by Jane Graves
Kari walked over to Nina. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure. I told only a few people.”
Gus got out of one of the cars. Nina called out to him, “Gus! What’s going on?”
He walked over. “When you told me about the storm, I told a few other people. Pretty soon everybody was spreading the word. There’ll be more folks here soon.”
“They’re coming to pick grapes?” Nina asked.
“Yep. The moment people found out Marc was in trouble, you couldn’t keep them away.”
Within the next half hour, Kari watched in awe as at least thirty people grabbed bins and shears and headed out to the field. Then Rosie and Estelle brought ice chests with food and drinks and set up a spread in the barn. Kari stuck with the story that Marc had taken a motorcycle trip and was out of pocket and had no idea the storm was on its way. Not a solitary person questioned it, and Kari knew it was because they assumed if Marc wasn’t there, there had to be a damned good reason why.
Then Angela arrived.
Kari automatically felt a rush of apprehension. Angela belonged there, and in the last twenty-four hours, Kari had begun to feel as if she didn’t.
When Angela came through the gate into the vineyard, she stopped to stare at Kari. Kari shoved her hair out of her face, but she could only imagine what she looked like wearing grape-stained gloves, with sweat pouring down her temples, her arms already scraped up from the grapevines, and the red welt of a wasp sting on her neck.
“I talked to Uncle Daniel,” she said, nodding over her shoulder toward the barn. “He said he can’t get in touch with my dad.”
“Yeah,” Kari said. “He took a motorcycle trip, and we can’t get hold of him. And he forgot the power cord for his phone, so if it’s out of juice, that’s why he’s not answering.”
“If he knew what was going on, he’d be here.”
“Of course he would.”
Kari clipped another bunch of grapes and tossed it into the nearly full bin at her feet. “You’re helping,” Angela said.
“Yeah,” Kari said, “I’m helping.”
Angela kept looking at her, as if the sight of Kari picking grapes just didn’t compute. “Why?” Angela asked.
Why? Oh, God. There were so many answers to that question. Because I love your father. I love this vineyard, and so does he. I want to stay here forever and raise our baby together. But those were things she couldn’t say yet, so she finally settled on something that was just as heartfelt and the absolute truth.
“Because your dad helped me when I needed it the most. And now there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”
Angela regarded her for a moment more, then grabbed a cluster of grapes, clipped it, and tossed it into the bin that was nearly full. “Be sure not to lift that,” she told Kari. “I’ll do it. I’m used to it. And here. Let me show you something about the shears. If you’ll hold them like this, you can cut through the vine a whole lot easier.”
Kari worked side by side with Angela as the storm drew closer and dark clouds billowed on the horizon. Kari had to agree with Daniel. Picking grapes was the shittiest work imaginable.
Soon daylight faded to the point that Kari was having a hard time seeing the grapes to pick them. She was just wondering what they were going to do when it got completely dark, only to have Rick from Rick’s Automotive show up with two of his employees, all of them driving trucks with spotlights on the roofs so everybody would be able to keep on picking. Kari stayed on the verge of tears the whole time because her muscles were screaming, she was nauseated, and she wasn’t sure she could pick one more cluster of grapes even though she had to no matter what. But the biggest reason she felt like crying was because this place was so amazing and these people were so wonderful. And then something happened that finally pushed her over the edge.
Luke and Shannon showed up.
They said they were in San Antonio on their honeymoon, but they heard Marc was in trouble, so they came back right away to help. The very idea of them hurrying home from their honeymoon was just a little too much wonderful all in one place, and way more than Kari could handle.
“Kari?” Angela said. “What’s wrong?”
She wiped her cheeks with her dirty glove. “Nothing,” she said, because nothing was. It was right, so much more right than she ever could have imagined. She wished she could talk to Marc. She wished she could tell him how much all these people cared about him. Ask him how he could even think of leaving this town, turning his back on the very thing she’d been looking for all her life.
And then she’d tell him she loved him.
Chapter 19
Marc was an hour and a half away from Rainbow Valley when he saw the storm clouds.
At first it was nothing more than a graying of the sky to the west, but as the clouds bulged and swelled into dark thunderheads, his apprehension grew. These were the kinds of clouds vintners feared the most at harvest time. He’d seen a big storm system on the radar yesterday, but he was sure it was going to swing north of Rainbow Valley. This one looked to be heading right for it.
He cursed himself for forgetting his phone charger. He needed to see a weather report. Find out what was behind those dark clouds and how much rain they could conceivably dump. But did it really matter? Nothing could be done if Daniel couldn’t get a crew in there, and chances were excellent he couldn’t. But if that storm hit Rainbow Valley dead center, the crop could be ruined. Damn it! Why hadn’t Daniel brought the grapes in when he had the chance?
He had to know what was going on. He had to.
Fifteen minutes later, he came upon a gas station. No pay phone. Did those even exist anymore? He went inside and asked the guy behind the counter if he could use the phone. As he started to dial, all at once it dawned on him he didn’t know Daniel’s number. Hell, he didn’t know anybody’s number. They were programmed into his cell phone, which was currently dead in his pocket.
