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He nods.

I reach over, threading my fingers through his. “You okay?”

“I don’t know,” he says honestly. “But I think he just gave me a kind of permission I didn’t know I needed to walk forward without dragging the whole story behind me.”

I squeeze his hand. “You earned that, too.”

He turns to me, eyes clearer now. “Let’s go home.”

I smile. “Let’s.”

Chapter21

Three Months Later

Kolby

Last month, I received a check from Deb’s father, an amount I told Ava to settle on. Even though she didn’t want to, she did as I asked. Then I asked her if she and Jade would give me an idea of what kind of ring they think Lauren would want to wear on her finger every day for the rest of her life.

I paid enough attention to know she doesn’t wear rings, but the jewelry she does wear is gold.

This morning, annulment paperwork arrived. Clean. Final. No more fine print, or tied hands, or old shadows whispering,You owe me.

It’s now being filed.

I drove straight here.

Ryan’s at his dad’s place, splitting firewood with sleeves rolled and sweat on his brow.

I park the Jeep near the barn, kill the engine, and sit there for a full minute, gripping the steering wheel, trying to breathe through the adrenaline punching up my spine.

Not game-day nerves.

Worse.

I walk up slow, gravel crunching under my boots, and Ryan turns before I reach the porch.

He raises an eyebrow. “This serious?”

I nod once. “Yeah, it is.”

He tosses the axe down, wipes his hands on his jeans, and waves me over. “Then come on.”

I follow him through the gate, past the split logs and the work gloves hanging over the fence rail, until we’re on the porch overlooking the wide stretch of pasture that rolls down into the valley. Lo’s childhood home is just visible through the trees, roofline familiar now in the way onlyherscould be.

“I love her,” I say, voice low. “That’s not news. But I’ve got the paperwork now. Clean slate. And I don’t want to wait.”

Ryan doesn’t speak. Just watches me.

“I want to ask her to marry me,” I continue. “But more than just a ring, I want to give her ahome.One she can make her own. Not a townhouse or a place I used to crash. A house we build together. From the ground up. Here, close to both yours and Jades if it’s possible.”

He lets that settle. Then … “You come here for my blessing or my blueprints?”

“Both,” I say honestly.

That gets a small grin, the kind that says I might live through this. Stupid because I know I will, but that question will always remain: am I good enough for her, and the answer is just as clear, no but I’ll work every day to become that man.

Before he can reply, the screen door creaks open behind us, and Grandpa Daniel steps out, cane in one hand, mug in the other. “What’s all this?”