Page 17 of The Wedding Toast (The Hamiltons #10)

After the pilots left, Bentley came down the steps to join Jacob.

“Oh hey, I thought you’d gone.”

“I wanted to have a word with Will while I was here. I know he’ll be covering for you while you and Becca are away. I wanted to make sure that he knows he can reach out to me if he needs anything.”

“Thanks.”

Bentley shrugged. “Of course. Is there anything I can help with?”

“Don’t you need to get back to work?”

“I don’t. I told them I won’t be back until Tuesday now. They’ll be fine. Willow’s taking tomorrow off as well.” He made a face. “I just hope that doesn’t mean the girls plan to have so much of a good time tonight that she won’t be fit for work tomorrow.”

Jacob laughed. “Even if they do, I don’t think that you and I will have much to worry about. Willow and some of the others might get a little wild, but it’s hardly Becca or Alyssa’s style, is it?”

“True,” said Bentley.

Jacob gave him a puzzled look. “Is there anything wrong?”

“No, it’s just …” Bentley met his gaze. “I’ve been wondering if I shouldn’t have done something more, different, you know, for tonight – for you. This is the only bachelor party you’ll ever have, I hope.”

Jacob smiled. “It is, and what you’ve organized suits me just fine.

Like you said, we could have done anything.

Gone anywhere, had a wild weekend in LA or Vegas, gone on a golfing trip or …

” He shrugged. “I don’t really know what people do.

All I know is that I wasn’t interested. Having dinner and drinks with you and the guys suits me just fine, so don’t go giving yourself a hard time, okay? ”

“Okay,” said Bentley. He still didn’t look convinced.

Jacob cocked an eyebrow at him. “Are you telling me that when your turn comes, you want me to organize some kind of wild party with strippers or something?”

Bentley laughed out loud. “No way. You know that’s not my style.”

“Exactly,” said Jacob. “Just like you know it’s not mine. So, are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. And the guys are all off on their missions, collecting guests,” Bentley added.

“It’s going to be a busy couple of days for them, but they don’t seem to mind.”

“I know Ollie and Reaves don’t mind pitching in,” said Bentley.

Jacob checked his watch. “Are you going to stick around until your mom lands?”

Bentley pursed his lips. “I’ll have to check and see if they’ve even taken off yet.”

Jacob took his phone out of his pocket and checked the flight tracker app. “Looks like they’ll be here in about half an hour.”

“Then yes,” said Bentley. “Although … I’ll only be saying hello to them. It’s not like they’re coming back to the house.”

“How do you feel about the way it’s all worked out?” Jacob asked.

“A little strange, but it’s all good,” said Bentley.

When she’d still lived in Napa, Bentley’s mom, Alexandria – now known as Ria – had lived on the DuPont estate.

Since she’d moved to Summer Lake to be with her new partner, Russ, Bentley and Alyssa had made the estate their home.

Bentley’s sister, Willow, now lived here on the Jacobs estate with Slade.

And his youngest sister Tori, lived in Summer Lake with Jacob’s younger brother Xander.

Ria had declared, when she was invited to the wedding, that she and Russ would be staying with Madeleine and Cole Hamilton Senior – Smoke’s parents.

Jacob grasped his friend’s shoulder. “I like it for you. Your mom’s told you that she’s not going to interfere. You’re the CEO of the company. It makes sense that she’s not just going to stride back in and take over the house again. And it’s not just the house now – it’s your home with Alyssa.”

Bentley smiled. “It is, yeah. And you’re right, but it still feels strange.”

Jacob smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”

“I will. And you said that Xander and Tori aren’t staying here?”

“No. Xander doesn’t feel any more at home here than Tori does at your place. And besides, with Becca’s family here, and people coming and going all the time, neither of them would be comfortable.”

“I offered them a cottage,” said Bentley, “but they said no. I don’t even know where they’ve ended up staying. Do you?”

“Xander said they rented an Airbnb,” Jacob chuckled.

Bentley laughed with him. “That sounds about right for the two of them. Does Xander still have a car here?”

“He does,” said Jacob.

“Wait – you don’t mean his old Impala, do you? He’s not going to drive that around town, is he? I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Jacob laughed. “No, it’s still here, but he left his truck behind when he and Tori moved to the lake. It’s still out in the garage, along with the Impala and everything else.”

Bentley grinned at him. “Does Becca have any idea yet about what’s been going on in the garage?”

