Rosa sat up straighter. "No grandson of mine will live in sin."
"We're not going to live together." His tone was firm but resigned. He obviously knew what was coming.
Rosa's chair scraped across the terra-cotta floor tiles as she pushed it back from the table and stood. "Come," she barked the order at Nick. Then she nodded sympathetically at Callie. "I will talk to him. Un momento, per favore."
"But-"
Nick touched a hand to Callie's shoulder and shook his head to silence her protest, then stood and followed his grandmother to a door leading off the kitchen. Just before he passed through it, he turned back. "Her bark is worse than her bite," he said in a low voice, "but it's loud all the same."
"You told me she didn't bite at all."
He was smiling as he closed the door behind him. The slab of solid wood did little to disguise the tirade of angry Italian coming from the other side of it. Callie wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for him or to laugh.
But her conscience would only let her sit there for so long while he took all the blame for the fact that there would be no wedding. She stood and followed them, pushed open the door to see Rosa, who scarcely came up to Nick's shoulders, with a finger in his chest. They both looked at her, and Rosa's diatribe halted.
"Mrs. Brunicadi-"
"Rosa," the older woman quickly interrupted.
"Nick asked me to marry him." A strong hand came to rest on her shoulder. She looked across at Nick, who'd come to stand beside her, caught the small shake of his head and ignored it. "It's not what I want," she said as she looked back at Rosa.
"Of course it is."
"No. It's not," she said quietly, aware of two pairs of surprised eyes on her.
Rosa harrumphed, glared for a while longer at Nick, then, with an air of injured dignity, went back into the kitchen.
Nick stood in front of her, his head tilted to one side, his green eyes curious. "I don't think anyone's ever done that before. Tried to defend me to Rosa." A half smile tilted his lips. "You didn't have to."
"It seemed only fair. Besides, I get to leave after the end of the festival. Escape any more fallout."
The smile turned rueful. "She'll come around. But she needed to rant, to get it off her chest."
With one reassuring hand at the small of her back, he guided her back to the table, and unperturbed, waited for her to sit. They ate in relative companionability, though every now and then Rosa muttered to herself in Italian, and either frowned at Nick or looked pityingly at Callie. And Callie knew that she still thought it was Nick's fault there would be no wedding, that no woman in her right mind would turn down his offer of marriage. It was easy to see why she thought that way.
Nick watched Callie swallow the last of her gnocchi and edge her bowl away. "I'll show you the guest cottage." As seductive as watching her eat was, he needed to get her away from Rosa, who couldn't be counted on to forbear on the subject of marriage much longer. And while he wanted Callie to come to accept that marrying him was the best option, she needed space to do that, not badgering.
She paused as they rounded a bend in the path. "Cottage?" she challenged with a grin and a glint in her eyes. That grin was its own version of sunshine and temptation. Shaking her head, she kept walking toward the house that was a smaller version of the family home.
Nick held open the door that led into a spacious and light-filled interior furnished in creams and neutrals.
She trailed behind him as he showed her the bedroom, its broad, high bed piled with pillows, and the marble bathroom with its deep spa bath.
Back in the living room a ceiling fan spun lazily above them, barely moving the warm air. Nick leaned against a door frame, watching her and waiting for her reaction as she crossed to the wide windows and looked out over distant rows of green vines stretching across the hillsides. She turned. "It's beautiful here," she said, her expression enchanting.
She turned back to the window. "It's so peaceful. It quiets something inside. Gives a perspective that makes you believe everything will be okay."
That was how he'd always felt coming here. Cypress Rise was good for his soul. And she felt it too. That thought troubled him almost as much as it pleased him. He needed her to like it here. He didn't need to feel that she belonged. That she, too, might be good for his soul. Because his soul was just fine without her.
He stepped back. "Whenever you're ready I'll take you back to the vineyard office."
"I'm ready now."
In his car again, she looked at him. "I can't see that Melody's going to be thrilled at the prospect of me having your baby."
He reached across, touched his hand to her shoulder. "It's our business, Callie. Not anyone else's." He put his hand back on the wheel. "Though they'll definitely try to make it so. Still, you don't need to worry at the moment. Rosa won't tell anyone about the pregnancy yet, although we won't be able to stop her from knitting."
"When will you tell Melody?"
"Maybe after the festival, when she doesn't have so much on her mind. She'll know you better by then. You two will like each other."
"Is that another Brunicadi prediction?"
"No. This is a knowledge of people. Of Melody and of you."
"You don't really know me."
"I know you better than you think, better than you want to believe."
Nine
M elody was on the phone as Callie walked into the office. The remnants of a salad-filled sandwich and an apple core lay on a plate in front of her. A second phone on her desk was ringing. Callie gestured toward it and Melody nodded for her to pick it up. Odds were it would be about the festival.
"Cypress Rise."
"Darling. I forgot to say-"
"Jason?" Funny, a part of her observed, how the sound of his voice did nothing to her. She was still annoyed at him. But it was an unemotional kind of annoyed.
"Callie." The pause was long. "I've been meaning to get in touch with you to explain-"
There were no explanations she needed or wanted from him. "I assume you want Melody." She lowered the phone and held it out.
As Melody finished the call she was on, Callie passed over the phone, busied herself in paperwork, humming quietly to drown out whatever Melody was saying. And when Melody hung up they picked up where they had left off before Callie had gone for lunch.
The afternoon was just as busy as the morning. They spent time with the vineyard staff, as well as with artists and musicians arranging and rearranging details of the weekend. There were the usual last-minute hitches and panics, but by six o'clock Callie was confident everything was under control. The to-do list for the rest of the week was full but manageable.
Melody sat back in her chair and breathed a heavy sigh. "We should go up to the house. Rosa expects everyone to eat dinner together." She patted her faintly rounded stomach. "And I'm finding I have to eat really regularly anyway. This little boy is doing terrible things to my appetite. I'm going to be the size of a house by the time he comes." Melody's jaw dropped and the hand that had rested on her stomach suddenly clapped over her mouth.
Did Melody think Callie didn't know about the baby? "I heard a whisper at the wedding. It's wonderful news." Callie tried to put her at ease. "I haven't congratulated you and Jason yet-" because your brother forbade me to talk to either of you "-but I wish you all the best with your pregnancy. I'm sure you'll be wonderful parents." She meant every word, didn't feel any of that sense of inadequacy she had when she'd first heard about their pregnancy.
She really had moved on. And that was due in part to Nick. For better or worse, he'd presented her with enough issues in her own life that she didn't have the time or energy to spare to be anxious about anyone else's life.
Melody's smile was a mix of relief and pride. "I didn't know whether … How you'd … If … " She tripped over her words, her eyes wide in her delicate face. Callie could suddenly see why Jason had fallen for her. Not only was she beautiful and sweet, but there was a fragility about her that Jason would want to protect. She would let him be the big, strong man he pictured himself as. Callie had never let him be that for her.