Finding Gracie's Rainbow (12 page)

Paige looked at her
husband. “Gee, Steven. I would have called him an ‘out’.” She
laughed as her husband glared at her. “Where is Bea?”

“
Kim’s house,” Gracie
answered as she started packing another box. “I never realized that
child had all of these clothes.”

“
About Friday night?”
Steven took a box and stacked it on top of another one.

Gracie laid the tape down.
“Only if you promise that it will be the last one.” She crossed her
arms in front of her as she watched him, “Well?”

“
Okay, I promise.” He said
as Gracie frowned while he crossed his fingers.

“
I'm very serious,
Steven.” Gracie opened Bea’s dresser. Steven walked out of the
bedroom before Gracie looked over at Paige. “He is
lying.”

“
How can you tell?” Paige
took one of the boxes over to her.

“
No eye contact,” Gracie
placed Bea’s winter pajamas in the box. “That will do for this room
for now. Actually, I think this is all the packing I'm doing for
another week.”

Gracie walked out of the
room with Paige as Steven turned and glared at them. “Jackson just
called your cell. I thought you said you two weren’t friends
anymore.”

“
We made up.” Gracie took
her cell phone from him. “For Bea, and I already told you that.
You’re mad about this for what reason?”

“
I don’t want him around
you.” Steven looked at her seriously.

“
You know what, Steven?”
Gracie turned on him as anger started to take her over. “I’m
twenty-seven years old and am well capable of choosing my own
friends.” Gracie said in provocation. “Bea has a special
relationship with Jackson, and I'm not taking that away from either
of them.” Gracie walked to the door with her keys in hand. “That
means I have to see Jackson, and we might as well be friends.” She
opened the door. “I'm going to Kim’s”

“
And I'm going with her.”
Paige was as infuriated as Gracie. “I might see you
tonight.”

Gracie glanced at Paige as
Steven sulked out. “What are you doing?”

“
I have no intention of
being around him while he's sulking, especially when I'm mad at
him.” Paige walked out to Gracie’s car.

They pulled up in Kim’s
driveway and parked behind Jackson’s car. Jackson and Kim both
looked up as they walked into the house. Kim laughed at the look on
their faces. “What has Steven done now?”

“
How did you know?” Gracie
asked as she looked around for Bea.

“
Paige came with you.” Kim
hugged them and noticed that Gracie was tense.

Gracie looked over at
Jackson as she answered her sister's question. “He got upset
because somebody called my cell phone.” Gracie chuckled. "Just so
you know, Jackson, he tried to forbid me from being around
you.”

“
He did?” Jackson thought
Gracie was joking.

“
It’s not funny, Jackson.”
Gracie walked into the kitchen to fix herself a glass of water,
walking back in time to hear Paige tell the full story.

“
What is his problem with
me all of sudden?” Jackson stood angrily and walked around the
room.

Gracie laughed at him as
she watched. “I know that you can figure that out for
yourself.”

Jackson couldn't help but
to focus on Gracie’s lips. “I guess I could if I had a
reminder.”

“
That doesn’t need to
happen again.” Gracie said as she looked at him seriously. “And I'm
very serious about that.” She sat down next to Paige remembering
how she had reacted to Jackson yesterday at the house.

Paige elbowed her. “Why
not?”

“
Yeah, why not?” Jackson
stopped in front of her before walking to the door because he heard
a car door. “Were you expecting Steven to show up here?” He watched
as Paige shook her head.

“
He was going home.” Paige
answered before Jackson looked back out the door.

“
Well, he’s here.” He
looked at Gracie and Paige. “Why don’t you ladies go check up on
the girls? Kim, you can handle him better than anybody I know. .
.”

“
I'll try to calm him
down.” Kim watched as Jackson headed towards the back door. “Where
are you going?”

“
Out back, I ain't looking
for a fight.” Jackson shut the door softly behind him and started
working on some of Kim’s fencing.

Steven walked into the room
and came face to face with Kim. “Where is everybody?” He looked
around the room and spotted Paige’s purse.

“
Paige and Gracie are
visiting with the girls.” Kim didn’t mention Jackson as she glanced
back at her brother. “Who do you think you are, Steven?”

“
What are you talking
about?” Steven sat down on the couch.

Kim just shook her head at
him as she remembered the way that Steven had reacted to Gracie
while they had been children. “You pushed Gracie around from the
time she could walk and never, I mean never, bothered to be a big
brother to her- until now. Why are you interfering with her
now?”

“
I'm not interfering. I'm
simply protecting her.” Steven looked up when Kim laughed at
him.

“
With the guys you have
set her up with on your ‘blind dates', I get the feeling that
you're punishing her.” Kim sat beside him. “And what about
Jackson?”

“
I thought we were talking
about Gracie.” He stood. “And just where is Jackson? I know he’s
here.”

“
Jackson has always been
there for her and Bea.” Kim looked over at him very determined to
get to the bottom of what he was feeling. “You’ve told lies to all
of us about Jackson. You tried very hard to turn us against him,
and I want to know why.”

“
Always been there for
them?” Steven walked to the window as he heard hammering. “Where
was he when Mark was beating on her?”

“
Where were you?” Kim came
back at him watching as he opened the back door to see Jackson.
“And what are you about to do?”

“
Stay inside, Kim,” Steven
walked out the door as Jackson looked up. “Are you mending fences
now?”

“
It needed it.” Jackson
stood up and looked at him angrily. “What do you want?”

“
I want to deck you, but
that won’t solve anything.” Steven watched as Jackson smiled at
him.

“
I ain't stopping you, but
remember that I can fight back.” Jackson walked over to him. “You
want me to stay away from Gracie. I've already heard it.” He saw
Steven looking at the hammer. “It’s not going to
happen.”

