Happy Valentine's Day!
Next few days passed by in a flurry of activities.
Lillian started to receive phone calls from people she met at the Ball who wanted to meet up and talk about the ways they could help with the orphanage. There were even two calls about the adoptions!
She and Grace were so excited about new opportunities for the little ones in their care. They organized a few meetings and set up the dates for meeting the couples who were interested in adopting children.
It was always a bittersweet moment when they had to part from the kids to let them go and start a new life with their new families. They missed the little ones that went away, but always looked forward to receiving the letters from them or their adoptive families informing them about their lives.
One person in particular became a regular visitor to the New Hope orphanage - doctor Miriam Cooper, a child's counselor Lillian met at the Ball.
Miriam was a lady about 60 years old and had such an aura of warmth about her that Lillian, Grace and the children immediately loved her.
Her inputs were Heaven sent, especially when a new child would arrive in the orphanage. Her work with the kids on going through their traumas combined with her compassionate heart was a true gift for the little ones.
Grace loved to talk with Miriam, tried to learn from her how to understand kids better and how to help them. She always asked more and more questions and truly tried to put Miriam's words into action.
And if that resulted in children loving their Gracie even more than they did so far, then so be it.
With new donations from several influential people she met at the Ball Lillian was able to hire additional staff to help with the kids. Her favorite was Bertha, their new cook.
Bertha was a few years older than Miriam with a heart of gold and golden hands in the kitchen. Since Gustave had more obligations in the Governor's mansion Bertha overtook the command of the New Hope orphanage's kitchen. Gustave agreed to jump in for two days per week so Bertha could have some time off until they find a kitchen assistant.
The problem was that Bertha never stayed away from the kitchen once Gustave was there.
And to make things even more hilarious - it seemed like she was a long lost relative to Gustave seeing as she also threw a fit when somebody else invaded HER kitchen!
Grace was just up and about getting some tea for herself when the show in the kitchen started.
Gustave was chopping carrots, while zucchini, turnip and leek waited for their turn on the cutting board when Bertha entered the kitchen.
Seeing Gustave, the old cook huffed and walked toward him to see what on Earth was he doing with those poor carrots!
Gustave could feel beads of perspiration on his head as his culinary-nerves became agitated due to Bertha breathing down his neck.
"What on Earth are you doing?!", Bertha grumbled incredulously.
"Julienne de Légumes with grilled chicken", Gustave said through gritted teeth.
"Juliet the what…in MY kitchen?!", Bertha gasped.
Gustave sighed, eyes turning upwards toward the ceiling.
"Julienne de Légumes. And it is not YOUR kitchen for two days a week", he mumbled.
Bertha's eyes went wide open.
"What?! Oh, you petty man! I can kick your bottom out of MY kitchen right now if I want to…stop destroying those carrots!! What's got into you?!", shrieked Bertha.
Grace could feel laughter bubbling up in her. She prayed that the kettle start to whistle soon so her struggle with laughter wouldn't be noticed.
Gustave gasped in shock.
"Destroy?! Oh, mon dieu, this is the way it is served in the best restaurants in France!", he threw the carrots in a bowl and took zucchini.
"Well, I will launch you to France right now through the open window if you even think of touching that zucchini!!", yelled Bertha.
That was it for Grace - she completely lost it!
Hearing her bursting to laughter Gustave turned around and gasped.
"Oh, excuse moi for not bringing my cousin so you two could have a good laugh together! And what are you doing in MY kitchen?!", he exclaimed.
"Hey! Get out of MY kitchen!", snapped Bertha causing Gustave to turn around and the two of them fell into a yelling contest.
Giving Grace a perfect way out as she laughed her heart out!
Oh, if only Lucas was here!
The phone rang and she rushed to answer it, still giggling.
"Hello?", she said with a wide smile on her face.
"Now, that's the kind of voice I love to hear in the morning".
Lucas.
Grace smiled warmly.
"Lucas! Good morning!", she felt her cheeks warming up at the sound of his deep, velvety voice.
"Good morning, Grace", he warmly smiled at hearing her, then creased his eyebrows "Wait…what's that noise?"
Grace laughed harder, causing his face to brighten up with a wide smile.
"Oh, Lucas, I wish you were here! Bertha and Gustave are having a fit!", she giggled "I couldn't even get myself a cup of tea!"
Lucas gasped, a chuckle escaping him.
"What?! Tell me", he listened to her sweet voice and very soon he doubled over on his chair from laughter. Grace laughed even harder when she heard his beautiful laughter.
