Emmie leaned down to whisper to her sister, though not with much discretion given Poppy picked out the words. “Blame Noah.”
“Blame Noah for what?” Turner asked, more stern than before. “What did you girls do?”
“Nothing,” Emmie said, straightening up and doing a shoulder wiggle like she was trying to be casual. “We didn’t do nothing.”
Sailing past hero uncle, the little one was all confident indifference. She reminded Poppy of Violet when they’d been kids.
“Are you okay?” Poppy asked, helping Emmie to climb up on the high bed. “Is anyone hurt?”
“No, no one’s hurt,” Emmie said, clambering to her feet to cup her hands around Poppy’s ear. Turner was monitoring them as he went over to pick up Ashlee. “The baby jumped on the bed and it broke.”
Inhaling, Poppy’s mouth opened in a quiet gasp of understanding. “Well, you know what…” Twisting to face Emmie, she gathered the little one into her arms to murmur. “I think you should tell Uncle Turner.”
Emmie, with her back to her uncle, seemed to forget he was there. “He’ll be mad.”
Leaning back, while still holding Emmie, Poppy frowned. “Why will he be mad? I don’t think he will be… I think if anyone can help, it’s Uncle Turner. He can fix anything.”
Grabbing her arm, joy shot through Emmie. “He can! Yes, he can!”
“Mm hmm.”
While Poppy didn’t mind being the kids’ confidante, she wasn’t the best person to help them conceal their crime. It was funny that they trusted her with the secret when the furniture actually belonged to her family. If anyone would be mad, someone would be forgiven for thinking it might be a Granger. Still, it was flattering to be a safe space for the little ones.
Spinning around, Emmie wobbled as she prepared to tell her uncle. Poppy took her waist to steady her. “Ashlee broke Noah’s bed!” Emmie announced without an ounce of shame, which was much more in keeping with the girl’s usual personality.
“How’d she do that?” Turner asked, not quite buying the blame-shift.
Emmie’s shoulders moved again. “I don’t know, maybe she was jumping up and down or something.”
Ashlee’s little arm shot out in her sister’s direction. “Emmieeee!”
It did seem more likely that the eldest girl was the one who did the breaking. Though both of them may have been jumping on it.
“It doesn’t matter who broke it,” Turner said, going to open the door. “Let’s see if we can fix it.”
He disappeared into the hall with Ashlee still in his arms. Emmie leaped off the bed to go dashing after him. Poppy went too, to support the girls and because she loved to see Turner work.
Just as she got to the bedroom door, Turner was kneeling down near the bottom corner of the bed. The mattress, still wrapped in its sheet, was propped up against the wall already. Ashlee was trying to sit in her uncle’s lap, but it didn’t disturb Turner’s focus.
“It’s the frame, but I can fix it,” he said, twisting all the way round to address her, somehow knowing she’d come too. “This a priceless antique?”
Smiling, she shook her head. The room was usually a seating area as it connected to the bedroom that Faye was using. The extra furniture was kept in storage in the basement or one of the garages, to be pulled out and used as necessary. Some of the extended family had kids, but as far as Poppy knew, they were the same beds used when she and her sisters had their school friends staying over back in the day.
Noah came running into the room. “Mommy says—” He screeched to a halt. “Oh! My bed!”
“It’s okay, Sport. I’m gonna fix it,” Turner said, picking up Ashlee in her seated position to carry her over to one of the other beds. “There are tools and supplies at the site I can borrow.”
But not return until morning when he went to work. Poppy was onto him.
He came over and dipped down to put an arm around her waist and pull her close. “Start without me, I won’t be long.”
“I can wait,” she said, sliding her hands around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
“I will help.”
When they drew back from the kiss, little Noah was already putting on the heavy boots he’d been so proud of on the day he arrived.
“I don’t think your momma wants you out this late, Sport.”
“I will help,” Noah said again, picking up the jacket he had on the floor at