Chapter 2 ~ Immature Tannins

EDWARD

The look on Emmett's face said it all but for some reason, I needed to hear it.

What he was thinking, how he was reacting to seeing me there.

Had he forgiven me, yet?

"You don't look happy to see me, Em," I spat out, allowing for the tightening in my chest to show, hoping it had come across as sarcastic and not bitter.

Or nervous.

He gave me a snort and an eye roll and then, finally said, "Still the same old Edward," as he avoided my eyes, shaking his head. Probably in disappointment.

Guessing that's a no, on the forgiveness front.

It was hard to read his tone, though.

I couldn't tell if he was gonna just leave it at that or deck me.

And the inner, masochistic tendencies egged on the latter.

Wanted it.

Reveled in it.

Because in actuality, I deserved it.

"Still the same old cryptic sarcasm."

And after I spit the blood out of my mouth onto the hospital floor just outside of my father's room, from his fist giving it a hello hug, I couldn't help but stare at it for a split second or two, thinking about all the blood that had spilled in my presence over the past four years.

"Don't hold back, Em, not at my expense…" I told him, dabbing the cut on my lip with a finger, which is of course, code, for, go ahead, hit me again.

Please.

"Fuck you, Edward."

Damn.

"What the hell are you doing here, anyway?"

"Your right hook needs a little practice."

And with that particular smart ass remark, I was up against the wall.

I could have fought back, could have hurt him, maybe, even. But I didn't.

It was Emmett.

I pointed at his arm, which was cutting off my airway and blinked some Morse code to him, hoping he'd understand that I was about to pass out from lack of oxygen and he finally backed off, just as a doctor approached.

"Jesus, Em."

He was either trying to kill me off, or still didn't know his own strength.

I wasn't sure which one of those options I was hoping for.

"Mr. Cullen, I presume?"

I rubbed my throat as Emmett walked away from us, into Carlisle's room and dragged his hand through his hair, then stood there, staring at my father like he'd just lost his best friend, or something.

I'd never known him to be too overly dramatic about things, but hey…I guess it's never too late to start, huh?

"Mr. Cullen?" the doctor pulled my attention back to him and I apologized, introducing myself formally, before asking him to continue with whatever it was he'd come over to say.

"I'm afraid your father is in rather bad shape, Mr. Cullen."

"Edward," I told him. I didn't like the sound of Mr. Cullen when it was referring to me.

I wasn't a Mister.

That was Carlisle.

"Of course. Edward. He's had a bad stroke and although he's been in and out of consciousness since he arrived, he's mostly unaware of what's going on around him, right now."

None of it made any sense, still.

My dad was…well he wasn't weak. He was probably in better shape than anyone in Napa. Including most of the guys in their early twenties.

I peered over at him.

He just lay there, lifeless for the most part, except for the rising and falling of his chest.

And with the tubes and needles and machines that were hooked up to him at various places around his body, it looked nothing like the man I'd left behind four years ago.

"So," I cleared my throat.

Partially to distract myself, partially because it still burned from being choked by Emmett's forearm.

"What's the bottom line, here?"

"I'm sorry?"

"The bottom line, meat and potatoes, the key point, the length of time he'll…you know…" I waved a hand at Dad. "Be like this."

The look on the good Doctor's face told me he was a little confused.

Welcome to the club.

"Mr. Cull…Edward…your father is…" he started in on the detailed explanation but I didn't need the sugar coating, I needed facts.

"Look I understand, he's weak, but he's also strong and I need to let my commanding officer know when to expect me back…"

This guy was not so good with the encouraging looks department and I started wondering, just exactly what kind of time constraints we were talking about.

Weeks…? Months…?

Years?

"I'm…sorry, Mr. Cullen, but even if your father makes it through this, he won't be the same man. Chances are he won't be able to take care of his vineyard on his own and he certainly can't afford to hire someone to run it for him, these days."

"What?" I laughed because…surely he was joking.

Carlilse? Not the same man? Not affording help?

Shit.

I kept a thoughtful eye on the Doctor when I felt Emmett's presence again, trying to figure out why he was even still there.

Maybe he was waiting to see what I was planning on doing with the information I'd just been given.

Maybe he was the messenger boy to the rest of the townsfolk, and was just waiting around for whatever news I was about to give him so he could go pass it along to all the Cullen Family Vineyard hounds so they could start the gossip train at their earliest convenience.

Wouldn't have surprised me. People loved the gossip around town and after all, who could pass up some good, new dirt on Edward Cullen, the prodigal son?

I forced myself not to think about that, though.

"Okay so, what you're saying is…"

"Looks like you're in charge Edward," Emmett chimed in, ironically, finishing my sentence for me and it still didn't sound quite right, even coming from his mouth.

