Page 51 of One Last Night

Then Luann surprises me. She looks at Kevin, and the two of them squeeze each other’s hands. Then Luann turns to the adults and says in a clear, strong voice, “Kevin and I sabotaged Grandma’s vineyard. I came up with the ideas, and Kevin did the work.”

The room instantly falls silent. Victoria gasps, but it’s hard to tell if it’s hurt, anger or only simple shock that causes it.

I see a similar expression on the faces of the men. Sean gives me a searching look, but I shake my head. The children are doing this all on their own.

“It’s true,” Kevin adds. “We were angry at you two for not letting us date. We were going to sabotage both vineyards, but then Dad put in that new security system with cameras, so we just sabotaged the Bellamy vineyard. I chopped the vines down, but when I almost got caught, I panicked and ran. I used Dad’s company card to buy some ANFO and had it shipped to our house while Dad was out of town. I stored it in a woodshed and took it with me to sabotage the water system. I watched a Youtube video that told me how to use it. TheListeriawasn’t us, though. I promise that. We would never try to get anyone sick, and if we’d known how dangerous the explosive was, we wouldn’t have used it either.”

The adults still don’t say anything. Victoria lowers her hand and swallows. The room is quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Luann breaks the silence. “We’re sorry. We were just so angry.” Tears come to her eyes, and she wipes them away. “You guys were just fightingallthe time. Dad and Mr. Cartwright, Grandma and Mr. Cartwright, Grandma and Dad… And we liked each other, but all you guys did was act like the other family was evil and stupid and talk about how much you hated them.”

Robert and Julian glance quickly at each other, then at the floor. A flush spreads over both faces. It’s a wholly inappropriate time for me to think this, but I see the family resemblance now.

“And you said a lot of things, Dad,” Kevin says softly. “About Luann.”

The two men look at each other again, then Robert slumps even more.

“You don’t even know her,” Kevin continues. “And Mr. Bellamy, you don’t know me. Just because I’m Robert’s son doesn’t mean I’m your sworn enemy. And Luann’s not your sworn enemy, Dad. Hell, none of us even want to be in the wine business, not even Nathan.”

Nathan nods. “And we don’t want to fight. Wereallydon’t want to fight.”

“So you sabotaged the vineyard?” Victoria asks. She doesn’t sound angry, only shocked.

“We’re sorry,” Luann says again, her voice shaking. “We were just mad. You guys wouldn’t listen to us. All you cared about was that stup—was the vineyard, and Dad and Mr. Cartwright just wanted to hate each other over some business thing that happened before any of us were born. And…” She looks up at Julian. “And… I think the whole thing between Robert and Grandma just kind of threw you three off.”

Victoria gets to her feet and crosses her arms, looking away from them. I can see tears trickling down her cheeks.

Robert takes a deep breath and rubs his face. “Yeah, that’s been a whole thing too.”

Kevin frowns. “What whole thing between you and Victoria?”

Robert sighs. “We… had an affair about forty years ago.”

“Forty-four years ago,” Victoria corrects. “For seven months, and it ended when I found out I was pregnant with Julian.”

Kevin’s eyes widen. He looks at Julian. “Wait… Does that mean… Are you…”

Julian and Robert look at each other. Then they look at Kevin and Luann. Both children are white with terror. If Julian is Kevin’s brother, that means that Kevin is dating his half-niece.

“We’re going to get a DNA test to be sure,” Robert says. “But… it’s possible.”

Kevin’s eyes flinch to Luann. Her lower lip trembles, and she buries her face in her hands.

“That doesn’t mean a damned thing,” Julian says with surprising strength. “Whoever we are, it doesn’t change what you two are to each other. You two were close before all of this came out, and as far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed. What you two did was wrong, and it could have gotten people hurt. But… I think we can all agree that the adults didn’t help with any of this.”

We all nod, me included. The children haven’t exactly been saints, but we’ve not done any better than they have.

“So here’s what I propose,” Julian continues. “The feud is over. Completely. Robert and I can work out an agreement to smooth things over on the business side, but personally, the animosity ends today, between all of us. Luann and Kevin can continue to see each other if they’d like to, but they don’t have to hide anymore. Mom and Robert can stop being at each other’s throats in public, and if you two can’t, then you can agree to at least avoid each other. Same goes for me and Robert. We’ll be neighbors, and if we don’t want to be any more than neighbors, so be it. But we’re not enemies anymore. We can start there and then see where things lead. All right?”

The others murmur agreement. There aren't really smiles on anyone's faces after this, but no one's weeping anymore, and no one looks tense or angry. Mostly, they just look tired. I can understand that. I'm utterly exhausted myself.

Victoria breaks the silence this time. “We should go home. I’m utterly spent, and I’m sure everyone else is too. This has been a hellish day to cap off a hellish past several weeks. I hope that we’ve all turned over a new leaf, but frankly, I’m too tired to know for sure how I feel about any of this. Let’s just take thenight to decompress, and we can move forward with all of this in earnest tomorrow. Does that sound all right with everyone?”

The others murmur agreement again, and the families separate without goodbyes.

Almost without goodbyes. Kevin and Luann share a tight embrace on the porch before they leave. Both children are crying softly. Kevin whispers through his tears that everything will be okay, and Luann buries her head in his shoulder and sobs.

Nathan stands nearby, waiting to comfort his sister when Kevin finally lets her go. The adults stand awkwardly at the bottom of the porch, looking like they hate themselves. They probably do right now. Or maybe Victoria's right, and everyone's just tired.

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