"Where do you want it?"

"Just drop it anywhere," Grace said, setting her laptop down on the desk. "I'll try one last time. Stay for a little while?"

"I can't," Carey said. "I have a meeting this afternoon."

"One more hug?"

"You are incorrigible," Carey said, stepping toward her. Grace snuggled against her chest and made that happy sound in her throat that Carey secretly loved. Unable to resist, she nuzzled the blonde hair. "I'll miss you," she said, holding Grace tight.

"Promise you'll come to graduation?"

"I promise."

"I love you."

Carey pressed her lips against Grace's head. "I'm sorry," she said, brushing the young woman's hair with her lips. "I care so much about you."

Grace hugged tighter. "Like a sister, I know."

Taking a deep breath, Carey smiled and shook her head. "Trust me when I tell you my thoughts of you have been far from sisterly," she said, kissing the blonde head again. "You've made sure of that."

Grace lifted her head. "Then why do you keep holding back?"

"You're still in school," Carey said. "I'm over an hour away. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."

"But it feels so right," Grace said, resting her head on Carey's chest again.

"If it's right now then it'll be right later," Carey said, rubbing Grace's back. She debated for only a second before cupping Grace's cheeks and tilting the young woman's face up. "I will miss you," she said, her lips moving closer to Grace's mouth. "You're not the only one who hates saying good-bye." Grace's whimper when their lips met was almost enough to break Carey's resolve, but with great effort she ended the kiss after a few seconds. "I'll see you at graduation and I'll call you Friday night."

It was easy for Carey to spot Richard Waters amongst the crowd, the lumberjack being larger than most of the men there. "Hello," she said when she reached him.

"Miss Carey, mighty nice to see you again," he said. "Grace said you were coming."

"Have you seen her yet?"

"This morning," he said. "I think she was more worried about you getting here in time to see her walk across the stage than on actually graduating."

"It took some serious maneuvering to get a Saturday off but I did promise her I'd get here," she said. "I had to work until noon and then push the speed limits to get here."

"I'm glad you did," he said, slapping her on the back. "I wouldn't want to face my daughter if you hadn't shown up."

Carey gave a sociable laugh, wondering what exactly Grace had told her father about the two of them. Her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted another familiar face, or rather, a pair of faces. "Why don't we go find a seat?" she suggested as the couple unknowingly came closer to them.

He patted his camcorder. "I want to make sure I get a good view of her," he said. "I got a zoom lens last week just to be—“

"I think it's quicker this way," she said, knowing exactly who Richard had seen.

"I doubt Grace knew she was coming," he said.

"She didn't say anything to me about it," Carey said, her eyes narrowing as she got a clear view of Bob Garvey.

"Answer me a question, Miss Carey."

"If I can."

He turned to her and looked at her in all seriousness. "Is that the man that hurt my little girl?"

Carey met his gaze, blue eyes so much like Grace's, begging her to answer. "Yes," she said.

"Would you excuse me for a minute?" he said.

"Of course," Carey said, clapping with everyone else as the dean approached the podium. He bored her quickly, droning on about futures and endless rainbows of opportunity. Looking around, she spotted Grace's mother sitting on the opposite side of the arena, the seat next to her empty. He wouldn't. Dropping the program on her seat, Carey went off in search of Richard.

When she found him, it was too late. Richard's meaty fist had connected solidly with Bob Garvey's face, sending the smaller man to the ground with blood spurting from his nose. The angry father went to swing again but Carey stepped in front of him. "Mr. Waters, don't." She looked quickly to see Garvey's look of surprise at her identification of the man who had slugged him. "He's not worth it." As tall and strong as she was, Carey knew she would be no match for Richard if he chose to go after the man who had raped his daughter. "Don't ruin Grace's day."

"You son of a bitch," he snarled, scaring the smaller man into staying right where he was on the ground. "You go near my daughter and I'll kill you."

"I didn't do anything," the bleeding man said. "She's lying."

"Shut up," Carey said. "Or I won't stop him." She knelt down, letting every bit of her outrage and anger show on her face. "Your lying bullshit won't work on us, so don't bother trying. You're a pathetic excuse for a man. Why Grace's mother can't see it is beyond me." She stood up and took Richard's hand. "Let's get back. We want to be there when Grace receives her diploma."

