by Cindy Kirk
“Remember when Tripp proposed to Anna at the fashion show last year?” Cassidy exhaled a heartfelt sigh. “I almost started crying when he got down on one knee. It was so doggone sweet.”
“Yes, but Tripp is...” Poppy began then paused. “Totally in love with Anna.”
Hailey spoke again, but even when he took a step closer to the window, Ben couldn’t hear what she said. But when Poppy spoke, he heard all too clearly.
“No.” Poppy shook her head. “Not Ben. Never. Not in a million years.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Seriously? You’re wearing that tonight?” Hailey wrinkled her nose.
“Way too boring,” Cassidy agreed.
Poppy felt her cheeks warm as she glanced down at what she’d chosen for their “girls’ night out.” Granted, the outfit wasn’t cutting edge but the pants were this season’s style and the bulky cable-knit sweater had been a recent gift from Ben’s mother.
“What do you expect me to wear?” She gave a little laugh. “A party dress?”
Hailey and Cassidy exchanged glances.
“How about that pretty red one you wore to church last Sunday?” Hailey suggested.
“Didn’t you tell me Ben loves it when you wear red?” Cassidy twisted a strand of hair that could only be described as the color of a blood orange around one finger.
“Ben won’t be with us tonight,” Poppy reminded her friends. “He and Tripp have plans.”
“Oh, he’ll see it.” Hailey’s eyes sparkled.
Poppy raised a brow.
“When you get home,” Hailey said quickly, pink staining her cheeks. “You know, when he takes it off.”
Poppy chuckled, realizing it was probably how the evening would play out. Despite her growing belly, Ben’s desire for her hadn’t showed signs of waning.
“Besides, we got dressed up.” Cassidy gave Poppy a little push in the direction of the bedroom. “You don’t want to be the only slacker.”
Poppy started to say something about neither of them being all that fancy, then realized both women were wearing dresses. Hailey had on a lilac-colored sweater dress with heeled boots. Cassidy had chosen an eye-popping gold wrap dress that—depending on perspective—either clashed or complimented the new color of her hair.
They had dressed up. And she, who’d spent most of her life noticing fashion, had been more focused on the evening ahead and the fun awaiting her, than on clothing.
Progress, she thought.
“We want this to be a special night,” Hailey ventured when Poppy made no move toward the bedroom she shared with Ben. At Poppy’s questioning glance, she smiled. “Your little man is due in less than four weeks. This might be the last time the three of us will be able to go out like this for quite a while.”
“You’re right.” An upsurge of emotion made Poppy’s voice thick. “I’ll change.”
Poppy stripped off her pants and sweater then carefully removed the red maternity dress from the hanger. Her lips lifted. Ben had insisted she buy something new for a party they’d attended last month. How her life had changed. She’d been to more social events—and enjoyed them all—in the past six months than she had in the prior two years.
Last year, she’d been alone on Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, because the baby would be too small to travel, her family and Ben’s family would be celebrating the holidays at their, er, Ben’s house.
She’d decided to wait until after the first of the year to decide about moving back to her apartment with the baby. Even if they didn’t live together, she and Ben and their son would always be a family.
Not in the traditional sense, of course. There would be no wedding rings on their fingers but it wasn’t because Ben hadn’t asked.
It was her hang-up. She knew it. Accepted it. But couldn’t get past it.
Ben told her daily he cared. She believed he loved her. It was the how much she couldn’t keep from questioning. Perhaps she should settle for what he had to give. She’d been tempted to do just that many times.
But while she hadn’t been able to make herself walk away, neither would she allow herself to settle. Or to allow him to settle. Didn’t everyone deserve to be with someone who loved them—and who they loved—totally and completely?
“What the heck are you doing up there? Sewing the dress yourself?” Cassidy’s loud voice carried easily from the bottom of the stairs. “Get a move on. We’re going to miss the first set.”
Poppy quickly slipped on the dress and shoes then, on impulse, spritzed on perfume. And, feeling spontaneous, grabbed the sparkly headband she hadn’t worn since last spring. A touch of cherry red lipstick and she was ready to party.
“I didn’t even know The Flying Crane was open on Monday night,” Poppy said to Cassidy as they walked through the door of the club.
“I told you, this is the place to be tonight.” Cassidy tossed the words over her shoulder as Hailey and Poppy followed her through the maze of tables to a small round one next to the stage.
“I can’t believe we found an empty table.” Poppy took a seat and Hailey pulled out the chair next to her while Cassidy hurried off to get the drinks.
“Some things are meant to be.” Hailey lifted a hand in a wave.
