Coming Home

by Judith Keim

  “You want to expand the tasting room?” Rafe asked.

  “It’s something we talked about,” said Cami. She turned to Drew. “It’s wonderful news, but what about your work at Taunton Estates?”

  “That’s why I’m here,” said Rafe. “Drew called me, and I told him what I had in mind for him with the Taunton Estates vineyards and winery. It’s one reason the bank approved the loan for Lone Creek. Drew will be the major holder of the property. And by combining a lot of the work, both properties can be handled well.”

  “What about Chandler Hill? Adam is my winemaker.” Cami couldn’t hide her dismay.

  “He’s still going to be loyal to you, but he will help me and José with the winery at Lone Creek. With your permission, we’ll all be working together.”

  Cami hesitated only a moment. The three wineries lined up together could do things more efficiently. As long as the quality of her wine wasn’t affected, it would be fine.

  “Deal,” she said, rising to give Drew a hug. “Wow! You’ve got as much land as you can handle now.”

  “It’s all in the details,” he said, laughing at the way she arched her brow at him.

  Rafe stood. “Now, if you two don’t mind, I’m heading home to sleep in my own bed. Remember, on European time, it’s still my bedtime.”

  Cami walked him to the front door and hugged him tight. “I’m glad you’re home. I love you so much.”

  “Love you too, cariño.”

  “Want me to drive you home?” Cami asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “I want to walk the land and make a stop along the way.”

  Cami knew he was talking about sitting in the special grove of trees with his memories of Nonnee and their time together. “I understand. See you tomorrow.”

  When Cami returned to the deck, Drew was standing at the railing looking out at the rolling hills. Color from the leaves of the hardwood trees among the pines dotted the hill.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Cami said, coming up beside him.

  He turned to her and smiled. “You’re beautiful.” He lowered himself to one knee.

  “What are you doing?” Cami asked softly.

  “I’m asking you to marry me. Will you, Cami? I want to spend the rest of my life with you, living and loving, growing grapes, and making wine and babies.” He opened a small, black velvet box. Inside lay a gold ring with a large, round diamond flanked by two emerald-cut diamonds.

  Sophie bounded over to Drew, jumped up on his leg and turned to Cami with questioning eyes.

  “Are you two ganging up on me?” With her heart pounding with joy, she was finding it hard to breathe.

  “Will you marry me, Cami?” Drew asked, his eyes full of love for her.

  “Yes! Yes! I will marry you, Drew Farley, and love and live with you forever and ever.”

  He rose and pulled her into his embrace. “I love you more than you know, Cami. I promise to make you happy.”

  “You already have,” Cami murmured, lifting her lips to his.

  When they finally pulled apart, Drew said, “Let’s put off dinner for a while.”

  She was about to agree when the doorbell rang. Laughing at the timing of the delivery of their dinner, she went to answer it. She’d make sure Drew was satisfied with both dinner and her.

  Later, after making love with him, Cami glanced at the ring on her finger. It was gorgeous. But it was only a symbol of the love they shared. She thought ahead to her wedding and wondered as she often had how everything would work out. Surely Rafe would agree to walk her down the aisle. There was so much to be thankful for.

  ###

  Becca was waiting for her in her office when Cami arrived. “So, we know now what the project is. Dan is very excited about being a part-owner of a winery. He’s already coming up with plans to improve it.”

  Cami held her hands behind her back and beamed at her. “Drew is excited about it too. In fact, he’s asked me to marry him.” Cami thrust her left hand out in front of Becca.

  “Oh, my God! It’s beautiful!” Becca hugged her. “But you can’t get married before me!”

  Cami laughed. “I won’t. I promise. I’ve waited a long time to find the right man. I want to enjoy being engaged to him. Besides, we’re all going to be busy. It’s looking like a very good year.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  As Cami had predicted, things became hectic with the harvesting and crushing of grapes. Though the inn was busy, she spent as much time as she could with Adam, testing the grapes, making sure they were being handled properly. And when it came time for tasting, she found she’d inherited her grandmother’s palate. Maybe, she thought, in time I can act as the winemaker for Chandler Hill. The future loomed delicious and worthy of tasting.

