Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Chapter 16:
Grace
It was two thirty five in the afternoon when I got off the cab I’d hired to get back to my apartment. I’d not only stayed the night at Ken’s place, but we’d even slept in and had a huge brunch with Ty ordering for a home delivery. At the rate we’ve been having junk food since last night, I’m pretty sure I’ve gained at least five pounds.
I paid the cabbie and made my way up my apartment. As I climbed up the stairs, I could hear two very familiar male voices coming from my floor. I hurried upstairs, careful not to trip on the stairs with my high heels on and my suspicions were confirmed when I saw Daniel in a white shirt that defines his muscles, paired with navy blue pants, leaning against my door, talking to a brunette haired, emerald eyed man standing opposite to him wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans.
“Tory?!” I screamed before jumping into his arms.
Tory was like a male version of me. We looked almost identical to each other except for the jaw line. It hadn’t always been this way though; Tory and I had looked very different when we were younger. I used to be stick thin while he was the adorable chubby baby. But he’d grown into his looks as he’d grown up and now, a lot of people thought we were twins rather than him being the younger sibling.
“Welcome back, sis!” Tory caught me in his arms and spun me around, laughing. Well, it wasn’t exactly a spin considering that there was very little space between two staircases.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked when he set me down on the ground. I was well aware of Daniel’s stare boring into my back.
“It’s Thanksgiving this Thursday, I’m here to give you a heads up,” he told me a bit nervously.
“Heads up for what? Tory?” I frowned when I saw him fidgeting.
“Mom and dad are coming here.”He told me while looking at his feet.
“WHAT?!”
“Grace,” Daniel placed a hand on my shoulder and I instantly felt myself calm down. “Let’s go inside shall we?”
I shook my head numbly as I turned towards my door, Daniel moving out of the way so I could unlock the door. Once inside, I placed my purse on the stand next to the door and we walked to the couch as a unit, me and Tory taking the couch while Daniel moved back the coffee table so he could sit in front of us.
I looked up at Tory to see a worried look on his face. “Why are they coming here?”
“You’ve been avoiding them like the plague for the past two years now.” Tory told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “They seem to be determined to spend time with you this time. Senior year in college was the last time you showed up back home and then you’d always find excuses to not go back home. So they thought it was high time they had a chat with you.”
Having a ‘chat’ with me was a very nice alternative to saying that they plan to throw some guy at me and order me to marry him. It all started when I reached twenty years of age and they thought it was time for me to settle down and perform my duties as a woman. My mom herself had gotten married when she was 20 and so had my grandmother before her, so she wants me to continue on her legacy. But I had wanted to focus on my studies and career instead. They’d been even more persistent since I graduated college so I’d decided to stop going back home to Kern County, in our small town of Clovefield. But this year, it seems like they’ve taken matters into their own hands so I couldn’t hide anymore.
“You knew you couldn’t hide forever, right?” Tory rubbed my back comfortingly.
I groaned and covered my face with my hands. There was seriously no escaping them this time. But then I realized something. “Tory, where will you be staying?” I asked him after I’d removed my hands.
“Well…” he looked around my house. “This couch seems pretty comfortable.”
“Yes, about that,” Daniel spoke up before I could making us both turn in his direction. “Grace I’d like to have a word with you.”
My heart suddenly sank to my stomach. “Now?” I asked nervously.
“Actually,” he stood up from the coffee table and gave me his hand. “It’s more like something I need to show you than tell you. Come on.”
I placed my hand in his and stood up. “Can you wait five minutes so I can go shower and change first?” I asked him pointing at the dress I was wearing. It was the same as last night.
“Sure.” Daniel lowered his face closer to mine and for a second I thought that he’d kiss me, but then he raised his head slightly and kissed my forehead instead.
Disappointment heavy in my gut, I walked over to my bedroom to take a quick shower and change into something more comfortable, all the while trying not to show my emotions on my face. But as soon as the shower turned on and I stood under the warm spray, I couldn’t help the tears that escaped my eyes. This was it, my mind kept telling me. This was the moment when he’d tell me he’s breaking up with me. After all, I’ve hardly known him two weeks and I’d already fallen for him. He must think of me as cheap and disgusting by now. Pressing my hands to my mouth so that no sound escapes, I stood under the shower until all the warm water had run out.
Getting out of the shower, I pulled on a red and white checkered Jumpsuit with a red sash at the waist and blow dried my hair, deciding to keep it down today. For makeup, all I did was apply some foundation, eyeliner and lipstick. All set, I came out of the bathroom and walked into my living room to find Daniel and Tory engrossed in a conversation which I didn’t have the slightest idea about. But then again, Tory just graduated culinary school and Daniel was a restaurant owner, they both had a lot in common.
Daniel’s eyes immediate shifted to me as soon as I walked into the room and the way his eyes heated up upon looking me from head to toe, I felt like little red riding hood stranded with the big bad wolf who was just waiting for a chance to pounce on me.
