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“Yes,” I told her at once.
“Hmm,” she said.
“What?”
“Whitley is going to need some convincing. She’s been hurt too many times by every person in her life. That laugh and the crazy stories are defense mechanisms. I hope you’ve realized that.”
She arched an eyebrow, and I nodded. I had noticed that. Thebad girlfriendbit wasn’t even close to reality in the weeks we’d been together.
“Do you feel like you’re up to the task? Because if you hurt her …”
“I won’t.” I couldn’t even fathom it at this point. We were finally on the same page. I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt that. “I won’t,” I repeated more firmly.
Katherine nodded, taking that as the promise it was. “I’m going to try to get Beckett down. You have your regular room upstairs. We’ll head to the vineyard in a few hours. Feel free to use the house like it’s yours.”
She headed into the first-floor master bedroom. It was strange to see Katherine as a mother, and it also somehow made perfect sense. Before I’d seen her with her two children, I never would have suspected she’d make a great mother. She’d never been the mothering type, but she was absolutely a great mom. And Camden, despite his years of abuse from his own father, was just as amazing. Their love for their children was unconditional.
I hauled the bags upstairs and deposited them into a suite, then went in search of Whitley. She was in the nursery, having a tea party with Kimberly and Helena. I watched for a few minutes, admiring the way that Whitley seemed entirely invested. She glanced up once and saw me watching and then grinned.
I waved her off and headed back to the room. A half hour later, Whit found me on my laptop at the desk in the corner. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Hey.”
“Hey. How was the tea party?”
“Delightful. Helena is a ball of joy. She wants to come to the vineyard and drink grown-up drinks. Or so she told me.”
I laughed. “That sounds right.”
“Do you need to work more?”
“No, I’m off the rest of the weekend. Want to tour the house and raid the fridge before we have to go?”
“Absolutely.”
I took her hand, and we ran back down the stairs like we were kids. Whitley had stayed at the Kensington house before, but never the Percy home. I did the tour, culminating with the massive pool and hot tub. We took drinks out by the pool and basked in the sun.
“Maybe I could get a house out here. It’s the perfect escape.”
“It’d be an outrageous expense. The Percys have had this home for generations.”
“Well, then I’d be getting it for future generations, right?” I reached for her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Wouldn’t you want to come here with me?”
Her eyes went distant for a moment. As if she were thinking about that inexplicable future. Then, they snapped back to reality, and something like fear rocked through them. I was talking about a future that I wanted her to be in. That must have been terrifying.
“I would,” she finally said. “I like it here. I always enjoy the water.”
There was abuton the tip of her tongue, but she never voiced it because Katherine interrupted us by saying it was almost time to go.
We changed into something more presentable for the vineyard. I offered to drive, but Camden insisted we take his black Range Rover. Camden wasn’t the type of person who let anyone else have control. I never knew how he had a driver in the city, except that it was a necessity with traffic. No way was Camden Percy taking the subway.
The vineyard was already packed when we arrived. A long table was laden with a vibrant display of flowers. Each place setting had a name written on it for dinner. Fancy wine vintages were offered upon entrance with a tasting of their latest varieties from the vintners available at tables around the venue.
Whitley and I each grabbed a glass—hers white, mine red—and then found our place settings. I startled when I saw that the setting next to mine readMargaret King.
“Maggie is here?” I asked in surprise.
“She is?”
I pointed at the table setting as my eyes scanned the room. My cousin was back from the honeymoon—a week on the Amalfi Coast at a five-star villa. But I hadn’t seen her since her arrival in New York City, where she now lived full-time with Locke.
