Page 24 of Kisses Sweeter than Wine

He arched a brow. “You drove yourself to the winery and Merlot did notice you went out the back door. I told him I left the door open, but he’s not stupid and I’m not trying to be mean. But he can’t find out. Not just because of what it will do to him, but your father is going to make a run for governor and I have it on good authority he’s going to make that announcement right here in his hometown. I’m trying to protect you both.”

“When is my father coming?”

“That I’m not sure of, but we will have some warning before it happens.”

“Hopefully, I’ll be long gone by then.” Talbot shifted. “If I could leave now, I would. But I wouldn’t know what to say to Claudia. It would be like lying to you and Weezer as a teenager. I couldn’t do it.”

“I’m not asking you to leave,” he said. “But you have to stop this with Merlot. It’s not going to end well for you or him.”

“I know that, but lying to him isn’t easy either. It’s like I’m stuck in this weird alternate universe somewhere between the past and the present and to be honest, I’m terrified of going to the winery party. Especially as Merlot’s guest. He’s not going to want to leave my side.”

“I’ll make sure he’s so busy he doesn’t have time for you.”

“Thank you.” She let out a huge sigh.

“I have one more question for you.” Carter hadn’t been proud of the fact he’d looked into her life, but he’d done so for all the right reasons. Hopefully, she’d see it that way too. “I need to know, for my own sanity, if your son is Merlot’s.”

She covered her mouth and gasped.

“That’s what I thought.”

“You poked into my life?” She jumped to her feet. “That’s so invasive and I don’t appreciate it.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” He rubbed his temples. “Why didn’t you tell us you were pregnant? I would have never put you on that bus if I knew that.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I didn’t know until about a week later.” She let out a sarcastic laugh. “I ran away three times, all with plans on coming back to tell Merlot about the baby. It was so wildly unfair to me, Merlot, and our son.”

“Does he have any idea who his father is?”

She kicked the couch. “Are you crazy? Of course not.”

“Who does he think his dad is?” Carter had no right to ask, but curiosity got the better of him.

“He has no idea and I plan on keeping it that way. You don’t know what it’s like to look in my son’s eyes every day and tell him that his father didn’t want him.” She held up her hand. “I know that’s not true. If Merlot knew, he would have been the greatest dad ever. And you know what, my son looks exactly like Merlot. It fucking kills me to lie to him like that.”

“Now there’s the Daisy I know,” Carter said. Even though she tended to be a quiet kid, she could have a mouth like a truck driver when she got fired up.

“My name is Talbot. Don’t ever call me that again.”

“I won’t,” Carter said. “I’m sorry that things went the way that they did. I wanted so desperately for your mother to leave your dad. I tried helping her. We called the cops and—”

“I got a broken nose.” She pointed to her face. “Which I’ve since fixed. But my dad had half the sheriff’s office in his back pocket. He had money and power and he used it to control my mom. The only way out was to die. I understand that. I know you did the right thing, even though it broke my heart to leave Merlot.”

“I broke his too,” Carter said. “Not to mention mine and Weezer’s. We loved—love you. If I didn’t believe your father would do something crazy if he found out you were alive, I’d tell Merlot the truth.”

“If he knew, he’d never forgive me when it comes to Corbin.” Talbot twisted her hair. “We used to talk about how we’d work at the winery together and have two or three kids. He'd stomp on my grave if he knew that I kept his son from him for nearly twenty-one years. I want him to be in love with the memory of the teenager who died. Not hate me.”

“If you believe that, you don’t know my son as well as you think.” He palmed her cheek. “He will resent me and his mother for sending you away. It won’t matter that we didn’t know about the baby. It will only matter that it was our idea.”

“I’m sorry I put you in this awful position.”

“You’re just going to have to make it clear to Merlot that there can never be anything between you and him,” Carter said. “I’ll take care of everything else.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m proud of the woman you’ve become.”

“Thank you. That means a lot coming from you,” Talbot said. “Please let me know if you hear anything about my father.”

“There is one thing you need to know about him.” Carter had long debated telling Talbot, but she needed to know what she was up against if Richard ever showed his face in Candlewood Falls while she was still in town.

“What’s that?”

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