“You want us to be a unit. I get it, I do. We’re equals, yes. But, baby, I’m never gonna stop worrying about you. Any of you. I want to make your life easier. You shouldn’t struggle… with anything.”
“I love you,” she said. “I don’t think there are words enough to tell you how much.”
“You’re gonna marry me, right?” Wearing a grin, she nodded. “Have babies with me?”
“Definitely.”
“Whatever you feel for me will never match what I feel for you,” Turner said. “I’m gonna make you the center of the universe, you’ll see.”
“And our babies?”
“Our babies too.”
The strength of his conviction was absolute. Poppy had no idea what she’d done to deserve such devotion; she wasn’t going to take it for granted.
His understanding of what it was to be consumed by another person should give him a clear perspective of what she’d been trying to make him see with regards to his sister.
Poppy took a breath. “Zoey wants to be with the woman she loves. You can understand that, can’t you?”
“Yeah, I can. We’ll go to bat for Casey, if she wants us to.”
The teens weren’t going to have an easy road ahead. “It might have been suggested that she could stay with your mom.”
“Separate rooms, sure,” he said, without missing a beat. “Sex is sex, baby, and my mom doesn’t want her teenagers having it at home.”
“Guess we won’t be staying there at Christmas,” she teased.
He flashed her a suave grin. “We’re not teenagers, Popkat.”
“You know she’s afraid of you,” Poppy said, observing his curiosity as she enjoyed her next bite. “Casey.”
“Cool. They should all be afraid of me.”
“Your sisters’ partners? But you wouldn’t hurt a woman.”
“They should know I take protecting them seriously.”
“You should make an effort with Casey. She could be a part of our lives for a long time.” If Zoey got her way. Sure, the relationship might not go the distance, but it could. Stranger things had happened. “How do you feel about my sisters staying with us for a while?”
After he got over the quick subject change, Turner shook his head. “Babe, one sister or seven, makes no difference to me.”
“I figured that you wouldn’t object… What about Primrose and Preston?”
“What about them?” he asked, washing down his food with the rest of his wine.
“Do you want beer?” After he nodded, she got up to head toward the closet. “Has Preston said anything to you about them?” Poppy went to retrieve the bottle and opened it, but carried it to him with an air of expectation. “Does he like her?”
“Babe,” he said, accepting the bottle. “Pres doesn’t know how to disrespect a woman. You remember what Ritchie said about him?”
“He’s God?”
“He won’t treat her bad,” he said, skimming his fingertips up the outside of her knee. “But let’s let them work out their own relationship.”
Smiling, Poppy sat back down. “Are you telling me to butt out?”
“With love,” he said and returned her smile. “Yeah.”
They were covering a lot of ground. Poppy took advantage of their momentum. “Faye doesn’t want to go back to Kev. I think she feels liberated being without him. For the first time, it’s like she’s got choices. I’ve told her we’ll help with whatever she needs if there are court or lawyer costs for the divorce.” While still eating and drinking, Turner nodded along. “I think she likes the idea of a house near your mom too, though I got the impression she wanted to talk to you about that before making any big decisions.”
“You’re staying on top of everything,” he said, wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “I think this teamwork thing is gonna work out for me.”
“Why?” she asked, pleased that he seemed so happy with it. “Because I talk to them about the issues and you don’t have to spend time listening?”
“My sisters know how to talk,” he said and shrugged. “It’s not easy for me to see them upset or angry. If there’s something I can do, like physically do, I’ll do it. The emotional stuff isn’t so easy to fix.”
“I don’t mind handling the emotional stuff.”
“I never told you how grateful I was for what you did for Zoey.”
She frowned. “What did I do for Zoey?”
“Coached her through what was probably one of the hardest times in her life. And you advocated for the family at the same time. Not an easy maneuver, but you pulled it off.”
Pride warmed her from the inside. “I don’t expect your sisters to completely accept