Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 29
© Denise Bossarte
Grace sat by Billy’s bedside clasping his right hand in both of hers, weariness
settling over her mind and body as inescapable as the tide rolling onto the
beach. It had been a long, stressful, and uncertain evening. She and Anthony
had waited for Billy to go through surgery to remove a blood clot from his
brain and repair his skull from where the Glamour’s attack had broken it.
Anthony’s phone call to Eli brought help right away. They took
over dealing with Billy and Celeste’s injuries and got them to the hospital and
Billy into surgery with remarkable efficiency. Grace insisted nothing in the
warehouse be moved or altered until she got a chance to return. Anthony could
tell she was not in the mood to be argued with and passed the order along to
the others.
Grace brought DL up to speed on the way to the hospital. Neither
had much to say beyond that during the rest of the ride, each preoccupied with
their own thoughts. Even Danny was quiet. He was worried about Billy, and
whether the man whom he considered an older brother would be ok.
Grace’s thoughts went around in a tight circle. Moving from
distress over Billy to guilt for having gotten him into the situation in the
first place. Moving to anger over the Glamour eluding them a second time. And
then to despair she would ever be able to help protect DL’s girls from their
predator. Round and round again. Over and over she replayed the events of the
night, second guessing herself for each decision, wondering if changing
anything would have prevented Billy from getting hurt.
Grace convinced DL he didn’t need to stay with them. It was
better for him to spend time with Beth rather than sitting and waiting on news
of Billy. With reluctance, he left them in the ER and went up to Beth’s room.
She had Danny working to keep an eye on DL and Beth. He engaged
with the resident ghosts to give Grace some space and to look out for the
Glamour, in case he retaliated against them. She wasn’t sure if or how he might
be able to track them, but she wanted no surprises while they were at their
most vulnerable.
Grace called Billy’s family as soon as she got to the hospital
and found out Billy was already in surgery. She needed the drive time to
prepare herself for the conversation. She wanted to check Billy’s current
status before making the call. It didn’t take long for the whole family of
Winiarksi’s who weren’t on duty to show up at the hospital.
Grace was not happy to explain Billy got hurt off duty helping
her on a private investigation. But the family was too concerned over Billy to
blame her for his situation. The family had left a few minutes ago, en masse,
to go to the hospital church to pray. Grace filled in his mother’s place by his
side.
A nurse came in to check on Billy’s vitals, and Grace got out of
the way to let her do her job. The doctors had put Billy into an induced coma.
They explained it as a way of shutting down the energy needs of his brain to
give it time to heal. Heal without the body performing radical triage by
shutting off blood flow to the damaged sections. In theory, this would protect
the damaged areas as the brain healed and the swelling went down to a safe
level.
Grace made a quick trip to the restroom and stopped by the
vending machine to grab two candy bars for herself and Anthony. As she entered
the room, she saw Anthony releasing Billy’s hand and taking a step further down
the bed toward Billy’s feet. Guilt passed over his face before it returned to
the stoic visage he had maintained all night. Grace handed Anthony one of the
candy bars and made no comment on what she saw.
“His family should be back soon. They’ll want space in the room
to be with Billy. But once they return, can you stay outside the door to make
sure he stays safe?”
Anthony appeared confused for a second and then realization
dawned.
“You want me here in case the Glamour tries to come back and
finish the job.”
“Yes,” Grace affirmed. “I need to get back to the warehouse to
see what else I can find out. I’ll introduce you to Billy’s family as a friend
of ours and tell them you’ll be staying here while I go work on the case.”
“You think the Glamour would be able to find Billy? Would come
here after what happened tonight?”
“I don’t know, Anthony,” she replied in frustration. The
exhaustion and worry making her tone terser than she intended. “I’m afraid we
pissed the Glamour off tonight, pushed him over some type of edge. I’m not
going to take more chances of Billy getting hurt worse.”
As she finished, she reached out instinctively to hold Billy’s
hand again. Realizing he wouldn’t feel her touch but being reassured at the
warmth of his hand in hers.
“You two are much more than friends,” Anthony stated.
The catch in his voice drew Grace’s attention away from Billy’s
hand to see the dejection on Anthony’s face. All at once, it clicked for her.
The guilt she saw when she caught Anthony holding Billy’s hand earlier. Anthony
liked Billy; appeared to even more than liked him.
Grace found it hard to believe the Anthony she met at the
theater, who came from a world where Norms were poorly regarded, would be
standing here having fallen for her Billy. It must have happened during the
week of nights he and Billy spent together while on the sting for the Glamour.
The events of the last few days culminating with Billy’s potentially fatal
injury made it all the more real and poignant for Anthony.
Grace experienced a spike of jealousy and fear in response to
Anthony’s statement. The jealousy she squelched as pure silliness, but the fear
was something too legitimate to ignore. What had she done getting Billy
involved with these people? Even though they were now HER people, what would
bringing Billy into their world do to him?
She did not see a way to keep Billy out of this mess with as
much as he knew about her and Danny and her abilities. It was inevitable he
should be drawn in with her as she was pulled into this new world. Given how
close they were and how he was the only family she had left. Ironic her new
family was turning out to pose this much danger to her current one.
