AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She blew out a sigh. “I just wished he’d figured it out sooner.”
Antonio smiled. “Me, too, but at least he figured it out. Some people live out their whole lives missing out on what they truly want because they did what they thought was right—and made themselves miserable in the process. You two get another chance—while you’re still young enough. Don’t waste it.”
Molly laughed. “Still young enough? For what?”
Antonio laughed. “Sorry. Babies. I’ve got babies on the brain. Every day I try to talk Mary Ellen into agreeing that we don’t have to wait.”
Molly’s smile faded. “We might still be young enough, but …” She stopped herself. Maybe Antonio didn’t know that Marcos couldn’t have kids. He’d always been a private person. Perhaps he hadn’t told his family. She’d have to ask him before she went talking about it.
“But what?”
She shook her head with a smile. “But nothing.”
“Okay. I should get going. I guess I’ll see you when you two get done holing up and hiding out.”
“Yeah. I guess you will. I want us to have some time to find out who we’re going to be together before we have to figure out who we’re going to be as a couple with the rest of you.”
Antonio got up and smiled. “Okay. I’ll tell Mom, and I’ll tell the others, too. No plans for big gatherings until you give the okay.”
She laughed. “Thanks.”
Once he’d gone, Molly checked her watch. The lunchtime rush would start soon, and she’d wanted to run home before it did. She assumed that Marcos would stay with her tonight. He’d said he should get in at around five, and she’d told Grady that he was in charge of Molly’s again for the weekend.
~ ~ ~
Marcos turned the car off the road into one of the scenic pullout points. He was almost home, and this view had always made him feel like he was home. He needed to take a minute. He wanted to stretch his legs—it was a long drive from Summer Lake—but, more than that, he wanted to get straight with himself before he drove down into town and saw Molly. He wanted to mark the moment. It was an important one—perhaps the most important of his life. It marked a new beginning. He got out of the car and looked out over the valley. He loved Napa. He’d loved his life here, and he sure as hell wished he’d never left it.
From this vantage point, he could see rolling hills covered in vines, row after row. Wine had been his life—it was the foundation of his whole family. He hadn’t missed the wine business, though. He’d lost his passion for it at some point during his marriage—maybe he’d just discovered that it had never been that important to him; it was just what he thought he was supposed to do. Like going back to Italy, taking a wife from a good Sicilian family, having a son. He shook his head sadly. He’d discovered that none of it mattered to him. None of it except having a son—or a daughter—or a whole bunch of them. The discovery that he couldn’t have children had been a blow to his soul. He blew out a big sigh. It wasn’t something he could change. He had to stay focused on what he could change. And the most important thing he could change now was the course of his life—and Molly’s. He knew she still loved him. He knew she was still wary of him. The only thing that would change that was spending time together, showing her, proving to her that this time was different—that he was different.
He got back into the car. He couldn’t prove anything to her while he was up here staring out at the view.
Downtown felt so familiar as he drove through it. He smiled as he passed Antonio’s wine bar, Muse. His little brother had done well for himself. When they were younger, he’d been viewed as the playboy who might not amount to much, while Marcos was the more serious one, the driven one. He shrugged. He was back on track now. He was more relaxed with himself, and he’d found his drive again. This time his goal was to finally make Molly his wife and hopefully have a family. They could adopt a kid. He loved that she was open to the idea. They’d have to talk about it … and he had to stop getting ahead of himself. It’d all come in good time. If he got things right with her.
He passed through town and out the other side, then took a familiar right turn going out a couple of miles until he turned again onto the lane that led to Molly’s dad’s place. Her dad’s family had lived here for generations on a small acreage that they’d farmed. He was surprised that Molly hadn’t moved out and found a place of her own. When he’d asked her about it last weekend, she’d explained that her dad had moved to Arizona a couple of years ago. She’d stayed with him until then, and when he left he’d asked her to take care of the place.
He pulled up in front of the small white rancher. It looked like she’d taken very good care of it. The yard was immaculate with hanging baskets outside the front door. The house looked freshly painted. The vegetable garden was planted in neat regimented rows.
The front door opened and there she was. She looked amazing in jean shorts and a pink T-shirt, her hair falling loosely around her shoulders. The sight took him back to when he was a teenager, all the times he’d come out here to pick her up for their dates.
He smiled and got out of the car.
“You made it.” She came up the path to greet him.
“I did.” He held his arms out to her, and she ran the rest of the way to him and jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
He sank his fingers in her hair and kissed her. “Damn, I missed you,” he said when they finally came up for air.
“I missed you more. I can’t believe you’re here.” She hung onto his neck with one arm and swept the other out over the house and the yard. “I never thought I’d see you in this place again.”
“I dreamed of being here again, with you.”
She unwrapped her legs and slid down to the ground with a smile. “So, how about we make some dreams come true?” She gave him a mischievous smile.
“What are you up to?” he asked. “What kind of trouble have you got on your mind?
She laughed. “I want to recreate some memories.”
He followed her gaze to the shed at the bottom of the yard by the orchard and laughed when he understood what she meant. They’d made a lot of good memories in that shed. When he used to have to have her home by eleven, she’d come back out of her bedroom window, and they’d hang out in the shed, fooling around. They’d almost had their first time in there, he’d be forever grateful to the deer that had come through the yard, scaring them both back into their pants. Their first time had been a few weeks later in his bed, on the family estate when his parents were away.
