And let’s face it, my feelings were hurt. I didn’t play around. I didn’t expect him to read my mind, I was very clear about what I wanted, and even offered to pay for the ring.
He was such a jerk! He laughed at me. He was laughing at me a lot and I didn’t like it one bit.
We decided to go the airport cafe near our house. It would be busy this time of the morning, and especially on a weekend, but it would be worth the wait. Plus, we could watch the colorful parachutes as they dropped from the plane as they came in for a landing. They also had a beautiful outdoor eating area with a couple of water features and a small pond. This allowed us to bring Stanly and Agatha along, and Sophie and I both liked that. She seemed to relax when Stanly was with her.
We entered through the cafe and just like I’d thought, they were packed. I motioned for the owner and yelled “We’re going to seat ourselves outside.” She tilted her head at me and smiled. I took that as an okay, and headed out to the outdoor seating area.
I was leading the three of us and wasn’t paying attention when we walked through the doors and was greeted with a loud, “SURPRISE!”
I screamed and tried to run back into the cafe but Sophie, Stanly and Roman blocked my way. My senses came back to me and I swung around to see all of my tribe was there, Jenna was holding a huge bundle of white and rose gold balloons and Terra held a huge bouquet of red roses. The outdoor space had been decorated in white and rose gold glittery sheer tule ribbons, and draped from every corner of the patio. It was bunched to the center of the ceiling, where it fell in different lengths with crystal attached to the ends. I noticed crystals hanging from the ceiling in various lengths by the white and rose gold tule, as well. The effect was a soft glittery romantic vibe. The tables had been covered with white linen. There was a champagne mimosa bar set up with gorgeous cut crystal flutes, and white rose bouquets in rose gold vases on every table. At the back of the patio was a buffet table with covered silver warming dishes.
Becca held a large white box with a silver bow and was bouncing back and forth on her feet. Whoever gave her the present to hold was either really dumb or an evil genius. Whatever! It had to have been killing her not to rip that bow off and open the present, even if it wasn’t for her.
Isabella and Cabe stood towards the back of the group and Isabella’s face made tears come to my eyes, she was watching me with such love and happiness, for a moment it was like looking at Raquel.
A tear tracked down my face.
Jules and Stella with their beautiful red hair each had champagne glasses that they raised to me when my eyes caught their watery eyes and smiles. They were missing Raquel too, and while our group was growing, some of us would always mourn the ones we lost.
Especially at celebrations like this.
Justine stood next to Sebastian, whose eyes were glued to Terra. Oh boy, did I screw up that match! This wasn’t going to play out well.
Next to Sebastian, Roman’s uncle Aleks stood with his arm around a small frail-ish looking woman and three beautiful blonde twenty something females. They were all smiling at me. I knew what was happening…
I turned to hug Roman for bringing his family to meet me and found him down on one knee with an open ring box extended. My eyes filled with tears immediately.
I looked down at the small ring box Roman was holding up for me and in it contained the most exquisite diamond ring I’d ever seen. It was a large, like, really large, tear drop shaped diamond (I know it’s called pear shape but I think tear drop sounds more romantic) that sat on a band of smaller diamonds.
Simple but stunning. I loved it!
My hands flew to my face and tears streamed down my cheeks. I tried twice to say yes and hiccuped when the word was supposed to come out.
Finally, I threw myself at Roman and grabbed the box before he could change his mind.
Roman laughed, took the box back from me and said in my ear, “This was my grandmother’s ring. It means the world to me for you to have it. You, Angel, are my world.” He slid the ring on my finger and laughed with his deep sexy voice as I sobbed.
The patio erupted in cheers and I heard champagne corks popping off as the bottles were opened. The whole area became a fun blur that I would come to cherish for the rest of my life.
I was finally getting everything I’d ever thought I wanted and more. A real home, a real family and the man of my dreams.
Little did I know how much this group would change and endure in the months and years to come.
But that is a story for another time…
Chapter 30
Chief Deputy DA Jones
D aniel Allen Jones struggled with his keys, trying to get his front door open. After the worst fucking week of his life he wasn’t surprised to enter his dark hot home.
He flipped his entry switches and confirmed his house had no electricity. Based on the smells and heat, it had been off a while. This also meant he’d have no air conditioner or hot water.
At least he didn’t have to worry about any food spoiling, since he already knew his refrigerator was empty, which only made things worse when his stomach growled from hunger.
