âThe weatherâs ripe for it.â He turned to Olivia. âFarming is never easy.â He gestured toward the door. âI brought your bags over to the wing. Didnât know which went in which room, though.â
Olivia had been planning to get their luggage herself. âYou didnât have to do that.â
âYes, I did. We want you here. Iâm doing my part to get you securely installed before anything changes your mind.â He said the last with an odd gravity and turned to Natalie. âWe lost Paolo. Heâs leaving with Marie.â Both names were spoken beautifully, with just the hint of an accent that didnât seem Irish at all.
Natalie hung her head. After a minute, with a resigned sigh, she told Olivia, âAn operation like ours requires a fair amount of large equipment. In addition to helping out Simon, Paolo is our in-house mechanicâwas our in-house mechanic. I wasnât joking when I mentioned a hornetâs nest. Weâre having something of a house revolt here.â
Olivia looked from one face to the other. âAll because of the
wedding?â
Natalie moved closer to Carl. Their hands met, linked, found an unobtrusive spot behind Natalieâs back, but Olivia noticed. Any romantic would. It was a sweet gesture, the sign of a sharing of strength, and all the more meaningful for its privacy. Olivia was touched.
âIt isnât only the wedding,â Natalie said. âItâs Alâs death. He courted these people. He gave them flowers on their birthdays and handed out Christmas bonuses. Me, I was the taskmaster. I told them what needed to be done. If a floor was mopped once and felt sticky, I had it mopped again. If the silver had tarnish on its back side, I wanted it repolished. Iâve never been one to like leaving a job half done. Unfortunately, that ruffles feathers sometimes. So Alexander was the one who did the stroking. He applied salve after I cracked the whip. He was the good guy, I was the bad guy. They felt that they lost their best friend when he died.â
âAnd now sheâs marrying me,â Carl picked up. âSome of them feel betrayed.â
âThey donât understand what we feel,â Natalie told him.
âWell, they
should,â
he insisted with more fire than Olivia had yet seen. âThese people arenât strangers to affairs of the heart. Paolo was mooning over Marie for twelve years before she took notice, and Anne Marie, the receptionist in the business office, just announced that once her divorce is final, sheâs marrying her high school sweetheart from thirty years back.â
Natalieâs eyes widened. âIs she leaving, too?â
âNo, but she could be sticking up for us more than she isânot that it would help much, what with the business office being apart from the rest.â
Natalie explained to Olivia, âAsquonset has three divisions. The vineyard produces the grapes. The winery turns the grapes into wine. The corporate staff gets the wine into restaurants and stores. Since the corporate offices are housed way over on the far side of our land, the staff there is isolated.â She took a tired breath. âOur accountant just left, but we saw that coming. He was a longtime friend of my late husband and has been threatening to retire for years. The others on the corporate side are newer and younger. They live in local towns and work nine to five, with four weeksâ paid vacation a year, health care, retirement funds, and so on. They wonât leave. Norwill anyone at the winery. Success begets loyalty, and weâve been very successful. Our wine maker has built a name for himself in viticultural circles in part because of the freedom and money we give him to work with. So
he
wonât leave.â
âThe problem,â Carl picked up, âis with employees whoâve been here awhile. Some, like the accountant, are reaching retirement age
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