Chapter 10
Carrington House
Searcy, Arkansas
Over the next two weeks, Poppy and Bennett continued the routine they had followed all summer.
True to his word, Bennett contacted a real estate agent in New York and rented a furnished apartment for Poppy near the school.
He also set up a checking account for her.
At first, she refused to use it. He argued that she would need it for the apartment they would share when he was in New York.
She did not like it, but it was hard to argue with Bennett.
He made a strong case that it would be easier if she had a local account in which he could put money if she needed it than trying to send her money in an emergency.
In the end, she went uptown to the big, local bank on the town square and signed the check card and necessary forms. She got a debit card and promised it would only be for emergencies.
She officially accepted her scholarship and began making plans for the fall.
The college called and let her know that she had been awarded the hardship scholarship.
She was very excited. Now, she had the funds for school.
She offered to pay half the rent, but Bennettt refused.
He said she would need the money for other things, and that now she would not have to worry about getting a job in New York.
Bennett arranged to take off the week before she left for orientation. They would pack her things and then drive up in his Jeep. Poppy was getting excited about it all.
The only drawback was that she had not told Gran any of this.
The original plan had been for Gran to come home the last week of July, and Poppy would tell her then.
However, with Poppy's great aunt back in the hospital, she never got the chance.
Gran felt like she couldn't leave her sister.
Instead, it was decided that Gran would remain in Tennessee for the foreseeable future.
Realizing she had to tell her grandmother about her college plans, Poppy gathered her courage and called her early the morning before she and Bennett were to leave for New York.
Over the phone, Poppy shared about her scholarship and that housing and incidentals had been covered.
She did not mention Bennett in any way other than to say that he had a business trip planned to New York and had offered her a ride.
If Gran was suspicious of that, she did not say.
Gran was too shocked by Poppy's news and overwhelmed with caring for her sister to ask too many questions.
Of course, she was happy that Poppy would be able to study what she loved.
Before Poppy hung up, she asked Gran for the code to the safety deposit box in Gran's closet.
It had Poppy's social security card and a few other documents she needed. Gran gave her the code.
As Poppy was getting the things she needed from the box, something caught her eye.
It was an older diary. Unable to resist, she opened it.
Stunned, she realized it had belonged to her mom.
She should have been packing, but instead, she spent the whole day devouring her mother's words.
What she discovered would shape her life from that moment on.
Poppy assumed the diary was a graduation gift since the first entry was a few days after her mom graduated high school. The first few entries were pretty sweet and simple. Only when her mom started her new job at Mr. Carrington's law firm did the entries get interesting.
From reading the diary, Poppy learned about who her father might be.
She also got a front-row seat to her parent's relationship.
Even though her mom did not name any names, Poppy discovered he was a married man with children.
He had promised to leave his wife, who was battling some form of cancer, as soon as she was in remission.
Her mom clearly loved her dad and completely believed him when he said he would leave his family for her.
In her last entry, her mom described a huge fight between her and Poppy's dad regarding the timeline around when he would leave his wife.
He promised it would be before Poppy was born.
Her mom wrote that he proposed and promised they would marry by August. The next day, her mom had a car crash that put her in labor. She never made it out of the hospital.
Reading this, and thinking about what might have been if her mom had lived sent Poppy’s stomach rolling.
Every page answered questions Poppy had for years.
It also created new questions left unanswered.
At least from her mother's perspective, her mom and dad were madly in love. Poppy wanted to believe that was true.
She did not know or understand why her father made no move to get to know her or support her after her mother's death.
Several times, when her emotions got the best of her, she ran to the bathroom and was violently ill.
Poppy felt overwhelmed and stressed out by all she had learned.
She planned to have a long conversation with her grandmother very soon about all of it.
But, at the moment, Gran was doing all she could to care for her sister. That conversation would have to wait.
She could, however, talk to Bennett about it. She could hardly wait to tell him what she read. She made them grilled cheese and soup for dinner and sat down to wait for him.
It was nearly 9:00 before Bennett got home that night. His secretary Katie had called and said there had been an emergency, and he would be late. The secretary assured her that Bennett was fine.
When he walked in the door, Poppy took one look at Bennett and knew something terrible had happened. His eyes were swollen, and she could tell he had been crying.
Running to him and wrapping him in her arms, she asked, "What is it? You look terrible. Katie said you had an emergency. What happened?"
Grabbing her and holding her close, Bennett erupted in a torrent of tears. He cried for several minutes and then said, "It was Tatum. He and his parents were killed today in a car wreck in Fayetteville."
Poppy was stunned by the news. Bennett continued to hold her and sob. After a few minutes, when Bennett seemed to be getting himself under control, Poppy asked, "Do you know what happened?"
"A truck crossed the centerline. They were killed instantly." As soon as he said the words, his tears fell harder.
Poppy held him close for several minutes and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
He just shook his head no.
Trying to be supportive, Poppy asked, “Are you hungry? Can I get you something to eat?"
Again shaking his head, he said, "No, all I want to do is go to bed."
Together, they walked to his room and got ready for bed. Once they were under the cover, Bennett took her in his arms and said, "I am so sad. He has been my best friend since I was in preschool. I cannot imagine doing life without him."
As he said this, tears filled his eyes. Poppy offered him the only comfort she could.
She gave him her body to lose himself in for a little while.
Later, just before they drifted off to sleep, Bennett said, "I need to tell you.
My dad is coming back from the lake in the morning.
You will need to take everything back to your room. "
Poppy hated bringing it up, but they were supposed to leave for New York the next day.
She needed to know if the plans had changed.
"I hate to ask this, but remember, we were supposed to leave for New York tomorrow.
I understand if you need to push that back, but I must be there in less than a week. "
Bennett closed his eyes and shook his head before looking at her.
"Oh babe, I totally forgot about that with all that happened today.
I don't see any way I will be able to drive us.
If you have everything together, ship it tomorrow, so it will be there.
I will get us tickets and will fly there after the funeral. "
As soon as he said that, his eyes began to water. Hating to stress him any more, Poppy said, "We will figure it out tomorrow. I love you. Try to get some sleep."
The next day was a blur for Poppy. With the return of Mr. Carrington, Poppy returned to her apartment with all of her things. Following Bennett's request, she boxed up everything she planned to bring in the car for school and shipped it all to the new apartment.
She was glad she had the debit card from Bennett. It was not cheap and would have stressed her to think she had spent so much on shipping things. As it was, knowing she had him backing her up made the process easier.
Bennett and his dad spent the day huddled up in the firm's conference room with the firm's other lawyers.
It was after 10:00 when Poppy heard the light knock on her outside door.
She opened the door to find a completely drained Bennett.
She had never seen him like he was. He looked like he had been to hell and back.
Coming in, he loosened his tie and let out a long, low sigh as he sat on her bed. "I've got some bad news that you will not like. But before you throw a fit, I want you to know. There is not one thing I can do about it."
Poppy gave him a confused look and said, "I am not a fit thrower, so I think we will be good. But you are scaring me. What is so bad that you think I will?"
"I can't take you to school. I have to go to Scotland. No one has told Taylor yet. The decision was made to send someone to tell her in person."
"She doesn't know who her parents or brother are…" Poppy left the part unsaid.