Then he realized he could call directory assistance and get the number of the wine store in town. But when he called the number and the phone rang, nobody picked up.
Get home. Just get home.
He got back on his motorcycle and hit the highway again. The stormy skies were bringing darkness much sooner than usual. He drove faster than he really should have, even though he had no idea what he’d be able to do when he got to the vineyard. An average harvest meant a couple days of effort, so even if the crew Daniel had scheduled could come early, it wouldn’t be enough men to do the job.
By the time he neared the Rainbow Valley city limits, a few raindrops began to fall. Two minutes later, the heavens opened up. Marc ducked his head against the wind and the deluge of rain, which was forcing him to go slower so he didn’t lay the bike down going around curves. And all he could think was, I’m too late. The crop will be ruined.
He felt the loss already, forming a hole in his heart so deep he was surprised it could still pump blood. If only he hadn’t gotten it in his head that he wanted to leave Rainbow Valley in the first place, this wouldn’t be happening. If he hadn’t acted like a bastard to Kari and realized where his future really was, he would have been at the vineyard, finding some kind of solution.
But no. He’d screwed up things on both fronts, so when he got home, he’d find an entire crop on the verge of being destroyed and a sweet, beautiful woman he’d hurt so deeply she’d probably never forgive him.
As he came around the last curve, he saw the lights from the vineyard shining weakly through the falling rain. A few minutes later he drove through the gate and started down the long gravel drive.
Then he saw the most unbelievable sight.
The house was nearly dark, but cars and trucks were everywhere. The driveway was so full he had to plow across the rain-soaked lawn to circle the house, where he saw even more vehicles.
And then he saw them. People. In the vineyard. Everywhere there were people.
He leaped off his motorcycle and hurried to the vineyard g
ate, feeling as if he was moving through a dreamworld where things couldn’t possibly be as they seemed. One by one, he started to recognize the people. Gus. Rick. Terri. Luke and Shannon. Bonnie. Rupert. Other friends and neighbors. They were dripping wet and filthy dirty with grape-stained gloves, still clipping one bunch after another and tossing them into bins as rain bombarded them. Three big trucks, each with a pair of spotlights, lit each row so they could go on picking in the dark.
Not a single one of these people were part of a paid harvest crew. Not one. Yet they were harvesting his grapes? From the look of things, they’d been at it for hours.
He turned to see Michael driving the tractor to the barn, and behind it was a trailer full of grapes. Daniel and Ramon were grabbing the bins off it, manhandling them into the destemmer/crusher to prepare them for the fermentation tanks.
Marc ran to the barn, shouting over the thundering rain, “Daniel!”
Daniel spun around. “Marc! Where the hell have you been?”
“Never mind. How much of the crop is in?”
“Maybe eighty or ninety percent.”
Marc was dumbfounded. They’d gotten that many of the grapes in? How the hell had they done it?
“Is Kari in the house?” he shouted.
“No. She’s in the vineyard!”
Marc felt a shot of apprehension. “She’s picking grapes?”
“Yeah. She’s about to drop. I tried to get her to stop, but she refused to quit!”
No. She had no business out in this weather exerting herself like that. Not when she was pregnant. If anything happened to her, he was never going to forgive himself.
All at once thunder crashed, and in the distance he saw a zigzag of lightning. “The storm’s getting worse!” he shouted to Daniel. “I want everybody out of here! Help me spread the word!”
Daniel abandoned the machine and hurried after Marc. They ran into the vineyard, where they shouted at everybody to drop everything and head for home. As Marc’s rain-drenched friends and neighbors headed for their cars and trucks, he knew he owed them a debt of gratitude he could never repay.
“Dad!”
Marc turned to see Angela running up behind him, rain soaked and grape stained.
“I think Kari’s sick!” she shouted.
“Where is she?”
“This way. Hurry!”
Marc ran after Angela, row past muddy row, until he finally spotted Kari. He slogged through the mud to where she stood. She was clutching a grapevine in one hand and shears in the other, her head bowed.
“Kari!”
Her head jerked up.
“You shouldn’t be out here!” he shouted. “Get inside!”
“Not finished! There are more grapes!”
“Leave them!”
Another bolt of lightning sizzled through the sky. He took her shears and tossed them down. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her along. She stumbled a little and righted herself, but when she stumbled again, he could tell she was on the verge of collapsing. Finally he just swept her into his arms.
“Angela!” Marc shouted. “Find Aunt Nina! I want you both in the barn!”
He hurried through the vineyard gate, fear hammering him all the way to the house. Please God, don’t let anything happen to her. And please let our baby be okay.
The rain came down in torrents, but he ducked his head against it and carried her across the deck and into the house. When he got to his bedroom, he laid her carefully on the bed. She took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly, blinking open those beautiful green eyes. He waited for her to smile. She didn’t. Instead, she looked wary and apprehensive, and he knew why. She didn’t know what was in his head right then. The last time they talked, she told him she was pregnant, and what had he done? He’d gotten on his motorcycle and driven away. How much more of a bastard could he possibly have been?
