I opened my eyes to the sounds of birds chirping. After Darin had come and he and Natasha had left, I had no other choice but to call it a night. After the various tests and scans that they put me through, it felt good to just lay down and go to sleep. The sound of the door opening caused me to look at my visitor, Charmaine, who stood with a smile on her face, as she made her way to the bedside, sitting down in the chair that Natasha had left the night earlier. I looked at her. "How is Grace?"
"She's sleeping, so I came and saw you instead. What's the verdict on your condition? Have they told you anything yet?"
"I don't know. I've not heard anything. Natasha seems to think that I have some broken bones, which I can agree with. My right leg is tender. My head is throbbing."
She looked at me. "Why did you want to meet Trent? Don't you think it was odd that he would have you meet him in that location where you and Grace almost didn't make it out of? Gracie and Nicolae seem to think that he led you there for the reasons for Jarrod to get revenge on you. Grace seems to think that Trent wanted her out of the pictures because of hard feelings for her taking his job four years ago.
What do you think of all this?"
"Trent, I never thought about it. But now that you bring it up, it doesn't seem like something impossible. But what did Grace suffer? Why is she here? What did Trent do to her?"
The young girl looked at me. "I'll let her tell you that. I don't want to upset you with the details. Neither of you needs the excitement right now. You both need some rest." She looked at the floor. "But why would you meet Trent in a town like that?"
"I wanted to plan a party for Graceona's birthday. Trent said he knew of a pleasant bar that we could rent for the occasion. He had asked me to meet him there so that we could discuss the events. Saying that he knew all the right people who would make the party great."
Charmaine looked at me. "The gesture was friendly, but couldn't you have asked Grace that? She seems like she's the one with the connections. You could have told her it was for Nicolae or something."
"You nor Nicolae drink, Charmaine. Grace would have seen through that in a heartbeat. Trust me, she wouldn't have fallen for that lie one minute before she was laughing me to shame, for the lousy lie that I tried to cook up to her."
"It's better for her to laugh at you for a horrible lie than to see the both of you in the shapes you are in, plus I don't think she would have laughed too much. How often have you known that woman to laugh? For a while there I thought if she smiled for too long her face would crack." The young woman smiled, holding in a giggle.
"Gee, Charmaine, thanks a lot. Glad to know that you think I have the personality of a dial tone, or a dead one, rather." The young girl jumped, looking to see a fully dressed Graceona standing by the door.
"But we love your dead dial tone ways, Gracie." Grace lifted a brow, a smile covering her lips. "What are you doing out of bed and fully dressed? Huh?"
Graceona held the release papers up, her smile never fading. "I'm free to leave." The blonde-haired woman walked into the room, looking at me. "So, Natasha saved your life? I'm intrigued to hear this one, and judging by the seriousness of your voice. You seemed legit. I want to hear your side of the story before I decide what to do about her."
I looked at her and explained the events. Graceona sighed. "Well, I can't kill her for helping you out. I'm in debt to her, sadly. However, Jarrod and Trent are two different stories. I've been busy whilst I've been cooped up in bed."
"Grace, you didn't rest. How could you be busy? I took your laptop when we signed you in here?" Charmaine interrupted.
"You may have taken my laptop. I appreciate your efforts. However, you let me have my phone."
Charmaine and I sighed. "You never rest, do you, dear?"
"I do, but when someone comes at my family to this extent. Then no, I don't rest. I recorded your testimony, so now, though you won't be able to appear in court, I have a witness. I wanted to clarify that you were being recorded."
I sighed. "It's fine, dear. Seeing that I'm not going anywhere for some time, that recording could probably help you more than I can at the moment."
She looked at me. "So, you wanted to plan a party for my birthday at a bar?" She laughed. "And you go to Trent, the man with the same level of dead dial tone personality, if not worse than myself. Now that's funny. Trent knows as much about bars as Charmaine does. Weeny Hut Junior is the only bar he has ever been to. The man doesn't know a cocktail from a shrimp tail. The effort is appreciated; however, I could have done without the entertainment of it all, and seeing that you are in worse shape than me. I think the thrill was a bit too much for you to handle as well."
I sighed. "Fine. Do you know of any good bars?"
"Leonard, don't you remember I stopped the bar going when we got married and I had children? Four years ago, I would have been thrilled, but thirty-three-year-old me, not so much. It doesn't look good for the job. If I show up to work under the influence, a laptop would have been a lot cheaper than renting outbuildings, and probably more useful."
I sighed. "All that for nothing, sad."
She looked at me. "Anyway, I need to stay here with you, Charmaine. You need to stay close to us. Jarrod landed in New York last night. He's possibly planning something and with Natasha's betrayal, he didn't seem to be the happiest camper in the world."
"What are we going to do, Gracie?" Charmaine asked as the two of us looked at Graceona.
"We're going to end this. I'm taking the law into my hands."
"Meaning?"
"I'm going to put him under the ground and strip Trent of his title. Things are going to get done this time around. I will not let this continue."
"Gracie, can't you just put him in prison? You can't just kill a man."
"Don't even go there, Charmaine. He's taken lives, it is fitting, one life for all the lives he has taken is hardly enough. You don't have to see it, but it's got to be done, and it is going to get done this time. No more beating around the bush with this. I'm through playing nice with this man, an eye for an eye."
Charmaine sighed, looking at me. "Grace, I hate the man and I agree with you. But Charmaine, you got to think of her. She's just looking out for you. Are you willing to throw that love away because of vengeance? Yes, we both know he deserves this. But we're not Christians. Shouldn't we respect the ones who are?"
Graceona sighed, looking at the two of us. "I'll think about it. I'm not going to make any promises."
Graceona sat down on the small leather couch next to the window with a sigh.