Page 104 of Poppy Kisses
Poppy opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Weston rose and started in our direction. Linda’s husband was hot on his heels.
“This whole evening is a farce?” Linda’s voice pitched up. Hurt was etched into her face.
Despair filled Poppy’s expression, and it gutted me. She was losing everything, getting humiliated, and it was because of my ex. Because of a childhood crush I’d been too afraid to leave behind.
“What’s this?” Weston asked.
Linda’s expression was aghast as she stomped down the stairs. “It’s a scam. All of it. For the house! Well, no need to go through with it on my account.” She tucked herself into her husband’s side. He glowered at us.
I circled around Hassie and took the stairs to Poppy’s side. She was still frozen, devastation sinking into her lovely features, and I didn’t want her to feel alone. “Can we talk about this?”
“What’s there to talk about?” Darren blinked rapidly. “I can’t believe this. My wife is not a fool.”
“I didn’t think she was,” Poppy said hoarsely.
“How ’bout we find out what they have to say,” Weston said. A heavy line crossed his brow, but he at least seemed willing to listen.
“Well, the secret’s out now.” Linda huffed. “They took me for an idiot and?—”
“I love her.” I slid a hand around Poppy. She was stiff as a nail.
There. I was doing it. Putting myself out there for a woman to cast off. Once again, I’d laid it all out there. I was free-falling, and Poppy was the only one with a safety net. But this time, I wasn’t doing it for me. I didn’t need the confirmation. I needed her to know. I wanted everyone else to know.
A small gasp came from Hassie. Weston tipped his head, and his gaze softened. Linda huffed, and Darren rubbed her back. Everyone’s stares prickled across my skin, but the only one I cared about was Poppy’s.
“You do?” she whispered.
“So damn much,” I continued, opening myself wider in front of the crowd, and she relaxed into me. “Maybe we came up with this plan to get into the house sooner. You have to admit, leaving a trust like that is a shitty thing to do to grandkids.”
Linda rolled her lips in. No, she couldn’t argue.
“But I also wish I could tell Annie Duke that the unfair trust was the best thing to have happened to me.” My time with Poppy streamed through my head. All of it. Since I’d met her on the first day of kindergarten. How she smiled when she sauntered into the shop or when I appeared at her office door. Every time she didn’t make me work for her affections, she showed me how she really felt. Poppy made love easy. “It was a way to keep Poppy in my life. I could help her, and she’d help me.” I turned her toward me. My heart could’ve slammed out of my chest from the emotions exploding inside it. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Her lips parted and some of the fear got wiped out of her eyes.
“When I saw your face on that screen,” I said, ripping the rest of myself wide for her, “I wanted more. I haven’t quit wanting more. Poppy Duke, I want everything.”
Her big eyes grew watery. “You really fell in love with me?”
“I fell so fucking hard, four-ten, and I’ve been a scared idiot about telling you, but I’m saying it now. I love you. So much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want the last two months to be our next fifty years.”
“I’ve been wanting today to be real,” she whispered.
Euphoria filled me. I could float away. “It is.” I tilted her chin up and kissed her. “It will be. Will you marry me, Poppy Duke?”
“Yes,” she said with a brilliant smile.
“We can wait.” I wanted this day to be special for her. I knew what it was like to look back on a wedding with less than enthusiastic memories. “We can invite more people. Do it bigger and better if you want.”
“Everyone I love is here. Including you, Jensen Hollis. I love you.” She put her hands on my shoulders and ran them down my arms to intertwine our fingers. “I’m going to make sure you always know it. You’ll never have to ask, and I want to announce it in front of the world tonight.”
I pulled her closer. This woman was everything I had ever wanted. “You already did.”
“Dad?” Auggie’s voice interrupted us.
I blinked and my emotional high dipped. How bewildering was this moment for Auggie to witness?
