Finding Gracie's Rainbow (15 page)

“
What for, Jackson?” Kim
asked him in a puzzled voice.

“
I called her but I
haven’t heard back from her.” Jackson frowned as he answered.
“There’s no need for her to stay in that apartment.”

“
She doesn’t know?” Robert
asked. “She might want to help.”

“
Yeah, why don’t you call
her for me?” Jackson frowned at the look Kim shot at
him.

“
You call her back. Don’t
even start acting like you don’t want to see her.” Kim stood.
“Annie thinks that there might be something to this Dallas
guy.”

“
And how do you know
this?” Jackson looked at her seriously.

“
Your ‘cousin’ called me
this morning wanting a last name.” Kim walked over to him and
looked at him square in the eyes. “You haven’t lost
yet.”

“
Yes, I have.” Jackson
looked at them as he realized he hadn't ended his call to Annie,
and she had heard everything. “Annie, I’ll meet you at Kim’s house.
She'll watch Garrison for you.” He hung up the phone and looked at
Kim. “Now I'm really in for a lecture.” Jackson walked out the back
door as Gracie started walking down from Kim’s house.

“
Hello,” Gracie called out
as she entered into the front door. She saw Robert and Kim look at
her strangely. “I went to your house. Do you realize that the door
is wide open?”

“
We were going to stay for
just a minute, but Jackson has a lot on his mind.” Robert spoke
from where he was still sitting.

“
He does?” Gracie looked
around her and noticed that most of her stuff was already put up in
place. “He makes moving easy.”

Jackson walked in and
looked at her as she studied him. “Gracie?”

“
Why do you look like you
lost your best friend?” Gracie asked after she looked over the
house; noticing that most of her framed pictures were already on
the shelves.

“
Maybe I have.” Jackson
watched her as she smiled after looking over his work. “You haven’t
returned my call.”

“
I haven’t had the cell
phone on.” Gracie sat down next to Kim. “I wanted to take the day
off, and a lot of my clients think that I should work on
Saturdays.”

Jackson smiled. “I guess I
didn’t lose my best friend then.”

“
Not unless you want to,
Jackson. You did a good job.” Gracie walked towards Bea’s room and
peeked in. “Is that a new television?”

“
It is.” Jackson had
walked up behind her. “And the beanbag chair is her favorite
color.”

“
You do realize that
you're spoiling her.” Gracie smiled up at him. “I finally finished
packing.”

“
That’s what I was calling
you about.” Jackson couldn’t help but look at her mouth. “Annie and
I were going over with the trailer again and wondered if you would
want to go ahead and finish moving today.” He watched as Gracie
frowned over the mention of Annie.

“
That will be great. So
you and Annie are getting pretty close.” She watched as Jackson’s
eyes started to show laughter.

“
As close as cousins
should be, I guess.” Jackson grinned at the amusement in her
eyes.

“
Cousins? You introduced
her as your date when. . .” Gracie frowned at him.

“
And that was wrong,”
Jackson hugged her. “She went through the same thing that you did
except her husband had stayed around to beat her son.”

“
Ooh.” Gracie felt for her
when Jackson told her this.

“
And that being said, I
have another solution for you.” Jackson started going to the master
bedroom. “Annie needs a place to stay until she lands on her feet,
and my apartment isn't big enough for the three of us.”

“
You looked at my bills
again?” Gracie glared at him in accusation.

“
They were in the drawer
that we packed.” Jackson spoke softly, wanting Gracie to calm down.
“If you both pay half of the bills, you'll both be able to save
some money.”

“
You make sense.” Gracie
walked into the room and noticed that her clothes were hanging up.
“Who unpacked my stuff?”

“
Why? Is there something
here I shouldn’t see?” Jackson was laughing at her
again.

“
Some things are private,
Jackson.” Gracie walked towards him wanting him to stop
laughing.

“
Annie unpacked your
things.” Jackson could smell Gracie’s hair she was so close to him,
and he couldn’t resist the temptation as he closed in her mouth.
Gracie pushed away from him as he still held her.

“
I thought we had talked
about not kissing each other.” Gracie looked up into his eyes
before he pulled her back to him and kissed her until she responded
to him.

“
You talked about it. I
think I like it too much.” Jackson could feel Gracie getting angry
when she pushed away and out of his hug.

“
Of course you do.” Gracie
walked off into the living room when she saw Annie. “Control that
beast of a cousin of yours.” She saw the shocked look that Annie
shot to Jackson.

“
It’s about time you told
her.” Annie smiled at him as Garrison walked off to play with
Sammie and Bea. “What did you do?”

“
Honestly, all I did was
kiss her.” Jackson watched all of their faces before Gracie tried
to sneak outside before her sister caught up with her.

“
Jackson, why would you do
that after what she had told you at the apartment after you and
Steven fought.” Annie looked at him seriously as she asked
him.

“
Because I can’t help
myself.” Jackson smiled at her. “I already dislike this Dallas
guy.”

Annie just raised her eyes
while she studied her cousin and Robert watched the both of
them.

“
Speaking of Dallas; I
need to get ready for work.” Robert stood and winked at Jackson.
“Try not to kiss her before I get back.”

Jackson stared at him as he
asked him about Dallas. “What has Dallas got to do with you going
to work?”

“
He works at the mill.”
Robert went in search for Kim to tell her that he had to
go.

Annie frowned as she
started remembering the case that she had worked on just last year.
“Jackson, if we're going to help her move; we need to get a move
on.” She looked at Kim as she walked back into the house. She
walked over and whispered a question in her ear and Kim told her
just as quietly that Friday was the date between her sister and
Dallas.

