State Of Grace

Chapter 32 - Untouchable

When Gracie arrived, her siblings gathered by the front door to welcome her home. They'd strung balloons from the ceiling and popped party poppers as she walked through the front door. They must have had a secret closet full of party supplies somewhere, it seemed they were always prepared to celebrate.

The sudden noise from the party poppers made Gracie jump, but she was grateful that her family had wanted to commemorate her small achievement of not dying.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Lilah put her arm around her daughter, "Come on let's get you into bed."

Her family were so attentive to her while she was recovering. Maia was especially helpful, constantly bringing her water and asking if she needed anything. What happened to Gracie had affected her, and she was doing everything she could to make sure her sister was okay.

After a rough first week of recovery, her wound was finally healing and she was getting her strength back day by day. The bruising on her back had slowly faded, her black eye was now just slightly yellow and the swelling had gone down completely. 

The same couldn't be said for her mind. She had nightmares every night and it always started the same. It was the dream that she had just after it happened; her biggest fears and the worst moments of her life repeating in a relentless cycle of torment. Somewhere along the way the dream merged with her old recurring nightmares about John. 

She was learning to be more honest though, she had counseling sessions over the phone and she didn't hold anything back about Amber and John and all of her nightmares. She told her counselor about how she could see them both standing over her every time she closed her eyes. It helped to talk about it, but there wasn't much anyone could do to help Gracie other than encourage her to open up and listen when needed.

The meeting with the judge had been postponed due to the events of last week, but now that she was on the mend, it had been rescheduled to Wednesday morning. Janice had been over to the house a few times, she didn't usually work in family court, but Stella and Lilah trusted her and so did Gracie. It wasn't the same as preparing for the trial, they just had to find a rock-solid reason for Gracie to stay with the Tuckers. Fortunately, Gracie didn't need to be involved in every meeting, so she wasn't constantly dwelling on it.

With all of the drama about injury and her birth father, Gracie was relieved to have Rachel was back in her life again. Not only did she feel more like herself with Rachel back on her side, but she had someone to talk to when she needed a distraction.

When she was finally recovered enough, Stella and Lilah allowed her to go out. Gracie told them she was going out with Elle. 

She walked around the corner from her house to where Rachel was in her car waiting for Gracie. She wanted to tell Rachel about everything that was happening with Greg, but that might make her girlfriend think that they would be forced apart. The risk of losing her again was too great, so she kept the details to a minimum and followed Rachel's lead when she quickly changed the subject.

Rachel drove them to an old movie theater on the other side of town, far enough away that they wouldn't run into anyone they knew. They booked tickets to some foreign-language movie and sat in the back row, but it wouldn't have mattered where they sat because they had the whole theater to themselves.

"We should go to college together," Gracie didn't bother whispering, "We could be roommates again, all that space to ourselves." She pictured herself two years in the future. Older, wiser, happier.

"And when we graduate and get jobs, we'll get a real house, we can decorate it however we want," Rachel cuddled Gracie and kissed her cheek.

Gracie giggled as her girlfriend's lips tickled her skin, "We could live in a beaten-up trailer with holes in the roof, as long as we're together, I'm happy."