“Christ,” Kit swears from down thetable.
“Kate is right.” Alan finally gives in,standing up. “I have lived a long time, my grandson, and it does no good toharbor ill will towards someone; the only person it hurts is ourselves, and Ilearned that the hard way. What’s left of my precious family is sitting in thisroom. I may be old and I may be mean, but it’s only because I want the best foryou and Cooper. Don’t let this define who you are, Coulter. Yes, Vince isright, he needs to make amends for his mistake, but don’t make it his demise.”I cup my hand in Cole’s again. He lets it hang slack, but then squeezes andbrings it to his lips, kissing it.
Cole stands. “All those in favor of a4.5 percent increase over normal shipping rates with a renegotiation after fiveyears?” He raises his hand, as do all the men in the room, and me, of course. Ican’t take it and I stand, wrapping myself around Cole. He holds me tight,lifting me up. “You have made me a better man, Kate.” He breathes in my ear.
He sits me back down, helping me dry mytears with one of his handkerchiefs. “See,” I say, wiping my nose with the softwhite fabric, “I’m a terrible businesswoman, I’m sticking with antiques, nomore meetings.”
Cole kisses my forehead. “Fair enough.”
I turn to face everyone. “Sorry for thewater works.” All the men just give me sympathetic and reassuring smiles.Preston opens the doors, ushering the three men back inside. The young tallAntonio is carrying a large rectangular box with a bright blue bow on top.Rafe, and Antonio sit, but Vincenzo remains standing.
“This Kate, is a gift for you. No matterthe outcome of today’s meeting, this is a gift from the heart of the Mezzofamily. Words cannot express how sorry I am for what Melvin Martins did to you,for what my family did.” He pushes the box across the table to me. I stand up,looking it over, and realize I need to open it from the bottom. I carefullyraise the box, revealing a beautiful porcelain statue of a woman with smallwings on her back. “Do you recognize it?”
With my emotions still raw, more tears slipdown my face. I cover a hand over my mouth, nodding to Vincenzo.
“A beautiful replica of the original inItaly, ‘Donna e Angela,’ part woman part angel, a beautiful priceless piece ofart for a beautiful priceless woman.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. My fingerslightly caress the smooth, cold porcelain. I wipe a stray tear away, sittingdown.
“So you have come to a decision, then.”The oldest Mezzo states, looking first at Alan and then at Cole.
Cole stands nodding. “Unfortunately, wedo not accept your offer.” Vincenzo nods, but Cole holds up a hand. “We are,however, willing to counter offer at a more reasonable rate of 4.5 percent withrenegotiations after five years.” Poor Rafe sits back, the color coming backinto his face. Vincenzo simply strokes his chin, contemplating.
“You are sure? This is fair to you?”
“It’s as fair as I’m willing to get atthe moment,” Cole states.
“Very good, then. We have a deal.” Allthe men shake hands and a new tentative offer is drawn up.
“Mrs. Holt.” Rafe holds a hand out and Ishake it. “I believe I owe you five hundred dollars.” He removes a smallenvelope from the inside of his jacket, handing it to me. I reach into my purseand retrieve the authentication paper.
“If you’ll permit me, I’d like to saysomething.” I glance at Cole who’s come to stand next to me. He doesn’t sayanything, so I nod to Rafael Mezzo. “I frequent Laughlin’s. I have piecesappraised and I like high end antiques. For what it is worth, I was there thatday having Landon appraise a sword set I bought off the auction. It was purechance that we happened to be there at the same time, but not chance that Ispoke with you and bought your ring. I hope in time you can forgive me for mydeception.”
“In time, perhaps,” I say, matter offact, but follow it up with a small smile. I’ve never been one to hold a grudgeand his family is making amends.
“Would you like to see my office?” Colewhispers, skimming his hand across my backside.
I tap my finger on my chin like I’m contemplating,but my body is already heating at the idea.
“Time’s up. That’s a yes.” He tugs myarms, ushering me down a small hallway into a gigantic office.
“Holy crap.”
“Yes, it’s over the top, but then that’swhat I wanted.” Check out this view. We walk up the large glass windows thatpeer out over the Las Vegas Strip. “You should see the view from here at night.It’s pretty spectacular.”
“I bet.” I walk around Cole’s desk,sitting in the plush leather chair, spinning around in it like a four-year-old.“Nice.” Cole walks up, sitting in front of me on the desk. “But isn’t thisgoing to be Cooper’s office?” I ask, wanting to finish the conversation fromthe elevator. I give Cole the time he needs to collect his thoughts, after all,this afternoon has been overwhelming. I prop my feet up on the desk and hepulls me closer so his knees touch the end of the chair.
“What would you think about staying inLas Vegas for a while?”
“Oh.” It’s not that I don’t like LasVegas, it just hasn’t felt like home. Maybe things will be different after wecome back from our honeymoon. “How long is a while?”
“Eight months to a year.” Cole’s jawtenses. “Cooper has to finish his MBA or my grandfather is going to cut himoff, and I don’t want that. Our family needs to stay close now more than ever.Cooper is worried that if he goes back to school, I’ll hire someone to overseethis division of my business. I told Coop he could move up to Seattle when hewas done and I’d find something for him, but he wants to run the Las Vegas businesses.His ultimate goal is to run a hotel division of Prescott-Holt and Everett, andLas Vegas is an excellent place to start. I told Cooper I’d stay and work fromVegas instead of hiring someone else. We could try and move to Seattle like wetalked about, but I know I would end up here at least three to four times amonth, without a VP to handle the daily things. And I don’t want to leave youthat often.”
“What about Prescott-Holt?”
“Race and Kit are willing to stick aroundwhile we get the new Prescott-Holt up and running . After that, we can move toSeattle.”
“Another year in the villa.” The ideaisn’t horrible, someone to clean up after us. Who doesn’t love having someoneelse make your bed for you every day. But it just doesn’t feel like a home.
