DRAGONJULS Storybook
Disclaimer and Acknowledgements:See Part One
Part 4
Chapter Eleven:
Colin Montgomery was leaning against the railings of the paddock looking around the area with disinterest. His mind preoccupied with the events of tomorrow when he would be marrying Grace. God how he longed for the formalities to be over and he could just walk away with Grace to their honeymoon destination. Catherine had offered him one of her numerous properties all over the world, some of which were eminently suitable for a honeymoon, although she had taken one option out and when he'd asked her about that she'd been rather embarrassed but refused to disclose the reason. He had a good idea anyway; Jace had often talked about white sands and a certain tall raven-haired woman at her side.
"I see you couldn't sleep either Colin?" Catherine had approached the man silently and considered going to saddle up Tralargon and leaving him to his thoughts but.......
Colin turned at his boss's voice and gave her a shrug and a brief smile. "Guess not, too many things on my mind."
"Yes, I think you do have, it can't be easy thinking that from tomorrow you have our dear Grace by your side for the rest of your life." Catherine said quietly, her tone sounding serious, but her eyes teasing him.
He looked at her aghast at the remark, 'Grace would be devastated that Catherine thought like that.' "I'm sorry I don't understand what your implying Catherine?"
Catherine slapped him on the shoulder and laughed at his affronted expression. "Hey, I was joking Colin. Grace is wonderful we both know that; she's going to be good for you as you are going to be for her. I always thought you and she would make a really happy couple, sure glad the good doctor got his marching order." Catherine grinned at him.
"Well, I'm sure glad one of us thought that way, because I was definitely worried about the doctor." Colin replied, his eyes travelling over to the ranch house.
"Things happen for a reason Colin, and the good doctor was, perhaps a catalyst to Grace even considering marriage as part of her lot in life. I had the distinct impression that she was pretty set in her routine, well, some of the routine anyway." Catherine considered her own comment.
Colin gave her a brighter smile. "Yeah, you could be right." He then looked at her quizzically. "Would you like me to come with you to the airport this afternoon?"
Catherine gave him a brief smile. "No, you will be far too busy and didn't you pick up Alison early this morning too?"
"Yeah, she's not like Grace. Maybe some facial features but personality wise they are certainly different. Alison is, how do you put it, worldly wise and harder also, I suspect. She is nice enough, she obviously loves Grace and wants her to be happy." Colin said in a remote tone.
"Wouldn't be good to have them the same. Hell you might have had difficulty knowing who to marry." Catherine quipped at his remark. Grace had given her a brief description of her sister and her personality. No, they were different, but Alison had a profession that entailed she look out for herself. Only by growing a hard skin could she succeed at that.
Colin laughed at the reply and turned to face her again, he noticed that she was dressed in casual jeans a royal blue polo shirt, boots that looked like they could do with retiring, but obviously held a comfort that made that decision difficult. Her black leather gloves held in one hand as she too, leaned on the railing of the paddock fence. "What about you, are you going to give up your single status?"
Catherine was taken aback by the unexpected comment and a slow smile lit her expressionless features. "Well, would you believe, I have been asked that very question recently?"
Colin smiled at her and waited for her to finish, when she didn't he continued. "You answered that question surely?"
"Answered it Colin! I nearly snapped her hand off, no way, is Jace going anywhere without me and I want everyone to know how I feel about her." Catherine replied her voice resolute.
"Good to hear that, when?" Colin saw the happiness reflected in her eyes, or at least, the one that could see.
"We kind of thought, that when you and Grace came back, we would have a small commitment ceremony with our family and friends and then go away for a few weeks. Obviously, I need to discuss that with you both and the rest of the household, but we thought when you came back would be fine, there's enough going on here at the moment." Catherine said quietly, they hadn't wanted anything to detract from Colin and Grace's wedding, it was their day and that's how it should be.
Colin looked at her bent head and smiled, he knew why she hadn't said anything before. "Thank you."
Catherine gave him a wry smile and nodded her head in understanding.
"Time to go for that ride before Jace surfaces and requests the pleasure of my company for breakfast. You coming over later to join us?"
