“Charlotte!” I yelled, remembering suddenly she was at the hospital. “Holy fuck.” José didn’t answer his phone and so I rushed down to the winemaking facility, where I quickly informed him I’d be back as soon as possible.
“Got it under control, boss,” he called in return. I was already halfway out the door. I ran to the house and threw a few things in a bag and got in my truck, driving out through the gate. Jesus Christ. How had this happened? My mind was racing a million miles a minute. Kira. Kira was behind this. I wanted to shake her and then crush her to me and never let go. The little witch had cooked this up. I knew she had. Sweet, little, beautiful witch. She could have placed herself in danger. Was that why she’d been with Cooper here in Napa? I’d treated her so cruelly that day. She’d done this to help me, to help us, just as Harley and Priscilla had—I knew it in my gut and I trusted. I let out a gasping breath, stepping into the sunlight of full surrender.
But I still needed answers. Questions pounded in my brain, one after the other. And I knew where I needed to go to get them.
As I drove, visions of Kira ran through my mind: turning to me in our bed, the morning light hitting her face as her sleepy, green eyes opened, her lips turning up in a soft smile as she reached for me. I saw her holding Sugar Pie in her arms. She needs love more than anything, she’d told Vanessa. It will hurt her more if you hold it back. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily, and an intense ache filled my chest. I saw her jumping from that tree, standing on the tractor in a ballerina pose, sliding down the banister, a look of unabashed joy on her face. And yes, she’d most definitely won that day.
I saw her walking toward me in the maze, reaching out her hand. That night, under the moonlight, she had saved me. And when it came time, I hadn’t been strong enough to save her back. I let out a deep exhale, the visions flowing through my mind, through my heart. I pictured her kneeling in front of me on the floor of the wine cellar, a look of tenderness and love on her face. If you let it, grief makes more room for love within you. And the love we carry inside makes us strong when nothing else can. That’s exactly what she’d done. She’d taken all those empty spaces inside her and filled them with love. And when the worst had happened, I had been too stupid, afraid, and filled with self-doubt to allow her to teach me how to do that too.
But I vowed to do that now because she was everything to me—my dreams, my weakness, and the person who made me want to be strong.
I had fallen desperately in love with an enchanting little witch, a radiant girl with emerald eyes and a wild mane of hair as untamed as she was. She owned my heart and my soul—I would be hers until I drew my final breath. And I was ready now. I was ready to surrender my all, every last bit, come what may. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
Please don’t let me be too late.
* * *
The woman who answered the door was wearing a housekeeping uniform. She led me into the formal living room and told me she’d see if Jessica was available. I nodded grimly, choosing not to sit on the pristine white sofa.
A few minutes later, my stepmother came gliding into the room, as perfectly coiffed as I remembered her, every piece of dark blond hair in place. “Grayson,” she greeted, standing awkwardly by the door. After a short pause, she moved toward the bar on the far wall. “Would you like a cocktail? It’s five o’clock somewhere, right? My, but corruption in politics is quite the talk of the town, isn’t it?” Well, at least she’d wasted no time. There it was: the confirmation she’d been a part of whatever had happened with Cooper Stratton.
“You were there,” I said, also cutting right to the chase.
She poured herself a glass of wine, turned, and held it up to me in question. I shook my head. She swallowed one large sip before answering. “Yes, I was there. Who did you think paid the twenty-five-hundred-dollar-a-plate cost?”
I eyed her warily. “You paid for Harley and Priscilla?”
She took another sip of wine. “And myself. I decided it was a good cause. So you really didn’t know about it?”
“No.”
“Your wife came to me last week. Apparently, this Cooper fellow was involved in something causing you strife. She said she knew his weakness and she planned to have pictures taken to blackmail him and, therefore, her father.”
I let out a loud whoosh of air. Kira. I was going to kiss her senseless and then I was going to strangle her. She wasn’t back with Cooper—she’d been setting him up. She’d been planning on blackmailing him by taking lewd photos. Of all the crazy, harebrained schemes!
“From what I can see, they got more than they bargained for. Even Washington is all aflutter over this. Crooked government is the talk of every town in America today. As it should be.”
I let that sink in. “So, the plan was only to take pictures?”
Jessica shrugged. “Unless they didn’t mention it to me. She just asked if I’d fund it.”
“And why did you?” I asked, thinking of all the times she’d said cruel things to me, all the times she’d watched as my father punished me simply for existing.
She turned away and looked out her window, sipping on the wine. “I’ve had time to consider things since Ford’s been gone.” She turned toward me, placing the wineglass on a side table. “I…could have done better when it came to you. I was bitter and hurt and…” She waved her hand around. “Well, I’m sure you’re not interested in hearing my excuses, and frankly, I’m not that interested in giving them. But when I was asked to help, I figured I owed you that much at least. Your wife, she obviously loves you very much, Grayson, and I’m glad about that.”
I was stunned. As I gawked at her silently, she moved toward a small writing desk in the corner and took something out of the top drawer. “I was going to send this to you, but since you’re here…” She held it out to me and I took it from her, looking down to see she’d given me a check written out for three hundred fifty thousand dollars.
“What is this?” I demanded, holding it back out to her.
“It’s part of your father’s estate. Hopefully that covers at least some of the damage he did to the vineyard before he died.” She knew. She knew what he’d done.
“What if I don’t want his money?”
“Then you’d be a misguided fool just like he was. Take it and make a life for yourself, Grayson, wherever that may be. Take it and be happy.”
“I—”
“Are the roses and hawthorn flowers still blooming?” she asked.
“I… What? Yes.”
She nodded, something moving across her expression that looked like sadness, or perhaps regret. She stepped toward the door. “Good, I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “I assume you can show yourself out?”
“Yes,” I said, confusion and surprise and hope and a hundred other emotions I couldn’t identify in that moment making my chest feel tight. I folded the check and put it in my wallet, and then let myself out of my stepmother’s home.
I was reeling. Only Kira could soften a heart like Jessica’s. Only Kira. God, only her.