He walked into the house and threw his bag on the floor. He sighed deeply,
"It was good to be home," he thought. The flight had been hell, why did the
airline always pack the screaming babies onto his flight? Raising his arm
to brush the long blond hair away from his face, he winced as the sharp
pain he had grown used to over the past 2 weeks, ran up his spine and
wrapped its self around his rib cage. Since his injury, he had become more
grateful for everything he did down to the simple things like walking and
sitting down. Things he could do before without the pain. Things he may not
be able to do in a little bit.
The doctor's words echoed in his head, ".you need to have this surgery.there is a chance you may loose feeling in parts of your body.if you don't go through with this.paralyzed" That last word hurt him the worst, it made him cringe like fingernails on a chalkboard. God, he didn't want this. Everything had been going so well, his career was going well the only way to go was up; he had even gotten married eight months ago.
"Mom figured me to be a hopeless cause." He thought with a smile, "Boy did I fool them."
He sat in the chair in the entryway and looked about their house. She had done wonderful things with this old dump. He had no idea why she had been so excited when they found the old farmhouse with more plaster showing the paint. There had been shag carpeting through the entire house. Bright orange in the master bedroom. "Orange. It had to have been orange," he thought with a shudder. But no. she had made him buy the moment she walked in the door. The realtor about fell over from a heart attack when he had made the offer; he wanted her to be happy. He knew that their months of separation wouldn't be easy on her, and he had been right. He could tell in her voice the strain she was feeling every night when they talked, but he couldn't help admire her for the strength and courage she put on. She never burst into tears worrying about him, he knew she did. Hell, he even worried about himself sometimes.
She knew when they had first started dating what she was getting herself into, and God help her, she fell head over heels for him, and the same went for him. What scared him the most, was telling her about how much he actually hid from her. How much he hurt, and didn't let on. How badly he was injured but insisted "It was only a scratch, don't worry about me sweetheart." He got up from the chair, groaning as his tired muscles rebelled against the action, and walked slowly through the hallway, looking for his wife. Wife. That word still through him for a loop. "Grace?! Grace, are you up here?" He had seen her car in the garage and knew she hadn't gone into town. He walked to the last room in the house; it was floor to ceiling windows on one side and French doors to his left that opened up to the deck. This was her studio, and as usual, it looked as though Hurricane Grace had made a successful run. Her computer desk had piles of projects in progress, Grace ran a pretty successful graphic design business, and he could tell that business was booming by that mount of paper on her desk. Her Mac G4 was running, and making the occasional noise as email was received. There was a painting on the easel, but he didn't dare look. He had made that mistake once, and was glad to come away with his life. The shelf he built for her was stacked with pottery in different stages of firing. She had defiantly been busy in the month and a half he was gone. He walked to the bay of windows and looked out. The view was excellent, with the valley and the fresh snow that had fallen in the night. It had started to snow again, and he hoped that Grace had gone to the store lately for supplies. It would be a real bitch to get into Toronto if the plows weren't able to make it this far out. Last time it took them 3 days to get out.
A movement caught his eye in the direction of the barn and he squinted through the thickly falling flakes. There by the big red barn, in the middle of a snow bank was Grace. She was sprawled on her back, and by the looks of it, in the important business of making snow angels. He laughed, the deep sound sending an echo through the empty house. He grabbed his coat and gloves and headed down to the barn, ignoring the growing sense of dread in his stomach. He knew he had to tell her about the surgery, but he really did not want to.
"Is there room for one more?" he asked.
"What the hell?!, she shrieked, leaping up from her snow bank and putting a rubber boot right though the head of her snow angel, "Adam Copeland! What are you doing here? Why didn't you call? And why is that even though I could just kill you, I'm so happy to see you I could just cry?!" with that statement she leapt against him, her lips meeting his with their kiss drowning out the cry of pain he sequestered. Adam fell back and tripped over the hay bale Grace had pulled out of the barn, and fell onto the snow bank dragging Grace with him, and lay there enjoying the feel of his wife in his arms. God, he had missed her.
Grace pulled away from the kiss first, sitting up and straddling his middle. She looked at him and hit him in the chest, "Well? Aren't you going to answer me?"
