Found (Lost & Found Book 2)

by Scarlett Finn

  “Charley was already nuts about this guy,” Turner said, resting both hands on her shoulders to give her a reassuring squeeze. “You said that yourself. And we both knew there was no way the relationship would end well.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Poppy said, shaking her head. “Charley didn’t know it. Did you talk to her before you left? Does she know about us?” He faltered. “Oh God!”

  “No, hey, it’s okay,” Turner said, pulling her back when she tried to turn away. “Baby, it’s going to be okay.”

  “That we were screwing around behind her back? That we were sharing a bed? Having sex? Grabbing a quickie any time she wasn’t looking? I already betrayed her by not telling her who I was and now…” Sorrow plunged through her. “She told me not to sleep with you. Zoey did too and—”

  “When the hell was this?”

  She shook her head again. “Charley was talking about David, and… she was drunk. I don’t know if she meant it.”

  “Before or after we were together?”

  Her eyes met his. “Define together?” she asked. “I told you already I was nuts for you before the sex even happened.” It wasn’t easy to ignore his emerging satisfaction. “It was the night we made our deal.” His brows rose. “Not that one. When I told you not to work on the apartment.”

  “That was the same weekend.”

  That they first had sex. “Yeah,” she said, relaxing against his supporting hands. “I didn’t think much about it at the time. I don’t think she meant it… maybe she did.”

  “She was clueless about us… She thought we were alone in your room talking about repairs.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Charley might have hooked us up, but that’s where her rights in this relationship began and finished.” He scowled. “You weren’t even close when she sent you to the Venture.”

  “No, but we got close after.”

  “After we already knew there was something here.”

  Which she couldn’t deny. “I don’t know,” Poppy asserted. “I really never thought about it much, but now, with everything put together… She’s going to think I stole you.”

  He didn’t get it. “From who? I was single a long time before we got it together. You know that.”

  “You’re her brother. I hurt her. Your whole family could demand you never see me again.”

  “But they won’t,” he said, smirking as his fingers curled around the back of her neck. “My mom’s already talking about us buying a place near hers after we get married. The kids are desperate for a wedding.”

  “Okay,” Poppy said, stepping backward out of his clutches, holding up both hands. “Everyone needs to breathe.”

  “You need to breathe,” he said, his amusement apparent. “You’re way behind on the curve here. I’ve already seen what’s around the corner.”

  Her heart was pounding. “You have?” Poppy asked. Coming closer, he nodded while wrapping his arms around her. “What does it look like?”

  “Like you and me and everything that makes you happy.” He squeezed her tighter. “I love you, Popkat. That comes with forever. It’s in the small print.”

  The three little words. How could they change so much? She’d known about his love. Yet, for some reason, hearing those words set her mind into slow motion. Every one of her senses zeroed in on him, on the man holding her. It was from his lips that she’d dreamt of hearing those words. Now that dream was real.

  “You love me,” she whispered.

  Proud, he didn’t even blink. “I do.”

  Resisting him only got more difficult with every second that passed. “Oh God,” she groaned, burying her face against him.

  The warmth of his laugh heated her hair. “It’s supposed to make you happy when the man you love says that.”

  It did. It just complicated everything. Though it was her fantasy come to life, it would be easier for everyone if they could forget each other ever existed.

  He liked determined women and was showing his own resolve. Her repeated attempts to persuade him to leave fell on deaf ears. Turner was sticking around and Poppy wasn’t sure she had it in her to keep pushing him away.

  Her head fell back as her hands flopped to his neck and she drew him down for a kiss. Turner loved her. For just a second, Poppy wanted to relish that. To enjoy it. To stop obsessing about the consequences and just give in to how incredible that truth was.

  “And this is where I back out slowly and close the door,” Preston said.

  Her second was over, so she planted both hands on Turner’s chest to separate them. “You can have him,” she said on a sigh, mesmerized by his face. “I just wanted to believe it for a second.”

