After we're done eating, I lead him into the backyard. In my excitement to show him, I'm practically pulling him along by his hand. His face is lit up to see me so happy, he doesn't seem to mind my assertiveness.
"Woah," he says when he spots the area that Angel and I had completed, his hand grips mine tighter as he takes it in.
"Right?!" I beam at him, "but it's not done, done. I'll do some more tweaking later, after it's livable out here."
"I think it looks perfect, Sugar," he looks surprised I want to alter it.
I point, "This area here is kind of open right now, but it turned out well, it's clean and tidy, anyways. I haven't decided if I'm going to add flowers or not yet." I study it.
"This area," I point a little further and make a face, "it's rough, I still have a LOT of fine tuning on the clearing to do. I had Marcus set the birdbath over there, and I think that's where I'm going to plant the pink and the white trees. There is kind of a rough path, I'll have to see if I can fix the stones."
He's not as impressed with this area, but it's just in the beginning stages. I lead him to a part I haven't started on yet, I begin parting the tall weeds, "Look!" I slap my hand onto a boulder.
"A rock?" He stares at it, not sure why I'm excited.
"Practically a boulder, come here," I walk into the partially cleared area, less than ten feet in the beginning of a wall made out of the boulders starts.
"More rocks," he says.
"It's a wall, and there are steps," I bounce on a very large shelf of rock, "all made out of huge rocks!" I keep pushing through waist tall weeds/grass until I get to it. "I don't know where they go yet, but I'll find out."
"I know you will." he looks around again, "I'm proud of you, Dana. You're really transforming this space."
"Yes, and no, it's more like rediscovering it, right now. I'll transform it later."
He pulls me close as looks everything over. He looks pleased with the progress I'm making.
"All this stone work is going to save me a bunch of time, and you a ton of money," I explain to him.
"That's good, or else I would just have to record another album," he jokes.
I hesitate, "Is that why you're recording right now? Am I costing you too much money?"
"It was a joke, Sugar, you're fine, but I have dropped a few large bills recently. I don't need to record because I need the money, I just need to record."
Feeling guilty, "I don't need any of this, Prince. The house, the clothes, the jewelry, they're all things," I finger my pendant.
"I know, but I want you to have these things. A man provides for his woman." I can tell this is something he feels very strongly about.
"You didn't have to buy the vineyard."
As soon as those words leave my mouth, I regret them. His face falls, it's like I can see his heart breaking in front of me. The pain is evident in his eyes as they get glassy with tears, this causes mine to fill. No, no, no.
"Prince?" I whisper.
I turn towards him, our bodies close but not touching, I take hold of his slack arms. My face just inches from his, I search his eyes, they're glazed. I don't know what to say to make it right, so I wait.
Seconds pass, a tear slips from one of my eyes, he watches it as it travels down my cheek. "Prince," I whisper again, "talk to me."
His mouth opens, closes, then he takes a deep breath, he blinks back his tears, "I had to buy the vineyard."
He finally makes eye contact with me, he looks betrayed, I feel a pain in my chest as he continues. "The vineyard is very special to me," there's a pause, "I thought it was special to you, too."
"It is," another tear slips free, I do my best to control myself from going into a full sob.
"Why?" He stares straight ahead, looking wounded, "Why is the vineyard special to you?"
With that question, he turns his face as far as the closeness of our heads will allow, his eyes pierce into mine. He takes a deep breath, squaring his shoulders, preparing for my answer.
I swallow and move my cheek close to his, I can't handle that stare, I whisper in his ear, "It's where I met you," the memory rushes back as I say this.
"Go on." His voice is controlled.
"We had our first kiss there," the tears well and slip from my eyes as I remember my first taste of his wine chilled tongue.
"And?"
I brush the back of my hand across my cheeks, wiping away the tears. My voice catches when I say, "It's where we first made love," I pause as that moment floods my brain, then I add, "and a couple more times after."
His stare breaks, his eyes turn to look at me, finally they soften, "And maybe..." he swallows, "we made a baby."
My eyes close, more tears slip down my cheeks, I nod, feeling hairs rise on the back of my neck. He softly kisses my tear stained cheek, then my temple.
His arms finally move, he embraces me and presses his forehead to mine, "Now you see why I had to buy it? You just named every reason that made it special to us. I couldn't just walk away."
"I'm sorry, I have a big, stupid, mouth sometimes," I pull him tighter so he can't look at me.
"Believe it or not, I love that big, stupid, mouth." He chuckles, and adds, "Sometimes."
I pull away to look at him, he nods, affirming the fact, "You speak your mind, you're honest to a fault. I don't question anything you say as not being true."
He kisses my forehead, "Come on, show me another rock," as he leads me back into the partially cleared area.