State Of Grace

Chapter 17 - Soon You'll Get Better

Once the sentencing was over, and the trial had officially come to a close, Gracie felt just a little bit lighter. The first thing she did was turn to her foster mothers, who immediately pulled her into a loving, prideful embrace.

"I knew you could do it!" Stella was struggling to keep her tears at bay.

"We're so proud of you, Gracie," Lilah kissed Gracie on her forehead.

"It wouldn't have been possible without you two," Gracie was crying tears of alleviation.

No more court, no more seeing John. She could finally start to put the ordeal behind her. But, though she knew the trial was one of the hardest things she would ever overcome, she'd started to realize that getting through day-to-day life without the Tuckers was going to be a challenge in itself.

Gracie was quiet for most of the evening, she sat at the kitchen table with the rest of the family eating the celebratory pizza that Lilah had made from scratch. She knew she should make the most of the time she had left with them, but part of her thought it might be easier if she didn't get too comfortable, even though it was probably too late for that.

After excusing herself from dinner, Gracie sat in her room staring out of the window, wondering how soon Anita would be pulling into the drive to take her away, when her phone started buzzing. Jason was calling her.

"Hey," she answered.

"Hey," he paused like he was waiting for Gracie to say something but she stayed silent. "Um, is everything okay? You weren't at school yesterday or today," he sounded genuinely worried, and Gracie was so ashamed of her lies.

"Oh, I was just feeling a little under the weather, I'm a lot better now," she did her best to stifle the tears that were gathering in her eyes, her breath shallow, "Can I call you back in the morning? I'm going to get an early night," she didn't wait for Jason to respond before she hung up the phone.

The pain in her stomach was persisting, she thought it might start to subside once the trial was over, but if anything it was getting worse. Her phone buzzed again, and it was a message from Rachel. The pain stopped, or at least, Gracie didn't notice it as much.

'I'm outside,' Rachel wrote. Gracie stood up, walked closer to the window, and looked down. Rachel stood waving at her, with a smile on her face.

As much as Gracie was relieved to see her girlfriend, she knew it was dangerous for her to be there. She rushed downstairs, opened the front door as quietly as she could, and closed it behind her. She ran into Rachel's arms.

"Are you okay?" Gracie panted, "What are you doing here? If we get caught I'll be sent away again."

"Babe, calm down," Rachel kissed her cheek, "It's okay, I just wanted to see you. It was kind of an intense day."

Gracie took her hand and led her down the street to the bus stop bench. From the Tucker's house, they were concealed by a wide tree trunk, safe from the prying eyes of her foster family.

"I can't believe it's over, and he's actually going to prison. What did your mom say?" She asked, knowing that this whole situation had just as much of a bearing on her girlfriend's life as it did hers.

"She was shocked at first, I mean after yesterday she started to realize that you weren't lying, but still. And then when they read the verdict, I think part of her was relieved that she could finally get out from under his thumb. So was I."

"Are you moving back home?" Gracie hated that Rachel had torn herself away from her mother for all that time during the investigation, but they both knew it had to be done if she wanted to get away from her father too.