Yours to Hold: Ribbon Ridge Book Two (26 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

T
HE PERSON WHO
met them at the entry of the winery informed them that dinner was already being served. Now their entrance was going to be especially conspicuous, not that Kyle wanted to sneak in. Okay, maybe he wanted to sneak in, but wasn’t it better to just rip the Band-Aid off?

He squeezed Maggie’s hand. “Ready?”

“No.”

He pressed a quick kiss on her cheek. “We’ll be fine.”

He led her up the stairs to the event space and paused when they reached the top. The room was large, with a massive stone hearth and windows on two walls that offered a panoramic view of the vineyard and the sun sinking behind the hills in glorious reds, oranges, and purple. Two long, rectangular tables took up more than half the space.

Derek, seated at the head of one table, caught sight of him and smiled. He gestured for them to join him—there were two empty seats on his left, while Chloe was on his right.

Kyle took in the array of people—Archers, Chloe’s friend and family, and a handful of other people, including George, an old family friend and the bartender at The Arch and Vine. Maybe thirty people in total. Way more of an audience than he wanted for announcing the identity of his new girlfriend. He didn’t want to hide her, but he also didn’t want to create a spectacle if his family reacted poorly.

He guided Maggie to the table and leaned down to whisper. “I’ll introduce you after, when it’s just my family. If that’s okay.”

She nodded quickly, and he guessed she would’ve been happy to put it off indefinitely. But they both knew that wasn’t an option. The longer they waited, the harder it would be and the more unfair it was to his family to be kept in the dark.

Chloe smiled at them as they took their seats. “Magnolia, I’m so glad you came.”

“Please, call me Maggie,” she said, tossing Kyle a glance.

He nodded imperceptibly. They
should
get to know her as Maggie.

Sara was on the other side of Chloe. “Does this mean you’re ‘official’ now?” She looked between Maggie and Kyle with a sly smile.

“Yes,” Kyle said. “Maggie and I have been seeing each other for a few weeks.” Was that all it had been? It felt so much longer. In fact, he had trouble imagining what life felt like without her in it. That wasn’t precisely true—he’d gotten a good look at that the past few days, and he’d hated it.

Sara grinned. “Awesome.” She held up her glass of white wine in a toast.

Derek poured red wine for Kyle and Maggie. “Cameron opened the library for tonight—this is a three-hundred-dollar bottle of wine.”

“Is that all?” Kyle asked, taking a sip. The pinot noir was delicious, and more importantly, it took the edge off his nerves. He took a deeper drink.

A server brought them salads. “I’ll catch you up to the entrée, no rush.” She smiled. “Cracked pepper?”

“Please,” Kyle said, as Maggie shook her head.

“So, how’d you guys meet?” Derek asked.

Shit.
He exchanged worried glances with Maggie. “Uh, it’s a good story. I’ll tell you later. When there are less people.”

Derek arched a brow. “Sounds interesting. Or maybe R-rated.”

Maggie let out a laugh that drew a few heads to turn. She blushed. “Uh, no. But that was funny.” She looked down and attacked her salad.

They managed to make it through dinner and keep the conversation light, deflecting incriminating questions with humor and in some cases outright evasion. Derek watched them with curiosity but didn’t press for information.

During dessert, people made toasts and told stories about Derek and Chloe. Kyle shared the infamous story of their tenth birthday party, which had been filmed for the reality show. In it, the Archers’ backyard had been turned into a mini-carnival, complete with pony rides. Derek had been one of several guests, but he’d stolen the show when he’d freaked out while riding a pony—which he’d only done after Kyle had bet him a hundred dollars. That was before they’d become friends. Derek had fallen off the pony into the swimming pool in spectacular fashion.

“It wouldn’t have been such a dramatic display if you hadn’t pretended you couldn’t swim,” Kyle said.

Derek laughed. “I had to get back at you somehow, right? You were supposed to get in trouble.”

“I did! Plus, I had to pay you a hundred bucks.” Kyle hadn’t realized it, but apparently he’d always had a penchant for gambling, even at ten years old.

“Which I then had to donate to the local animal shelter—my mom wasn’t too happy with me either.”

“But it made for awesome TV,” Hayden said, laughing.

After a while, people began to make their departures. Kyle stood up and tapped a spoon against his glass. “Could the Archer folks hang out for a few minutes?”

Sara looked at him with wide eyes. “Are you making an announcement?” Her gaze flicked to Maggie.

