Chapter Twenty

 

Grant checked himself over in the mirror in the bedroom. He looked good. He needed to. He wanted to look good for Chelsea, and he also wanted to look like the kind of guy the Hamiltons would be happy to see their daughter with. He knew he had their blessing. He’d gotten that when he’d driven over there like a madman this morning and barged into Mr. Hamilton’s meeting with Smoke. He’d talked to them—and to Mrs. Hamilton. He wanted them to be happy about this.

He and Chelsea had gone back to Zosca this afternoon, and it’d been so good. They’d worked together on beginning to implement the changes he’d recommended to her. He hadn’t pushed her about the bottling machine. He’d known she would wrestle with that one for a while, and that she’d probably find some other way to pay for it—one that didn’t include halving the bonus. With time, he hoped that he’d get her to see sense on that, but he didn’t need to rush her. They’d get there—if things turned out the way he was hoping, he’d have the rest of their lives to convince her.

He checked the clock on the wall. He didn’t want to be late. “Are you nearly ready?” He went to the closet where Chelsea had disappeared to find something to wear.

She turned to him with a smile. “I don’t know what to wear.”

“You look beautiful in whatever you wear.”

“Thank you, but there’s something you should know about me.”

He raised an eyebrow, wondering what was coming.

She laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. Come in here?”

He stepped into her closet, which was huge and filled with racks and racks of clothes and shoes.

She gave him a sheepish grin. “You might think this is my closet, but isn’t. It’s my dressing up box. These aren’t just clothes, they’re my costumes. I play dress up, according to where I’m going and what I’m doing.”

He laughed. “You do?”

She nodded solemnly. “See this?” She pulled out a scarlet red thing. When she held it up, he recognized it as the dress she’d worn the night they first met.

He nodded.

“This was the costume of a girl who would go out and hook up with a guy. I wore the costume, I played the part.”

He smiled. “You played the part, but it isn’t who you are.”

“No. It really isn’t, but that was the kind of girl I wanted to be that night, so that’s what I wore.”

“I’m glad you did.” He frowned. “But I hope you get rid of it now.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“I hope you don’t ever want to be that kind of girl again.”

She laughed. “Oh, no, I don’t. At least not for real, but I might wear it again—when we go out, you can pick me up and take me home again.”

“Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

“And see this?” she held up the suit she’d worn the morning he’d ‘met’ her in the boardroom. “This was to help me feel like a professional, a kick-ass business woman.”

“It worked.”

She nodded. “And tonight—tonight I don’t know what to wear.”

“Who do you want to be?”

“I want to be a woman in love. A woman who’s going out in public as a couple with her man for the first time. I want to look beautiful for you, and I want everyone to see and to know how happy I am.”

That made him smile. “And what are your options?”

She held up a long flowy dress with flowers on it. It looked like a hippy dress. He liked it, but it wasn’t doing it for him. Not that he’d say so.

She laughed. “I know, it’s not sexy, but it’s romantic and … no? Okay. No.”

“I didn’t say a word.”

She laughed. “You might not have spoken, but your face said it all. Then there’s this.” She pulled out a little black dress.

He liked it!

“See, it’s happy, and it’s sexy, but it’s not elegant. It’s a girl having fun, not a woman in love.”

Grant nodded. He could see what she meant.

“Why don’t you choose?”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t know how.”

“Yes, you would. Just pick something.”

He smiled as he rifled through the racks of clothes. He had no clue what he was looking for. A dress. He knew that much. He stopped when he reached a frilly white number. He pulled it out and looked at it. He reckoned it would look pretty damned hot on her—and it kind of reminded him of a wedding dress—which he liked. “How about this?” he asked uncertainly.

She laughed and reached up to plant a kiss on his lips. “It’s perfect!”

“It is?”

She nodded. “I’ve almost worn this dress a few times since I’ve known you.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“I’ll tell you if you promise not to laugh.”

“I promise.”

“Well, to me, this one reminds me of a fairy godmother. It’s all white and frilly. I almost wore it because I wanted some good fairy to come along and grant all my wishes, but I didn’t because I didn’t believe it would ever happen. Now all my wishes are coming true, and I get my Grant, too.”

He chuckled and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. “You’re adorable.”

“Thanks. Let’s see if you still think so when I put this thing on.”

She might have taken forever to decide what to wear, but he was grateful that she didn’t waste any time getting ready once she had. She had the dress on and her hair and makeup done in under twenty minutes. Grant was impressed and relieved they weren’t going to be late.

~ ~ ~

Chelsea looked around as Grant pulled up outside her parents’ house. “Wow. I thought it was just us coming for dinner. Look at all the cars.”

Grant nodded but didn’t say anything. He seemed nervous, which surprised her. He usually held his own without a problem—and turned on that Leo charm of his.

They got out of the car, and Grant took hold of her hand as they made their way past all the cars parked in the circular driveway. Chelsea was puzzled. “Look,” she said. “Gene and Rita are here. That’s Molly’s car. That’s Antonio’s. See that Porsche over there? That’s what Cam bought for Piper when she moved here.”

Grant nodded. “They must have decided to make a party of it.”

“I guess. I hope we can get in with Dad and Smoke and get the papers signed.”

“I’m sure they’ll want to get that taken care of first.”

Chelsea looked up at him before they started up the stairs to the front door. “Are you okay? We don’t have to go in. I wasn’t expecting there to be this many people either.”

He chuckled. “I’m fine. There’s nothing I want more than to go in there.”

“Are you joking?”

“I’ve never been more serious.”

“Okay then.”

They went up the steps, and she pushed the front door open. It felt as though everyone stopped talking when they entered the great room. She stared around at everyone, feeling paranoid for a moment, wondering if they all knew that she was officially going out on her own with Zosca and expecting her to fail. She got a few smiles, and the hum of conversation continued. She was just imagining things.

