“She’s not dead?”
“No.”
“My mommy is dead,” he said.
Caleb held on to him a little tighter.
“I miss her.”
“I know. I miss her too.” He kissed the top of James’s head. He did miss his sister. He couldn’t even bring himself to think of her name. Her death would become even more real.
“Uncle Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“Grace isn’t going to die, is she?”
“No. I won’t let it happen.” He kissed the top of his head. “Let’s give her some time to rest.”
Picking up James, he took him to his room, but rather than go to his own, he went back to watch Grace sleep. Whenever his demons came out to play, Grace helped to put them away. She had so much power over him, and she didn’t even know it.
Chapter Five
Grace chuckled at how many groceries Caleb had ordered. James had lost himself in the bags of candy and baking, which was just as much fun. She unloaded sweet potatoes, marshmallows, broccoli, rice, more vegetables, a turkey.
“Wow, you really thought of everything,” she said.
Caleb put a hand at the base of her back and kissed her cheek. The touch took her by surprise. It was such a tender kiss, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“I simply ordered one of everything and if they were out of stock, I got my men to go and find it. Simple. Is this too much?” he asked.
“This is plenty. I can feed your men and we can have one hell of a Thanksgiving.” She had always wanted to have a big family. Her parents, with their devotion to one another, had only settled with one child, while she wanted so many more. She wanted to have a big family that at each special event, she would be exhausted from all of the cooking, like today.
Caleb hadn’t talked about her admission when she’d taken a pain pill. She only took them when she had to. The pain had become a little too unbearable, but she imagined that was from lifting James onto her hip and playing with him. She’d done too much and suffered for it.
She kept expecting Caleb to call her into his room to have sex, but so far, nothing. The unknown was driving her crazy. She couldn’t exactly bring it up. That would be so wrong, at least that was what she kept on telling herself.
“The men will keep talking about this for years. They’re going to think I’ve gone soft.”
“And is that a bad thing?”
“It is.” He moved past her and kissed her cheek. “When do we get started?”
“Well, Thanksgiving in is two days. I’d like to do a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. Are any of your men allergic to nuts or have allergies?”
He looked at her and smiled.
“Would you find out?” she asked. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Of course you don’t.” He put his hands on her hips and kissed her again.
She stopped as she watched him leave.
“Uncle Caleb likes you,” James said, standing on his stool. For a three-year-old, he was so clever.
Kissing his cheek, she ruffled his hair. “Do you want to help me?”
“Are you going to be my uncle’s girlfriend?”
“I … er, I don’t know. How about we get started on those crusts?” Talking to a three-year-old about her predicament wasn’t good.
James nodded and once she had everything put away, she grabbed the ingredients she’d need for the pie crusts. James fought with the food processor while she measured everything out.
It wasn’t long before Caleb was back, and he stood behind James, helping him.
“We’ve got to help Grace every single way we need to, got it?” Caleb asked. He winked at James, who giggled.
“What did you find out?” she asked.
“We’re doing the rounds, but so far, no man has allergies.”
“Then we’re going to be making a whole lot of pie crusts.” She grabbed more butter and shortening from the fridge, along with the orange. She always loved a nice sweet crust this time of year.
Caleb was true to his word and took everything from her, adding it to the food processor. When she handed him the orange, he frowned, staring at the orange then at her.
She giggled. “You’re going to have to grate the rind, but don’t go too far down. You don’t want the bitterness underneath.”
Grace found him the appropriate grater and watched him struggle. His jacket was soon removed and his sleeves were rolled up with all of those wonderful tattoos on full display. They looked amazing. She kept staring at them.
Caleb put the lid onto the food processor, and James pressed the button. Once it was nice and crumbly, it was time for the juice.
Watching the two work, Grace couldn’t stop laughing. It was just so endearing and she loved it.
Eventually, after about two hours, they had enough for the pie crusts, and she put them in the fridge as James and Caleb made even more of a mess doing the dishes.