A Price Worth Paying(32)

He smiled. He was in too good a mood not to. Tomorrow he would ask Felipe for Simone’s hand in marriage. He didn’t expect the old man to be happy about it, but he’d come around, just as soon as he realised it would mean the Otxoa family fortunes finally shifting in the right direction.

And then, as soon as he’d secured his agreement, he’d tell Simone he was changing the terms. She might not like it—no, more like it, she would hate it—but by then it would be too late.

And she would be his, in every sense of the word.

‘What’s the rush?’ demanded Felipe at lunch the next day. ‘You barely know each other.’

The three of them were sitting outside, the table set under an ancient pergola creaking under the weight of overgrown vines, sunlight filtering through the dense forest of leaves while far below them the sunlight turned the sea sparkling. Alesander had come over ostensibly to do some more work on the vines when she’d lured Felipe outside to enjoy the mild weather while it lasted. Over lunch, after they’d shared a bottle of last season’s Txakolina wine that she was beginning to acquire a taste for, Felipe pouring it from a great height into tumblers to give life to the bubbles and clearly enjoying himself. And after lunch Alesander had asked Felipe for permission to marry her.

‘Sometimes you just know, Abuelo.’ Simone had expected the request to come as a shock and it had. Felipe’s initial prejudices towards Alesander were softening each and every time he visited, she could tell, but there were still too many decades of rivalry between the neighbouring families to be calmly put aside.

‘But marriage? Already?’

‘It’s not so soon. It will still take a month for the paperwork to be processed. The wedding won’t take place until after harvest.’

He frowned. ‘Do you love her?’ he asked Alesander pointedly.

Simone winced. More lies, she thought, hating it. How many lies would they have to tell before this was over?

Except Alesander seemed unfazed. He took her hand in his, covering it with his other, while his eyes held hers, dark and rich and so deep a person could drown in their depths. ‘I admit, I did not expect this to happen. But Simone blew into my life and how could I not love her, Felipe? She is very special. One of a kind. How could I let her slip through my fingers?’

There was no stopping the bloom of heat in her cheeks. She smiled, deeply touched that he would take the trouble to find the words to put Felipe at his ease.

‘I thought you wanted the vines,’ he said, and there was a tear in his eye. ‘I thought you were looking to take the rest of them away from me. But it is my granddaughter who brings you here day after day.’

Alesander looked at his feet and Simone knew she had to fill the silence. ‘We want you to be there at our wedding, Abuelo. I was hoping you would agree to give me away.’

Her grandfather puffed up before her eyes, blinking away the moisture. ‘And you think I won’t be there to walk my only granddaughter down the aisle on her wedding day? Of course I will be there.’

He lifted his empty tumbler in his bony claw-like hand. ‘More wine,’ he demanded. ‘This calls for a toast!’

‘Thank you for that.’

She’d walked Alesander to his car, their lunch over, Felipe snoozing under the vine covered canopy.

‘For what?’

‘For putting Felipe’s mind at ease about us getting married. When he asked you if you loved me, I thought the game was up.’

He cocked one eyebrow, one side of his mouth turned up. ‘You imagined I would simply say no?’

‘I didn’t know what you would say.’

He took her hands in his and she thought nothing of it, given they were still in sight of the house if Felipe happened to wake up and see them. Besides, she was getting to like the feeling of him touching her. If only because that meant she was getting used to it and that made the pretence easier to pull off. ‘It was not hard to think of words I could say about you. It is true you are one of a kind, and you definitely blew into my life by turning up on my doorstep with your crazy proposal. And how could I let you slip through my fingers when you had such a juicy incentive?’ He paused and looked out over the sparkling sea. ‘Felipe was right all along about that.’

‘He doesn’t think so now.’

‘No. And hopefully he will never find out.’

‘I know. I feel bad about the lies. But it’s worth it. You can see how happy this has made him. For the first time he has something to look forward to. He’s smiling again. Thank you so much for not only agreeing to this, but for actually going to the trouble of making him believe it.’