The Eyes of Grace
The fury raged just below the surface. Deep enough that he could keep it = in check, but not so far down that he could fool anyone into thinking there was nothing wrong.
“Take it easy, William. She needs you to be with her now.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Not wasting your energy or your an= ger on him.” Jess slipped arou= nd the edge of the hospital bed after she’d whispered her advice.
William wasn’t sure if it was worry he saw in =
the
woman’s eyes or fear. T=
aking
a deep breath, he let his shoulders relax.=
After all, Jess was right.
Grace needed all the energy from him that he could give her. Getting even with
“If I sit in this room another second, I’= ;m going to hit something…or someone.”
William’s head jerked up at the last words tha=
t came
from “I’ll go talk to him.” Shaking her head, Jess continued to
mumble as she walked after the man.
“Looks like he ought to be able to keep his damn emotions
…” William quit trying to listen. His Grace was lying bruised and ba=
ttered
in a darkened hospital room. The smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. His Grace. When had he started thinking of he=
r as
his Grace? Did he even have a
right? He’d been the on=
e who
failed her after all, hadn’t he? “I’m sorry, beautiful,” he whisper=
ed as
he traced the ridges over the back of her hand. “I told you I wanted to be y=
our
friend and then I wasn’t there when you needed me the most.” Damn! =
He
couldn’t even be honest with her now. There was no doubt that she would
recover from this, but didn’t she at least deserve to hear the truth =
from
someone for once in her life? Stepping back from the bed, he ran a hand over his f=
ace
and resolved that there would be no more lies. Taking her one hand that wasn’t bandaged, he h=
eld it
between his and brought it to his lips.&nb=
sp;
“You deserve the truth, Grace. I don’t think you ever belie=
ved
anything What an idiot he had been. She’d tried to tell him that=
the
two of them being together would make “I want a second chance, Grace. I don’t deserve one and I
certainly won’t blame you if you don’t want to give me one, but=
I
need you to try and believe in me.
We had something special until I couldn’t see what you were go=
ing
through. Everyone had tried t=
o tell
me, but I was such a stupid S-O-B. <=
/span>I
was better than everyone else. I
knew more than they did because I had traveled the world and thought I had =
seen
it all. God knows this isn=
217;t
something I ever wanted to see, but if there is any chance of me and you
getting back together and you healing, then I’m glad I was there.R=
21; Taking a deep breath, William stepped back, but cont=
inued
to hold her hand in his.
“Come back to me, beautiful.&=
nbsp;
Tell me you’ll forgive me and I won’t ever let that man =
near
you again.” He still couldn’t utter those three little
words. What difference did it=
make
anyway? How on earth could she
possibly love him after what he’d done to her? * * * * * The words had torn at her, but she was too deep to c=
rawl
to the surface and let him know how she felt. She couldn’t see him moving, but she could sen=
se his
presence. Or lack of it in th=
is
case. He’d left the roo=
m and
she was alone. Her mind kept
screaming that she needed to wake up, but her body insisted it needed more
rest. Grace welcomed the dark=
abyss
that rose to engulf her, knowing it would take her down to where she
didn’t have to remember anything that hurt. * * * * * “I can’t do anything for her,
Jess.” William took the=
hot
cup of coffee that the woman handed him.&n=
bsp;
“I’m a little surprised you and Bryan are still talking =
to
me after all of this.” “I’m talking only because Jess said I
couldn’t wring your neck in the hospital. I wouldn’t be so certain of =
the
talk after we’re all out of here.” Closing his eyes, William knew he deserved anything =
he got
from “Dammit, Jess’s words didn’t help, but they did m=
ake
sense. William was quite cert=
ain
that no one had known the entire truth except Grace. She would have never wanted her fr=
iends
to know the whole truth about what Holding the cup between his hands, William blew acro=
ss the
top of the dark liquid. ̶=
0;Tell
me everything, Jess. How did =
she meet
him? How did you and
He hadn’t looked up at either of his two frien= ds once. They didn’t need = to see the agony on his face. They didn’t need to know how much it hurt him to think of her with someone besides himself. And they sur= e as hell didn’t need to see how it tore at his heart that Grace was here because he hadn’t been by her side when she needed him most.