He grabbed towels from the bathroom, wiped his own dripping hair, then sat down beside her. Her hair was wet and tangled, a shock of auburn against the pillowcase beneath her head. The pink streak in her hair had faded, but he could still see it, reminding him one more time of the joy she’d brought to his life. But lying in this bed right now, she looked small and weak and helpless, and he hated himself all over again for leaving her when she needed him the most.
He pulled off her dirty gloves and tossed them on the floor. With a dry towel, he dabbed rainwater off her face. “Kari? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“The baby?”
“We’re both okay.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look okay.”
“Just tired.”
He wasn’t sure about that. “You worked too hard out there. I want to make sure you’re all right.”
“It’s okay. I’d know if something was wrong.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I feel much better just lying here. But there’s more to do. The rain is here, and we didn’t get them all.”
“Forget that for now. Just rest.”
“But—”
“Most of the grapes are in. I’m here now, Kari. I’m going to go take care of the rest of it. I’m going to take care of everything.” He took her hand, stroking it gently with his thumb, feeling like such a bastard for the grief he’d caused her.
“I’m so sorry for the things I said,” he told her. “I never should have left. Can you ever forgive me for that?”
“Things get too hard for everybody sometimes. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. I left when you needed me the most.”
“You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
No. He didn’t deserve this. After what he’d done, what he’d said, she should be telling him to go to hell.
“You don’t have to worry, Kari. I’m never leaving again.”
In that moment, it was as if every bit of the tension she was holding on to melted out of her body. She blinked wearily, and he could tell she was on the edge of sleep.
“I need to get back out there,” Marc said. “Just rest. Then later—”
“Wait. About Daniel.”
“What about him?”
“He told me he wants to pay Angela’s college tuition, but you won’t let him.”
“Kari. This isn’t the time to talk about that.”
“Just listen. Please listen. I know you think you don’t need his money and that he’s just showing off. But it’s more than that. Whether you know it or not, Daniel is dying for your respect. He can’t get it by running this place, because you’ll always be better at that than he is. But if you take the money he earned by doing something he’s good at and thank him for making your life easier, you’re finally telling him you approve.”
Marc had never once thought about it that way. All he’d ever seen was his brother’s smart-ass behavior and assumed his success was some kind of accident because he couldn’t possibly focus on anything worthwhile. But maybe it wasn’t an accident. He’d worked hard. He’d given the market what it wanted, and he’d profited from it. Worse, Marc had always assumed that taking his younger brother’s money meant Daniel was actually looking down on him.
Kari squeezed Marc’s hand, looking at him earnestly. “He loves you, Marc. And so does everybody in this town. As soon as they knew you were in trouble, they dropped everything and came. It was amazing. There isn’t anything they wouldn’t do for you, and it’s because you’ve done so much for them. Do you understand that?”
Yes. He did now. Right now his friends and family were driving home, soaked to the skin and feeling as if they’d been to hell and back, all because they’d come there to help him when his head was so screwed up he couldn’t help himself.
“I understand,” he said.
“And Luke and Shannon, too. They came home from their honeymoon. Can you believe it?”
“You’re the one I can’t believe. You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t have been out there like that.”
“I had to help. If I thought there was a problem
with the baby, I’d have stopped. But at least I had to try. You love this place. I see you on the deck, looking out over the vineyard, and I know. I know. With everything going on, I think you lost sight of that, but if you never hear another word I say, please hear this. You love this place. And I couldn’t let you lose even one tiny bit of something you love that much.”
She was right. It was as if he’d been wearing blinders all these years, blinders created by all the pain and hard work and the misguided sense that he needed to leave in order to have a life. That wasn’t true. This was his life.
Kari sighed wearily, as if the last words she’d spoken used up the final bit of energy she had. “Marc?”
“Yeah?”
Her voice fell to a sleepy whisper. “I love this place, too.” She paused. “And I love you.”
Those words hit Marc like an arrow straight to his heart. He bowed his head, feeling guilty and elated and ashamed and euphoric all at the same time. Even after everything he’d done, she loved him?
It was more than he ever could have hoped for.
Even with the gloves she’d been wearing, her hands were still rubbed raw. He brought her palm to his lips and kissed it, unable to believe he was getting another chance at this.
“I love you, too,” he said.
The briefest of smiles crossed her lips, and she squeezed his hand. Then her eyes fell closed, and a few seconds later he realized she’d fallen asleep.
He knew now that her running away from her wedding hadn’t been a cowardly thing for her to do. For the person she’d been at that moment, who was just learning how to be herself and was terrified of the consequences, it was the most courageous thing she could possibly have done. And he knew now that she wouldn’t run from responsibility. She wouldn’t leave him or their baby. She would stay and fight no matter how tough things got.
All these weeks he’d talked about his need to be free, to have no connections, no responsibility, nothing holding him back, telling her in essence that she’d better not be a woman who expected more because he didn’t have it to give. But now he felt as if he’d give her everything he had in him, right up to his dying breath.
