A Wedding on Ladybug Farm (23 page)

“Twenty-five gallons,” Lori said, though she looked a little uncertain.  “It was more than I expected. I’m afraid some of it may be water.”

“Did you watch the temperature?”

“I stopped pressing at thirty degrees.”

“Then you’re fine.”

“I’m worried about the sugar.”

“We can adjust that with yeast.  But let it sit for a few more weeks, then test the brix.”  He smiled.  “My, you look good to me, girl.  It’s good to have you home.”

Lori relaxed for the first time since coming into the room, and she grinned back.  “You look good too.  When are they letting you out of here?”

Dominic’s hospital room looked more like a cheerful little apartment now, with colorful quilts from home and bright cushions brought by Paul to “cozy up the place,” books and magazines,  baskets of fruit and baked goods, and of course the perennial clusters of get-well balloons and potted plants. There was even a giant poster print of Dominic and Lindsay in one corner, scrawled with the signatures of well-wishers.  Though his face was perhaps not as tan as she remembered, and no one looked particularly robust in a hospital robe with his arm in a sling, Lori had been relieved to see that Dominic was much further along the road to recovery than she imagined.

“Tomorrow is the plan,” he replied, “and it can’t be too soon for me.”  He gave a small shake of his head.  “I’ve been feeling like such a damn fool since this happened, lying up here in a hospital bed being fussed over while everything we worked for all year went to ruin … but sometimes things do have a way of working out, don’t they?  If I’d been there I would’ve harvested early last week.  It wouldn’t have occurred to me to leave anything on the vines for ice wine.  You don’t do that in Virginia, and who could have predicted a freak freeze like that in the middle of October?”

“I could have,” Lindsay said, coming into the room with two coffee cups in her hand.  There was a vending machine down the hall that made sweet frothy caramel lattes and even added whipped cream, and she had become addicted to them.  “If there’s one rule about Ladybug Farm, it’s that anything that can go wrong, will.”

She offered one of the lattes to Lori, who declined politely.  She just couldn’t get used to the sugary flavor of American coffee after Italy.  “More for me,” Lindsay said, setting one of the cups on the nightstand and carefully removing the lid from the other.  “I can’t believe you all were out there picking grapes at night in the cold.”  She sat on the arm of the big chair where Lori was sitting, and when Lori started to get up and offer her seat, Lindsay waved her down again.  “I feel just awful that I wasn’t there to help.”

Lori cast a sideways grin at her.  “I’ll be sure to tell Mom and Aunt Bridget how bad you feel.”

Lindsay sipped her latte, oblivious.  “The only thing I don’t understand—well, one of the things, anyway—is how we’re going to get six hundred bottles of wine out of twenty-five gallons of juice.”

Dominic looked amused.  “We’re not.  We’re going to get two hundred half bottles of ice wine and sell them for five times as much.”

“Of course, we’ll have to hold it longer,” Lori added, “and there are extra bottling expenses.  Kevin is running some projections for you,” she added to Dominic.  “Also a cost analysis and P&L.  They’ll be ready for you to look at when you get home.”

“Well now,” Dominic lifted an eyebrow, impressed. “She not only makes wine, she brings her own accountant.”

Lori said, “Actually, Kevin’s a …” She broke off and corrected herself easily. “Kevin’s a real workaholic.  He was looking for something to do, and he’s pretty smart about things like that. We got the receipts filed and the bookkeeping up to date, too.”

Dominic said, “Maybe I should break some more ribs. That would give you time to get the office painted and cut back the vineyard.”

Lori said, “Don’t even joke about that.” And Lindsay said at the same time, “Not funny!”

Changing the subject, Lindsay said, “Did your mom tell you Noah called yesterday?  Gosh, it was good to hear from him!  What I could hear, that is,” she added with a small frown.  “He said something about being in transit and the connection was just awful.  He didn’t say where he was in transit to, or maybe he did and it got cut off. I told him everything was okay here and he said something about talking to me Saturday.  That’s tomorrow—although, oh dear.”  Her frown deepened.  “I’m not sure if he meant Saturday his time or Saturday our time.”  She abandoned the effort to figure it out with a smile. “Anyway, thank you for everything you did to get in touch with him.”

