Mrs. Walker - bold, italics and underlined

Mr. Walker - bold and underlined

Chapter 41: 𝓘𝓯 𝓘𝓽 𝓜𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂...

Tuesday, December 20th

Today was the Walker family's early Christmas dinner since Cory has a football game the day of, so Gracie was feeling anxious to meet his whole family. Not only would she be meeting his parents and brothers, but also the extended family and close family friends.

At first, she was tempted to text Cory and cancel. She was so nervous, it didn't matter to her that it would've been rude to cancel last minute. She laid on the bed with her hands over her rapidly-thudding heart. Her palms were moist with sweat and more and more knots in her stomach tightened.

Gracie had always dreamed of finding the right man for her, but unfortunately, that came with the nerves of meeting the parents. Eventually, she started getting ready; she picked out her dress and she put a pearl headband on to decorate her freshly-washed hair. She picked a pastel pink, floral dress and tied her hair up in a ponytail, so by the time she had to leave, all she had to do was grab her purse and head out the door.

She gave the Uber driver Cory's parent's address he texted her and leaned her head on the window, observing all the neighborhoods and street signs until they entered the richer part of town.

Once the house number beyond the gate came into view, Gracie's jaw dropped. His parent's house was huge. It was big enough to fit her parents' house ten times — maybe even more. There was a fountain installed in the middle of the driveway, its noises giving a calm aura around the property.

The exterior was immaculately-sized; pillars were lined up on the front porch, black marble steps were leading toward the white front door and there was a humongous garden wrapped around the building with turf and rose bushes adding color. Through the windows, she could see expensive furniture occupying the ground floor and crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings.

A Rolls Royce, a Tesla and a brand new Porsche were parked along the front, showing just how much money they had to anyone walking their dog past their house. Even the Uber driver cursed under her breath and her jaw was dropped to the floor.

Looking at the exterior, Gracie felt way underdressed with her floral dress and flats. She was afraid to go inside. She didn't want to make a dent in any furniture, touch any priceless decorative item or taint the flooring with the bottom of her old shoes.

Here we go again with the sweaty palms and the lump in her throat. Gracie was ten times more nervous than she already was, which she didn't know was possible.

Seeing Cory waiting outside, Gracie thanked the driver and hopped out of the car. She entered the code to the gate. She met him in the driveway and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

Cory was dressed in a black blazer, a white tee underneath, skinny jeans and brand new-looking sneakers. He was dressed more casual compared to his parents with his hair being gelled back and his Rolex dressing up his wrist. "You look beautiful, baby." He encircled his arm around her waist and planted a peck on the forehead.

Gracie's stomach released a cage of butterflies when he called her baby and he kissed her forehead. She thought those kinds of kisses were the best kind. He interlocked their fingers together as he led her inside.

The crystal chandeliers were hanging down from the high ceilings in every room, grand staircases were on both sides of the entryway leading up to the balcony that looked over the ground floor and there was a beige sectional couch in front of the fireplace that was already occupied by guests.

The Christmas tree was nestled in the corner of the room with classy red ornaments combined with personalized ornaments of baby pictures that Gracie noted to tease Cory about later, footballs and basketballs to represent the sons' love for sports and glass angels scattered across the branches.

The first thing she saw on the black and white marble countertops was the big pumpkin pie that was waiting to be eaten for dessert. Pumpkin pie was the only thing she always looked forward to on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Gracie would eat an entire pie - the ones they sold at Costco - all by herself.

Cory whispered in her ear, "My dad may seem intimidating, but he's actually a really nice guy." His parents spotted them coming in and her mom lit up, leaving his grandparents to greet them. She pulled Gracie in for what looked like a bone-crushing hug to which Gracie smiled and giggled.

"Baby, you look so beautiful." She took Gracie's wrist and lifted their joined hands for her to spin under, taking in the dress she chose for today. "I mean, of course Cory raved about how gorgeous you are—"

"Mom!"

"But you look prettier in person! It's so good to meet you!"

"It's good to meet you too."

Cory was the spitting image of his mother - she had the same dark hair that was tied up in a tight bun and brilliant blue eyes framed by mascara-swept lashes. She was in a nude pencil dress with matching heels and her wedding ring was the size of a quarter.

"You look beautiful too, ma'am."

Mrs. Walker waved her off and playfully smacked her arm. "Please, baby. Don't call me ma'am. My husband and I get enough of the formalities from our daughter-in-law. Call me Sydney."

"Nice to meet you, Sydney."

Mr. Walker joined us, his graying hair combed back and he was in his suit and tie. His blue eyes weren't as bright as his wife's and son's and he had the same kind of watch that Cory wore, the diamond-encrusted band, but with a white face. "You must be the famous Gracie Summers we keep hearing about. Nice to finally meet you."

"You as well..."

"Robert." He held his hand out for him to shake which she did with a firm grip.

Gracie thought she would feel more nervous standing in front of his parents, but when Sydney embraced her in a big hug, she felt more comfortable because it reminded her of her mom side of the family. Auntie Jo and Amanda wouldn't let her leave without either breaking a rib or cutting off her air circulation.

