Chapter Thirty-six

Carrick, standing straight and tall, commanded everyone's attention by tapping the side of his champagne glass with a spoon. The wait staff came around with trays of champagne flutes, signaling it was time for a toast. "I want to propose a toast," he announced. Even though tradition had the parents of the bride- to- be making the first toast, he and Grace were the ones hosting the party.

Christian wrapped his hand around hers. "Can it wait?" He repeated just as Carrick said his line about proposing a toast. She gave him a quiet smile and stared down at their linked fingers. His touch made her feel secure, grounded. Soon, everyone had a flute. Christian accepted his without letting go of Ana's hand.

Carrick:

"Anastasia, our family is blessed to welcome you to our family, Grace and I liked you from the minute Christian brought you to meet us." He smiled looking directly at Ana. After a short pause, his gaze shifted to the audience. "Dear friends, we are here to celebrate the engagement of Christian and Anastasia as they embark together on life's greatest voyage. May the happiness we've known as spouses and parents be multiplied hundredfold in your household. May you know the joy of holding your newborn babies and see them grow up. May your home come to know the peace that comes with true love."

"Please raise your glasses in a toast to Christian and Anastasia."

Everyone stood and raised their glasses and cheered while the happy couple remained seated.

Grace:

Christian, your father and I are so proud of the adult you have become. With Ana at your side and with that wonderful little boy named Teddy and the love you so obviously share, nothing will be impossible for you. Ana, please know that you are like a daughter to me know and I hope we can make you feel welcomed as if you were our own flesh and blood. And I hope you never hesitate to come to me for anything you need."

"Everyone, let's raise our glass for the happy couple. To Christian and Anastasia."

The guests raised their glasses and repeated: "to Christian and Anastasia."

Carla:

As a mother, I've often wondered about the man my daughter would end up sharing her life with. I've had my daughter for twenty-seven years and I tell you, the years have flashed by. I remember her brand-new, her tiny fingers curled up around mine and the wonderful feeling that gave me. And now that she is grown, she has given that same hand to Christian. It is now his to hold and cherish."

Carla paused, realizing that Ana was moved to tears. "Please don't cry, my Ana or I will end up crying too."

Some people smiled a goofy smile. A few women dabbed their eyes, including Grace and Mia.

"It's going to be hard to let go," Carla continued, "but I can't imagine a better man than Christian for my daughter to share her life with."

"Please raise your glasses and join me in celebrating this fantastic engagement. To Christian and Ana."

Everyone repeated: "To Christian and Ana."

Ana was sobbing now. In response, Christian took his lovely fiancee into his arms and held her face tenderly. It was a tender moment where the audience waited with abated breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry like this." Her mother's words touched her heart. But mostly, she cried because she realized as Carla spoke how much she missed her daddy.

"Sh-It's okay baby."

Still holding her close, Christian dried her tears with his thumbs. At last, the tears finally subsided. Christian stood, getting ready to speak, holding his hand out to her. Ana clasped her hand in his and stood beside him, dabbing her eyes.

Christian waited for her smile before he started his speech. "There's something very special that happens to a man when he's met the woman he's going to spend the rest of his life with," Christian began, pausing to lift Ana's hand and kiss it. "I believe it's called fulfillment. Thank you, darling, for agreeing to be my wife and seeing the goodness in me." He then made eye contact with Carla and said, "and I'd like to thank Carla Steele for bringing into the world the woman that I love and for being with us tonight." He concluded gallantly and Ana rewarded him with a short kiss. The audience applauded.

…...

Afterwards, everyone was encouraged to take to the dance floor and dance.

Ana saw this as her opportunity to take Christian aside and bring him up to speed regarding Kate and Elliot.

While this was happening, Elliot who at the time was dancing with a young woman, immediately felt his brother's hard gaze and hostility pumping from across the room. His dancing partner said something to him and he tried to flirt back but he was now too preoccupied. Fuck! No doubt, Kate had spilled the beans. A furtive glance in Christian's direction was all it took for him to feel this was indeed the case. Still, he met Christian's gaze head- on, trying to appear calm and in control. Christian glared at him and he glared back and even from a distance, the atmosphere became undeniably tense.

