It Must Be Love - Jacob and Connie

Chapter Twenty Nine

Again guys, sorry for the late update! This one is just a little bit of a filler, as it's the next chapter that's going to have all the action ;)

Once he approached Grace, he sat by her on the wall.

"Do you want to go on this camping trip, Gracie?" She nodded. "It's three days away from home, and they'd be setting off very late tonight. Do you think you could do that?" She nodded again. "Do you promise to put a smile on that beautiful face of yours if I try to persuade your mother to let you go?" She nodded once more, but didn't look up to him.

"I want to see the smile first," he said. Her lips began to curl up at the corners, but she tried her best to keep a straight face. "Oh, so that's how you're going to play it, is it?" He asked, and he immediately began to tickle her ribs. She started screaming and laughing, and was soon begging him to stop.

"Dad, stop, please!" He stopped immediately, and looked down at the young girl.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to say that, it just came out, please don't hate me." Grace stuttered, and she flushed red with embarrassment.

"Hey, hey, it's okay sweetheart. I'm honoured that you called me that, but I don't know if your mum would be okay with it, so I'll talk to her about that as well if you want me to. I'd be honoured to be your step-daddy, but your mother and I haven't ever talked about getting married, so just call me Jacob for now, okay? And I could never hate you, princess. If anything, you calling me 'dad' has made me love you even more." Grace smiled. She saw that Jacob looked out for her, and her mum, and that good enough. Of course, Grace wanted her mother to be happy, but she was just glad that this time, her mother had found a decent guy.

"Can I just say it once more?" She asked, feeling a little shy. Jacob looked back briefly, and saw that Connie was still on the sand where she was before, so he nodded, as if they were discussing a great secret. Suddenly, a Grace threw her arms around him in a tight hug, and it took him by surprise, as he was expecting her to whisper shyly in his ear. "I love you, dad." She whispered, and he felt his eyes begin to sting with pride, and with love. He kissed her head, and they stood up together.

"You're alright here for a second? I'm just going to speak to your mum, see if I can change her mind." He winked at Grace as he left, and she smiled again.

"She's feeling much better," Jacob said, as he crept up behind Connie a few minutes later. He massaged her neck, and she leaned into his touch. "But she really wants to go on this trip. I know it means that she's away from home on her first few nights back, but there are some ups to this."

"Like what?" Connie asked, honestly struggling to see why her daughter leaving would benefit her.

"Well, we do have two bags full of things from Ann Summers that need trying, and I don't know about you, but I think they're going to be quite loud - best not to do it when your daughter is sleeping in the room next door." Connie smiled. She hadn't even thought of that, and now he had said it, she had to admit that she was feeling a little more in favour of letting Grace go.

"It's still her first few days back," Connie protested. "I don't want her to feel as though I'm neglecting her again."

"Connie, she wants to go. That's hardly neglect!" She nodded - he had a very valid argument.

"Oh fine," she said eventually. "She'll only be mad at me if I say no anyway." With that, Connie dialled Max's number, and he picked up after three rings.

"If your offer is still open, Grace would love to go," she said.

"Brilliant, thank you for letting me know Connie. Can we pick her up in about four hours?"