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Mom didn’t say anything. She shook her head and wiped at her tears.
Rose cupped her face. “Poppy, honey, you didn’t do anything wrong. He did... He went after you. He hit you. You defended yourself. You let him know exactly how you felt about him. I wish it had been me,” she confessed. “I was never brave enough to stand up to him like that. But you were. You did.”
Mom stood and faced them. “Both of you were stronger thanI ever was. I’m sorry that you had to face him alone because I was too scared to do it for you. There’s no excuse. And I have to live with it every day. But none of this was your fault. It was mine. I should have protected both of you. I should have left him. I didn’t. And you both paid the price.” She came to Poppy and put her hand on her shoulder. “You did what you had to do to survive. It wasn’t for you to save him. He was the only one who could save himself, and each and every time he had a choice of whether to do that or hurt you, he chose wrong. He created his own fate. You can’t reach for help from someone you’ve harmed over and over again and expect to get it.”
“I could have been the better person.”
“You had a split second to react,” Rose pointed out.
Her mom rubbed her hand over Poppy’s back. “What if you had tried to grab him? With his size and weight and the momentum carrying him down, he would have taken you with him. You could have been seriously injured or killed, too. I can live with losing him. I wouldn’t want to live if I lost you.”
In that moment Poppy understood why her mother always looked so sad and had spent the last three years barely living her life. She didn’t want to truly live while her children were still suffering.
It had taken Rose coming home, looking and sounding like she’d moved on with her life, encouraging them to do the same, for the healing to begin.
Even though Poppy felt wrecked right now, she knew this was the first step toward reclaiming her life.
And that meant forgiving her mom for being weak, becausePoppy understood all too well what it felt like to be trapped with her father and helpless to do anything about it. Or so it seemed.
She pulled her mom in for a hug. Rose embraced both of them with a ferocity that seemed to repair all the fractured pieces of their bond. It felt like for the first time they were a real family again, helping each other, loving each other.
They stood in the center of the kitchen like that for a long moment before they drew apart.
Her mom brushed her hand over Poppy’s hair. “I wondered why you were late coming home today from the sandwich shop. I love it. You’re so beautiful.”
She ran her fingers through the short strands. “Thank you.”
“Both of my girls are,” Mom said. “You’re both so strong. And I hope now we can all heal together and be a family again, but this time a kind, loving family who supports each other.”
Poppy eyed Rose. “I can’t believe you betrayed your boyfriend and best friend.”
“I didn’t,” Rose quickly assured her. “You didn’t let me finish explaining what happened.”
“Is there any good explanation for sleeping with your best friend’s fiancé?”
“How about, it happened a year ago before Maggie ever met Marc?”
Poppy felt foolish for jumping to conclusions. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. It’s not like we had a relationship.” Rose glanced at their mom, then focused on Poppy again. “It was a very rare-for-me one-night stand. And it’s one of those crazy coincidencesthat really do sometimes happen. I never saw him again until he walked into the bar and Maggie introduced him as her fiancé.” She recounted the whole story. “It’s all been a whirlwind. But Maggie and Gray both know now. It’s all out in the open. We’re all going to move on with our lives. In fact, Gray will be here shortly to pick me up for our double date.”
Poppy couldn’t believe it. “You’re dating Marc’s cousin and Maggie is marrying Marc and you slept with Marc and everyone is okay with this?”
“Yes.” Rose sighed. “I know it’s weird. Crazier things have happened and worked out.”
“Maybe.” Poppy sounded unconvinced. “Something like that doesn’t just fade away, but if you’re all going to try to make it work... okay.”
“Great.” Rose looked relieved. “I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. What’s important is how you’re feeling right now.”
Poppy sucked in a breath and really thought about it. “I think I’m okay. I’ve been holding all that in for a long time. My head is kind of spinning.”
Rose touched her arm. “Maybe you should think about seeing someone you can talk to, who can help you work through your feelings. It helped me.”
“Maybe. Right now, I’m just trying to find the me I used to be, so that I can be the me I want to be. Does that make sense?”
“Totally. I felt so lost when I left here. It took a long time to unearth who I was before things got bad, then find my way to who I really wanted to be.”
“You haven’t done so bad.” Poppy wanted so much of what Rose had now. A career. A great guy. Her own place. Inner peace.