“Not a clue. Or at least if she does, she’s doing a very good job of hiding it. And you know her – I don’t think she’d be able to do that.”

“Neither do I,” said Bentley. “She’s too straightforward.”

“Do you want to come up to the house while we wait for your mom and the others to arrive? Becca’s there with her friend Callie.”

“Sure,” said Bentley. “Are Chuck and Darlene around? I really like them. You lucked out with your new in-laws.”

Jacob nodded happily. “I’m not sure if they’ll be at the house.

Well, Darlene will probably be in the kitchen with Elena.

Those two get along like a house on fire.

I’m not so sure about Chuck. I think it all gets to be a bit much for him, but he enjoys hanging out with Walt, and between them they’ve made sure that the wedding is going to be everything I hoped it would. ”

Bentley glanced over at the cornflowers that lined the driveways – even over here by the offices. “I have to ask – are you going to be sick of the sight of cornflowers by the time this is all over?”

Jacob laughed. “I can see why you’d think so, but no. I still love them. They make Becca happy, and that’s all that counts.”

~ ~ ~

“What are you girls going to get up to this morning?”

“I don’t really know. I feel like everyone else is so busy getting things ready, and there’s not much left for me to do,” said Becca.

“That’s as it should be,” her mom said. “You need to make the most of this time to hang out with Callie.”

“I’m up for a walk if you are,” said Callie. “All this good food is making me worry that I won’t be able to fit into my bridesmaid’s dress by Saturday.”

Elena laughed. “You need feeding up. You should come and visit more often.”

Becca could only smile when her mom nodded her agreement. “You know your folks would love it if you lived closer to Becca.”

Callie opened her mouth to reply but stopped when Jacob and Bentley entered the kitchen.

“Hey, everyone.” He greeted them all with a smile, came to Becca, and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “How’s it going?”

“Everything’s wonderful,” she told him. “I’m just wondering how to be useful.”

“That’s the point. You don’t need to be useful – you just need to be ready on Saturday. And if it’s any consolation, I’m only waiting around at the moment. That’s why Bentley’s here as well.”

Bentley smiled around at them. “Smoke’s going to land here to drop Mom and Russ off.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Becca. She glanced at Jacob. “Xander and Tori are coming with them, aren’t they?”

“They are, but they probably won’t stick around for long – they’ll want to go and get settled into wherever they’re staying.”

Becca didn’t know how to feel about that. She didn’t know Xander and Tori well, but she really liked them, and she was hoping that Xander didn’t feel like he couldn’t stay here – in his family home – because of her.

Jacob rested his hand on her shoulder. “I’ve told you before, sweetheart, he wouldn’t want to stay here anyway.”

“Neither would Tori,” Bentley added. “Those two like to do their own thing. They didn’t want to stay at our place either.”

“Can I get you anything?” her mom asked.

Jacob and Bentley both shook their heads.

“Is Chuck around?” Jacob asked.

“He’s off with Walt, looking at the flowers again,” said her mom. “Although what else they think they can do at this point, I don’t know.”

“They’re just trying to make sure that everything’s perfect,” said Callie. “I know this morning they were talking about having the ones from the greenhouse ready for Alara to use on the arch.”

“How’s this arch coming?” asked Bentley. “I heard that Alara’s daughter is making a lot of friends around here.”

Becca laughed. “Little Zia. I love that girl, she’s wonderful.”

Jacob smiled big as he told Bentley, “She’s a little character. She’s going around naming everyone.”

Elena chuckled. “Has she come up with any more new ones, do you know?”

“I got two names,” said Callie with a laugh.

“Two?” Becca asked. “I thought she decided that you were Miss Callie Clay.” She looked around at the others. “Get this – when Callie said that her name was Callie Claiborne, Zia decided that it meant clay burn, that she burns the clay, you know, when she’s making her pottery.”

Everyone laughed at that, and Callie rolled her eyes. “That’s right, and when I tried to explain to her that’s not really my name, she decided that I am Lady Sunshine.”

“Oh, I like that,” said Becca. “It suits you.”

Her mom nodded. “It does.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard this one yet,” said Jacob. “Slade told me earlier that John is now the quiet dragon.”

“That makes sense,” said Becca with a laugh. “If Slade’s the growly dragon who guards the empire from the front gate. Then when he’s not there, I can see John being the quiet dragon. I hope he likes it.”

“From what Slade said, I think he did,” said Jacob.

