Page 87 of Cherished Lands

"Ecstatic." I straightened, smoothing my skirt. "Oh, and Dad? I hope you enjoy prison."

As if on cue, sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer.

Dad's face went from red to purple. "You little?—"

"Goodbye, Dad." I turned toward the door, catching Mom's reflection in the crystal cabinet. She was hiding a smile behind her water glass.

"You'll regret this," he called after me.

I paused in the doorway, turning back one last time. "No. I won't. But you will."

The front door closed behind me just as Andy and his father in the Ashford County Sheriff's vehicle came screaming up the circular drive. I walked calmly to my car, head high.

I closed my eyes, letting out a long breath. It was done. No taking it back now.

Time to go home to my husband.

Chapter Thirty-One

ELLIOT

The soundof hammers and saws filled the morning air as I stood and watched our dream rise from the ashes. Not twenty-four hours ago, I'd thought we were finished. Now the cidery buzzed with more activity than ever.

Word had spread fast—both about Ray's arrest and about what he'd been doing to his workers. Andy and a few other off-duty officers were helping Mike's crew with the patio pavers. Inside, Kai worked to arrange the back bar storage.

"We're actually ahead of schedule now," Mike said, consulting his clipboard. "With all these extra hands, we might even open early. Just need to finish the patio, install that custom lighting Tessa picked out, and complete the taproom seating area."

I nodded, watching Jasper direct a delivery truck carrying our fermentation tanks to the loading zone. He and Nat had just gotten back from their honeymoon in Hawaii, but they wasted no time jumping in to help.

"Your wife's something else," Mike said, following my gaze to where Tessa stood with Dad, going over the taproom plans. "Standing up to her old man like that. Can't have been easy."

"No," I agreed. "It wasn't."

But she'd done it, anyway. For us. For this dream we'd built together. For the family she'd chosen over the one she was born into.

The familiar scent of roses wrapped around me as she appeared at my side, sliding her arm around my waist. "Admiring our army of volunteers?"

I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "Admiring you, actually."

She smiled up at me, and despite the tired shadows under her eyes, she'd never looked more beautiful. "Sap."

"Your sap."

"Damn right." She leaned into my side and turned back to watch the construction with all its helping hands.

This was what community looked like. This was what we'd fought for.

Something new. Something better. Something that wasours.

"Let's take a walk," I whispered into her hair.

We made our way toward the orchard, the late spring air crisp but tinged with the promise of warmth to come.

"I've been thinking," Tessa said, "about the people from Vintage Point who are out of work now."

I squeezed her hand. "Yeah?"

"I know we planned to run lean at first, do most of the work ourselves, but..." She bit her lip. "Some of those people havefamilies. They didn't know what my father was doing, and now they're suffering for it."