The doctor apologized one more time in his very doctorish kind of way and then left me standing there, dazed and confused and not understanding, one bit, how my world had suddenly gone from fighting in the front lines to…being the front runner of my dad's vineyard.

"Not exactly what you were expecting, I bet."

It was Emmett, again. He was definitely saying the words, but they sounded a tad jumbled, like he wasn't really talking to me.

Not that I didn't agree wholeheartedly with him.

"Em," I turned and asked him, curious.

He didn't reply but I kept talking anyway. Fist or no fist.

"Why did you seem so surprised to see me here? I mean it's not like there's anyone else in the family that would've come."

Double the meaning, double the pain.

He swallowed a little, seeming to debate how to answer me but just like the Emmett I remember, he went with honesty.

"Well," he started, "It's not like Carlisle has had much to say about you in four years." And I figured that much, but the next part, it caught me off guard a little bit.

"We all just kind of assumed you were dead, after a while."

Nice.

I put on my combat face and showed no emotion to it. He wasn't getting the satisfaction.

"No one dared to ask him about you and well, I mean you know Carlisle…"

He trailed off, leaving the words to hang there, taunting me because, yeah, I knew him, alright.

I nodded in agreement, but that was all I did.

After that awkward exchange, Emmett left and I stared blankly at my Dad for a while, silently asking him questions like, why me?

Why was I the one he had listed on his contact information?

He knew plenty of people in town that cared about him, would have gladly taken care of things better than I would.

I didn't get it but it didn't matter anyway because if his chances were slimmer than slim to even survive and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to run the place, I knew what my one and only option was.

I'd just…have to sell the vineyard.

I'd get him as much as I could and put it into an account that could pay for his hospital care.

It probably wouldn't have been Carlilse's first choice, but it was the best option for everyone involved. Besides, it wasn't his choice anymore and he was the one who'd listed me as care taker.

Once I was settled once and for all with my decision, I told my dad goodbye, even though I knew he couldn't hear me, promised to come back the next day, then took off for the house to make a list and assess the situation. I'd need to figure out just how much work would be entailed to get it into sellable condition.

Then I'd have to check in with the boss man and give him the update.

That I wouldn't be back for a while, but I would definitely be back to report for another tour of duty.

Later on, back in Napa, I chanced going out for a walk after checking in on the house.

Mainly because I wasn't particularly ready to face the vines just yet and certainly wasn't looking forward to facing Alice, again.

The good news was, it didn't look like a burglar had ransacked the place anymore, so at least I had that going for me.

The bad news was, it was gonna take a lot of work to the place back up and running in an orderly fashion, again.

I don't know what in the Hell Carlisle had been doing since I was gone, but it wasn't taking care of the vineyard.

Something else that didn't make sense, seeing how those vines were like his babies as far back as I could remember.

He cared about those things more than anything.

I let things swirl around in my head a bit as I headed out the door.

To be honest, I thought twice about walking around in public but it was late enough to be dark and most people wouldn't pay attention to who was casing the neighborhood but I tacked on a baseball cap anyway, pulling it down low, just to be sure.

Every winery I passed, I could smell the different flavors of the grapes each one was growing from their crops and it all brought back a flood of memories I wasn't quite ready to face again but still, the smell was good.

Like child hood.

I breathed in the clean Napa air and tried to focus on that rather than my father, laying in a hospital bed and as I passed the local information center, I took in all the happy people there, starting their vacations, coming to town for a weekend get away, maybe…hitting up the bed and breakfasts.

I noticed one woman, in particular, who looked, quite lost as she juggled her belongings, trying to grab some maps and such out of their respective holders.

She also looked rather frazzled.

As in, she would have pulled all her hair out if it weren't for the fact that she was attempting to hold several suit cases, shoulder bags and miscellaneous personal items that there was just no way she needed to be carrying around.

My feet slowed to a stop and I watched her, unwittingly smiling at her as she continued to drop one thing, then pick another up, only to drop yet another item.

I couldn't figure out why she didn't just put it all down, then pick up the damn map and it was frustrating beyond measure.

I was approaching her before I knew I was even moving. My feet just…walked toward her, my brow wrinkled, my lips, smiled more.

It wasn't really in my nature to approach people in Napa, these days.

Hell, it wasn't really in their nature to want me to but being that she wasn't a local, I figured, why not.

Then, before I could stop myself, yet again, I bent down next to her ear and asked, "Would you like a compass?"

It wasn't my smoothest move ever, but it would have to do.

Besides, it wasn't like I was…picking her up, or anything.

She jumped and dropped nearly everything she'd had in her hands except for one bag she was trying desperately not to lose.

"Woah, woah, woah, you okay?"

She seemed a little bit dizzy...or drunk...as I grabbed said bag, before it either knocked someone unconscious or caused a divot in the sidewalk, with one hand.

Her, with the other.

Shit, that's heavy.

The bag, not her. She had to have been one twenty, maybe one thirty at worst...and that's being generous.