"Sure, wouldn't miss it and anyway Faith has banned me from seeing Grace the rest of the day. Something about it being unlucky, can't figure that woman sometimes." Colin said indulgently, thinking of his future mother in law.
"Tradition Colin, see you later." Catherine moved swiftly away from the railing and went towards the stable and her mare.
"Yeah, see you later Catherine." He then continued his absent contemplation over the empty paddock.
**********
Jace woke up to find herself alone in the bed and she smiled. 'You went for a ride. How predictable Catherine.' Jace stretched her arms over her head and realised she was a little stiff. Well, they had kind of exercised late into the night or was it early morning. More than likely, as they had heard the vehicle arrive with Grace's sister before they finally gave into a sated sleep. Catherine had certainly exercised her imagination in the creation of new theories, and how!
Looking over to the crib that held her daughter, she noticed that the baby was happily playing with the mobile attached to her crib and Catherine had been true to her early pledge, she'd obviously changed the child too. "Got to love you for that Catherine; makes getting up that much more pleasurable." Jace said quietly to the otherwise empty room.
Elena on hearing her mother's voice gave a short wail to indicate her wakefulness. "Okay darling I'm getting up. Guess its time for you to eat huh?" her smile crinkling the corners of her eyes.
Slowly she persuaded her body to relinquish the bedclothes and moved out of the bed and went towards the bathroom, her natural body functions requesting relief. Snatching up a robe to cover her nakedness, should any of the other children decide to descend on her, which often was frequently quite possible?
Strolling over to her daughter, who was now whining through lack of attention. Jace looked down at the baby and gave her a smile. "Hey, beautiful, good morning."
Elena gave her mother a gurgle of pleasure and held her arms up to be picked out of the crib. Jace duly obliged and was hugged in a tight embrace by the surprising strong child. She really must ask her parents if these traits in her child had ever been evident when she and Lucy were growing up. Tonight, Catherine promised, Hades no! Catherine had guaranteed. That was something unusual, not that Catherine had not done something she'd agreed to do, but a guarantee wasn't a comment that Catherine was known to use. She was far too confident in most things to ever warrant using the expression. At the back of her mind Jace was fairly sure Catherine was up to something but she had said she wasn't and when had Catherine ever lied to her? Never!
There was a rap on the door and as Jace called for the party to enter, and then the door exploded open and in rushed Lisa. "Jace you're up?"
Jace laughed at the surprised expression from the child. "Sure hope so, or you're talking to me in my sleep."
Lisa ran over and jumped on the rumbled bed and giggled at the remark. "Where's Catherine?" Lisa asked her eyes roaming round the room looking for the tall woman.
"Not sure, but I suspect she's gone riding with Tralargon, any opportunity, that's Catherine." Jace shrugged her shoulders and gave the child a wry grin.
"Does she love the horse more than she loves us Jace?" Lisa looked at her with speculation in her childish eyes.
"Well, I certainly hope not but she does love that horse too, that much is supremely evident." Jace replied, her mind pondering that very question. It made her smile to think of the reaction that would cause if that particular question were raised over breakfast.
"Jake is up too, he's gone over to see Colin." Lisa said informatively.
Jace considered that the boy would miss Colin when he went away for the honeymoon; Colin was after all a surrogate father figure for the boy. Catherine actively encouraged the association; living in a household full of women could be hard on the boy, especially as he matured. Catherine wanted the boy to have the influence of a male role model, who better, than Colin in her eyes; to her it rounded out not only Jake, but Lisa and Elena as well. As it turned out, Colin had taken on the role from the early days, actually it was second nature to him and even when his own children came into the world, Catherine was sure the man would still be there in whatever capacity the children required. "Jake will miss Colin when he's away from the ranch for a few weeks, so we have to understand that and don't tease him okay?"
Lisa looked at Jace puzzled. "Why will he miss him, he's coming back?"
"Well, if you were in a house full of men and the only woman you knew who was a good friend was leaving, even if for only a little while wouldn't you be a little sad?" Jace tried to explain to the child.
Lisa considered that and curled up in a ball on the bed and watched Jace struggle with the active baby. "Yeah, I would, so okay Jace I won't tease him about that. But, I'm gonna about other things."