“Is she here yet this morning?”

“I haven’t seen anything of them,” said Becca. She narrowed her eyes at Jacob. “But then I’m not allowed near the garage for some reason, am I?”

He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. “No, you’re not, Queen Cornflower.”

“Alara said that when they arrived this morning, she and Zia would go straight over there,” said Elena. As she picked up a plate of cookies, she added, “I was thinking I’d take these down for them.”

“If you see Chuck and Walt on your travels, ask them what they’re up to, would you?” said Darlene.

“Okay. I’ll be back.”

~ ~ ~

Chuck wandered back up toward the house from the greenhouse. Walt was a decent fella, but he’d managed the grounds here at the Jacobs place by himself for decades – he’d been good about it, but they both knew he didn’t need Chuck’s help.

As he followed the driveway, his gaze alternated between taking in the rolling hills covered in grapevines that went as far as the eye could see, and checking on the cornflowers that filled the borders along the drive.

It was hard to believe that his Becca lived here now – that this was her home, and that when she had babies, his grandkids would grow up here.

What wasn’t hard to believe was that Jacob loved her. That had been plain from the start.

Chuck would never have believed that a man like him – a businessman who had his own jet and wore a suit most of the time – would have it in him to go to all this trouble for Becca.

But now he knew Jacob, he knew that man would go to the ends of the Earth for her.

He’d be a good husband, and a good father when the time came.

He slowed as he got closer to the house. He’d be glad when the wedding was behind them – he’d hold his own with all these fancy folks who were coming. But he’d be able to relax after they all left again.

He walked more slowly, eyeing the cornflowers as he went.

He crouched near a clump of them, not pulling weeds exactly – just fussing with the soil, making sure they were standing proud.

He knew he wasn’t really needed here – Walt was the groundskeeper, and Jacob had paid someone to plant them.

But Chuck’s hands couldn’t sit idle, and if he was honest, this was the only part of the estate that felt like his kind of place.

He muttered to himself: the soil didn’t smell right, wasn’t red enough. Although maybe the soil just reminded him that everything here was different – and that he was just unsure what to do in a place where people wore cufflinks before lunch.

He stilled when he sensed a presence behind him. It was small, not an animal like he was used to back home. He started to turn slowly, wondering if it might be the Dalmatian he’d seen around a time or two.

“Are these your friends?”

He had to turn all the way around before he saw her – the little girl they’d all been talking about. She stood barefoot in the grass, arms hanging loosely at her sides, big eyes watching him like she wasn’t looking at him but into him.

“What’s that, now?”

She pointed to the cornflowers. “These. You’re the one looking after them.”

He shrugged and wiped a palm on his jeans. “Not really. It’s Walt’s job. I’m just helping him a bit … Just … couldn’t walk by them all drooped over like that.”

She came and crouched beside him before he could get to his feet and touched the stem of a flower gently. “They stood up straighter when you came near.”

He just watched her, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t explain it, but it felt true.

“You’re Becca’s dad.”

“That’s right.”

“Your hands make beautiful things grow.”

He raised an eyebrow. “They do what now?”

“Your hands, they know how to do hard work, and how to tell stories. Your hands are like my mom’s. You work with flowers and growing things. You’re not like them.” She jerked her head toward the big house. “They’re nice, but the flowers don’t love them like they love you – you’re special.”

Chuck’s throat tightened unexpectedly. No one had ever said anything like that to him – especially not a child with big eyes and bare feet.

They sat in silence for a moment. The breeze rustled the cornflowers.

“You always talk like that?” he asked eventually.

She shrugged, lifting her shoulders all the way to her ears before letting them fall again. “Only until people don’t like it anymore.” She smiled big. “You like it, you just don’t know what to say back.”

He chuckled, not a big one – more a quiet rumble of surprised affection. Then, after a moment he nodded. “Guess I’ll keep fussing over these a while longer, then. Someone ought to.”

Zia smiled, wide and knowing. “They already know you’re their farmer. You need a name.”

He braced himself; he’d heard about this little thing going around giving everyone names. He just hoped she wouldn’t saddle him with something he couldn’t live down.

She leaned her head to the side, and he straightened his shoulders as she studied him.

“You are Sir Strongheart – Keeper of the Fields.”

And with that, she got up and wandered back toward the garage, leaving him sitting among the cornflowers – no longer feeling out of place, but like maybe the earth here did have room for him after all.