Grace followed Richard as he led the way toward the dining room, and she felt as if she was being led to her to execution. She could hear Melinda saying good morning and how nice it was to see everyone again, and as she saw Grace stop next to her she began to mention the previous evening and how much she had enjoyed herself.
Grace stood behind her, just outside the door, hoping she wouldn't be noticed.
"Grace?" she heard Elizabeth's friendly voice call, and she didn't know why but the sound of it made her want to burst into tears.
Melinda moved forward, allowing Grace to enter the room behind her. Her gaze swept the room taking in all of the Stevens clan plus a few faces she didn't recognize. She wouldn't let herself stop at Bryce, she wanted to, but all she noted was has broad frame at one end of the table.
"It's so lovely to see you again my dear." Elizabeth came around the table and gave Grace a warm hug. She closed her eyes to fight off the tears and when she opened them she was looking directly at Bryce. He looked tired but good. She didn't attempt to smile or acknowledge him in any way.
Elizabeth stood back and included Melinda in an invitation for them both to join the family for lunch. Knowing she couldn't get out of it, she watched as Melinda walked around the table to the buffet and loaded up a plate. There were only two spots at the table and one was where Melinda had grabbed a plate from so she sat at the only one remaining which was on Bryce's left and near the door.
"Aren't you going to eat my dear?" Elizabeth asked as she took her seat at the other end of the table.
"No, thank you." She didn't dare reach for the glass of water that was in front of her for fear the Bryce would see her hand shaking. She could feel the tension radiating off of him as he leaned back in his chair watching her and his family. He was livid, and she had no doubt it was her that he was mad at.
"Grace, why didn't you let us know that you were here? We would have loved to have seen you last night at dinner." Elizabeth went back to eating her meal as did some of the others. Grace let her gaze land on each of them doing her best to smile.
"I'm Quinn by the way and this is my wife Dana." The tall blond man who she didn't recognize introduced himself and the woman sitting next to him.
"Grace." She nodded to him and his lovely wife, recalling that Quinn was the third son and the only one she had never met.
Elizabeth was still waiting for an answer. "I'm only here for a short time so it hardly seemed worth it to intrude on your plans." She didn't know if her excuse was accepted or not but no one called her on it as a general discussion began about why they were all there and how exciting it all was.
"Why are you here, Grace?" Bryce's voice asked from her left. She almost jumped out of her seat at the sound of it saying her name.
There was a sudden silence. Bryce hadn't even raised his voice to be heard above the others but they had heard anyway.
"Cybil had her baby, and she asked if I would come and help on the site until she could return," Grace said, trying to keep it simple so the Melinda wouldn't get her feelings hurt. Although Grace doubted that she had any feelings to hurt as she watched her happily munching away, watching her along with all of the others.
"Oh did she, how wonderful, was it a boy or a girl?" Elizabeth asked with motherly concern.
"It was a baby boy, and they named him Kent." She cleared her throat nervously as she felt Bryce's stare. "Both mother and baby are healthy, and she hopes to return to work in August."
She knew he wasn't satisfied with her vague answer. "I thought that's why Melinda was here."
She looked right at him with her most lethal stare. "I was asked to come so I came." She was glad that her voice was level.
"How convenient," Bryce said under his breath. "Did Brian not work out?" he leaned in and said it so softly that she barely heard what he said.
"Grace, have you heard from Brian lately? You two seemed chummy the last time we saw you." Cassie asked from the opposite end of the table. There was no way she could have heard, but Grace scanned everyone's expressions just to make sure. All of the Stevenses, except for Lizzy, looked mildly curious. Lizzy looked very pale and almost as if she was going to be sick.
"No, I haven't heard from him in almost a year." Neither one of them had been able to get past what had happened in Savannah. Grace had wanted to be as far away from Bryce as possible and that meant being away from his best friend.
"Neither have we," Cassie said thoughtfully.
Grace turned to look at Bryce, who was watching his sister but quickly turned his empty gaze to Grace.
"How about you Bryce, have you seen Brian?" she had to ask. Had she come between this family and Brian? She hadn't meant to, that hadn't been her intention when she had..." she couldn't complete the thought.
"I see him occasionally about business matters." Bryce's voice was cold.
Grace looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap and fought back tears. How had it all gone so terribly wrong? It was only supposed to be her heart that she risked. When she looked up she saw all but one of the Stevenses looking at her expectantly, Melinda looked confused, and Lizzy's head was bowed as she played with the food on her plate. Unable to take their friendly looks any longer, Grace jumped to her feet, making apologies as she headed for the door barely crossing through it before the tears started.
