“You may be a competent equestrian, but I’m not sure you can handle European espresso.” Kat smiled at the man seated across from her. “Although, I did participate in your adventurous lifestyle when I visited your country, didn’t I?”
“I get it.” Alex dark eyes twinkled. “I’m on your turf now.”
“We’ll start with an espresso and a pastry.” Kat called to the waiter in German, and then turned back to Alex. She tapped her lips with a forefinger. “What else shall we try here in my homeland?”
“We could take a river cruise.” Alex’s eyes widened as he stared at the boaters on the river. “Or we could rent a rowboat.”
Kat waved her finger back and forth between them. “Oh no, I choose the activities, Mr. Marino.” She dropped the paperback into a satchel and pulled out a slim book. “Perhaps we should start with poetry—” the excitement of teasing Alex brought goose bumps to her arms and her breath grew shorter, “—in French.”
Alex groaned and dragged the splayed fingers of his free hand across his face. “The only French I know is oui.”
Taking a deep breath, Kat smiled. “That will do for a start.”
A question in his eyes, Alex returned his open hand, fingers wiggling, to the table. “Take my hands, Kat.”
Although a tiny spark of hope flickered in her heart, Kat wasn’t sure why Alex had come and to assume he came for her…she couldn’t bear if she were wrong. She placed the tips of her fingers in his and then gasped when he gripped her hands tightly.
“Your father said you’re moving into a house on campus. I thought you wanted to be close to home.”
Kat looked over at the river and then back at their clasped hands and heaved a great sigh. “Things have changed since I left home.” She gasped. “Wait a minute, when did you see my father?”
“I stopped at your house on my way from the airport. Fritz told me where to find you.”
She chuckled, and then sobered when another memory surfaced. “Where’s your purple-haired girlfriend?”
Alex looked down at their clasped hands. “I don’t have a purple-haired girlfriend, Kat. I did that so…”
Kat waited but he seemed to have lost his train of thought. After several moments passed, she squeezed his fingers.
“…so we could make a clean break.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
“Not so great.”
Kat leaned across the table, suddenly morose at the seeming impossibility of their situation. “So now what? Will we take turns visiting each other? The good news is we’ll get lots of air miles.”
Alex grimaced, and then caught her eye. “I realized I’ve harbored a lot of bitterness about the education issue in my family, about my brothers. You helped me see the decision to finish school is in my hands. I also realized I love you.”
Kat’s heart jumped into her chest. “You said that once before. I wasn’t sure if I could believe you. I figured Californians said that all the time, kind of like ‘hello, how are you?’”
Alex’s eyes twinkled and he shook his head with a laugh. “Some do. I don’t. I don’t want to lose you, Kat.” He stroked her cheek with his finger. “There is one problem, however.”
Kat waited, the blood rushing to her pounding heart leaving her fingers cold.
“I’m not quite sure how to handle the commute.” One corner of his mouth went up in a lopsided grin. “If you want, or need, to live in Germany, then I will come here. I will stay here…with you…if you’ll have me.”
The spark of hope in her breast burst into flame as she stared at him in amazement. “You would leave your family? What about your work?”
“My parents are fine. The vineyard is fine. In fact, Tony surprises me sometimes. Amazing how responsibility matures a person.” Alex returned his hand to hers.
“Funny you should say that…” She squeezed his fingers. “My family appears to be fine, too.” Wondering if she had heard correctly, she stared at the man who had captured her heart. What would Alex do in Germany? Where would they live?
“I have to go back to help with this year’s harvest, of course. And Doctor Smith convinced me to finish my degree. He really wants me to talk to the undergraduates. That and doing a paper or two may provide enough credits in less than a year so I’d have my degree.”
Shaking her head to dispel her concerns, Kat patted his hand. “I’m happy for you, Alex. Once the university has you they won’t want to let you go. You have a wealth of experience to offer those students.” Alex had crossed a continent and an ocean to tell her he loved her. The rest was a matter of details.
Alex tightened his hold on her hands. “Is there anything I can do to convince you to come back with me? California’s a great place to live, you know.”
“Sure, if you’re a grape.” Kat smiled at the shared joke, and then looked down at the river, sparkling in the sun. Alex had a year of obligations in California. Then he would come live in Germany. Who would have imagined?
“Are you dissing my country?” Alex’s eyes twinkled.
