Crazy About Cameron: The Winslow Brothers #3 (The Blueberry Lane Series -The Winslow Brothers) (22 page)

“About that . . . being partners, I mean. I’d love to follow you around every day, baby, but I suspect I’d keep busy handling our distribution, marketing, and shipping. And events, of course. The vineyard and vines and wines would always be yours, but I could manage the business end. I could . . .” He swallowed the lump in his throat.

She’d found and purchased this place on her own, planted the grapes, hired the staff, built two outbuildings, and renovated a cottage. What would compel her to share her dream with him?

And then he knew.

Love.

“I love it here,” he whispered, his fingers gripping her shoulders. “I love everything about it. I love the land, the vines and vineyard, the fields beyond, and the hills in the distance. I love the way the sun sets over the vines and rises over the tasting room. I love it that my sister will be married here. I love it that our kids will grow up here.”

She’d been mostly stoic as he spoke, but she inhaled sharply as he mentioned their future children, and her eyes suddenly swam with tears.

“I love
you
,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes, which told him that all his worries were for naught. “My life was a shell until you let me love you. I didn’t know what love was—not between a man and a woman, not the ‘I’d do anything including die to keep you safe and for the privilege of loving you forever’ sort of love. And without you, I might have lived my life in a constant, manic struggle for peace and happiness. Instead, you’ve delivered them to me.
You
are my peace;
you
are my happiness. You are my goddess in librarian’s clothing, my childhood crush, my beloved woman. And this place—this magical place—is where we began. And so I love it. And I never, ever want to leave it.”

Tears ran down her cheeks in rivulets now, and he reached up and swiped them away.

“No half measures, remember?”

She nodded, sniffling softly, and smiled at him through her tears.

“I think you should know my intentions, Margaret Story.” He lowered his voice, nailing her with his eyes. “Not long from now, I’m going to ask you to be my wife.”

Her head fell forward against his chest with a quiet sob, and Cameron pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly, resting his lips on her sun-warmed, satiny-soft hair.

“But until then, I was sort of hoping you’d take me on as a roommate and a business partner.”

Her shoulders trembled, and Cameron wondered if this was all too much. Honestly, he hadn’t intended to tell her about his plans to propose. Fuck,
had
it been too much? Was she freaking out?
You can freak out, but don’t
check
out.
Please don’t check out, Meggie.

“Baby?” he said softly, stroking her back. “I move at the speed of light. If you need some time to think it over, that’s totally understandable. We can . . .”

She leaned back, and he realized that what he had assumed were tears was actually a mixture of tears and laughter. Her eyes were shiny but joyful as she looked up at him and nodded.

“Yes.”

“To which part?”

“To all of it. To a place we love, and to a business we can share, and to a future we’re going to build together. Yes to all of it, Cam.”

And Cameron Winslow, who never, ever did things in half measures, cupped Margaret Story’s face in his hands and kissed her to seal the deal.

Once Margaret had a regular contractor come and reconstruct her pantry, it didn’t take more than three weeks to sell her apartment, and she happily moved some of her belongings to Cameron’s place, which they’d decided to keep for evenings they wanted to spend in the city, and she put the rest in storage. They lived in the cottage for now because the house Cameron was having built at The Five Sisters was still under construction. But he was determined to have it finished in time for their Christmas wedding, and knowing Cameron, it would be ready with time to spare.

Speaking of Margaret’s Cameron, he proposed last weekend, on the first official day of fall, which was also the day the tasting room was officially completed. As he led her from the cottage to the new building blindfolded, she inhaled deeply, the strong, fresh smell of new lumber flooding her senses. When Cameron removed the blindfold, she found that the entire room was roped in white lights, and he was down on one knee before her.

She gasped, knowing, of course, that this day was coming, but not expecting it quite so soon.

Cameron reached for her hand while holding an open ring box in his other palm. The ring, made of yellow gold, with leaves and vines woven into the metalwork, held a large diamond in its center, with two emeralds flanking it like leaves. Tears filled Margaret’s eyes because it was so perfectly and thoughtfully chosen. Looking up from the beautiful ring, she allowed her eyes to be seized and held by his.

“Margaret Story. My Meggie.” He gulped softly, an uncharacteristic nervousness making him pause, and she loved him all the more for it. “You’re the woman of my dreams. Always have been. Always will be. All I want, for the rest of my life, is to be with you. If you’ll marry me, I promise we’ll make beautiful wines and beautiful babies and a beautiful life together, and I will protect you and love you until my dying breath. Be my wife?”

She was barely able to choke out “Yes!” she was so overcome with love for him.

Cameron beamed at her, then stood up and slipped the gorgeous ring over her finger. And they christened the new tasting room then and there, tasting each other under the white twinkle lights, and then wrapped themselves up in each other’s arms as they planned a future together.

Meanwhile, Priscilla, who was only supposed to fill in at Story Imports until Margaret “came to her senses,” had been hired as their father’s full-time secretary, and it didn’t surprise Margaret a bit when she arrived at Jessica Winslow and Alex English’s wedding today holding on to Shane Olson’s arm. Although Margaret was dying to know what was going on with them, she was determined to let Priscilla tell her when she was ready, and so she grinned at her little sister and welcomed Shane without teasing questions or a knowing smile.

