Page 10 of What Love Can Do

She didn’t mind that so much. She was more interested in their mention of their mother. “From Forestville? Or New Killarney?” She hoped she wasn’t being presumptuous, but with a name like O’Neill and having come from Dublin, maybe they were from the Irish town an hour up the road.

“Nope. Forestville, definitely. Green Valley. We don’t know much about her background. Just learning now.” Quinn broke away and walked ahead of her to take photos, and Lilly got the sense that he didn’t want to talk much about his mother. She could respect that. Once he’d gotten sick, she hadn’t talked much about her father to strangers either.

“I see. Well, I know all the families from around here. I would know anyone named O’Neill, and I don’t. Did she go by any other last name?” Lilly asked Con.

Quinn and Con exchanged glances, then Con just shook his head. “No. That would be it, just O’Neill.”

“Hmm,” Lilly mumbled. She looked at Quinn. “Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I’m a good listener.” She didn’t know what the deal was with their mother, but she’d lost her dad to disease and might be able to empathize, depending on what was up.

“Thanks.” He smiled as if to say, I appreciate it.

They strolled the vineyard a while, as the brothers took photos of each other, and Lilly took some really great ones of them together. They really were a handsome set of boys, and truth be told, she was having fun showing them around. “Well, it’s too early for a wine tasting, but we can have breakfast over there, if you like.” She led them to a gazebo with an old picnic table where they took seats.

A woman with long, braided gray hair Lilly hadn’t seen in a few days came out of the main house and walked up to them, wiping her hands on a hand towel. “Morning, Lilly, how are you doing today?”

“Good, Nancy. Meet our guests at the house, Quinn and his brother, Con. They’re from Dublin.” Lilly opened her basket and pulled out her assortment of muffins, brioches, and natural juices, along with three cups.

“Ah!” Nancy said, shaking hands with them both. “Welcome, welcome. I see you’re being given the five-star treatment by none other than Miss Hospitality herself. You’re in good hands, gentlemen. Will we be seeing you at the wine tasting later this afternoon?”

“That would be nice, ya?” Quinn said to his brother.

“Ah, sure, would be grand. Why not?” Con replied, eyeing the muffins.

Lilly turned back to Nancy. “Can we get some coffee and tea too, Nancy? With some milk for the tea?” She smiled at Quinn, who lowered his head in appreciation for her having remembered the way he liked his tea.

“Sure thing, will be right out.” Nancy turned back to the main house.

“Eh, black tea, if you have it,” Quinn called after her. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing.” Nancy nodded.

Lilly raised an eyebrow at Quinn. “So my tea sucked yesterday?”

“Now, I never said that,” Quinn chuckled under his breath. “Don’t go puttin’ words in my mouth, young lass.” He passed the muffins to his brother, and together they all broke into them, using the silverware Lilly had packed to slather on butter and jams and jellies. “So…exactly how do you know Nancy so well? And this whole place?”

“Yeah, how did you just waltz on in here?” Con asked, munching on a brioche.

“Wait…” Quinn stopped cold and looked around the fields and at the house again. He cocked his head at Lilly. “Where did you say we were again? Phillips Winery? You’re not a Phillips, are you?” He looked mortified, as though that would be a tragedy, not that she could disagree.

“Oh, God, no!” Lilly scoffed, not meaning to sound so offended. It’s just that nobody had ever mistaken her for being from the Phillips Family before. But since he mentioned it… “No, I said Parker House. How do you know the Phillips Family? You read about them online or something?”

Con eyed Quinn, and Quinn looked back at Lilly, swallowing softly. “Yeah, you could say that. I thought maybe you were related to them.”

“Not at all. I wouldn’t touch Phillips property with a ten-foot pole.”

“Is that right?” Quinn bit into a cranberry orange muffin. “Holy…this is the best. Con, try this. So, eh…why wouldn’t you touch it with a, eh…pole?” he asked, turning back to Lilly.

She shrugged. “Just because. Different families. Business competitors. We stay out of each other’s way for the most part.”

“We?” Quinn raised an eyebrow.

“Oh.” Lilly said, sitting up straight. “Yes.”

“So you know the Parkers of the Parker House, I presume?” he asked.

She smiled and gazed out at the vineyards she and her cousins should inherit one day. “Very well, actually. They’re my family.”

Five

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