State Of Grace

Chapter 16 - Peace

Gracie had written that diary entry months after she left the Baker family, and she wrote it because the people she was staying with had taken to locking her in the basement for days at a time with barely a meal per day if she so much as breathed funny.

"Your honor, if I may?" Janice stood up. The judge nodded, and Janice approached the jury, "The foster parents my client was staying with have now been incarcerated for child abuse and neglect, and the other foster children were removed and adopted by loving families. Gracie was very young and very frightened at such a fragile time in her life, she would not have taken such a big risk," Janice sat back down, pleased with herself. She was right, Gracie never intended to go through with it. Judging by the jury's faces, they seemed to believe Gracie's side of the story.

"Any further questions, Mr. Lisle?" Judge Rollins asked.

"No, Your Honour."

"Then you may be seated, Miss Santos," Gracie sighed with relief as she headed back to her seat next to Janice.

After hours of character witness statements from John's friends, and tireless arguing between Mr. Lisle and Janice, it was almost time for John's cross-examination. Every time John spoke, Gracie would get another shooting pain in her stomach, she worried she might vomit if she didn't steady her breathing.

His alibi for that night was all a lie, he told the jury that he was at a baseball game, and he even had ticket stubs and receipts that matched the date. He lied the whole way through his examination from Mr. Lisle, and if Gracie didn't know better, she might have believed it herself. He and his lawyer went on and on about how he was an upstanding citizen, and most shockingly, his friends attested to that.

The drive home felt longer than it was, every turn was in slow motion, and every red light took an age to turn green. Stella and Lilah offered comforting words and shoulders to cry on if needed, but Gracie didn't know what she needed. All she had wanted for months was for the trial to be over, but she would have to wait another day to find out if all of her hard work had paid off. Gracie traipsed into her room that evening, exhausted. Stella and Lilah wanted to talk to her, but she didn't have the energy for anything after the day she just had.

"What happened?" Riley was sitting at her desk eagerly awaiting the results.

"The judge adjourned until tomorrow," Gracie flopped onto her bed and pulled the sheets up to her shoulders, "More waiting," she kept her tears inside.

"Well, how did it go? I mean, did it seem like he might lose?" Riley sat on the edge of Gracie's bed.

"I don't know, he was pretty convincing. Even I started to believe him. I just want to go to sleep," it was clear she wanted to be alone, so Riley went downstairs and closed the door behind her.

There was one person Gracie wanted to talk to though, the same person she wished could be at her side all the time, so she dialed Rachel's number. She climbed out of the bedroom window again and walked to meet Rachel at the beach.

When the girls saw each other, they ran into each other's arms, and Gracie immediately burst into tears, "It was awful, the lies they told, I just needed it to be over,"

"It's okay, I've got you," Rachel caressed Gracie's face, "He won't get away with this. I swear," Rachel pulled away to look into Gracie's eyes, "You are brave, brilliant, and strong and I am so proud of you," she kissed her girlfriend. Gracie already felt so much better just for being with Rachel.

The girls sat on the beach in silence for a little while, just being with each other. Until Rachel spoke up, "My mom called me," she said.

"What? When? Why didn't you tell me?" Gracie asked, she wasn't mad, she knew how difficult all of this must be for Rachel.