Page 33 of She’s a Big Deal

Christmas Day. A year later.

Olivia stood next to Charlie in the kitchen. Both observed Grace on the other side, who stood coat-less in several inches of snow and seemed to be barking orders at some unfortunate person on the line.

“Does she always have to work on Christmas Day?” Charlie wondered, shaking her head. “And yell at people?”

“French employment laws are giving her a good run for her money,” Olivia stated, and she chuckled in amusement. “I think she’s having a lot of fun with it, actually.”

Grace strode in on a blast of arctic air and cocked her head at them both.

“Here we are again,” she announced. “I am getting major Déjà-vu vibes.”

Olivia figured it would always be difficult for her to be back in Red Falls. To spend time with the family... And at Christmas, even more so.

“Was that your lawyer on the phone?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“How are things in Paris?”

“Well,” Grace smirked. “Typically French, I suppose.”

“As in chaotic?” Charlie chimed in with a laugh.

“Yes. They seem to revel in disorder and disobedience over there.” The smirk turned into a superior wink. “Nothing I can’t handle, obviously.”

“You’re so sexy,” Olivia chuckled.

“Merci beaucoup.”

“How do you say sexy in French?”

“Same, just with added tongue,” Charlie quipped, joining in the mood with a wicked repartee of her own.

Christmas lunch at the family home went surprisingly well considering that Reece showed up with his new boyfriend. After spending six months in Miami, he had returned to Burlington a changed man, and reclaimed his place on the board of the family business. The resort was thriving once again. Jeremy’s fury was pretty obvious from across the table, but he did not dare say a word. Reece’s lover, Toby, was a carpenter on the new team that Grace had hired, and a former state football player. At six foot four, full of muscle, and twice the size of Jeremy, he made an imposing figure. Not the kind of guy Jeremy would attempt to bully, for sure.

“Outnumbered by the gays at the family table,” Grace said to him with an exaggerated smile. “Bet you never thought this would happen, uh? How does it feel, brother?”

“Shut up, Grace,” he grunted.

As for the family patriarch, he barely spoke to anyone past the first disapproving nod of hello, and only had eyes for Chloe and Mark’s new baby girl, named Autumn.

“Fresh hope for the future,” Grace reflected. “Since none of his own kids really turned out the way he wanted.”

“Do you care that he barely tolerates you and Reece being here?” Olivia inquired softly.

“I don’t give a damn. And you know I’m only here because of Charlie again.”

“Of course.”

“Chloe and Mark, too. They will be good parents.”

Olivia smiled at the happy couple. “Yes. I like them both very much. Chloe and I really hit it off. And with Reece, too.”

“I’m glad but not surprised.” Grace pulled her close. “You are a hard one not to like, Ms. Bianchi.”

◆◆◆

They flew to Paris the very next day. Grace was keen to be there before work on a new contract she had won on the back of the No. 5 deal started – After the holidays, since the French insisted on taking the entire period between Christmas and New Year as vacation. Taking time off never used to be her thing in the past, but she had to admit that roaming the back streets of the French capital with Olivia, introducing her to weird and wonderful, off-the-wall arts places, and enjoying the odd glass of wine in some atmospheric bistro, had its moments.

“You’re loving it, aren’t you?” Olivia teased her. “Tell me the truth.”

“It’s not too bad,” Grace allowed.

On New Year’s Eve, they had dinner at a rare establishment in France: an exclusive vegan restaurant, the only one of its kind in the country to have won a coveted three Michelin stars.

“It’s great,” Olivia decided. “I love the atmosphere.”

“And not a single escargot in sight,” Grace approved.

Closer to midnight, they joined the crowds on the Champs Elysees for a night of dancing and revelry. Five A.M. found them queuing at a café with a bunch of locals to enjoy a French New Year’s Day tradition: warming bowls of the famous onion soup, served with fresh baguette and a daring glass of red thrown in for free.

“I am, actually,” Grace stated.

“Uh?” Olivia glanced at her in wonder.

She looked a bit disheveled after their long night out. And perhaps even more attractive because of it, Grace thought, in the faux-leather WWII pilot jacket that she had bought her for Christmas. With a mile of multicolored woolen scarf wrapped around her neck against the cold, tousled hair, red cheeks, and watching her with those glittering brown eyes... Grace almost lost herself in her liquid gaze.

