Sweet From the Vine

by Jacquie Underdown

  Matilda nodded. ‘So, I take it you’re on his side.’

  Mum frowned. ‘Matilda, I’m not on anyone’s side. There are no sides here. You are two adults with two sets of emotions and experiences. I can’t discount or favour either of you.’

  She looked sidelong at her mother. ‘But you think I should accept that he hurt me and give it yet another go with him?’

  Mum shrugged. ‘I can’t make that decision.’

  ‘I didn’t ask you to make a decision. I just want your opinion. Sometimes, I don’t want an impartial adjudicator—I want a bloody mum who will tell me what I should do.’ She lowered her eyes and sighed.

  ‘Okay, fine. Here’s my opinion—you love him, give him another shot.’

  ‘I knew that’s what you’d think.’

  ‘You asked for my opinion. I gave it. What, now you’re not going to even consider it?’

  ‘I don’t know how you can say for me to give him another shot when history has proven time and time again that he’s going to hurt me again.’

  Mum blew out a breath. ‘Mitch lost his wife not even two years ago. He’s hurting. This is hard for him. He is doing everything he can—and I mean everything—to make it work with you.’

  Tears filled her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. ‘It hurts me too. Can you understand that?’

  ‘Yes. I can. But you knew this was going to take patience. You decided he was worth it.’

  ‘I have been patient. More than patient. But it’s now reached the point of embarrassing.’

  Mum nodded, lips parted in such a way that said, ‘That’s it right there. The truth’.

  ‘I’m a strong woman, Mum. I can’t have him thinking he can keep treating me like this and I’ll keep coming back, chasing him like a lost puppy dog. I have to face Ellie and Amy. Tom and Sam. I just ran into Tiffany at the grocery store. She knows Mitch and I are finished … again. How do you think this makes me look? It’s a small town. People talk.’ She rubbed her hands over her face as heat swelled in her cheeks. ‘They already know I left my husband because he didn’t want children. I’m sure everyone will discover that he’s having a baby with someone else. And then I chase after Mitch, think I’m pregnant, and he lets the world know that he doesn’t want kids. It’s humiliating.’

  ‘You love him?’

  Matilda nodded. ‘Yes, but it’s not enough.’

  ‘He’s a good man, Mati. You know he is the best kind of man.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘For someone who wasn’t going to give her opinion, you’re doing a pretty good job of it.’

  ‘I’m trying to make you see the truth in all this.’

  ‘Oh, don’t you worry. I can see the truth. I run back to Mitch. He has another meltdown over something ridiculous. We’re finished again. And I’m town gossip for another few months.’

  Mum rested her elbows on the table and linked her fingers together. ‘So what you’re saying is that you are going to give up on this chance to be with Mitch, despite you loving him and despite him being a genuinely good man, because of small town gossip? Because you’re worried that a few people might think you’re not a strong woman?’

  Mum’s words hung in front of Matilda’s face like beacons of truth, then they smashed into her.

  She was that eighteen-year-old girl again running far away from this town, escaping the life Alpine Ridge had predestined her for. That old shame pressed in on her because despite how much her school friends spoke about fleeing this small-town cage, and how much her friends’ mothers had admitted their regrets about staying here, she had known all along that she wanted what this town could give her.

  But she was too embarrassed to admit it. A stronger girl would have embraced her own desires and stayed with her high school sweetheart and had a houseful of children.

  But she wasn’t strong back then. She let the gossip and propaganda blind her until she could no longer even see what she had truly sought—Mitch, this town, a family, a slower life.

  Her face prickled. She pressed both her hands to her cheeks and shook her head. ‘Oh my god, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?’

  Mum shrugged. ‘You tell me.’

  She lowered her face into her hands, slowly rocking her head from side to side. When she sat upright again and met Mum’s gaze, tingles were fanning down the back of her arms and along her nape. ‘I thought I was over all that,’ she whispered, unable to find volume. She thought she was stronger than this.

  Even after all this time, she was still worried about what this town thought of her. She was still making decisions based on how the townsfolk might gossip about her. She was still trying to be someone other than who she truly was and, instead, pretending to be who she thought people wanted her to be.

  She had been here before with Mitch. It was the same reason she had broken his heart all those years ago. She couldn’t do it to him again.

  ‘Put aside what everyone else thinks about you. What do you truly want?’ Mum asked.

  ‘I want Mitch,’ she said, words barely audible. And as she said those three words, her body rang with the truth of them. ‘I’ve only ever wanted Mitch.’

  Mum placed her hand on top of hers and looked her deep in the eyes. ‘Then go get him.’

  ‘Oh my god, but what do I say?’