  As Cami was reviewing the weights of the grapes and looking at other data regarding the harvest, Becca burst into the office. “There’s someone here you need to speak to. She’s checking in right now.”

  Cami frowned at her. “Who are you talking about?”

  “It’s someone important to you,” Becca said, giving her an impish grin. “Someone named Louise Kingsley.”

  Cami felt her eyes widen. She dropped the pen she was using and looked up at Becca. “Lulu?”

  “Yep. She’s checking in for two nights. And, for once, no weddings are scheduled. You should be able to have plenty of time with her.”

  Cami was unable to stop the flutter of nerves in her stomach. “Maybe she’s coming here to warn me again to stay out of her business. Her life is so mixed up right now.”

  “Maybe she wants simply to take you up on your offer to relax here for a while, like you told me. Whatever the reason, Cami, you need to try to resolve things between you.”

  Cami nodded and stared out the window, so lost in thought she failed to see the squirrel busily moving about. After all Lulu had been through recently, was Becca right about Lulu coming to Chandler Hill to simply relax? Or was Lulu up to more trouble?

  As Cami placed a call to the front desk, her emotions swung from high to low, each positive thought countered by a negative one. Had Lulu received her notes of condolence? If so, did she consider it a threat of some kind? But then, why hadn’t she called?

  “Chandler Hill Inn and Winery. It’s my pleasure to serve you,” came the voice on the line.

  “Please ask Ms. Kingsley to come to my office.” Cami wanted to greet Lulu in her own territory.

  A knock at the door brought Cami to her feet. Taking a deep breath, she walked over, opened the door, and stared at Lulu standing in the hallway.

  “You asked to see me?” Lulu looked young and uncertain, not at all like the confident, outgoing young woman she’d been at Justine’s wedding.

  “I thought we should talk. Please, won’t you come in and have a seat?”

  “I received your two notes. That’s why I’m here.” Lulu’s eyes filled. She gazed at Cami with such a forlorn expression that Cami’s heart twisted with sympathy.

  “Please. Let’s sit down.” Cami indicated one of the two leather chairs in front of her desk.

  As Lulu lowered herself into a chair, Cami took the one facing her and began speaking. “I never wanted to hurt you, Lulu. You or your family. I just wanted the truth. Only that.”

  Lulu clasped her hands, drew a deep breath, and slowly let it out. “I hope you’ll forgive me. I’ve been awful to you. And now that I’m more or less alone with no one to protect, I need to make that up to you.”

  “I’m sure you were doing what you thought you should,” said Cami softly. “After everything that’s happened, I understand.”

  Lulu shook her head. “You don’t know what my father was like. He was a light in a dark room, attracting all sorts of people to him, like moths to a flame. Though he was charming and pleasant, he was driven to succeed at anything he did. He dreamed of doing so much for this country as president. Of course, the way things turned out, that was never going to happen. Not after those women came forward with claims of se
xual assault. God! What a nightmare!”

  Cami reached over and took hold of Lulu’s hand. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. First that, then the heart attack, and then your mother. I hope you have a lot of friends around to help you.”

  Fresh tears filled Lulu’s eyes. “A few, not many. It’s amazing how something like being publicly shamed exposes other people for who they really are—fair-weather friends. That’s another reason I’m here. Even after the way I treated you, you took the time to write to me. Not once. But twice. You deserve more than my thanks for that.” She sighed sadly.

  Cami waited for her to speak again.

  “When I was going through some of my father’s papers, I found a letter from Autumn Chandler. I think you should have it.” Lulu pulled out a worn envelope from her purse and handed it to Cami.

  With trembling fingers, Cami took it.

  “You’d better read it,” prompted Lulu. “It’s important.”