  The dreamy ease on Turner’s expression vanished in a flash. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Not that, I… I believe that I just… never mind.” Wriggling out of his arms, Poppy recalled that they were in his bedroom and that his friend was watching them. “I have things to do.”

  Leaving the room and the building was about as much as she could do to save her sanity. Staying in the music room, where Turner couldn’t find her, was the best plan. There was no chance of her eavesdropping on his conversations with beautiful little adorable people if she wasn’t in the house.

  Poppy hadn’t minded coasting through life without much of a plan. Before Turner and before Holden’s mess. Until she could free herself from the clutches of the latter, she’d never be able to promise anyone anything, not even herself.

  EIGHT

  The next day Poppy came to realize that avoiding Turner was so much easier when he was working. Having him on the guest house construction project wasn’t such a bad thing. Except that she kept daydreaming about him sweating in the sun, wearing the tool belt… shirtless. Not that she could speak to the veracity of that last part.

  Preston was in meetings with lawyers and PR people who were all arguing about the best way to handle Holden without upsetting him too much.

  Poppy hadn’t eaten and dinner was still a couple of hours away. Scampering down the stairs, she was thinking about a snack… maybe something sweet. The sound of the main door to the gallery opening didn’t even register.

  The rush of movement and the little voices definitely did.

  “It is like a castle!”

  Running down the rest of the stairs, Poppy swung around the corner only to stop dead at the sight that awaited.

  Emmie twirled round and round in the gallery, Ashlee was chasing after Noah who was running around trying to get hold of a runaway bouncy ball. The kids weren’t alone.

  Not only was their mom by the foyer, but their grandmother was too and their aunts… all of them.

  “Poppy!” Val said when she spotted her.

  The woman started toward her, but it took Poppy a second to actually get with it and go over to join her. The two embraced.

  “Valerie,” Poppy said, recovering from the shock. “This is amazing. What are you doing here?”

  “Aunt Poppy! Aunt Poppy!”

  More than one little person was tugging her dress. She let go of Val to hunker down. The three kids crowded around her.

  “You do live in a castle,” Noah said.

  Emmie pushed her hair back behind her ears. “Can you make Uncle Turner a prince?”

  She took the little one’s hand as Ashlee climbed into her arms. “He’s a prince to us, that’s what matters, isn’t it, honey?”

  “Val!”

  That was Preston’s call and it came from the opposite end of the gallery. Poppy stood up with Ashlee still clinging to her. Preston came over to hug Val. Everyone else seemed to be hanging by the door.

  “Emmie, Noah, come stand with Mommy,” Faye called.

  The two little ones did start back toward their mom, though Emmie objected. “Mommy, we want to play in the castle.”

  “It’s not a castle, honey, this is where Poppy grew up.”

  Just Poppy, no aunt. One look at the tight grouping of the sisters and th
eir grim expressions betrayed the pitch of the mountain in front of her. Climbing it would be no easy feat.

  “Hi,” Poppy said, stepping in the direction of the group.

  None of their expressions changed. Faye was direct in her glare, just as Poppy would expect from the eldest sister. Charley was looking around, not impressed or unimpressed, pretty inscrutable, which was actually impressive for her. Charley usually wore her heart on her sleeve.

  That her friend, or once friend, wouldn’t even look at her stung. Poppy didn’t know how to fix what she’d done. It seemed so wrong now, while at the time it had seemed smart.

  “Everyone,” Tiller said, coming from the direction of the library where Preston had appeared from. Two women arrived at the stairwell end of the gallery at the same time. “This is Mrs. Caswell, she’s our housekeeper.” Tiller raised an arm toward the women at the opposite end of the space. “Stephanie is the woman at her side. They’ll see to all of your needs. Poppy, a moment?”

  Poppy wasn’t sure that she wanted to walk away from the Maddox gang without saying more. Preston was with them. He worked with Val to coax the girls closer to the housekeeper. Having done so much for her, Tiller didn’t deserve to be ignored, so she went to join him.

  He slipped a hand onto the back of her shoulder to guide her away from the gallery toward the drawing room. “We’re going to invite Holden to dinner.”

