No More Secrets (2 page)

Shit!

"I was not here, I was
never
here," he advised the chef and staff, who all nodded and mumbled their agreement as he hustled his way out of the back exit of the kitchen and into the cold, winter night.

Crossing the parking lot, he rushed over to the Lotus. He unlocked the door and slid behind the wheel. "Shit, what am I doing, spying on
Nik
," he muttered to himself turning on the car and heading back to his brother's house.

Ten minutes later he was about to pull into his brother's driveway again when the urge to spy some more became just a little too much for him. He blamed his peeping tom tendencies on his years working in the Intel department of the army and then with the CIA as a field agent.

They trained me to be this way
, he reasoned with himself,
it's not all my fault
.

Driving around the block he parked the car behind a closed supermarket. Grant locked it up and jogged the couple of minutes back to his brother's house. His plan was to creep into the bushes and watch, but he didn't have the time.

Just as Grant cornered the house he stopped dead in his tracks and watched as the college schmuck placed a hand at the side of her head cornering her against the house and leaned in, presumably to go for the goodnight kiss.

Shit, they must have left just after I did,
he mused,
surprised
they had made it back to the house so quickly.

Nikki ducked to avoid the kiss, her palms pressing against his chest pushing him away, but he seemed insistent.

"Come on baby, just one goodnight kiss." He gave her his All-American boy next door smile that Grant was sure almost always won the ladies over, and despite her protest, he attempted to pull her into an embrace. Grant quickly closed the distance between him and the couple.

Grabbing the younger man by the back collar of his jacket, Grant pulled him away from Nikki roughly. "I'm certain Nikki already displayed she wasn't interested." Grant glared at the younger man who stumbled and then took several cautious steps backwards, distancing himself between himself and Grant.

"Grant! I mean, Uncle Grant!" he heard Nikki’s confused voice call after him. But Grant was too caught up in the moment to realize that she had not yet made their relationship public.

"The only person who will be touching or kissing Nikki is me, are we clear?"

Nikki's date, Jeff, frowned. "
Uncle
Grant?"

Nikki clutched at Grant's arm, fisting his right leather sleeve and halting him from advancing on her date. "Grant!"

Turning to face her Grant wagged a finger at her, "Oh, I'll be dealing with you in a minute, young lady. Have you forgotten we're engaged?" he looked down at her left hand, his eyes narrowing, "Where's your ring?"

Positioning herself between the seething Grant and confused Jeff, Nikki placed her palms against Grant's sweater-clad chest, under his leather jacket. "You know I was waiting until we were together to tell mom and dad about us."

Grant immediately softened. Her large sapphire blue eyes looking up at him - pleading with him - turned his attention away from everything other than her. He didn't even hear the sound as the front door opened, or the two pairs of feet which started making their way down the front steps of the porch.

"Tell us what Nikki?" The unmistakable voice of Ron asked from behind them.

Chapter 2

Nikki's heart was racing so hard she thought for sure it was going to explode in her chest. She could barely believe Grant was standing there, in front of her, his angry expression, and dark stormy grey eyes, quickly softening. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but with Jeff and her parents standing, looking on, all just a few feet from them with bewildered looks on their faces she knew she had to restrain herself, at least for now.

"You still shouldn't have agreed to a date
Nik
?" Grant stated, ignoring her parents for the moment.

Nikki stepped in closer to him, and lowered her voice so only he could hear her, "They don't know yet, you know that. They set it up, so I felt I had to go."

"Tell us what, Nikki?" Audrey parroted her husband.

Grant wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against him. Lowering his lips to her ear, he whispered, "We're telling them
now
." The tone of his voice said there was no room for negotiation in the matter.

Nikki looked back over at Jeff, then to her bewildered-looking parents. "Do you think this is the best time?" she whispered back.

"Either you tell them we're engaged or I do, I don't care which, Nikki," Grant responded a little too loudly.

