Angel's Dance (3 page)

Grant was already in the car and had
backed out waiting for her. As Clear hopped in Grant quipped, “I
hope your friend isn’t too terribly disappointed?” He nodded toward
Mr. Yarbrough, who was walking out of the barn with Mr.
Smith.

“
Immensely. He’ll get over
it.” Clear flipped her hair nonchalantly over her shoulder. Grant
grimaced at her casual attitude, once again wondering at the
relationship she had with the snazzy-dressed man. Must not be too
serious if she was driving off on a whim with him. Not a whim, he
reminded himself. And it wasn’t for him, it was for his daughter.
‘
Damn
!’ He spun
out of her driveway and got perverse pleasure watching her eyes
widen as she latched onto the door handle to keep from sliding
around his truck.

“
Where are we going?” she
asked breathlessly. The sound tickled his ear. He tried to ignore
the warmth in his face.

“
My house. I’ve got a few
things I have to take care of before we head for Chicago.” He could
feel her pull closer to the door. He simply assumed it was to gain
leverage in case he took another wild turn.

Clear broke into a cold sweat at the
thought of going to Grant’s house. The last time she had been there
had been quite an intimate and beautiful experience, but after all
that had happened… she felt herself blushing at the memories of
their last time together at his house. She turned and stared out
the window so he wouldn’t notice. He thankfully left her in peace.
She could always wait in the car, she reasoned. How long could he
possibly take? She would wait in the car, because she couldn’t bare
the thought of going back in his house with him.

Grant pulled into the driveway and
turned the truck off. They sat for a seemingly unending moment
before he turned to her. “Um… do you want to come in?” he asked
casually, but there was a strain in his voice. She heard
it.

“
No, I’ll just wait here,”
she shrugged nonchalantly.

“
Uh, can you move your
stuff to the car? The truck gets shitty gas mileage.” He handed her
a key as he said it. She jerked away as their fingers touched.
“I’ll try to be quick.” With that he jumped out of the
truck.

Clear watched him walk in the house
and sat waiting for her knees to stop shaking. This was ridiculous!
A simple brush of the fingertips should not be doing this to her!
She jumped out of the truck and reached in the back for her bag.
She stomped over to the car and opened the trunk shoving her bag
in. She slammed the trunk. He made her so angry! So angry that she
was slamming around like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum.
She was volunteering to sit in a car and sulk, rather than act like
a mature adult and go in the house. Steeling herself, she made her
way to the house forcing herself not to stomp up the walkway.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door tentatively.

“
Grant?” she called out as
she walked in. She froze for a moment, feeling very lost. If she
hadn’t watched Grant walk in moments before, she would have sworn
she was in the wrong house. Everything had changed, especially the
feeling in the house.

The last time she had been here this
place had felt empty and was barely decorated. Now there was a
hide-a-bed and TV in the middle of the living room and a screen
separated Grant’s bedroom from the rest of the house. She looked at
the TV and saw a gaming console and a collection of games and
movies. Clear was trying to process the changes, and what they
could possibly mean, when a tiny movement on the landing caught her
eye.

A small girl stood at the bottom of
the landing staring at her. Grant walked out of one of the rooms
upstairs, saying something over his shoulder and she looked up in
confusion, wondering if this was a vision. Grant stopped and looked
down at her and the little girl.

“
Clear? I.. I thought you
were waiting in the car?”

Two boys and an older girl followed
Grant out of the room and the feelings of adoration slammed into
Clear. She was overwhelmed and stood there with her mouth hanging
open. Who were these kids and why did they have such strong
feelings for Grant?

The teenage girl looked at Clear. “Who
is that?” she asked Grant, scrunching up her face in obvious
displeasure.

“
Ah… um… this is Clear…
a.. friend who is going to help me find my daughter.”

The little girl on the landing looked
from Grant to Clear and her face crumpled “You mean this isn’t your
daughter? I thought you wouldn’t have to go away!” she
wailed.

Grant flew down the stairs and scooped
her up. “Aw honey, I don’t want to leave you guys, but I have to do
this. I promise, I’ll be back as soon as possible.” He looked at
Clear meaningfully over the little girl’s head. The teen was right
behind him in a flash.

“
Everything will be fine,”
she promised Grant. She reached in to take the little girl who was
clinging fiercely to Grant’s neck. He shook his head
gently.

“
I still need to pack. I
can take her for now Alice.” He walked off toward his room and
Gloria and the oldest boy followed. The boy was lugging a suit
case. “Put that on the bed, Tony.”

Tony picked up the thread of the
conversation that Clear had apparently interrupted. He was talking
about a track meet that was coming up. Clear could hear Grant
responding with real interest. The youngest boy toddled into the
room and chimed in periodically with comments that did not seem to
have anything to do with the conversation.

“
You cannot take that!”
Alice gasped and Clear could hear her snatch something up. “That
looks awful on you! Here, take this one instead.”

