Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Storm
Poppy chokes and I’m right there with her, my wide eyes catching hers.
But beneath the shock is…
Fuck, it feels good to hear Holly call me dad.
I’ve won the Cup. I’ve had twenty-thousand fans chant my name.
But nothing hits harder than hearing her call me dad.
Never has anyone given me so precious a gift.
Holly slips out of my arms and starts skipping away.
“Um, baby?” Poppy calls. “Where’d you hear that about Storm?”
“From my friends at camp.” Skip. “They said they heard”—skip—“their moms and dads talking”—skip—“about Storm being my dad.”
Christ.
Boarding the gossip train in Cedar Hollow begins early.
Poppy and I exchange a look, and I hate that I’m as amused as she seems to be.
It’s not surprising that the kids know, considering how much the town is talking about us. I just…the flavor feels different now than when I was a kid.
Then it was…shameful, accusatory, judgmental.
Or maybe that was what I was feeling.
Holly skips a few more paces then freezes and turns back, her expression falling.
“Is it not true?”
My heart convulses—because I don’t want any of that shame, that judgment, that pain and disappointment and hurt for Holly—but before I can process the vehemence of those feelings, of my need to protect them both, Poppy is crouching in front of her, taking Holly’s hands.
“It’s true, baby,” she says. “Storm is your dad. He and I were going to talk to you about it tonight. We just…well, it’s complicated adult stuff but there were some things he and I wanted to make sure we had sorted before we talked to you about it. ”
She pauses.
Then her face clears, the fear that had been clinging to it disappearing in a flash before she nods sagely.
“Custody agreements,” she says and looks over at me. “I can stay at your and Rain’s house sometimes, but I really like my own room.”
Poppy jerks, her eyes widening.
But this time I step in before she can speak.
“Hey, peanut. Who’s not a peanut,” I add before she can tell me she’s not a legume. “There’s no need for you to give up your room. You’ll stay with your mom and we’ll get to know each other, okay?”
She presses her lips together.
Nods.
Poppy exhales softly.
“And anyway, Rain and I are remodeling our house. It’s not a fun place to sleep at right now. It’s loud and dusty and bathtubs fall through ceilings.”
Poppy jerks again, her eyes widening further.
“Does that mean you’re going to sleep at our apartment till it gets better?”
Poppy opens her mouth.
But the bit of devil that always lives inside me, the bit of devil that wants to tease Poppy, wants to make her crazy and then kiss her until her outraged expression becomes something softer rules this moment.
“Yeah, peanut-who’s-not-a-peanut,” I say. “I’ll sleep at your apartment until bathtubs no longer fall through ceilings.”
“’Kay,” Holly says and goes back to skipping.
Poppy stays crouched beside me for a moment longer. Then shakes her head, exhaling heavily before she mutters, “How many bathtubs do you have in that house?”
“One,” I admit. “But that’s beside the point.”
Her eyes flare and her gasp of outrage is loud.
And kissing that indignation off her lips is just as good as I imagine.
“Higher!” Shep demands and I sigh.
But it’s only because Poppy giggles and obliges my annoying ass teammate’s order that I don’t shove his ass off the swing.
Why he’s here is obvious—he found out about Holly last night at the bar…and after being put to work at the house today by Rain (and giving me no little amount of shit about “missing a whole child”), he decided he needed to meet my daughter.
And—of fucking course—she loves him.
Christ.
“I want to go higher too!” Holly says, doing some demanding of her own.
I chuckle and oblige, same as Poppy obliges Shep. Though I do it muttering, “When did we become the servants around here?”
“Around the same time a certain princess”—I snort when she indicates Shep—“demanded we get ice cream even though we already had it once today.”
“Not bubblegum,” Holly, Shep, and I all say together.
Poppy throws up her hands. “What the heck is it with everyone and freaking bubblegum ice cream!”
“It’s the best,” Shep says matter-of-factly.
“Gumballs!” Holly shouts.
“It’s the creaminess,” I murmur. “And the way it tastes when I take a lick.”
Poppy had been reaching out to push Shep on his swing again, but my words have her whipping toward me, her mouth falling open.
I realize my mistake a heartbeat later, open my mouth…
Too late.
Shep, and his big, dumb ass, uses Poppy’s push to kick forward hard.
Then swings back—
And slams right into Poppy.