"You're
engaged,
Nikki?
Sweetie?"
Her mother asked still bemused.

"You're
engaged
... to Uncle Grant?" Jeff piped in.

Oh God
. Nikki wrapped her arms around Grant, needing his hard, warm body for support.
What a mess
.

Audrey waved a dismissive hand at Jeff, "No, she's not engaged to Uncle Grant, she..." Nikki's mother's eyes widened as she took notice of how protectively Grant held Nikki to him. She directed her full attention at Nikki. "You two aren't actually..."

"Thanks for a wonderful time, Nikki," Jeff interrupted, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he turned and stalked away, mumbling to himself about being set up with fucked up women.

Well, at least that takes care of the Jeff problem
, Nikki mused.

"This had better be a joke," Her father's voice boomed out, making Nikki cower against Grant. "What in the
hell
is going on here, Grant?" Ron's face had turned to bright red; rage boiling up in his eyes.

Looking up at Grant she caught his eyes for a moment and he gave her a reassuring smile, before responding to his older brother. "Look, Ron, we didn't mean for this to happen..."

"So it's true?"

"How long has this been going on?" Her mother chimed in, though she didn't seem to be quite as shocked or outraged as her husband.

"This ends now. It's unacceptable. Now Nikki... I would expect this from you, but Grant. Jesus!
Grant, you're an
adult
.
What are you thinking?"

Nikki could feel Grant's body stiffening against her, "No, don't." She wasn't even sure what she was expecting him to do or what she was trying to convince him not to do, but couldn't help the words slipping from her lips.

"It's alright, sweetie," Grant assured her, keeping his voice low enough that only she could hear. Raising his voice for her parents he continued, "I understand this is a shock, but we've been engaged for a couple of months now. And Ron, Nikki isn't a child anymore. I love her, and I'm going to marry her. There's no discussion on the matter."

"You're her
uncle
, Grant!" Ron's voice raised further, his thick body vibrating from his controlled anger. "I will not allow this to happen."

"You don't have a choice in the matter, Ron."

"The hell I don't!" Ron's voice bellowed, in the still cool night air. His eyes shifted to Nikki, "Get into the house, girlie; I want to speak to your
uncle
privately."

Looking up at Grant, she saw him give her a slight nod. She looked from her father back to Grant then back to her enraged father.

Shit! This is why I didn't want to tell them
. She gave Grant another look.

Go get your stuff,
Nik
, he mouthed to her and gave her a gentle nudge towards the front door of the house.

As Nikki jogged past her father she heard him continue to bellow, "It's been over twenty years since I've kicked your ass, Grant. You ready for a long overdue ass-kicking?" If Nikki hadn't been so concerned over a potential fight between her father and Grant, she would have been amused at the idea of her father giving her soon-to-be husband an 'ass-kicking.' Nikki stopped just inside the door and turned back to see her father rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt.

Oh god
, she groaned.

She locked eyes with Grant once more and he mouthed:
go on
.

Heaving a loud sigh she hustled her way into the house to retrieve her belongings, not wanting to leave the combatants outside for very long. As far as she was concerned the faster they got out of there, the faster her parents would get over their initial shock and would be willing to speak with her and Grant reasonably about their relationship.

Nikki had brought two suitcases with her, but only bothered re-packing one for tonight. She figured she could come back for the rest, if necessary, in a day or two, when her father had calmed down.

"How long has this been going on with Grant, Nikki?"

Nikki paused in her packing when she heard her mother's voice behind her. "Since my nineteenth birthday," she responded as she finished filling the suitcase and zipped it up.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Sighing, Nikki turned to face her mother, tugging the suitcase from the bed. "Because I knew dad would react the way that he did. Grant wanted to tell you guys in Boston, but I didn't want to." She shrugged, "I guess I was scared of your reactions."

Audrey nodded and moved away from the entrance. She walked over to the single bed in the middle of the room and sat down where the suitcase had just been. "And you're engaged to him?"