Adam started to laugh, "Well I was going to, but you had such a warm welcome I didn't want to interrupt." Grace joined in the laughter and grabbed a handful of snow, and gave Adam a white washing he both needed, and deserved.
"Uncle! Mercy! I surrender! Have pity on a poor weary traveler!" he yelled through the handful of snow, "Would it make you feel better if you knew I had been surrounded by screaming babies, and the main entertainment on the flight was betting with Jay which one would puke first?"
"Only a little. Jay came home with you huh? So who won the bet?"
"Lets just say that Jay is laughing his way to the bank."
"Good Lord, how much did you bet?"
"ummm.A Dollar?"
Grace burst out laughing, "You are such a filthy liar, Mr. Copeland, but too bad for you, because I still love you." She paused and looked into his eyes, "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, because believe me I am and if I wasn't wearing thirty pounds of winter clothes I would show you,
Adam looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?"
"Yes put your dodging the question. What are you doing in a snow bank in our back yard in Toronto? Aren't you supposed to be slathering on sunscreen in Florida right now? Are you not telling me something?"
He cursed her perceptiveness silently. He should have known she would figure it wasn't a quick vacation out of the kindness of Vince's heart. He paused before answering, just looking at her. God she was beautiful, she wasn't like most women. She wasn't the trash talking, spandex wearing bimbo groupie type that followed the WWE around like a pack of wolves. She was real. And now he looked at her with her long, dark blond hair stinking out at weird angles from beneath her hat, and how the snowflakes were caught in her eyelashes framing her startling green eyes. She didn't wear makeup and wouldn't be caught trying to either. The only thing that could usually be found on her face was a smudge of clay and some paint. Right now, those two things were strangely missing from her cheeks and it made her seem almost fragile and surreal.
"What are you looking at?" she asked
"You. There are snowflakes on your eyelashes. I think you are even more beautiful then the day I met you."
She smiled that half smile she always did when she was embarrassed, but pleased at the compliment. She leaned over and kissed him again, and got up walking over to finish giving the horses their hay. Adam continued to lie in the snow bank and watched her do the rest of her barn chores. "How can it be that she can even make a pair of carhart bibs look sexy?" he wondered, and sat in the snow to admire the view.
Grace broke open the bale off hay and separated it into 3 leaves for each horse, "There you go guys," she said while scratching each horse behind the ear. "So what do you think he's not telling me?" Wise Tu Risk, her big gray Arab, looked up from his hay and nudged her with his nose and nickered. Grace laughed, "No I don't think that's it." King, the bay Thoroughbred she had rescued from the racetrack a couple of years ago, looked up shook his head and went back to his hay.
"Yeah I guess I'll just let him tell me when he is ready to" Grace looked over her shoulder at Adam and smiled and winked at him, "So I suppose your going to expect me to feed you now?"
"Well I was kind of hoping you would. Or at least point me in the generally direction of the kitchen and I can do it myself. I have no idea where anything is in that house anymore." Adam grumbled.
"I'll give you the grand tour later, where would you like to start?" she said laughing, "You'll love our bedroom, I made sure the contractor left the shag carpeting, I know how much you loved that stuff."
Adam groaned, "Oh don't make me think of that on an empty stomach." Adam looked at her and flashed his million-dollar smile "How bout if we leave the bedroom till the end." He said trailing off suggestively with a wink
Grace rolled her eyes and groaned, "Is that all you ever think off?"
"What?" he said innocently, "I'm just took hungry to start anywhere else then the kitchen. Why what did you think I meant?"
He got up from the snowdrift, brushed himself off and ran laughing to the house as Grace grabbed a handful of snow and lobbed it at him. She missed by a mile, but it still made her feel better. Grace picked up the rest of the hay, carried it into the barn and then turned off the lights and shut the door. The house was glowing as she walked through the snow "Does he really have to turn every light in the house on? Good grief", she thought laughing quietly to herself as she let herself into the basement door and kicked off her rubber boots
"Well I see you found the kitchen all right, "Grace said climbing up the stairs from the basement.
Adam looked up from the stove and grinned, "Yeah, I got the mad ski-zillz yo"
She groaned, "You are so painfully white it hurts. Have you been hanging around John "I wanna be Vanilla Ice" Cena again?"