She felt a rough hand on her arm as she was caught from behind and dragged across the hall to the study. She knew it was Bryce, she didn't have to turn around to look to know it was him. She was pushed through the door and heard it close behind her as she fell into an armchair not even bothering to check the tears as they ran down her face.
She looked over at Bryce as he leaned against the desk watching her and they both stared at each other. Grace took her time looking her fill. She had missed him. Their last parting had left an ache in her heart that wouldn't heal. They had parted before, but he hadn't hated her like he did now.
"I'm sorry, Bryce. I didn't mean for what I said to come between you and Brian, that was the furthest thing from my mind when-" she stopped, she should probably admit that she had been lying, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"When you made up the story about you and Brian?" His voice was low with an edge of steel and she could only nod her agreement.
"But it was more than that, Grace. You wanted me out of your life so completely that you felt compelled to lie. All you ever had to do was ask me to leave you alone and I would have." She heard his voice break a little on the last word.
"No."
"No?"
"No, I know you don't feel deeply for me Bryce, for you I was...a challenge but after you won the challenge all you felt was guilt." Grace bit he lip to keep from saying more.
"Guilt!"
"Yes, you knew that-" she stopped and bit her lip again. She had almost said the words out loud. She had never even thought them, so she couldn't say them. She began again. "You knew that everything was new to me and you felt guilty that you couldn't give me more so you kept helping me, even though I did ask you to stop."
She took a deep breath. "Believe it or not, I did try to move on, but it doesn't seem to matter where I go because you always seem to reappear. First in New York, then in Georgia, and now here-"
"In my own home, yes, crazy, isn't it?" his voice had a trace of humor in it and she couldn't help looking at him to see if she had imagined it. She hadn't, there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.
"It's not funny, Bryce." Her voice broke and she stood up ready to make a break for it, but Bryce pushed her back down.
"What did you think would happen when you took this job?" he asked as he gently pushed her back into her chair. She wanted to grab the hand on her shoulder and hold it fast with her own. He knelt down in front of her and he was so close she could touch him.
His blue eyes were staring into her own and she broke. "Cybil cried, she was pregnant and crying. and I couldn't say no! She assured me that you were barely here anymore, and that she was dealing with your parents. She didn't have faith that Melinda would be able to lead the dig on her own. I thought that if Melinda was here that she could deal with administrative side of things, updating your family, and I could stay in the field." It all came out in a jumbled rush.
"In a hole and covered in mud no doubt." Bryce's lips twitched.
"Yes." She sniffed.
"Let's go back to the 'no' you mentioned earlier."
Grace went very still looking at him. He smelled so good and she could see the laugh lines around his eyes.
"You didn't want me out of your life?"
What could she say, she had, but only because he hadn't wanted her and it was so hard to be near him knowing that, but being near him made her so happy. "You didn't want me so it was hard..." it sounded weak and lame to her own ears.
He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head so that she was looking into his eyes.
"I never said I didn't want you, Grace. You laid out the terms if I remember correctly."
"But for how long, Bryce? How long would you have wanted me? A month, a year or two? Then what, goodbye no hard feelings." She shook her head. "There would have been a lot of hard feelings. I wanted to leave with only good memories. I didn't want us to hate each other, I didn't want you to hate me like you do now." Her voice broke and she started to cry.
He rested his forehead against hers. "I don't hate you, Grace. I promise you that." This time his voice broke before he took her lips in a gentle kiss.
When the knock on the door came neither one of them heard it and they didn't hear the door open or close either.
"Bryce." Lizzy's voice was soft behind them.
He slowly broke the kiss not taking his eyes off of Grace. "What Lizzy?"
"Clive is here and Father has returned. There's a problem with the festivities tomorrow and he needs to talk with you. Mother asked him if it was really urgent and he insisted it was."
Bryce sighed. "Remember this moment Grace. Remember this and all of the other times we've been interrupted. We still need to talk, but I'm glad about you and Brian." He stood up and walked towards the door. "You'll be here for dinner this evening." It was a command not a request.
"No."
"Grace." He was silently bossing her.
"I don't have anything to wear." She was almost petulant in her response.
"Lizzy, find something for Grace to wear for dinner." His orders given, he left he alone with a very pale and sickly looking Lizzy.