  Shocked, Poppy stopped to look at him. “Tonight?”

  “No,” he said, wearing a smile. “Not tonight. Later in the week. We’re ironing out the details. It will be our last attempt to resolve this before we move on to legal action.”

  “Okay,” she said, glancing back the way they’d come. “Do we want him to meet the whole family?”

  “That will be decided,” Tiller said. “The Maddox family were brought here at Mr. Whitlock’s behest.” He frowned. “He said you were in agreement that this was the safest place for them.”

  Poppy nodded. “Mm hmm. Thank you.”

  It was safer for them there at the house, on the Adler Estate, away from the press. No question about that.

  “Would you like someone to retrieve Mr. Maddox?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to talk to Preston first and Turner won’t appreciate special treatment. His shift ends whenever it ends.”

  Inhaling, Tiller’s smile flattened in a happy, yet incredulous way. “He’s not quite the type your parents envisioned for you.”

  “He’s exactly the type Grammie envisioned for me.”

  He laughed. “I can’t refute that. Mr. Granger would’ve enjoyed putting him through his paces.”

  Her brow twitched. “My father?”

  “No, his,” Tiller said. “Mr. Granger Senior enjoyed testing the young men who came around to the estate.”

  “Grandpa? I didn’t know you knew him.”

  He nodded. “I was a child when I first came to work on the estate… He enjoyed setting tasks for the youngsters, testing their capabilities.”

  “What was it like?” she asked. “Losing him.”

  His ease became something much more solemn. “It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say the place was never the same… There was a… magic about the estate when he and your grandmother were together. They carried it with them. A happiness and security that had nothing to do with money.” He rested a gentle hand on her cheek. “These halls are lighting up for the first time in forty-five years.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t ignore the magic, Poppy. Don’t take it for granted.”

  As far as she knew, Tiller hadn’t seen her with Turner, but she couldn’t misinterpret his meaning. “Which room is Mrs. Maddox in?”

  “The Betton Room,” he said, his hand leaving her face. “We put her eldest daughter in the suite next door, set up beds for the children in the suite’s salon.”

  She smiled. “You think of everything.”

  “That’s my job, Miss Poppy,” he said, taking a step back. “Please go and greet your guests.”

  With a single nod, she retreated to run up the spiral staircase beside them to do as he said. The sound of the kids and Maddox sisters vibrated down the second floor hallway. As she went along to the opposite end, a buzz hummed all around. The Maddox women were in their rooms, she didn’t see them, yet just having them near enlivened her.

  Mrs. Caswell and Stephanie were talking at the top of the main stairs. Stephanie dashed past her, along the hallway just as Poppy stopped to lay a hand on Mrs. Caswell’s arm.

  “You put the twins in the apricot and mauve rooms?” she asked because those rooms were identical in every way except their colors.

  “Yes. Mrs. Maddox is in the Betton Room. Her eldest daughter is in the suite next door, just here.” Poppy nodded. “Mr. Whitlock is in the northwest bedroom, so we put her other two daughters in the rooms opposite.”

  “Mr. Whitlock was using the Nook as his office space, wasn’t he?”

  Mrs. Caswell nodded. “Yes, but he—”

  “The Nook is too small for Zoey or Charley.” The Nook was usually used as an extension of the bedroom next to it, making the room a suite. As a bedroom, it wasn’t significant on its own. “Give Zoey the full suite and put Charley in my room.”

  The housekeeper was taken aback. “Your room? But Miss Poppy—”

  “I’ll stay with Grammie, it will be fine.”

  She offered a smile then carried on down the hallway, smiling at the exuberant sounds of the kids as she went past their room. Bolstering her courage, Poppy was pleased to see Val’s door was open. At least she didn’t have to stand there waiting for a knock to be answered. Peeking around the door, she saw Val at the window, probably admiring the view.

  “You can see the sea from the other side of the house,” Poppy said, attracting the woman’s attention. “From Preston’s room, the twins and Charley’s rooms too, if you’re interested.”

