Chapter 28
Chapter 28
C al’s ranch was massive, with a dining room and table big enough to accommodate the guests, all eighteen of them, including Cal and Bailey. Both of their immediate families were there, Cal’s brother, Cam, and his wife, Maggie, Cal and Cam’s parents, The Colonel and Juniper, Blue and Jane, Poppy and Sully, George and Sasha, and Sully’s mother and stepfather, the man she married after Sully’s father was killed in a freak farm accident when Sully was eight. And then there were Sully’s younger brother and sister, fifteen year old Cooper and thirteen year old Lucy. Poppy loved that he had siblings so young, but she hadn’t had much chance to get to know them yet. Maybe when everything settled down and became less chaotic, they’d have more time.
She glanced around the gathering, feeling her throat close with emotion. Almost all the people she loved best were in this room, something that rarely happened. For the last few years she’d remained in New York for Easter, celebrating the day with her coworkers at the restaurant. Bailey had been overseas with the marines, leaving Jane and her parents in DC. Now they’d added Cal, Blue, Sully, George and Sasha. She even felt a warm rush of affection for Cal’s brother and sister-in-law, and she hardly knew them at all. She’d never talked to Cameron, though she’d spent forty minutes at the wedding having a brass tacks discussion with Maggie about which buttercream was best, American or Swiss. Next year three new little lives would be added to the table, her baby, Bailey’s baby, and Maggie’s.
Cal said the blessing, saying a special prayer of thanks for each person who was there. Poppy wondered if everyone felt as filled to the brim as she did, or if it was merely her pregnancy hormones making her weepy. When she couldn’t hold back a little sniffle, Sully reached under the table and squeezed her leg. She rested her hand on his, and he flipped his palm, twining their fingers together. Her heart flipped at the unexpected little gesture. Sometimes Sully was too sweet for his own good. She had no idea what to do with that goodness. The men she’d been with in the past had started out well and gone downhill fast. One stole her money, another stole her identity. The last one came close to stealing her soul. And then there was Diego Cortez, a murderer. She really had the absolute worst taste in men.
The prayer ended. Sully gave her hand a squeeze and let her go as the food began to pass. Across from her, George stared. I’ve missed you, he mouthed. He was so handsome, with his dark hair, dark eyes, and rosy cheeks. And then there was Sully who nudged her arm and handed her a bowl of mashed potatoes, golden haired with lively green eyes, one of the handsomest men she’d ever seen in real life, and a Texas Ranger to boot.
So maybe my taste isn’t all bad, she thought, suppressing a wry smile. She passed the potatoes to Blue who’d observed the entire exchange—George’s message, Sully’s secret touch.
“I’m going to need more sugar in my tea. Too much buffering,” he said, holding his fingers to his temple in his best James T. Kirk impression. She snorted a laugh and both George and Sully turned toward her with a smile.
It’s going to be a long day, Poppy thought.
A fter lunch some of the men and Bailey decided to shoot while the rest of the ladies accompanied them to watch. Sully was glad for something to do to burn off his angry energy. The nerve of George. He couldn’t quite get over it. Sully was a calm, even-tempered guy. Being a cop had trained him to keep a cool head but, unlike some, it came easily to him. His mother said he’d been pleasant from birth, rarely fussy, never had a ragey tantrum. Now might be time to change that. Poppy was carrying his child, his . How did a man walk into that situation and start flirting? Though, to be fair, George hadn’t been flirtatious, at least not yet. He’d been quiet and friendly, but his eyes followed Poppy with a sorrowful sort of possessiveness. It was like looking in a mirror.
The walk to the shooting range was long and rocky. Sully clasped Poppy’s hand and she leaned into him a bit. It was like a gift, that lean, and he wanted more. When had he become this person who looks for the nuance in every tilt of a woman’s body? He’d dated. A lot. Starting in early high school, he realized girls thought he was cute. He’d worked hard to hone his flirting skills early so that by the time he became a Ranger, he was lethal. If the hat and boots didn’t get them, the twangy, “Aw, shucks,” attitude did. But none of them had ever stuck, and not for lack of trying on Sully’s part. He was a romantic at heart, always searching for Ms. Right, but it never seemed to happen. And now somehow the most unlikely girl in the world had burrowed under his skin like a chigger.
They were all wrong for each other, at least on paper. Sully had always thought he’d fall for someone like Cal’s former wife, a beauty queen type, a former cheerleader and pageant girl. Someone who’d reached perfection in her beauty but, unlike Isabel, was still nice. Someone like his mom. She’d done the beauty pageants and been a cheerleader before she married his dad. But then she gave everything up and became a mother, had devoted her life to her family and only now that her kids were independent had she started to pursue photography as a hobby. These days it was odd to see her without a camera strapped around her neck.
