Dead By Dawn (26 page)

Over the years, Elizabeth and Marty would meet again and again. Elizabeth loved him more than anything and was constantly frustrated that Marty would not leave Darla. When she heard that Darla was divorcing Marty, she thought that he would finally marry her. When Darla tried to blackmail him during their divorce, Marty was angry at Elizabeth. He told Elizabeth that she had jeopardized his future. Elizabeth took this as a cue to make sure that Marty got everything and ran Darla off of the road and killed her. Marty still didn’t marry her.

When the attorney’s Charles hired told this to him, he tried to get Elizabeth to plead instead of going to trial. When she refused, he did the only thing he could think of and cut off the money for her defense. She was forced to plead guilty to life in prison.

With Elizabeth in prison, Charles struggled to regain his life. Nothing was the same. His wife had betrayed him and killed their son and granddaughter. She had betrayed him and produced a son that he had raised as his own but wasn’t his at all. His childhood friend Marty betrayed him with his wife. He was as much a victim as the rest of Elizabeth’s dead victims. Charles did the one thing for his grandson that he had not done for his son, David. He supported Jeremy’s endeavor in the winery. He sold off all of the family land in San Luis except the land the ranch house was on and split it between his grandchildren, so David’s dreams could live on through them.

Robert Doran died in his sleep ten days after meeting his granddaughter. Before he died, he made it clear to everyone in the family that he harbored no ill will toward the Davenports. He was ready to forgive and die in peace and he hoped that the rest of his family would heal and do the same; if not for themselves, then at least for him.

Tracy McCarthy was who she was. There were days she dreamed about how different her life would have been. All in all, she decided the life she grew up with was as good as it got. It was nice to have more family. It was nice to have more people around her to love. Her Grandfather Davenport had bought her a stake in her brother’s vineyard. Jeremy was running the day-to-day business, but Tracy was delighting in all of the things she was learning about viticulture. Her celebrity also helped to attract tourists to the winery.

Naming the winery was something Jeremy and Tracy wanted to do together. They tossed family names that they thought would honor their mother and father. One day, someone pulled out a baby book and looked up the word Shandon. The English translation was, God is gracious. After toying with the translation for a few days, they decided that the Shandon Farms Winery would grace their bottles. The irony was not lost on them. God had not been gracious to this stretch of earth or this family for the last thirty years, but all of them felt that their luck was changing. God had been gracious and brought all of them back together as a family. God had been gracious in his ability to let them know that there was nothing more important than the family.

The first family dinner was held at the ranch, in the new dining room built in the tasting room. Martha Doran was there with both of her daughters, Terri and Debbie. Jeremy was there with a new girlfriend. Tracy and her husband were there. Martha had made sure to include the McCarthy’s, since they were Tracy’s family too. Martha Doran also made sure that Charles Davenport was included in all family plans. Her daughters protested but, Martha was adamant. It was what their father would have wanted.