“It was Kevin’s idea to call the Red Cross,” Lori said. 

“Well it sure lifted my spirits to hear his voice,” Lindsay said, “even parts of it.”

“That’s what the Red Cross is for,” Dominic said. “Although, of course, there was never any real emergency.”

Both women stared at him, and Dominic lifted a single finger in self-defense, smiling. “Even though I’m very grateful that everyone else thought differently.  Not only did I get to spend my honeymoon in a luxury suite with round the clock attendants, but I got a nice long visit with all my children and I got the help in the winery I’ve been asking for.  So all in all, it worked out pretty well, I’d say.”

They laughed, and Lori delivered the remaining messages from everyone at home, said her good-byes, and got up to leave.  Lindsay walked her out.

“So that’s pretty cool,” Lori said, “that Dominic’s coming home on the day that was going to be your wedding day.”

“Is it?”  Lindsay looked surprised.  “I’m afraid I lost track of the time.”

“I guess the ‘for better or worse’ part came a little sooner than you thought it would.”

Lindsay smiled and gave a small shake of her head.  “You probably won’t understand this, and I hope in a way you don’t, not for a long time anyway.  But I was so proud of myself the night I finally let go of the wedding fantasy and just married the man, you know?  It was as though the accident was a wake-up call, and now we had our second chance and it was nothing but happily ever after as far as I could see.”  She paused, and even her steps slowed as she chose her words.  “Twelve hours later he stopped breathing.  He almost died on the operating table.  Twice in one day I lost him, and twice I got him back.  And now every minute I get to spend with him is the happiest minute of my life.  Because when you love someone it all feels like the better part, even when it’s the worse.”

Lori’s brows drew together faintly, and she said, “Yeah.”

They reached the elevator, and Lindsay hugged Lori.  “Thank you, honey, for coming home.  Dominic was his old self today for the first time since the accident, and it was all because of you.  And knowing that you’ll be here to help out with the winery takes such a load off his shoulders, and mine.” 

Lori looked uncomfortable.  “I’m glad to help,” she said.  “But the thing is … well, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to stay.”

“But your mother said things didn’t work out in Italy.” Lindsay looked at her closely, confused.  “I thought you weren’t going back.”

Lori nodded.  “It’s just that …”  She didn’t know how to finish.

“Are you going back to school?  But you won’t be able to enroll until winter quarter at the earliest, and …”

“Aunt Lindsay,” Lori blurted, “I’m in love with Kevin.”

Lindsay stared at her.

“My mom doesn’t know, neither does his, but he has to find a job and so do I and I just can’t promise anything right now because I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, or where we’ll end up.”

A dozen questions raced through the shock in Lindsay’s eyes, and at least another dozen emotions flickered across her face before she inquired cautiously, “Does Kevin love you back?”

Lori drew in a gulp of air, and nodded.  Her response came out as barely above a whisper.  “Desperately.”

Lindsay smiled, and took Lori’s face in her hands.  “Then what in the world,” she demanded gently, “are you doing here with me?”

~*~

“It was really very sweet,” Lindsay said.  She sat beside Dominic on the bed and opened the second latte.  “And kind of sad.  Poor Lori.  She’s had such a troubled love life, and I remember how I was at that age, so certain that every man I met was The One, and getting my heart broken every damn time.”  She licked a froth of melted whipped cream from the top of her coffee.  “And then it turned out I had to wait thirty years, when I was totally out of the mood to get married, before I actually found The One.”

Dominic, who had been flipping through a trade journal his daughter Cassie had brought, removed his reading glasses and smiled.  “Well, let’s hope our young Romeo and Juliet fair better, shall we?”

