Chapter 40
Forty
Ginny
Acouple weeks later, the end-of-season crush party at Paradise Hill Estate Vineyard doesn’t end so much as it unravels.
One by one, the last people filter out—laughing, hugging, drunk on celebration and wine.
Beckett and Sadie left in a blur of sparkles and confetti, hand in hand, disappearing into their own beginning.
They stuck around for two weeks after their wedding, but now, they’re off to Paris to work on Rosie’s bucket list during their honeymoon.
The field hands have been working hard these past few days, collecting the last of the grapes off the vines. Each box has been carefully marked with the block, row, and type. Elise and Josie have been saving what they can in the damaged blocks. It will be a long haul before the water is good.
Tarryn and Trace went to the police to file a report about Zach, but he’s vanished—no calls, no sightings, not even a whisper through the vineyard grapevine. It’s like he stepped off the map.
Max is furious, swearing up and down that Zach’s being framed, that this is all some elaborate setup.
But the more he insists, the more I wonder who he’s really angry at—the people accusing Zach or whoever might be behind this.
And I still wonder if it’s him. There’s a sharpness to Max lately, like he’s guarding more than just his pride.
The air around the vineyard feels charged, like we’re standing on the edge of something.
Zach might be gone, but the trouble he’s tangled in is still here, wound tight around the family like a trellis vine choking the roots.
Whatever this is, it isn’t over. And when the cracks form in Paradise, the fallout has a way of finding the people least prepared for it.
Fairy lights twinkle in the distance, and the cleanup crew is packing up chairs and carnival games.
But out here at the edge of the lake, the cool night air brushes over my skin.
My clothes are wrinkled, my hair’s falling out of the twist Sadie insisted on, and my feet are throbbing from a day spent constantly moving.
But I’ve never felt lighter.
“I figured I’d find you here,” Ryker says, his voice curling around me like the breeze.
“You followed me.”
“Always,” he says simply, walking barefoot down the dock. He’s rolled up his sleeves, and the moonlight paints him in silver and shadow. Even now, when I should be used to it, he steals my breath.
He settles beside me, our shoulders brushing. “You okay?”
“I think so. I can’t believe the season’s over. It’s taken a lot to get here.”
Ryker chuckles. “It wouldn’t be Paradise if everything went smoothly.”
I glance over at him. “Do you think Beckett and Sadie will be okay?”
“I do,” he says without hesitation. “They’ve been through the fire. They chose each other. That counts for something.”
My heart swells a little. Because so have we.
He reaches for my hand. “What about us?”
“What about us?”
His thumb brushes across my knuckles. “Now that everything’s out in the open—your family knows, my family knows, the sabotage is discovered… What do you want?”
I look out at the dark water. “Honestly? I just want peace, mornings without the knot in my stomach, without wondering who’s going to explode next. I want to be with you without looking over my shoulder. A life that’s ours, untouched by everyone else’s battles.”
Ryker nods slowly, and then reaches into his pocket. “I think that is an attainable goal. I hope you do too.”
My breath stalls. “Ryker…” My heart hiccups. Not because I didn’t hope, but because suddenly it feels real. Like the ground is shifting beneath us.
“I’ve been carrying this around since your dad granted me permission to ask. I wanted to make sure at least one Dempsey would approve,” he says, pulling out a small velvet box. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment.”
He shifts to his knee in front of me, and the moment expands around us, thick with moonlight and meaning.
“I didn’t plan a speech,” he admits. “But I know this. Loving you hasn’t always been easy. It’s been messy and terrifying. But it’s also been the most honest, incredible thing I’ve ever done.” He opens the box.
The ring is stunning, unconventional with a sapphire center stone and two perfect diamonds, and so completely me.
“I want to build something real with you,” he says. “Will you marry me?”
Tears well instantly. I nod, barely breathing. “Yes.”
His smile breaks wide as he slides the ring on my finger. Then I launch into his arms, almost knocking us off the dock.
We laugh into a kiss. It’s messy and happy and full of every promise between us. Eventually, we lie back on the dock, side by side, staring up at the stars.
“You nervous?” I ask, glancing at him.
Ryker laces our fingers. “Terrified.”
“Of me?”
“Of losing you.”
“You won’t,” I whisper.
His voice is quiet but certain. “I know.”
We stay like that a little longer, talking about nothing and everything—who we’ll tell first, whether we’ll live at his place or find something new, how pissed Evelyn will be when she finds out.
Eventually, Ryker’s phone buzzes. He checks it and smiles.
“What?” I ask.
He holds up the screen. It’s a song. He hits play and sets it down. A soft acoustic melody fills the air.
“Beckett and Sadie sent this. Dance with me.”
“Here?”
“Why not?”
I laugh but let him pull me up. We sway on the weathered dock, the lake beside us, the stars above us, and nothing but possibility ahead.
As he bends in to kiss me again, I realize something simple and true. There was a time I thought love had to hurt, that it came with expiration dates or conditions. But this is different. This is what forever feels like —soft, fearless, and finally ours.
And it’s just beginning.