Chapter 32 #3
“That is exactly what Zion told me about, AJ. Now, honey, I’m not saying that it shouldn’t bother you, that’s fine.
You’re human, we all have feelings. But he wasn’t not telling you to hurt your feelings or out of some misguided loyalty to Deacon.
And I think it’s a little hypocritical of you, it is serious double standards, if you expect him to keep your secret from the people he loves the most and expect them not to feel betrayed, but you get to be upset and blame him for not telling you something. Did you ask him how he found out?”
She nodded, feeling even worse. “He felt that Deacon was hiding something. He didn’t think it would be ethical for him to look into it, so he told his friend to only send him the report if there were any discrepancies that had to do with me.
And Deacon said he confronted him and told him that he had to tell me, Deacon asked to wait until after the wedding so that it wouldn’t take away from Yaya’s day. ”
“I think somebody was just scared to have the talk and was using the whole half-brother thing as an excuse.” Zion lifted up his hands. “But that’s just me.”
“You’re right. I’m gonna talk to him. I am.”
“Well, they say no time like the present.” Zion dipped his chin as he looked past Poppy’s shoulder.
She turned around and saw AJ walking toward the house with purpose in his stride and an expression she’d never seen before. Her heart began to beat rapidly, and she suddenly couldn’t breathe.
Oh boy.
When she turned back to Zion and Miss Carol, they were both gone. Poof. Disappeared. Vanished. No one was in the kitchen. She turned back and AJ was standing in front of her.
“I need to talk to you.” His voice was rough, like sandpaper. Gritty and deep.
She also noticed that there was a heaviness to him that she never felt. Concern for his wellbeing overrode all the nervous energy she’d been stockpiling.
“Okay.” She nodded. “Of course. Are you oka—”
“I told you I didn’t want to have children,” he spoke over Poppy.
She stared up at him, and her heart slammed in against her ribs at the same time her stomach dropped down to the floor. If that’s how this conversation was starting, she didn’t want to imagine how it was ending,
“I know and—”
“And I still don’t,” he continued.
And there it was. Tears filled her eyes as she heard the words she’d been terrified to hear. That was it. Done.
“Okay.”
He stepped forward and placed his hand on her belly. “But this isn’t an abstract idea of children. This is our baby. I want our baby. This is Dylan.”
She looked down at his hand covering her protruding belly and felt like she’d just suffered from emotional whiplash. Her eyes lifted back up to his as she asked a shaky, “What?”
“I didn’t want, I don’t want an idea. But the second that idea became a reality, everything changed.
I want this baby. It’s you and it’s me. And I don’t just want to be a part of Dylan’s life and be the best father I can be.
It’s not just about the baby. Whatever happens I want to be with you and be the best husband I can be.
I love you. I think I fell in love with you the moment you sat on my lap when we got our picture taken—”
She sniffed. “Santa role play.”
He smiled. “The Santa role play. Having you on my lap felt like a weighted blanket, it was soothing and exciting, and I don’t know how else to explain it to you except that crowds have always been tough for me, but from the moment you sat on my lap in a room filled with three hundred people, they just disappeared.
“I want to marry you. I don’t know what you feel about me or if you’ve even thought about the idea of a relationship with me.
And statistically, we don’t have good odds.
Cohabiting couples who begin with an unplanned pregnancy are seventy percent more likely to break up within the first five years than those with planned conceptions.
Divorce rates for marriages resulting from unplanned pregnancies have a ninety percent chance of divorce within the first six years of marriage.
One-fifth of couples whose relationships begin with an unplanned pregnancy break up within the first twelve months. I know the statistics are really bad—”
“Are you kidding me?” Poppy smiled as she placed her hand over AJ’s on her stomach. “Our baby had a less than one percent chance.” She smiled and laughed. “Those statistics sound amazing.”
“I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife.”
“Okay, yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea.”
Poppy could see the relief in AJ’s eyes as he exhaled. “I thought that you were embarrassed, that you didn’t want people to know I was the father.”