  ‘Start with the truth and see where that leads you.’

  ‘Am I making the right decision, though?’

  Mum nodded. ‘Yes.’

  She narrowed her gaze. ‘How can I trust you when you’re main motivation is more grandchildren?’

  Mum smiled a little and shrugged a shoulder. ‘Well then, you’ll just have to trust yourself. You’ve proven in the past that you’re willing to make hard decisions in order to get the life you want. I’m sure you can do it again.’

  She nodded, breaths harsh in her throat. ‘What if I’m too late? What if I’ve ruined it?’

  Mum smiled warmly. ‘It’s not too late, Mati. Unless Mitch has changed his mind between yesterday and now.’

  Matilda rolled her eyes. ‘Believe me, it could happen that fast.’

  Mum shook her head. ‘Not this time. He’s had some powerful breakthroughs. He knows what he wants. And it’s you. Trust me, he’s ready.’

  Matilda jumped to her feet and kissed Mum on the cheek. ‘Thank you for being opinionated. And objective. And everything I need right now.’

  Mum chuckled. ‘I’m glad I could help. Now stop fart-arsing around. I’m not getting any younger. And go get him.’

  When Matilda knocked on the front door of Mitch’s house, she was a mass of nerves and emotion.

  But she was confident. Not so much in how Mitch would respond to what she had to say, but confident now in what she truly wanted. And confident in not letting considerations about what others would think of her get in the way of what she wanted.

  Mitch came to the door, his eyebrows arching higher when he saw her standing there. To see his tall frame and serious, handsome face, she couldn’t believe that she had almost let him go for the second time.

  What a tragic mistake that would have been.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted as soon as he opened the door. ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t want this to be the end of us. I know that now.’

  He stared at her as though trying to decipher her bombardment of quick words.

  She stepped closer and threw her arms around his waist, pressed her head to his chest. ‘I nearly made the same mistake. I nearly let you go again because I was worried what this town would think of me.’

  His arms came around her, firm and strong, and she melted with relief. His shoulders curved inwards to hold her more fully, and she didn’t know if she had experienced anything more comforting.

  She pulled away, only enough to look into his eyes. ‘I want you, Mitch.’

  ‘Prove it,’ he said with a rumbling voice.

  She jumped up, and he caught her in his arms as she circled his waist with her legs. Craving to touch him, she framed his face
with her hands. ‘I love you, Mitch Mathews. I love you so much. And that love is more than enough. It will get us through. I know it.’

  ‘Say it again,’ he whispered, brown eyes burning into hers.

  ‘I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will never stop loving you. I want that life with you that you saw. I want all of that. With you. Only you.’

  His low groan was full of relief and angst. ‘I thought you had slipped through my fingers. I thought I had lost you again.’

  She shook her head and pressed her lips to his. That sensation of his warm lips against hers, the scent of this man, the feel of his stubble under her palms, ignited her conviction deeper. ‘I’m here. And I want you. And I’ll prove it to you time and time again until the day our hearts stop beating.’

  His lips crashed against hers and when Matilda was able to tear herself away from that luscious mouth, she whispered in his ear, ‘Tell me you love me.’

  His eyes burned with love when he met her gaze and within them, she saw her entire future with this man pan out in front of her. ‘I love you, Matilda. I’ve never stopped loving you, and I never will.’

  Chapter 30

  Thirteen months later

  Mitch held Sophie’s hand as they walked down the brightly lit hall. Sophie twisted her shoes against the shiny linoleum with each step, so that the soles squeaked.

  Euphoria was racing through his blood; it had been since late last night. He’d barely had a wink of sleep.

  ‘I go see the baby?’ Sophie asked, looking up at him with her excited brown gaze.

  Mitch’s smile was broad and effortless—he couldn’t have stopped it if he’d tried. Unbelievable pride filled the last remnants of hollowness that remained in his heart.

  ‘Yep,’ Mitch said. ‘You’re going to meet your brother.’

  Sophie’s eyes widened. ‘My brudder. He a baby, isn’t he?’

  Mitch nodded. ‘He sure is.’

  ‘My brudder in Mati’s tummy?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  He had dressed Sophie in a lovely new dress of pale blue. It tied at the waist with a yellow ribbon and flared out at the skirt. She wore new matching navy ballerina shoes.

  Today was special. He had wanted Sophie to feel that way too—that she was connected completely to all this.

  Mitch smiled at the attending nurses as he rounded the corner and strode up towards Matilda’s room. Each breath in was bliss. His happiness sat in the back of his throat like a smile and joyful tears combined. He often didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry with elation.

