“I know you wanted me to be with someone who could be a son to you… I don’t think that’s possible with Griffin.”
“Vanessa, that doesn’t matter.” He rested his hand on mine. “He’s the man you want, and we’ll make this work. I don’t care how difficult or complicated he is. You love him…so we love him.”
I turned my gaze on my father, my eyes soft. “Thank you…that means a lot to me.”
He squeezed my hand before he pulled away.
“He never told me what you guys talked about last week. He said a few things…but not much.”
He gave a slight nod. “He’s a man of few words.”
“What did you talk about?”
He shrugged. “In a nutshell…he doesn’t like me.”
I sighed in disappointment, but I wasn’t surprised.
He rubbed his palms together, his callused skin chafing together. His eyes were on his movements. “I didn’t realize this until your mother pointed it out to me, and now that I’ve spent some alone time with him, it’s all I can see. All he’s ever wanted is somewhere he belongs…a family. He doesn’t have anyone but you, and when I took you away, it was like losing his mom all over again. Your absence hurt him…but I was the one who killed him. I’m not better than the man who murdered his mother. He resents me for the power I have over him. And he’s hurt by the things I said about his mother. He’s a powerful man who’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself and you…but he needs more. He needs a family.”
I nodded, knowing he was right. “He’s always resented me for everything that I have, for the beautiful childhood home and the wonderful family that loves me. He says that life should have been his…but you took it away from him.”
“And then I did it again…when I took you away.” He kept staring at his hands. “I’m trying to make this right, tesoro. I’m trying to connect with him, to move forward on a different foot. I’ve never apologized for protecting you. I still stand by my decision. But I want things to be different as we move into the future. But he’s not willing to meet me halfway, not anymore.”
“He’s very stubborn…” He was the most stubborn man I’d ever known.
“And angry.”
“Yes…that too.”
“It would be easy for me to let it go. Griffin has said that’s what he wants, to put on a show for you and pretend everything is fine. We can pretend to like each other when we see each other, but we don’t need to stand in the same room together longer than we have to. That would save me time and work. But after what he did for us…I can’t settle for that kind of relationship. He didn’t have to join the fight and save all of us. He could have easily looked the other way and let us all die…and then took you when we were gone.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes still on the table. “So I have to make this right.”
I moved my hand to his shoulder and rubbed my palm across the cotton of his shirt. “Thank you…I want him to be part of us. I want him to be happy.”
“Me too, tesoro. So I need you to help me.”
“How?”
“You need to ask him to meet me halfway. You need to ask him to come to the winery three days a week. We’ll work together, spend time together, and maybe in time, some kind of relationship will form.”
I had a lot of power over Griffin, the power to make him do almost anything. He was ruthless and bossy, but I could get my way if I asked for it.
“He wouldn’t agree when I asked. But he will if you do.” He turned back to me, his hands coming together.
It would be the easiest solution to the problem. Even if Griffin didn’t want to do it, he would do it because I asked. He loved me, would give me the world if I asked for it. “As much as I want to do that…I can’t.”
His eyebrows furrowed.
“He’s done so much for me. He told me he needed time, and I can’t rush him. After everything he’s done for me, how loyal he’s been to me, I can’t ask him to keep trying. I understand his pain. I understand his anger. It would be selfish of me to ask for anything more. I’m sorry…but I can’t.” I’d asked him to try to win my family over in the beginning, and he put up with my father’s and uncle’s bullshit every single day. He handed a loaded weapon to his enemy while he agreed to be chained to a chair. He worked at the winery every day, moving heavy crates and being insulted at the same time, just for a little bit of my father’s attention. And then he took a bullet for my father…almost died because of it. “You have to do this on your own. I can’t choose sides. I have to respect what he wants. I won’t use my power over him, even if I could get what I want.”