Author's Note: The next two scenes were the first ending, this was the one I wrote before the one that is now published. I cringe when I read it, and my sister was right to insist that I change it and look for Grace and Bryce's true ending. I changed it because it suits neither character, it is as if they are completely different people. Grace is obnoxiously weak and Bryce is entirely to humble. It does give a slight nod to Alice and Grace's eventual reason to meeting.
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Spring in New York had come early, and Grace was thankful for it after the long and bitter winter. She had tried to get out of her contract with the Universit,y but the new Dean of the department had insisted that she didn't have enough staff to cover her classes.
The last nine months had been a roller coaster for her. After a painful trip back to New York with Bryce and Brian, she had fallen back into her regular routine of preparing for a new semester. Normally, it was something she enjoyed doing, but by mid-September she realized something was not right, and she broke down and went to the Doctor only to discover that she was pregnant.
Grace had been ecstatic; to know that she was going to have a piece of Bryce to keep forever had filled her heart with incredible joy.
Her roommates had been very supportive and jumped on the baby bandwagon, and the three of them had made plans, but by mid-November it was over. Spontaneous abortion the Doctor had called it. There was nothing she or anyone could have done.
Losing the baby was worse than losing Bryce, it was as if she had lost herself as well. At the request of her roommates she was seeing a therapist to work through her depression, but it didn't seem to be working. There had been talk of medications but she had refused. The pain reminded her she was alive. If they took that away she didn't think she would feel anything.
In an attempt to get her roommates off her back, she had started dating a fellow professor, James Fischer, who worked in the Law Department. He had recently been through a divorce and was trying to ease his way back into the dating scene. He had asked Grace to attend the open house for the new Law School building for the evening, and she figured it was either that or sit at home in her lonely little attic apartment while insisting to her roommates that she was fine.
She knew it wasn't a love match between her and James, it was very obvious after only a few dates that he was still in love with his wife, and that suited Grace just fine. She was happy to let him ramble on about his past happiness on their dates while her mind relived her own.
Looking at her watch, she realized that she had to start getting ready for her evening out. Having decided to wear one of her favorite new outfits it didn't take her long to get dressed. The skirt suit was a rich plum color and was well fitted. Under it she wore a white camisole and she had paired it with a dramatic pair of black high heels. She pulled her hair up into a tight chignon and put on her new black framed glasses.
When James knocked on the door she was ready to go with a minimum of fuss.
"James."
"Grace, you look lovely as always." James placed a kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you, James."
He escorted her out to the Taxi, and the short ride to the school was filled with a companionable silence.
As he helped her out of the car and up the stairs to the new building she couldn't help but remember that last time she had attended a school function like this; it had been the day that she had meet Bryce. She was so struck by the memory that she tripped over her own feet and James had to reach down and grab her arm to keep her from falling flat on her face.
She looked up at him with a self-effacing smile. "You can't take me any where, can you James?"
"Let's just say you know how to make and entrance." James joked and they laughed at the shared embarrassment of her almost fall.
They both grabbed a drink off a passing waiter's tray and were joined by a few of James's friends who were raving about the building. They were all excited that they had a new building for the next semester.
The school plan was to renovate the Social Science building next, which would mean that Grace would have to relocate temporarily until the building was finished. Everyone was interested to know what she knew about the upcoming changes.
"Well, I haven't seen the plans, and they are still in fundraising mode so it looks like we won't get our new building for a few years yet."
"You'll just have to come and visit us in ours." One of the women in the group joked. She was an older woman named Renee who was about James's age and had been eyeing him since they had walked in the door. She had short blond hair that was cut short, and she was on the petite side. Her large brown eyes were laughing at something James had said, and Grace noticed that he seemed to be hitting it off with her as well.
Grace sighed, knowing that she was about to lose her shield. She realized that she had used James, and feeling bad about it, she tried to console herself with the fact that she had helped him by letting him talk about the past and not judging him for it.
Grace rejoined the conversation, and was in the middle of telling a story about what one of her students had done the previous week, when she looked up and caught a pair of sky blue eyes watching her.
As soon as her gaze encountered his she quickly looked away, and did her best to continue her story. She must have succeeded because everyone laughed when she finished.
When one of the other men launched into a similar story, Grace did her best to focus on him and not the pounding of her heart or cool blue eyes that had been assessing her.
How had she not known he was in the room? In the past she had always been aware of his presence. Granted, the room was full of people, and the noise was outrageous, but she still should have known. Had she become the numb towards him just as she had become numb towards everyone else?
Then she felt it the tingling sensation on her neck and scalp that told her he was right behind her. She wasn't numb.
The conversation stopped, and Grace stepped to the side and turned to see Bryce with the University's president on his arm.
Lydia Albert introduced Bryce to everyone, and he shook everyone's hand, but when he got to Grace he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
Grace's world stopped for just a second as his rough cheek brushed hers. He had taken her hand at the same time and she felt the callouses, and she was struck by how close they were to the circumstances of their original meeting.
"Oh, that's right! I forgot that you two knew each other." Lydia smiled sweetly.
Jerking her hand away from his, she pasted a smile on her face and focused on her drink. While polite nonsense was exchanged between Bryce and the group. After about five minutes are so Lydia pulled him away from the group and towards another.
"I hear he was the primary funding source for this building," Renee said in a low voice to their group. "From what I understand his pockets are fairly deep."
Everyone turned to her with a questioning look, and she smile shrugging. "I really wouldn't know. I worked on a project in England a few years ago, and we had a dig site on his estate in Kent."
"He has an estate?" James asked looking at Bryce over his shoulder.
"Mmmm yes, he's an Earl or something like that," Grace said then launched into an account of the dig, boring everyone as she knew she would, and when she eventually excused herself to use the Ladies room no one was sorry to see her leave.
Bryce must have not stuck around very long because she didn't see him again that night.
When James dropped her off she was exhausted, all she could manage was to drag herself up the stairs before she broke down. Why did the fates have to be so unkind? She had been doing so well with it all.
No you haven't, you have been barely living. The honest part of her admitted.
The long night stretched on forever and the morning couldn't come soon enough, and when her alarm went off, she reached over and picked up her clock and threw it across the room. When that didn't do any good, she crumpled to the bed and screamed into her pillow over and over until she was hoarse and too tired to even cry.
He had looked like he didn't even care.
She reached over and picked up the picture of Bryce from her bedside table.
"Would he have looked like you?" she asked the picture, thinking of their unborn child. Grace had had it in her mind from the beginning that the baby had been a boy and it had been.
Forcing herself to rise, she headed for the bathroom. She had an early class.