Jace laughed at the child. "Sure, when don't you."
Elena was squirming that much that Jace deposited her on the bed next to Lisa. "Tell you what darling how about you keep little miss fidget here occupied, while I get a shower and change, I'll be as quick as I can."
"Okay, she likes to play with her blocks, so, no problem Jace." Lisa gave her a smile.
Jace reached over to the box that held some of Elena's toys and retrieved a multitude of blocks. "Here you go and if she does anything you don't like call me, but don't leave her for one minute okay?"
"I know Jace, I promise not to leave her at all." Lisa said seriously.
Jace considered the two of them and wondered if it was prudent to leave them together, casting another glance at the happily engrossed children she went into the bathroom, but left the door ajar, no way was she not going to hear if there was a problem.
Five minutes later Catherine walked into the bedroom and was shocked to find Lisa alone with Elena on the bed. 'What the hell was Jace thinking?' "Where's Jace Lisa?" Catherine asked her in a quiet remote voice, her sharp hearing picking up the sounds of the running shower.
"Hi Catherine, Jace is having a shower and I'm playing with Elena." The child answered not picking up on the remote tone of her tall guardian.
Catherine slowly walked over to the two children and rushed forward as Elena tried to bounce off the bed in her excitement at seeing Catherine. "Hey, baby, you are going to hurt yourself trying that trick."
Catherine picked up the baby and held her aloft and smiled at her, "you going to be good and play in your pen for a little while." It wasn't a question as Catherine deposited the baby into the playpen in the room and then turned to Lisa.
"Now then, Lisa how about you go and see if breakfast is ready and we'll be down shortly okay?" Catherine tweaked the girls' nose gently and gave her a big smile.
"Yeah, okay, see you soon." Lisa smiled back and went out of the door to investigate what was happening in the kitchen.
Catherine sat down heavily on the bed and held her hands between her legs, as she contemplated a none-existent spot on the floor, her face devoid of expression as she waited for Jace to re-enter the room.
Minute's later Jace walked in her hands towelling her wet hair, "wasn't too long Lisa." Jace's smile faded as she noticed the tall frame of her partner sat on the bed with a particularly expressionless visage. "Catherine, where's Lisa?"
Catherine looked at Jace her eyes sparkling with anger. "What the hell were you thinking Jace, leaving Lisa to look after Elena without any safety precautions?" Catherine retorted her words dripping with sarcasm.
Jace was taken aback by the vitriolic words. "Catherine I was here all the time, if there had been a problem, I would be right there."
Catherine stood up and walked towards her, her stance menacing as she placed her hands on Jace's shoulders in a crushing grip. "The baby could have fallen off the bed and you wouldn't have been that quick to avoid that disaster now would you? Lisa doesn't have the strength to hold our terror when she wants something badly. Hell, Jace, you can hardly control her at times."
Jace was annoyed and upset at Catherine's attitude. Okay, so maybe she had been a little foolish, but there was no harm done and her shoulders hurt with the pressure Catherine was exerting. "That's completely untrue Catherine and you know it! What the Hades is the matter with you, okay perhaps, I was foolish to not put her in the pen as you have so thoughtfully done, I made a mistake."
Catherine gave her a shrewd glance and shook her head at Jace, "For god's sake don't do it again Jace, just wait for me or ask someone else, but not the kids please; it's irresponsible and I know you're not that! I'm going grey enough, I can do without this worry too." Catherine was exasperated, but decidedly happier with her partner's acceptance of her error and she released her painful hold on her partner.
Jace locked her green gaze onto the ice blue and noticed them thawing. "I'm sorry, it will never happen again."
"Pleased to hear it, now come on let's get all my beautiful ladies fed or I'm going to have worse trouble on my hands that's for sure." Catherine gave her a brief hug, a chaste kiss and went over to collect the baby that was merrily pulling at the bars on the pen.
"I'll be along shortly Catherine, I have to dry my hair, go along without me." Jace said quietly.
Catherine held on tight to the baby and nodded her head. "See you in a little while." She walked out of the room not giving the solemn woman a second glance.