Poppy followed the direction of her friend’s gaze and saw Winn Ferris seated at the bar. She didn’t know why it surprised her to see him. The place was filled with people she knew. “Tell me about the guy who’ll be performing. He must be popular to have drawn in so many people on a Monday night.”
“He’s a new artist. I’ve never heard him sing, but I’m jazzed about the performance.” Hailey laid her hand over Poppy’s. “I know I’ve said this before, but I’m really happy about you and Ben being together.”
“Thank you.” Poppy cleared her throat, touched by the young woman’s obvious sincerity.
“When he looks at you—” Hailey shivered “—I get goose bumps.”
Hailey pulled a small mirror from her purse and checked her makeup, then slanted a brief glance in Winn’s direction. “I hope someone gives me goose bumps someday.”
“It’ll happen.”
“I’m surprised I haven’t been invited to a wedding.”
Poppy just smiled and shrugged.
Hailey tilted her head, her gaze speculative. “Are you waiting for some kind of grand gesture?”
Poppy gave a little laugh. “If that’s the case, I’ll be waiting forever. Like I said before, Ben isn’t a grand gesture kind of guy.”
Bill hadn’t been either, she recalled, then dismissed the thought. It wasn’t fair to compare Ben to her ex.
Still, she couldn’t help remembering the way Bill had proposed, traditional and straightforward. Though it had seemed romantic at the time, looking back it was almost as if getting married was a business proposition. He’d said all the right things, done the expected, but there had been little passion.
Poppy unexpectedly grinned. A grand gesture. A grand passion. Who knew she was such a romantic?
“Here you go.” Cassidy set Hailey’s glass of wine and Poppy’s club soda on the table then dropped into a chair.
“Aren’t you drinking?” Poppy asked.
“Are there elk in the elk refuge?” Cassidy reached into her mammoth purse and pulled out a can of beer. “I couldn’t carry all three drinks so I had the bartender give me a can.”
“I’m sorry,” Poppy said. “One of us could have gone with you.”
“And lose this great table? No way.”
“Oh, my goodness.” Poppy leaned to the side so she could see around Hailey. “Ben’s parents just came in. I should go say hello.”
She started to rise but Cassidy grabbed her arm. “Stay put, chickadee. The show is about to begin.”
Poppy settled for gi
ving John and Dori a wave. “I guess I can go over when there’s a break.”
“Good plan.” Hailey took a sip of wine.
When Tripp appeared on stage, Poppy shifted her gaze to Hailey. “What’s your brother—”
“Shush,” Cassidy said. “It’s starting.”
“Tonight the Flying Crane is pleased to welcome to its stage, a first time performer. While he may be new to this, he’s familiar to many of you. Give a big welcome to Dr. Benedict Campbell.”
The glass of club soda slipped from Poppy’s fingers. Hailey grabbed it before it tipped.
Ben entered from stage left and approached the microphone. Though he’d left the house in jeans and a sweater, he now wore a black tux that made him look tall, dark and sexy.
“There has to be some mistake,” she said under her breath to Hailey. “Ben doesn’t sing. He can’t even carry a tune.”
“Shh,” Cassidy hissed.
“Before I get started,” Ben began as Tripp slipped off stage. “I want to paint a picture for you.”
Cassidy glanced at Hailey. “He’s going to paint?”
Hailey rolled her eyes and motioned her quiet.
Ben’s gray eyes were firmly focused on Poppy.
“I’ve been fortunate to have a thriving medical practice as well as family and friends who enrich my life. I wasn’t unhappy. But something in my life was missing. Then, a little more than a year ago, I saw a beautiful woman with a beehive hairdo and a string of pearls across the room. At that moment, my life changed.”
He held out a hand to Poppy.
She simply stared. Until Cassidy gave her chair a kick and Hailey hissed for her to stand. Seconds later she was on the stage beside him.
Ben took her hand, brought it to his lips for a kiss before continuing. “When I saw Poppy at that party, I knew she was something special. I knew she was the one I’d been waiting for my whole life. I know that she and I are meant to be together, forever.”
He nodded toward the side of the stage and music flooded the bar.
It took Poppy a second to recognize it as Peaches and Herb’s “I Pledge My Love.” The wedding song from the eighties had experienced a brief resurgence in popularity several years ago.
It wasn’t an easy song to sing, even by an experienced vocalist. Ben began in the wrong key but with the tenacity she’d come to expect and cherish in him, he forged ahead. The words “together forever” and “a lasting love” swirled through her head. Though his voice cracked and the hand holding the microphone shook slightly, the look of love in his eyes shone strong and steady.
