“How’s Josh?”
Grady smiled. “Fine, and getting spoiled rotten by my mom and sister-in-law. They’ve pretty much claimed him as their own and won’t let anyone else have him.”
Sage nodded. “Would you mind watching him again while I go to the funeral home? I don’t want to take him there.”
“How about I have my mom and Katarina look after Josh and I go with you? You shouldn’t deal with that alone.”
“Hank’s parents will be there.”
“I know, but they have each other to lean on. I want you to feel you can do that with me.”
She finished with her hair and put the comb on the dresser before she turned to face Grady. “I’d like that. I’ve always been strong, but going through this shows I’m not all the time. I thought it was hard when my parents died. I was just a teenager then.”
“What happened to them?”
“My dad killed my mother, then killed himself. He was abusive and didn’t like the fact she’d left him.”
“That would have been rough.”
“It was, but it also made me want to be a cop so I could protect other women from suffering the same fate as my mother. I just wish I could have done that for Macy.”
Grady tugged Sage into his arms with the side of her face pressed against his chest. She reached up and held on to his cougar head pendant. Holding it made her feel more connected to him for some reason. A part of her wanted to take it from him and put it around her neck so she’d have something of his on her all the time. The old her before her sister’s death would have told her to smarten her ass up and not be so needy, but this new her didn’t care if it made her appear weak.
“How about you get dressed, then I’ll take you downstairs for something to eat. The last thing you ate was the pizza we had last night.”
Sage lifted her head and kissed Grady’s chin. “All right, though I’m not very hungry. I’ll force myself to eat. I can’t be passing out from lack of food. Not when I have Josh to think about.” She kissed him again when he angled his mouth in her direction.
“No, that wouldn’t be good.”
“Thanks for looking after us.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I can help.”
With her free hand, Sage reached up and traced Grady’s lips with her fingertip. “I probably shouldn’t be saying anything right now, but having lost Macy, I’ve come to realize how quickly I can lose someone. I don’t want it to happen before I get a chance to tell a person in my life how I really felt about them.” She paused for a few seconds. “Don’t take this the wrong way, thinking I’m usually this quick when it comes to relationships, because I’m not. Grady, I want you to be a part of my life. For the first time, I have strong feelings for a man.”
He cupped her face and smiled. “I feel the same way about you. When it’s right, it’s right.”
“Really? I didn’t think you would since I tried to get rid of you last night.”
Grady chuckled. “I didn’t let you, though. I think I started falling for you when you stopped me from getting my head bashed in and tried to take care of me.”
Sage let go of his pendant and with both hands angled Grady’s head down. She ran her fingers through his hair along the spot where he’d been hit. Much to her surprise, there was nothing there, not even a scabbed-over cut. It’d only been two days. There was no way it would have healed that quickly, even if it had been minor as he’d told her last night.
She pulled her hands away and met his gaze when he lifted his head. “There’s nothing there. I can’t feel where your wound was. That shouldn’t be possible.”
Grady ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek. “For me it is. It’s something we can talk about, but not right now. Let’s wait until after you’ve gone through what you have to do for your sister.”
“Tonight. We’ll talk about it tonight.”
“I don’t think you’ll be in the right frame of mind for it.”
“I’m going to be up front with you. I can’t stand being lied to or have people keep secrets from me when it’ll affect me. You do either of those things, we won’t work out, and I don’t want to regret accepting you into my life.”
“Then tonight we’ll talk. And if you don’t mind, I want my family there when we do.”
“Okay.”
“Now get dressed.” Grady stepped away. “I’ll wait for you in the hall because if I stay in here I can’t promise I won’t take you to bed again, and that wouldn’t be good.”
Sage smiled. “You’d make me late. I won’t be long.”
After Grady walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, Sage took off the towel she wore and dressed. She was now intrigued as to what he’d tell her if he wanted his family present when he did so. And she wasn’t sure what he’d say to explain why his head had healed quicker than should have been possible.
Once she was ready, Sage stepped out into the hall, where Grady waited for her. He took her hand in his as he guided her to the stairs. They walked down the curved stairway to the foyer, then into a large living room. His parents were there along with another couple Sage assumed were his brother Jase and his wife Katarina.
Grady’s mom held Josh. She stood when she saw them. “There’s Auntie Sage.” She passed the baby to Sage and asked, “Couldn’t sleep?”
She shook her head. “No. Thanks for helping to watch Josh.”
“It was no hardship. And I’ve already told Grady I’ll look after the baby when you two go to the funeral home. I also want you to invite Josh’s grandparents over here for dinner when you’re finished. They obviously haven’t seen him since they arrived.”
“Thanks. I’m sure they’d like that.”
“Good. And you and Josh are more than welcome to stay the night with Grady. You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. It’s not as if we don’t have the room.”
Sage couldn’t help noticing how young Grady’s mom looked. Olivia didn’t look old enough to have two adult children. If Sage had passed her on the street, she would have guessed her to be around thirty-five years old. Even his dad Charles looked the same age.
“I guess we can stay over,” Sage said. She actually didn’t like the idea of being alone. She’d have too much time on her hands and would think about Macy and how she was gone, which wouldn’t be good.
“Great. You must be hungry. I’ll have our chef whip you up something to eat.”
Olivia hurried out of the living room. Sage looked at Josh, who smiled. She still thought it was a blessing he had no idea what was going on. But she wouldn’t let him grow up not knowing about his parents. She would make sure he’d know them, and he wouldn’t be calling her “Mom” either. She’d only be Auntie Sage.
Chapter Six
Making the funeral arrangements for her sister was the toughest thing Sage had ever done. She was more than grateful Grady had decided to go with her. Him just being with her helped her get through some of the rougher moments.
Hank’s parents had accepted Olivia’s offer for dinner. Once they were done at the funeral home, they decided to return to the hotel before they went to Grady’s house since there were more than a few hours to kill in between. Sage had Grady drive to her place to pick up Josh’s playpen. On the way, she also had him stop at a store to buy Josh some new clothes since there was no way she was going to her sister’s house to get more.
At her place Sage led Grady upstairs to her bedroom. She packed a bag with a change of clothes before she set to work closing up the playpen to take with them. After she had it collapsed and bundled, ready to go, she sat on the bed beside him and folded the blankets. She set them aside, then turned to him.
“Will your mom mind if we take a little longer getting back to the house?” Sage asked.