Chapter 61 Spencer Nash

Brace Yourself

Five Months After the Wedding

I don't want to move. I don't want to pull out of her and lose this connection. I didn't want to come, either, but I didn't have a choice. I wanted it to last longer—all night wouldn't be long enough.

I can't believe she's really here. I can't believe she really gave it all up. For me. For us.

Nobody I've been with has ever done anything like that before, and to know that I come first in her world means everything to me.

It means forever. It means the sort of future I wasn't sure I would ever really have.

Eventually, though, I have to move. We may be back on the same page, but we have some things to talk about. Important things—things about our future together and how we're going to fit all the pieces into place.

I pull out of her, and I pad over to the bathroom to clean myself up as I think about what just went down.

With Amelia, it was constantly pushing things back, and in the recesses of my mind, I know now that it was because it wasn't right .

With Grace, though, I want to rush forward with her hand in mine toward a shared future. I want to put a baby in her and watch her body grow because of our love. I want to raise kids and stare out over the fields that belong to us.

I just hope it isn't too late.

I return with a washcloth to clean her up, too, and then I slowly start to put my clothes back on.

She makes a face, and I chuckle.

"Just let me look at the abs a little longer, okay?" she requests, and I pull my jeans on but leave my shirt off.

"You can feel free to stay naked, too, but I need to eat something." I glance at the clock. It's nearly three, and I never ate lunch. "Are you hungry?"

She nods as she stands and starts picking up her clothes. "I could eat."

There's a restaurant in my apartment complex, so I call down and place an order. A half hour later, we're eating on my balcony as we look out over the bay, and I can't help but think about how I want to fuck her over the balcony as we look out at the bay. I want to fuck her on my bed. My kitchen counter. In my backseat. In my front seat. On vacation. In the locker room.

Okay, fine. I pretty much just want to fuck her everywhere I possibly can, and it finally feels like we have forever to do that.

As we dig into our late lunch—or early dinner in her time zone—I contemplate what to say. Ultimately, this is a partnership. She deserves to know what I know.

"I have some, uh…information I'd like to share with you."

Her brows dip as her eyes lift to mine. "Everything okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, it's just…it's a lot, so I want you to brace yourself."

"It's a lot for me?"

"It might be."

She sets her fork down and takes a gulp of water. "Okay. Hit me with it."

"Your dad sent me Maggie's will last week. He asked me if I could review it because he didn't like the idea of reading about his mom's final plans, but he was fed up with you two and your fight over the vineyard. "

"Well, that fight's over, so I guess he can rest easy now." She picks up her fork to keep eating as if that's the end of my story. She spears some of her chicken with her fork, and then she glances up at me. "Is that it?"

I shake my head. "That's the beginning."

"Oh." She sets her fork back down. "Okay. Go ahead."

"There were several clauses regarding the vineyard, one being that whichever of her granddaughters is married for a year and free from infidelity will inherit the vineyard."

"Free from infidelity?" she echoes. "So…Amelia's out?"

I lift a shoulder. "There's more." I draw in a breath. "It also says the vineyard must continue to operate, so even if she does somehow get it because you withdrew your name, she wouldn't be able to break it up and sell it off."

She gasps.

"Still more," I warn, and she sits back in her seat like I just physically struck her. "That clause about the vineyard in Temecula—it's not exactly what you think. There were a few clauses—yes, it could be whichever granddaughter produces the first grandchild, or it could go to whoever is married for five years first or to just whoever is willing to move to Temecula to manage the vineyard there. And if neither of you want it or meet those conditions, she wills it to the man currently managing it."

Her brows dip. "The land in Temecula is currently operating as a vineyard?"

I nod. "Newman Winery."

"Who's running it?"

"A man named Theodore Monroe."

She shakes her head. "Never heard of him. Why would Nana keep it a secret?"

"I wanted to know the answer to that, too, so I drove out there this morning." Was that really just this morning? It feels like weeks ago at this point after everything that's happened. "Asher came with me. And this is where things really get wild."

She sits forward as she waits for the bomb.

"Nana's mother had an affair that produced a younger half-brother," I say, and she gasps at the pronouncement. "She didn't find out about him until after both her parents passed, but she wanted him to feel like he was a part of the family. He's been managing the Temecula winery for the last two decades."

"Oh my God," she murmurs. "That's why fidelity is part of the clause. But it's also what's going to keep Amelia out of the running."

I nod. "We just need to prove she's sleeping with Pete, and both vineyards are yours. If you still want them."

She sinks back once again as she contemplates that heavy bombshell. She stares out over the bay, and then she glances at me. I can see her wheels turning as she thinks through everything I just laid on her.

She sucks in a breath, and then she asks maybe the one question I'm not expecting. "What do you see out of our future?"

One side of my mouth lifts in a smile as I shake my head. I feel like I've been in a daze since she showed up today, but this single question is all the proof I need that she really means it when she says she'll walk away from the vineyard.

I just told her she's on track to inherit two of them, but she's not clinging to either until she hears what I think.

And that is the true sort of partnership I always wanted out of life.

Who would've ever thought I'd find that partnership with my ex-fiancée's sister?

"I don't know. Ideally, I guess I'd see us here when I'm in season for the next three years, but after that…who knows? Maybe to Temecula because we put down roots here. Maybe back to Minnesota because we love it there too. Or maybe, in the best case, we split time between the two. As long as my hand is in yours and I don't have to go longer than seven days without holding you in my arms, it doesn't matter to me."

Her eyes get misty at that. She clears her throat. "Does Nana know what you learned?"

I shake my head. "Not yet. I was just on my way back from Temecula when I ran into you, so I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone yet."

"Then I think we need to make some calls. "

"Starting with…?" I ask, trailing off to let her fill in the blank.

"Starting with letting Nana know what I want to do."

"And what's that?" I ask, a little nervous about what she's decided.

"I want to stay here with you. I want my dad to keep running the vineyard in Minnesota. You and I will check in when we can. But I want to get to know my uncle, and I want to get to know the land and the grapes here in between cheering you on at every single Storm game. I want to build a life wherever you are, and I want to take that life with us wherever we go. We don't have to decide right now."

I reach across the table and take her hand in mine. "And your sister?"

She twists her lips as a little sparkle twinkles in her eye. "She's fired." She laughs. "I'm kidding. The place will need a new hospitality manager, and she's worked hard to learn more about the vineyard since she's been trying to prove she deserves it."

"A promotion? That's awfully generous, don't you think?" I ask.

She sighs. "Someone has to be the bigger person."

"It was always destined to be you. Giving it all up for love? I think that will tell Maggie everything she needs to know about who deserves to raise a family there…someday."

Her eyes get a faraway look in them as she shifts her gaze back to the bay, and I can see her imagining that future now—just as she once described it to me.

Our kids playing out in the tire swing.

Her sitting on our patio, watching them after a long day of work.

Me meeting her out there with two freshly poured glasses of wine—one that I press into her hand, the other that I hold in my own. We toast to our love, our future, our family, our land, our many blessings.

And then we live happily ever after.