He may be leaner than some of the guys on the team, but the man is still over six feet and more than two hundred pounds.
And all of that crashes into my woman.
“Oof!” she exclaims as she goes down.
I grab Holly from her swing, plunk her on her feet, and then I’m rushing over to Poppy, reaching her before she pushes upright.
Or tries to.
“Ow,” she whimpers, cradling her arm against her chest, her wrist already swelling, her hand dangling in a way I instantly know is broken.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“That’s a bad word,” Holly whispers from beside me.
“Sorry,” I say. “I—”
“Damn, Pop,” Shep says from beside me. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
I turn to glare at him, a cacophony of curses rising up in my throat. Not wanting to scare Holly, I manage to bite them back in time and turn to Poppy. “Let’s get you up to your feet, baby, okay?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
I slip a hand beneath one armpit, use my other to support her hand. “One, two, three.” I start to lift her but she whimpers again, her skin going deathly pale, sweat breaking out on her forehead, her body wavering.
Fuck this.
I sweep her into my arms.
Another whimper.
“Mom?” Holly asks, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, baby,” Poppy manages. “Promise.”
That settles Holly—a little bit, anyway. She dashes her hands across her face, lifts her chin, more than a trace of Poppy’s strength and capableness shining through. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”
I nod. “I think your mom is going to be sporting a shiny new cast on her wrist.”
Poppy groans. “Please no.”
Holly, on the other hand, lights up. “Can I be the first one to sign it?”
“I’ll fight you for it, kid,” Shep teases, ruffling her hair and scooping up Holly, settling her on his shoulders. “Let’s hit it,” he says.
I send a look his way, making it very clear that we’ll be having words later.
He just nods tersely in return.
Then we’re moving through the playground, by the herd of fucking geese. I shoot a look at them, but Gerald—maybe sensing the seriousness of the situation (or, more likely, being too fucking lazy to cause trouble without ice cream around)—doesn’t make so much as a honk as we walk by.
That doesn’t mean the rest of Cedar Hollow is quiet, though.
Worried exclamations follow us as we walk, concern and well wishes trailing us.
Daisy retrieves Poppy’s keys and rushes over to Sully’s to bring her car around.
Clem appears with a bottle of water and ibuprofen.
Clover and Blossom show up within minutes, promising to keep Holly busy with something called flower crowns while Riley crafts a makeshift splint out of a pillow and flower stakes to make Poppy more comfortable.
Even Gertie says she’ll help Cassie in the bar tonight.
Maybe the old crone isn’t so bad after all.
Especially when she pats Shep’s bottom and orders him to behave.
It’s the first time anyone has ever left my teammate speechless.
But that doesn’t mean he’ll listen, I know, as Holly—suitably soothed by a hug from Poppy (and the promise of flower crowns)—is carried away by Shep, Clover and Blossom beside them. Blossom is smiling, Clover is scowling, and Shep is…determined.
And I wonder what Cedar Hollow will think about that.
But I don’t have long to ponder it because Daisy parks Poppy’s car next to the curb and then I’m loading Pop into the passenger’s seat and buckling her in, carefully driving her over to the nearest hospital.
Poppy sighs softly, shakes her head.
“Hopefully the pain medicine will kick in soon,” I say.
“It’s not that.”
“Then what?” I ask. “I’m already going to kick Shep’s ass, so you don’t have to worry about that part.”
She giggles then winces as we hit a bump.
“Sorry, Poppyseed.” I touch her cheek. “And I’m sorry for distracting you and putting you in the path of the dumbfuck.”
“I liked the distraction.” She rests her good hand on my thigh, squeezes lightly. “And it was just an accident, so don’t beat up Shep—or yourself—on my account.”
“He has it coming,” I mutter.
And maybe I do too.
A huffed-out laugh.
“But that’s not what you were sighing about, was it?”
“No,” she says, turning to me with pain-tinged green eyes but also with all that determined strength and steadfast capability.
“I was thinking that, sooner or later, somehow I just knew you’d end up carrying me through Cedar Hollow.
” A sigh. “And that everyone would be talking about the show for weeks.”
I let that linger for a moment, test how it makes me feel.
And I decide…
I don’t really care.
Not so long as Poppy is okay and Holly isn’t scared and—
“Well, all I can say is that we’d better make the front page of the Cedar Hollow Gazette.”