Her Mom waved and came to greet them. “There you are. I was starting to wonder if you were coming.”

“Sorry, I thought we were just coming to dinner. No one told us it was a party.”

Her mom giggled and gave Grant a look Chelsea couldn’t decipher. “It’s just a little get-together. That’s all. Come on through and get a drink.”

“Where’s Dad? I want to get those papers signed before I can relax and have a drink.” She smiled at Grant. “Then I think it’ll have to be champagne.”

He laughed. “Absolutely.”

To her surprise, her mom giggled. “It’ll be champagne all around, I’m sure. Your father’s in his office with Smoke. You should go and take care of that and then come straight back out.”

Chelsea set out toward the office, then realized Grant wasn’t with her. She looked back to see him still with her mom who was eagerly telling him something or other. “Can I have him, Mom?”

Her mom looked guilty. “Sorry, of course, darling. I’ll talk to you later, Grant.”

“What did she want?”

Grant shrugged. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he, too, looked guilty. “I don’t know.”

“Sorry, she’s a sweetie. She’s probably just trying to make you feel welcome.”

He smiled. “Yeah. That was it.”

The door to the office was open, and her dad greeted them with a smile. “Come on in. Let’s get this taken care of, then we can …”

“What?” asked Chelsea. “What are we going to do next? What’s more important than this?” She was a little irritated. This was a big moment for her, and everyone else seemed more concerned with enjoying the party.

Smoke laughed. “Chill out, little sis. The whole party is for you. Once the papers are signed, we can get on with celebrating.”

Chelsea would have been reassured if she hadn’t caught Smoke winking at Grant as he spoke. Did they think she was being unreasonable? She hoped not. She just wanted them to understand how important this was to her.

Grant squeezed her hand. He understood. “It’s okay. This is a big moment. Enjoy it.”

“Thanks.”

Her dad nodded. “It is a big moment. It’s as important to me as it is to you, buttercup. I want you to know how proud I am of you.”

“Aww, thanks, Dad.” That was all it took for her to forget all her irritation. That was what this was about. She was about to embark on her own adventure; she was about to leave him out of her business going forward, but she desperately wanted him to be proud of her.

He smiled and tapped on the papers on his desk. “Let’s do it.”

She sat down and signed form after form. By the time she was done, half her Hamilton-Groves shares belonged to Smoke. She owed him a lot of money, in the form of a loan—with very generous terms. And, most importantly of all, Zosca belonged to her.

She smiled around at the three of them. “It’s done.” She got to her feet, and her dad wrapped her in a hug. “Fly well, my little hummingbird.”

She laughed. “I will.”

Smoke hugged her next. “You’re going to do great, Chels. I’m proud of you, too.”

Grant kissed her cheek.

“And so, it begins,” she said with a smile.

He laughed. “Oh, you have no idea.”

He took her hand, and the four of them made their way back out to the great room. This time there was no mistaking the fact that people stopped talking when they appeared.

Her dad cleared his throat, and everyone went quiet. “I’m happy to announce that I am officially out of the wine business. Please help me congratulate Chelsea on her new beginning at Zosca.”

Everyone clapped and raised their glasses in a toast. Mary Ellen dashed forward with a tray of champagne glasses for them.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to drop these,” she told Grant with a grin.

Chelsea took her glass and took hold of Grant’s hand. She wanted to go and see Cam and Piper and celebrate with them.

Grant didn’t move. Instead, he tugged back on her hand and pulled her to him. No one else had moved or gone back to their conversations. They were still watching them expectantly.

A sense of uneased slid down Chelsea’s spine. There was something going on here. She looked around. Mary Ellen was beaming at her. Her mom and dad stood with their arms around each other looking all dewy eyed. What was going on? She turned to Grant. Even he had a weird look on his face.

“Chelsea.”

She nodded mutely as her eyes filled with tears. She understood what was coming a second before it happened. He took hold of her hand and went down on one knee. “You know I love you, Chelsea. In case you don’t know yet, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We’re going to work together, and I want us to live together. We’re going to make great wines, and I want us to spend a lifetime making great memories. You’re everything I didn’t know I wanted.” He paused. “And I’m everything you didn’t think you needed. In some respects, we couldn’t be more different, but what I’ve learned these past few months is that we couldn’t be more right for each other.” He held up a ring. The big diamond sparkled at her, reminding her of a shooting star. “Will you marry me?”

She nodded. At first, she couldn’t speak around the big lump in her throat. “Yes.” The first time it was just a squeak. “Yes.” That was a little better. “Yes!” This time it came out loud and clear, and a big cheer went up around the room.

Grant slid the ring on her finger and then she slid her arms up around his neck. “I love you, Grant.”

“And I love you, Chelsea.”

When they finally came up from that kiss, they were surrounded by friends and family congratulating them. There were hugs and kisses and slaps on the back. Chelsea grinned and thanked each one of them. When Piper finally got to her, she hugged her tight.

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks. I am, too.”

“I took a bunch of pictures for you.”

“Aww,” Chelsea’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s so sweet that you captured it for us. I didn’t even think!”

“Well, you wouldn’t, would you? You didn’t know it was coming. You dressed as if you knew, though. This dress is perfect. I love it.”

Chelsea smiled as she realized. “Grant picked it out.”

“Aww, he has great taste. Maybe it reminded him of a wedding dress a little bit; it does me.”

“It does a little bit, but I think of it as my fairy godmother dress, and it well and truly came through for me tonight.”

Grant came back to join her and slid his arm around her waist.

“What’s up?”

She shook her head. “I was just telling Piper about how my wish was granted.” ;