Page 82 of Wine & Dine

“My intentions? I’d like to marry her.” I shouldn’t be telling Magnolia before anyone else, but I figure she’s the one to ask if I’m going to do this properly.

“What do you want from her?”

“Her heart.” I’m honest and direct with this woman who looks like she’d accept nothing less from me. I meet her stare. Her shrunken figure with large glasses and a sturdy cane does nothing to dissuade me from recognizing she’s a force, and I need her blessing.

She nods once, lips pursed but pleased.

“Actually, I’d like something from you as well. Shall we discuss it now?”

“Be useful and make me some tea in that fancy machine, and then we can talk.”

I chuckle as I finish setting things in the fridge and follow Magnolia to the breakfast room. The fancy machine she references is the Keurig.

“I’m told it’s easy to use, but I can never figure out the buttons.” She nods at the contraption while I press the appropriate button, and the heater roars to life. Tea dispenses shortly afterward, and I set the cup on the table. For a moment, I feel like a college kid again, fresh out of business school and ready to take charge of the world, one project at a time. A renewed sense of enterprise fills me, and I’m reminded of old-world deals where people discussed things in barrooms and shook hands to seal agreements.

I explain what I want. The land. The vineyard. The use of the property but not a purchase of it. I explain profits and sharing with Magnolia. She was the original business entrepreneur of this family, making a diner in her grandmother’s name and selling fried chicken and fresh eggs to travelers on the scenic train route through the mountains. She explains to me how she got her start.

“It always starts with an idea.” She winks. “Then it turns into a dream.”

This was my dream. Strange that while I explained everything to Magnolia, I thought of my granddad as if he were in the room with me. Hopefully, he’s proud of me fulfilling his dream, even if he wasn’t here to see it come to fruition.

“This all sounds good to me. It’s always broken my heart that the land went to waste. Neither of my girls wanted what my grandparents worked hard to maintain. Then that no-good Kip Chance stole a portion of the land for a subdivision, thinking he could blackmail my daughter and gain the rest of the land to build up a city.”

I sit back in my chair. I hadn’t heard this story yet. Magnolia waves a dismissive hand.

“I’ll let Denton explain. He’s the one who discovered everything. As for this proposal, you write it all up legal and fancy, and I’ll have Denton and Dolores take it to the lawyer to read. We use Charlie Harrington in town. He’s the mayor.”

The mayor is a lawyer? I chuckle softly. Small town, I remind myself.

“How are things going here? The renovations?”

“Why? Is the next thing you’re going to ask to purchase this old place?”

“No, ma’am, but your granddaughter suggested we live here for a bit.” Shit. That was a slip, and scratch at the back of my neck. I might be overstepping here.

“Oh, she did, did she? What other promises did she make you?”

“None yet, really.”

“She know you want to marry her?”

“Not exactly.”

“But you love her?” If Magnolia hadn’t been a business owner with the diner, her second calling could have been police interrogation. I’m under a firing squad of questions, and sweat trickles down my back.

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

“Huh,” she says, sitting back in her wooden chair.

“Why huh?”

“She thinks she doesn’t deserve you, but I told her she was wrong. She deserves everything and more in this world for all she’s put up with. Her father being the king of horrible. Her brother leaving like he did. And that no-good motorcycle thug. You’re a sharp looker, but I’m reminding you of my gun. She’s been surrounded by poor men, and I’m not talking about money. You better be a good one and be good to her.”

“Understood.” I chuckle. “I plan to be the best man…because of her.”

“Smart answer,” she whispers, leaning forward and giving me a wink from behind those thick lenses.