"Tiny Grace!" Grace bent down and scooped the toddler up into a hug. It was Gracie's third birthday and she and Taylor had made the trip upstate to celebrate. They had made one weekend trip a couple months before but Michael had suckered them into helping him paint.
They did get to ride the horses, Grace showed off a few tricks she remembered from when she used to compete. Taylor asked her not to do that again because she was terrified her girlfriend would break a leg.
Taylor was tired after so many meetings, photoshoots and finally wrapping up the last of the secret sessions. Plus, she had been taking Grace driving almost every day they were in New York State for the last couple weeks and was ready for her girlfriend to suck it up and taking driving school so she could just get her license.
The concept of the secret sessions freaked Grace out. She had made Taylor increase security and use rental homes because after learning just about how many stalkers and incidents there had been in the past, she wanted her to be as safe as possible.
Taylor didn't let Grace ask Parker to come help with security but she really wanted to. She was sure if she asked, he would do it. He was loyal and still cared about them both a lot, he even listened to Grace talk about cats on the phone because he just couldn't shake her off. Not that he particularly wanted to, that is. She did casually give him about fifty million dollars one evening and called it a day.
She didn't even want it back, which was always quite confusing to Parker but Grace knew where that money came from and wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't have the DNA to try to erase like an acne scar that just wouldn't fade no matter how many products were lathered on it.
"Auntie Gracie! My birthday!" The three year old exclaimed. She over dramatically threw her arms over Grace's shoulders and squeezed her neck tight.
"I know it's your birthday. Happy birthday," Grace turned to make sure Taylor had grabbed the presents from the car, "Aunt Taylor and I brought you some gifts, go ask your mommy where she wants them."
Grace set her down and watched as the little girl examined the gift wrap excitedly. She turned after looking up at Taylor with a wide, opened mouthed smile and started yelling to Amber about presents.
"She's gotten so big, so fast," Taylor commented as Michael came down the front steps to help carry them in.
"Don't say that in front of Amber," he chuckled, "We've got pizza coming in a few minutes and there's soda in the fridge. Gracie has requested that everyone wear princess crowns and feather boas, so there's some waiting for you. It was that or princess gowns but it was hard to find one in Chris' size."
"You're rocking the look," Grace teased. Michael was sporting a crown very close to falling off his head and a boa with feathers tickling his nostrils.
"Thanks," he shook his head and laughed before heading up the steps, "I'm glad you could make it. Gracie has been drawing you pictures since the day we told her you were coming."
"I love pictures," Grace accepted the stack that was practically thrown at her by the little girl, "I'll put these in the car to take home with us, is that okay with you?"
"Yes!" Gracie jumped up and down, "Mommy! I need a- a juice!"
"You don't need any more sugar for the rest of your life! Grandpa already gave you juice and a cupcake," Amber called in response from the kitchen part of the living space. She and Chris were finishing up the cake, it was disastrously pink and covered in sparkly sprinkles. Absolutely perfect, in Grace's opinion. She had never had homemade cake until she made one as a trial run for Taylor's birthday the year before.
Taylor was looking at it and trying to think about how she could politely offer suggestions on decorating for the future. She stared off a little until Grace picked up the leftover boas and gently wrapped the blue one around Taylor's neck, "This will accentuate your beautiful eyes."
She took the lime green one and wrapped it around her own neck before fixing her hair and bestowing the prettier crown on Taylor's head.
"I would've thought you'd complain about this," Taylor smiled as she adjusted how it sat on her head.
"I only have one niece and she only turns three once. I would've loved to be indulged like this as a child. We didn't even do cake," Grace said just loud enough for Taylor to hear. The singer put Grace's crown on her hand with a gentle smile and promised to make Grace's next birthday once she wouldn't forget.
"Auntie Gracie! My- my tea party!" Gracie held up the plastic toy tea kettle and Grace smiled down at her.
"You'll have to excuse me, Taylor, I've been cordially invited to the event of the decade."
"Have fun," Taylor took the boa and crown off with the rest of the adults the second Gracie dragged the former heiress upstairs to her room. She walked towards the kitchen and looked at the cake, "Do you need a hand with anything?"
"No, I'm good!" Amber shook her head, "How was the drive? You must be exhausted, Grace said you just got in from Nashville again this morning."
"Yeah but we pumped ourselves full of coffee and came straight from the airport," Taylor replied lightly, "We'll probably get a hotel room in town and drive back tomorrow. Grace has a doctors appointment after lunch."
"Everything good?" Amber asked. It wasn't particularly nosy, more so a passive question.
"I think so. She just has some concerns and wants to see what's going on," Grace had found a doctor to talk about her suspicions of ADHD and the first step was that appointment. She hadn't told anyone and Taylor knew that so she kept it to herself.
"Nothing bad right? Liver disease? Cancer?"
"No," Taylor assured her quickly, "No, she's fine. She's good! I check in, I know she's still adjusting."
"And how are you doing?" Amber asked after Chris excused himself to go check on the dogs. Whenever they had a moment alone, Amber checked in because she knew Taylor didn't talk about dating an alcoholic often and she knew what it was like first hand to be on both sides of that coin.
"I'm surviving," Taylor shrugged a little, she didn't know how deep she could get, "Most days are completely fine, great even. Other days she hits a wall and it's hard not to feel responsible if she's having a bad day or I am and it bounces back and becomes a thing. Like a couple weeks ago, I was so busy and she said she would change over the laundry and put it into the dryer and then I went to go to bed and it was still sitting here in the washer so I had to rerun it and when I tried to tell her about it, she got super defensive and shut down for like two hours. Like, it's so hit or miss whether she's in a great mood or she's easily knocked over and I can't tell what mood is what until it's too late."