“
I’ll call you on Monday.”
Annie walked out behind Jackson and Gracie.

Gracie found that it was
really hard not to like Annie. “I don’t know why I didn’t notice
that you and Jackson have the same eyes before.”

Annie laughed at as she
remembered the first time they had met. “Richie and Steven.” She
was wrapping the plates in the newspaper that Gracie had
saved.

Gracie moaned as she
remembered that date. “That was the most boring date, granted not
the worst, but definitely the most boring.”

“
Which one was the worse?”
Annie was watching Jackson as he carried out a mattress.

“
Billy.” Gracie told her
about that night as they continued to work in the kitchen. “And the
funniest was the one with Terry Rogers.”

“
You are kidding. Was
Steven blind?” Annie glanced at Jackson as he started to laugh
while he walked back into the apartment. Annie waited until after
Jackson walked out again before she asked Gracie about her last
date.

“
Dallas.” Gracie smiled.
“I like him. We’re going out on Friday.”

Annie started thinking as
that alarm went off in her head again when Jackson came back in.
“Is that the last box, ladies?”

“
It is.” Gracie smiled at
him. “I left one bottle of water in the fridge for you if you want
it.”

Jackson went over and
grabbed it as Gracie stared at him. Annie elbowed her and laughed
as Gracie searched for the tape dispenser that she had already in
her hand. After taping up the box, she looked around the apartment
for the last time. It was the only place that she had lived with
Bea. Shutting the door, Gracie followed them out of the apartment
and turned her key into the office before leaving. She followed
them to the house, and they were unloading the trailer when Kim
walked to the house with Bea, Garrison, and Sammie.

Bea ran over to Jackson,
who lifted her up and spun her around. “Guess what,
Princess?”

“
What?” Bea was still
laughing as he put her down.

“
You are home.” Jackson
smiled as he roughed up Garrison’s hair. “And next weekend, Annie
and Garrison will start staying with you.”

Bea looked up at her mother
as Gracie nodded her head while smiling. “That means the puppies
will stay together.”

“
You could look at it like
that.” Gracie laughed when she grabbed a box to take into the
house. Jackson watched her; following behind her with the frame to
Bea’s bed.

Annie looked over at Kim
and smiled at her. “Why are they tormenting each other?”

“
What do you mean?” Kim
grabbed another box and stood there as Annie answered
her.

“
A blind man could tell
that they like each other a lot.” Annie grabbed a box of sheets and
followed her into the house.

“
That would be my sister’s
idea.” Kim told her that they would have to talk later so as they
weren't overheard.

Chapter 8

Robert looked around the
break room at the mill searching for Dallas. He didn't have to look
far considering that there was a crowd of men standing around him
while he bragged about his date. Robert raised his eyes as Dallas
boasted about taking her to bed on their first date.

Robert was laughing inside
knowing that Dallas was telling a tall story. Dallas caught Robert
looking at him, and he laughed.

“
Like to tell stories,
don’t ya?” One of the men asked Dallas. “Does she have a name?
Maybe we would like to get on the action.”

“
Grace Cameron,” Dallas
stood up from his table as Robert watched him. After Dallas left,
Robert called all the men over to him.

“
Knowing Grace, I'm going
to tell all of you right now that what Dallas just told you was a
fabrication of his imagination.” Robert looked at all of them. “You
see. Gracie is my sister-in-law, and she was at my house before ten
thirty to pick up her daughter.”

“
Why didn’t you deck him?”
One of them asked.

“
Because right now I need
to find out all I can about him.” Robert put his empty bags in the
trash. “I know some of you have sisters. Can you honestly tell me
you would want him dating them?”

“
Heck, no.” Most of them
answered before they walked out of the door after they looked at
him.

Robert noticed that one of
the younger ones hung back. “Sir,” the young man looked over at
Robert visibly upset as he spoke.

“
What is it, Frank?”
Robert took his bottle of water and twisted the lid
tight.

“
Dallas went out with my
sister.” Frank looked him in the eye. “He doesn’t know who I
am.”

“
Something happen?” Robert
stared at him curiously as the anger started to show in the young
man’s eyes.

“
He raped my sister, and
he beat her up afterwards.” Frankie started to tear up as he
remembered. “Left her lying in her own apartment. I was the one
that found her.”

“
Oh, God,” Robert sat back
down at the table. “How long ago was that?”

“
Five years,” Frank sat
down at the table with him. “Don’t let Gracie be alone with
him.”

For the rest of his shift,
Robert watched Dallas as he tried to figure out how he would tell
Kim what he found out. He drove to his house while he still thought
about what he had learned, and he was pulling up into his own
driveway before he knew it. Robert smiled as he saw the lights on
in the house at the bottom of the court before he walked into his
house.

Kim looked up him, noticing
the expression on his face before laying down her Bible.
“Robert?”

“
You’re not going to like
what I just found out.” Robert sat down in his recliner and looked
at her before he told his wife everything, including what Frank had
told him.

“
We have to stop that
date!” Kim rose and started pacing the floor.

Robert watched her as she
continued to walk from one wall to the next. “Why don’t we just
talk to her?”

“
And if she doesn’t
believe us?” Kim paused as she looked back over at him while he
laughed at her.

“
Why wouldn’t she believe
you?” Robert stood and hugged her.

~

Kim watched Gracie and Bea
sit down in between her parents and Jackson before church came into
session. Robert whispered in her ear because he could see that she
was still worried about what he told her last night. “Try to
concentrate on your sermon.” He squeezed her hand in
support.