Reaching into her purse, Nikki grabbed her engagement ring from the inside pocket of her handbag and slipped it on. "For two months now," she responded thrusting out her left hand, with the glistening diamond on it, for her mother to see.

Nikki could hear shouts and the odd grunt coming from outside and visibly cringed. Her bedroom didn't have a window facing the front of the house so she could only imagine what was happening outside. "What's going on out there?"

Audrey waved a dismissive hand at Nikki. "Don't worry about Grant and your father. Just give them a few minutes to work it out on their own."

Nikki
hesitated,
still concerned about the two men she loved outside, but then finally set the suitcase on the floor and sat next to her mother. "I wanted to tell you..."

"So you love him?"

Nikki nodded, "I've never felt for anyone what I feel for him."

"And he loves you? Treats you well?"

"Yes. You
know
him mom, he's a good man. Of course he does."

"It can be a lonely life being with a man like Grant. Have you really thought this through? And I mean
really
thought it through, you're only nineteen Nikki."

Nikki
nodded,
her eyes downcast. Her mother was right about it being lonely, she knew that she had to make every second she had with him count. Then it occurred to her; her mother didn't seem to be as shocked over the discovery as her father was.

Looking up, Nikki caught her mother's concerned eyes, "Did you already know?"

Audrey shook her head and gave her a warm smile, "I suspected in Boston. The way you two look at each other, the way he is around you - protective, it's pretty easy to spot."

"Oh-my-god, but dad," Nikki gasped. "Dad suspected too?"

Audrey laughed lightly, "Nah, your father was completely unaware, until tonight." The room fell quite for a moment before Audrey continued, "You know, he may be a good man, but he's a devoted man... to his work. You'll always be sharing him with the CIA, and nine times out of ten, the government will come first. You know that, right? Protecting this country is and always will be his first priority."

Nikki nodded. She knew it. She both loved and hated what he did for a living, but most importantly she respected him for it. If sharing him was what she had to do to be with him, than that's how it would be.

"And you know, this is...
 
unusual. He may not be blood, but he
is
your uncle. People in town will talk, you realize? Bar Harbor is a pretty small place."

Nikki shook her head and looked up into her mother's eyes, "I don't care about other people. I just care about being with him. He makes me happy, mom."

Audrey sighed and patted Nikki's hands which were resting on her lap. "Then you and Grant leave for the night and I'll talk it over with your father."

Relief washed over Nikki. She turned and embraced her mother, "Thank you, mom - for understanding."

"You're welcome honey."

Standing, Nikki grabbed the handle of her suitcase and proceeded across the room, her mother close on her heels. Just as Nikki was about to exit the room she felt her mother's hand on her arm stopping her.

"Mom?"
She turned to look her mother in the eye - dark blue eyes identical to Nikki's, but carrying many more years of knowledge and wisdom in them.

Her mother smiled. "Grant's a good looking, charming man; women have always swooned over him. Sometimes the thrill of being with a man like him can override your judgement, especially with someone your age." When Nikki started to protest her mother raised an elegant hand silencing her, "It takes a special type of woman to be with Grant, you have to be sure you can be that kind of woman before you marry him, Nikki."

Nikki gave her mother a reassuring smile. "I know, mom, and I am. I swear to you."

"Good. Now let's go break the two of them up, before
they
accidently
hurt each other." her mother teased.

****

"Dad
did
get you pretty good there, slugger," Nikki joked from the passenger seat of the Lotus, referring to his left eye which was starting to swell as they drove to the hotel where Grant was registered. As it turned out the 'fight' wasn't near as bad as it sounded from her room, the only real damage was Grant's black eye.

A grin graced Grant's lips for a moment and he chuckled. "Yeah, well... I guess I underestimated him. It's been a while since Ron's attempted to beat me up. At least he didn't stick my head in the toilet like he used to when we were kids."