Devlin's Grace by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy Page A

who walked or took the bus, she
couldn’t stop the smile bursting across her mouth.
     
    * *
* *
     
    Despite her fears, the exam went
well and she thought she might have aced it.   Gracie didn’t doubt she’d passed it.   After her classes, she stopped by the library and caught Lauren on
break.   The two women chatted about
Devlin and parted with reluctance.   Although he’d said she could drive to work, Gracie didn’t.   She realized if she did, she might not see
him tonight and Gracie didn’t want to give up any time with Devlin.   
    She delivered the car back and
used the key on the ring to let herself into his place.   Being alone there without Devlin seemed
almost an intrusion, but Gracie enjoyed it.   She could be at home here, she decided, and maybe she would move in
soon.   For now, she wrote Devlin a note
of thanks.
    Devlin,
    Thanks
for letting me take the car.   I brought
it back in case you needed it.   If you
want, come by and see by at work.   Maybe
you can give me a ride home, too.
    Thanks
for yesterday and last night.   
    I
love you, Gracie
    On impulse she folded it over and
after she touched up her lipstick, Gracie made an imprint of her lips on the
paper.   Maybe Devlin would get a kick out
of it, and she figured he’d understand the message of love, a virtual kiss.
    Although she wanted to keep the
key to his apartment, she left it, key ring and all.   If Devlin wanted her to have one, he’d give
it and until then she wouldn’t take what wasn’t offered.
    Thirty minutes before the
bookstore closed, Gracie glanced up to see Devlin ride up.   By the time he entered the store, his
appearance wicked and dangerous, she managed to move near the front.   He came to the aisle where she zoned and
straightened books.    Gracie moved to him
and he opened his arms.   Without a care
for the security cameras or the chance co-workers, supervisor, or customers
might see, she folded herself into his embrace, where she belonged.
    Until now he’d never come into
the store, just waited outside, but she liked his presence very much.   And what it meant even more.
     

 
    Chapter
Eight
     
    Rain battered the autumn leaves
and knocked most down onto the pavement or yards.   Halloween dawned gray and somber, the ideal
setting for a celebration of something spooky, but Gracie’d hoped for a
beautiful day to celebrate Devlin’s birthday.   Despite his protests and insistence he didn’t
mark the occasion, she planned to make it special.   Accomplishing it wouldn’t be easy,
though.    Each time she mentioned it,
he’d diffused any ideas, so Gracie was on her own with creating a
celebration.   The week before his
birthday, she even asked his cousin, Lauren, who shook her head.
    “I don’t have a clue,” Lauren
said.   “Dev hasn’t let anyone do anything
for his birthday for years, not since he was about fifteen, I think.”
    Gracie, who treasured memories of
past birthdays, had to ask. “Why?”
    “I hate to say it, but it’s the
truth,” Lauren said.   “His mom forgot his
birthday all together.   Back then, we
were close, Robert and me.   When she
didn’t wish him a happy birthday, he figured she might be planning a surprise,
but nothing happened.   After she went to
bed, he knocked on her bedroom door and told her it was his birthday.   The way he told it, Aunt Michelle stared at
him, turned around and took a twenty from her purse, handed it to him, and
said, ‘okay, happy birthday’.”
    Outraged, Gracie said, “How could
a mother forget her son’s birthday?”
    Lauren’s expression shifted.
“He’ll want to shoot me if he finds out I told you, but Aunt Michelle drank a
lot back then.   Well, she always drank a
lot until she got really sick.   I guess
she just didn’t remember, but it hurt Robert a lot.”
    “I’m sure it did.   I mean Halloween would be hard to forget as
your only child’s birthday, wouldn’t it?”
    “Well, yeah.” The way