Chapter 24 Cole
Chapter twenty-four
Cole
Waiting was the worst.
I didn’t have patience at the best of times, but knowing Grace was facing the guy who destroyed her confidence and shattered the woman she was, did not sit well with me. I should be there. Standing beside her. Backing her up. Knocking the fancy pants prick out.
“Give her a minute,” Gabriella said, sensing my anxiousness.
“Grace is stronger than you think,” Georgia attempted to assure me.
“You sure about that? She’s been through a lot,” I reminded them.
“Yeah, she has. But Grace is a warrior. She might not know it and she might get knocked down every now and then, but she’s tough. She’s not about to let some wannabe in a suit take anything from her,” Georgia stated knowingly.
“He already did,” I grumbled.
“No, Cole, he didn’t. He might have bruised her and made her forget for a minute who she was, but he didn’t take a thing from her. He didn’t break her. Grace is a force to be reckoned with, and I give him five minutes before he finds that out for himself.”
Georgia was so sure of her words that I found myself nodding along, hoping she was right.
If Grace stumbled, I wouldn’t hesitate to help her find her feet again, but it would definitely involve putting that rich dick in the hospital for a day or two.
But maybe I wouldn’t have to. If Georgia was right, maybe Grace would send him packing without my help.
I downed the rest of my beer and waited. Beside me, Georgia and Gabriella were chatting animatedly. I only caught every third word, but I didn’t really care. They weren’t my priority.
A moment later, Grace strolled causally back around the corner and I swear I stopped breathing. She looked radiant. Her shoulders were back defiantly, her stride full of purpose, and her face neutral. Even though she wasn’t giving anything away, she wasn’t crying so I was counting that as a win.
She made her way up the steps toward where we were all waiting.
“Well? Did you kick that fucker in the balls?” Georgia asked pointedly, and I almost choked.
With a nonchalant shrug, Grace answered. “Metaphorically speaking.”
I opened my mouth to ask her to explain but Georgia beat me to it.
“Spill,” she demanded.
Grace reached for a bottle of water and drained it quickly. “Give me two minutes to go to the bathroom then I’ll tell you everything,” she promised, setting her empty bottle back on the table and disappearing into the house.
“She didn’t need to pee. She’s just torturing me,” Georgia mumbled.
“Sure. It’s all about you,” Gabriella sassed, and Georgia just poked her tongue out.
These women were insane. They were strong, intelligent, beautiful, and capable most of the time.
They ran their business with an iron fist and demanded excellence.
But then they could bitch and fight like they were seven without missing a beat.
I knew having Grace in my life and keeping Grace in my life meant they came as a package deal.
You didn’t get one Hamilton sister, you got them all.
Thankfully, it was a challenge I was more than happy to take on. Grace was worth it and so much more.
The minutes ticked by and I grew more and more antsy. “Where is she?” I complained only for Gabriella to shoot a sympathetic look in my direction.
“You know Grace. She probably got distracted or caught up by someone. I’m sure she’s not too far away,” Gabriella tried to placate me, but I didn’t want to hear it. I needed to talk to Grace and make sure she was all right. Today had been a lot and I needed to know she was okay.
“I’m gonna get another drink,” I grumbled, rising from the table and collecting my plate.
After I put my trash into the bin, I stole a moment to myself.
I walked over to the sitting room and looked around.
It was so warm and homely that it was hard to believe that this wasn’t actually just a home but a bed and breakfast. Hand-knitted throw rugs were draped across the back of sofas.
Mismatched, quilted cushions covered every surface.
The overflowing bookshelf under the window was filled with everything from murder mysteries to political biographies to those dirty romance books Grace liked to read.
But it was the photos on the fireplace mantel that stole my attention.
They weren’t filled with random people making fake memories.
These were real people living real lives.
Real people like Grace and Georgia and Gabriella and a woman who had to be their mother.
None of them looked like her but they all did.
Each daughter carried traits of her mother without being her lookalike.
Georgia’s hair had the same wild curl that her mom’s did.
Grace’s dimple matched her mother’s, while Gabriella had her heart-shaped face.
