Wed on His Terms: Million-Dollar Marriage Merger. Charlene SandsЧитать онлайн книгу.
perfect. Everything has to be pure from the wine you make to the babies you bring into this world. Well, Iâm pregnant, Tony. With Davidâs baby. Youâd be raising Davidâs child as your own.â
Tony didnât flinch. He didnât turn away. He didnât move so much as a muscle in surprise. That was his mistake. Rena expected shock. She expected him to change his mind, to withdraw his marriage proposal. It irked him that she thought so little of him.
Rena backed away, gasping at his nonresponse. Her mouth dropped open, and when she spoke, her voice broke with accusation. âYou know. How? How do you know, Tony?â She pressed him for an answer.
âI didnât know for sure, until now.â
Rena narrowed her eyes. âTell me.â
Tony sighed. âIt was David. He suspected it.â
Rena backed away, her hands clutching at her hair. Her shoulders slumped, color drained from her face. It was as if she relived his death all over again. She looked down at a patch of shriveled grape leaves on the ground. âHe knew about our baby.â
âIâm sorry, Rena.â
Her eyes watered. âDavid wonât ever meet his child.â
âNo, but he wanted to protect him and ⦠you. Iâm capable of doing that for you, Rena.â
âBut I donât want to marry you,â she said softly.
Tony heard the resignation in her tone. She was considering her options. âI know.â
She peered into his eyes. âHow would it look? Iâm barely a widowâand now Iâm marrying my husbandâs friend.â
Tony made this decision to protect Rena days ago. âNo one has to know. Weâll keep it secret.â
âSecret?â She looked at him, puzzled.
âFor a time, anyway.â
She closed her eyes, contemplating. She battled with the idea of marrying him. Her facial expressions reflected her thoughts as they twisted to and fro.
He pressed his point. âYour winery needs help fast,â he said quietly, and then added, âbut more important, your child needs a father.â
âMaybe thatâs true.â Renaâs eyes flooded with tears now, her voice filled with surrender. âBut I donât need you, Tony. Iâll never need you again.â
That was the closest sheâd come to a yes.
Tony made mental plans for their wedding day.
Rena cried herself to sleep for two nights, realizing the futility in denying the inevitable. She was cornered and had nowhere to run. Sheâd been waging mental wars inside her head since Tonyâs proposal for a secret marriage. She couldnât come up with any other viable solution to her dilemma. She was so heavily in debt she doubted sheâd find anyone willing to take on such a big risk.
But how could she marry Tony?
How could she allow him to be a father to Davidâs child?
It all seemed so unfair.
Rena stepped outside her house and squinted into the morning sunlight rising just above the hills. Golden hues cast beautiful color over the valley. This was her favorite time of day. When David was alive, sheâd often wake early and come outside to tend her garden and open her mind to all possibilities. David would sit on the veranda to drink coffee and watch her. They would talk endlessly about little things and his presence would lend her peace and comfort.
But since his death, Rena had sorely neglected her garden. Today, she hoped sheâd find solace working the soil and nurturing the lilies and roses. She needed this time to come to grips with what she had to do.
She put on her gardening gloves and took to the soil, yanking out pesky weeds, and with each firm tug, thoughts of what David asked from her in his death plagued her mind. He hadnât given her what she needed mostâtime to grieve. Time to try to figure out a way to save Purple Fields on her own. Instead, heâd hidden the facts from her and shielded her from bad news. David had always been a man she could count on, but he hadnât realized the toll his dying request would take on her.
She tugged at a stubborn weed, bracing her feet and pulling with all of her might. Emotions roiled in the pit of her stomach. Feelings sheâd held in for a long time finally came forth as she felt the weed break with the ground. âIâm so mad at you, David, I could spit.â
The weed released, easing from the soil slowly and Rena held it in her hands, staring at the roots that had once been secured in the earth. âYou died and left me with this mess.â
And when she thought tears would fall again, instead simmering anger rose up with full force. She was angry, truly angry with David. She was angry with herself. But most of all, she was angry with Tony Carlino. Her anger knew no rationality at the moment. And for the first time since Davidâs death, Rena felt strong in that anger. She felt powerful. She refused to let guilt or fear wash away her innermost feelings. David had let her down. Tony had blackmailed her.
But she didnât have to take it without a fight. She didnât have to lose control of everything she loved, just because fate had stepped in and knocked her down. New strength born of distress and determination lifted her. She still had a say in what happened in her life. Her primary obligation was to protect her unborn child and secure his future legacy.
Rena whipped off her gloves and stood up, arching her back and straightening out as a plan formed in her mind. With new resolve, she headed back into the house. She had a call to make. She needed expert legal advice and knew that Mark Winters, Davidâs longtime friend, would help her.
She may be down temporarily, but she wasnât out.
For the first time in a long time, Rena felt as though she had some control about her destiny.
And it felt darn good.
Tony glanced at his watch, his patience wearing thin as he sat in a booth by the window at the Cab Café. Rena was ten minutes late. Had she backed out of this meeting at the last moment?
This morning, heâd been happy to hear Renaâs voice on the phone. Sheâd called early, just as he was leaving for work and sheâd sounded adamant that he meet with her today. She wouldnât give him a hint as to what the meeting was about, but since heâd proposed to her last week, he figured sheâd come to realize that marrying him was inevitable. Not one to ever look a gift horse in the mouth, heâd cleared his schedule and shown up here five minutes early.
The boisterous teenage hangout held a good deal of memories for them both, and he wondered why sheâd picked this particular place. At one time the Cabernet Café was a wine-tasting room but when that failed, the owner had changed the café's focus and now it thrived as a burger-and-fries joint.
A waitress wearing an apron designed with a cluster of purple grapes approached and Tony ordered coffee to pass the time. He decided to wait until heâd finished his first cup before calling Rena to see what the delay was.
Less than five minutes later, just as he was pulling out his cell phone, Rena stepped into the café. He rose from his seat and she spotted him. He gave her a little wave, which she ignored.
As she approached, Tony noticed she had shadows under eyes that were haunted and sad, but even that couldnât mask her genuine beauty. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail and she wore jeans and a blue sweater that brought out the sparkling hue of her eyes. Her purse sat on her shoulder but she also carried a manila folder in one hand. He waited until she reached the table and sat across from him before he took his seat.
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