Found

TEN

TEN

Dinner with the two families had the potential to be great fun. But with the majority of sisters at the table not talking to someone, it was left to Emmie to break the silence.

The little one shuffled closer to her brother who was between her and Faye. “Why is no one talking, Mommy?”

“Just eat your food, baby,” Faye said, reaching over Noah to push Emmie’s plate closer to her.

“You have wonderful children,” Grammie said.

“Thank you,” Faye replied. “You have a beautiful home.”

“Oh, I know. It’s slightly staid,” Grammie said quite casual in her opinion. “The truth is, this house is often more trouble than it’s worth. A sad remnant of a bygone age…” Grammie laughed. “Much like me.”

“Grammie, you are not a remnant,” Poppy said. “You are this family’s glue.”

“No, I believe that is this house and the money, Tot. I look forward to handing it all over to you. Will you put me out to pasture after you have control?”

“Mother,” Clark said from the head of the table. “Don’t start this in front of our guests.”

“They’re not guests, we’re all family here,” Grammie said. “In fact, there is no reason they shouldn’t live here full-time from now on. We have the space.”

“No one is living here full-time,” Poppy said. “This isn’t their home.”

“I want to live in your castle, Aunt Poppy,” Emmie said. “Mommy, can we live with Aunt Poppy and Uncle Turner?”

“We has to live here,” Noah wailed, his tone betraying his distress. “I don’t want to live far away from Uncle Turner.”

“Remember what I said about Aunt Poppy’s plane?” Turner asked. “You can come see us any time you want, Sport.”

“I want to see you every day.”

“You don’t see Turner every day now,” Charley said. “Let him live here, who cares?”

“Momma,” Noah said, trying to climb into his mother’s lap.

“It’s okay, sweetie.”

“It isn’t the children’s fault that you’re upset,” Val said. “We’re in company, Charley.”

“I don’t know why we’re here,” Charley said. “Turner is a big boy. He doesn’t need us chasing after him.”

“Supporting him and Poppy is part of the reason we’re here,” Val said.

“Keeping everyone together is the best way to keep everyone safe,” Preston said. “If anyone’s upset about being here, put it on me.”

“You wouldn’t be on the estate if it wasn’t for me, Preston,” Poppy said. “I brought you here.”

“Turner wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you either,” Charley muttered.

“It’s not her fault,” Zoey spoke up, surprising everyone who knew her. “Everyone’s getting on her case, but what was she supposed to do? This guy has made her life hell and now she has to hear it from us at her family’s dinner table?”

Usually, Zoey was the quiet one. After the way Poppy had abandoned her, she didn’t expect the teen to come to her defense.

Zoey pushed her chair away from the table and got up to rush out of the room.

“Zo…” Turner said and began to rise.

Poppy laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go,” she said, leaving her father’s dinner table without permission.

She didn’t care about tradition or routine. The sound of Zoey’s footsteps running up the stairs reminded her of the dozens of times she’d chased after one of her sisters. For the first time, she really got a glimpse of Turner’s vision of the two families being one.

At least when she got to the upstairs hallway, the bedroom door didn’t slam. That was a Primrose special. She could slam a door with such drama and flair that the rafters would shake.

Going along to Zoey’s door, Poppy was careful about taking a breath before knocking. The door wasn’t all the way shut, which reminded her of creeping into Zoey’s room at the Maddox house.

“Zoey…” The room and bed were much bigger than the teen had at home, but it was a similar scene. “Honey, are you okay?”

Lying face down in the middle of the bed, Zoey was hugging the pillow to her head.

There wasn’t an answer, not one that she heard. So going inside, Poppy closed the door and went over to sit on the bed. After a second, she reached out to squeeze Zoey’s leg.

“Thank you for sticking up for me down there,” Poppy said. “I didn’t expect that. It means a lot to me.” Even if she knew a lot of the situation was her fault.

Rolling onto her back, Zoey linked her fingers over her torso. “Do you love my brother?”

Poppy hesitated. Not because she wasn’t sure of the answer. She’d just been hiding the truth for so long that keeping it to herself had become default.

“Yes,” Poppy said. “I do.”

“You didn’t tell me. I was joking about it and you didn’t say a word.”

“It was complicated,” Poppy said, sliding further up the bed. “I’m sorry I disappeared on you. I didn’t want to. Holden put the bounty out and I had to move fast. I never wanted to drag your family down, I didn’t think it would happen. I’m sorry the media harassed Charley. And I didn’t want to lie to you—”

“You didn’t lie to me,” Zoey said, sitting up, crossing her legs in front of her. “You told me about your family… Maybe not specifics, but I knew you didn’t come here ‘cause you wanted to. You have to be here because this Holden jerk is taking over your life.”

It was nice to be understood, even if it was unexpected. “Thank you.”

“Is Turner what you meant? When you said your family wanted a different life for you. They didn’t want you to be with him?”

“I left here before I met Turner. It’s difficult to explain why I left. I do have a privileged life here. I know that…” She drew in a long breath. “I guess all I can say is Grammie had a lot of influence on me. The way she talked about the world out there always made it seem… like an adventure.”

