"That's insane," I laughed out loud, making Honor frown. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the idea that you can fall in love with a complete stranger. Mamm and sisters all knew the men they married as kids, Grace and I only met a few weeks ago, and we're grownups."
"You English are really stupid, you know that?" she said rolling her eyes as she hopped up off the step and stood with her hands on her hips looking down at me. "I'm telling you that Grace loves you because I've known her my whole life, and if you ask Verity or Danny what they think, they'll tell you the exact same thing. Grace loves you, English."
"Well I'll be damned," I muttered as I looked away.
"Just saying," Honor shrugged. She stared at me for a few seconds and when I didn't say anything more, she turned and ran back toward the barn and left me sitting on the steps trying to figure out what to do with the bomb she'd just dropped.
#
I'd just entered the house when my phone rang again, I hesitated to pull it out of my pocket, fearing that my mother would be calling to make additional demands. When the ringing stopped and then started again, I yanked the phone out ready to go on the attack only to find Grace on the other end of the line.
"Grace," I said. "How was your meeting?"
"It went well; I got a promotion," she said. I could feel her excitement through the phone and I smiled.
"That's fantastic, congratulations!" I said as I pictured her standing in an office somewhere in the Loop, modern and in control. "We're going to have to celebrate when you come back down."
"Or when you come back to the city," she said dropping her voice to a low murmur. "I miss you, Adam."
"I miss you, too," I heard myself saying. "But you'll be back on Monday and we'll get things all straightened out."
I knew exactly why I was holding back the fact that I'd be in Chicago the next night, but the part of me that had actually listened to what Honor had said wavered.
"Yeah, I'm going to go to some business thing tomorrow night to meet with the folks who are going to be on the merger team," she sighed. "I don't want to do a business dinner on the weekend, but Mike thinks it's important now that he's promoted me to department leader."
"Then it's good for you to go," I urged. "We'll hold down the fort until you get back. I promise."
Lying, even if it was simply a sin of omission, didn't feel good, but having to explain my parents and their manipulative ways felt even worse knowing what I knew now about the Millers. If Grace loved me right now, I didn't want to risk her learning anything about my family until we'd had more time to get to know each other. And I definitely didn't want her attending a gala that my mother had any part in arranging. I cringed when I thought about how my mother would react to me bringing a girl like Grace to one of her million-dollar parties, and then I felt angr
y at myself for thinking that way.
"Adam?" Grace called into the phone. "Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, got distracted thinking about your pink nightgown," I said trying to cover my silence.
"You're hopeless," she laughed. The sound of her laughter made me smile and also made me miss her even more. Maybe when I got to Chicago, once the party was over, I'd call her and surprise her. No, she wouldn't like the fact that I'd promised to stay with her family while she returned to take care of business. I'd made a promise, and I intended to keep it—after I'd made an appearance at the party.
"I'm something, but I'm not sure it's hopeless," I flirted making her laughter flow through the phone again.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," she said just as Honor came pounding up the porch.
"ENGLISH, your car is here!" she shouted. "Come see this machine!"
"Oh crap, they brought the Mustang over," I said peering out the screen door and seeing one of the service guys climbing out of the car. "I have to go take care of this; can we continue this conversation later?"
"Of course, go do what you need to do," she said. "I've got to go find a dress and shoes for this affair tomorrow night."
"Just do what you normally do; you always look good to me," I said. "But not the Amish dress."
"Oh heavens no!" Grace gasped before she started laughing again. "Perish the thought!"
"I have to go or else Danny's going to hop in the car and try to drive off," I said. "And given his propensity for learning new technology, I'm not sure that's entirely impossible!"
"Go! I'll take to you later," she shouted before I disconnected and headed out to see what they'd managed to do to fix the car.
"Hey, you guys were supposed to call me when you were done!" I shouted as the young mechanic finished polishing the side mirror.
"Yeah, well, I told them I'd drive it out to you," he said with a sheepish grin. "It's not often that we get a car like this in for repairs."