The Prodigal Son. Beth Andrews
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not to either of his older brothers. Brady, a Marine, was serving their country overseas, and Aidan, the eldest Sheppard son was heading to law school. Brady was quiet, reserved and already engaged to his high school sweetheart, the gorgeous Liz Montgomery. Aidan was their father’s clone. Overbearing. Uptight. Controlling. He’d make one hell of a lawyer.
“You’ll go to California in the fall for school and not a day before,” his father said tightly. “In the meantime, you’ll work at the Diamond Dust. Discussion over.”
Matt balled his hands in his pockets. “I am taking the job and I am leaving tomorrow. But you’re right about one thing. This discussion is over. Sir,” he added, his tone snide enough to have his father slowly rising from his seat.
Diane laid a hand on her husband’s arm. Either in comfort or in an attempt to restrain him, Matt wasn’t sure. “How do you plan on getting to California?” she asked him. “Where will you live? You can’t move into the dorms until the end of the summer.”
“I’m flying out of Richmond tomorrow at noon. I already have my ticket. Paid for with my own money,” he added, before they could accuse him of using their cash for it. “And I’ll stay at the winery.” He slid a glance at his father. “The owner often takes on workers from the school.”
The school being the University of California Davis, which had one of the top viticulture and enology programs in the country. The school he’d busted his hump just to get in to. The school his father had claimed was a waste of time and money since he could teach Matt everything he needed to know about cultivating grapes and the science of making wine.
But that wasn’t enough for Matt. He wanted to know more than his dad. Go further. Be better.
“Now you listen to me, boyo, and you listen good,” Tom said in a soft, deadly tone as he laid both hands on his desk and leaned forward. “You’ll do as I say or—”
“Or what?” Matt asked, telling himself there was nothing his father could do to intimidate him. Hopefully. “You’ll ground me? Take away my truck? Go ahead. But you can’t stop me from going.”
His dad pushed away from the desk and stalked around it, his mouth a thin, angry line. Matt’s chest tightened and he took his hands from his pockets but he held his ground. It still amazed him that, no matter how larger than life his dad had always seemed, he wasn’t. In fact, since Matt’s final growth spurt last summer, he had a good two inches on his old man.
Too bad he still felt about three feet tall when his dad looked at him the way he did now.
“You really want away from Jewell that badly you can’t wait three months?” Tom asked, his hands on his hips.
“I want away from you that badly.”
“Matthew!” his mom cried.
But he didn’t turn away from his dad’s eyes, from the shock and hurt in them. For a moment, Matt debated taking his words back, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Not when they were the truth.
And then, that hurt changed, turned into icy resolve. “You want to go off and be a big man? Fine. Go. But know this. If you walk out that door, you’ll get nothing from us. No money. No tuition. Nothing.”
“Wait a minute.” Diane hurried around the desk, her eyes wide and distressed. “This is getting out of hand. We all need to take a little time, calm down, then we can discuss—”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Tom said, not so much as glancing his wife’s way. “It’s past time this boy learned what a good thing he’s had here all these years. Maybe he’ll even grow up a little.”
Matt flashed hot then cold. His palms grew damp. All his plans for the future shifted. He’d have to work during school now. Get loans rather than count on his parents’ financial support. It wouldn’t be easy, that was for certain. But it’d be worth it.
He’d be on his own. Completely.
“I don’t need your money,” he told his father, proud of how rational, how mature, he sounded. “I don’t need you at all.”
Tom rocked back on his heels. “We’ll see what tune you’re singing in a few months when you’re paying your own way. You don’t realize what you’re throwing away. But you will.”
“I won’t change my mind,” he vowed, his hurt and anger giving his conviction the ring of truth. “And I won’t be back. Ever.”
“Matthew,” his mom whispered, “please don’t say that, honey. You know there will always be a place for you here. And at the Diamond Dust. This is your home.”
He waited. But his father didn’t agree with his wife. Didn’t say anything at all. Didn’t beg him to stay. Or take back his harsh words. He didn’t apologize for every time he’d made Matt feel less. Less than perfect. Less than his brothers. For all the times he’d made Matt wonder why his father couldn’t treat him like he did Aidan and Brady. Why he couldn’t love him the same way.
But his dad didn’t say anything. The only sound was that of his mom’s soft crying. Matt wanted to go to her, to hug her one last time. To tell her everything would be okay. But he couldn’t. He felt too close to tears himself.
Instead, he turned on his heel and brushed past his dad, fully intending never to see his parents, this house, or the Diamond Dust again. When he reached the door, Tom’s voice stopped him, his words causing a cold sweat to break out along Matt’s neck.
“You’ll come back,” his dad said, as if he were speaking a prophesy. “And when you do, I’ll be waiting.”
CHAPTER ONE
HE WAS GOING HOME.
Not to stay, Matt assured himself as he steered the four-wheeled ATV down a row between thick, leafy vines in the eastern section of Queen’s Valley’s vineyards. He shut off the ignition. Never to stay.
The worst part about going back to Jewell? This wouldn’t be the first time. No, he’d visited his hometown plenty of times since making his impassioned vow never to return ten years ago. He smiled ruefully. That was the problem with making dramatic, heartfelt declarations. They were hard to stick to. Especially ones made in the heat of anger.
Lesson learned.
Which was why he rarely made promises. They were too hard to keep.
Shaking his hair back, he got off the ATV and unhooked the bungee cords holding his equipment bag to the rack behind the seat. He took out his refractometer and slid it into the front pocket of his loose cargo shorts before grabbing a heavy plastic bag. Going down the row, he picked samplings of the Chardonnay grapes, tossing them into the bag.
Queen’s Valley was forty acres of vineyards nestled along the Murray River in South Australia. The grapes thrived in the warm, temperate climate. All around him the vines reached well above his head with heavy clusters of healthy grapes and a well-maintained canopy, the leaves lush and green. He’d worked at wineries in Napa, France and Italy and could honestly say Queen’s Valley was one of the best vineyards he’d seen.
And for the next three years, it was all his.
But first he had to return to where he’d begun. Oh, he’d tried to keep the vow he’d made graduation night. The next day he’d flown out of Virginia and told himself he’d never look back. For over a year he’d kept his distance from his family, the only contact with them an occasional email from one of his brothers, a weekly phone call to his mother. During that time he’d worked two jobs while going to school. Though it’d been a struggle, he’d managed to juggle everything and had put himself through college.
He’d figured out how to take care of himself. And as much as he hated to admit it, his father had been right about one thing. He’d had to grow up. He’d also discovered that he liked being on his own. That he didn’t need his family.
Knowing that made it a lot