And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
MyCheeky Beavernotoriety and all.
BONUS EPILOGUE
WED(DING) POETS SOCIETY
Cricket, some months later…
Stress is the worst.
Not that today’s stress is any worse than some other stresses we’ve had in the last few months as we barrel—pun intended—toward the grand re-opening of the winery, but today’s stress is up there.
Things just keep goingwrong.
Little things here.
Little things there.
Glittery things here.
Glittery things there.
It’ll all be okay though.
Ithasto be okay.
But today, when I’m supposed to be out in the fields looking for any vines that aren’t growing the way they should be this spring, and when we’re mere days from opening our doors, I’m ducking into the barrel cellar to breathe and re-center myself.
I slip past Dori in the bottling area of the fermentation building and open the door leading downstairs as softly as possible.
But when I push open the cellar door on the basement level, voices drift up to me.
Familiar voices.
Including one particular familiar voice that immediately calms my pulse.
“So not the thing about the smoke alarms?” Heath’s saying.
“Dad. Do youwanther to say no?” Lav says.
My smile grows.
“Try again, this time without the death thing too,” Pip says as I turn the corner around the row of barrels and spot my family.
I open my mouth, but before any sound can come out, Heath drops to his knee in front of Pip and holds out a small, open, ring-size velvet box.
What?
He’s angled just right so that I can only see part of his profile and none of his face. Pip’s beaming at him. Lav has her back to me, watching both of them.
“Oof, I’m nervous,” he says.
“Duh. There’s a lot riding on this,” Lav replies.
“Not helpful.”
“I thought you did well under pressure.”
