Page 36 of Two Hearts

Grace blinked.“You…you got me…a tryout with the Liberty?”

“No, your skills did that.I just…facilitated.”

“Oh…my…God.”Tears stood in her eyes as she sat there, blinking them back, not believing what she was hearing.She got to her feet and went around the table, hugging her mother hard.Then she straightened again, shaking her head.

“I think she needs some air,” Jack said, coming up beside her, slipping his arms around her.“Come on, Grace.A little walk will do you good.”

He led her through the house, outside to the patio, and then down the path to the garden, right to the spot where they had first kissed.

“What are you going to do?”he asked her.

“I… Oh, Jack, I couldn’t…I’m a married woman now.It wouldn’t be fair to you—”

“Come here,” he whispered, and he pulled her close, kissed her gently.“Anything that makes you happy is fair to me.If you want to do this, I’ll be with you.My job is gonna be here waiting when I get back.And can you imagine the bragging rights I could rack up?Hmm?”

She smiled weakly.“I don’t know.”

He took both her hands in his.“I love you, Gracie.I love you for who you are, not for what you do.And you of all people ought to understand that.You just spent the past forty-eight hours drumming the same message into my head.”

“Jack…”

“Take your time, Gracie.Just know that this isn’t a decision between me and something else.I’m a given.I’m here until you toss my sorry butt out the door.You said you could handle being a cop’s wife.You made me believe it.Now you better believe that I can handle being your husband—no matter what you decide to do with your life.”

Her smile pulled at her lips as tears ran down her cheeks.“You really mean that?”

“With everything in me, Grace.I love you.I love you, and I have from the second I set eyes on you, lady.That’s not gonna change.Not ever.No matter what.”

“Oh, Jack.You can’t know what that means to me.”She kissed him gently.“I love you, too, you know.The same way.No matter what.”

“I know.”He smiled, and for the first time they were looking beyond the masks, beyond the acts, beyond the make-believe.Grace liked what she saw in his eyes when he looked at the real her, and she looked at the real him.

The real thing.

Love.

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