His feet hurt from having to walk from the bus stop to his house which was two fucking miles away. He stunk, was sweaty, and he didn’t have any clean clothes to change into after his freezing cold shower he knew he was facing, due to zero hot water from his electric water heater and the lack of electricity.
If his cell phone hadn’t been disconnected earlier in the week, he would have tried to get ahold of Samantha one more time and find out why she broke it off with him. He would try to appeal to her good nature and see if he could please use her shower and eat with her, but no. She was gone just like his car.
He couldn’t even go to his gym and shower, because Tuesday when he tried to enter, they not only told him his membership was cancelled but he was barred from rejoining!
What the fuck was happening?
All of his bank cards were no good. None of his passwords worked for his online accounts and when he went into the branch, the signature card and passwords were incorrect. The manager was too busy to see him, so he made an appointment but when he went back they had no record of it and the bank manager was busy again.
His pay was direct deposited so he had no access to his money, at all.
Deputy DA Jones was hungry, sore, tired, smelly and hated this fucking town more than he had ever hated anything in his entire fucking life.
First thing he was doing Monday morning when he got to work was looking to transfer out to another county as far, far away from this horrible place as he could possibly get.
That is if he survived the weekend.
The Women of Wine Country Series continues!
Check out the First and Second Books;
Murder & Mayhem
Lawyer & Liar
Watch for these titles releasing soon;
Beauty & Betrayal
Grief & Greed
Family & Fear
Boards & Bombs
Martini’s & Malice
Rescue & Redemption
Death & Deceit
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Resources
Unfortunately, there are too many police funerals. Many of the words, quotes and imagery were taken f
rom recent police killings and subsequent funerals. I fear my words don’t do the justice they deserve. Nor do my words properly convey the emotions and grief from the family left behind.
www.odmp.org www.camemorial.org
These are both sites you ca visit to learn more about our fallen officers.
The Human Trafficking aspects of this book are something every country in this world has to deal with. Please pay attention and if you think someone has been trafficked notify law enforcement immediately.
www.dhs.gov www.fbi.gov www.humantraffickinghotline.org
Thanks for reading!
Please add a short review on Amazon and let me know what you thought!
The Author
www.womenofwinecountry.com
A Note from the Author
Usually this is where you’d see an author bio. A little blurb about the person whose imagination sparked a story, and whose diligent work created a book you’d (hopefully) want to read.
Since it’s typically the author writing their own bio it felt somewhat disconnected to me, so I thought I’d just give you, the reader, a little informal information about me and the rest, if you’re still interested, can be found on all of my online and numerous social media platforms.
I am a Yaya to three beautiful little ginger Divas that are featured (as grown up’s) in my books. I will let you try to guess who they are.
The dog you see in my author picture is the real-life Stanly who was given by Marcus to Sophie to help her feel safe again. I wrote him as he truly is and he was rescued from the Stockton animal shelter many years ago and has been a great addition for my husband, my pack and myself. I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
We have three additional rescues; they are featured in earlier and later books, so unless you follow me on social media, you’ll have to look for the books they are in to meet them.
I live in the Lodi Wine Appellation and there are many descriptions in the books that are accurate. If you find yourself in our neck of the woods, you’d be able to see landmarks or recognize roads I’ve written about.
While Avorio Manor is completely fictional many aspects of the home was taken from several different vineyard homes in the area. If you do make it to our wonderful wine region; there are many resources available to you and if you join the Women of Wine Country Facebook group, we could get those resources to you.
I am devoted to animal rescue and a portion of the sale of every book goes to help support shelters, rescues and resources benefiting the homeless pet population.
I have three grown sons who I cherish, but who will probably never read any of my books (this series anyway).
The Man of My Dreams is my beloved husband of almost thirty years. He came to me as a bodyguard and we fell in love instantly. This man is as Alpha as they come, and supports me and all of my endeavours one hundred percent. How an old school Alpha male and a small bossy woman manage to make it work after all these years is beyond me, but it does work for us. And I am thankful for my life with him.
I like animals’ way more than people, and I like people a whole heck of a lot.
T Wells Brown
Next in the Series
How do you get past a deep betrayal without losing your identity? If you are Jenna White, you do it by working your butt off and surrounding yourself with beautiful things, and a loyal wine tribe sisterhood.
That is until Marcus gets a whiff of Jenna, and his pursuit of her changes everything. But now that he’s drawn her in, will he keep her, or will he too betray Jenna’s trust?
Get ready ladies, grab your wine glass cause you’re about to change the way you see your men and your tribe.
Lawyer & Liar Page 22