Seeing how tense Christian was getting, Ana guided him to the dance floor. They danced a ballad but Christian was too worked up to truly enjoy it.

"Where did he go?" He mumbled, his eyes surveying the room. He'd lost track of Elliot. The girl Elliot had been dancing with had gone back to her table. But where the hell did he go?

No, there was no way he was gonna to let him slip away like that, Christian thought. Without a moment to spare, Christian sprinted out of the party room. In the next moment, he spotted Elliot at the far end of the hallway, just as he rounded the corner.

"Elliot!"

Elliot stopped dead on his tracks, debating. He had two choices: run or fight back. In the next moment, he turned around furious. "Go back to your party and leave me alone!" He glared at Christian before heading for the game room. The entertainment/game room had a giant TV screen, an ample theater sized seating area and several tables for air hockey, ping pong and bumper pool. This room had always been one of the most popular rooms in the house by both the Greys and visitors alike.

"Leave you alone?" Christian hissed following him. "After what you done?"

"Just beat it," Elliot spat, trying to put his hands on his brother's chest and shove him away but Christian Christian was faster and blocked his movements. Elliot managed to dodge the first blow, duck underneath the hockey table and scramble to his feet but then, just as he was gaining momentum, Christian tackled him to the floor to prevent him from fleeing, his body hitting the ground hard with a thug. Elliot struggled to get to his feet but the blows came fast and furious. Right then, Ana came into the room and stood by the threshold watching in stunned silence. The attack ceased. Elliot was not fighting back. Still, Christian held him tightly by the collar, pinning him to the wall.

"As much as I've like to kick your sorry ass to the next zip code, I must leave you in one piece to make amends."

"Wh-what you talking about? What have I done to you?"

"Don't you play dumb with me you little piece of shit. You're going to do the right thing. You understand? You're going to apologize to Kate and ask for her forgiveness."

At this point, Elliot struggled to speak as Christian was not giving him too much room to breathe. Christian held him tighter by the collar and threatened to clobber him.

Elliot flinched, afraid of another beating, licking his bruised lips. "What the fuck do you want me to do?"

"I already told you, you're gonna apologize and take responsibility for her baby."

Elliot's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Baby? What baby?"

"She's pregnant!" Ana blurted out, coming forward wanting to smack him herself. "You son- of- a- bitch!"

It took almost a full minute for Elliot to recover from the shock. "How...how do I even know it's mine?"

Christian tightened his grip on his brother's collar and shock his fist at him. "You want irrefutable proof?"

"Yeah."

Christian nodded his head as if in agreement but then in the next moment, he punched him again, this time in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him."You don't deserve it, asshole. But you're going to get your proof. And once you do, you need to follow through. Now dust yourself off. You're going in there to talk to Kate and you better not say anything about the baby not being yours."

Anger flashed across Elliot's face. He aimed to strike Christian's face but Christian blocked high with his arm and threw a restraint technique on him and then, without letting go of his arms pushed him toward the stairs. "Are you going to cooperate now?" Elliot stopped resisting—he knew he was no match for Christian.

…...

By the time Ana got to the top of the stairs, Elliot was standing passively beside Christian in front of the door to the guest room, eyes fixed on the floor, as though he was a middle school-er waiting to be called in to the principal's office. His passive attitude made Ana angrier, and the madder she got, the harder she wanted to hit him.

"Elliot Grey, you make me sick! How could you do this to Kate? " Elliot shrugged and she smacked him across the shoulder. "Why?"

"I didn't do anything," he replied lamely, his gaze shifting between them. There was no way he was telling them that he' d gone to Michigan to dig up dirt on Ana, the kind of personal stuff standard background checks can't give you. There was no need to bring it up, why bother when there was nothing questionable about her past to discuss. It would only make him look bad.

"You went to Michigan to seduce her."

Elliot grimaced at her choice of words. It made this whole situation sound like a Victorian melodrama, as if Kate was a virtuous maiden whose honor had been taken. Oh, please.