Grant chuckled. Clear couldn’t believe
how adroit Grant was at giving each child attention while in the
midst of all the chaos. Clear suddenly focused on what was being
said as the mood shifted. Jeffy had just spoken.

Grant cleared his throat and spoke a
little more quietly, “Yes… She is the lady I told you about. Alice,
can you grab my shaving kit?”

Alice responded, “Here. She looks a
lot younger than I imagined.” Clear could practically picture the
sneer on her face.

“
Come on. I told you she
was a kid.”

“
Yeah, but you didn’t tell
us how hot she was!” This came from the teen boy, Tony, Clear
thought. She could feel herself blush.

“
Come on, man… not cool,”
Grant muttered. This caused Clear to blush even more. She suddenly
felt a presence at her side. She glanced over and there was another
kid. This was a girl, probably eight or nine years old. She looked
like she had just started to reach up to touch Clear.

“
Are you the lady who
helped Grant catch that bad guy?” The little girl asked
tentatively. Clear felt herself blush even more. What had he told
these kids? She nodded. The young girl burst into tears and hugged
Clear fervently. “Thank you!” She gasped, burying her head in
Clear’s waist. Clear felt a rush of pain, sadness and gratitude.
“He killed our sister Kary. Thank you for helping catch him!” She
sobbed and then pulled away and ran in with the others. Clear’s
head was beginning to ache from all the fluctuation in
emotions.

A few minutes later, Grant walked back
out with a suitcase in one hand, the little girl in the other,
Jeffy clinging to his leg and the others in tow. “You still have my
cell number, right?” Grant asked Alice.

Alice rolled her eyes like
the teen she was. “Yes, but we are
fine
.”

Grant gave her a suspicious cop look
and she winked at him. “Mrs. Trevor next door will be checking in
on you guys and I gave her money for groceries, so if you need
anything, she can get it for you. She will be staying the
night.”

“
I can handle this,” Alice
muttered.

“
I know you
can
, Alice, but at your
age you shouldn’t have to. Enjoy your youth a bit, kid.”

“
I’d enjoy it more if
you’d leave the keys to the truck,” Alice needled.

“
Ha, fat chance! You only
just got your permit. I would like everyone, including Mrs. Trevor,
to be alive and well when I get back!” Grant smiled at her to let
her know he was teasing her and she lit up like a torch. The train
of people had made it to a few feet in front of Clear. Grant
stopped and put the suitcase down. He turned to the kids and
scooped up Jeffy and the little girl. “Alright Thing one and Thing
two; you guys be good for your sister and Mrs. Trevor, right? Call
me every night to say good night.” The two clung to him and the
little girl smothered him in kisses. He set them down gently and
they both wrapped their arms around a leg. He turned to the nine
year old girl. “Be good Gloria, and keep your grades up.” He pulled
her into a hug and mussed her hair.

“
Come..… back… soon,”
Gloria sobbed. “Please… Please don’t get hurt!!” She buried her
face in his stomach. He held her with one arm and reached the other
out to Tony. Tony offered his hand.

“
While I’m gone, you’re
the man of the house. Help Alice,” Grant nodded to Tony and Tony
bit his lip suddenly looking a little bit younger. He nodded and
shook Grant’s hand firmly.

“
Yes sir.” Tony seemed to
shrink a little more and become a little more vulnerable. Grant
pulled him into a hug next to his sister.

“
I know you will,” Grant
said, voice sounding gruff.

Alice threw herself on the bunch and
they all hugged fiercely for a few minutes. Clear was trying not to
cry. She didn’t understand any of it, but even someone who wasn’t
sensitive would feel the strong emotions in the room. For Clear it
was completely overwhelming.

After a moment Grant broke the hug and
coughed back the emotion in his voice, “We need to get going. I am
still here for you guys, call me over any little thing, okay?” The
kids were clinging to one another forlornly, but they all nodded.
“I… I love you guys,” Grant said as he opened the door and stood
aside for Clear to go first. The children didn’t respond to his
words. Clear wasn’t sure if they had even heard them, it had been
said so quietly.

Clear and Grant got in the car. The
kids were all standing in the door waving Grant off. He waved to
them one last time as he pulled out of the driveway. Clear had so
many questions that she wanted to ask, but didn’t know if she had
the right to ask them. It seemed that every minute with Grant
reminded her how little she actually knew him. How did he end up
with those kids?

After a few minutes of driving she
decided to try and ask. “Well, I guess you have your hands full,”
she said casually.

“
Yeah.”

Silence. This looked like it might be
a longer trip than she had anticipated. She gambled and tried
again. “How long have they been living with you?”

Silence again. Just when Clear thought
he would not answer, Grant began to laugh. It wasn’t the warm
laughter he had shared with the children when they were bantering
as he had packed. It wasn’t cruel or mocking either. Clear couldn’t
quite put her finger on the emotions rolling off of him. Irony…
perhaps?

“
You are so casual about
it. You act like I just got a puppy or something, not five kids.”
He glanced at her sardonically. “If you want to ask something, why
don’t you just ask?”