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Chapter 20
Gabby had kept her questions about Alexander fairly tame while they their mother was present, letting their mom set the tone of the conversation. But when Caroline excused herself, saying she needed to make a phone call, Gabby got up and plopped herself down on the couch beside Grace. “Okay, out with it.”
“Out with what?” Grace wasn’t going to make this easy. Why should she?
Her sister rolled her eyes. “Your date, silly. And why didn’t you tell me? This is big news.”
“It’s not.”
Gabby snorted. “For months I tried to get you out of your house. All you did was go to work and come home. You kept telling me that you had no desire to put yourself out there again. Now here you are dating a doctor no less.” Her sister gave her a once-over. “And you’re obviously sleeping with him.”
Grace ducked her head, trying to hide the red in her cheeks.
It was no use, of course. Her sister knew her too well and she wasn’t going to let it go. “I knew it!”
“Gabby, I—”
“Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to tell me you don’t want to talk about it.” Gabby grabbed hold of both Grace’s hands and waited until she looked up. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks,” Grace said. “I think?”
Gabby chuckled. “So how is he in bed?”
Grace wanted a hole to open up in the floor and swallow her. “Can we please change the subject?”
Her sister released an overexaggerated sigh. “Fine.”
“Thank you.”
Gabby squeezed Grace’s hands, causing her to glance up again. “You look happy.”
That surprised her a little, although sitting there thinking about it, Grace had to admit she’d been doing a lot better over the last month or so. That was due in no small part to Alexander. He’d made her feel as if there was still hope. Hope for a life—a real, meaningful life—after losing Kurt.
Their mother ambled back into the room with a sleepy-looking Taylor. The little girl was leaning her head against her grandmother’s shoulder, clutching her toy in one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other. “This little one wanted to see her mommy.”
Gabby abandoned their conversation and stood to take her daughter. “Did you have a good nap with Skye?”
Taylor nodded. “She was really tired, Mommy.”
Gabby brushed some damp hair away from her daughter’s face. “Are you thirsty?”
The little girl nodded.
Again, the scene between mother and daughter tugged at Grace’s heart. Her mother sat down beside her, taking up the spot Gabby had vacated moments before. They watched as Gabby carried Taylor into the kitchen.
“You know it’s not too late,” Caroline said.
Grace looked at her mother a bit confused.
“To have kids of your own, I mean.”
“I don’t think—”
“How about this doctor? Does he want kids?” her mother asked.
“Um. I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.” Other than their play arrangement and their brief conversation that morning about telling her family they were dating, they hadn’t talked about the future at all. He was her Dom. And maybe her boyfriend? Even that was unclear. They’d kind of gotten sidetracked.
“Might be something to think about. You aren’t getting any younger.” Her mother’s words hit their mark. She was going to be thirty-four next month. Her biological clock was ticking.
