Chapter Twenty-One
Two Days Later
The sun felt warm and inviting on Poppy’s face, and she stretched toward the blue sky, soaking up the rays with satisfying breaths. The air was heavy with the fresh scents of even more flowering blooms, and Poppy inhaled deeply.
She had started to learn the different plants growing here—a new hobby she didn’t know she would cherish as much as she did.
As she was standing there, smiling with her eyes still closed, she vowed to ask Neil for a book about flowers and plants native to this area.
This was her home now, and she wanted to learn all about it.
Sophie’s pearly laughter echoed across the yard, which automatically made Poppy look for her. Apparently, her little sister had caught one of the newborn chicks, which roamed everywhere now. Spring was truly putting on a display, and it was beautiful to watch nature come to life all around her.
“Be careful, Sophie!” she called out to the little girl.
“The hens aren’t too fond of you stealing their babies!
” Sophie giggled, kissed the chick’s fluffy yellow head, and put it back down.
Then she shrugged and ran off to find something else to play with.
Sophie had always been a good girl, but the positive change in her was profound.
She had never seen her so alive and so happy. That alone made it all worth it.
Poppy thought about how much her own life had changed in such a short time and how much better it had gotten still. Looking up into the sky again, Poppy couldn’t help but smile because she knew that God had everything to do with it.
On top of that, Neil had turned out to be the wonderful husband she had hoped him to be, and his transformation had a lot to do with her happiness, too. Since he had opened up to her and told her about his troubles with Finn, Neil and Poppy had grown much closer.
Two nights ago, he had almost kissed her.
Her heart still raced when she thought about it, and that tingly feeling in her stomach appeared every time she saw him, even from far away.
Just to make sure, she lifted her hand and shielded her eyes as she scanned the far fields where he had disappeared earlier, but he was nowhere to be seen.
What had surprised her the most was the fact that Neil knew the Bible. She smiled when she remembered how shocked she had been when he recited the verse so flawlessly. Poppy was absolutely certain that God had brought her here, just as Helena had predicted in all of her letters so far.
She looked down at the new flowerbed she had dug up and kneeled back down onto the ground to keep working the soil.
Poppy was determined to have a large garden with all of the things she loved, including an abundance of strawberries and blueberries.
She started to hum one of her favorite hymns and got lost in her work.
Suddenly, she heard a sharp crunch behind her.
Being in the safety of the ranch, Poppy wasn’t immediately alarmed. She straightened up and wiped her forehead with her forearm before she looked in the direction where the noise had come from.
The first thing Poppy noticed was an expensive-looking shoe standing on one of the newest flower bushes.
“Watch out!” she called out to the person, even though it was already too late. Poppy was blinded by the sun and couldn’t immediately see who it was, but when she shielded her eyes again with her hand, she instantly noticed the elegant dress skirt.
Poppy jumped up onto her feet and came face to face with... her.
Lucy Hawthorne.
What was she doing here?
Unfortunately, Poppy and Sophie were the only ones around, and this lady was still very much a stranger, so Poppy didn’t know what to expect from her. She needed to be cautious.
Just as before, Poppy was struck by that woman’s beauty and elegance, but since she knew about her character, she wasn’t blinded by it.
“Can I help you?” Poppy asked, trying not to sound harsh as she wiped off her dirty hands on her apron.
Looking at Lucy, Poppy couldn’t ignore the differences between them.
While she had been working in the garden in the blazing sunshine, she had worked up quite a sweat.
She pushed back all the loose strands of her dark hair that had freed themselves from her braid, and the simple cotton dress she wore did nothing to enhance her features in any way.
Nothing Poppy owned compared to the tailored red silk gown this woman in front of her was draped in.
She looked like an oil painting, the way she stood there all upright and stiff, twirling a dainty red lace umbrella between her red-gloved fingers, which was completely unnecessary due to the oversized, wide-rimmed red silk hat she wore on her perfectly coiffured brunette hair.
