Bless Us Father (36 page)

“Where did you get those beautiful paintings?” Maggie asked. “They must have cost a fortune.”

“Jessie, he paint them,” Javier said. “He always painting when he little boy. We never have enough place to hang them. Now this place have plenty room.”

“Aren’t they beautiful, Mom?” Kelly asked, pride reflected in her eyes.

“Oh my goodness yes!” Maggie exclaimed. “I had no idea he was so talented.”

The tasting bar had been rebuilt and the top was now covered with granite in gold and peach with black flecks throughout.

“You two have outdone yourselves! This is quite the surprise,” Maggie said. “You’re going to draw tons of customers. It feels so warm and cozy in here they won’t want to leave.”

“We’ll get Rex and Reina to chase them out if they stay too long,” Jessie said.

Maggie noticed again that Jessie was a younger version of Javier. He had the same thick hair, only his was blue black, and his brown eyes still sparkled with youth. He was several inches taller than Javier, and was much thinner. He had a wonderful smile, and a dimple in his cheek.

“Mom, Javier, this isn’t the only surprise we have for the two of you,” Kelly said, holding out her left hand for them to see the diamond ring she was proudly wearing. “We’re getting married this summer, the weekend before the winery opens.”

Maggie felt her heart almost burst. In the past two years, nothing but good had come to her and the old feelings of impending doom were almost completely behind her. She rushed forward and embraced Kelly.

“Oh honey, congratulations. I couldn’t be happier.” She hugged her tightly, then let go and looked around for Jessie. Javier held him in a tight embrace and didn’t look like he was going to let go any time soon. Maggie and Kelly joined the two in a group hug.

Jessie broke free and said, “We don’t want a big wedding. We want to get married here, on the winery, and have our reception here, too. We’ll get a minister or judge to marry us, then we’ll have a big party.”

“Are you sure?” Maggie asked. “You don’t want a wedding with all the trimmings? Javier and I can do that for you if you want.”

“Nope. This is where we want to get married, standing next to our vines,” Kelly said. “Then we’ll have a small reception in the tasting room.”

“As soon as we’ve made some money,” Jessie said. “We’ll build a gazebo on the edge of the fields where other people can get married. Eventually we’ll build a restaurant or banquet hall for receptions, but that will be a long way off,” Jessie said.

“That sounds wonderful. You kids are planning right. Don’t take on too much at once,” Maggie said.

“Okay, this very nice surprise. We all go out to dinner now?” Javier suggested. “I very hungry. Maggie never feed me,” he said, patting his protruding stomach.

“Yeah, Dad. You look like you’ve missed a lot of meals. You’re fading away to nothing.”

“Wait. Before we go, we have one more surprise for you,” Kelly said.

“You mean the one at the entrance that’s all covered up with the canvas tarp?” Maggie asked.

“No, that’s the name of our winery. We won’t uncover it until our grand opening. We want you to see our wine labels,” Kelly said, picking up a box from the counter. “How do you like these?” She plucked two out of the box and handed one to Javier and one to Maggie.

The labels resembled stained glass. The background was clear, and clusters of grapes in jewel toned colors of purple, red and green bordered the edges. Grape vines and leaves in dark green shades connected the clusters. In the center, raised letters in script read:

New Hope Winery

With hope, all things are possible.

Add wine, and possibilities become reality.

Maggie traced her finger over the words. Yes, it was true. With hope all things were possible, and she finally had the hope that had eluded her for over forty years. She looked up at her daughter and the two men she’d allowed herself to open her heart to and now loved deeply. Her eyes filled with tears that she made no attempt to wipe away until Javier handed her a white cotton handkerchief. She noticed they all had unshed tears, too, and those tears connected them in a rite of passage. Water turning to wine.