Gustave's eyes went impossibly wide as he suddenly heard Grace repeating everything he and Bertha said to someone on the other side of the phone.
Someone?
Gasping, Gustave rushed toward Grace who was in stitches of laughter, took a phone from her hand and yelled into it:
"Lucas! What is the meaning of this?! As mon frère you should support me and not having a comedy hour at my expense!", Gustave was waving a tablecloth through air, sending Grace into hysterics.
"Stop waving with MY tablecloth!", Bertha stormed in and she and Gustave fought over tablecloth like two angry puppies!
A phone fell on the settee as Gustave yelled and Bertha shrieked. Grace took it back only to hear Lucas laughing his heart out!
She joined in, doubling over from the laughter.
"Oh, my God!", Lucas said, wiping his tears "Grace, you got yourself a real theater over there!"
Grace crossed her legs as she leaned on the settee, giggling.
"And I got the best seats!", she said with a wide smile on her face.
"Well, I wanted to invite you to come for dinner with the couple I know. They are looking to adopt", Lucas started to talk, but wasn't able to finish as Grace gasped.
"Really? Oh, my God, Lucas, that's wonderful! Of course I will be there! Just tell me when", she smiled.
He smiled nervously.
"Well, I was thinking about dinner, but we can move it to be earlier. Seeing that you won't be able to get a breakfast anytime soon, how about you come here for tea and breakfast? I won't tell Gustave that we will invade his kitchen if you don't", Lucas chuckled.
Grace laughed.
"My lips are sealed!", smiling, she added "Well, if it's not a problem for your friends".
"It's not", Lucas quickly replied "Give me an hour, okay?"
Grace nodded.
"Okay", she said with a smile "I'll see you in one hour".
Lucas smile grew and he felt his heart accelerate.
"I can't wait", the words were out before he even realized it that he said them out loud "I'll see you soon, Grace."
"I'll see you, Lucas. Bye", she hung up with a smile on her face.
—--
Grace knocked at the doors of the mansion, looking around herself.
There was no car parked near by.
I guess they didn't arrive yet.
Looking back at the doors, she creased her eyebrows.
It wasn't like Simon, Lucas' butler, to take this long to open the doors.
Perhaps I knocked too quietly.
Grace knocked again, this time with a little more force.
Bingo!
The doors unlocked and pulled revealing Lucas himself.
Oh, dear God.
He was breathtaking.
Grace mentally kicked herself.
Get a grip, Grace!
She smiled, trying to focus.
"Hello again", she greeted him.
How could he look so good even this early?
Lucas' heart skipped a beat at the sight of her.
Her smile pulled on his composure and he took a deep breath in to hold himself back and not pull her in his arms like he wanted to.
"Hello", he smiled "Please, come in".
Grace nodded with a small smile and stepped inside.
The mansion was unusually quiet.
She looked at Lucas, confused.
"Is everybody else asleep?", she whispered as he took her coat "Thank you".
Lucas slightly creased his eyebrows.
"No. Why'd you think that?", he asked.
Grace shrugged.
"I don't know. You opening the doors, for starters. You never opened the doors for me before. If it's not Simon it's somebody else. And the mansion is unusually quiet", she said, following him down the hallway.
She noticed how he suddenly froze in his steps, like he was surprised.
He replied, his voice more different than before.
It seemed…Deeper? Hoarse? Lower?
"I gave them the day off. My parents went home yesterday so I thought they could all need a break", he said as he stopped in front of the doors she never saw before.
"Oh", Grace nodded "And Bill and Henry are not here either?", she asked.
Lucas shook his head.
"They went to take a walk through the town and afterwards play golf with Marcus", was his silent reply.
Grace looked around.
"I see that your friends didn't come either. Shall we make them a breakfast as well?", she smiled "Don't worry, I won't burn Gustave's kitchen and won't let you do it either", she chuckled, expecting to see him smile at the joke…
…but something was off.
When all she received was a small, barely visible smile, Grace looked carefully at him.
"Does your arm hurt? I can do breakfast by myself, don't worry…", but she barely finished the sentence when his velvety whisper stopped her.
"You don't have to. I've taken care of everything", and with those words he opened the doors.
And Grace felt like she was going to faint.
A breath escaped her as she slowly stepped inside the little room that had a fireplace going on, table with two chairs and a window seat…
And the lights of hundreds and hundreds of candles illuminating the room.
The shades were pulled on the windows, the only light coming from the soft glow of the candles.
