"Oh, nice, you tell my whole family what's going on before you tell me?" I shouted. "You're a real piece of work, Adam Wallace!"
"Grace, let me explain—" Adam began.
"No! I don't care what your reason is!" I shouted knowing that I was being unreasonable, but powerless to stop the flow of hurt and rage that spilled over. "You lied to me and you humiliated me! You made me think you cared about me and then you...you...how could you?"
The dam broke and I began sobbing. All the pain from the past month bubbled to the surface as I sunk to the floor and cried like a child. Verity rose from the table and came and sat with me on the floor wrapping her arms around me and rocking me as she rested her chin on the top of my head.
"There, there, it's okay, Gracie," she whispered as she stroked my hair and hummed softly. "We've all been there. You've just been so busy being strong that you didn't get your turn to grieve. It's your turn now."
Her words cut the last thread of control I'd been holding onto and I began keening as Verity rocked me gently back and forth, back and forth. No one moved a muscle as I purged my grief.
"Gone...can't believe...nothing's the same...alone," I choked out as I cried into my sister's shoulder wailing, "I want them back!"
"We all do, Gracie," Verity murmured. "We all do, but they're not coming back, so we have to make do with what we have."
"I'm so sorry," I sobbed. "I was supposed to fix everything and it's all a mess now."
"It's not nearly as much of a mess as you think it is," Verity said rubbing my back. "Adam and I have figured out a way to take care of the store and get the turbines into the community."
"What? How?" I said looking up at her through teary eyes and wiped my nose with the back of my hand.
"Eeew, Grace! That's so gross!" Honor protested as she grabbed a dishtowel from the sink and threw it at me.
"And a dish towel is less gross?" I laughed weakly as I wiped my face with the towel and blew my nose into it.
"We can bleach it or turn it into a cleaning cloth," Honor said grinning.
"Grace, we've got a plan for the store, but you're going to have to forgive Adam for his mistakes if we're going to make this work," Verity said as she patted my shoulder and stood up offering me her hand. She pulled me up off the floor and pointed to a chair as she moved to the counter and fixed me a plate of leftovers.
"What do you know about his mistakes?" I grumbled still not looking at Adam.
"I know enough to know that good people make mistakes," she said setting the plate down in front of me. "And I also know that God's grace is dependent on us asking for forgiveness. Does God hold a grudge?"
"I don't know," I mumbled. "Did God find out about a secret fiancée during a huge party in front of hundreds of people?"
"Grace Miller!" Verity scolded as she slammed the palm of her hand down on the table. "It's sinful how full of pride you are! Mamm and Dat would be ashamed of your unwillingness to forgive!"
"It's okay, Verity," Adam said quietly. "I was kind of a jerk, and her anger isn't entirely undeserved."
I looked up at Adam surprised to hear him speak and even more surprised to hear him talk openly about what had happened at the reception.
"You told them?" I asked.
"I felt like I needed to confess my sins," he said sheepishly. "And I knew you wouldn't listen to me until you'd calmed down."
"So you thought you'd use my family as leverage?" I shot back.
"No, I thought I'd practice explaining what happened, and if they didn't forgive me, then I knew it would be unlikely that you would," he said.
"Well, it looks like it worked with them," I said icily. "Bravo."
"Knock it off, Grace," a tinny voice said from the other side of the table. I looked over to see Danny holding up the broken phone in one hand and signing at me with the other. "He's sorry he messed up. Can't you just accept his apology like you do with me when I mess up?"
"It's not that simple, little brother," I scoffed as I shot an irritated look at Adam. Now my family was on his side!
"Listen, I know you're mad at me, and I don't blame you at all," Adam said as he ran a hand through is hair and sighed. "I was caught between a rock and hard place, and I tried to take what I thought was the easy way out, but I totally misjudged the situation. And in my defense, I didn't know you'd be there!"
"Oh, wonderful," I said rolling my eyes. "So all of this is my fault because you were unable to prepare for my presence at the event?"