Free Given (Give &Take) by Kelli Maine Page B

mouth. “We give it one more day, Merrick, then you call Nadia and tell her to meet us at the airport. This is ridiculous. She’s lived almost twenty-one years without you. She’s not a child. You’ve opened your home to her. You don’t need to chase her down and make her come. She’ll be there when she wants to be.”
    Merrick smacked his hand down into the water. “Enzo—”
    “He’s
not
holding her hostage! Is he? She’s just reluctant to leave him and Gina for whatever reason. We’ll find out what that reason is when she’s ready to tell us.” I grasped my upper arms, trying not to shiver from the nervousenergy rushing through me from arguing. “One more day, okay?”
    Merrick shoved his fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends. He didn’t answer, just paddled us back to shore.
    All I could do was pray we got through this together and everything would be back to normal with us once we were home at Turtle Tear.

Fifteen
Merrick
    T ough love. That was what Rachael was giving me. Did I blame her? Hell, not really. Everything she said was true. We’d fought this entire trip. I was taking my stress and all the pressure I put on myself to be the father I always should have been out on her.
    It wasn’t fair.
    I turned to her when we reached the motorcycle. “Fine. One day. Then we leave.” It was all the consolation I was able to muster at the moment. The ride back would clear my mind—I hoped. We had to get past this somehow.
    She held me tight, her thighs squeezing me as firmly as her arms. I wished we had helmets. I was never afraid of getting hurt before her. Before MJ and Nadia. Nobody would’ve cared anyway if I had. But it was different now. Rachael would care. No matter our differences, she loved me and I loved her. She’d be devastated without me, and I wouldn’t want to live a second of my life without her.
    I accelerated across the bottom of the vineyard, making my way to the other side of the Renault property. Was I really that controlling? I’d never thought I was, but consideringhow Rachael and I started and everything she’d pointed out to me today, the proof was right there—I was kind of a dictator. Here all along I thought the things I did were helping the people I cared about. But I could see now how not giving them a choice to determine their own fate was taking charge of their lives and I had no right to do that.
    I had to let go. Not completely, but enough to give them room to make mistakes—or what I believed were mistakes. Maybe they didn’t consider them mistakes.
    God, I needed a therapist.
    Or maybe just the love of a good woman—the one behind me squeezing me to death.
    If anyone could knock some sense into me, it was Rachael. I chuckled to myself, letting the wind and sun and amazing landscape around us soak into my brain and drown what I couldn’t control.
    One more day. If Nadia wanted to come to Turtle Tear, she would, just like Rachael had said.
    I pulled up to the back patio at the inn and turned off the bike. Mama and Paul were sitting at the picnic table drinking lemonade. Papa was smoking under a tree at the corner of the house, watching. I nodded to him. “Great bike.”
    Papa nodded and blew out a puff of smoke.
    Rachael got off and shook out her legs. “Lots of vibration.”
    I winked at her, knowing she’d get the innuendo I took from her words. She smirked.
    I strode over and sat down next to Paul. “How much would your father sell it for?”
    Mama’s hands shot into the air.
“Non, non,”
she said, a big smile on her face. “A gift.
Pour vos fiançailles.
Papa insists.”
    Rachael’s eyes went wide across the table. This was way too generous to accept. A vintage Harley from strangers? I shook my head, making eye contact with the old man under the tree. “I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t accept it as a gift. I’d be happy to pay you for it, though.”
    Mama began speaking to Papa in French, gesturing toward me. The man waved a hand and