Page 1 of The Wedding Toast
Chapter One
When Jacob opened his eyes, a rush of warmth filled his chest as he looked at Becca’s sleeping face.He tightened his arm around her waist, and she muttered something.Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t wake.He pressed a kiss to her temple before pushing himself up so that he was sitting, leaning back against the upholstered headboard.When Becca muttered again, he ran his hand over her hair, brushing a strand away from her forehead before turning to look out at the view from the window.
He'd woken to this view for most of the days of his life.He’d grown up here, on the Jacobs estate – a child of the wine world.A heavy weight of sadness settled in his chest.He was no longer a child.His parents were gone.They’d been gone for more than a decade now, and he still missed them.He hadn’t been a child when they died – he’d been almost thirty – but he hadn’t been ready to step up and take over the business.
Of course, he hadn’t let that stop him from doing so.He’d felt as though Jacobs Estate was all that he had left of his parents, and so he dedicated his life to it.It had been a success back then, and it was even more so now.
He looked down at Becca again.It was hard to believe she’d only been in his life for a little more than a year.She might not have been around for long, but she’d changed everything – she’d made everything better.
In the years since his parents had died, he’d dedicated himself to the business, yes – but it had been at the cost of all else.He hadn’t had time for friends, or even family.Not until Becca came along.
Well… he smiled, it had all begun when his sister, Hannah, came home to live on the estate and she met Grady and his niece, Ava.Ava had been the one who’d started to defrost Jacob’s heart.She was the one who’d cracked him open again and paved the way for Becca.
And Becca, who just happened to be Ava’s third-grade teacher?She'd walked right in, thawed his heart, and taught him that he'd been surviving, not living.
He smiled through pursed lips.It wasn't as though he'd been hiding away here on the estate like a monk or anything.He'd been doing more than surviving in many senses, but not in any meaningful way.There had been women before her – lots of them – but no one he deeply cared about.Now, with Becca, he finally had a sense of family again – and they were eager to start their own.
He stared out at the vines marching away over the rolling hills toward the horizon – he'd always loved the way the early morning light caught them.Family had come to mean something different to him now.Something more, if he were honest.He'd always loved his sister, Hannah, and his brother, Xander, and when their folks had been around, they'd been a family, and he'd loved that.But since Becca had come into his life, he had a whole new take on what family meant.He smiled sadly at the thought that his mom wouldn't approve.Not of Becca and definitely not of her parents, Chuck and Darlene – Becca's family couldn't be more different from his own.
She came from Kansas, where she'd grown up on her parents' farm.She had three brothers and a sister.It might seem that the major difference between their families was that while his had everything money could buy, for the Taylors, money had always been tight.
But Jacob had come to believe that another difference was even more important.Becca always said that there'd never been any shortage of love and laughter at the farm – that she and her siblings had grown up wild, free, and hardworking.
While he, Xander, and Hannah had a good childhood – great by most standards, there was nothing about it that could be described as wild or free.He wouldn’t say that love had been lacking, but there had always been a sense here on the Jacobs estate, that appearances were more important – at least in his mom’s eyes.
His dad had been a different story, but his mom ruled the roost – that thought made him smile.His mom wouldn’t even approve of the saying; and using it showed him how much Becca’s influence was wearing off on him.
He closed his eyes briefly, wondering why he was dwelling on them this morning.They’d been gone for more than a decade.He looked out at the vineyards again as he faced the truth – his parents were on his mind because he and Becca were getting married a week from today.Becca’s parents had been part of planning the whole thing for months.He loved that for her – if he were honest, he loved it for himself.Every time Chuck and Darlene came to visit they filled the estate with a different atmosphere.
Theirs was a down-to-earth kind of love.Raucous laughter rang out around the house whenever they were here.The staff had drawn closer around the family.Jacob had thought that he had a good relationship with his staff – the people who worked in the house and around the estate, but Chuck and Darlene – even Becca, right from the moment she first arrived – had formed a bond, a closeness with them that went deeper.He couldn’t put his finger on how or why it happened, only that he was glad to be a beneficiary.His smile faded – none of it would have been possible if his folks were still around.
He sat up a little straighter.He wasn’t normally given to this kind of nostalgic reflection; it wasn’t productive.All he needed to do was hold a place in his heart for his folks.He’d raise a quiet glass to them at some point during the celebrations next weekend – just privately, a moment for himself.
When Becca turned and wrapped her arm around his legs without opening her eyes, that now familiar rush of warmth filled his chest.No, he wouldn’t drink a toast to his parents alone – that was a moment he would share with her.She was the only one who’d been able to help him face his grief, not by trying to, but by allowing him to finally relax into being himself.
Her hand on his thigh made him smile, and he looked down to see her big, green eyes smiling back up at him.
“Morning,” she murmured.
“Good morning.Do you want me to go and bring coffee?”
Her hand slid higher, then stilled, sending a bolt of electricity zapping up his spine, and she shook her head slowly.
“Not yet.It’s Saturday morning.”
“True, and this is the last Saturday morning we’ll share like this.”
He was only teasing, but his heart sank when he saw the panic in her eyes.He moved back down to lie beside her, curling an arm around her waist and drawing her closer as he explained.
“Don’t look so worried.I mean that next Saturday morning I won’t even see you.And by the following Saturday morning we’ll be waking up as husband and wife.”He chuckled.“You’re right.We don’t need to think about coffee or anything else yet.This morning is about making the most of the last time we’ll ever have Saturday morning single-people sex.”
He loved the way she laughed – the sound of it, the way her eyes sparkled.
“Single-people sex?Is that what we’ve been doing all this time – having single-people sex?”
He shrugged.“I probably should have phrased it differently, but you know what I mean.”
She nodded happily.“I do, but you don’t think us being married will change anything, do you?”She reached around and squeezed his ass.“I mean in the bedroom.We’re not going to all of a sudden become once-a-week missionary people, are we?”
