Ms. Miller hung on every word, and even Grace seemed to hold her breath as she stared at my father delivering his monologue.
“Then I saw you, Nancy. Really saw you as you are. The sweetest woman I’ve ever seen. I saw something special in you ever since we first met. Working beside you was serene. Perfect. The school board had long decreed against fraternization between faculty, but I didn’t care. You were my forbidden obsession. You were what my Bethany wanted me to have. A purpose after she passed. Someone to care for me. Someone to make me not forget about love, and to pick up the torch where she dropped it. Someone to share the golden years together.”
The speech was moving, and I looked at Grace. She was transfixed.
“I can’t let our secret be secret any longer. We’ve told our nearest and dearest.” He looked around at his younger audience. “I’ve told my superiors. And now it’s time to declare our love to the world.”
Ms. Miller’s eyes sparkled, and her smile grew just a little wider.
“I want you to marry me, Nancy. Take your daughter, take my sons, and form a greater family from our current fractured pieces.”
He had a ring in hand, which he must have pulled from his pocket.
And without a single moment’s hesitation, she accepted his proposal.
“Yes! Yes, Of course, I’ll marry you!” she cried out.
And then I noticed they had the attention of the entire restaurant. Who simultaneously started to applaud.
He slipped the ring on her finger and rose to embrace her as she jumped into his arms.
Sam, Grace, and I sat statue-still in shock.
We were destined to become step siblings, but more than that, I had no idea what this meant for the three of us. I welcomed anything that brought us closer together, but our parents’ marriage could push us apart.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SAM BAKER
Grace is pale and tired. She isn’t herself, and I’m concerned about her. What has she been up to while we’ve been away?
Rather than watch my dad, I kept my eye on Grace.
I knew some of what she’d been doing over the past three weeks. She’d been pretty busy. Noah kept me up to date with how often he’d seen her, which seemed like every fucking day. If they weren’t hanging out together or going to a gig to see some unknown band, then they were putting in extra hours at that Christian place where they both volunteered, feeding the homeless.
As her mom cooed with delight over the proposal, I watched Grace cover her mouth and she looked as if she was stifling a gag.
That seemed a bit rude.
Our parents getting all lovey-dovey wasn’t something I needed to see either, but it wasn’t going to make me hurl.
“Grace, are you all right?” Ryan asked.
“Hmmm.” She nodded.
And I realized it wasn’t an act. “You don’t look it. You look green. Like you got served a plate of something really gross, but they haven’t brought the food out yet.” That probably wasn’t the kindest thing I could say to the girl I hoped to seduce into becoming my girlfriend. I never claimed to have a way with words.
Her eyes went wide, and she shot out of her chair with her hand covering her mouth. Ryan and I jumped to our feet and followed her before our parents even registered something amiss.
Grace had rushed outside the restaurant and had gotten as far as the shop window next door, where we found her vomiting.
Ryan had his hand on her shoulder as soon as we got to her, so I took on the hair holding duty. I knew a considerate guy holds his girlfriend’s hair out of the way at times like these, but times like these usually followed a great night out with too much alcohol.
Seconds later, Dad and Nancy were on the scene.
“Grace, what happened?” Nancy tried to push us aside, but we weren’t letting go of Grace, so Nancy had to walk around us.
“Urgh, I’m so embarrassed,” Grace looked up.
I instantly wiped her mouth gently with the napkin that I’d swiped from the hotel restaurant, and she took it from me gratefully.
“There’s no reason for you to be embarrassed if you’re sick. Let me take you home,” her mother said.
“No. There’s no need for that. I can look after Grace, and you three can go back to the dinner,” I said.
Ryan glared at me.
“Why don’t Sam and I together take Grace home and leave you two to have a romantic meal and celebrate your engagement?”
Grace stood up straight and looked somewhat recovered. “You know, I’ll be fine on my own. I didn’t bring up much. There wasn’t much to bring up, as I haven’t eaten. I can take myself home.”
“No!” Ry and I said together.
“It’s settled. We’re going to be family, so let your two brothers look after you.”