Everything matched, all the way down to her red leather shoes with red shoelaces. It was quite remarkable.
“I don’t know,” Lucy said with a choking voice as a loud sob escaped her.
Poppy shielded her eyes again. She was surprised to see this woman so upset. Was she crying?
Even though she had sworn to be careful, Poppy was reminded of the pastor’s sermon on loving thy neighbor, so she stepped away from the glare and to the side, trying to see the other woman more clearly.
There were no tears, but Lucy seemed to be crying.
“I’m so sorry,” Lucy whined. She looked around as if she were in distress. “I shouldn’t have come here,” she exclaimed, dabbing her dry cheeks with a red handkerchief.
“Why did you?” Poppy asked her with an inviting smile. She straightened her posture as much as she could so she wouldn’t seem weak. She wanted to be able to talk to this lady eye to eye, if only to figure her out.
“Well...” Lucy sighed heavily, clutching her chest with a dramatic side glance toward the barn.
Poppy got the impression that she was looking around.
“I feel so terrible about what transpired at the horse auction!” she exclaimed loudly.
“My heart is broken! Seeing Neil again was...” She uttered something that sounded like a heart-wrenching outcry.
“It was devastating!” She dabbed under her eyes again.
Poppy didn’t really know how to respond to that, so she didn’t reply.
She wanted to let her speak so she’d be able to gauge the lady’s intentions.
Poppy had grown up surrounded by women, and given the circumstances they had lived in, they hadn’t always been nice.
There had been plenty of women who had tried to create chaos and turmoil among the other girls living there.
Poppy had seen many faces—not all of them friendly and kind—and Madam Marveau was only one example.
“I know I treated him so badly!” Lucy released a wailing sob, and Poppy almost thought that she’d sink to her knees. “He didn’t deserve any of it! To see him so heartbroken when he saw me... I felt terrible. He probably still has feelings for me.”
Lucy paused, and it seemed a little theatrical when she looked Poppy straight in the eyes before continuing with a distraught expression. “I need him to forgive me. He needs to forgive me. I can’t live without his forgiveness for what I’ve done. It’s killing me from the inside.”
Poppy was surprised by Lucy’s outburst. Neil had told her that they hadn’t spoken for several years, so she didn’t understand where this came from. Something wasn’t right.
Suddenly, Lucy stepped closer to Poppy and grabbed her underarm. Her gloved fingers clamped onto her with unexpected force. Unnecessary force.
“I’m desperate! You need to help me!” Lucy demanded, jerking Poppy’s arm. Her wide hazel eyes flashed, and she looked a little too intensely at Poppy. Then her eyes darted to something behind Poppy, and her face softened ever so slightly. “Who’s this?”
Poppy took the distraction as her opportunity to pry those gripping fingers from her arm and turned away from Lucy to see what she was looking at.
Sophie.
Her little sister approached them curiously, but she stopped right behind Poppy, staying safely behind her skirt.
“Is this your daughter?” Lucy asked with a high-pitched voice. She straightened her posture, curiously lifting a single perfectly groomed eyebrow as she looked down at Sophie. Poppy noticed the sudden shift in Lucy’s demeanor instantly, as if she’d forgotten her previous mood for a second.
It didn’t fill her with much confidence that this woman’s intentions were pure, but that assumption was only based on her gut feeling, which told her to be careful. However, her mind told her to be neighborly and not to judge too quickly. It was a bit of a conundrum.
Lucy bent down to look at Sophie, gifting her with a smile. Sophie stayed hidden halfway behind Poppy.
“Hello, sweet girl,” Lucy cooed. “What’s your name?
Would you like to have some candy?” Lucy closed her lacy umbrella and stuck it under her arm as she started rummaging around the tiny bag that was dangling from her wrist, but when Sophie didn’t react at all, she stopped and straightened back up.
Her smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
She pulled out the umbrella and opened it again, covering herself with its dappled shade.
“That brat has no manners!” she mumbled, clearly angered by Sophie’s silence.
