and hope dripping from her voice.

Gracie almost didn't want to believe that she was serious. "Ah, Aunt Madeline-"

"Come on! Don't shoot the poor kid down just yet. I mean, he followed you all the way from Larkspur City!"

"No. Aunt Maddy. I was gonna-"

"Grace Charles. That boy is in love with you! You can't-"

"I already know," Gracie interrupted, raising her voice over her aunt's. "He's told me a million times. And we're already together." She chuckled lightly at the dumbfounded expressions on Aunt Madeline and Charlie's faces.

"When were you going to tell me this?" she asked irritably as they loaded all of their stuff onto the counter in front of the anti-social cashier. Gracie grimaced, knowing the next words out of her mouth would do nothing to control the situation, but she said them anyway.

"Um... I wasn't."

Aunt Madeline shot her a stealth death glare as she exchanged money with the quiet guy behind the till. "And why the hell not?" she demanded once all their bags were stacked in their arms. Even little Lionel got to carry something.