'Damn!' Jace sat down heavily on the bed, 'had this been their first domestic dispute? Catherine had been right, when wasn't she!' her heart thudded at the accusations from her lover. 'I know I was stupid but.....will things ever run smoothly between us, Zeus knows that's all I want out of this life, not give her reason to worry!'
Getting up she quickly dried her hair, brushed it to sheen and looked at her face in the mirror. "Do you think I'm a child also, Catherine? I guess I give you cause to wonder and how." Her stomach growled at that moment and she gave herself a desultory smile in the mirror 'some things never change.'
Jace walked out of the room to find the rest of the family and hopefully a better start of the day with Catherine.
**********
Chapter Twelve:
Grace glanced at Jace, and watched the younger woman's profile for a few minutes. Catherine had given her a task and it looked like it was going to be fairly easy to carry out. At breakfast, although it had been friendly and everyone was eager to make acquaintances with Alison Grace's sister, deep down Grace had seen the cool regard that Catherine had given Jace on a couple of occasions. The blonde had either ignored it or hadn't noticed, but Jace knew when Catherine was watching her so that particular scenario was a little hard to believe especially to her. Hell, she'd seen them through the thick and thin and had thought that it was now going to be plain sailing here on in. Well, at least that had been the dream she had for their relationship, in her mind they had been through enough trauma it was time to settle down to some good old-fashioned loving and happiness in each other's company and that of their dearest family and friends. It was the wedding tomorrow and she wanted her two best friends to settle whatever differences and enjoy the day as she was planning too. If ever her nervous system settled down long enough for her to consider that an option.
"Jace?" Grace looked at the small blonde as she leaned against the railing of the porch, watching the antics of Jake and Lisa as they chased each other around the stable in some game or other.
Jace turned her head and gave her a small smile, but it never reached her green eyes, they appeared sad and to Grace inconsolable. "Grace hi, what can I do for you?" her polite tone another indication that something was wrong.
Grace walked slowly but deliberately to her side and settled her own body against the railing as she too watched the children happily playing in the stable area. "You seem kind of withdrawn today, do you need someone to talk too?" Grace asked tentatively.
Jace continued to watch the children, her eyes scanning the area and then tracking towards the entrance to the drive. "She's gone and never mentioned where she was going. Did Catherine mention anything to you Grace?" The sound was plaintive and upset in it's timbre.
Grace looked down at the gravel drive, what to say to that? "Well, I guess Catherine must have thought she'd mentioned her trip earlier, she had a sudden business meeting to attend with the lawyers." Grace didn't look up from her observations of the gravel and dirt, it wasn't exactly a lie Catherine did have business with the lawyers, but had only tagged it on last minute as a diversion if she had needed it.
"Sure." Jace said quietly not convinced.
Grace turned her head towards the bent blonde head and reached out a hand to her friend. "That's not the problem here Jace, so unless it's so private between the two of you, how about this shoulder to cry on, it's wide enough.' Grace gave Jace a smile that held a twinkle, which went straight to her eyes. 'Come on give it a try, we've been here before you and I and hell Jace I hate to see you sad."
Jace looked into her friend's concerned warm brown gaze and she gave a shrug. "I was stupid with the girls this morning. Catherine wasn't pleased, I gave her cause to wonder if she was living with a child I think." Jace muttered softly.
Grace gave a soft chuckle. "A child! Give me a break Jace; if Catherine thinks of you as a child she needs locking up! Trust me on this the woman knows you! You are all woman and I mean that! Have you looked in the mirror recently?"
Jace looked at Grace and gave her a wry smile. "Yes, I know what I look like, but I think Catherine thinks my mind isn't quite in line with the body, especially after this morning."
"Tell me?" Grace asked softly and gently placed her hand on Jace's arm and led her over to one of the seats at the far end of the porch, giving them a modicum of privacy for a sensitive chat.
Jace regaled Grace with the details and the fact that Catherine had been pre-occupied all morning finally leaving the ranch un-expectedly on her own with a young ranch hand immediately after lunch.