  They stepped into the room and Matilda looked up at them as they entered. A smile curled her lips and love was everywhere in her expression.

  ‘Little baby brudder,’ Sophie said with amazement as she noticed the bundle wrapped in a blanket, lying snuggly in Matilda’s arms.

  ‘Yep, Sophie, darling. Come on up,’ Matilda said, patting the space on the bed beside her.

  Sophie climbed up onto the bed and kissed Matilda’s cheek.

  ‘Hello, Soph. I have a surprise for you.’

  Sophie grinned from ear to ear, her gaze never leaving the little baby before her. Mitch sat on the other side of Matilda.

  ‘Hello again,’ he said, kissing her mouth. ‘How are you feeling?’

  She beamed. ‘A little tired. But I’m doing really well.’

  Never could he have imagined how awestruck he could be by Matilda. But after last night as she persevered through nine hours of labour, then pushed their son into the world, he now knew she was possessed with superpowers. He had never loved her more.

  But to see his son for the first time as he drew his first breath and cried with that bleating lamb vibrato to let the doctor and midwives know that he was well and truly here, he thought he’d collapse from the emotion—the joy, the bliss, the pride, the love, all closed in on him at once.

  He stroked his son’s soft small head as he suckled at Matilda’s breast. He made little grunts from time to time. His eyes were closed.

  ‘Sophie, I’d love you to meet your brother, Braith.’

  ‘Hello, Bwaif,’ Sophie said, mesmerised by the baby before her. ‘He my little brudder.’

  ‘He is,’ Mitch said.

  ‘A hungry brother,’ Matilda said. ‘My milk’s not fully in yet, but it doesn’t stop him from trying.’

  ‘And how’s it going?’

  She smiled with her outbreath. ‘I’ll get the hang of it.’

  He kissed her cheek, then her lips. ‘I love you so much, do you know that?’

  She nodded. ‘I love you too.’

  ‘And me,’ Sophie said.

  ‘I love you so much too,’ he agreed.

  ‘And my baby brudder?’

  He leant down and kissed his son’s head. ‘And Braith.’

  Mitch leant back against the bed, his shoulder against Matilda’s. Surrounded by his growing family, he wasn’t sure he could feel any more gratitude. He was certain he had not been so happy in a very long time.

  He didn’t know what he had done right to deserve this family of his. All he knew was that from the moment he had chosen to keep living and planted more roots, so much sweetness blossomed from the vines.

  Where Rachel once was didn’t grow anymore, but her branch was still there, a wooden structure to remind him with whom he had once shared his life. And from her branch was a strong, vibrant offshoot—Sophie—Rachel’s last gift to him.

  His surrounding family was thriving too—his brothers building their own family trees. Tom and Amy were married last February on the vineyard. In six short months, they too would be welcoming their own baby into the world.

  Sam and Ellie were to be married next spring. Livvy was excited about her and Sophie being the designated flower girls and requested they be made matching sparkly dresses with unicorns printed on the front.

  Little hints were dropped that it wouldn’t be long after the wedding that Sam and Ellie would have more children.

  Mitch’s life hadn’t been easy, and his future held more challenges. Mum had completely forgotten him. When he went to visit her, which was often now as the end drew closer, he would simply sit with her, holding her hand or if she wasn’t receptive to touch, he would sit a distance away in a chair and read from a book or tell her about all that was happening. Sometimes he didn’t say anything at all and would be silent company, enough to let her know she wasn’t alone.

  He didn’t anticipate that she would be with them for much longer and that filled him with a painful mix of emotions—dread, sadness, anticipation. But he knew when the time came, his family would band together like they always had and always would. Together, they were strength.

  Mitch had proven that even at the end of such bleakness and despair, happiness could again be possible. He would take that new nugget of knowledge with him throughout his life.

  Because life was never the short picture, even though it sometimes felt that way. Life was about the long game—the slow rises after the deepest falls.

  But mostly life was about love.

  He had chosen to love again. Love for all it contained, despite the possibility of heartbreak and loss. And how lucky he was to have been given the opportunity to love twice.

  In this room was everything he ever needed or wanted.

  Mitch watched his family and allowed the beautiful sensation of happiness to flow through his veins unabated. His life had caught up with that once far-off hopeful future. He was now living it. And for that, he was truly blessed.

  Thanks for reading Sweet From The Vine. I hope you enjoyed it.

  Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.

  You’ve just read a book in my Brothers of the Vine series. The other books in this series are Bittersweet and The Sweetest Secret.

  If you liked this book, here are my other books Catch Me a Cowboy, Pieces of Me, Beautiful Illusio
n, The Paler Shade of Autumn, Beyond Coincidence and Unstitched.

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