"Kate is a big girl. I didn't force her, she came to me willingly," once again he looked at Christian, afraid to provoke him. Christian was watching the whole interaction with a stony face. It seemed like he was letting Ana have the spotlight. "Look. I have some friends in Michigan. I ran into her one day when I happened to be driving the hospital she works at. It wasn't until later that I learned she was your friend."

Christian let out an incredulous sigh and Ana shook her head in disgust. "Bullshit!" They both said in unison. Elliot Grey was such a piece of trash.

…...

Christian waited in the hallway with Elliot while Ana went to see Kate and make sure she was ready for Elliot's visit. Ana closed the door behind her and retrieved Kate' s purse and pulled out a cosmetics bag and a brush and sat at the edge of her bed.

"Can I do your hair and makeup?" She asked after telling her that Elliot was out there with Christian.

"You gotta be kidding me," Kate shook her head. "No. I don't want to see him."

"Christian and I will be with you. We have your back," Ana said. There was little she could say to convince Kate. It was important that Elliot face the consequences of his actions. "Which one?" She said offering her friend two different shades of lipstick. One was too pale and subdued and the other one was vibrant and alive.

Kate stared at the lipstick for a long time before making her choice. But once she did, a fierce determination flashed across her face. "I don't want him to see me in bed looking pathetic. I'm going to get dressed and then afterwards, I'm going down to the party."

Ana liked seeing her friend back to her old self, but still she wasn't sure going down to the party was such a good idea. After all, Grace advised that she rest.

"Christian and Elliot are waiting outside the door." Ana reminded Kate. "Elliot has something to tell you. Please hear him out." She wasn't saying this for Elliot's sake but for Christian's. Christian seemed quite determined to make this apology happen.

"Does he know about the baby?"

Ana nodded. "We told him. He tried to make a run for it. But Christian stopped him."

"And the adoption?"

"No. I didn't tell him about that. That one is up to you, Kate."

Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I suppose I can't do anything about this now. Everyone is going to know? Christian's parents?" Ana said nothing but they both understood these were rhetorical questions.

After a short while, Kate went into the connecting bathroom to finished fixing her hair and applying makeup. When she finally came out she looked radiant. She then sat down in the nearest armchair to slide her heels on.

"So what do you say. Are you ready?"

A few minutes later

After letting them inside, Ana went to sit at the edge of the bed. Elliot and Christian walked into the bedroom together and stood in the middle of the room making eye contact with Kate. The ball was in her court now and they waited for her to get the ball rolling.

"You better make it quick." Kate glared at Elliot, too angry to speak, too angry to see straight. But most of all, she was angry at herself for putting herself in the situation she was in now. Kate spat at Elliot. "I can't stand the sight of you."

"Kate, my brother is here to make things right and apologize." Then he turned to Elliot. "Just tell the truth, man."

Something in Christian's voice got to Elliot. Deep down he did recognize he had behaved like the greatest son-of-a-bitch. "I'm sorry, Kate. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." At least part of that was true, he didn't mean for her to get pregnant.

"Liar!" Kate gritted her teeth, willing herself to stay cool-headed and not cry like an idiot and make a fool of herself. She was having trouble with that as her hands were white-knuckled from gripping the armchair.

"Kate. You're a gorgeous girl, you deserve better than me," Elliot said his gaze shifting between Christian and Kate, gauging their reactions to his words, feeling as if he was treading on thin ice. Christian's expression was unreadable and Kate was looking at him as though he was a disgusting cockroach. Still, he willed himself to go on. "I liked you a lot from the minute I saw you."

"Okay so you liked me. Is that supposed to make everything you did okay? You gave me a false name and a fake number. You bastard! You treated like a slut!"

Christian and Ana followed the interactions, their gaze shifting back and forth between the Kate and Elliot.

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Elliot said after a long silence and it was clear to Kate that his apology wasn't entirely sincere; it was merely an attempt to get out of a sticky situation.

Kate met Elliot's gaze with steely eyes. "Sorry is NOT going to cut it."

