bottle of Steel Sparkling Blanc de Noirs and hands it to me. I remove the wire and pop the cork out with one swift motion. The swirling cloud of condensation rises from the opening.
Ashley’s eyes pop. “Wow. You did that beautifully.”
“What?”
“Opening the champagne.”
I can’t help myself. “First of all, Doctor, it’s not champagne. It’s Steel sparkling wine.”
“Duh,” she says. “I know that.”
“I know you know that. Time to start using correct terminology, don’t you think?”
“She gave you a compliment,” Diana says. “And you’re giving her a hard time.”
“It’s my job to give her a hard time. She’s here to learn from me.”
“It’s okay,” Ashley says, clearly forcing a smile. “We already had this conversation at the vineyards, and Dale’s right. I shouldn’t get lazy in my wording.”
I resist the urge to smile while I fill the three flutes Diana brought up. I hand one to her and then one to Ashley.
“To my brilliant sister.” I hold out my glass.
“To being second best!” Diana laughs.
“To new beginnings,” Ashley says.
To new beginnings.
A beginning for her, here at Steel Vineyards. A beginning for Diana, in Denver with the internship.
But no new beginning for me.
I am who I am. Who I’ll always be.
There’s no changing that.
I leave them laughing over their sparkling wine. Soon they’ll change into their suits for their dip in the hot tub. As much as I’d love to see Ashley White in a bikini, I can’t stay.
The vineyards are calling me.
I drive back to the guesthouse and pack a few things. A midnight snack of pâté de campagne with water crackers, a bottle of my best Syrah, and my dog. Everything else I need is in the shed.
A half hour later, I’m back in paradise, among the Syrah grapes, Penny lying at my feet.
I’ve laid out my sleeping bag and pillow, and I open the bottle of wine and pour myself a glass. Then I spread the meaty pâté onto a cracker and take a bite. Mmm. Delicious. Aunt Marj makes pâté out of Steel beef. Not the norm for pâté, but she’s an amazing chef. I used to love to help her in her kitchen.
I take a drink of the Syrah. The black fruit drizzles over my tongue, chasing the savory flavor of the pâté.
Perfection.
The vines watch over me as I enjoy my late-night repast. They hug me with their warmth. I finish my snack and my glass of wine, seal the bottle with the vacuum stopper, and wiggle into my sleeping bag, lying supine and draped in starlight. Penny lies next to me.
Nothing can hurt me here.
“They won’t hurt you again, Donny.”
My baby brother clings to me, tears streaking down his cheeks.
“I swear to you. They won’t hurt you again. I won’t let them.”
I mean the words with all my heart, but they are ultimately a promise I can’t keep. I mouth off to our captors, bite them and kick them, all so they’ll punish me instead of my brother.
Sometimes it works, and I pay the price. I go through hell to spare him.
Sometimes it doesn’t work, though, and I’m forced to watch my little brother be used and tortured, forced to hear his screams.
“Close your eyes, Donny. Close your eyes. Think of something nice. Think of a dog or a flower. Anything.”
I don’t know if my words help him. They don’t help me. As much as I try to escape into my mind while the masked men do the unthinkable to my little body, I’m never successful.
Someday, though. Someday we’ll get out.
Someday I’ll make the monsters pay.
I awake with a jerk.
The dream changes, but it’s always a scene from the horror of those two months.
This is why I began sleeping out here in the first place. To help combat the dreams. The dreams never go away, though they only come one or two times a week now instead of every night. But the vineyards calm me. Enshroud me as if they’re protecting me from the horrors of my past.
So long ago now.
I never got to make the monsters pay. They’ve been dead and buried for decades now, and the trafficking ring has been long since exposed and broken up.
My life has been wonderful for the last twenty-five years. I never forget that, never forget how much I owe my mother and father for adopting Donny and me.
My father especially. He gets me. He always has. I’m not sure why, but he does. What a hard thing, to adopt two troubled boys who’d been abducted and horribly abused