  “Poppy,” Val said, smiling as she came over to hug her again. “You have a beautiful home.”

  “It’s my grandmother’s, but thank you.”

  Val let her go to close the door and draw her deeper into the room. “Thank you for inviting us here.”

  “It was all Preston,” she said as they sat together in the window. “But you’re welcome. All of you. Anytime.”

  “And…” Val said, folding their hands together. “What stupid thing did my son do?”

  Poppy didn’t follow. “Stupid thing? He did nothing… He’s working on a house build just down the hill. I can go and get him if you—”

  “I meant with you,” Val said, sliding a little closer. “He said things didn’t go to plan.” Which was on Poppy and she wasn’t ignorant of that. “He came here because he decided he couldn’t live without you. He loves you, Poppy.”

  “I know,” she said, taking her hands from Val’s to run both through her hair. “I know that and I appreciate it.”

  “Appreciate it? You don’t feel the same way?”

  “It’s not as simple as that.”

  She didn’t even realize how exasperated she was until Val’s finger curled around her chin to bring her focus back. “It is. There is nothing else, Poppy. No matter how difficult it might be, no matter how complicated the situation, love is simple.”

  Breathing in and out, Poppy’s chest tightened. Somehow her shallow breathing linked to the corners of her eyes that warmed before the telltale pricks of moisture began to form. “Of course I love him,” she whispered. “I’ve been falling in love with him since the night he told me not to offer strange men alcohol in my bedroom.” Val’s smile didn’t make her feel any better. “But I can’t do it to him. I can’t put that burden onto him.”

  “Burden?”

  “I can’t tell him the truth. I can’t love him and lay on him all that I want from a relationship, from him, because he’ll kill himself trying to provide it. I can’t do it.” Poppy shook her head. “I know he loves me. And hearing him say it… I dreamed night after night that I’d be so lucky to h
ear those words from his mouth. But isn’t love—true, honest, complete love—isn’t it selfless? I love him so much that all I can think about is his welfare. I want him to be happy, Val. Oh so completely happy. What he needs isn’t this. It isn’t me. He needs a woman without all this bullshit. We live a thousand miles apart. My family are going through their own internal battles at the moment and that’s before we even get on to infuriating Holden Abernathy.”

  “Turner would use more colorful language for him.”

  She attempted a laugh, but it was pathetic. “Your daughters despise me, with good reason.” As Val frowned, Poppy swallowed hard. “I didn’t tell Charley any of it. None. Faye gave me a chance, something she doesn’t do with everyone, and I blew it. I let Zoey down, the twins… I can’t put him in that position. The position where he might have to stand between them and me. He can’t fight a battle on that many fronts.”

  “I don’t think anyone despises you,” Val said, pushing Poppy’s hair away from her shoulder. “Everyone was shocked. None of us knew Turner had gone, he was ignoring his phone and we were worried. I suspected that he might be coming here, which he confirmed when he eventually called me from a gas station. His sisters kept calling and calling him. I took the twins and Zoey’s phones away, but that didn’t stop Faye or Charlotte. He didn’t answer. I guess because he knew all they’d do was question him. Before he got here, when he was driving, he couldn’t answer anyway. When he stopped for gas and called me, he said I should text if there were emergencies. After he got here…”

  After. Well, Poppy had stomped on his declaration, he’d conversed with Grammie and then got himself a job. It was difficult to remember that he’d been on Adler ground for less than seventy-two hours.

  “I’m sorry,” Poppy whispered, her gaze dropping to her hands on her lap.

  “I only got a brief call from him late Friday night. Said he was staying. I could tell by his tone that something wasn’t right. All he’d say was that things hadn’t gone to plan. I know he called Faye yesterday, asked to speak to the kids, but he wouldn’t tell her anything. Next I heard was from Preston to say he was here and I should round up the girls.” Silence stretched between them for a few seconds before Val reached over to take Poppy’s hands from her lap. “The girls don’t hate you, Poppy. I promise you that. They’re confused. They have a million questions. I know because they’ve been firing them at me.”