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I have a silent scream because of Heather. “Oh my god. It’s done. Case dismissed.”
There is hugging and celebrating but I need this celebration to move. I turn to Grayson. “I need to see Delaney.”
“Let’s do it,” he says.
Half an hour later, I call Delaney from her lobby and when we reach her front door, she opens it in pajamas. Her bottom lip trembles. “What’s wrong?”
I tear up just telling her. “They dropped the charges.”
She blanches and I pull out the photo of her beaten face. “They dropped the charges because you are not a killer.”
She bursts into tears and I hug her. I know in that moment that I want to make a difference in other people’s lives, just like I have for Delaney. I want to be the person in Grayson’s life that helps him make a difference for other people.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Mia
Thanksgiving is chilly and rainy, but it’s also wonderful. Me, Grayson, my father, and Eric put up a stunning silver tree. My father brings all of our old decorations over. We decorate with memories from Grayson’s family and ours, and I’m sad when I learn that Eric has nothing of his mother left. As for his father, he wants nothing to do with him.
As for food, Grayson makes his dad’s famous turkey, my dad and I make my mom’s mac ‘n’ cheese, and Eric makes his mom’s stuffing and potatoes. I don’t get my peanut butter pie. I give Eric a hard time about it, too. I mean, I was really craving that pie. It’s a special day that Grayson and I end with a chilly walk to our lighthouse.
Back at the office, come December first, I launch our charity division with the five million dollars Grayson donates in Eric’s name before he adds another ten million himself. Delaney not only donates another ten million herself, she volunteers to help head up the program. By Christmas, we’re already on our way to helping those in need, and I’ve come to believe that she and I were meant to cross paths for a higher purpose.
In between it all, the wedding planner keeps me on my toes, but so much of what Grayson and I wanted the first go-around hasn’t changed. This is a small, intimate wedding, with only twenty guests invited. Memorable, not grandiose, is what we’re looking for and it feels perfect. It’s exactly what I want.
On Christmas Eve, I have a fitting for my dress. The stylist meets me at the apartment while Grayson runs last-minute holiday errands. I’m a bit shocked when my dress is snug, but the stylist assures me she can make adjustments, and promises the dress will arrive to the house the day after Christmas. I grab my phone and count the days since my last period and a smile touches my lips. I’m late. By the time we’re loaded up to head to the Hamptons, I’ve snuck out to buy a couple of tests, and picked up my gift to Grayson. We meet Eric and my father at the airport, and for the first time ever, the chopper ride makes me queasy. Somehow I hide it from Grayson. I have to hide it. I mean, what better Christmas gift than this? If it’s even true. It might be wishful thinking.
Once we’re at the house, I busy myself preparing for the holiday, but the minute the men are wrapped up in sports and drinking beer, I hide in the bedroom to wrap presents. I also can’t find the pregnancy tests. In a panic, I hunt for them, because I don’t want Grayson to find out from a box of untaken tests. That would ruin my surprise. They are nowhere to be found. I sneak to the store, buy a new one, along with cookies, I don’t need, just to have an excuse for going to the store. Grayson greets me at the door and we eat the cookies together.
The next morning, I wake to Grayson’s mouth all over my body, and he does that thing with his tongue that I love. That thing in the most intimate part of me. It feels different, better, if that’s even possible. I feel different. And when Grayson fixes me in those intense green eyes, he knows, too.
“What’s different about you?”
“I’m about to be a married woman.”
He settles the weight of his big perfect body over mine and presses inside me, burying himself deep before his lips brush mine, and he says, “Yes. You are.”
He makes love to me, tender, beautiful love, and when we start our Christmas morning, I do so happier than I have been on a holiday since my mother died. Once Grayson heads to the kitchen to make coffee, I sneak into the bathroom to take my new test. The old ones are still missing. I pee on that little strip and then wait. It’s one minute that feels like ten hours. And when it gives me a plus sign that means I’m pregnant, I cry happy tears.
