Escape (Chronicles of Hart) (25 page)

“Congratulations Grace,” he smiled with a crinkling at the eyes, “it’s finally over
.”

Her wild grin was contagious. She was finally starting a life that had been paused at ten. As she tugged King in for a bear hug holding him tight a tear trickled down her cheek across her gaping grin. She was so lucky to have met someone as dedicated as King was. He had pulled every string in his power to keep her and Ethan together while they fought tooth and nail for their freedom. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to repay him for the help he had provided for her in her darkest hours. She looked to him like the father she wished she had had and felt ashamed that she had nothing to offer him in return. At the very least he had gotten the promotion he had been wanting for all those years. She was glad to have helped him achieve it. She had sent in written recommendations and letters of praise from her safe house to help push the process along for him and Chung; anything for the two men that had literally taken bullets for her.

“Thank you for everything.” she reached for an embarrassed Chung pulling him in close “both of you,” she continued tearing up with joy as the two grown men were pressed together by her scrawny arms. “This means everything,” she continued as her teary eyes looked to King’s, catching him off guard with their wide eyed wonder. He looked away quickly, willing himself not to tear up in her presence; Chung would never let him live it down if he started crying.

Chung backed out of the embrace, patting Grace delicately on the shoulder. He smiled sincerely reaching to an inside pocket of his signature black suit. He pulled forth a card taking Grace’s hand he placed the card in her palm folding her fingers over the piece of ridged cardstock as he lowered his eyes.

“You remember to keep in touch now.” he smiled at her letting her hand go. She looked down at the new business numbers on the card, smiling at the Washington address. They had finally moved up the ladder.

Over the months Ethan and Grace had grown close to King and Chung. Asides from their daily check in phone call they often found themselves meeting up once or twice a week within the safety of their house to watch movies or catch the latest wrestling match. Chung had even taken to coming by a few times a week on his own to teach Grace the basics of boxing, his own favourite past time. She was starting to pick it up quickly.  Demonstrating a dedication that Chung admitted most students were lacking. She had already fought for her life and lost and now she had the determination to never lose again. That desire
to win had powered her through several embarrassing pin downs where she had rendered Chung useless. It was a good thing she had a kind heart because power like hers in any other hands could be dangerous indeed.

Although the agents were moving on to a new city with their promotion, Grace knew she would continue to keep in touch with the unlikely companions who had helped her get her life back from the disastrous brink of death.

Ethan hovered behind Grace and with a stern nod he reached out to shake King’s hand and awkwardly settled for a fist bump from Chung. He seemed to be in a state of shock as it hadn’t quite occurred to him that the trial was over and life with Grace was about to resume after a long pause of nearly thirteen years. He had a look about him like he was frozen with butterflies in his stomach or terrified of something in the imminent future looming closer by the second as they were soon to exit the courthouse forever. He fidgeted with his keys in the pocket of his suit jacket. The heat had him sweating as he waited patiently to take the jacket off and cool down a bit.

“Later
.” Chung turned, walking down the long hallway with a wave back over his shoulder.

King trailed after him pausing to remind Ethan with a smirk, “Call me Andy...”

Grace laughed as he continued out the doors walking quickly to catch up to Chung who was likely his ride out of there. Grace watched as their heads bobbed away down the steps and out of sight.

Ethan took Grace by the hand; “I have something to show you
,” he smiled as they walked to his car. It had been recently fixed with new windows but it still looked like a pile of junk. Sitting in the parking lot it looked like a piece of evidence in a gruesome car accident, scraps of metal pieced together like a robotic Frankenstein’s monster. It was a creation that looked as though it were impersonating a piece of tacky lawn art.

He opened the passenger door for Grace with an elegant wave of his hand bowing at the waist and grinning ear to ear. Stepping back he reached into the back seat to pull out a slightly wilted bouquet of pink and yellow roses. The leaves had wilted and the baby’s breath that accompanied it was squished into an awkward salute. “For you
.” he kissed her as he placed the roses in her hands. Ethan walked to the driver’s side and after a couple of embarrassing attempts he started the car sending a billowing cloud of smoke out the back exhaust.

Grace smiled at the flowers. She was still emotional from the day’s events and her father’s incarceration. As she brought the bouquet to her face and took in a deep breath she began to feel calmer. The smell of flowers had long eluded her during her years of confinement, but Ethan had been bribing the guards to bring her bouquets for almost a year now. Being hidden in the safe house she hadn’t had the chance to re-unite with the garden scents of her past and here she finally held her first bouquet of freedom in her arms. The scent was strong and warm in the heated air. It was arguably the best thing she had ever smelt.

Ethan’s car had been towed from the side of the forest three years earlier with no windows and most of the parts stripped from the engine. Local scavengers had picked through all of the components leaving him with only the rusty husk of his father’s old car. With the help of King, while Grace practiced boxing, he had slowly pieced it back together in the garage of the safe house. Thanks to King, who had sent in a special request to have it towed from impound and transferred with them through the multiple locations they had occupied. Ethan still had work to do but this car had been his fathers and had driven Grace and Ethan around town in their early years. The sentimental value greatly outweighed the cost and time to repair it. He could remember a time when they had gone to a drive-in movie, spilling popcorn all over the floor. When he had inherited the car at sixteen he had found un-popped kernels under the driver seat and smiled at the memory.

Grace was familiar with the roads winding through the town. The trees had changed over the years but the bulk had remained the same. Sunlight shone through branches that blocked a perfect blue sky. Grace rolled her window down letting a gentle summer breeze rustle her hair and cool her warm cheeks. Life was ready to begin anew; she could feel great things in her future, now that she had one. She smiled into the wind.

