King’s Rule

by Ashenden, Jackie

  Third, there was her bravery. When the time came to tell her mother that my father’s allowance would continue but that she wouldn’t support her any more, she was upfront and straight with her. And even when Lily tried to argue and said some cruel things, Poppy told her that she loved her but that was all her mother was getting from her.

  I was so proud of her for that.

  Fourth, there was her smile. The one she gave me on our wedding day in Fiji, where she met me on the edge of the ocean for our ceremony, on a beautiful, blue sky day, at an exclusive resort I’d booked to surprise her. She wore a simple white dress and there was a hibiscus flower behind her ear, and she’d never looked more beautiful.

  And last, but not least, there was her name.

  Poppy Valentine. Red and passionate, with a generous loving heart.

  I took that name for my own. Xander Valentine King.

  Because she was mine and I was hers.

  And we belonged together.

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