Adam started to laugh, "He be mah boy, we be down in da ghetto, we pimp out an' go cruising for da bitches"
"Do you have idea what you just said?" Grace asked holding back her laughter.
"Word."
Grace doubled over from laughter, "Promise me you'll never say that again, I don't think I could take it."
Adam pouted and looked hurt, "What? You don't think I could have been from the mean streets of Toronto?"
Grace snorted and rolled her eyes and sat down at the counter, "Honey you thought a drive-by was another term for the drive up window at McDonald's"
Adam started to laugh, "Just for that I'm going to feed your omelet to the dog." Referring to the rather large black lab that laid sleeping on the rug oblivious to it all. Getting up from the counter, to get a glass of water Grace walked past him and tickled him in the ribs,
"AH!" He yelled, "OK OK you get the omelet and Porkchop gets his kibble. I still can't believe you named that dog Porkchop." She giggled and filled her glass.
Adam looked at her and started to laugh, "Since when have you been raiding my closet?"
Grace was wearing his jeans, and even though she was 5'10" they had to be rolled up to her knees and one of his flannel shirts with the shoulders drooping down her arms and the sleeves rolled up.
She looked at him sheepishly, "Umm... I haven't really done a lot of laundry lately, and this was clean? Is it really my fault you have long legs?" He laughed again, and hugged her, "They look better on you then they do me. C'mon lets eat."
After eating, Grace took Adam on a grand tour of their house, ending of course in the bedroom like he had wanted to. It was amazing how much work had been done, the house came originally with 5 bedrooms, but Gracie had cut the bedroom next to theirs in half making it into a large bathroom and two large walk-in closets.
"Come in here," she said taking his hand and dragging him into the bathroom, "OK now just stand there and I'll turn the light on, you need to get the full effect."
She turned the switch on, and Adam blinked his eyes not only because of the light, but also because of what he saw. The walls were painted gray with red rugs and towels. There was a large whirlpool tub in the corner with a huge window behind it, and a shower next to it. It was an amazing view.
Grace started to laugh, "If you could just see your eyes right now, its great. Go on go sit in the tub, I had it special ordered just for you."
Adam walked over an climbed in he was able to stretch all the way out, "And you know the best part?" Grace said walking over, "It's a two person tub," she said with a wink.
Adam was still speechless, "How did you know I wanted a tub like this?," he asked, "This is exactly what I had in mind. This is going to feel really good when I'm sore."
Grace smiled, "Jay and I had a conference a couple of months ago, and he told me that you kept talking about a tub like this, he said and I quote, 'Adam is freakin obsessed with this tub and if you buy it he will finally stop talking about it so I can get some peace and quiet' end quote."
Adam started to laugh, "Yeah, I admit I was umm... kind of obsessed. Wow, this is just the greatest thing ever, Thanks alot hon."
"Your welcome," Grace said as the phone rang, "Hang on I'll get that, Oh yeah, my business line isn't set up yet, so customers might be calling here, just so you know" she reached for thing cordless phone sitting on the counter, "Audacious Design, This is Grace."
"Hey Gracie, its Jay"
"Hey Jay whats up?"
"Eh not much, just wondering how things were going over there. Is Adam sitting in his tub yet?"
Grace looked over and laughed as Adam was still in the tub playing with the Rubber Ducky that had been sitting on the ledge. "Yeah I don't think I'll be able to get him to bed."
Jay laughed, "Just make sure he doesn't prune up. He gets cranky." Jay paused and the laughter left his voice, "But hey Grace, why I'm calling is that Adam needs to talk to you, and I know he can't."
Grace froze, "I knew that's why he was home, he hasn't said anything. Are you calling to tattle for him?"
"No not at all," Jay said quickly, "He told me on the plane that if he didn't call me by 7, that I needed to call to give him a pep talk. You know him, he can't stand to make you worried and he's chicken shit when it comes to telling you stuff."
"I understand," Grace said quietly, "I'm going to go to drag it out of him ok?"
"Be nice. Don't rough him up too bad."
"Yeah you know me," she said.
"That's what I'm talking about" he said as he hung up.
Grace put the phone back in the holder, and walked over to the tub. Adam was watching her, and didn't like the look on her face. "That was Jay?" he asked quietly
"Yeah it was," she said looking at him softly with a worried look in her eye, "He said there was something you needed to tell me?"