It broke Poppy’s heart that he’d felt that.
She wished she’d faced this discussion sooner to save them both the past week of pain, but Zion was right, she’d been a big chicken.
“I didn’t want people to know, and it was because I was embarrassed, but not of you.
I could never be embarrassed of you, Ever.
I just, I was scared that you didn’t want this and that I was going to be the single mom of the child whose father wasn’t interested in raising his kid.
It was just too close to history repeating itself.
I wasn’t going to be like my mom, holding on to a man who clearly had no interest in raising a child with me.
” A tear slid down her cheek. AJ wiped it, and she leaned into his touch.
“I thought if no one knew who the dad was, then it wouldn’t matter when you left. ” Her lips trembled.
“I’m not leaving.” He cupped her face then lowered down on one knee. “I’m never leaving you.”
“What are you doing?” she gasped.
“Proposing.”
“I don’t think…I think it’s bad to propose at someone else’s wedding.”
“I spoke to Yaya and Mr. Santino, and they both gave me their blessing.”
Poppy couldn’t believe this was happening. When she saw the gorgeous, vintage, diamond ring he pulled out, her knees nearly gave out on her. It looked familiar. It was the ring she’d tagged on her Pinterest board.
“When did you get this?”
“The day we named Dylan. When you fell asleep, I ordered it.”
She put her hand over her mouth.
“I know that this wasn’t in the order you planned for your life to go in.
Believe me, I understand how upsetting it can be when things don’t go to plan.
But with the right partner in each other, no matter what life throws at us, I know we can face it together.
That is what you’ve taught me in the short time I’ve known you.
Companionship is more powerful than solitude.
And peace can be found in connection, which is something I never knew.
I’m not asking you to marry me because you’re pregnant.
That has no bearing on me wanting you to be my wife.
You are the most beautiful, caring, loving soul I’ve ever known.
I love you and I promise to spend the rest of my life being the best man, best father, and best husband I can possibly be to you and Dylan. Poppy Beth Davies, will you marry me?”
All Poppy could do was nod her head as more tears flooded down her cheeks, and AJ slid the ring on her finger, then stood and pressed his lips to hers.
As they kissed, Poppy heard cheering. She pulled away, and they looked to see that everyone from the wedding was gathered on the deck and was watching through the glass accordion doors.
Her eyes flew to AJ. “How did they—”
Poppy’s phone vibrated in the pocket of her dress, and she pulled it out. It was a text from her sister Phoebe.
Phoebe: We’ve all known AJ was the baby daddy. 1) He fixed up the house. 2)it was obvious you two hooked up at the wedding from the pics online of you two dancing and the bouquet and garter toss. We were just giving you time to tell us. Congrats on figuring your shit out and saying YES.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
Poppy turned the phone to AJ. “Apparently they’ve all known the whole time that you were the baby daddy.”
The doors opened and they walked out to the cheering crowd, who all gave their congratulations. Niko handed AJ a beer.
“Congrats, bro!” The brothers clinked the bottle necks together before Niko pulled Poppy into a hug. “Welcome to the family, Sis.”
“Thank you!” Poppy smiled as she embraced her soon-to-be brother-in-law.
Her mom and Teresa both cried as they hugged her.
Miss Carol squeezed her extra tight and told her she ‘got a good one.’ She could not be happier that Miss Carol was there for the engagement.
AJ’s cousins and aunts were big huggers and all pulled her into very long embraces.
She didn’t mind, but she felt horrible for AJ, who endured the same.
She was trying to figure out how to extract him from the hug-fest when she heard.
“No fucking way.”
Poppy spun around to find Tiana, perfectly composed Namaste, Om Sweet Om Tiana with an expression on her face that if looks could kill, this wedding would have a fatality, staring down at her phone.
“Tiana, what’s wrong?” Poppy rushed to ask.
Her friend blinked as she lifted her head. She looked like she didn’t even know where she was. “Sorry, I’m so sorry. I’ve gotta go.”
