A blessing in disguise

Twenty Six

"Zach what do you think you're doing!" She screamed while desperately trying to get the elevator to turn back on.

"Grace, please I just want to talk." I pleaded while grabbing onto the small of her elbow.

"So you had to turn the elevator off to do that?" She shot back.

"Yes, you wouldn't of listened to me any other way."

She moved away from the buttons and slouched in the corner opposite of me.

"Alright then, speak!" She said in a nasty sarcastic tone.

"Grace, I know what I did was wrong and I'm truly and honestly sorry. I should of never drank that alcohol in the first place, I know now that I can not handle myself when I am drunk. Kissing that fan was the biggest mistake of my life and I want you to know that I love you more than anyone in this world. I want to be with you everyday for the rest of our lives. These past two weeks I have been doing nothing but crying and writing sad songs about you. I love John and I don't want this stupid mistake to cause him to grow up without a father." I was breathless.

Grace had her head down, starring at her feet.

"Zach, I...." She began.

I moved over to her and placed my finger over her lips. "Shhh... do you forgive me?"

She shook her head, no. No? I don't have a plan B. This was it, this was my plan, talking to her and speaking from my heart. I was broken and fell to the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face into my hands.

I felt her slide down next to me. We were sitting with our hipbones touching. We sat in silence for along time. I had nothing to say to her, all I wanted to know is, what's running through her mind right now? I hated sitting so close to her, I could hear her breathing, I could smell her perfume, but I couldn't say anything to her.

"Zach, it's getting late. Do you want to come to my apartment and visit John?"

I nodded and stood up. The elevator was turned back on awhile ago, but neither of us made a move to click on a floor number. I held my hand out, offering to help Grace up, but as per usual she liked being independent and stood up herself. She hit the floor number 8 and we were off. When the doors opened she quickly existed and made her way down the long hallway. We finally got to the door marked as 1210. I smiled to myself because 12/10 is my birthday.

"Sorry for being late, I got caught up in the elevator."

I was about to respond to Grace when I realized that she wasn't talking to me. I franticually scanned the room to find another person sitting in the living room with John.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" My heart was racing. The last time I talked to my mom, she slapped me across the face.

"Just babysitting my grandson." She say very joyfully.

I was bewildered. My mom has never acted like this towards Grace or John.

Grace came up behind me and whispered in my ear "Come with me, I have some explaining to do." She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway. When we entered a room she sat me down on the edge of the bed.

She didn't waste anytime "When I got back to California I was lost and I had no money, so I called your parents to see if anyone could watch John while I looked for a job. Your mom volunteered and drove down the next day. The first time she met John she fell in love with him. I've talked to her and I think she is willing to open up to you again." She smiled at me and waited for a response.

"But Grace, what about us?" I asked.

She leaned in and kissed me.

"I never stopped loving you." She said when she pulled away.

"Oh my gosh!" I yelled while slapping my hand to my forehead.

"What! What's wrong?" Grace said while jumping up.

"I forgot to say hi to John!" I laughed it off and left the room.

I ran into the living room and squatted down on the floor opposite of John.

"Hi John" I said while waving to him.

"Daddy!" John ran over to me and I grabbed him and spun him around in the air.

I put John back down and looked up to see my mom and Grace looking at me with wide eyes. It took me a minute to realize why they were starring at me, but when I did my eyes were just as wide as their's.

"John just said his first word!" I screamed and ran over and hugged Grace.

"Our little boy is growing up." I smiled on her ear after whispering to her.