Grace pondered both her friend's problems, she wondered if her relationship with Colin was going to be as fraught with simple misunderstandings as her friend's seem to be; she damn well hoped not! "I think you're reading too much into the situation Jace, Catherine said her piece this morning, why would you think she's still angry with you. Come on, you know Catherine better than any of us, she gets focused and forgets everything else that's happening around her."
"Why did she have to go off the ranch with that particular ranch hand?" Jace said, her tone implying she was jealous. Grace gave her a second look and had to wipe a smirk off her face before she answered that one.
"Perhaps there wasn't anyone else available and he's new, so he probably needs the experience." Grace looked over Jace's head as she said the last word. 'Wrong choice Thornton.'
"Exactly my point Grace, experience!" Jace bit out, leaving the words hanging in the air.
"Jace, Jace you sound like a jealous teenager who isn't sure about the person they love, and is fighting unknown, and in this case purely fictitious rivals!" Grace chuckled, she couldn't help herself it was funny. These two women loved no one else but each other and if you looked into their eyes, which shone only for the other, it was ludicrous to think otherwise. Ludicrous and dangerous if Catherine thought anyone else was interested in Jace. Jace was another entity altogether, but it was turning out to be interesting to find out exactly how unsure she was and that wasn't good. The information could be put to good use, if it was diverted to a suitable interested party, Catherine!
"Would you believe, I feel like a jealous teenager? Catherine was only talking about the man recently, how he seemed to be interested in her, maybe she's decided that she's had enough of me Grace!" Jace sobbed out in distress.
Grace moved swiftly out of her chair and went to kneel in front of the younger woman. Pulling the woman into her shoulder and allowing her to cry her frustration out. "Jace don't cry please. Catherine would be gutted if she knew that her not telling you that she was leaving the ranch was going to do this to your composure, than she sure as hell wouldn't be away. He's an employee Jace, and if you hadn't already noticed he's a man?"
Jace cried softly into Grace's shoulder it struck her as comic finally the absurdity of the situation, Yeah, he is a guy. Catherine was definitely not interested in guys, now anyway! She'd make sure that Catherine never was again and that the only interest she was ever going to have would be in her! "I'm sorry Grace." Jace apologise on a hiccup.
"No worries Jace. Hell, what's a friend for after all?" Grace looked at the tear stained face and gave her a bright smile. At that moment she heard a vehicle approaching and if she wasn't mistake it was Catherine and they had agreed that she would have Jace out of the way for her family to get into the house unseen. "Jace come on, I think Catherine is home, how about you go and clean up. If she sees you with tears, it might not be a good idea, what do you think?"
Jace looked at her with a red blotchy face and eyes to match. "Yeah you're right, thanks Grace." Jace stood up and placed her hands around the waist of her friend and hugged her. "I love you Grace."
Grace gave her a smile and patted her on the wet cheek. "Go clean up Ms. Waterworks, I'll see you shortly."
Jace trotted off and headed for the main door, which gave easier access to the main staircase and her room, 'what was getting into her today, she was becoming paranoid.'
Grace turned to the sight of the approaching vehicle and smiled. Hell of a way to keep a relationship fresh all this emotion. She really did have to hand it to Catherine and to make it all the more implausible, Catherine never realised she was even participating in engineering the reaction. Well this was one surprise that Jace was sure to love and knowing Catherine everything would be fine at the end of the day. Wasn't that exactly what Catherine had vowed in her heart to ensure, Jace always happy and loved; it was her prime goal in life and she was trying hard to do that.
Grace stepped down the short flight of steps to the drive and awaited the visitors with interest.
**********
The local airport had never seen Catherine Warriorson so agitated, as she appeared to be this afternoon waiting for her private plane to arrive. Usually Warriorson only ever had her private helicopter arrive, but obviously more visitors were due than the helicopter could seat.
John Cruisal had been watching the woman in fascination. She was simply stunning to his eyes. He had arrived on the ranch two months ago and fallen for the tall raven-haired beauty from the first day he'd set eyes on her. All the men had teased him unmercifully at his crush on the owner of the property and informed him in no uncertain terms, he was wasting his time in dreaming about her, never mind thinking he had any sort of chance with her! Well, he didn't care what anyone else thought, he was happy to dream about her, and having just spent over two hours in her company, at least part of that two hours as she had seen the lawyers in town for over an hour, he was smitten all over again. She might not be the most communicative woman he'd ever met, but they had conversed about the ranch and she had joked with him about the upcoming wedding of his boss Colin Montgomery.