When Poppy hit rock bottom on her fertility journey, she’d gone to her first yoga class, sobbed the entire way through, and Tiana invited Poppy out for a girl’s night. She’d helped her out of a dark spot, and Poppy aimed to return the favor.
“No, wait.” Poppy managed to turn her back around at the same time AJ joined them, placing his hand on Poppy’s lower back, either hearing or sensing that something was wrong. "What’s wrong?”
Poppy could see Tiana didn’t want to say what was going on, but she relented. “My ex is here, in Hope Falls, and he’s staying through Christmas.”
“How do you know?”
“His mom messaged me. She wants to see me.”
“You’re still close to his mom?”
“Yeah, I love his family. They didn’t…” she hesitated, “cheat on me.”
“Wait, he’s here? In Hope Falls? Doesn’t he live in Ohio?”
Her ex played professional football for the Browns.
She nodded.
“Does he have any family here?“
“No. Just me.”
“Why is he here?”
“I won.”
“What?”
“In the divorce settlement, I won everything I asked for, he swore to me that as long as he drew breath, he would make my life miserable. This is just one of his creative ways to fulfill his promise”
Her phone vibrated. She looked at it and said, “Oh no, it looks like he’s not alone.”
Her expression looked more like concern than anything else.
She turned the phone around. On the screen was a striking woman with green eyes and auburn hair. She wore an off the shoulder sweatshirt that revealed a tattoo on her shoulder and was snuggled up to Poppy’s ex in a booth in Brewed Awakenings.
“That’s Gianna,” AJ stated.
Poppy looked up at him. “You know her?”
“That’s Niko’s ex-girlfriend.”
“The one that was off and on for ten years?” Poppy asked. AJ had talked about how toxic Gianna was.
“Wait, Niko Costas?” Tiana repeated her eyes looking like one of those geniuses on TV that go into their mind palaces and solve insane equations. “In college weren’t they…?”
“Rivals,” AJ said.
“I was going to say mortal enemies,” Tiana mumbled almost to herself then asked AJ, “Does Niko know Gianna is here?”
“We saw her on the way.”
“Are they still…do they keep in touch?”
AJ didn’t respond.
“Where’s Niko, now?” Tiana was already looking past them. “Is he still here?”
Poppy scanned the crowd and spotted him. “He’s on the dance floor with Tabby.”
When she turned back, Poppy saw the exact moment Tiana’s eyes landed on her new brother-in-law dancing with her newly discovered niece, she melted.
It was just a split second, before her guard or mask or walls were back in place.
Then, without a word, she walked past them, beelining to the dance floor, a woman on a mission.
When she was out of hearing range Poppy asked, “Do you think that’s going to be okay?”
“What?”
“Her ex, and Niko’s ex in town until after Christmas?”
“You mean with you, Me, Liam, Frankie, Zion, Yaya, Mr. Santino, Sue Ann, the Wells Sisters, Karina, Lauren, Amanda—”
“You’re right, okay, your right.” This town really did rally together to help its own.
Poppy had no idea what Tiana’s ex had planned, but he was in for a fight, and if he thought the divorce settlement was tough, he had no idea what he was up against in the court of Hope Falls, they were judge, jury, and executioner.
Poppy almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
AJ pulled Poppy into his arms. She was surprised because not only was it physical touch, it was PDA. “You won’t have time to worry about them.”
“Oh really?”
“No, you’re gonna be busy planning a wedding.”
“Am I?” Poppy smiled. “I thought we we’re going to elope.”
He nodded. “You’re right and I don’t think we should wait until next year to get married.”
“So you want to get married before the New year?”
“No, I want to get married tomorrow, but if you want to wait, we can wait a week or two.”
“A week or two?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “For you, I’ll compromise.”
“Oh, that’s compromise.”
“Yes.”
She lifted up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. If that was what the rest of her life looked like, then she’d happily compromise forever.
THE END