Page 35 of Two Hearts
Jack felt as if a heavy weight were suddenly lifted from his shoulders.“And what are you going to tell her about you?”he asked.
Grace averted her eyes, swallowed hard.“I’m…still thinking about that one.”
“She’s not going to stop loving you any more than I did, Grace.But you’ll see.I’m gonna make things right for you from now on.And it’s going to be fine.You’ll see.”
* * *
Proudly, Grace sat beside her husband at the dinner table and said, “I have something to tell you, Mother.”
Her mother lifted her head, glanced worriedly from her husband to Jack, and back to Grace again.“You sound so serious.Surely after all this family has recently come through, nothing can be that bad, can it, Gracie?”
Grace smiled.“It’s nothing bad.”
“Well, that’s a relief.But before you go on with this, I have a few surprises planned for tonight.So, would you mind terribly, darling, letting me go first?”
Frowning, Grace shot Jack a look.He only shrugged.“Sure, Mom.Go ahead.”
Mitsy smiled, took her napkin from her lap and rose to her feet.“Good.I’m so glad to hear it.”She walked to the sideboard, opened a drawer and produced an envelope.“Your surprise.”She handed the envelope to Grace, who opened it and peered inside.
“These are airline tickets.”
“Yes, dear.First-class to New York.”
Gracie looked again at Jack, but he only shrugged.“You’re sending us on a trip to New York?”
“Yes.And don’t worry about work, Jack.I’ve already cleared this with your sergeant and your partner.Such a nice man, that JW.Why you haven’t brought him by to visit is simply beyond me.”
Grace practically felt her jaw drop open.“You…you…Mother, you knew?”
“I’m your mother, dear.Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“But…but…”
“Oh, do stop gaping, dear.Your husband and I had a long talk last night, and, well, I’ve realized that there is a whole side to you that you’ve been afraid to show me.That ends today.I won’t tolerate any more such nonsense.”
Grace blinked in shock, and looked at Jack.He smiled at her and shrugged innocently.She glanced back at the envelope she held, and frowned harder.“Mom, there are…a dozen tickets in here.”
“Yes.For the girls you’ve been coaching at that gym.You all have floor seats for one of those basketball games.They’re in there, too.The, um, oh—” she wiggled her fingers in the air as she sought for a word “—freedom…or, um, independence or some such patriotic thing….”
Stunned, Grace dug and found the tickets for the New York Liberty game at Madison Square Garden, about a month from then.
“Here’s the thing, dear.One of the assistant coaches and I went to school together.And when I called him to make these arrangements for your girls, I was very surprised to hear that you’d actually turned down an opportunity to audition for this…club.”
Now it was Jack’s turn to look surprised.“You what?”
“I was being scouted…but Jack, that wasn’t…what I wanted to do with my life.”
“Gracie, if I find out you turned this down because of me—”
“It wasn’t,” she said.“It was before I’d even met you, Jack.”
“Quite right,” her mother said.“I believe she turned it down because of me.Isn’t that right, Grace?”
Grace blinked in confusion.
“No matter.You have another chance, if you want it.Whether you take it is up to you, but I want to make it clear, darling, that I’ll be behind you…behind both of my daughters whatever they decide to do.As for your girls, well, your father and I have decided to sponsor their little team.I’m going to pick out some uniforms for them this afternoon.They’ll be needing a coach, darling, so if this other thing isn’t what you want, then perhaps you can do this.Otherwise, Charlie has agreed to help in that capacity.”
Steepling her fingers together, her mother took a deep breath and said, “And that’s it.We can go ahead with dessert now.”And she sat back down.
