Fragile Hearts (Poplar Falls #4) - Amber Kelly Page 0,74
to his throat and pulls on Walker’s grip as he nods.
“Good.”
He drops him to the ground and turns back to us, leaving him sputtering in the dirt. Walker walks back to me and Elle. He takes the keys from my hand and shoves them into his pocket, and then he inspects my hand.
“Can you bend your fingers?”
I shake my head but don’t complain. I won’t give that asshole the satisfaction.
“I have electrical tape in my truck. We can tape those fingers together for now,” he says as he lightly touches the teeth marks on my wrist.
Elle can tell he is about to turn back for Ricky, so she wraps an arm around his waist.
He looks over at her and smiles a tight smile as he wraps an arm around each of us, hooking our necks.
“Come on now, ladies. There’s a cake that needs to be cut and eaten. Y’all are always starting some shit when I’m hungry,” he complains as he leads us back into the party.
Bellamy
I go to the restroom and clean myself up as Elle consoles Sonia. Once we have ourselves pulled together, we rally for Doreen and rejoin the party. Sophie takes a microphone, and then one by one, people come up to take their turns, saying what Doreen means to them. She sobs the entire time as everyone shares funny memories and times she bestowed wisdom. Walker spends about twenty minutes just praising her cooking. When it’s Emmett’s turn, he has Braxton cue up a song on the jukebox.
“This says all I need to. Will you dance with me?” he asks.
She stands to join him as “You’re the One That I Want” from the Grease soundtrack starts to play, and everyone goes nuts.
She turns bright red as he sings to her and spins her around the floor. As the song ends, he gets down on a knee, and she yelps.
“I figure after more than thirty years of courting, it’s time I made an honest woman of you,” he starts but does not get to finish because she begins blubbering incoherently and buries her face in his neck.
He looks out to the crowd and says, “I heard a yes in there somewhere.”
A roar of congratulations rises, and everyone comes at them at once.
The happiness makes Sonia run for the restroom again, and as we walk after her, I feel a hand reach for mine.
I look back to see Brandt standing there.
“I’m heading out. Mr. Lancaster is bringing Mom home. So, just come over and ring the bell whenever you’re ready.”
I give him a chin lift and try to pull my hand from his. He doesn’t release me but rolls my hand over and inspects the bruising that has started to surface.
“What happened?” he asks.
“I got in a fight with Ricky in the parking lot.”
He snaps his eyes to mine. “With Ricky?”
“Yep.”
He lets me go when I tug away again.
“I’ll be by in a bit,” I tell him and hurry after my girls.
I find them in the restroom, and Elle is consoling a sobbing Sonia in her arms.
I wrap my arms around them both, and we just hold each other. Elle and I pour our strength into her.
After she cries it all out, she looks at us in the mirror. “I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you guys. You have to think I’m so stupid for loving him.”
Elle disengages, and she grabs her face and turns it to her. “I am always going to be here for you. No matter what. I’ll be the one driving the getaway car when you need a rescue. I’ll be fussing, saying, This don’t make no sense, and screaming, What the hell is wrong with you, and, Have you lost your damn mind? But I’ll still be driving the car. You got me?”
“I got you,” Sonia whispers.
“There is something better out there for you. I promise,” Elle assures her.
Sonia shakes her head.
“You got the fairytale with Walker, but I don’t think a happily ever after is in the cards for me.”
“Of course it is!” I cry. “You’re forgetting the most important part of the happily ever after.”
“What’s that?” Sonia asks, confused.
I throw my arms up, as if it should be obvious, and then explain.
“In order to have a happy ending, you must endure a hellacious middle, silly!”
Sonia starts to giggle through her tears as Elle agrees with me.
“It’s true; you’re just about to get to the good part of your story.”