"Yes there is" Adam said as he got up slowly from the tub so he wouldn't further injure himself. He took her hand and led her in to the bedroom, "C'mon lets talk in here."
The doctor's words echoed in his head, ".you need to have this surgery.there is a chance you may loose feeling in parts of your body.if you don't go through with this.paralyzed" That last word hurt him the worst, it made him cringe like fingernails on a chalkboard. God, he didn't want this. Everything had been going so well, his career was going well the only way to go was up; he had even gotten married eight months ago.
"Mom figured me to be a hopeless cause." He thought with a smile, "Boy did I fool them."
He sat in the chair in the entryway and looked about their house. She had done wonderful things with this old dump. He had no idea why she had been so excited when they found the old farmhouse with more plaster showing the paint. There had been shag carpeting through the entire house. Bright orange in the master bedroom. "Orange. It had to have been orange," he thought with a shudder. But no. she had made him buy the moment she walked in the door. The realtor about fell over from a heart attack when he had made the offer; he wanted her to be happy. He knew that their months of separation wouldn't be easy on her, and he had been right. He could tell in her voice the strain she was feeling every night when they talked, but he couldn't help admire her for the strength and courage she put on. She never burst into tears worrying about him, he knew she did. Hell, he even worried about himself sometimes.
She knew when they had first started dating what she was getting herself into, and God help her, she fell head over heels for him, and the same went for him. What scared him the most, was telling her about how much he actually hid from her. How much he hurt, and didn't let on. How badly he was injured but insisted "It was only a scratch, don't worry about me sweetheart." He got up from the chair, groaning as his tired muscles rebelled against the action, and walked slowly through the hallway, looking for his wife. Wife. That word still through him for a loop. "Grace?! Grace, are you up here?" He had seen her car in the garage and knew she hadn't gone into town. He walked to the last room in the house; it was floor to ceiling windows on one side and French doors to his left that opened up to the deck. This was her studio, and as usual, it looked as though Hurricane Grace had made a successful run. Her computer desk had piles of projects in progress, Grace ran a pretty successful graphic design business, and he could tell that business was booming by that mount of paper on her desk. Her Mac G4 was running, and making the occasional noise as email was received. There was a painting on the easel, but he didn't dare look. He had made that mistake once, and was glad to come away with his life. The shelf he built for her was stacked with pottery in different stages of firing. She had defiantly been busy in the month and a half he was gone. He walked to the bay of windows and looked out. The view was excellent, with the valley and the fresh snow that had fallen in the night. It had started to snow again, and he hoped that Grace had gone to the store lately for supplies. It would be a real bitch to get into Toronto if the plows weren't able to make it this far out. Last time it took them 3 days to get out.
A movement caught his eye in the direction of the barn and he squinted through the thickly falling flakes. There by the big red barn, in the middle of a snow bank was Grace. She was sprawled on her back, and by the looks of it, in the important business of making snow angels. He laughed, the deep sound sending an echo through the empty house. He grabbed his coat and gloves and headed down to the barn, ignoring the growing sense of dread in his stomach. He knew he had to tell her about the surgery, but he really did not want to.
"Is there room for one more?" he asked.
"What the hell?!, she shrieked, leaping up from her snow bank and putting a rubber boot right though the head of her snow angel, "Adam Copeland! What are you doing here? Why didn't you call? And why is that even though I could just kill you, I'm so happy to see you I could just cry?!" with that statement she leapt against him, her lips meeting his with their kiss drowning out the cry of pain he sequestered. Adam fell back and tripped over the hay bale Grace had pulled out of the barn, and fell onto the snow bank dragging Grace with him, and lay there enjoying the feel of his wife in his arms. God, he had missed her.
Grace pulled away from the kiss first, sitting up and straddling his middle. She looked at him and hit him in the chest, "Well? Aren't you going to answer me?"
Adam started to laugh, "Well I was going to, but you had such a warm welcome I didn't want to interrupt." Grace joined in the laughter and grabbed a handful of snow, and gave Adam a white washing he both needed, and deserved.