When Robert flashed her a smile, she didn't know what Cory was talking about when he mentioned he may be intimidating. Maybe it was the holiday, but he seemed like a happy, care-free man that she could see herself being more comfortable with.

-

Dinner went well for Gracie. When she was asked questions, she would answer smoothly with no speech troubles and when his older brother asked about what she did for a hobby, Cory spoke on her behalf about how good of a writer she was.

He encouraged everyone to give her book a read and he helped his Mom set up a Wattpad account. In the meantime, Gracie felt embarrassed at the amount of attention she was getting. A cherry red hue was spread across her cheeks.

“You know, darling, we know someone in publishing who would be more than thrilled to check out your books.” Sydney perched her hand on top of Robert’s forearm. “Maybe we can talk to Daniella in New York and see what she could do?”

The last thing Gracie wanted was for them to do her any favors. She didn’t want them to go through all the trouble for her books that weren’t even good enough. They won awards, which made her feel proud of her skills as a writer, but they weren’t good enough to get published. “Uh, actually, ma’—”

Mrs. Walker arched a brow at her and shot daggers with her eyes.

“I mean… Sydney. That’s really not necessary. I mean, besides, they’re not long enough to be a real, thick books. And that’s how I always imagined it would look like if I ever got published.”

“Wait, Gracie. Mama, that’s genius. I can’t believe I never thought of that. You really think that Daniella could do something for her?”

“Of course, love.  We’ve been really close friends and she owes me a favor or two. If your book is anything for my Cory to rave about, it must be something special.” She glanced at Cory with a snicker.

“This boy absolutely hated reading when he was growing up. His teachers said that getting him to read was like pulling teeth. Cory has a game coming up in New York anyway. I’ll give her a call in the morning to see what we could do as far as travel arrangements. We’ll hook you up with the best airplane seats and the hotel we always stay at every time we fly to New York.”

After dinner and before dessert, Aaron, Cory's little brother, invited her to play basketball on their court in the backyard. Gracie kept throwing the ball past the hoop or hitting the backboard, but instead of teasing her, Aaron shrugged it off with a smile and encouraging words.

As he started shooting and celebrating whenever the ball fell through the hoop, Gracie started to hear loud voices coming from inside. Curious, her feet carried her to follow the noise that sounded more like Cory and Mr. Walker the closer she got.

"Keep going, buddy. I'll be right back," she shouted to Aaron over her shoulder.

"This isn't the life I wanted for you, son. When are you ever going to get out of this dumb football phase and start joining the family business like we talked about?"

"It's not a phase, dad! How many times do I have to tell you?! Football is my passion and I don't want to join some dumbass family business. Why can't Jordan take over when you retire?!"

"Ever since he got together with Avelynn, they got married and had Cassie and Carson, he's been too busy to hold all of the responsibilities!"

"And I'm too busy with football, dad! God, why can't you let me be happy?!"

Gracie was surprised at the sound of Cory raising his voice. She'd never heard him yell, except maybe at Kendall and when he yelled at Jake over the loud sounds of thunder, but he sounded angrier. She stepped back from what looked like Robert's home office when Cory caught her and she excused herself with an apology, about to speed walk back to the court until Cory held onto her hand.

"Don't worry, baby. My father and I were just about done." He didn't so much as glance at his dad as he was on his way out of the room. He paused when he realized she wasn't following.

"With all due respect, sir. Don't you want your son to be happy? I've seen his games on TV and whenever he made a touchdown, he would always do a little celebratory dance. He seems happy in that environment with the crowd and his teammates cheering him on. The only thing that could make him happier would be his dad's support."

Cory smiled at her the whole time she was talking. He was happy he found a girl to support his dream and stand up for his happiness.

Robert was listening intently to every word, peeking at Cory once in a while.

Gracie found herself barely giving eye contact with his dad. She got nervous looking into someone's eyes when they just met. If she maintained eye contact, she would stutter or slur because of the pressure she felt feeling their eyes on her.

"If he works for you, he'd frown all the time and he would wake up dreading going to work. Playing in the NFL, he wakes up excited to go to practice and to hear everyone chanting his name."

"You're right." Mr. Walker made eye contact with Cory and released a defeated sigh. "I don't want him to be upset with his job. I want him to enjoy what he's doing."

"And I enjoy football, dad. Nothing else. Coach always says that I'm the best on the team." He turned to Gracie and wrapped both arms around her. He leaned closer toward her ear. "Is your dysarthria gone?"

"Yeah. I was tired of sounding stupid in front of everyone. I read out loud everyday, every morning and every night for over a month. I still get nervous looking into someone's eyes when I first meet them though. I hope your father doesn't think I'm stupid."

"Absolutely not. I'm sure he'd understand and I didn't think you sounded stupid. As a matter of fact, I thought it was cute," Cory ended with a wink and a kiss to her forehead.

"If it makes you happy, son, playing football, I'll support you from here on out."

"Thanks, dad." He and his dad held each other in an embrace.

Gracie stepped back and let them have a father and son moment. She was glad that she brought them closer than ever and that she was the reason Robert will start supporting him.