Kate's words were followed by awkward silence. As the silence ticked by, Ana wondered how was it no one from the party had come looking for them.

"Suit yourself." Elliot spat and Christian flashed him a warning look.

"Get out." Kate sneered, suddenly too disgusted to look at Elliot. If she was forced to look at him one minute longer she was just gonna smack him until her knuckles hurt.

"My brother is going to make it up to you and take responsibility for your baby, Kate," Christian said after Elliot left the room. "I will personally make sure of that." He wasn't sure when he'd become his brother's keeper ( defined as the one people question when his brother messes up) but this was certainty the biggest stunt Elliot had ever pulled.

It was awkward returning to the party and having to explain their long absence, the implication being that perhaps they-Ana and Christian- went to get a room. But people are gonna believe what they want to believe, Ana thought. Thankfully the waiters promptly appeared-as a very much welcomed distraction- to deliver the second course of their meals. As it turned out, they'd only missed the first course. Grace had ordered the waiters to hold off and wait for Ana and Christian to return to the party. The third course was a choice of lamb, rib roast or pan-seared salmon. Both Ana and Christian chose the salmon.

Ana's face lit up like a Christmas tree when, after desert was served, Christian gallantly asked for a dance.

"Look, Kate seems better," Ana pointed out as they danced together to a slow, romantic song. Kate was sitting back at their table, talking and smiling to the other guests. There was a rosy color to her cheeks.

"And your mom seems to have found someone," Christian said with a slow smile just as they made eye contact with Carla and her male companion on the dance floor. "I believe this is like their fifth dance," he added quietly.

Ana returned his soft smile. There was nothing she wished more than for her mother to find someone. She had sacrificed her younger years to being a mom and deserved some happiness.

"Did you like the way I handled things tonight?"

"What can I say? You were fantastic." She reached up to touch his beautiful face and pulling him back down for a kiss. He groaned in response to the unexpected kiss with a deep throaty sound that connected to all the muscles in her groin.

"Your lucky Ms. Steele...that we're surrounded by so many people...otherwise. Hmm."

"Lucky?" She let out a good-natured chuckle. "You're right, I'm most lucky to have you as my fiance, Mr. Grey." In response, he pulled her to him and buried his face in her hair. He smelled so good and she felt so secure. He found her cheek with his and his breath was on her ear. He was intoxicating and she didn't want this moment to end. "But yes, I could be luckier at the moment."

Christian chuckled at that. He liked the innuendo in the last statement and the timing of it was a bit unexpected and refreshing.

A few dances later, it came to an end. Together, they walked to back to their table and chatted with their guests. Some of them started to leave and Kate came to sit beside Ana.

"So where is he?"

"Who? Oh..." Ana surveyed the room. "I think he left."

Kate breathed a sigh of relief. For the rest of the night she could relax and pretend the scoundrel didn't exist.

An hour later, most of the guests had left. Ana was going to accompany Kate back to her room when Grace came to talk to them.

"Kate, dear. I hope you and your mom consider staying with us for the night."

"Oh...thank you, but I really don't want to impose." In reality, she would rather avoid running into Elliot again but she didn't want to be rude.

"No, no. Please. Both Carrick would Grace would feel better knowing you're under our roof. We can send for the rest of your things at the hotel."

Kate motioned for Carla and relayed the invitation.

"That's very kind of you, Mrs. Grey," Carla said politely.

"Please accept. I would feel so much better knowing Kate is alright."

Carla looked at Kate and found agreement. "Okay. Thank you," Carla said.

And with that, Ana accompanied Carla and Kate back upstairs. Christian stayed behind with Mia, together they would wait for Ana to return so they could go back to Escala. Carrick and Grace joined them and ordered drinks- tea for her and hot cocoa for him.

Christian and Mia were in the midst a conversation about politics when their attention shifted to the sound of their mother's alarmed voice. It only took them a moment to realize that she was on the phone.

"Mom?" Mia asked. Her mother was silent, a dazed look on her face."What's going on?"

"Oh, God."

"Grace?" Carrick pressed.

Grace looked at her husband and blinked hard. "It's...there's...been an accident."