Danny let loose a small smile. “He’s undergoing some tests. Felix and Julia are with him in the hospital. He should be back in the morning.”
Grace stared at him. “And we’re just sitting here? Why aren’t we in the—”
Hunter caught his elbow. “Let’s get Danny his plan first, Grace. Then I’m sure Danny will let you go see Josh.”
Danny gave Hunter a grateful smile. “It’s not like we could keep you out,” he said frankly. “But Hunter’s right. Plan first, then you and I can go give Felix and Julia a break. What do you say?”
Grace grunted. “The plan is simple. They’re meeting in the display room behind the newly refurbished kitchen. The one with the label Hidden Masters because it’s hard to get to, so they figure they’ll put things there nobody wants to see. There are giant ventilation shafts to and from the room, because, well, it’s the kitchen. Hunter and Molly can be catering for the main event to run interference, Stirling does coms so we know what’s going on. Chuck’s in a van watching Stirling’s back, ready to run in and help. Felix can direct the show, since Danny’s busy. Felix shows up, looks all supportive and shit, says snarky things with Julia, and Chicago thinks he’s there for real. While he’s doing that, I go in and figure out where the gem is going and steal it from whoever wins it in the auction. Then we watch all the bad guys run around like headless chickens and laugh because we caught Sergei selling it and probably doing other scummy things so we can turn him in. Can I go see Josh now?”
Everybody—including Hunter—turned their attention to Grace in shock.
“Is that what that room is?” Chuck asked. “I figured it would be in the Picasso gallery, since that was closed down.”
“Everybody in the world wants to see that weird picture of the naked lady,” Grace argued. “That would be a shitty place to hide something.”
“The library?” Molly asked.
“All the books have to be protected. Temperature controls, humidity controls. I could do it, maybe, but holding an auction would be a nightmare.”
“Why not the conference room?” Stirling asked.
“Because why break into a museum if you’re not going to see art?” Grace retorted. “This guy likes to stage things. It’s stupid. Stage a ballet—don’t stage a thieves’ auction. But he’s stupid because a carved gem is sort of over the fucking top. Whatever. I’m over it. Can we go see Josh now?”
Danny’s eyes were wide.
“Hunter, could you, perhaps, look over the plans with Chuck and see if you like this idea? I think we can add some wrinkles that might keep Sergei tied up and arrested for some time after, but if we can lock down our approach—”
“Then I can go see Josh,” Grace said stubbornly. “Can we go?”
Danny looked at Hunter. “Please make him eat.”
Hunter looked at Grace. “Please finish what’s on your plate.”
Grace shoved a forkful of risotto into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I’m eating,” he said. “Just—”
“We’ll take you there as soon as you’re done,” Danny said, and Hunter saw some of the tension easing from Grace’s face and neck.
He knew two things then. One was that Danny was really worried, and the other was that nobody in this family was going to let Grace slip through the cracks, even if Josh was sick.
He wasn’t comforted, but he did know Grace was in good hands.
Growing Up
“DO YOU want me to come?” Hunter asked.
“Yes,” Grace said, because that wasn’t the real question. “But you need to be here because all the leaders are gone and they need you. Felix and Julia will be here soon, but they need you here now.”
Hunter looked unhappy, but Grace rolled his eyes. “You’re the responsible one,” he said. “Everybody knows you’re the responsible one. Don’t be stupid.”
“But, baby—”
Augh! An endearment! Grace stared at him, nakedly begging. “You need to be here when I get back, okay? The team, they need to be here when I get back so I can tell everyone that Josh is okay, and it was all stupid, and he should eat more.”
He wasn’t sure how he could make this more known. Grace and Josh were Grace and Josh, but Hunter needed to be there for the others. Why was that so hard to understand?
“Okay,” Hunter murmured, kissing his temple. “I’m your guy.”
Grace smiled at him, all sunshiny bright, and then let him shut the door as Danny drove away into the night.
“He could have come,” Danny said mildly.
“No,” Grace said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m going to be a basket case either way, and I don’t want him to see.”
Danny let out a long sigh. “Oh, Grace. Don’t you understand? You get to have more than one person in your life who you can let see you like that. Do you think Josh is the only one?”
“Yes,” Grace said, not mincing words. “Who did you get? You were on your own for ten years. Who did you have?”
“Not a soul!” Danny burst out in exasperation. “But that’s because I fucked up. I had to go out on my own and do my growing up somewhere else. You’re better than that, aren’t you? My poison was whiskey, and I had to walk away from everything—and everyone—to walk away from it. Your poison was drugs and risk, and you walked away from it and stayed with the people who loved you. So don’t tell me you don’t get to have an entire family to hold you together. Because you have us.”
Grace glared at him. “Felix was stupid,” he said, referring to the lost ten years between the two of them. “You were drinking because you had to hide. Because you couldn’t be in love and have everyone know it. I knew that even before Josh’s mother came clean after you left.”
Danny grunted. “That is quite impossible,” he said.
Grace let loose a humorless laugh. “I stole a picture of all of you when I was seven. Josh told me you were his Uncle Danny, and I looked at you and Felix and thought, ‘I want an Uncle Danny,’ and it all seemed perfectly logical.”
Danny gave a snort. “You are the Uncle Danny in your relationship. You realize that, right?”
Grace thought about it for a minute. “Yeah,” he said, “but you can concentrate for longer.”
“But I don’t have an IQ of 175 either,” Danny said dryly. “You tend to concentrate on all the things at once.”
Grace made a hurt sound. “Why?” he asked, tired. “Why are parents such a lottery? Josh got three spins—how wild is that? And he came up cherries every time. I got two spins and bankrupted the house.”
“Have you ever gambled in your life?” Danny asked, maneuvering the car toward Highland Park. It seemed like all the hospitals in Chicago clustered around the lake. Grace wondered if doctors thought being near the water would make people feel better. He thought it was a risky move, particularly in the winter. Lake Michigan could be a mean bitch, and there was nothing cheerful about horizontal snow.