Kat thrilled at the memories his dark eyes evoked. “Dissing? I don’t think so.”
His fingers smoothing over her hands, Alex continued. “I moved into the cabin.”
“You moved into Wendy’s honeymoon cabin?” She pictured the original cabin perched high on a knoll. A modern bath and kitchen had been added during the spring.
“The cabin is temporarily a bachelor pad.”
“That’s rad, Alex.” Kat stroked his cheek, marveling at her happy ending. “You’re just full of surprises.”
He placed his hand over hers and his touch warmed her entire body. “I’m not too late am I?”
“Alessandro, mi amore.” Her heart swelled in her chest as visions of a shared future with Alex swam before her eyes. A future that had seemed impossible just a few short days ago. She cupped his face with her hand, the day’s worth of dark stubble rough under her palm. “You of all people should know—it’s never too late.”
Epilogue
“You know, this was the start of it all,” Katerina commented as Alex pulled into the parking lot of the nineteenth century farm. She climbed out of the car and waited for Alex at the front, thinking of the magic spring day a year earlier when she first realized Alex Marino was more than an adventure.
Alex took her hand as they entered the grove. The Valentine’s Day faculty party, now an annual event, was that evening at the Marino Family Vineyard. Finding their bench, they watched the thousands of Monarch butterflies clinging to the tall eucalyptus trees. Through the trees puffy white clouds floated through a brilliant blue sky.
Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Why do you say that?”
“I was like a caterpillar and then—” she looked at Alex and took his face between her hands, her heart full, “—when I came here, I changed into a butterfly…”
“…and spread your wings and flew.” Alex kissed the corner of her mouth. “By the way, how is Doctor Schneeman doing in Germany?”
“My department is thrilled with him. The exchange couldn’t have worked more perfectly. My secretary tells me he’s found a girlfriend.”
“Imagine that. So he might not want to return?”
“True. I might be stuck in California.” Staring up into the trees, Kat reflected on the difference of one year. She had been afraid to leave home, afraid to ride horses, but especially, afraid to fall in love. Now she was the happiest she had ever been, all because she had risked her heart. She breathed deeply of the musky scent of the trees and caught a whiff of Alex’s now familiar cologne.
Alex picked up a box next to his hip. “That reminds me…” He handed her a square box wrapped in red and white paper.
Kat’s momentary good mood dropped a few degrees at the sight of the box. “This looks like the same paper that Kat wrapped the thongs in at last year’s party. Alex…”
“You were supposed to get this at last year’s party, not the thong.
I added something this year.”
Curiosity getting the better of her, Kat ripped open the paper. A wooden box, painted with the Marino Family Vineyard logo of a bunch of purple grapes. She opened the lid with bated breath. Pale blue tissue paper cushioned a crystal butterfly with wings of orange and black, just like the insects fluttering nearby. Careful of the delicate protrusions, she set the figure on her palm to catch the golden light. “Oh, Alex, it’s beautiful.”
“Do you see the twig where the butterfly is resting?”
Making a protective cup of her fingers, Kat tilted the figurine over. Underneath a brown crystal twig with green highlights supported the Monarch’s outstretched wings. “Very nice…” Her throat tightened. A diamond ring hung from the twig. “Ach Du lieber.” A year ago, Kat could not have envisioned a life with the handsome man on the big, bay horse. Her course in life had been charted. But now… She looked into dark eyes shining with love. Now she had her happily ever after.
Alex eased the ring from the delicate crystal and held the diamond between his thumb and forefinger.
Kat took a breath, held out her hand, and watched spellbound as Alex slipped the ring on her finger.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
Heart pounding out her happiness, she raised her hand. The diamond shimmered in a shaft of sunlight coming through the eucalyptus trees. “Most assuredly, Alessandro Marino.” She pulled him close and, light as a butterfly, touched her lips to his. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to admit your sister-in-law was right again.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Right about what?”
Kat wrapped her fingers around his neck and gazed at the face that had so captivated her that long ago January day. “The cabin on the hill will make a perfect honeymoon cabin.”
A word about the author...
After twenty-five years in human resources, eighteen of which were spent in a state prison, T. R. McClure chose a new career path. This is her second romance novel, with a third close behind.
Other Titles by T. R. McClure
Flying Home
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this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Never Too Late Page 14