He was a quite presentable young man to many eyes, his blonde hair in the DiCaprio style along with bright topaz eyes and a face that made him a lookalike 'James Dean' in profile. He knew that he did make heads turn in his direction, but the head he wanted to turn looked on him with a calm and cool relatively friendly appearance, this was early days yet he thought. 'Wonder what was causing her to be so like a cat on hot bricks, she had appeared so calm earlier, guess I'll find out soon enough.'
Catherine walked over for about the hundredth time to glance out of the window of the airport waiting area and once again noted that the aircraft wasn't in sight. 'Damn, I hate waiting around and Frank is late!' Turning abruptly, she strode purposefully over to the vending machine and contemplated a drink, just as she was about to fish in her pocket for some small change, a hand brushed her gently aside.
"Allow me. Ms. Warriorson." John Cruisal said shyly, placing several coins in the machine.
"Thanks, but you didn't need to do that!" Catherine looked directly at him and gave him a speculative stare from her ice blue eyes. 'Interesting colour eyes, but not a patch on some incredible green ones I know,' she thought absently a small smile passing her lips unconsciously at her final thought.
"I know, what would be your poison?" The young man asked earnestly a bright smile on his face.
"God knows vending machines in my experience give you weak, very weak, strong or nothing at all! So, in that case I'll take a coffee with milk, no sugar." Catherine responded with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. 'Poison indeed, if he knew her better he would know that people would gladly give her poison, not this kid though he looked a little wet behind the ears.'
That had her thinking about Jace and earlier in the day, it had irritated the hell out of her with that juvenile action of Jace's with the girls. Still, there had been no harm done, and Jace was intelligent enough to learn from her mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes while bringing up children; it isn't exactly plain sailing and when you're little more than a kid yourself, it must be hard. Hell, she'd been lucky that Adam had been the prime parent otherwise god help her son in the early days, she had been little more than an arrogant punk in those early days not suitable parent material at all! Maybe that's why she'd been so strung out over the incident this morning it hadn't been in Jace's character to do something like that. Catherine smiled warmly at her picture of Jace as a kid, no Jace was definitely not a child, she was all woman and it just so happened she was her woman and that was entirely satisfactory in her eyes.
John had snagged a cola from the machine himself, he knew that coffee and tea wasn't always the best selection from the machines but he had to admit Ms. Warriorson didn't look the cola type. He wasn't exactly sure what type she did look, but cola no! He sat down opposite her and drank thirstily from the can as he observed the surroundings. He had never been in the local airport before, even though; he had lived in the area all his life. Okay, so he was only nineteen, but that was long enough. He noticed that the receptionist was looking at him and giving him a warm and welcoming smile, she was pretty in a doll like way and about his age, he could do worse, but she paled into insignificance with the woman before him. He looked down at his feet to avoid the girls' obvious flirtatious stare, leaving him free to dream about other options.
Catherine saw the boy turn a slight pink and looked over to the reception counter and saw the look on the young girl's face. 'So the boy's a heartbreaker, well he has the looks, that's for sure better keep him away from Lisa if he stays on the ranch any length of time.' Catherine mused unhappily, and then shook her head of those stupid thoughts; Christ Lisa was only eight! Okay, almost nine but..... The droning of twin jet engines caused Catherine to leap up from her seat and walk over to the window and watch as her private plane advanced towards the short runway. 'Excellent, finally....family.'
John moved quickly too and almost collided into the back of Catherine who gave him a steady stare out of her right ice blue eye and her left eyebrow hit the forehead in question of his antics. "Sorry, got carried away." The boy looked suitably deflated at being found out to being less than calm.
"No problem, John go and bring the vehicle nearer. I'm sure the baggage will fill at least three rows of seats in the battlewagon, her nickname for the converted Land Rover, which could seat ten people comfortably and more if necessary.
John dutifully left the building and did exactly what he'd been instructed.