Kyle got her meaning and laughed. “Yes, but not
that
one.”

“Oh.” Sara looked somewhere between relieved and disappointed.

As people left, Kyle drew Sara over to the windows. “I’m about to become the least popular that I’ve ever been. I hope you won’t hate me—”

Sara crossed her arms and squeezed her muscles in a sensory response. “You’re freaking me out.”

“Don’t. It’s not the end of the world—in fact, it’s the start of a whole new one. For me.”

She exhaled. “Okay. I can’t imagine why anyone would hate you for being happy.”

Put like that, Kyle wondered how that could happen, too. But then again, they’d vilified him for moving to Florida and enjoying a life there, so he really thought that anything could happen.

At last, they were alone—just the Archers, plus Chloe and Dylan.

Dad came over to the windows, where they’d all gathered close to Kyle and Sara, though Evan hung back a little, which wasn’t surprising. “What’s this about, son?”

Maggie had been chatting with Tori and now made her way to Kyle. He took her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

“I wanted to officially introduce you all to my girlfriend. You met her as Magnolia, but she prefers to go by Maggie. Maggie Trent.”

Kyle scanned their faces and could instantly see who recognized her name: Sara, Derek, Tori, and Mom, who’d gone completely pale. Thankfully, Sara was next to her, and she took her hand in a firm grip.

The room was silent for a moment. Liam was the first to speak. “Why was that a bombshell? I feel like the only one on the outside of the joke.”

“There’s no joke,” Hayden said darkly, apparently remembering the name at last. “Maggie Trent was Alex’s therapist.”

Dad’s inhalation sounded like a gunshot. “Kyle. What are you doing?”

Kyle felt Maggie tense and squeezed her hand. “I went to Maggie for help in finding who had sold Alex the drugs he took. She was very helpful, actually.” He glanced at her, hating the uncertainty and fear in her eyes, but pressed onward. “I’ll admit I wasn’t predisposed to like her, but life has a funny sense of humor, and not only did I like her, I fell in love with her.”

Mom covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. Sara put her arm around her shoulders and drew her close. She gave Kyle a stern look but quickly softened it. “You didn’t mean to.”

Kyle frowned, his hackles rising. “And I’m not sorry for it, either.”

Liam held up his hand. “Let me get this straight, you fell for Alex’s therapist and now you want us all to congratulate you and welcome her into the fold?”

Kyle wasn’t sure if Liam was asking a legitimate question or being a smart-ass. He would’ve assumed the latter, but his tone was practically genuine. “I’m introducing my girlfriend. I get that you all need time to get used to the idea of who she is, but it shouldn’t matter. She isn’t to blame for Alex’s death. None of us are.”

“Wow, this is a new level of jackassery, even for you.” Liam shook his head.

Derek glared at Liam. “Shut it.” He looked at Kyle, and there was sympathy in his gaze. “It’s a bit of a shock, but you’re right. She isn’t to blame for Alex’s death.”

“Thank you.” Maggie sounded small and scared. She cleared her throat. “For what it’s worth, I cared a great deal for Alex, and if I could go back in time, I would. I had no idea he was suicidal.”

“And why was that?” Dad said angrily. “You’re a goddamned professional.”

Kyle pulled Maggie closer to his side. “Dad, Alex hid what he was planning from everyone. Not even Aubrey knew what he was doing, and she set up the trust.”

“He’s right,” Hayden said, clasping Dad’s shoulder. “I know we want someone to blame, but that’s solely on Alex. And since he’s not here, it’s been easy to direct our anger and hurt at the people who are. Some of us were pretty awful to Aubrey at first.” He threw an accusing look at Liam, who’d been the most vocal about questioning what Aubrey knew before Alex’s death.

“Hey, I wasn’t the only one,” Liam said.

“So you . . . knew him,” Tori said softly, drawing everyone to look at her. She and Maggie had something in common, Kyle realized. Tori tended to react emotionally, just like Maggie did. “But you probably can’t share anything with us.” Of all of them, Tori seemed the most hurt by Alex’s actions. But then, she was a one-woman fix-it machine. There was no problem too big to handle, no crisis that couldn’t be managed. That Alex would choose death over life absolutely confounded her.

“Yes, and I liked him a lot. I was shocked when he died. Utterly shocked.” The sadness and regret in Maggie’s tone were unmistakable.

