Rose's Vintage (39 page)

Rose got over her shock, squealed and leapt forward to hug him. ‘Jesus! Honestly, Henry. Goddess, my arse! You nearly gave me heart failure. What are you doing here? Talk about a way to surprise me. I was just about to email you. You're supposed to be in France or Spain or somewhere, not the Shingle Valley, you ratbag!' Rose was thrilled to see her brother and squeezed him tightly, but her heart thudded inside her chest: she guessed why he was here. Things were about to get messy. Her two worlds would collide and the shit would hit the fan – unless she did something to prevent it. Just what that might be though, she had no idea.

‘Thought I'd come and see how you were getting on. I had some appointments in Sydney and wanted to surprise you.'

‘No kidding, you certainly did that. When did you get here? Where are you staying?' Questions tumbled from Rose's lips.

‘I stopped at the pub and got a room there for a couple of nights. It'd be good to have a look around though. How about you show me the way to Kalkari and then you can walk me around the vineyards?'

Rose was flustered. ‘Um, sure. No worries.' She needed some time to think, to prepare her argument and get Henry to back away from Kalkari.

‘No worries? You're really down with the lingo, Rose,' he said with a smile as he turned back to his car. ‘I'll follow you there.'

As she revved the engine and swung the car into the main road out of town her head spun. Hopefully Mark would be out in the vineyards and she could get Henry on his own. She needed to do some quick thinking and fast talking. She didn't want Henry spilling the beans to Mark about her real reasons for being there. With some effort, Rose kept her eyes on the road, but her mind was on the catastrophe that would surely result when Mark and Henry met. Henry wasn't known for his subtlety, and she knew that Mark would jump to conclusions – and in all honesty, the conclusions he'd likely jump to wouldn't be too far from the truth. In a blind panic, she crunched along the drive and pulled up outside the house.

‘Niiice …' Henry let out a long, low whistle. ‘That's quite a house you're living in. I can see why you like it here. A bit different to Clapham, hey?'

‘Well, I don't actually live in the main house,' Rose indicated the rusted tin roof of the barn in the distance, ‘that's me.'

‘Oh,' said Henry. ‘Got it.'

Rose tried to think of a delaying tactic. ‘I need to start on lunch. Can I get you a drink?' she asked.

‘Thanks. I'll take a seat out here for now, shall I?' he said, indicating the bench under the she-oak.

Rose didn't feel much like inviting her brother into the house until she'd had a chance to properly talk to him. She didn't want to be overheard, or worse bump into Mark. She was relieved that he was happy to sit and soak up the sun. ‘Sure. I'll be back with some water in a sec.'

Still feeling flustered, she raced inside and bumped into Astrid and Luisa who were just on their way out.

‘What's up, Rose? Did I hear voices? Ooh,' said Astrid, peering out of a side window that faced in the direction of the cellar door, ‘Who's that?' She turned to look at Rose.

‘Um, well, actually it's my brother. He had some business in Sydney and made a side trip to come and see me – check up on me more like.'

‘He's a bit of a hunk.'

Rose shrugged. She wasn't surprised at Astrid's reaction. Henry had a seemingly endless parade of women that could be summoned at the click of his fingers, but despite the best efforts of plenty of them he'd managed to stubbornly remain a bachelor well into his thirties.

‘You don't seem that excited. I thought you two were close?'

‘Oh we are, and I am excited, really, just taken by surprise.' Rose hastily covered her tracks. She'd almost let her secret slip, and she could do without Astrid knowing just yet, though she felt sure it would all come out eventually and she'd end up looking like a traitorous cow.
Oh Christ
. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her, or at the very least that she could be teleported somewhere – anywhere – else, rather than have to face what was coming.

‘Do you want lunch, little one?' She looked down at Luisa.

‘We're going to Jethie's,' lisped Luisa.

‘Play date,' said Astrid. ‘We'll be back later this afternoon.'

‘Have a good time sweetie,' said Rose, giving Luisa a quick hug.

As she watched them leave, Rose saw Astrid head off in the direction of the cellar door, not down the drive. What was she up to?

CHAPTER 40

‘H
ere you go,' Rose handed her brother a glass of water and set a plate of sandwiches down on the bench, sitting down on the other side of him.

‘I met your friend,' said Henry. ‘Sweet girl,' he added thoughtfully.

Rose looked at him sternly. ‘She's taken.'

‘Steady on!' He put his hands in the air. ‘I was talking about the little girl!' he protested.

Rose took a deep breath. ‘So what really brought you here?'

‘Like I said, sis, I had business in Sydney. I was in the neighbourhood.'

Rose gave him an old-fashioned look. She didn't believe that story for a second. She knew her brother only too well.

‘Rose, may I see you for a minute?' Mark's voice boomed from the cellar door.

Oh shit. Mark.
He didn't sound pleased. What was up?