Ethan pulled up in front of the Evans Estate. Grace hadn’t seen the house since the night her father had shot her, still bearing the scar at her waist. The exterior looked as if it was being renovated. Scaffolding lined the outer walls in patches and the house looked calm and bright in the warm mid day. Light reflected off of the new windows bright and cheery compared to the dull luster of the boards that had once lined them. The dark smoke rings had all been washed away and the mortar refreshed and repaired. The grounds were once again neatly kept with flowers blooming in the August heat. A trail of pink petals lay in sweet disarray on the front steps that were looking fresh and grand once again. Grace looked on in shock at the changes of the mansion and how different it looked in new light after the horror of that night. Ethan had swooped around the car and opened her door to take her hand before she even noticed they had stopped moving. Kneeling before her at the foot of the decorated stairs he took a small box from his back pocket.

“Grace Hart, I have known you all my life and missed you more than anything for almost half of it.
You once called this your home.” he looked back to the mansion, remembering her defiant words to her father in the moon lit foyer “I cannot imagine having to live another day without you by my side.” He paused for a moment, catching his breath as it stopped in his throat, “Grace, would you do me the honor of calling this
our
house, will you marry me?”

Ethan opened the pale grey box. Inside was his mothers engagement ring; a large princess diamond cut with two pink stones on either side. It looked like a fairy ring and reminded Grace of all the love Ethan’s family had extended to her over the years. Tears welled up in her bright green eyes, “yes
,” she whispered throwing herself forward into Ethan’s arms.

Ethan slipped the ring onto her tiny finger. It would have to be resized for her pixie like hand. He lifted her into his arms as they both looked up to the grand mansion before them. He carried her up the front steps of their home. Slowly and carefully he held her close to his chest as they walked through the large front doors into the well lit foyer. The chandelier gleamed back at them as Ethan gently placed Grace back on her feet. Jerry stood in the foyer standing properly beside a well worn golf bag. He joked,

“You’re late for our tea party miss.”

Jumping from Ethan’s arms she ran to Jerry nearly knocking him down with her excitement. “Jerry, I’m so glad to see you
,” she mused “please tell us you can stay for a while,” she begged of him. He looked nearly the same as she remembered him. He had aged well still looking as young as he had been when he snuck out marshmallows to their campfires on summer nights long ago. Holding him close she looked him over carefully making sure he was really there. She had spoken to him on the phone a couple of times since her daring rescue from the tower but this was the first she had seen him in over thirteen years. He looked just as thrilled to see her, holding her hands as they stood at arm’s length looking one another over for what must have been an awkward couple of minutes. Ethan cleared his throat raising an eyebrow as they looked his way suddenly snapping out of their daze and back into focus in the real world.

“I’m already settled in miss.
” he grinned, looking back at Grace sheepishly for having been caught staring. He turned to Ethan proudly like a father. Walking back into the kitchen with Grace and Ethan in tow, he had a pot of fresh tea waiting as always his timing was impeccable. Beside it sat a tray of cookies, all of their favourites from childhood. Grace couldn’t help but be reminded of the times when she would come here for a long stay and how it would always begin like this, sitting in the kitchen having tea and cookies. She smiled, hoping this would be a very long stay indeed.

***

Over the next year the house was fully remodelled to suit Grace and Ethan. Jerry had already had most of the work done before they moved in taking care of the more fundamental renovations, like repairing the water damage from the fire. He worked with Ethan on the telephone to make arrangements and decisions while the court trial had still been raging to ensure the house would be liveable before they were released and ready to move in. The main floor damage was gone making it looked almost the same as Grace remembered from her childhood. The pictures in the hall had been reprinted and framed to look nearly identical while the holes in the staircase had been fixed. Of course Grace remembered precisely which steps Ethan had fallen through, smiling at his sacrifice for her own sure footing after their disastrous adventure. Ethan moved his few belongings into Grace’s room which had been freshly dusted and fluffed to prepare for her arrival. The clutter had been moved out and it looked as she had left it, only better.

For nostalgias sake they left the master bedroom door closed and locked just as Mr. Evans had always had it, leaving them curious as to what secrets were within. Ethan had taken extra precautions before their official move-in. He hired a team of security officers from a company King had recommended to monitor the grounds night and day, reporting anything suspicious to Ethan and the local PD who were keen on keeping an eye on the place anyway. They continued to keep in touch with King and Chung, inviting them over for a few weeks during the unseasonably warm autumn. They had lounged in the sun room where Grace was attempting to start a garden of pink and yellow roses with little luck. Laughing at her futile attempts at gardening while she proved again and again how accident prone she was with gardening equipment, managing to give herself a black eye while repotting a dead rosebush more than once.

***

They held their wedding quietly while King and Chung were visiting. Jerry walked Grace down the petal strewn path, standing in for an absent father who wouldn’t have been welcomed even if he wasn’t currently behind bars. Chung and King were the best men bravely holding bouquets of yellow roses by Ethan’s side. They held the ceremony in the front yard, under the elegant weeping willow tree where they had liked to play Rapunzel when they were young. That day however, Grace was finally the princess. The soft white gown she had chosen puffed out at her waist falling like the petals of a white lily to her bare feet. Her hair hung in loose fiery curls down her back as she walked through the veil of willow branches to Ethan with tears in her wondering green eyes. She truly felt as though she had a family for the first time in her life.

For their honeymoon, Ethan and Grace built a fort of twigs and sticks in the backyard where they had played King’s Castle as kids. Still wearing her wedding dress and with Ethan in his tux, they brought out blankets and pillows to spend the night watching the stars from the skylights in their magical private honeymoon suite.

“Do you think the stars ever get bored, looking down on everything
?” Grace asked Ethan as he wrapped her in his coat.