“You look gorgeous,” he told me in a husky voice as he rose from the couch and came over to stand next to me. “Let’s go.”
I nodded before turning to Tory. “You’ll be alright here alone?”
“What am I, five?” He looked at me insulted. “Get going you two lovebirds, you’re making me gag!” He flicked his hand at us in a shooing motion with a frown on his face but his eyes were smiling. Looks like he approved of Daniel.
****
Twenty minutes later, Daniel stopped his Sedan in front of a five storied building that was halfway between Hell Hole and Paradiso. The building looked kind of old, but the cans of paint and brushes placed outside the building told me that renovation work was still in progress and most probably, the only work left was outside the building.
Casa Dolce Casa was written in bold on top of the building and I didn’t need Daniel to tell me that it meant Home Sweet Home. I’d started to do some research after I met Daniel and learned a few Italian words, which is how I knew what the sign meant and that Zucchero meant sugar and Fanculo meant fuck. Daniel had a habit of saying that a lot when we’re having sex.
Daniel helped me out of the car and I saw that the building had two large gargoyles sitting on either side of the entrance and there were two more peeping down at us from the roof. Whoever this building belonged to, must have some really gothic sense of style. As we entered, I saw that the style changed from Gothic to Victorian. Huge pillars and beautifully hand drawn paintings filled the empty space as the clean-up crew made a few finishing touches. The floor was Italian marble and a huge chandelier hung at the centre of the room, providing the main source of attraction. The Victorian touch was interrupted by the two elevators at the end of a hallway, where I was led to by Daniel.
“Where are we going?” I asked, speaking past the knot in my throat. It was the first time I’d spoken to him since leaving my house and I couldn’t hold back my curiosity any longer.
“You’ll see.” Daniel closed the elevator doors and pressed the button for the penthouse apartment. “This elevator goes directly to the penthouse. So you can use it whenever you want.”
I frowned. “You’re moving in here?”
“Well, I was thinking about extending my restaurant so I bought this place. But I can’t always stay at that apartment on top of the night club. It’s not appropriate enough for your parents to visit.”
The elevator doors dinged open and we stepped into a short hallway with only one set of double doors. Daniel took my hand and led me to those doors and flung them open so we could walk in. The apartment appeared huge since our footsteps echoed through the room, but all the lights were off so it was hard to tell.
But as soon as I’d taken a step into the room, all the lights turned on at the same time and rose petals started falling from the ceiling. I stood there stunned as I saw the rest of the apartment. It was stunning. Victorian style wooden furniture complemented the soft yellow walls and the curtains were a beautiful royal red with golden designs on them. To one side of the humongous room was the living room completed with sofas, a coffee table and a huge flat screen TV; I could see a door just behind the sofas, probably the balcony. The other half of the room consisted of the dining table comprising of ten chairs. The kitchen was separated from the living cum dining room and right at the back of the room were three other doors which looked like bedrooms.
“Wow!” I breathed. “Daniel, this is beautiful.”
“Indeed,” his voice sounded from right behind me. “And from today onwards, this belongs to us.”
I gasped, turning around to face Daniel. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“No.” I felt disappointment and confusion at his answer…until he bend down on one knee in front of me and held out a blue velvet box that held a huge diamond ring.
“Grace Summers,” he began, his blue eyes fixated on mine. “You said you’re falling in love with me, but you don’t know that I’d been in love with you the since the second I laid eyes on you as you walked into my club. I’d spent three whole months watching you from afar, getting to know you, before I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to have you in my life. But that I have, I feel like it’s not enough. I want us to be forever, Grace, no matter how long that is. I want to wake up next to you every morning and go to sleep with you in my arms. So tell me, Grace Summers, will you do the honors of being my wife?”
I was too stunned to speak as I looked at Daniel’s electric blue orbs. For the first time, I could see just how nervous he was and it made me realize just how much Daniel loved me. He had an unsure expression on his face and I saw perspiration on his forehead. I nodded my head up and down, not being able to form words yet. And then Daniel gave me a brilliant smile and got up from the floor.
He placed the diamond ring on the ring finger of my left hand and with a grip on my waist, lifted me up so he could kiss the life out of me. “Thank you for being mine,” he whispered against my lips and I felt like I could explode with happiness right then and there.
How did I get so lucky? To have a man like Daniel love me so much; someone who I knew would love and cherish me for the rest of my life. I know this was just the beginning of our life together and nothing is perfect. We’d have our fair share of fights and misunderstandings, but I had a feeling we’d be able to get past that and come out stronger on the other side. I had full faith in Daniel and myself.
I knew my mom and dad were coming over for Thanksgiving and they might not agree to our relationship; I even had my doubts that Ken and Ty would think it was too soon for us to get engaged; but all that could wait for another time. As Daniel picked me up and carried me over to our bedroom, I felt that in that moment, everything was perfect.