Jess’s shoulders slumped, and she let out a lo= ng sigh.
The waiting room was mostly empty and the only other
people there were across the room.
She could tell her story without worrying that someone might overhear
and run back to
Grinding his teeth, William knew that someday he wou= ld get even with the man who had caused Grace so much pain.
“I introduced them. I curse myself everyday for that so there’s nothing you can say to me that I haven’t already said.”
Watching, William saw his friend hang her head. Taking into consideration the smol=
dering
glare he was getting from
Looking up, Jess smiled. “Not Grace. She saw it as simply her fate in life. She insisted there was a reason for everything. If I h= ad known the kind of man he was, I would have never introduced them, but I had just met him myself. Bryan an= d I were together and I just wanted Grace to be as happy as I was.”
The pleading eyes looked into William’s. He knew she wanted to be forgiven.= To be let off the hook that she hu= ng herself from every day. The o= ne that constantly reminded her that she had hurt her best friend.
“How did you figure out what was happening?= 221;
William wasn’t going to let her off. They all shared that hook now. Each and every one of them had let= Grace down at some point. Some more= than others, but they all had to claim that responsibility.
Jess shook her head and looked away. “It wasn’t hard. They had been dating for a little =
over a
month and Grace was falling hard.
The next thing I knew she’s calling me from the hospital. The doctor had said she had two br=
oken
ribs, and she insisted that she had fallen down the steps at
“It wasn’t hard to figure out the rest.&= #8221;
William looked across Jess to realize that
“On at least a weekly basis there was a new br= uise or broken bone. It didn’= ;t take a genius to figure out what was happening, but Grace managed to shut a= ll of us out of her life. Everyo= ne including her family.”
“Someone did something. She got away from him.” William knew there was a light at = the end of this dark, miserable tunnel, and he needed to know where it was.
Jess looked up and smiled. “Her mother. Emily was her lifesaver. She was the only one that Grace wo=
uld
talk to and even then she would still go back to
“Tell me,” William simply said.
“Emily picked her up one night a little over a=
year
ago now. She had every intent=
ion of
taking Grace away for a week. A
chance for her to be away from
him near her then or during her recovery.&=
nbsp;
And let me tell you it was slow and painful, but she pulled
through.”
Damn! = How much did one person have to go through in a lifetime?
Wiping her eyes, Jess looked up. “She’s strong, William=
. She’s strong enough to survi=
ve
that accident, her mother’s death and
She hadn’t seemed in the least bit strong to h= im when he first met her, but then again he was learning a new meaning to the word.
What scared him the most was the fact that she’= ;d pulled through the first time without him.= Would she want him hanging around now?
“Ms. Ramey?”
Everyone’s head shot up. William stood when he saw the nurs= e in the doorway.
“Yes?”&= nbsp; Jess stood and wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.
“Ms. Collier is asking for you. She’s awake.”
Jess turned and smiled at both men. Squeezing
“I really am going to kill you after this is a=
ll
said and done you know.”
Sitting across from Bryan, William hung his head.
“Why the hell did you leave her alone with
William had been trying to figure that one out for t=
he
last three hours. There was o=
nly
one answer and he didn’t like it.&nb=
sp;
Jealousy. Grace had go=
ne to
“Did you know I actually gave her an
ultimatum?” William asked. He
wasn’t expecting a reply from
Looking back on it, William was sure that Grace thou=
ght
she had been doing the right thing, but why? Why had she felt it necessary to s=
tay with
“You really are a bastard, aren’t you?&#= 8221;
The look from
Standing, William glared down at the other man. “What the hell was I suppose= d to think? She picked him over me= ! She picked that son-of-a-bitch over someone who wanted to take care of her and treasure her!”
It was as if William had been knocked back by the sh=
ock of
the words. He stumbled backwa=
rds
and fell into a chair. “=
;I
knew there was something else going on.&nb=
sp;
She never would tell me why
Looking down,
William ran a hand over his mouth and then slid both= of them through his thick hair. = Why had she thought it was necessary to keep a secret from him?
Stuffing his hands in his pockets,
Oh, yeah. He was definitely getting the picture.
Sitting the now empty coffee cup on a table, William stormed through the double doors and headed straight to Grace’s room.=
Sliding the door open, William could make out Jess s= itting on the edge of the bed. Her h= ead turned when he walked in.