“I don’t know.  It’s weird, thinking about them as a couple.  I mean, they practically grew up together.  And what if it doesn’t work out?  Cici is going to flip.  And Bridget … I can’t even imagine what she’s going to think.”

“Friends usually make the best lovers,” Dominic pointed out.  “And I think you may underestimate the ladies, not to mention their children.  After all, a man doesn’t fly across an ocean to be with the woman he loves only to break her heart on his mother’s doorstep.”

Lindsay smiled.  “You know what else is weird?  That I’m talking about this to you instead of Cici. But I kind of like it.  In fact …”  She swung her legs up onto the bed and propped a pillow behind her back, snuggling close to him.  “I think I’m really starting to like this whole marriage thing.”

“I am delighted to hear it,” said Dominic.  “Because I did hope we could give it more than a trial run.”

He kissed her, and when she settled back against the pillow again she was smiling.  “Lori pointed out that tomorrow is the day we were supposed to get married originally.  I hadn’t even thought about it.”

“Is it now?  We should have a party.”

She knew he was teasing and she was about to make some flip remark when suddenly she sat up straight, staring at him.  “Oh my God,” she said.  “I think we already are.”

~*~

Kevin glanced up from the computer as Lori came into the winery office.  “Hi, baby,” he said, a little absently.  “Listen, I found about a half dozen invoices that hadn’t been mailed so I sent them out.  It’s going to be a lot easier to collect revenue if you actually invoice for product.  And I went ahead and filled out the quarterly tax forms, but they can wait ’til the deadline to write the check.  Fortunately, with no income you don’t pay much in taxes. Honey, I don’t mean to criticize, but this is not a one-man operation.  They’re going to have to hire somebody to run this office, even it’s only part time.  Maybe if the ice wine works out there’ll be enough in the budget for it next year.  You need to talk to Dominic about that.  Oh, and I found a bunch of credit card payments in receivables for ticket sales, but I don’t know how to apply them.  Do you know what that’s about?” 

She came over to the desk, turned his chair around, and sat on his knee.  He looked up at her, his concentrated expression slowly fading into pleasured welcome as he caressed her back. “This is different,” he said.

She kissed him.  Inevitably, he kissed her back, gently at first, and then with rising passion.  Finally, reluctantly, they broke apart.  “Okay,” he murmured, letting his hand slide from her waist to her hips and back again.  “This is a test, right?”

She said, “We can’t go on like this, Kevin.”

“I’m one hundred percent onboard with that, sweetheart.”  He settled his hands on her waist and kissed her throat.  “So why don’t you tell me what you have in mind?  And keep an eye on the window.  If one of our mothers walks in and finds you like this there’ll be more than one person in the hospital.”

Lori said, “It’s time to tell them the truth.”

He leaned back, studying her face.  “All of it?”

She nodded.  “I know that ever since we got here we’ve been telling ourselves we were protecting them by avoiding the subject, but you know we were really just protecting ourselves.  Because if we told them about us, we’d have to tell them how we got to be us, and that would mean you telling about losing your job and me telling about Sergio and lying about the apprenticeship. “

He nodded.  “I know.”

“They’re going to be mad.  They might even cry.  And … they might not like that we’re together.  It will be hard for them to get used to.  But sometimes you just have to stand up and do what you have to do, and be ready to pay the price if it goes wrong.”  She thought about that for a moment and added, “Just like with the ice wine.”

He smiled.  “I love you, do you know that?”

She smiled back.  “Yeah.  Actually, I do.”

He tightened his hands on her waist and pushed her gently to her feet. “Let’s go then.  No time like the present.”

She said, “A kiss for luck?”

He slipped his arms around her and drew her into him, and suddenly her eyes flew wide, and she stepped back.  “Did you say ticket sales?” she demanded.

~*~

“I can’t believe we forgot the burning of the vines party!” Bridget said, looking around the kitchen in a mixture of panic and despair.  “We’ve been planning it for over a month!”