"Uncle! Mercy! I surrender! Have pity on a poor weary traveler!" he yelled through the handful of snow, "Would it make you feel better if you knew I had been surrounded by screaming babies, and the main entertainment on the flight was betting with Jay which one would puke first?"
"Only a little. Jay came home with you huh? So who won the bet?"
"Lets just say that Jay is laughing his way to the bank."
"Good Lord, how much did you bet?"
"ummm.A Dollar?"
Grace burst out laughing, "You are such a filthy liar, Mr. Copeland, but too bad for you, because I still love you." She paused and looked into his eyes, "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, because believe me I am and if I wasn't wearing thirty pounds of winter clothes I would show you,
Adam looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?"
"Yes put your dodging the question. What are you doing in a snow bank in our back yard in Toronto? Aren't you supposed to be slathering on sunscreen in Florida right now? Are you not telling me something?"
He cursed her perceptiveness silently. He should have known she would figure it wasn't a quick vacation out of the kindness of Vince's heart. He paused before answering, just looking at her. God she was beautiful, she wasn't like most women. She wasn't the trash talking, spandex wearing bimbo groupie type that followed the WWE around like a pack of wolves. She was real. And now he looked at her with her long, dark blond hair stinking out at weird angles from beneath her hat, and how the snowflakes were caught in her eyelashes framing her startling green eyes. She didn't wear makeup and wouldn't be caught trying to either. The only thing that could usually be found on her face was a smudge of clay and some paint. Right now, those two things were strangely missing from her cheeks and it made her seem almost fragile and surreal.
"What are you looking at?" she asked
"You. There are snowflakes on your eyelashes. I think you are even more beautiful then the day I met you."
She smiled that half smile she always did when she was embarrassed, but pleased at the compliment. She leaned over and kissed him again, and got up walking over to finish giving the horses their hay. Adam continued to lie in the snow bank and watched her do the rest of her barn chores. "How can it be that she can even make a pair of carhart bibs look sexy?" he wondered, and sat in the snow to admire the view.
Grace broke open the bale off hay and separated it into 3 leaves for each horse, "There you go guys," she said while scratching each horse behind the ear. "So what do you think he's not telling me?" Wise Tu Risk, her big gray Arab, looked up from his hay and nudged her with his nose and nickered. Grace laughed, "No I don't think that's it." King, the bay Thoroughbred she had rescued from the racetrack a couple of years ago, looked up shook his head and went back to his hay.
"Yeah I guess I'll just let him tell me when he is ready to" Grace looked over her shoulder at Adam and smiled and winked at him, "So I suppose your going to expect me to feed you now?"
"Well I was kind of hoping you would. Or at least point me in the generally direction of the kitchen and I can do it myself. I have no idea where anything is in that house anymore." Adam grumbled.
"I'll give you the grand tour later, where would you like to start?" she said laughing, "You'll love our bedroom, I made sure the contractor left the shag carpeting, I know how much you loved that stuff."
Adam groaned, "Oh don't make me think of that on an empty stomach." Adam looked at her and flashed his million-dollar smile "How bout if we leave the bedroom till the end." He said trailing off suggestively with a wink
Grace rolled her eyes and groaned, "Is that all you ever think off?"
"What?" he said innocently, "I'm just took hungry to start anywhere else then the kitchen. Why what did you think I meant?"
He got up from the snowdrift, brushed himself off and ran laughing to the house as Grace grabbed a handful of snow and lobbed it at him. She missed by a mile, but it still made her feel better. Grace picked up the rest of the hay, carried it into the barn and then turned off the lights and shut the door. The house was glowing as she walked through the snow "Does he really have to turn every light in the house on? Good grief", she thought laughing quietly to herself as she let herself into the basement door and kicked off her rubber boots
"Well I see you found the kitchen all right, "Grace said climbing up the stairs from the basement.
Adam looked up from the stove and grinned, "Yeah, I got the mad ski-zillz yo"
She groaned, "You are so painfully white it hurts. Have you been hanging around John "I wanna be Vanilla Ice" Cena again?"
Adam started to laugh, "He be mah boy, we be down in da ghetto, we pimp out an' go cruising for da bitches"
"Do you have idea what you just said?" Grace asked holding back her laughter.
"Word."
Grace doubled over from laughter, "Promise me you'll never say that again, I don't think I could take it."