It was so hard for Richard to turn and walk away, but he did. Carey was right. That bastard had hurt Grace enough. He couldn't let this escalate into something that would spoil graduation for her, too. She had worked too damn hard for it.

Carey knew there was no way to refuse when Grace ran at her with open arms. "Congratulations," she said when the younger woman embraced her. "I'm so proud of you."

"God it's good to see you," Grace said, her voice muffled against Carey's shoulder. "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Carey said, her nose brushing Grace's short blonde hair. "Look at you. All grown up." Her breath caught in her throat when she felt a soft kiss on her neck. "Grace…”

"It's about time you noticed," Grace said, stepping back and taking Carey's hands in her own. "Dad wants to take me to dinner. Come with us.”

"Oh, no, you go have dinner with your father," Carey said, her skin alive where soft lips had kissed it. "I should head back anyway."

"No!" Grace gripped the older woman's hands. "You can't leave yet. Please." She moved closer, her black robe brushing against Carey. "I really want to spend some time with you," she said. "If it's a choice between you or Daddy, I'm going to spend all summer with him. I only have today with you."

"But it's your graduation day," Carey said. "Your father paid good money to get you to this point. He deserves to spend it with you." Pleading blue eyes did her in. "If your father doesn't mind."

"He won't mind," Grace said, squeezing Carey's hand.

"I get the feeling he won't have a choice," Carey said.

"He won't," Grace said, stealing a quick kiss before going off in search of her father.

You're getting too bold, Carey thought to herself.

"I'll be right back," Grace said, setting her napkin on the table and standing up. She left in the direction of the ladies room, leaving her father alone with Carey.

"You must be very proud of her," Carey said, reaching for her water glass.

"I am," he said. "3.6 average. And what about you, Miss Carey?" His eyes, so much like Grace's, pinned her. "Are you proud of her?"

"Of course," she said. "I told her so."

He smiled, his lips disappearing under his full beard. "I'm glad to hear it. A kind word from you lights up her day."

Carey looked down at her plate. "I don't know about that, Mr. Waters."

"Yes you do," he said. "You've had my daughter's heart for over two years now."

Carey rubbed her finger along the stem of the water glass. "Did she tell you that?"

"Graceful speaks about two things when she calls me. You and school, and guess which one comes first?" He rubbed his blond beard. "I've heard about every present you've given her and I see them all each time I visit. That young lady is ass over teakettle for you."

“I know," Carey said, daring to look at him. "I want you to know I've never—“

He raised his hand. "I know," he said. "Trust me, I know." His smile grew wider. “I believe you were the reason she gave for a thirty-five dollar purchase on her debit card from Happy Adult Products." He patted her hand. "Or the lack of you, as the case may be."

Carey blushed and picked up her water glass again. "Please don't tell me that's why she wanted rechargeable batteries and a charger for her birthday last year."

"Okay, I won't," he said, smiling broadly. "Grace is very open with me."

"Apparently," Carey said, draining her glass and wishing Grace would hurry back.

"I also know that you could easily break my little girl's heart," he said. "She worships the ground you walk on."

"I'm not trying to hurt her," Carey said. "Mr. Waters, don't you think thirty-one is a little old for her?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not for me to say. it's up to Graceful who she loves, and she's chosen you. And after two years I think it's time you started calling me Richard." He looked up. "Ah, here she is."

"I hope you were talking nice about me," Grace said, waving her father down when he started to stand. Her soft blue eyes locked on Carey. "Were you?"

You don’t want to know, Carey thought, nodding dumbly.

"Good," Grace said, scooting her chair closer as she sat down. "So what were you saying?"

"I um..." Carey looked to Richard for help.

"We were just talking about your presents," he said, winking at the dark-haired woman. "I hope that's the right kind of computer."

"It's perfect," Grace said, casually shifting in her seat. "Tom's got a program I can use to upload all my programs and data from the laptop into it and there's at least ten programs my friends can give me that I can't use on the old one."