A Gift of Time (The Nine Minutes Trilogy Book 3) (36 page)

Chapter Sixty-Two

Grizz

2002,
North Carolina

It took power
he hadn’t known he possessed to walk away from
her that night in the kitchen. He’d promised himself he wasn’t going to fuck up
the only thing that still mattered to him.

He hadn’t
let himself hope for a long time. He remembered telling her he’d settle for
crumbs, and he’d meant it. But then as he patiently waited for what he could
only dream was possible, he saw their lives slowly melding together. Mimi and
Jason had started to accept him as they healed after Tommy’s death. He still
never pushed, just patiently waited for them to find their way. He could only
hope that way included him.

He’d
actually prayed once to Ginny’s God, asking—pleading—for something
he didn’t deserve. But promising that if he got it, he would do right by all of
them. He also knew it would have to play out perfectly, but he’d heard Ginny
say more than once that her God was a God of miracles.

Well, he
knew he’d need a miracle, and as he glanced around the dinner table that night
at all of them, at his family, he was pretty sure he’d gotten it.

How it had
all worked out so perfectly was still a mystery to him. Somehow, he’d managed
to spend some time alone with both kids during the vacation. If Micah hadn’t
been around to encourage him, he might not have felt like he was ready to
approach the kids. But then when Ginny had gone to Aunt Tillie’s to get some
canning lessons and he had an unexpected free afternoon hiking with Jason,
Mimi, and Micah, he had the chance to lay it all out for them.

The four of
them had stopped for a picnic lunch at the summit. And then, before he could
talk himself out of it, Grizz told the children he was in love with their
mother and that he wanted to ask her to marry him, but he wanted their
permission first. The second he’d uttered the words, he realized he hadn’t
thought far enough ahead about what he’d do if they didn’t give that
permission. For a moment, he saw in his daughter’s eyes that she’d realized it,
too, but then she smiled. She looked at her little brother, waited for him to
give his answer first.

“Are you
going to move into our house with us?” Jason asked, his tone unreadable and his
expression curious.

Grizz wasn’t
sure why Jason was asking, but he knew he now had to hit them with the second
half of his request. And that part wouldn’t be easy.

He sighed
and looked at Micah. Micah nodded.

Looking from
Jason to Mimi, and then back to Jason, he told them, “I can’t move into your
house, Jason. As a matter of fact, if I marry your mother, it’s probably not a
good idea for us to even stay in Florida. I’m sorry, but my marriage proposal
comes with a part two. I’d have to ask if you and Mimi would be willing to move
away from Florida. It would involve changing schools, making new friends. Some
big changes, I’m afraid.” He grimaced. “And I’d also have to ask that it stay a
secret. Just like you’ve been good about not telling your friends about me, I
wouldn’t want people to know your Mom is moving away to get married. I wouldn’t
ask you to lie to people. I’d just ask you not to tell them.”

They
listened intently, clearly mulling it over.

He leveled a
look at Jason. “You know I’ve been to prison. I don’t want that stigma to
attach to your mother or either of you kids. I’d want to move away where nobody
knows about my criminal record in Florida. I don’t want to be a source of
embarrassment or shame to any of you.”

He’d already
had his neck tattoo changed after Jason had noticed it last Thanksgiving, and
of course, he couldn’t tell the boy his real reason for not being able to stay
in Florida. But even if he hadn’t been “executed,” he realized there was still
a lot of truth in what he was telling Jason.

The weight
of what he was asking of these children hit him, and his eyes sought Micah’s.
He could see in Micah’s expression that he understood what Grizz was thinking,
and Micah raised his hand slightly, indicating for him to wait. They were all
silent for a few minutes, and Grizz was seconds away from telling them to
forget he asked when Jason spoke.

“What do you
think, Mimi?” Jason turned to his sister.

“I want Mom
to be happy, Jason, and I think she’s happy when she’s with him.” She nodded
toward Grizz, then tilted her head and looked at Grizz sideways, met his eyes.
“And I like him. I know you do, too.”

“But what
about school? All our friends?”

“I’m ready
for a change, Jason, and from what I’m hearing about what’s going on with you,
maybe you’re ready for one, too. Maybe it’s time for both of us to make some
new friends. But I’m not going to tell you what to do. You have to give James
your own answer.”

Jason bit
his lip, nodded. “So where would we move to? Could we move to someplace like
Montana? Remember when we went there with Aunt Carter when she was helping
rescue those horses?”

“Montana
sounds reasonable to me,” Grizz said with a wide grin.

“Well, if
Mimi says yes,” Jason said, casting a hopeful glance at his sister, “then I say
yes too!”

“Yes,” Mimi
shouted, giving a fist pump. There was a round of laughter and Jason
immediately started suggesting unique ways for James to pop the question.