  Scarcely breathing, Cami opened the envelope and pulled out the plain sheet of white paper addressed to Edward Kingsley. Her eyes caressed every letter as Cami read:

  “Dear Ed, I hope you are fine and moving ahead with your plans to do government work. With your blazing smile and determination to carry on good projects, you seem so suited to it. In reading about you lately, I was surprised to learn that you are now committed to marry another woman, someone chosen for you by your ambitious father. We share a daughter from our brief affair, but I won’t stand in your way. In order to avoid hurting you or your family, I have decided to end what was, for me, an extraordinary relationship. Please don’t contact me again. It’s best that way. With love, Autumn Chandler.”

  Cami looked up from the letter in her cold fingers and through a mist of tears stared at the woman she now knew was her half-sister.

  Lulu’s tears matched her own. “I swear I didn’t know anything about them being together or about him with any of the others. The family lawyer says there are no other children of his. Just us.” She lowered her head in her hands and sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey, it’s not your fault,” Cami crooned, attempting to calm her. “Both of our parents made those decisions on their own. My mother was very adamant about not telling me or any of the family who my father was. I realize now how much she must have loved him.”

  “Look at the envelope and the page inside, Cami. They’re worn on the edges as if someone had read the note over and over again,” said Lulu softly.

  They stood and stared at one another, aware of what that meant.

  “We’re family now. Sort of. Right?” said Lulu hesitantly. “I mean, I have nobody else, not really.” A tremor went through her.

  Cami wrapped her arms around Lulu. “Shhh. You won’t have to be alone. I promise. Come with me. I want to show you something.”

  They left the inn and walked toward the grove of trees that meant so much to Cami. “I didn’t want your father’s name, or his money, or anything else,” Cami said, looking over the land. “I’m a Chandler and a Lopez, and that’s more than good enough for me.”

  “He wasn’t the man I thought he was,” said Lulu sadly. “But my father did a lot of amazing things for others. That’s what I have to hold onto.”

  As they walked, Cami thought of families. They weren’t necessarily made up of the people who were born into it. Some people left holes behind. Others filled them with new beginnings. She glanced at the younger woman beside her. Maybe Lulu would find happiness here. And peace.

  A hawk circled in the sky above them, a brown swirl in a palate of blue. Cami barely remembered her mother, but she felt her presence in that moment. Her mother had been a brave, independent woman—Nonnee’s daughter in so many ways.

  Cami gazed at the hills around her. She, like Nonnee, had always loved the land. They were alive with the grapevines that lined them, promising rich harvests in more years to come.

  She’d come home to keep a promise to her grandmother, and what a gift it had turned out to be. Coming home had provided her with family, the one she had, the one she hoped to have with Drew someday, and the one she’d willingly share with Lulu and others who needed her.

  She lifted her face to the warmth of the sun, certain this was where she should be. Here at Chandler Hill, she and others would thrive because love was such a big part of it.

  A soft breeze caressed her cheek. In the whisper of air around her, she heard Nonnee’s voice. “Welcome home, darling.”

  Thank you for reading Coming Home. If you enjoyed this book, please help other readers discover it by leaving a review on your favorite site. It’s such a nice thing to do.

  Enjoy an excerpt from my book, Home at Last – A Chandler Hill Inn Book (Book 3 in the Chandler Hill Inn Series), which will be out in mid-2020.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Louise “Lulu” Kingsley sat on the deck of Camilla Chandler’s house and wondered how she could be so lucky as to live in a place like Willamette Valley, Oregon. The journey to reach this point was more than painful—it had almost destroyed her. But here, at Chandler Hill, she felt she’d found her true home at last.

  Staring out at the rolling hills and the rows of grapevines devoid of their fruit after harvesting, she saw the goodness of the land, its beauty and, most of all, the comforting assurance of more harvests to come. She thought of this continuity of life as a renewal of her own.

  If Cami hadn’t offered her a place to stay and a job in an entirely new location, Lulu wasn’t sure she could have survived the last year of family misfortune and scandal. For anyone who didn’t know much about her, they’d think her life as the daughter of a rich, powerful man who’d one day wanted to run for president of the United States was a privileged, easy one. But the man who tied her to her newly discovered half-sister was a man of too many appetites, and it had hurt others, including her ailing mother and her.