It wasn't uncommon. The dizziness, that is.

It told me a tiny bit about her, as a matter of fact.

"Visiting from the East Coast?"

Lots of people weren't exactly used to the dry air or how far above sea level they'd landed over on the West Coast, at first. It took some getting used to.

And a lot of water.

I was rewarded with one seriously suspicious look, like I'd just hacked her computer or something and then she diverted her attention back to her belongings, straightening herself out, moving a little further away from me, as she did.

"Can I help you with those? Looks like a lot of…"

"Don't…" she hesitated, reaching. "…Please don't drop that, it's got very expensive machinery in it," she frantically instructed as she reached harder for the bag.

I held it out to her but then hesitated, and pulled it back. "Expensive machinery…hmmm," I put on a serious face. "You have a pipe bomb in there, miss?" I asked her, pretending to go about searching her private property.

I don't think she exactly knew how to react to me and I wasn't even sure myself why I was engaging in the tease but I just couldn't resist, she was so…stressed.

I wanted to laugh at her. Or, make her laugh, rather. So, I eyed her, suspiciously.

"You planning on blowing up the station?"

"That's not funny."

I scowled. "It was a little funny."

"Um, no, it really wasn't, do you have any idea how many people are risking their lives every day overseas for our country because someone thought bombing us was a good idea?"

So serious.

"I have an inkling," I chided, and with that chide, I added a smirk. Hell, I couldn't help myself.

Something that was apparently becoming habit with this woman.

"Yeah? Well your inkling should probably be better put to use by doing some research, pal, now if you don't mind…I…"

Ouch.

"Oh, I mind…I mind very much," I grinned, blocking her path with my body.

Her eyes were…deep. And looked sad, oddly enough, I thought.

Why in the Hell was I even doing this? I had shit to take care of.

A vineyard to sell.

Still, she was kinda cute.

"Excuse me," she nearly shouted as her eyes darted around some, probably trying to get someone's attention for some sort of help but what she didn't know was, half these people wouldn't come near me with a ten foot pole.

The other half, well, they pretty much liked to pretend that I didn't exist.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" I blurted out. I told myself it was to stop her from screaming holy bloody murder but in reality, I didn't really know why I'd said it.

She laughed but not in a very friendly sort of way.

"I don't think so."

Double ouch.

"Why not?"

"I'm not interested, that's why not," she answered, getting a little angry then and yes, she was even cuter than before, now.

"You don't seem uninterested, to me."

I was still smiling, but trying to at least seem like I was trying to hide it.

"Really." She said it, blowing the brown bangs out of her eyes. It was sarcastic. And she not only looked quite adorable with the huffing, but she also sounded quite sexy while she was sarcastic, I decided.

Now I really did have to laugh.

"Really."

She snorted and re-adjusted her bags, again, and again, I tried to take a few for her but she wouldn't have it.

"Bells!"

"Oh thank god," she breathed, truly thankful and I wondered if my radar was off, momentarily.

Nah.

She waved to someone behind me and when I looked over my shoulder to see who she knew in town, I thought, of course, just before he gave me the evil eye and a fair warning.

"Step away from my cousin, Edward."

Awesome, I though, let my head fall forward, in defeat.

"Cousin."

"You know this guy?" she asked him and he chuckled his big, loud, obnoxious Emmet McCarty laugh.

"You could say that."

He started grabbing her things for her and gave me a look while he did it.

"I tried to help her with those," I told him, defensively but she just got snippy again.

Which I liked.

Again.

"I don't need your help."

"Yeah, Edward," Emmett teased. "She doesn't need your help."

He took most of her things and she snatched the heaviest of them, the one I'd saved from utter destruction, out of my hands and strutted off without so much as a second glance over her shoulder.

Nothing.

I however, watched every move she made, every stumble, every struggle with getting into Emmett's Jeep and finally, the blowing of her bangs out of her face again, once she'd settled into her seat and strapped herself in.

Emmett's body interfered with my vision and my eyes snapped to meet his.

"Don't even think about it, Edward, she's taken."

"You uh…practicing incest, Em?"

Again, couldn't help it.

He didn't hit me, though, instead, he grinned a little and said, "She's engaged, back home, to a successful, responsible, well known, stand up guy, so, like I said, don't even think about it."

Then he too, was gone without waiting for a response, or giving me a second thought.

And it was just as well, I figured, as I watched them drive off because let's face it, I wouldn't be home for long, anyway. It wasn't like it would have gone anywhere.

But still, I couldn't help but wonder, where was Emmett's cute, quirky, angry cousin, who I didn't have a name for yet, was from, who this stand up guy was, and most importantly, why hadn't I known about her until now?



A/N: A wine with high tannins can be described as bitter and astringent. Red wines are in contact with the grape for a longer period, and therefore have higher tannins.