The Last Sip of Wine by Stacey Reynolds

Author:Stacey Reynolds [Reynolds, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stacey Reynolds

The rest of the short holiday went by in a blur. They visited the Duomo Cathedral and Baptistry. They climbed the tower to look over the city. Then Antonio took the car to the large, nearby hospital to meet with the Chief of Staff. He was attempting to secure a donation for St. Clare’s. Nothing extravagant, but necessary things. They offered him a job, as they were in need of trauma surgeons. He didn’t even consider it. Well, maybe for a minute. The thought of keeping Sophie here, near his family. She could find work here easily. But he couldn’t think that way. He couldn’t leave St. Clare’s. He had a house, a life, friends. They were more of a family to him than his own family, and he couldn’t be ashamed of that. He was no saint, but God brought him to Brazil. To heal him and to help him learn what it really meant to be a healer himself.

Antonio drove to the front of the hotel, just as Catarina was rolling her suitcase out the front door. Sophie had her backpack and was again wearing her sensible shorts. She’d bought souvenirs that were tucked safely in his bag. Beautiful gloves for her mother, a religious icon for her father. She’d also bought one for his nonna. St. Martha, the patron saint of cooks and homemakers. His grandmother undoubtedly had something representing this little-known saint, but she didn’t have one from Sophie. And people mattered to Nonna. Sophie mattered. In a short time, she’d enchanted the entirety of Viti del Fiume.

Unlike the sunny day when they’d arrived in Florence, it was grey today and began sprinkling a few minutes out of the city. It was good, these short and intermittent showers. Good for the animals and flora of these rolling hills. Harvesting would start soon, so too much rain wouldn’t be good. He was happy as he drove into the city center of Greve to see that they’d had very little rain. And the vines in the distance were the right color to signal harvest time.

As they finally pulled into the dirt drive that led to his family home, Antonio wasn’t surprised to see several trucks and men milling around. The harvest workers were here at last, mostly local men who needed extra work and some migrant workers who would find lodging nearby at a campground. He’d checked with his brother when he’d done the physicals, making sure that everyone was being paid a fair wage. His grandfather was a fair man, but he wasn’t running the vineyard right now. Marcello and Giuseppe were training Marco to take over.

They unloaded their baggage, and he watched as Sophie humped her stuff to the pool house. He followed her with his bag, as he had her souvenirs. He didn’t go in, even though she’d seen him and left the door open. Antonio opened his suitcase on the pool’s dining table, pulling out her treasures. Then he heard her screech. Not a terrorized scream, but a yelp of surprise that could mean another scorpion.

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