  The understanding shown by the half-sister she’d never known growing up meant the world to her. Cami came from a long line of kind, generous Chandler and Lopez families. Living and working at The Chandler Hill Inn and Winery was more than an ordinary situation. For Lulu, it meant finding a loving place in the world, one she’d desperately needed.

  “I thought I’d find you here,” said Cami, stepping onto the deck and standing behind her. “I love to sit here and gaze out at the land too. It’s very peaceful toward the end of the day and, as always, I think of Nonnee. My grandmother’s love of the land was the foundation for everything that’s been done here with both the inn and the winery.”

  Lulu turned around in her rocking chair and smiled up at Cami. Not much older than she, Cami’s big heart matched her usual smile. Though Cami wasn’t as tall as she and had totally opposite coloring, their facial features were astonishingly alike. Among other things, they shared a tiny quirk—misshapen ear lobes, a genetic inheritance from her father. Lulu wished she had Cami’s strawberry-blond curls like Cami’s grandmother, but her hair was straight and dark like her father’s.

  “How’d your day at school go?” Cami asked, sitting in a chair next to her.

  “Pretty well,” Lulu said. “Every kid in the fourth grade tries to act up with a substitute teacher, but I really got their attention when they realized I speak Spanish. My father insisted on that, and I’m glad he did. I’m hoping to be able to volunteer to teach a special tutorial class for second-language students after the winter break.”

  “Sounds good. Until then, Gwen is very pleased to have you help out at The Barn from time to time. I explained it was temporary only. It won’t be long before the holiday season and we’ll be crazy busy. Even busier than now. Then we’ll all have to concentrate on the upcoming year.”

  “I love being part of the staff,” said Lulu, meaning it.

  Cami gave her a sweet smile. “Sweetie, you’re much more than one of the staff; you’re family now, and we intend to use your marketing and sales skills here at the inn and the other two properties.”

  A wa
rmth filled Lulu. Being part of a real, healthy family was such a gift. An only child after the death of her younger, ten-year-old brother, she’d always longed for siblings. And though Cami’s so-called family consisted of a whole group of people who weren’t necessarily related by blood, it was a close-knit group. Cami’s grandfather, Rafe, was a wonderful man who’d been very kind to her. They’d formed a bond over the fact that her father and Rafe’s daughter, Autumn, had met and fallen in love, producing Cami.

  Cami nudged Lulu’s arm playfully. “By the way, I think Miguel was disappointed you weren’t at the strategy meeting today.”

  Heat flooded Lulu’s cheeks. Miguel Lopez was one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen. Like his great-uncle, Rafe, he had hair so dark and shiny it resembled the wings of a blackbird or the smooth coat of a panther, she couldn’t decide which. His straight nose, dark, intelligent eyes, and full, kissable lips had every young girl in the valley swooning in the wake of his sexy butt. The very reasons Lulu had no intention of ever getting involved with him.

  “How did the meeting go?” Lulu asked. “Are the three vineyards able to set up a joint purchasing program for supplies, advertising, and other services?”

  “We’re ironing out details, but yes, it’s moving forward. With you about to begin handling the marketing for all three, it simplifies those matters.” Cami grinned at her. “So glad you’re here.”

  “Thanks for letting me take the substitute teaching day. I know how difficult it is to find teachers at the last minute, especially those who speak Spanish. But I know things have been difficult for you lately with the marketing and how much you now need someone to step in and take over a large portion of it for you.” She’d been intrigued by the story of how Cami’s fiancé, Drew Farley, along with Dan Thurston, Adam Kurey, and José Lopez had ended up co-owners of the Lone Creek Winery after a fire had destroyed part of its acreage. She’d been even more fascinated to learn that Cami’s ex-boyfriend, Bernard Arnaud, had taken off with Vanessa Duncan, who used to work on marketing at Chandler Hill.