She had no choice but to introduce her brother. He was sitting right there and it would have looked bloody odd not to. ‘Sure, Mark. Um … Mark, this is my brother, Henry. Henry, this is Mark Cameron.'

The two men shook hands.

‘G'day, mate,' said Mark. ‘This is a surprise. Rose didn't mention you were coming.'

‘Oh, it's just a flying visit, but I thought I'd come and check up on her. See how she's getting on.'

Rose dithered. She didn't know whether to stay and watch her world implode, or run away. ‘Won't be a moment.' She fled to the barn.

She tried to convince herself that things really couldn't be that bad, that Henry wasn't about to betray her to her boss – the man she loved.

The man I love.

Yes, she did love Mark, she now knew, with every piece of her heart. Try as she had to deny it, there was no escaping the truth of her feelings. Gasping in horror as she realised that she'd stupidly left the two men alone together and that anything could happen, she quickly splashed water on her face in an attempt to calm herself down, patted it dry and then went back out in search of them.

Crossing the path back to the winery she noticed a lone magpie hopping in front of her and was reminded of the morning she'd first arrived at Kalkari.
That's right: one for sorrow
, she thought again. She could have done with a sign that all this confusion would be settled and everything would turn out okay, but it seemed the only signs were ominous ones.

Both men were so important to her: she wished they weren't on such a collision course.

She retraced her steps, but they weren't where she'd left them.

Oh crap!

She wondered what could have happened to them. Were they locked in mortal combat, or happily sharing a beer together? She couldn't stop her imagination running away with itself. She had no idea where they'd disappeared to. There was no sign of them at the cellar door or the winery. Short of running the length of the valley like a headless chook, she didn't know where to start looking, or what she'd face when she did locate them.

Other girls might pace the room or obsessively text their friends, but whenever Rose was worried – or bored, sad, or even happy, for that matter – she baked. A chocolate cake might help to take her mind off things. She headed for the kitchen.

‘Mmm, that smells divine.'

Several hours had passed. But now Henry clattered into the kitchen and sat down in one of the wheel-backed chairs, making himself completely at home. How had he just wandered in like that? Most normal people would knock at the door. But not Rose's brother.

‘Where
have
you been? I was worried about you.' she said nervously.

‘Well, dear sis, I've been learning all about Kalkari. Mark gave me quite the tour, and then suggested I check out a few other places in the valley. There's nothing like a bit of wine tasting to loosen you up when you've barely slept a wink in the past twenty-four hours,' he said with a grin.

‘I hope you were spitting, for your sake, mate,' Mark said, coming in.

‘Oh Mark,' Rose was flustered. ‘Hi.'

‘Hi there, Rose. You've kept very quiet about your brother.'

Rose held her breath. Time seemed to stop.

‘Mark's been showing me some of last year's reds, still in the barrel.' Henry filled the silence. ‘Cracking wines.'

‘Oh. That's good,' said Rose, trying not to sound too anxious.

‘Listen, Rose, when are we going to have a chance to chat properly? I want to know everything that's been going on here. Your emails haven't given me a lot of detail,' said Henry.

‘Um, how about we catch up tomorrow?' Rose was alarmed. What was Henry doing saying this right in front of Mark? But Mark, who was reaching across to put the kettle on, didn't seem bothered.

‘Cuppa?' Mark asked Henry.

‘Super,' he replied.

Neither Mark nor Henry seemed to notice that Rose was about to implode with nerves. They chatted away easily to each other about clones and trellising styles, pretty much ignoring her. If she didn't know better, they would have seemed like old friends catching up.

Astrid and Luisa returned, with Leo and Barnsie in tow. ‘That cake smells delicious!' said Astrid, rubbing her stomach. ‘This baby's gonna love chocolate, I just know it!'

Luisa climbed up into Mark's lap, and he fondly stroked her dark curls while continuing his conversation with Henry.

‘Hi, I'm Henry, Rose's brother,' said Henry, introducing himself to Leo.

‘Do you live near Tottenham too?' asked Leo.

‘Well, not too far away. Have you ever been?'

‘No, but I'm gonna. Rose's going to take me, aren't you, Rose?'

‘Well, perhaps one day, Leo. We'll see.' Rose couldn't concentrate on anything but preventing Henry and Mark spending too much time together right now, but Leo seemed satisfied with that answer and followed Barnsie out the back door.

Rose hauled a large tin out of the oven.

‘I see you haven't lost your touch, Rosie,' said Henry.

‘She's got a talent, alright,' agreed Mark.

Rose wasn't feeling particularly talented. Instead, she was wondering how she could have gotten herself into such a ridiculous situation. Her boss, who she just happened to be head over heels in love with, and her brother were sitting in the kitchen chatting away like old friends, but her brother planned to steal Mark's beloved winery out from under him …

Really, you couldn't make this shit up.

CHAPTER 41