Catherine turned to the owner of the airport. "Steve, I'm going to get away quickly if that's okay? Frank will fill out any of the details if there is any problems call me at the ranch. See you again." she was gone before Steve could answer and he gave a wry smile to his co-workers and shrugged his shoulders.
Catherine waited at the small fence that effectively dissected the runway from the pedestrian access. Her hair was blowing in the slight breeze but the heat was certainly plastering her black polo shirt to her back. She was pleased that her clothing option of jeans had been frowned on later that morning and she'd changed into khaki shorts with the hem of the shorts reaching her knees. They were comfortable and presentable also. They showed more than she usually did to meet quests, but then again these guests were family, so she allowed herself the luxury of being comfortable, if still a little conscious of the silver threads of scars down her left leg. Placing her hands on the fence, she watched the plane taxi down the short runway about two hundred yards away from her placement at the fence. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she watched in quiet anticipation as the door hatch opened and she saw Jace's father make his way down the small steps that had automatically lowered as the door opened. He looked happy enough Catherine thought and then smiled as he saw her and she continued to glance up the plane and watch the rest of the passengers disembark. Next was Jace's Mother Alison, then came a teenager obviously, Jace's Sister Lucy, although they didn't lookalike from her distance anyway. Catherine's smile widened as Susan her old housekeeper in New York ventured forth and she was given an enthusiastic wave, which Catherine returned and then saw the puzzled look on her face, Catherine's grin widened at that. The final passenger came into view James Thompson; he looked different to how Catherine had imagined the late Paul Strong's partner would look. Well, it was time they met they had a long overdue conversation to have and although it might cause sadness and heartache for them both, Catherine felt that it might ease both their hearts in the long run.
The assembled party walked directly over to where Catherine was standing. As she held out her hand to first welcome Jace's father and then the rest of Jace's family, they all looked at her in incredulity, could she see them? Enfolding Susan in a hug, she whispered into her ear. "Told you so," giving her a smirk. Susan gave her a warm smile and patted her on the behind in mock censure at her remark.
Catherine then held out her hand to James. He gave her a smile that made his normally plain features light up; in an obscure way it reminded her of Jace. "Glad to meet you finally James, we are happy you could make it. Jace will be thrilled you agreed to share the holidays with us." Catherine spoke sincerely and then turned to her guests.
"As you will no doubt have noticed, I can see as in no longer blind and that's a story for a nice drink before dinner this evening. How about we get into the vehicle and move on to the ranch and clean up and meet the rest of the family. I know one for sure, who is going to be in shock for the rest of the evening," she chuckled and made her way towards the large green vehicle outside the airport office. The rest of the entourage followed, the baggage being efficiently off-loaded onto a cart by one of the local airport staff.
Fifteen minutes later they were all loaded up and Catherine was having last minute words with her personal pilot.
Jason Bardley looked at the woman from his seat on the first row from the front. "She looks different from the last time we saw her Alison."
Alison Bardley looked over at the smiling woman who was the centre of their attention. "Well, I guess having your sight restored would have that effect on you, it certainly would me!"
"Well sight or no sight, Catherine would be happy no matter what this time of year, she adores it." Susan supplied from her vantagepoint in the middle of the vehicle, she liked Jace Bardley's parents and her sister was both witty and charming, a credit to her parents.
"That bodes well for a good holiday then." James Thompson put his quarter in for good measure and sat back and watched discreetly this woman, who had been his partner's friend and boss.
Catherine walked back towards the vehicle her long stride eating up the few yards that were between her and her guests. Her long raven hair flowing freely over her shoulders giving her the impression from a distance of a person who didn't have a care in the world and maybe, now, she didn't, to her this was the final hurdle with Jace and her parents. Then there would be only good times; she was going to ensure that! "Well folks time to move on and meet up with the rest of the family. John let's get moving or I'm going to be in trouble for staying out too long on my own again." With that she laughed and settled into the front passenger seat and rested her head on the headrest and closed her eyes briefly in thankfulness that everyone had arrived safely. 'This isgoing to be a fantastic surprise for not only Jace, but for the kids too. Grandparents no less, what a wonderful way to start the holiday!'
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