She struggled to her feet then and hugged him, tears trembling on her lashes. “Oh, you darling boy, I’ve been so worried you’d never forgive me.”
“It was never a matter of forgiveness. I just needed to understand what you did. Gracie helped me put things into perspective,” he admitted.
“She’s very smart, our Gracie is.”
“That she is.”
She eyed him speculatively. “So when are you going to stop wasting time and marry her? I think it’s way past time you two set a date.”
“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself, asking about the date. She hasn’t even said yes yet.”
“Have you asked her?”
“No.”
“Well, why on earth not? You’ve thought about it, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’ve been working that out in my mind.”
“Trying to believe she could love you and not be dependent on you,” Aunt Delia guessed.
As always, he was startled by his aunt’s—his grandmother’s—insight into his thoughts. “How’d you know?” he asked.
“Because I’m a grandmother and I’m smart and nobody on earth knows you any better than I do,” she said confidently. “Kevin, Gracie may not rely on you for money or career advice or to handle this crisis or that, but she loves you. That’s what really matters and I’d stake my life on that. Besides, there are lots of other ways to need someone.”
“Such as?”
“In Gracie’s case, I think she very much needed you to show her how to take things one day at a time, to bring some balance into her life. And, more than that, she needed you to give her a home, people to care about. Even a strong person like Gracie could use a little support every now and again, even if she never needs to be rescued.”
He thought about that. Gracie had said much the same thing herself. Maybe he did have things to offer her that didn’t involve money. Maybe he could share the most important things of all with her, his heart and soul.
And maybe she could give him back his faith in human beings again. After all, she’d seen the potential in Helen and Bobby Ray and gotten their lives back on track, when all he’d seen was Bobby Ray’s frustrating inability to handle responsibility and Helen’s spending excesses. Maybe he was more like his father and his uncle Steven than he’d realized. Maybe he’d encouraged them to lean on him to satisfy some need in himself.
“Thanks, Aunt Delia.”
“No thanks necessary,” she assured him. She regarded him wistfully. “But maybe one of these days you’ll get around to calling me Grandmother.”
“Grandmother.” He tried it out and found he liked it. It had never had much meaning to him before, nothing that wasn’t negative anyway. He grinned at her. “You’re amazing, Grandmother.”
“Well, of course I am,” she said briskly. “Now get along with you. I have weeding to do. The gardener never gets it quite right. Besides, Gracie’s waiting. A smart man doesn’t keep a woman like that waiting too long. Somebody else might sneak in and snap her up.”
Kevin decided that the matter of proposing required a bit of planning and ingenuity if he was going to pull it off successfully. He might have resolved the last of his uncertainties, but he doubted Gracie had. He anticipated a fight.
For all of her talk about finding a home in Seagull Point, he wasn’t sure she genuinely believed herself capable of settling down. Nor was he sure if she saw that owning a small town bed-and-breakfast could compensate for the glamour of running elegant intercontinental hotels. He suspected she still saw this as a project to tide her over a rough patch in her life and viewed him as an intriguing distraction. He would just have to convince her otherwise.
He bought the fanciest bottle of champagne he could find, scrounged up some caviar from Helen’s well-stocked pantry and made a quick trip to the finest jeweler in Richmond. He waited until dusk, when the air was soft and still with only the twinkle of fireflies lighting it. Then he went looking for Gracie in her brand-new third-floor office, where she had taken to ending the day.
She took one look at him with his tuxedo pants and fancy pleated shirt and her mouth dropped open. Instantly, wariness darkened her eyes.
“Going to a party?”
“Bringing one,” he corrected, holding up the tray laden with champagne, glasses, and caviar.
“What’s the occasion?”
“I told you this morning that I wanted to talk to you.”
“It must be something pretty important if you’ve gone to all this trouble to butter me up.”
“Just trying to point out the benefits of having a man around to see to your every whim.”
“And you think my whims include champagne and caviar?”
“Don’t they?”
“Sometimes, I suppose.”
He grinned. “Name another one then. I’m flexible. I can improvise.”
“Kevin, what’s really going on?” she demanded, her expression more guarded than ever.
“I’m trying to set a mood, darlin’.”
“Why?”
“So you’ll hear me out.”
“Kevin, you don’t have to go to all this trouble just to get my attention.”
“Too much?” he inquired. “What put me over the top? The caviar?”
The tight line of her lips eased into a slow curve. “I’d have to say the tuxedo. It made me feel underdressed.”
“That’s why I left off the jacket and the tie.”
“My shorts and T-shirt are no match even for what’s left.” She wiggled her bare toes. “I don’t even have shoes on.”
“I think you’re beautiful just the way you are. And that red polish on your toenails is sexier than shoes.”
“And I think you’re full of it. Would you just get to the point. You’re making me nervous.”
He moved to the window and beckoned to her. “Come over here by me.”
Barefooted and clearly reluctant, she slipped up beside him. He tucked an arm around her waist. “Look out there. What do you see?”
“The river.”
He nodded. “That river will take you anywhere you want to go if you follow it far enough. It’ll carry you into the Chesapeake Bay, into the