Amber nodded as she spun the spatula around the cake again to smoothen out the icing, "It's probably cravings and when she's using her energy to fight those off, she's taking it out on you because she doesn't have the energy to react in a civilized way. It's totally not okay and you can call her out for it. Mike did that too a few times, just snapped like I'd murdered his best friend or somethin' but we talked about it and worked through it. It's hard, it's a whole lot of work to love someone without the addiction never mind with."
"I feel like a major asshole when I have to say like anything remotely negative because I know what her life used to be like. She's happy almost all of the time, a few hard days here and there but she's practically glowing."
"Yeah well, having mostly good days doesn't excuse the behaviour on the bad ones. Yes, they had a difficult situation growing up but that's not the current situation and if she's not treating you in a way you deserve then stand up for yourself or the problems won't get fixed."
Taylor sighed, she figured that was probably the only way it would ever be solved but she had hoped there was an alternative where no feelings had to get hurt.
"I hate that," Taylor glanced at the stairs again to make sure Grace hadn't come back down. She was still upstairs pretending to drink tea with her niece and doing her absolute best not to correct the improper grammar.
"It's for the best in the long run," Amber reminded Taylor, "She's either going to have to put in the work to make your relationship work or she wont, better to know now than down the road. For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure she'll put in the effort because if there's something Grace loves more than that cat of yours, it's you."
For the rest of the afternoon, they ate pizza and spoiled the birthday girl with all the the attention in the world. Grace managed to sneak some pictures of Taylor in her dress up outfit. Grace kept whispering about how beautiful Taylor looked throughout the day, right up until it was time for Gracie to open her presents.
Michael and Amber had gotten her a bike, which would be the very last she was allowed to 'open' since it was in the garage. Chris had purchased a tee-ball set that they could practice with until he could coach her little league team the following year, with lots of time to practice since it was early November.
Then it was time for Taylor and Grace's gifts for her to be unwrapped. Grace let Taylor present her choice first, "What this?"
"It is a new tea set," Taylor explained, "You have a kettle, some cups, spoons. It's pink!"
"Oh my goodness!" Gracie formed quite a long sentence as she shook it enthusiastically. If it hadn't been in the package still she would've recognized the concept faster but she was over the moon.
"Oh my goodness," Michael repeated back to her because that catchphrase had been said over and over since Amber had over exaggerated it every time Gracie dropped something. The birthday girl looked at him with a wide smile and giggled.
When she got to Grace's neatly wrapped gift, she opened the box and knit her brows. She repeated the question to the person that had handed it to her but added, "For Gracie?"
"It's a My-First-Chess-Set!" Grace replied with a gentle smile.
"Chess?" Gracie tilted her head with confusion.
"It's a board game," Amber chimed in, "Like Chutes and Ladders."
"Yes!" Gracie rolled right off her butt and stood up. She dropped the box onto the floor and flung herself at her aunt to hug her.
"I win," Grace mouthed to Taylor. It had been a half-hour discussion over the Amazon account the night they realized they hadn't ordered anything yet. Taylor thought there was no way any three year old would appreciate a chess set but apparently she was wrong.
Once they were in bed in the hotel that night, Grace made a comment about missing the cats and how she hoped they were okay with Taylor's mom, who was watching them over the next few weeks as it would be very go, go, go with reputation's release in a few days.
"That cat is like your firstborn," the singer smiled softly. The reminder of how much Grace loved the cat reminded her of the conversation she needed to have with Grace about the bad days. She pushed it to the back of her mind, it wasn't the right time.
"I've never met someone that just gets me like Meredith does."
Taylor opened her mouth, furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Right, right, no big deal loving you unconditionally for the rest of my life. I totally don't get you."
"That was besides you," Grace shifted closer and pressed a kiss to Taylor's lips. Taylor's lips turned upwards into it as Grace's fingers toyed with her shirt.
"Grace?" The older woman mumbled, "Not tonight, okay?"
"That's okay," Grace backed off immediately, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just tired and I think I'm getting a headache," she explained, closing her eyes due to the light on the nightstand.
"I'll get the light so you may garner some rest," Grace said with concern, her tone was very gentle. She shut the light off and continued to say, "I love you,"
"I love you," Taylor reached around under the blanket for Grace's arm and pulled it over her waist. Grace thought that would be it, an early night so they could be on the road in the morning and get back to the city.
It was a few minutes later, Grace had just about drifted off when Taylor cleared her throat and startled her. She pulled Taylor closer, placed a kiss on her shoulder and closed her eyes again.
In front of her, Taylor was wide awake. The dark room helped her head while her brain continued to think about the day. She replayed all the tiny, adorable moments Grace had shared with her niece and said, "You awake?"
"Yes."
"I just wanted to tell you that you were really great with Gracie today," Taylor said softly. She could feel Grace's breathing become slightly uneven against her so she elaborated, "I know you were worried about if we have kids so I just wanted to tell you that you were really good with her. You were always really good with the kids at the shelter, too."
"Well... thanks, darling," Grace smiled in the dark. She tried not to let it show in her voice.
"Yeah," Taylor lifted her head and adjusted it on the pillow, "I'm going to try to sleep now."
"I assumed."
"Night, sweetheart. I love you."
"I love you more," Grace kissed her shoulder again and pulled the blanket further up before she put her arm back around Taylor's waist.
It took a little while for Taylor to fall asleep, but when she woke up in the morning with Grace's hair splashed across her pillow and the faint smell of toasted vanilla cookies from Grace's perfume, she was not as concerned as she had been the night before about the conversation they needed to have soon enough.
She believed in her gut that Grace would listen and try to adjust because someone who made her feel that safe sleeping next to her just had to be the one to stay.