Blood and Wine - Margot Scott Page 0,8

in a few weeks, you’ll find you love it so much you won’t want to leave.”

I smile politely. My mom may have grown up here, but it’s been almost twenty years since she left. I’m a stranger to this place, no more tied to it than I am to the stranger seated across from me.

“Edward, I appreciate you bringing me out here, but you have to know I’m only here because my mom told me to come. As soon as my inheritance goes through, I’m going home.”

He strokes his stubbled chin. “I understand your trepidation, Mariah. You have very little reason to feel tied to this place, or the people who live here. But perhaps instead of looking at this trip as a favor, you could try and see it as an opportunity.”

“An opportunity for what?”

“To get to know the other side of yourself, and your family.”

“Um, Edward, in case you haven’t noticed, your wife and son aren’t exactly enthusiastic about hosting me.”

“I apologize for the cold welcome. My son needs time to get used to the idea.” He checks his watch. “We should get back soon. Lilliana will be arriving shortly. You picked an excellent weekend to come. With my work schedule and the kids’ extracurriculars, the whole family only gets to sit down to dinner once a month.”

“I didn’t exactly choose this weekend,” I remind him.

We make it back to the house just as the sun is setting. The lilac aroma is gone, and I’m beginning to wonder if I imagined it altogether. Rather than invite Chastity to bite my head off, I decide to put on something nicer than ripped jeans and a band tee for dinner. I opt instead for a rose-printed, baby-doll style dress and brown chunky sandals.

Everyone’s already seated around the dining table when I arrive, including a young woman I haven’t met. I figure she must be Lilliana. Unlike her brother, she doesn’t glare at me like she wants to slit my throat. She barely acknowledges me, and when she does, it’s with the same indifference she grants the steamed carrots on her plate.

Chastity clears her throat as I take my seat in the place that’s been set for me, beside Christopher.

“How good of you to finally join us, Miss Greyson,” Chastity says. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”

“Come now, darling,” Edward says. “Mariah’s not the reason we’re sitting down so late. Lilliana, I trust you had a valid reason for forcing us to postpone our scheduled dinner.”

I steal a glance at the young woman across from me. Bathed in the glow from the antique chandeliers, she looks like she could be a model.

Now that the whole family’s here, it strikes me just how good-looking they all are.

Edward and Chastity must be in their forties, but neither appears to be going gray or sprouting more than the tiniest of wrinkles. Lilliana looks like she stepped right off the set of 90210. Her spun-gold waves are darker than her mother’s curls, but lighter than Christopher’s chestnut locks. Shiny hair, clear complexions, and bright eyes abound. Not a spare pound or a stray hair among them.

Are these people even human?

“I was working on a group project,” Lilliana says. “My partner ran late—”

“You know better than to offer me excuses,” says Edward. “Lilliana is a sophomore at James Madison University,” he says to me. “She’s double-majoring in business and finance. Hoping to secure herself a directorial position here at the vineyard. Christopher intends to do the same. Isn’t that right, son?”

“Yes, sir,” he says.

“We’ll see which one of you makes the cut.” Edward frees the cork from an open bottle of the vineyard’s Pinot and begins pouring. Lilliana’s barely a year older than me, and Christopher and I aren’t eighteen yet, but Edward pours us full-sized glasses anyway.

“It’s tradition,” he says with a wink. “Where’s the fun in living on a vineyard if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor?”

I don’t live on a vineyard. And I’m willing to bet no one at this table has spent a single afternoon laboring in the fields.

“When in Rome,” I say.

Taking his seat at the head of the table, Edward raises his wineglass, and the others raise theirs. I do the same.

“Blood, family, legacy,” he says. “These are the foundations of a good life and a great business. Blood is everything. It is where you come from, what you are, and often, an indication of how far you will go.”

Chastity scrapes an impatient fingernail against the cream-colored tablecloth. Lilliana