Kyle hoped they could see that she’d been as affected as they had. “I’m not sure it’s possible to feel as guilty as Maggie did. She had a breakdown and had to quit practicing for a few months.”

Mom made a sound in her throat. She narrowed her eyes. “Forgive us if we don’t feel sorry for her.”

“I didn’t tell you that to encourage your pity,” Kyle said, trying not to become frustrated, especially in the face of his mother’s anger. Her opinion meant everything to him, and if she couldn’t accept Maggie . . . he didn’t want to contemplate that. “I wanted you to maybe understand her perspective.”

“It’s going to take time, Kyle,” Hayden said. “You get that, right?”

“I do.”

“Why’d you have to do this now?” Liam asked. “Great timing with the wedding. You couldn’t have waited until next week?”

Kyle flexed his free hand in an effort to expel his growing irritation. He speared Liam with a frank glare. “When you’ve gone back to Denver so you wouldn’t have to deal with it?”

Liam gave a little shrug, clearly communicating his unspoken answer:
Yeah, that would’ve suited me fine
.

Telling himself to ignore Liam, Kyle squeezed Maggie’s hand again, this time for himself. He looked around at all of them. “I wanted to talk to you about more than this. I’m through hiding who I am, and that means introducing you to the woman I love and telling you that I’m”—he took a deep breath to try to calm his suddenly racing heart—“a gambling addict.”

M
AGGIE WAS SURE
you could’ve heard a pin drop. Two bombshells in one night seemed excessive, but she understood why he’d done it. He wanted to own who he was, and she couldn’t have been prouder of him.

“I need a chair,” Kyle’s mom said, looking nearly as pale as when Kyle had said Maggie’s full name.

Evan, who was closest to the table, grabbed a chair and helped Emily sit.

Derek leaned toward Kyle and whispered, “Don’t you think
that
could’ve waited?”

“It had to be done,” Kyle responded in a low tone. “I don’t mean to shock you, Mom, or anyone else, but I wanted to say this to all of you, and I don’t know when we’ll be together again. And tomorrow is Chloe and Derek’s day.”

“I’d argue right now is still their day,” Liam said. Maggie had never met him, but when she recalled what she knew of him from Alex and his behavior tonight, she sort of wanted to kick him in the balls.

“Liam, you’d argue about the color of the sky.” Rob’s angry comment drew everyone’s attention. “Give your brother some respect here.”

Emily looked up at her husband. “Did you know?”

Rob nodded, his face tensing. “I did.”

“My goodness, Rob, I wonder what else you’re keeping from me.” She glared at him before turning to look at Kyle. “Is that why you left before?”

“Yes. I got into some trouble. But I’ve sought some help, and I’m doing better now.”

Hayden rubbed his eyes. “I can’t even get my head around this. Maybe it’s the jet lag.” He blinked several times. “So is Maggie your therapist or something?”

Maggie nearly choked on the air she’d just inhaled.

“No, she’s no longer practicing. As you saw, she’s a fantastic landscape architect.” He flashed her a warm smile that helped ease her raging nerves.

“Who else knew?” Sara’s question was tentative. Dylan had his arm around her while she fidgeted with a bracelet. Maggie knew about her sensory processing disorder and from her own professional training recognized that she was having trouble regulating.

“Just Dad and Derek. I didn’t want to upset you, Sara-cat.”

Maggie heard the anguish in Kyle’s voice and put her other hand over the back of his, holding him between her palms.

“I could’ve handled it,” Sara said. “I wish you would’ve trusted me.”

“It’s not about you,” Maggie said, unable to keep from both defending the man she loved and giving her professional input. “It’s about Kyle’s inability to be honest with himself and with you.”

“She’s right,” Kyle said. “I left because Derek found out and told Dad. I was pissed and hurt and most of all, embarrassed. The only thing I had left was my pride, and even that had taken a massive hit. The only thing I could think to do was leave.”

Derek set his hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “We get it. At least,
I
get it. The others will, too.” He looked at everyone else. “He needs our support, not our criticism or judgment. We’re a family, and we look out for each other—in good times and especially in bad.”

Sara took a deep breath. “You’re right.” She wiped a finger over her eye and blinked. “I’m here for you, Kyle. Whatever you need.” She went to him and gave him a hug.

Kyle let go of Maggie and hugged Sara back. Maggie was glad for this positive reaction, but without his touch, she felt alone and threatened, like a boat stranded among a sea of sharks.