“And it wasn’t?”

“Being with your brother was an adventure. One I didn’t want to walk away from.”

Zoey was nodding. “But Holden didn’t give you a choice. You had to leave Turner… and he came after you.” Poppy smiled. “That’s so romantic.”

If she hadn’t been curious before then Zoey’s forlorn tone would’ve piqued Poppy’s curiosity.

“What happened with prom?” she asked. Her worries for the teen couple had only grown since Turner telling her it had been uneventful. “Where’s Casey?”

Zoey’s gaze dropped to her ankles. “I don’t know… We broke up.”

“What?” That was the last thing Poppy expected to hear. She didn’t even know how to process the unexpected news. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“She told her parents. They’re really strict. Religious. I was going to tell Mom and Turner, but he was never around or they were whispering…” Zoey sighed and clenched her fists. “I was scared to tell them. Casey and me got in a big fight ‘cause I hadn’t done it. I knew something was going on with Turner and you were gone. Faye was all a mess about the Kev stuff. It just didn’t feel like the right time, I guess… But Casey was mad, said maybe I hadn’t planned to ever tell them. I asked if there was any point. If we were never going to tell her parents, we were never gonna be free to be together, were we? We were fighting, I didn’t really mean it, I… Do you and Turner ever fight?”

Squirming a little, Poppy raised a shoulder. “Sometimes.”

“You ever say things you don’t mean?”

That curled her lips. “I say stupid things to your brother all the time.”

“I didn’t know she’d run home and tell her folks right then.”

“How did they take it?” Just the depth of Zoey’s exhale gave Poppy her answer. “Oh, honey.” Toeing off her shoes, she climbed onto the bed to gather Zoey into her arms. “Maybe they just need time. They’ll come around.”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re keeping Casey locked up at home. They don’t want her hanging out with anyone from school anymore.” She sighed. “I guess I was right that there wasn’t any point telling my family. I won’t ever love anyone else. What does it matter if they know?” She grabbed Poppy’s upper arms to thrust her back. “Did you tell Turner? Oh my God, you were having s*x with him, weren’t you? Of course you told him!”

She started to scramble toward the edge of the bed, but Poppy caught her face in both hands to marry their eyes. “I didn’t tell him.”

Recognition flickered in Zoey’s eye. “We asked you to tell him and you didn’t want to. Were you in a fight?”

“I would’ve told him, no problem at all,” Poppy said, sweeping Zoey’s hair away from her face and lying down, tucking the teen’s head against her shoulder, holding her close as she continued to stroke her hair. “Why do you think I was so confident he’d accept the news? I’ve known Turner as an outsider and as the most important thing in his life, he’d never hurt you, Zoey. The man I love, he understands that love doesn’t come with conditions or limitations. He and I tried not to love each other. Tried to wish it away. None of this is convenient… for either of us.”

“But you love each other anyway.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Casey doesn’t want to fight for us.”

“How do you know?” Poppy asked, her fingers in Zoey’s hair. “Did you fight for her?” There was a long pause. “Think about it. You still have a question mark over your family, she doesn’t, she knows they don’t accept her. She probably feels alone.”

“You say my family are all accepting, but look at the way they’re treating you.”

“Charley is upset and there’s probably something going on with David I don’t know about. Faye is mad at your brother more than she’s mad at me. Your mom has been great. The kids too. Love is love, Zoey. Even if they are mad at me, they’re here. That means they haven’t given up on me.” That truth only dawned on her the moment she said the words. “If they had, they wouldn’t be sitting at my family’s dinner table. If they were through with me, the only reason any one of them might have come would’ve been to drag your brother back. So far, I haven’t heard anyone make that demand.”

“Emmie loves it here. It’s like a movie or something.”

“We get jaded about it because we’ve always been exposed to it, but, yeah, it is pretty great.”

“Casey would love it here,” Zoey murmured. “She loves the water.”

Ducking down, Poppy tried to make eye contact. “She’s welcome. If you want her here, we can make it happen.”

It was obvious that Zoey’s instinct was to be near the woman she loved. Everyone wanted the people they loved in times of crisis. But the relationship was fractured; asking Casey to cross the country might not be welcome. Turner had crossed the country for her, but that had been his choice. Casey couldn’t make that choice, her parents were at the gate, blocking any chance for the women to be together.

“I haven’t called her. She doesn’t know we’re here.”

“You should call, she’ll be worried. And invite her here, if she wants to come, we’ll send a car to her place and the jet will be waiting for her.”

A modest laugh escaped Zoey’s lips. “Her head would explode. It’s nuts that you have all this. I never saw Turner in a big fancy house like this… But there’s a lot of land, he’ll like that.”

“Your brother is not living here. Truth is, I think he’ll have trouble keeping Grammie away from the Venture when she learns about it… Though, hell, they’re buddies, who knows what she knows. They’ve probably already got a plan to take over half the country. With her money and his skills, they could rule the world.”

Shifting onto her side, Zoey hugged her tight. “I’m happy you’re going to be my sister. I never knew Turner was so smart to find, like, the perfect woman.”

