“I needed a do-over with a way better ending this time,” he said as he led me to a blanket on the ground, surrounded by four empty wine bottles scattered at our feet.

I laughed, completely clueless as to what he was about to ask.

He got down on one knee, between rows of vines, my hand in his, and promised I’d remember it all this time. But I didn’t. Because, when the man you loved more than anything in the world got down on one knee and started saying all sorts of beautiful things, your brain couldn’t hear them all. It was like I stopped processing any sounds, and all I saw was a sea of blue and all the hope they held. I could tell you every single color and shade in his eyes before I could tell you even a fraction of what he said to me that day.

But I did remember saying yes.

Distinctively.

Confidently.

And without a second thought.

“Yes, yes! A million times yes!” I shouted as he jumped up, still holding on to my left hand.

“This means forever,” he said as he slipped the antique platinum and diamond ring on my finger.

“I wouldn’t take a single day less,” I said before his mouth hungrily captured mine with so much love and lust that I thought we might set the vineyard aflame.

*  *  *

We planned on getting married right on top of the property line that currently divided the Russo and La Bella land. We wanted to start our legal lives right between the two vineyards, him standing on my side of the land and me standing on his. It felt symbolic to unite as one in the exact place that had torn our families apart for so long. James and I were merging, and soon, the land would as well. There would be no more division—not in name, property, or family.

The reception would be held inside the barn. Both of our moms had gone wedding crazy, stringing up tiny white lights in the rafters and drying fresh wildflowers and hanging them all over the place even though the actual wedding was still months away. It looked like a scene straight out of the movie Sweet Home Alabama. I had to admit that I loved it though, and it inspired ideas for how I could decorate the barn in the future once James and I officially took over.

“Think they’re ever going to retire?” My fiancé wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed the back of my neck.

“Probably not.”

“Maybe, if we give them grandkids, they’ll go away.” He laughed against my ear, nibbling on the lobe, and I maneuvered out of his grasp before turning to face him.

“I think having grandkids will have the exact opposite effect. They’ll never leave then.”