“She was beautiful,” someone announced from behind me.
I turned around to see Georgia looking less ferocious than normal.
“She really was,” I agreed easily. “You all are.”
“We want Grace to stay,” Georgia declared, cutting through the bullshit.
“That makes two of us,” I confirmed, not interested in playing games.
“Three of us,” Gabriella added as she joined us, curling herself in an armchair and hugging a cushion to her chest.
“Then we’re on the same page. Grace is staying,” Georgia declared.
I cleared my throat. “If she wants to,” I confirmed.
“But you just said you wanted her to stay,” Georgia accused, the fight coming back to her with a vengeance.
“I do. But I also want her to be happy. And she needs to decide if that’s here or somewhere else,” I clarified.
“It’s here,” Gabriella murmured softly.
“I hope so. But I won’t force her. I’ll ask her, but I’m not making the decision for her,” I told them, leaving no room for argument.
“But what do we do if she wants to go?” Georgia’s voice wavered. She was a big squishy marshmallow once you got past all the bravado.
“We let her,” I answered honestly, rubbing the spot on my chest that ached at the thought of waving her goodbye. It might break my heart and leave me the shell of a man, but if that’s what Grace needed to do, then that’s what would happen.
“Cole, we can’t lose her again,” Gabriella murmured.
“Then let’s hope she stays,” I offered.
For a few moments, I stared at the photos while Grace’s sisters were lost in their own thoughts.
No doubt plotting and scheming how to keep Grace here, but I wouldn’t play along.
When the time came, I’d put my balls on the line and ask her to stay, but I refused to even entertain the idea that I’d manipulate her into doing so. Or worse, guilt her into it.
“I’m gonna go see if I can find her. I want to know what she said to that limp dicked loser,” I announced.
“I’m coming,” the sisters replied in unison as Gabriella jumped up.
I waited while she straightened up the cushions before we all headed out. I looked around, and thankfully, the crowd was thinning but I still couldn’t see Grace.
I skirted around a kid playing with his toy cars on the porch and down onto the grass, dragging my hands through my hair. I was freaking out. I patted my pocket making sure I still had the keys to my truck, the thought fleeting through my mind that she’d taken off without me.
A tap on my shoulder brought my attention back.
“There she is.”
I followed the direction Gabriella was pointing to see Grace striding across the yard, a bottle of wine in her hand.
I started to move when Gabriella wrapped her hand around my bicep.
“What?” I didn’t bother to hide my exasperation.
“You have to wait,” she instructed.
“What? No I don’t.”
“She’s right,” Georgia added.
With my eyes fixed on where Grace was walking away from everyone, I asked the question. “Okay. Tell me. Why do I have to wait?”
“It’s a rule.”
“A rule?”
“Mom’s rule,” Gabriella emphasized, her voice catching on her pain.
With a heaving sigh, I asked. “What’s the rule?”
“When Mom got sick, she used to go and sit down by the creek on the bench. We’d always go to check on her, and she got so sick of us fussing she implemented the ten-minute rule.”
“Go on,” I encouraged, already knowing that however ridiculous their rule was, it was one I wouldn’t be breaking.
“Mom decided that if someone went and sat on the bench, they got ten minutes of uninterrupted peace before anyone was allowed to come near them.”
“Ten minutes?”
“Yep,” Georgia confirmed, glancing at her watch. “Ten minutes where no one was able to ask you if you were okay or what was wrong. Ten minutes alone with your thoughts.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket.
“What are you doing?” Gabriella asked.
When I showed them my phone. The timer was already counting down.
“Grace can have her ten minutes, but then I’m going down there,” I declared.
“Thank you,” Gabriella offered, squeezing my arm before turning and heading back to their guests.
“You’re a good guy, Cole. Mom would’ve loved you,” she offered, hitting me right in the feels.
“Thanks, Georgia. That means a lot,” I confessed.
“I’m glad you’re going to be our brother-in-law,” she added with a wink before turning and leaving me standing there, mouth gaping and watching the timer count down every second.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One,” I counted aloud as the seconds ticked down. By the time the buzzer sounded my feet were already moving.