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  “All right. More for me.”

  Handel waved her over to the grill. “I got two medium rare, one well-done, and four hotdogs. What’s your pleasure?” He scooped the meat onto the platter and handed it to her.

  Adam’s Corvette crunched down the gravel drive and he parked in the shade in front of the winery. He stepped out of the car and waved, then went around to the passenger side and opened the door.

  “What’s he doing? I didn’t ask him to bring anything,” Billie said, impatient for everyone to be seated and begin. The food was getting cold.

  Margaret stepped up behind her and put a cloth napkin over her eyes, tying it behind her head. “No peeking,” she said. “It’s a surprise for your birthday.”

  Billie felt Davy take her hand and pull her forward. She stepped gingerly, unsure where they were taking her and not sure she wanted to go. “It’s not my birthday,” she argued half-heartedly, “until tomorrow.” She’d actually been expecting something, other than the red satin sex kitten outfit her mom had bought her, but up till now no one had mentioned the date.

  “Okay, pull off the blindfold!” Adam said, his voice filled with laughter and maybe a little bit of reticence as though he wasn’t sure if she would be happy about this surprise.

  She slowly lifted the cloth and pulled it off her head. Adam stood in front of her holding a squirming ball of fur. The tri-color puppy looked at her with sad brown eyes and she felt a sharp tug of her heart. Her brother put it in her arms and stepped back.

  “Your first baby,” he announced solemnly. “I hope you take better care of it then you did that parakeet you had when we were kids.”

  She glared at him, but couldn’t help a smile sneaking out. “You’re the one who released the bird into the wild. Parakeets aren’t meant to live outside of cages in Minnesota.” They’d found the poor thing two days later frozen stiff in the back yard.

  Handel stepped close, his eyes seeking hers, “So, do you like her?”

  “She’s from you?” she said, completely taken aback. “I thought you didn’t want a dog right now. You said they take a lot of time and attention. Like children.” She pressed her face into soft puppy fur and smiled. “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”

  He cupped her cheek and gently bumped his forehead to hers. “Why wouldn’t I want something that makes you this happy?” he murmured. He put his arm around her and they walked back toward the table. Davy stayed close and made sure he sat beside her so he could pet the new puppy between bites of hotdog.

  “So, what is it?” she asked, holding the fur ball away from the food on her plate. The puppy kept trying to scramble up and out of her arms, smelling steak and thinking it was all for her. She had a brown and black face with a white chest and paws and was about the cutest thing Billie had ever seen.

  Davy looked at her strangely and forked a piece of watermelon. He stated the obvious. “It’s a girl,” he said, as though he thought taking the blindfold off had not helped her eyesight one bit.

  She laughed. “I know that, silly. What kind of puppy? I haven’t really studied up on dog breeds lately,” she said, slanting Handel a glance.

  “A collie, of course,” he said with a teasing grin. “A true Hollywood dog. Are you going to name her Lassie?”

  “That’s a little too cliché, don’t you think?” She looked down at the pup and those liquid brown eyes and smiled. “How about Jimena?”

  Handel squeezed her hand. “I think that’s perfect,” he said, his voice a little huskier than usual. “Jimena it is.”

  Davy had already wolfed down his hotdog and plate of watermelon, so he took Jimena to play in the grass while the rest of them finished eating. Sabrina was watching Billie intently.

  “What?” she said, unobtrusively wiping at her eyes.

  “You look different. You seem different,” she said, sounding as though she was trying to figure out a puzzle. Then she gasped. “Aww. Now I know.” Her smile stretched so wide Billie was sure she could see molars in the corners. “You’re going to have…”

  “Don’t say it!” Billie put a hand up to stop her mother’s announcement.

  “…a sister!”

  “What?” she looked at Handel. But he just shrugged.

  “How did you know?” Adam asked, putting his arm around Margaret, hardly able to keep the silly grin from his face. “We didn’t want to announce our engagement and take over the celebration. Today is about Billie’s birthday, and Handel’s successful case, and Mom’s bon voyage party.”

  “I can see why you’d wait to announce,” Handel said wryly, “there’s only so much celebration energy in a hotdog.”

  Everyone laughed and Margaret flushed a bit pink in the cheeks. She explained that she’d left her new engagement ring at home, but would show them all later.

  Billie was just beginning to breath a sigh of relief that the attention had turned to her brother and his fiancé when her mother reached out and clasped her hand. She looked up into Sabrina’s eyes and felt the mother/child connection she was always hearing about, the connection that didn’t end with the severing of an umbilical cord. What Sabrina called her ESP.

  Her mom’s eyes were filling up fast and Billie blinked back tears of her own, refusing to let go and give in to the tug of the undertow. Handel leaned in and spoke softly in her ear, “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head. “I need to talk to you,” she said, and got up, pulling him after her. Sabrina had tears rolling down her face by this time, but she was still smiling. Adam and Margaret were over playing with Davy and the puppy and didn’t seem to notice their quick escape.

  Billie kept walking straight into the vineyard, moving so fast that Handel finally tugged on her arm. “Slow up, babe. What’s going on?” he asked, clearly worried now.

  They were out of sight and out of hearing range of the rest of their party, so she let him pull her to a stop and turned to face him. She licked her lips nervously and looked into his eyes, as blue as the sky they reflected. “I don’t know how to tell you,” she began.

  He held her at arms length, now obviously anxious with worry. “Just tell me. What’s wrong? You never cry. You’re not upset about their engagement?” he asked, trying to understand.

  “No,” she blew out a laugh. “Of course not. It’s nothing like that.”

  “Then what is it like?”

  Billie ran her fingers through his blonde hair, pushing it back from his forehead. She moved in close, her lips just grazing his ear and whispered, “There’s going to be a new addition to the Fredrickson Parker clan. Do you want to name it Lassie?”

  Their neighbors, Herbie and Hazel, probably heard his whoop of joy. It was definitely heard by Sabrina, Margaret, Adam, Davy and Jimena. They all came running into the vineyard, wondering what was going on. At least most of them were wondering. Sabrina fairly glowed with the knowledge.

  They laughed, and danced, and celebrated together between rows of vines thick with leaves and heavy with fruit. After all, it was the perfect place for a celebration of life.

  Handy kissed Billie beneath the California sun and tasted the sweet new life that stretched before them, heady and as intoxicating as bottled wine.

  End

  About the author

  Barbara Ellen Brink lives in the great state of Minnesota with her husband, their two dogs, Rugby and Willow, and their two adult children living nearby. She spends much time writing, reading, motorcycling, running, and enjoying life with the family and friends that God has given her.

  Other Novels by Barbara

  The Fredrickson Winery Novels:

  Entangled

  Crushed

  Savor

  ~~~

  Second Chances Series:

  Running Home

  Alias Raven Black

  ~~~

  Split Sense

  ~~~

  The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy:

  Chosen

  Shunned

  Reckoning
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  http://www.barbaraellenbrink.com

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  Barbara Ellen Brink, Novelist