Loves Second Chance

Chapter Ten

Lacey woke to the aroma of bacon cooking. Looking around she noticed that she was alone, in Ryans bed, but he was absent, so she figured he was in the kitchen cooking. When she walked into the kitchen, she found him leaning over the breakfast bar, drinking a smoothie, wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers. Glancing over his shoulder he noticed her standing in the doorway, he smiled a sexy half smile and walked over to her.

"See something you like, Sweetheart?" The pearly whites had come out to play.

Rolling her eyes, she reached up and kissed his cheek. "Always," she said before stepping around him and making her way to the counter. She poured herself a cup of coffee, and grabbed a plate of bacon and eggs and took a seat next to the one he had just vacated. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you last night, you should've woke me up. I needed to go check on Grace."

"No problem, Lacey, you were really out of it. I called over to the hospital and talked to Graces nurse. She ate dinner around five and then went back to sleep. The nurse said she told her you'd been in to see her, but she was asleep, and she understood. She told Grace that you would be in this morning, and she was fine with that."

"Thanks, Ryan. I guess I better go get ready then." She finished eating and headed off to the shower. Thirty minutes later, she was showered and dressed. She decided to go light on the mascara and only applied one coat. When she walked back into the living room, Ryan walked over to her, took her hand and led her out the door.

They arrived at the hospital and walked into Graces room, only to find it empty. Lacey immediately went to the nurses' station to find out what was going on.

"Hi, may I help you?" The nurse sitting at the counter greeted them.

"Yes, I hope so. I'm looking for the girl in room 512 she is gone." Lacey said sounding slightly panicked.

"Let me see if I can find out where she is for you." Ryan stood quietly by her side.

"It seems that Grace was scheduled to have x-rays done this morning. The doctor wanted to find out how her ribs are healing. She should be back in the room shortly." The nurse calmly explained.

'Thank you," Lacey was feeling more at ease now.

"While we wait Sweetheart, do you want a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, Ryan, that sounds good." She gave in a nod and a smile.

An hour later, Grace had returned to the room. "So, are you feeling any better?" Lacey asked her.

"I am. The doctor said my ribs look a lot better." Grace said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better. I wanted to tell you that I've decided with Ryan, and we're going to move into an apartment in his building. We packed up your stuff yesterday. Some of the men that work for him will move it for us. I just wanted to make sure before you get released that you still don't want to live in your house.

"I'm sure. That was where Mommy lived and it was her house, too. All the stuff in the house was hers, it would be too sad to see it all the time." Grace said with tears in her eyes.

Lacey went over and took her into her arms. "Oh, Honey, it's ok. I understand how you feel. I miss your Mommy, too. We all loved her very much and she'd want you to be happy. Ryan has a big two-bedroom apartment for us to move into. He has a housekeeper named Martha that works for him, and she makes the best food. I think you'll love it."

"That sounds nice, Aunt Lacey." Grace agreed and seemed alright with the idea. Lacey was about to say something else, but the doctor walked in.

"Good morning. I was hoping to see you today, Ms. Walters. Grace is continuing to improve, so I see no reason why she can't be released tomorrow. She'll need to stay on antibiotics to ward off infection. I'll send a prescription for pain medicine in the discharge papers. And she'll need to return in four weeks, to have the cast removed. Other than that, she's good to go. I'll have all the paperwork drawn up and I'd say she should be ready to go around lunchtime tomorrow." The doctor smiled at Grace, shook hands with Lacey, nodded to Ryan and left the room.