“Loving this vacation.” She nodded, picking right up from the previous conversation.

“Oh, right!” Olivia caught on quickly and with an easy laugh. “Me too. Loving life with you, Ms. Michaels.”

“So, I know you’re not into all this stuff… Social norms and doing things by the book. But just in case you wanted to square things away between us,” Grace added with a little one-shoulder shrug. “I would be happy to.”

It took a moment for her meaning to register, she saw. Then Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you asking me?” she prompted.

“Asking you?”

“Yeah. Is this your way of… popping the question?”

Again, Grace shrugged. “Well. I guess so.”

She watched her lover stare in fascinated silence for several long seconds. Then Olivia treated her to a challenging eyebrow raise, the kind that she no doubt had learned from her.

“You guess? Come on, Grace!”

“You’re not big on convention, I know that.”

“But you think I might want to get things…” Olivia twirled a finger in the air. “Squared away?”

“Yeah. It would make sense, don’t you think?”

“Hmm…”

When the corner of Olivia’s mouth twitched, Grace could not tell for sure if it was in amusement or irritation. “Hmm?” she encouraged.

“I guess it would make sense, yes.” Olivia pursed her lips in obvious distaste. “We could be like the squared-away business deals you like.”

Okay, so this was taking a decidedly funny turn.

“Forget it.” Grace tore a chunk off the baguette to drown in her soup. “We don’t have to. I just thought you might—”

Olivia chuckled. “I adore you, Grace.”

She punctuated that with a hard kiss that had some French connoisseurs in the café murmur in appreciation. There were a few rumbles of, ‘Oui, oui, a good way to start the year.’

“What are you doing?” Grace mumbled.

“Enjoying this moment,” Olivia answered with twinkling eyes. “But I am an artist, remember?”

“Yes, I know. So?”

“So, don’t give me this rational stuff. Don’t talk to me like I’m your lawyer or your business partner.”

“Right.” Grace favored her with a smirk. “Okay.”

“Don’t hide, and put it all on me.” Olivia caressed her cheek with the back of a folded knuckle. She kissed her again, slow and tender this time. “I want honest and real. Raw. I want YOU. Do it.”

Grace dropped her spoon with a sharp exhale. “You really are going to make me work for this, aren’t you?”

“Yep.” Olivia licked her own spoon. “Totally am.”

That smug and cute, demanding look on her face had Grace smiling and her heart rate picking up. Well, it occurred to her that this may well be the happiest day of her entire existence, so she told her partner.

“I love doing life with you, Olivia. Waking up with you in my arms every morning… That sleepy look in your eyes, and the way you always grunt before you’ve had your first coffee. Yeah, like this.” Grace chuckled when she demonstrated. “I love your laughter, your sizzling sense of humor, and your thirst for adventure. Damn… I even like it that you’ve turned me almost completely vegan.”

“Work in progress,” Olivia winked.

“Yes. I love kissing you. Making love to you. All the ways you have of calling my bluff and making me feel… More. Like now. Only with you, I know it’s safe.”

“I love you, Grace,” Olivia whispered.

“I love you too, babe.” With a shiver of anticipation, Grace allowed her smile to bloom. “And you are absolutely right, this is for me. Well, I hope for you too, but…”

“Oh yes.” Her lover nodded, grinning now. “Me too.”

“I want you to be my wife. Officially. In life and on paper. In all the ways we can be linked, I want it. So, I got you this…” Grace pulled the little velvet box out of her pocket and opened it to show her the ring.

“Whoa!” Olivia said. “Y—”

“Wait, wait!” Grace ordered, laughing. “You’ve got to let me do it properly.” She got on one knee, looking up into the eyes of the woman she so loved. “Olivia Bianchi; will you be my wife?”

“Only if you will be mine too, Ms. Michaels.”

She made her heart melt. “Deal,” Grace promised .

Olivia threw herself in her arms with a joyful yell. People clapped, and someone said, ‘Ou-la-la!’ For sure, Grace reflected. It was a cracking way to start the year.

THE END…