Now, sitting
around the dinner table with memories of that hike tucked away, Grizz watched
as Micah said the blessing. They were all holding hands, himself included,
except everyone else had their heads bowed and their eyes closed. He took the
time to look at each person seated at the table. When he got to Ginny, he was
surprised to see she had her eyes wide open and was smiling directly at him. He
smiled back.

“In Jesus’s
name we pray. Amen. Pass those peas, wouldya, son?” Micah asked.

And then
there were so many conversations at the table Grizz could barely keep up with
them. He listened as Micah explained that the engagement ring on Ginny’s finger
was one he’d bought for Grizz’s mother, Francis, but had never been able to
give it to her.

“Just like I
knew it was a good idea to hold onto this house, I knew there’d be a good
reason to hold onto that ring.”

“I’m the one
that told James he should put it under Miss Prissy for you to find, Mom,” Jason
said between bites.

“Thank you
for picking the meanest hen out there, Jason. I almost skipped her,” Ginny said
with a smile.

“So, James,
do you want us to call you Jamison now?” Jason asked. “Are you going to change
your name to Jamison Hunter now that you know your real dad? When you marry
Mom, is she going to be Ginny Kirkland or Ginny Hunter?”

“I can
answer that one.” Micah held up a hand. “She’s going to be a Hunter. I’ll take
care of the legalities.”

Grizz just
smiled as he enjoyed his meal and the conversations. There was talk of Montana
and Wisconsin. Grizz had made it clear the further away from Florida the
better.

“How about
Louisiana?” Micah asked, gave Grizz a knowing glance. Grizz had confided in
Micah that he was pretty certain he’d run across Ginny’s twin sister living in
the state of Louisiana. He also told him that he wasn’t sure how or when to
actually tell her about it. This was Micah’s reminder that it still needed to
be done.

“So when are
you going to get married?” Jason asked through a mouthful of food.

“Don’t talk
with your mouth full, Jason,” Ginny said. “We haven’t even talked about a date.
We just know we’ll stay in Florida until summer so you can both finish up
school and have the whole summer to make new friends and get acquainted with
wherever we might end up.”

“How about
this Sunday?” Micah asked.

All
conversation ceased as everyone turned to look at him.

“I can marry
you this coming weekend in my church.”

“Oh! Uh,
well, we were going to drive home Sunday,” Ginny said. “The kids have to be
back to school on Monday.”

“I’m sure
they can take a few more days off,” Micah grinned. “I can marry you this
weekend, the kids can stay with me, and you two can take a short honeymoon.”

“But there’s
no time to plan anything!”

But then she
realized she wouldn’t have planned anything big, anyway. It would have to be a
small and intimate ceremony. She looked at Grizz and her children, saw that
they were all considering it. Maybe…

They decided
on a Saturday ceremony and thought the smaller and simpler the better.

Grizz was
concerned it might’ve been a little quick for the kids. And the next morning,
when he heard Ginny and Jason talking in hushed tones as he was coming upstairs
from his basement bedroom, he stopped to listen.

“We won’t
get married this weekend if it upsets you, Jason,” he heard Ginny say.

Grizz had
been right. He’d thought Jason was unusually quiet after dinner last night and
had wondered if the boy had had a change of heart.

“It’s not
that, Mom.”

“What is it
then?”

Jason didn’t
answer.

“Is it that
it’s too soon?”

Grizz didn’t
hear an answer, so he could only assume Jason was shaking his head.

“Is it that
you don’t like James?” A pause. “Is it because we have to move if I marry him?”
Another pause. Finally, “Jason, I can’t read your mind. Please tell me what’s
bothering you.”

“I guess,
well—I guess I need to know before you marry James that you still love
Dad.” Jason sniffled. “And you won’t forget about him.”

Grizz held
his breath as he waited for Ginny to answer. He was shocked to realize that in
the past he would never have wanted to hear his woman tell anybody, not even
her son, that she still loved Tommy, but something had shifted inside of him.
He’d changed. He knew what he wanted, needed to hear for Jason’s sake. Maybe he
was learning the real definition of what it meant to love someone.

“Oh, Jason.
Come here, sweetheart. Let me hug you.”

Grizz took
one more step and could see them. Jason and Ginny had been sitting on the
couch. The boy was scooting closer and now had his head buried in his mother’s
chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him. Her eyes were closed when she
answered him.

“Jason, I
will always, always love your father. Just because I love James again doesn’t
mean I never loved your dad. It doesn’t mean I will stop loving your dad.” She
pulled back from him then and grabbed his face in both her hands. Looking into
his eyes, she said, “And, no. I will never forget about him. Not only will he
always live inside my heart, but I see him every time I look at you, Jason.
Every time. And I thank God for that. I thank God that I see him in you.”