“
And just why not?” Steven
asked as played with a piece of the fence.

Jackson started walking to
the house. “It’s not your decision, Steven. It’s Gracie's, and her
mind is already made up.”

“
Are you trying to make
her one of your conquests?” Steven watched as Jackson turned around
to face him again.

“
I don’t have conquests,
and if you had bothered to keep up with me, you would know that.”
They stood at the backdoor, and Kim was hearing everything. “You
know, Steven, I don’t even know how we became friends anymore
because you're really a piece of art.”

“
And what is that supposed
to mean?” Steven studied him.

“
I happen to love your
sister, you jerk.” Jackson heard Steven groan. “And I love Bea. Of
course, you can’t see that because you think that you know
everything there is to know.”

“
You love Gracie?” Steven
started to laugh at him. “When did this happen?”

“
A while back ago,”
Jackson saw that Steven had grown angrier. “Still want to deck
me?”

Steven’s fist landed on
Jackson’s face as Kim watched in horror, but Jackson took him down
as they started to wrestle. Kim didn’t know what to do, so she
walked away to let them fight it out.

Kim smiled as she
remembered what Jackson had said about Gracie. Walking back to
where her sister was, she started to laugh.

“
What’s so funny?” Paige
asked after Kim sat down.

“
They're fighting
outside.” Kim saw the looks that passed between Paige and Gracie.
“Steven came over looking for a fight, and he got one.”

“
Shouldn’t we try to break
it up?” Gracie asked as she hugged Bea.

“
No.” Kim sat down on the
bed. “Maybe Jackson will knock some sense into our
brother.”

“
What exactly are they
fighting over?’’ Gracie asked as Bea looked up at her with big
brown eyes.

“
I won’t tell you.” Kim
stood and walked around as she hoped there weren't going to be any
broken bones. “I have called mom and dad over, and it's about time
for Robert to come home from work.”

Gracie stood and walked
towards the hall as Paige and Kim watched her. “Where are you
going, Gracie?”

“
I have to leave.” She
looked over at Bea. “I’ll be back in a bit.” She walked out the
front door, happy that Steven had parked beside the road instead of
blocking her.

Bea looked at her aunt.
“Why is Momma upset?”

“
I don’t know what to tell
you, Bea.” Paige answered for Kim before she walked up the hall to
the back door. She looked at Steven angrily. “I don’t know what
your problem is, and I don’t care, but the both of you are killing
Gracie.” She studied the blood on both of their faces as Kim walked
out with her. “Grow up, Steven!”

“
I have grown up.” Steven
was still glaring at Jackson. “He’s the one acting like. .
.”

“
He acts like he cares.”
Kim watched as their parents walked into the house. “Oops. I guess
I called some referees.”

Paige called Janet and
Chandler outside as Kim talked to Steven. Chandler looked in
amusement at Steven and Jackson. “I thought we've been through this
before.”

Jackson said not a word
until he got off the ground. “We have, and I thought we were fine,
but Steven here has had a change of mind.”

Kim took Janet inside and
she, along with Paige told her everything. Kim was able to add.
“Jackson is in love with Gracie.”

Paige looked over in Kim’s
direction while she raised her eyes. “When did he finally admit to
that?”

“
Before Steven decked
him.” Kim looked over at her mother seriously concerned about
Gracie. “She isn’t going to try. Robert asked them why they just
didn’t go ahead and date.”

“
And what did she say?”
Janet looked from Paige to Kim, expecting an off-the-wall
answer.

“
She's afraid that if it
doesn’t work it will take away from Jackson’s and Bea’s
relationship.” Kim answered as Paige listened because she hadn't
heard about this from before.

“
Why is it all about Bea
again?” Paige asked Kim curiously while she listened to the raised
voices in the back yard.

“
That is just the way
Gracie is.” Kim took some glasses out from the cabinet.
“Personally, I think that she just doesn’t want to get serious with
anybody because she doesn’t want to get hurt again.”

“
It’s been eight years at
the least.” Janet looked up as Robert came into the house looking
at everybody before realizing they were in the middle of a family
conversation. “Sit down, Robert. How are you doing?”

“
I'll answer that after I
find out what is going on.” He sat down as Kim offered him a glass
of water. “There’s something going on in the back yard.”

“
Just a fight,” Janet
looked back over at her daughter. “Jackson and Gracie are going to
do nothing but torment each other if they can’t figure this
out.”

~

Gracie drove to Addison’s
apartment and knocked on the door while she thought about what was
happening at Kim’s house. Addison opened the door and looked at her
puzzled. “This can’t be good.” She ushered Gracie into the house.
“What’s going on?”

Gracie looked at Dylan
apologetically before she asked if she could borrow Addison for a
bit. Addison walked out to the terrace and shut the door behind her
as Gracie started spilling everything. There were some points where
they laughed but when Gracie mentioned what was going on when she
left Kim’s house, Addison just listened to her.

“
I don’t know what to say,
Gracie.” Addison tried to read Gracie’s face. “But I do think the
doctor thinks more of you than you imagine.”

“
That’s what scares me. I
opened up a can of worms when I kissed him the first time.” Gracie
leaned on the railing. “What’s even scarier is that I find myself
thinking about him when I have down time.”

“
You do?” Addison smiled
at her then. “How is that scary?”

“
I don’t want to be in a
relationship with anybody.” Gracie was serious when she admitted
that to Addison. “Steven isn't exactly helping with any of
this.”

“
Steven is about what
Steven wants.” Addison said as Gracie looked at her shocked. “I
have eyes and remember I dated your brother for a couple of
months.”

“
I was almost able to
forget that.” Gracie smiled as she studied the skyline around her.
The sky was so clear and blue that Gracie was starting to relax a
little as she talked to her friend. “Thanks for listening to me, I
feel better now.”