“I’m far from perfect, but yours might be.” Pulling Zoey higher, Poppy kissed her hair. “You should call her. Don’t let her think for even a second that you don’t care.” Turner had said something like that to her once. His little nuggets of wisdom were giving her all kinds of clarity. “Don’t hold back. You have to fight for love… like Turner did.”

If it had been on Poppy, she and Turner would be nowhere. That thought stuck for a minute.

“I can’t call. Mom has my phone. It’s probably still at home.” Zoey sat up, throwing her arms in the air. “Which is even worse because if Casey is trying to fight for us, she thinks I’m ignoring her!”

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Poppy said, sitting at her side, catching a tendril of her hair. “You know her number?” Zoey nodded. “You can use my phone. I’ll grab it from Grammie’s room and you can talk as long as you need.”

Zoey winced. “What about dinner?”

“Don’t worry about that. If you’re hungry later, there’s always food.”

They’d been more than halfway through the entree. She could see from Zoey’s expression that food wasn’t the most important thing on her mind.

It only took Poppy a minute to grab her phone from Grammie’s suite. There was plenty of room in there for both of them. Neither were particular about privacy around each other. Since she was little, she’d bunked in with her grandmother dozens, probably hundreds of times. It was Grammie’s bed Poppy crawled into when she was scared of monsters or obsessing about a boy.

Zoey was already dialing before Poppy left the room. She closed the bedroom door to give the teens their privacy and went back downstairs.

The table was light her parents and sisters.

“Aunt Poppy!” Emmie declared as soon as she noticed Poppy entering.

Everyone looked to her. All she could see was Turner, who became more curious as she approached.

“The Hanovers appeared,” Grammie said. “They’re in the drawing room if you’re interested.”

Poppy ran a hand over Turner’s hair, her forearm gliding down his shoulder and chest until her fingertips could find his lips.

“Everything okay, baby?”

Hovering above her seat, Poppy replaced her fingertips with her lips, kissing him gently, lingering, letting herself feel him. So neither of them got ideas of what a kiss could lead to, Poppy sank down into her chair.

“Young love,” Val said.

“Indeed,” Grammie agreed on a laugh.

Her beau still clearly didn’t understand her public display of affection, his confusion was interrupted by Willow’s quiet laugh.

“What’s funny?” Autumn asked.

“Them together,” Willow said, leaning forward to look past her sisters and Preston to show her grin that seemed to be restraining another laugh. “Poppy’s so cool and Turner’s so… not.”

“Thanks, Small-Fry,” Turner said as the twins giggled.

Preston wasted no time joining in. “And the official word is in, Turner Maddox is no longer cool.”

“He never was,” Charley muttered.

The twins ignored that comment. “You’re not cool either, Pres,” Willow was quick to say.

That tickled the man at Poppy’s side. “Hey, how you like that?”

“You don’t even have a cool girlfriend,” Willow added. “Naught is cool because he owns a bar.”

“Ritchie is cool too,” Autumn followed up, ready to offer a reason, except she faltered.

“Ritchie is cool because he acts like Mr. Laid Back, but he cares so much about the people in his life,” Poppy said. Turner’s focus swung around to her, his brow arched in question. “You care too, honey. He’s just… smoother about it.”

Another laugh came from Willow. “Autumn’s only saying that because she has a crush on him.”

The twin swayed across to nudge her sister whose cheeks were beginning to bloom.

“It’s a rite of passage to have a crush on Ritchie,” Faye said. “You get over it.”

Turner’s brow came down.

“Mm hmm,” Charley agreed, which widened her brother’s eyes.

“Uh, what the—”

“You’re surprised your sisters swooned over Ritch?” Preston asked. “Better him than someone who’d take advantage.”

“I want to meet this Ritchie,” Grammie said.

“No, you don’t,” Poppy said, shaking her head. “He’s taking care of business for Turner right now anyway.”

“We can find someone to do that for you, we can get a team of people on it. Does Ritchie have rough hands?” Grammie leaned a little down the table to advise the twins. “Find yourself a man with rough hands, girls.”

“A man who works for a living,” Poppy said, as Turner’s hand opened on her thigh and tucked itself under the fabric of her skirt to rest on her bare skin. “Are we having dessert or waiting for everyone to come back? I’m sure the Hanovers would join us for dessert.”

They had dessert because Grammie decided she didn’t want to wait. As soon as the plates were cleared, Charley said she was going upstairs to make a phone call. Poppy didn’t want to think that she might be confiding in David, but even if she was, there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

Noah reminded Turner that he’d promised to take him to the worksite. He didn’t try to wriggle out of it. Not her Turner. No, he’d made a deal, so he stuck to it. He even invited his mother and Faye to join him. Preston wasn’t too discreet about inviting himself along.

Emmie and Ashlee had already been dancing around Grammie telling her about some new animated movie they loved.

The twins opted to go with Grammie to help with the movie since there was no way Grammie would know how to work the TV, let alone be able to find the movie they were talking about on a streaming service.

Everyone disappeared in their various directions until Poppy found herself alone. She breathed out. Sneak down to the music room in the dark or risk being co-opted by her family and the Hanovers? The music room won hands down.