Poppy sighed. She didn’t bother to explain Sophie’s condition to that woman.
Sophie may be mute, but she wasn’t slow-minded.
In fact, Sophie’s intuition and instincts were better than most people, and the fact that she didn’t want to get near that woman spoke volumes. It reaffirmed Poppy’s own impression.
“Oh, I just realized,” Lucy said then, with a dainty chuckle—yet another surprising reaction from her that didn’t quite match her earlier outburst. “I never got your name. My name is Lucy Hawthorne. Neil used to be my fiancé.” She added that last sentence with a demure smile.
“He was so very much in love with me,” she added, as if she were reminiscing good old times.
Poppy opened her mouth to introduce them to her, but Lucy didn’t seem to be interested, because she kept talking.
Poppy wasn’t in a rush. She had seen women like her before, who loved to talk about themselves and nothing but themselves. The more minutes ticked by, the surer Poppy became that Lucy wasn’t there to make friends or apologize to Neil for what she had done. Not sincerely.
“Where is Neil anyway? Is he not around?” she asked then, once again looking around toward the barn and paddocks in the back.
“He usually liked to have tea with me in the afternoons, you know? I bet he misses our little chats.” Lucy looked directly at Poppy when she said that, smiling at her as if she were confiding in a good friend.
Poppy could feel the tiny hairs in the back of her neck stand up, but she suppressed whatever feeling tried to crawl its way up her throat. It was utterly uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to lose control. Not in that moment.
Dear God, I need Your help! Please give me the strength to stay strong, to not judge, and to be kind and open. Help me be neighborly and friendly toward her, whatever the reason might be why she came here. I need your strength, Father!
“So what did you say your name was again?” Lucy finally asked when she seemingly realized that Poppy wasn’t responding to her questions. Her hazel eyes were once again fully focused on Poppy, although Lucy gave her a once-over, as if she needed to reevaluate who she was talking to.
“I didn’t,” Poppy finally responded with a friendly smile. Lucy’s overly familiar mask slipped, revealing a stone-cold expression, but it only lasted for a split second before she put her sad face back on.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, using her whining voice again.
“I’m just so very distraught about it all.
” She went back to dabbing her eyes. “Neil and I used to be very much in love, and I could see the pain in his eyes when he saw me again. I don’t want him to hurt, but I need to speak with him.
If he’ll forgive me, maybe we can find a way to be together again somehow. ”
Poppy had to bite her tongue hard so she wouldn’t let the words she was thinking burst out of her mouth. Was she trying to provoke her? Or was Lucy genuinely unaware of the fact that Neil was married now?
She tried to be reasonable, but Poppy was human, and this conversation had taken a turn she didn’t want to entertain.
This was between Neil and Lucy. Poppy had no right to intervene.
Their marriage wasn’t based on love. And even though Poppy knew that this woman was probably goading her, Lucy and Neil did have history.
As much as it hurt, Poppy wouldn’t allow herself to feel jealous. It was wrong.
Then another thought popped into her mind. Maybe Lucy was simply telling the truth, and their story wasn’t over yet. Maybe there were unresolved feelings there. Neil had married Poppy out of convenience, but maybe his heart belonged to Lucy still.
Poppy and Neil weren’t close enough for her to know for certain what his feelings were.
He had said that he didn’t love her anymore, but he had also said that they were no longer together because he hadn’t been able to compete with Finn’s wealth.
So did his heart still long for Lucy regardless? How would she know?
All of these questions were extremely unsettling, and Poppy didn’t like this feeling of uncertainty. Her heart beat heavily in her chest. She had no way of knowing what any of this could mean for her and Sophie.
Poppy inhaled deeply, then she nodded.
“You should talk to him,” she agreed, as she turned around to pick Sophie up. “Why don’t you wait on the porch? I’m sure you’ll remember where to sit, since you’ve been here before,” she added with a forced smile.
Without further ado, Poppy turned around and went to find Neil.
“I’ll go get my husband,” she muttered to herself.