Page 85 of Stronghold

When everyone is settled, Sky and I remain standing.

He gives me a peck on the lips, and then we face our family and friends.

"It feels unbelievable that we're here today, and still, in some ways, it's like this was always meant to be. Life has given us all our fair share of challenges, but it has also given us plenty of strength and resilience to face them all together as a family."

As I say the words, I see Sky looking at his dad, who's been on his own journey.

"There's someone out there who almost thirty years ago placed our moms on the same maternity ward. A friendship that stemmed from sharing such a special moment has survived the test of time. Is it any surprise that Sky and I ended up together?"

Everyone laughs.

"Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff," Sky says. "Let's try some awesome food. I know the chef, he can be a pain in the butt, but his food is great."

There's more laughter as we sit down, and the waiters start serving the appetizers.

A few hours later, we all enjoy dessert as we watch the show's final episode on a TV screen brought into the restaurant just for the purpose.

Everyone toasts to us and the future of our business, and a little while later, we're back to being just us and our team.

We both take a deep breath and smile stupidly at each other. We don't need more words.

"Come on. I want to take you somewhere," he says.

* * *

Skyler

"You what? Babe, it's late, and we have to clean up."

I hold his hand and bring it up to my mouth for a kiss.

"We're off cleaning duty. I've organized it with the guys," I say.

"When?"

"When I decided that I wanted to take my boyfriend home for much-deserved nooky."

He laughs. "You didn't just say that."

"Oh, he did," Carly, the sous chef, shouts from the kitchen. "You better take him out of here before we need to bleach our ears and eyes as well as all the kitchen surfaces.

Jud follows me to the staff room. We grab our things and get in the car.

"Um, babe…this isn't the way home," he says when he finally realizes I missed our turn ages ago. He’s so busy talking about the different coffee roasts we can stock, he isn’t paying attention.

"I know."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out soon."

I take his hand and place it on my thigh. He turns it around and laces his fingers with mine.

Today has been truly unbelievable, but I'm starting to accept that most days I spend with Jud are unbelievable.

In just a week, we're getting a delivery for my new pipelines, so while Jud heads off to the restaurant earlier in the day, I'll be spending some time clearing the forest to make it accessible.

I can't believe that I'll be tapping the whole of my forest this winter. It should stress me out, but I no longer feel the need to do everything on my own.