Page 76 of Graciously His

“Hey,” she says, finally meeting my eyes. “Give that back.”

I let myself smile. “Don’t you want to say hello to your husband after he’s had a long day at work?”

She reverts to silence, her expression closing, and I can’t fucking have it. I drop the book onto the coffee table behind me and stand over her. She still won’t look at me.

“You’ve not been a gracious girl for me today. In fact, you’ve been downright difficult. Let’s go over your transgressions, shall we?”

That finally sparks a reaction. Grace gets to her feet, an angry twist to her mouth.

“Let’s talk about this morning, when you took my phone and forced me to stay home. How about we talk about those transgressions, eh?”

Oh, the little…

I’m about to answer when Grace ducks around me, clearly intending to scoop the book off the table. I grab her arm from behind, and The Secret Garden falls face-down on the floor, the spine cracking.

“Fuck—Nate! That’s my dad’s old copy. It’s one of the only things I have from before he died. God, you’re unbelievable.”

Grace picks up the book, the spine flapping open to reveal the stitches inside. I suppress a pinch of regret at damaging one of her few treasures.

“We’ll have that fixed.” I take it from her gently, passing my fingers over the damage before setting it on a high shelf. “In fact, I’ll look into getting it professionally restored. There’s a place in Auckland that specialises in antique books. For now,” I take her by the wrist, “we need to have a talk, you and me. In the bedroom.”

I pull her towards the corridor. When she digs in her heels, I scoop her up into a fireman’s carry, my hands gripping her thighs from behind.

“Goddamn it, Nate!” she snarls.

“Keep running that mouth,” I murmur, “let it all out now while you still can.”

That shuts her up, and I carry her the rest of the way to the bedroom in silence. Snapping the door shut behind us, I set Grace down next to the bed. She bites her lip, hands clenched at her sides.

“We’ll add cursing to our list,” I say, placing myself between Grace and the rest of the house. “Your behaviour has been very disappointing today.”

She glares at me. “You don’t get to tell me how to behave. And I’ve not done anything except push back on you for being a—”

She cuts herself off with a bite to her lip. I see the way her flesh whitens, then reddens. I stalk closer.

“I'm a what?” I demand. “Say it, Grace. Come on, now. You were very confident calling me names this morning. I remember what you said. Do you?”

“You can’t just,” she cuts a hand between us, “force me to stay home on a whim, Nate! And then pretend like I’m the one in the wrong!”

Rather than enhancing my anger, Grace’s accusations ground me, reminding me of everything we need to go over in full.

“Are you going to pretend that unblocking your mother on your socials wasn’t wrong?”

She has the temerity to raise her chin. “As if you get to make that choice for me.”

“I do,” I say, “because that’s our arrangement. You’ve forgotten, but I haven’t: I am your husband, Grace, and that means I protect you, especially from yourself. And when I leave you at home for your own good, I expect to find you exactly as I left you. Not trying to reach out to your psycho-bitch of a mum, and not tramping through the hills with the lambs.”

Her expression freezes and I wait for what might come next, wondering if I’ve actually found the hard edge of Grace’s limits.

“So, let me see if I’ve got this right,” she says, her voice cool and shaking. “Not only do you expect to leave me at home like a dog, you also take issue with me using the time to help Mihi with the lambing. Are you fucking serious?”

I step forward until she’s backing up. Her eyes widen with fear, the pupils dilating deliciously. She stumbles into the bedside table, scraping the thing along the wall, but I don’t let up. I corner her, then reach out a gentle hand to cup her cheek.

“Ask me again if I’m serious, little girl.”

Even in her defiance, she’s trembling. Her body understands what her mind doesn’t: she’s already lost this fight.

“Don’t call me that,” she whispers.