She looked
over Jason’s head then and caught sight of Grizz. Had he heard? Would he become
jealous and doubt her resurrected love for him?

Time stood
still as she waited for his reaction. Some kind of sign, anything. She had a
hopeful look on her face.

And then
Grizz smiled at her. Not a smile that was pasted on for the sake of looking
real. His smile was genuine and pure, and it radiated a love she was grateful
he was now experiencing. And giving her a slight nod, he quietly walked back
downstairs.

Chapter Sixty-Three

Ginny

2002,
North Carolina

The
next
couple
of days flew by as we prepared
for what could best be described as a shotgun wedding without the actual
shotgun. Micah wasn’t forcing us to get married, but we knew it was important
to him that we did so he could personally perform the ceremony.

We only
included one family member whose wrath we didn’t want to incur when she
eventually found out. And it turned out Aunt Tillie was a blessing in disguise.
Micah had held on to Margaret Mae’s ivory wedding gown, and Aunt Tillie
expertly tailored it to fit me perfectly. Micah handled the paperwork with a
well-placed relative in the county clerk’s office to help expedite things.

The kids had
been invited by some cousins to go zip lining. I was standing on a stool in
Micah’s bedroom while Aunt Tillie made adjustments to Margaret Mae’s dress. She
insisted that we be given privacy because the groom wasn’t supposed to see the
bride in her gown before the wedding. Grizz and Micah’s voices floated in from
where they were in the kitchen.

“I just
think an outdoor wedding might be something special,” I heard Grizz tell his
father.

“I think
your bride might disagree with you,” Micah countered.

“Maybe not.”

“What’s this
all about, son?”

Aunt Tillie
caught my eye and stopped what she was doing. We both listened.

“Just don’t
know about getting married in a church, is all.”

“Why is
that?”

“Don’t
really know. Thinking it might not feel right for someone like me. You know
what I mean.”

“You afraid
you’re going to burst into flames if you go into God’s house?” Even though it
was a serious discussion, I could hear the teasing in Micah’s tone.

“Maybe.”

The
conversation faded as they walked outside, and I never asked either one about
their talk. I knew whatever Micah had told Grizz must have offered some form of
consolation, because we were married by Micah in his church, and Grizz didn’t
burst into flames.

Before we
got married, we had some ring shopping to do and Grizz took me off the mountain
that day to pick out wedding bands and have Francis’s engagement ring adjusted
to fit my finger better. Walking hand in hand with him in the next town felt so
right it was scary. I was on edge at first, waiting for someone to take in his
appearance—his massive size, long hair, and tattoos—and run the other
way, but other than a few curious glances, we were barely noticed.

I’d
continued to wear my wide gold wedding band from Tommy as a way to hide the
ring tattoo. I couldn’t remember a time I’d left my finger uncovered for
anybody to notice it, including my children. I especially didn’t want Jason to
see the name Grizz tattooed there, and Grizz agreed. I would select another
wide band to cover it. Many years later, we vowed, we would tell Jason the rest
of our story, but for now, he was still too young.

We were
driving back up the mountain and making our way down a lonely side road when
Grizz pulled off into a grassy area. He shifted the car into park and reached
over me, unhooking my seatbelt with his left hand.

“I don’t
know how much longer I can wait, Kit,” he growled. “These past months have been
fucking torture.”

He pulled me
over the console and into his lap, my back up against his door and my feet
resting in the seat I’d just vacated. We’d somehow slipped back into calling
each other Grizz and Kit when we were alone. Maybe we would always be Grizz and
Kit.

I was
resting in the crook of his arm and looking up into his eyes when I asked him,
“Why haven’t you tried to do more than kiss me? Why did you walk away from me
that night in the kitchen?”

He nibbled
on my bottom lip before answering.

“Because I’m
trying my damnedest to do it your way. I want to do right by you. I want to
marry you before I make love to you, Kitten. And you have to know now that
after we take our vows, you’re going to be busy. Real busy. I have fifteen
years to make up for.”

He lightly
caressed my cheek with the back of his hand never breaking from my gaze.

“I know you
wanted me that night. I wanted you too, Grizz. I was ready to go downstairs
with you. You didn’t have to propose.”

“Yes, I did,
baby.” He kissed me then. It was a deep, exploring kiss, and just like that
night in the kitchen I felt his erection and became instantly aware of my
immediate dampness. His right hand started to make its way down to my breasts,
and I felt my nipples stiffen in anticipation.

I arched
into his hand, urging him to go further.

He stopped
the kiss then and practically tossed me back in my seat.

Before
starting up the car I heard him grumble under his breath, “I’ve been aching for
you for so fucking long, honey, I’m afraid my dick’s going to fall off before I
get a chance to use it.”