The table was set up for breakfast with candles and a bouquet of red roses in the middle.
And petals of red roses were sprinkled across the table and on the floor.
All of a sudden she heard a soft sound of Strauss' "The Blue Danube Waltz" and she slowly turned around to see Lucas looking up at her from Victrola.
He slowly came toward her and whispered:
"We were abruptly interrupted a few nights ago. And I wanted to dance with you all night long".
He slowly took her hand and placed the other one on her waist, but didn't move. His eyes looked deeply at hers as he slowly started to dance with her.
Grace felt like she was floating. Her eyes never left his dark ones.
She felt his fingertips gently brushing up and down her spine. A huge tremor shook her body and she silently gasped.
"I'm dreaming, right? This feels too good to be real", she mumbled silently, causing him to stop.
He stopped their dance, but never pulled away from her. Instead, his hands slowly joined on her back and she let out a shaking breath as his palms brushed down her spine, gently pulling her closer to him.
He was so close. So close that she could feel his breath warming her lips. She got lost in the dark pupils of his eyes as she felt his palms slowly, gently cupping her cheeks.
And then she heard his voice.
"When you face death eye to eye, you realize how short and unpredictable life is. You realize that you want to live every second of it", his thumbs slowly brushed her cheeks as he leaned in and gently kissed both of her eyelids "And it gave me a courage to admit to myself and to you what I was so afraid of…", as few tears sprung from her eyes, Lucas gently kissed her wet eyelashes once again and gently whispered "You are my angel. You are my salvation. You are my new beginning. And I never wanna see those beautiful eyes cry again", he whispered and felt her shivering in his arms "All I want to do with the time I have left is to hold you in my arms and thank God every second for sending you in my life".
Those words broke something inside Grace and she smiled through her tears.
Lucas gently wiped her tears, his eyes darkening at the sparkles he saw coming alive in Grace's eyes at his words and touch.
That was all the sign and encouragement he needed.
He leaned down, his hot breath setting her senses on fire. She swayed slightly, gripping his upper arms to hold herself on her feet.
And then he kissed her.
Grace closed her eyes, feeling the world around her spin and falling apart.
Oh.
This was Heaven.
His lips tasted like Heaven. His embrace felt like Heaven.
He was holding back, she could feel it, not wanting to scare her.
But, Grace was not scared. And she decided to show him that he can let go.
Her hands moved, one sneaking up into his glorious, soft hair, and the other resting on his pulse point.
She tugged at his lower lip and hesitantly ran a tip of her tongue over it.
And the dam broke down.
She slightly whimpered as his kiss turned into a passionate, deep one, thrilled to feel him this way.
The man was a volcano.
Grace hugged him and pulled him as tightly as she could in her embrace, against her soft form. She felt every part of his hard body and her mind went blank as she jumped right in the ocean of his love, pulling him closer.
Lucas was in Heaven. Her hands were holding him so close to her that he didn't know where he started and she ended.
His tongue gently licked her upper lip and she let out the most wonderful sigh, letting him in. Without hesitation, he deepened the kiss, sipping on the honey nectar of her glorious lips, causing her to let out a silent moan.
The sound nearly knocked him off his feet and he held her tighter, closer.
The need for air eventually broke their lips apart, both of them breathing heavily. Grace's fingers sneaked down his neck, playing with the hair there as she closed her eyes, feeling Lucas leaning his forehead on her forehead.
"I love you, my angel", she heard his whisper.
Opening her eyes, she smiled warmly, fingers coming up into his hair, gently massaging his scalp, making him want to pur in her hands.
"I love you too, my Lucas", Grace whispered as their lips melted into each other again.
—--
What kind of spell is this
That you've cast on me with your kiss?
It's like I've lost all control of my senses.
This is not like me
To give in so easily
I'm dropping my guard and I'm leaving my heart defenseless.
Oh, but I'm feeling good
Here beneath the pines of the Georgia woods.
And what a surprise,
Here by my side
It's more than a full moon shining and it's driving me crazy
I waited so long
For something this strong
And now I gotta be falling cause I'm already calling you baby.
There's nobody here to see
The sparks 'tween you and me
We better be careful, my love or the woods will be burning.
Or maybe we just give in,
Throw caution to the wind
It's fate, either way, we ain't got any say in the matter.
And what a surprise,
Here by my side
It's more than a full moon shining and it's driving me crazy.
I waited so long
For something this strong
And now I gotta be falling cause I'm already calling you baby
(Keith Urban - "Georgia Woods")