Give Me Grace(172)

“No, I don’t,” Casey answered honestly and I squeezed his hand in return because the thought made me ache unbearably. I didn’t want Casey to know. I didn’t want this for him. “But what I was trying to say was that I would move to Melbourne in a heartbeat for Grace if that was what she wanted.”

I jolted with surprise, looking at him. All that talk about his brother and him reuniting and the Valentines being his family, and he’d never said a word. He’d walk away from all of that for me? My heart expanded until I thought it would burst right out of my chest.

“You would do that for me?”

He returned my look of surprise with one of his own, as though I should’ve automatically known of his plans to move mountains for me. “Of course. It’s up to you, Grace. Where do you want to be?”

“She wants to be home. In Melbourne,” Nate clarified, answering for me.

Henry shook his head, brows drawn. “No, Dad. She wants to be here where I can take care of her.”

Dad folded his arms, gearing up for an argument. “You work shit hours, son. How on God’s earth do you think you can be there all the time to take care of her?”

I leaned closer to Casey. He let go of our threaded hands and put his arm around me instead, tucking me into his side. Coby returned at that opportune moment with my drink and I accepted it gratefully. Then he went to leave, giving my family privacy, and I grabbed him, making him sit on the other side of me. He sat, tense and a little awkward at being thrust into my family drama, but my hope was that his presence might make them behave.

“I’ll figure it out,” Henry told him, his voice beginning to rise as he leaned forward in his seat. I knew then that I was wrong. My father and brother were quite willing to embarrass themselves in front of the entire world, or at the least, Coby. “I’ll quit the band.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” I declared, leaping feet first into the argument with rising anger. Dad and Henry paused to glare at me. I glared back. “You’re living the dream, Henry. Not many people get a chance to do that. I’m not letting you quit!” I told him, finishing with a shout.

“So what, it’s okay for Casey to just up and move to Melbourne for you, but when I want to make the grand gesture, you tell me I can’t?”

Dad stood up, towering over Henry with the kind of scary intimidation that only a father could produce. “Son, don’t talk to your sister in that growly fashion,” he growled. “She’s fragile right now and—”

“Fragile?” I shrieked, the pitch of my voice high from disbelief and anger as I stood to avoid the intimidation tactic of my dad looming over me. “How dare you assume I’m not strong enough to handle what’s coming. You—”

“I don’t believe this!” Henry yelled at Dad, cutting me off. He stood up too, thus forming a huddle of three very angry Patersons. “Why is it okay for everyone else to do something and I’m told to just sit back and play my guitar like a good boy?”

The three of us began to argue in earnest when Casey’s bellow cut through the angry words. “Enough!”

Casey reached for the drink that was still in my hand. He tossed it down his throat, shook his head once, and dumped the glass on the coffee table.

We all shut up.

“Sit down,” he bit out, his voice a smidge calmer now that he had our attention.

We all sat down.

Coby shifted awkwardly beside me. I patted him reassuringly on the knee, a silent thank you for sticking out the drama. Coby grinned at me and I startled, realising how close his face was to mine. I wondered for a brief moment if I should be embarrassed about my earlier noise in the bedroom. I decided to just let it go and hope he didn’t mention it.

Casey snatched my hand from Coby’s knee and tucked it in his. Then he looked at both Henry and my dad, his expression steely. “Stop making this about you and what you both want. Nate.” Dad raised his brows at Casey but held his tongue. Wisely, I thought, because I had come to learn that particular expression on Casey’s face. I thought of it as his don’t poke the sleeping dragon face. “I can appreciate you wanting Grace home because a father should be there for his little girl.” Dad nodded his agreement and then paused because it seemed Casey wasn’t finished. “But Grace is going to heal best being where she wants to be, not where you want her to be. And, Henry …” My brother glanced up from staring at the floor as Casey’s voice took on a note of warning. “Have you forgotten everything I said to you at the hospital? Don’t make everything Grace did mean nothing.”