“Can I have a minute with her, Jess? I think she and I have some things= to talk about.”
Grace squeezed Jess’s hand hard. “No, Jess. I don’t want to be alone with him.”
It had been a whisper, but William heard it loud and clear. “I’m not g= oing to hurt you, Grace. You know I’d never do that. I ju= st need to talk to you about some things.”
The pleading in the eyes of Grace when she looked at= Jess was exactly the same way she had looked at him only hours earlier. She had been begging him to unders= tand and stay with her in the only way she could at the time and he had chosen to ignore her.
“Grace, please. I swear to God that I would have never left you with him if I though= t it would have come to this. You’ve got to believe me.”
This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have in front of Jess, but he completely understood why she didn’t want to be alone with him.
Turning away from him, she said, “William, ple= ase just leave. I survived the fi= rst time without you. I’ll survive now too.”
* * * * *
The words were hateful and hurtful. More than anything else, GraceR=
17;s
heart wanted to know that William was there for her. Her mind raged with what she had k=
nown
for so long and all the new and wonderful things he had shown her
recently. Not once had he eve=
r laid
a hand on her in anger. He ha=
d even
taken the time to win her over and she certainly hadn’t made it easy =
for
him. After what
“I’m responsible, Grace. This is my fault and I know it.
Slowly, she turned back to face him. Jess stood and walked toward the door. Every inch of her wante= d to scream at her friend to stay. They had shared everything and Jess had always been there for her, so where did William fit in?
“Can I sit next to you?”
Grace slowly nodded and moved over to accommodate William’s large frame on the side of the bed.
“
He made it sound as though there was one simple answer. Nothing in her life h= ad ever been simple and it wasn’t starting now. If he’d just give her a coup= le of hours to get her thoughts together, she might be able to come up with an an= swer to satisfy him.
She’d never escaped
“I couldn’t let him put anyone else thro= ugh what he’d done to me.”
It sounded lame even to her.
“That’s ridiculous, Grace.” Gently, he reached out to hold her
hand. “You and I both k=
now
So what did she tell him? The truth? The fact that
Getting away from
The meeting with Tyler had been set up to let him kn= ow that she had no intentions of revealing his secret, but she no longer was taking any of her orders from him either.
“Give me a chance, Grace. I know the truth now. You trusted and believed in me once. I want a chance to earn= that trust again.”
It sounded so easy, but he had walked away from her once. The one time when she n= eeded him to stay. Would there ever= be a chance for trust again?
There were some questions that needed answers. “Jess told me you came back = with her and Bryan. Why?”
William stood quickly. Turning from her, he ran his hands through his hair.
“I promised I wasn’t going to lie to you= and this isn’t exactly easy for me, but I guess at some point in time we = all have to face the truth.”
Turning back around, he sat back down and gently bru= shed her hair from her eyes. ̶= 0;Maybe you’ve put a spell on me or maybe this is just how things are suppose= d to be, but whatever it is, I’m falling in love with you.”
Grace’s shaking hand flew to her mouth. How long had she wanted to hear th= ose words from William?
Taking her hand in his, he softly traced her lips wi= th the pad of his thumb. “You don’t have to say anything right now. I know you’ve lost your conf= idence in me, but I plan on winning you back.&nbs= p; I don’t give up easily, Grace.”
That brought a smile to her face. Him not giving up was one thing she could be certain of.
* * * * *
“Tell me there’s a chance. Tell me I’m not doing this f= or nothing, baby. I’m sorr= y for not believing in you and that’s a mistake I won’t ever make again. I’ll stay by you= r side because that’s where I want to be.&n= bsp; Tell me you’ll give me a chance.”
Tears shimmered in her blue eyes. He had either made her very happy = or had hurt her beyond fixing. All h= e had to do now was wait and find out which one.= Not exactly an easy task.
Grace nodded her head, but said nothing as the tears overflowed.
Pulling her head to his chest, he stroked her hair.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> “Shh. It’s all right, baby. I’m not leaving you again an=
d I
promise that I’ll never let
“I love you, William.”
Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply. She was safe and in his arms. There were so many things that the= y had to work out, but the truth for everything could wait until tomorrow.