35. Dylan
thirty-five
Dylan
I sneak back into my bedroom at sunrise the next morning, sit on the edge of my bed, and watch Poppy sleep. Her dark lashes on her lightly freckled cheeks. Her cherry lips parted with gentle breaths. Her total peace. I feel it too. This is it. This woman and my daughter are my everything.
Poppy’s bare shoulder peeks out from under the covers, and though I’m reluctant to wake her, I’m more tempted to taste her, so I drop my mouth and dust her with open-mouthed kisses. I move higher up her neck, peppering her jaw and mouth with love until she rolls onto her back and pulls me into her arms.
“Hey, you,” she says dreamily. “Good morning.”
Her back arches off the mattress, and I shift the sheet to access her collarbone and chest, lowering my mouth onto one nipple and tonguing the silver bar until she moans.
I smile against her skin. “Good morning, Sunshine.”
Her mouth tips up as she slides her fingers into my hair. “Am I really here?” she whispers. “Did last night really happen?”
“Check your finger,” I suggest as I trace the tattoo on her sternum with the tip of my tongue.
Poppy holds her left hand up in the air and twists her wrist to admire her new ring. It’s not a traditional engagement ring with a big diamond in the middle. It’s a square-cut emerald with baguette diamonds on either side. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was perfect. Bright. Bold. Colorful. Like my Poppy.
“It’s beautiful,” she sighs.
“Thank you. It was my mother’s.”
“What?” Poppy pushes me away and wriggles around until she’s upright, then flicks on the bedside lamp and holds her hand in front of her face. “This belonged to Jacqui?”
“Yep. It’s not her engagement ring or even her wedding ring, but it was one of her favorites. An anniversary gift. Here.”
I slide the ring off Poppy’s finger and show her the inscription.
“ You are my greatest adventure ,” Poppy reads, and then her voice grows tight. “Oh, Dylan. I can’t accept this. It’s too special. Daisy should have it. Or Charlie.”
“I already spoke to them about it. They want you to have it. Mom would have wanted you to have it. I want you to have it. You’re my fiancée, and you’re going to be my wife and the mother of my children. This ring belongs to you.”
I slide the ring back on her finger, and Poppy throws her arms around my neck. “I love you, Dylan.”
I turn my face, tucking my nose into the crook of her neck and breathing her in. How the fuck did I get so lucky?
“I love you too,” I say. “So much, which is why I’m sorry to tell you—you need to get up.”
She laughs like I’m joking, but when she draws back to check my expression, her own face falls. “I have to get up? But it’s still dark.” She lifts her phone off the nightstand to check the time. “I don’t get it. Is it Izzy? Does she need me?”
Poppy flings the covers back and jumps up, grabbing her sweats from the floor and dragging them on in a hurry.
I grin and pull her against me, and her eyes sweep down my body. “Hey. You’re already dressed. What’s going on?”
“Chord. He wants a family meeting before he drives back to San Francisco in an hour. I’ve been up for forty-five minutes already cooking breakfast. I let you sleep as long as I could, but everyone’s downstairs already.”
“Oh. Okay. Do you need me to keep Izzy busy while you guys take care of something?”
I smile again, this time with amusement that Poppy really doesn’t get it. “Ah, no. It’s a family meeting. You’re family. I woke you because we need you at the table.”
“You need me?”
I chuckle and kiss her. “Yes. We need you.”
She holds on tight to my hand as we descend the stairs and join my siblings at the dining table. It’s loaded with food—pancakes and eggs and bacon and fruit and coffee—and everyone’s already helped themselves to plates. I hand one to Poppy as we arrive, and she takes it with a hesitant smile.
“Come sit here,” Daisy says to Poppy, patting the empty seat beside her.
Poppy slides onto it, and while the two of them admire Poppy’s ring again and debate whether it’s sensible to have whipped cream and syrup and cereal on one plate, I take the chair on Poppy’s other side with an overwhelming sense of calm. It takes me a minute to realize I’m just so freaking happy. I’m relaxed. And I’m content.
“Good,” Chord says. “We’re all here. Let’s start. I want to get back before Violet wakes up.”
“What’s this about?” Charlie says.
“I’m proposing to Violet,” he announces. “And—”
“Oh, my God!” Daisy drums her feet under the table. “When? How? When?”
Chord tries not to bite, but his lips twitch. “In a few months. I’ve got to plan a few things first, and I need to run something past you. I want to do something big for Violet, but it’ll affect Silver Leaf.”
“Okay.” Charlie sounds wary. “What do you need?”
“I want to build her a design studio on the property. A second location outside of the one she runs in San Francisco. My hope is that one day when I retire from hockey and we move back here permanently, she can work here or in the city. Whatever she likes.”