Adam pouted and looked hurt, "What? You don't think I could have been from the mean streets of Toronto?"
Grace snorted and rolled her eyes and sat down at the counter, "Honey you thought a drive-by was another term for the drive up window at McDonald's"
Adam started to laugh, "Just for that I'm going to feed your omelet to the dog." Referring to the rather large black lab that laid sleeping on the rug oblivious to it all. Getting up from the counter, to get a glass of water Grace walked past him and tickled him in the ribs,
"AH!" He yelled, "OK OK you get the omelet and Porkchop gets his kibble. I still can't believe you named that dog Porkchop." She giggled and filled her glass.
Adam looked at her and started to laugh, "Since when have you been raiding my closet?"
Grace was wearing his jeans, and even though she was 5'10" they had to be rolled up to her knees and one of his flannel shirts with the shoulders drooping down her arms and the sleeves rolled up.
She looked at him sheepishly, "Umm... I haven't really done a lot of laundry lately, and this was clean? Is it really my fault you have long legs?" He laughed again, and hugged her, "They look better on you then they do me. C'mon lets eat."
After eating, Grace took Adam on a grand tour of their house, ending of course in the bedroom like he had wanted to. It was amazing how much work had been done, the house came originally with 5 bedrooms, but Gracie had cut the bedroom next to theirs in half making it into a large bathroom and two large walk-in closets.
"Come in here," she said taking his hand and dragging him into the bathroom, "OK now just stand there and I'll turn the light on, you need to get the full effect."
She turned the switch on, and Adam blinked his eyes not only because of the light, but also because of what he saw. The walls were painted gray with red rugs and towels. There was a large whirlpool tub in the corner with a huge window behind it, and a shower next to it. It was an amazing view.
Grace started to laugh, "If you could just see your eyes right now, its great. Go on go sit in the tub, I had it special ordered just for you."
Adam walked over an climbed in he was able to stretch all the way out, "And you know the best part?" Grace said walking over, "It's a two person tub," she said with a wink.
Adam was still speechless, "How did you know I wanted a tub like this?," he asked, "This is exactly what I had in mind. This is going to feel really good when I'm sore."
Grace smiled, "Jay and I had a conference a couple of months ago, and he told me that you kept talking about a tub like this, he said and I quote, 'Adam is freakin obsessed with this tub and if you buy it he will finally stop talking about it so I can get some peace and quiet' end quote."
Adam started to laugh, "Yeah, I admit I was umm... kind of obsessed. Wow, this is just the greatest thing ever, Thanks alot hon."
"Your welcome," Grace said as the phone rang, "Hang on I'll get that, Oh yeah, my business line isn't set up yet, so customers might be calling here, just so you know" she reached for thing cordless phone sitting on the counter, "Audacious Design, This is Grace."
"Hey Gracie, its Jay"
"Hey Jay whats up?"
"Eh not much, just wondering how things were going over there. Is Adam sitting in his tub yet?"
Grace looked over and laughed as Adam was still in the tub playing with the Rubber Ducky that had been sitting on the ledge. "Yeah I don't think I'll be able to get him to bed."
Jay laughed, "Just make sure he doesn't prune up. He gets cranky." Jay paused and the laughter left his voice, "But hey Grace, why I'm calling is that Adam needs to talk to you, and I know he can't."
Grace froze, "I knew that's why he was home, he hasn't said anything. Are you calling to tattle for him?"
"No not at all," Jay said quickly, "He told me on the plane that if he didn't call me by 7, that I needed to call to give him a pep talk. You know him, he can't stand to make you worried and he's chicken shit when it comes to telling you stuff."
"I understand," Grace said quietly, "I'm going to go to drag it out of him ok?"
"Be nice. Don't rough him up too bad."
"Yeah you know me," she said.
"That's what I'm talking about" he said as he hung up.
Grace put the phone back in the holder, and walked over to the tub. Adam was watching her, and didn't like the look on her face. "That was Jay?" he asked quietly
"Yeah it was," she said looking at him softly with a worried look in her eye, "He said there was something you needed to tell me?"
"Yes there is" Adam said as he got up slowly from the tub so he wouldn't further injure himself. He took her hand and led her in to the bedroom, "C'mon lets talk in here."