But Poppy was…she was so aggravating he wanted to spank her most of the time. She looked soft and adorable, even smelled like sugar, but appearances were deceiving because she had a mind and a will of her own and they were both unbending. She was a steel rod in a pretty candy coating. She did what she wanted, always. She was the person who would ignore the steps and pull herself up the side of a cliff by her fingertips. Her stubborn insistence on maintaining her independence was a constant source of annoyance to him, she was so career driven he had no doubts she would bundle the baby up like a little papoose and bring it along on her job, probably far before she was physically ready to resume baking. She teased him mercilessly, leaving no areas of his life unpoked. She hated routine, always wanting to be wherever the wind took her. Was citified and metropolitan through and through. She drove him nuts, from the moment he woke to the time he went to bed, challenged him on everything, seemed to thrive on making him lose his ever loving mind, and yet he couldn’t get enough of her. Even now in the midst of all their friends and family, he wanted to draw her close, drink her in, inhale her scent, and cover her face with kisses. And not because George watched their every interaction for signs of a connection, but because the more he touched her, the more he wanted to touch her, the more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her. She made him absolutely out of his mind, and he couldn’t get enough.
“Sully, you’re breaking my fingers,” Poppy said, and he realized he’d been squeezing her hand.
“Sorry,” he said. He relaxed his grip and brought her hand to his lips, bestowing a kiss.
“What are you thinking about over there, so serious?” she asked.
“How much I want to lock you in a tower, like Rapunzel’s mother,” he said and her face exploded in a laugh, causing several heads to swivel in their direction, smiling. Poppy’s laugh was as infectious as everything about her.
“For what reason specifically?” she asked when she had herself back under control.
To keep her safe from Diego. To keep her away from George. To keep her from working herself to death. To figure her out. To love on. “All the reasons, Poppy. All the reasons.”
“It’s almost over,” she said, giving his arm a reassuring pat that did nothing to soothe him. What was almost over? George’s visit? The pregnancy? Their connection? He didn’t fool himself that things wouldn’t change once the baby was born. He and Poppy were too different. Theirs would not be an amicable exchange. He would want the baby as much as possible, and so would she. He would want the baby involved in sports, she would push it toward the arts. Right now they were in the glowing pregnancy phase, but once the baby arrived, real life would intrude. They would have to navigate the tricky world of co-parenting. The thought of not being present for every milestone made Sully unutterably sad. The thought of anything coming between him and Poppy made him want to unman himself and bawl.
“You worry too much,” Poppy said, giving him a squeeze. She had an uncanny ability to read his mind, probably because, unlike hers, it was easy to read. “It will work itself out.”
“Darlin’, you’re such a gypsy,” he said. He hooked his arm around her shoulders, anchoring her beside him. It did nothing to help them walk on the rough terrain, but it did a little to soothe his soul.
“It’s like being in an Austen novel,” Sasha noted as the men selected their guns. Cal was a collector and some fine pieces were on the table. For Sully, who couldn’t afford half the guns now spread before him, it was like Christmas. “The men shooting pheasants while the women look on, impressed. Poppy, swoon for us and make it official.” Sasha snapped her fingers in Poppy’s direction. Poppy tossed her a vague smile but was immersed in a conversation with Maggie about the bakery.
“Your girl gonna open a bakery?” Sully asked Cam as they inspected their weapons of choice.
“Nah, she’s a connoisseur.” He glanced around to make sure they weren’t overheard and leaned in. “The woman makes the ugliest cakes I’ve ever seen. My brother-in-law, Ethan, and I have started keeping a log and ranking them. They taste good, though, and her pies are off the charts.” He added the last with a flush of guilt over his disloyalty. “How’s it going with Poppy? Congratulations on the baby, by the way.”
“Thanks. It’s…it’s going…she makes me…have you ever wanted to shake a pregnant woman so hard her teeth rattle? And then kiss her until she can’t remember her name?”
Cam’s glance darted to his wife. “Yes.”
Sully chuckled and swiped a hand over his face. “Any sage advice for me?” Cam had been the captain of their football team when Sully was a freshman and Cam a senior. Cal had always been in another stratosphere—older, taller, famous. Cam had felt more like a friend and, if Sully were being honest, the closest thing he’d ever had to a big brother.
Cam glanced at his wife again. “Be strong and steady. Persevere, and don’t take no for an answer.”
“Sounds like what you used to tell us before a big play,” Sully noted.
“It’s not so different, and this is the biggest play you’ll ever make. If it’s what you want, if it’s really what you want and you’re certain, then don’t let anything or anyone stop you or get in your way. That includes her.”
“Ah, man, this is the kind of talk that makes Poppy cringe,” Sully said.
“I don’t know about that. Think of who her dad is. She might say she doesn’t want to be led, but I bet she does,” Cam said.
Sully thought about that. The times when Poppy responded best were the times when he took charge, when he flat out told her she wasn’t allowed to see Diego or date, when he forced her to bed. Perhaps his mistake was in listening to her words and not her actions. When she said she wanted to be solely in charge of her own life, perhaps what she really meant was that she wanted someone to come along and help carry the burden. Not a bully, but a full partner. I have your back, he’d told her. I’m starting to believe it, she’d replied.
He turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes seeking her, always seeking her. She felt his glance and looked up. Their eyes caught and held, and Sully gave her a smile, sending her secret messages with his mind. You’re mine, Poppy Dunbar. You might not realize it yet, but you are mine and no one else’s. Her lashes fluttered. He tossed her a wink and turned his attention to the range.