CHAPTER FORTY ONE #2
Jack squeezes my hand in silent gratitude, but I wasn’t finished.
“Your son is an exceptional paramedic. He’s respected by his colleagues, trusted by his patients, and absolutely vital to our community.
It’s not a hobby or a phase or a rebellion—it’s who he is.
And it’s one of the many reasons I love him. ”
A stunned silence falls over the table. Helen’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. Michael is watching me with newfound respect. The sisters are exchanging glances that range from shocked (Charlotte) to delighted (Emma) to quietly proud (Lily).
Jack clears his throat. “There’s something else,” he says, his voice steady despite the tension crackling in the air. “When Sophia and I return to America, I’m thinking of taking her name.”
Helen’s coffee cup, which she’d just lifted to her lips, freezes mid-air. “What?”
“If things continue to progress between us,” Jack clarifies, “and we reach that point, I’m open to becoming Jack Mitchell. Or Mitchell-McKenzie, perhaps.”
The coffee cup hits the table with a splash, liquid sloshes over the rim. “YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS,” Helen exclaims, all pretense of decorum abandoned. “Give up the McKenzie name? For what? To drive an ambulance and play at being a working-class hero?”
“Helen,” Michael cautions, but she isn’t listening.
“Four generations of McKenzies have built this legacy, Jackson,” she continues, her voice rising.
“Your great-grandfather William came back from Gallipoli with a shattered leg, after half the Otago Battalion was lost at Chunuk Bair, and still transformed this valley into something lasting. Your grandfather James fought at Monte Cassino and El Alamein, returned home, and expanded the vineyard when everyone said it was madness. Your father took that legacy global—put the McKenzie label on the same tier as Napa and Bordeaux. And now you want to throw it all away to become…what? An ambulance driver?”
“Paramedic,” Jack corrects calmly. “And yes, if that’s what it takes to show Sophia I’m serious about our future together.”
“This is absurd,” Helen declares, turning to me with flashing eyes. “Surely you’re not encouraging this madness?”
All eyes swivel to me. Madison is watching the exchange with wide-eyed fascination, like a tennis match where the stakes had suddenly skyrocketed.
“Actually,” I say, matching Jack’s calm, “I think it’s a wonderful gesture, but completely unnecessary.” I turn to Jack. “You don’t need to change your name to prove anything to me, Jack. McKenzie is part of who you are, part of your heritage. I would never ask you to give that up.”
“But I would,” he insists. “In a heartbeat.”
“I know,” I say softly. “That’s what matters.”
Helen makes a sound somewhere between a scoff and a gasp. “This is ridiculous. You barely know each other.”
“I know her,” Jack says with quiet intensity.
“I know her character, her heart, her strength. I’ve seen her handle emergencies that would make most people crumble.
I’ve watched her raise an incredible daughter while working one of the most demanding jobs in healthcare.
I’ve seen her forgive a betrayal that many would find unforgivable.
” He turns to face me fully. “I know that I love her, and that I want to build a life with her, whether that’s here or in America or anywhere else in the world. ”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Helen mutters, but there’s less heat in her voice now.
“Mom,” Charlotte says firmly, “enough. This is Jack’s decision.”
“But he’s throwing away everything—”
“He’s choosing his own path,” Michael interrupts, surprising everyone.
“Just as you did when you defied your parents to marry me. And might I remind you, Helen, that both his great-grandfather and grandfather came back from war to serve this community in their own way. Jack has chosen a different battlefield, but he’s still a McKenzie through and through.
” Helen’s mouth snaps shut, color rising in her cheeks.
Michael turns to Jack and me, his expression softening.
“The McKenzie name will always be yours, son, whatever you choose to call yourself. And the estate will always be your home, even if your life is elsewhere.” He looks directly at me then.
“And I hope, in time, Sophia and Madison will come to see it as home too—whether for visits or…something more permanent.”
“Thank you, Mr. McKenzie,” I say, genuinely touched.
“Michael, please,” he corrects with a warm smile.
Madison, who had been watching this entire exchange with rapt attention, finally speaks up. “So does this mean we can come back? Because Emma promised to teach me the haka, and I really want to see the kiwis again.”
The tension breaks as everyone laughs, even Helen managing a reluctant smile. “Yes,” Jack assures her, “you can absolutely come back. Both of you.”
“Awesome!” Madison beams. “Wait till I tell Chloe! She’s going to be so jealous.”
As conversation flows around us, Jack leans close to my ear. “Thank you for defending me,” he whispers. “No one’s ever done that before. Not with my mother.”
“Get used to it,” I murmur back. “That’s what partners do.” His eyes, warm and full of wonder, hold mine. “Partners,” he repeats. “I like that.”
“You okay?” I ask, noting the lingering tension in his shoulders. Standing up to his mother couldn’t have been easy, especially with the weight of family expectations bearing down.
“Better than okay,” he says, his expression clearing. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
As his hand finds mine again beneath the table, I can’t help but agree.
Despite the unlikely path that has brought us here—across oceans, through deceptions and revelations, past hurt and into forgiveness—this feels right.
It feels like home. Not the estate, grand as it was.
Not New Zealand, beautiful as I find it.
But this—Jack’s hand in mine, Madison’s laughter blending with his sisters’, the future stretching before us, uncertain but full of promise. This is where we belong.
Together.