“Chord—” Charlie says, but our brother steamrolls over her.
“I’ve thought about it, Charlie, and it would be great for business. We want to broaden our appeal to the bridal market, right? The restaurant. The accommodations. The event spaces. Let’s add a world-famous bridal couture designer to the Silver Leaf brand. It’ll be a huge draw. Massive.”
“I vote yes,” Finn says around a mouthful of breakfast. “No brainer to me.”
“I vote yes too,” Daisy says. “I love it.”
“I vote yes,” Charlie says, and when Chord blinks with surprise, Charlie rolls her eyes. “It’s smart. It’s different. It’s coming out of your own pocket, right?”
Chord grunts. “Right.”
“Poppy?” Charlie asks. “What’s your vote?”
“Me?” Poppy darts an uncertain look my way, and I grin.
“Go ahead,” I tell her.
“Um, I vote yes?”
At my approving nod, she smiles and spears a strawberry with her fork, and I give her a wink.
“Dylan?” Chord says. “It needs to be unanimous.”
I think it’s a fantastic idea. Violet is the best thing to happen to my brother, and he’d be crazy not to give her the world when it’s within his power to do so. So, I’ve got no intention of standing in Chord’s way, but the love of my life is sitting right here with a ring on her finger and big dreams in her heart, and I’m not going to miss this opportunity to make them a reality.
“I’ll vote yes,” I say, “if…”
Everyone around the table stares at me like I’ve grown an extra head and Chord scowls. “If what?”
“If we also vote to speed up our plans to build a day spa on the property with the intention of giving it to Poppy.”
Poppy drops her fork. “Wait. What?”
“It’s in the business plan,” I say, more to Charlie and Chord than Poppy. She’ll argue against it if I let her, and I’m not going to give her the chance. “Poppy is going to be my wife. We’re going to make Silver Leaf our home. She deserves to have a piece of what we work so hard to build together. Something to call her own. Just like all of us and just like Violet.”
“I agree,” Charlie says slowly, and I can see her brain working.
“It makes sense,” I say. “The ultimate luxury beauty experience for our bridal clients, but also locals and day tourists and birthday parties and bachelorette events. We’d be stupid not to do it.”
“Poppy,” Charlie says. “Is this something you want to do?”
“I—” Poppy swallows, and I reach for her hand under the table. On her other side, Daisy does the same.
“I’m going back to college in September,” Poppy says. “And yes, Dylan and I have spoken about my goal to study business and run my own salon and create a space to make people feel good about themselves. I want to do it but—”
“No buts,” Charlie says firmly but kindly. “Dylan’s right. It was always part of our plan to establish a spa here, and I see no reason not to make it a priority so we can build it from the ground up together. It won’t happen overnight. You’ll have plenty of time to study and prepare. And I’ll be there to mentor you through the business side of things. You can do this, Poppy, and you won’t be alone. We’ll do it together.”
“Back yourself,” Daisy says. “Believe in yourself because we do.”
“I vote yes,” Finn says, chasing his bacon with a side of syrupy pancakes.
“I vote yes,” Daisy echoes with an excited squeak.
“I vote yes,” Charlie says.
“I vote yes,” I add, leaning over to kiss Poppy’s stunned mouth, then grinning as I gaze into her shining gray-green eyes. “For Poppy’s spa and Violet’s studio.”
“I vote yes,” Chord says, his voice softer than usual. “Congratulations Poppy. You’re going to do great.”
Poppy covers her cheeks as her eyes brim with emotion. “Thank you, Chord. Thank you, everyone.”
I give Poppy’s chair a tug to draw it closer to mine, and as the conversation around the table moves to a quiet murmur as we continue with breakfast, Poppy leans against me and whispers in my ear. “What just happened?”
I chuckle and whisper back, “Are you happy?”
“Dylan, I’m stunned. And…yes, I’m so happy. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for loving me.”
“Oh, no, Sunshine. You’ve got that all wrong. Thank you for brightening up my world. And thank you for allowing me the chance to give you a little light in return.”
A tug on my t-shirt turns me around, and I scoop a sleepy Izzy up onto my lap. She curls against my chest as Poppy strokes her hair.
“Hey, Little Bee,” she murmurs. “Did you sleep well? Are you hungry?”
Izzy nods drowsily. “Pancakes, please.”
Poppy drops a kiss on the crown of Izzy’s dark head. “Coming right up.”
And as the sun rises and casts a golden glow across the kitchen, and Poppy tucks herself under my arm like she was never anywhere else, and my brothers and sisters talk and bicker and laugh across a table piled high with food I made with all my heart, I look around the room and think to myself…
Nobody could have written us a better happily ever after.