Margaret didn’t know what would become of her relationship with her father, who had canceled his attendance at Jessica and Alex’s wedding once the new venue had been made known. Perhaps they wouldn’t reconcile. Perhaps they would. She would always hope for peace with her father, but Cameron’s love was ballast against the nonexistence of her father’s. All she could do was pledge that she would be a different kind of parent to her children. One day.

Margaret scanned the long table where she sat nestled beside Cameron. The Englishes and Winslows had taken over the table completely, and Barrett English was making a rather long speech about how Jessica could best “manage” his younger brother. Cameron laughed beside Margaret, squeezing her closer and clapping heartily when the speech was over. The guests picked up their forks and banged them lightly against their wineglasses, and Margaret looked down the candlelit table to see Alex clutch Jessica’s face with infinite tenderness and kiss his new bride.

Margaret recognized the look on Jessica’s face when she finally drew away. Unreserved and unconditional love was something Margaret herself knew well.

Brooks and Preston, who were seated across from each other, got up next and asked everyone to raise their glasses.

“We were not initially in favor of Alex courting our sister,” said Brooks, looking pointedly at Cameron.

“Hell, no!” said Cameron, eliciting a hearty laugh from the English brothers.

“But when we realized how much he loved our sister,” said Preston, glancing lovingly at his wife, Hollywood star Elise Klassan-Winslow, “we knew better than to get in the way.”

“Because,” said Brooks, smiling with emotion at his little sister, “as Jessica will be the first to tell you, when someone loves you, the best thing you can do is give yourself permission to love them back.”

Thank you
, mouthed Brooks to Jessica, who wiped away a tear and mouthed,
I love you
, to her oldest brother.

“And if you don’t give yourself permission,” said Preston, grinning at Jessica, “one day you just might thank God that you have a little sister who will browbeat you into it.”

Jessica giggled through her tears and shook her head at Preston, who mouthed,
I love you, Jess.

“We Winslows have often been called the Wild Winslows, and you know what? I guess that’s true. We love wildly, don’t we?” Brooks looked pointedly at Preston, then Jessica, then Cameron. “Just ask my brother Cameron, who asked Margaret Story to marry him last weekend.”

There was a round of raucous applause and glass banging, and Cameron turned to Margaret and kissed her upturned, smiling lips to appease the well-wishers.

“When we actually get our heads out of our asses and see what’s right in front of us, we Winslows love forever,” added Preston, winking at Christopher, the only unattached Winslow, who rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

“As you all know, my fiancée, Skye, is expecting our first child this spring,” said Brooks.

“And as none of you know, my wife, Elise, is expecting our first child a few weeks later,” added Preston, grinning down at her with a twinkle in his eye.

A loud communal gasp was followed by another round of applause. Jessica jumped up and covered her mouth with her hands in a reaction of utter glee. “Pres!”

He laughed softly as he reached for Elise’s hand and pulled her up beside him. “It’s true.”

Alex stood up beside Jessica, and Skye joined Brooks, the three Winslows and their loves raising their glasses together.

“To
this
generation of Winslows, who are slowly finding their way to happily ever after!” said Brooks.

“And to the next,” said Preston, “with a fervent wish that it won’t be as damned hard!”

A loud cheer went up as the guests clinked their glasses together, and Jessica rushed to Preston and Elise to congratulate them on their good news.

Margaret turned to Cameron, who sighed happily and said, “I’m going to be an uncle. Twice!”

She nodded. “Do you know what?”

“No,” he said, swallowing a gulp of Champagne before putting his glass back on the table. “Tell me.”

“Well, I was sort of thinking that maybe we should change the name of the vineyard.”

“From The Five Sisters?” he asked, wrinkling his nose. “To what? We found each other here. We fell in love here. I love the name.”

“Me too,” she said, looking across the table at Jessica, who had her palm gently against Elise’s still-flat belly. “But I just think The Three Cousins has such a nice ring to it.”

“The Three . . .”

She met her fiancé’s shocked, hopeful eyes as he tried to make sense of her words.

“Wait a second! Meggie. Are you saying . . . do you mean you’re . . . we’re . . .?”

She nodded, taking his hand and flattening his palm on her own belly as she smiled up at him tenderly.

“. . . having a baby too.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“God,” he whispered. His eyes glittered in the candlelight. “God, I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said, letting herself be drawn into the strong, protective warmth of his arms.

Laying her cheek on Cameron’s shoulder, she watched as the Englishes and Winslows celebrated Alex and Jessica, and she knew that whatever heartache she’d experienced in her birth family would be righted by the family she’d chosen. She and Cameron would, as he’d promised, build a beautiful future. And looking over at the nearby table that held her beloved sisters—Alice, Elizabeth, Priscilla, and Jane—she made herself a promise that, no matter what happened with her father, there would always be enough love, and enough room, for everyone.

THE END

The Winslow Brothers continues with…