Grace paused for a moment, weighing her decision before she
spoke. If Billy was pulled into this world with her, wouldn’t it be better for
him to have an ally in the world beyond herself? Wouldn’t he be safer connected
with someone as important as Anthony who was a close associate of Eli? She
couldn’t guarantee his safety by herself, but Anthony could help.
Anthony had changed since their first meeting and she believed
the change was permanent; hoped the change was permanent. Maybe it would be if
Billy was part of the reason for the change. Telling Anthony Billy’s secret
might be the best way to protect him.
“Anthony,” she began, getting him to raise his head and look at
her. “Billy and I’ve known each other for over 20 years; since we were kids. We
grew up together and he is my family. Like an older brother and a best friend
rolled into one. He is not, and never will be, anything more to me.”
Anthony’s eyes searched her face, trying to detect the presence
of deceit in her demeanor, his face naked in its hope she was speaking the
truth.
“You are telling me you and Billy are not together, not dating?”
he asked.
“No, we’re not! Besides, I am not Billy’s type,” she continued
with some humor.
“His ‘type?’”
Grace stopped being coquettish and spelled it out for him.
“Billy isn’t interested in women, Anthony; he likes men.”
Anthony’s response was
anything but pleased.
“I do not appreciate you playing with me after all we have been
through, Grace,” his face flushed an angry red as he accused her.
“Whoa, whoa, there!” Grace responded letting go of Billy’s hand
and holding up both of hers to slow Anthony’s tirade. “Anthony, on my honor and
my hope of surviving this crazy Paranorm world of yours, I promise you what
I’ve said is true. Billy is gay and there might be a chance he’s interested in
you.
I wasn’t paying attention before now. But when I look back on
how he’s acted and what he’s said about you these past few days, it’s possible.
If he’s interested, I’d be the next happiest person, after him, for it to
happen.”
Anthony shifted from angry to skeptical.
“How are you sure he is gay? I always can sense right away if
someone is gay and I have seen nothing telling.”
“Like I said. I’ve known Billy for over 20 years. I figured it
out as a kid and never shared his secret with anyone before now. You need to
understand Billy’s family does NOT know. Mr. All American athlete here never
came out to his family or friends.
He keeps a tight control on his emotions in that respect, which
is why you didn’t pick up on anything. Even if he has an interest in you, I’m
not sure whether he’ll act on it or not; there’s a ton at stake for him if he
did.”
Anthony gazed down at Billy as he considered Grace’s disclosure.
He spoke in such a quiet voice it was a strain for Grace to hear his words.
“Well, my family is aware I am gay. That at least is not a
problem.”
He peered up at her with a self-deprecating smile. “However,
they do not think well of having a relationship with Norms. It is forbidden to
do, even if you fall in love with one.”
Grace felt her heart go out to Anthony and Billy as Anthony
wiped away the tears that formed in his eyes during his admission. What a mess
this was going to be! Two men who cared for it each other, and their families
would not be supportive of them. Even the knowledge of their feelings for each
other might be havoc for everyone.
“Ok,” Grace said, trying to move things in a more positive
direction. “There will be issues if you both want to act on your feelings. But
right now we need to focus on Billy surviving his injuries and making a full
recovery. Channel all those feelings into thoughts of Billy getting better, and
we’ll see where this takes you guys. Regardless of what happens, you both have
my blessings and my full support.”
“Thank you, Grace,” Anthony said with deep sincerity. “It means
a great deal to me you are on our side. Now it is best if I take up my
‘station’ outside for guard duty before Billy’s family gets back.”
As Anthony moved to leave the room, Grace put her hand on his
arm to stop him.
“There’s one thing that’s been bothering me since we got to the
warehouse and discovered what the Glamour was doing. Sabra said the Glamour was
taking pieces of each of the girls to create the woman-thing we burned.
How is that possible? If Paranorms have only one power, how was
the Glamour creating such a thing? He has mind control abilities, but this is
something way beyond that, right?”
Anthony delayed answering
her, considering what she asked. He looked uncomfortable when he replied.
“To be honest, Grace, I do not know. I agree the Glamour should
not be capable of doing what he did with the creature. The question is whether
he is special, like you, in having multiple abilities. Or whether there is
another person we have not suspected up until now who is helping him do this to
the girls.”
Grace was glad Anthony did
not try to deflect her questions right away and decided to be honest with her.
It appeared their relationship was on more equal footing and he was willing to
share with her.
“We aren’t hunting one person? There’s someone else involved in
this mess?”
The sense of dread lurking in the back of her mind rushed
forward when she said what she feared out loud.
“Yes, that is a real possibility.”
“Then is there anything else you can tell me that can help at
this point?”
“At this point, I would say you need to go back and speak with
Eli about what we found. I have given him a rough sketch of what happened, and
can update him now on the details. But your best chance for figuring out what
is going on is to talk to him.”
“That’s what I was afraid you’d say,” she muttered to herself as
she released Anthony’s arm.
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