Why had she not seen how much he cared before now? This man loved her. Not just a little, but with a depth of emotion that took her breath away. With this performance, he proclaimed those feelings to the world.
Slipping her arm through his, she began to sing the words that pledged her love to him...forever. The fact that her voice blended perfectly with his didn’t surprise her. After all, they were a perfect match.
By the time the song ended, the audience was on its feet. Ben held up a hand to quiet the applause.
“For an encore—” He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket, flipped it open then dropped to one knee and took her hand.
“I love you more than life itself, Poppy. I believe we were meant to be together forever, that our love is lasting and pure. I pledge my love, my life to you. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
Poppy stared into his face, familiar, known, increasingly beloved. All her doubts were gone, replaced with the knowledge that this was her man, the one she would love and who would love her, for the rest of their lives.
“Yes.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, yes.”
He barely had time to slip the ring on her finger when her arms were around his neck and he was kissing her.
The crowd cheered.
“Perhaps we should sing to each other at our wedding?” Ben whispered against her mouth.
Poppy laughed with joy. Perhaps they should. Spontaneity had gotten them to this point.
And it couldn’t have worked out any better.
Epilogue
Less than a week after a simple, but elegant, wedding at the Red Sands Hotel, John Andrew Campbell III made his appearance on a brisk fall day in early November. He had thick dark hair like his mother and a face that bore a striking resemblance to his handsome father.
Poppy gazed at the blue bundle nestled contentedly in Ben’s arms. “Your dad seemed pleased by his namesake.”
“Thrilled.” Ben had seen the tears in his father’s eyes. The same tears he’d seen him blink away last week when he and Poppy had spoken their wedding vows. “I think he liked it that we’re going to call the baby Jack. That’s what everyone called my grandfather.”
“We have a lot to be thankful for this year.” Poppy shifted her gaze from her son to Ben. Her heart overflowed with love. “To think one night led us here.”
“One look. One night.” Ben shifted his gaze between the baby boy squirming in his arms to the woman who’d made his life complete. “Now a lifetime of love ahead of us.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from LOST AND FOUND HUSBAND by Sheri WhiteFeather.
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Chapter One
Eric Reeves was dining in an eatery near his Southern California home, watching Dana Peterson, the bubbly blonde waitress, bring food to another table. His dinner, meat loaf and mashed potatoes, was only half-eaten.
He kept his gaze trained on Dana. With her bold pink uniform and her nicely curved figure, she was a sight to behold. They weren’t friends, per se, but they’d built a friendly rapport through snippets of server-customer conversation. Eric ate here often.
When his wife was alive, he used to eat at home. Back then, everything had been wonderfully normal. But he’d lost Corrine seven years ago, and it had become a long and lonely road since then.
Dana whizzed past him on her way to the kitchen and smiled, her ponytail swishing. She was a twenty-six-year-old working her way through community college and enjoying the wherever-it-took-her experience. Eric was forty-two with a grounded job and a grown daughter. He and Dana didn’t have much in common, except that his daughter was a college student, too.
By the time he finished his meal, Dana returned to his table. She shot him another of her upbeat smiles. Today she was wearing a purple iris fastened behind her ear. She always wore a flower of some sort. Sometimes they were artificial flowers in trendy hair clips, like the aforementioned iris, and sometimes they were real.
A while back, she’d given him one of the real McCoys when he’d revealed that he was widowed. She had always pegged him for divorced, and to make up for her error, she’d removed the flower she wore that day, a velvety red rose, and placed it gently in his hand. Later, he’d gone to Corrine’s grave and left it for her. Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten used to talking to his dead wife. He’d even explained where the rose had come from, telling her about
the warm-hearted waitress who’d bestowed it upon him.
“Can I get you anything else?” Dana asked.
He shook his head.
“You sure? The apple pie is fresh.”
He thought she was fresh, too, light and springy—a modern bohemian, as she called herself, who’d yet to decide on a college major.
“Cherry is my favorite,” he said.
“We don’t have any cherry. But I promise the apple is delish.”
He met her gaze. She had the bluest eyes and the blondest, most naturally golden hair. Everything about her shimmered.
She cocked her head. “What do you say? A la mode?”
He shifted his focus. Pie and ice cream. “Sure, okay.”
“Coffee, too?”
“Yes.”
Off she went: pink uniform, purple flower and Gidget ponytail. Eric found himself watching her again. He enjoyed looking at her. He enjoyed it far too much.
He was frowning when she delivered his coffee and dessert.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
You, he thought. He didn’t want to be attracted to a woman who was closer to his daughter’s age than his own.
“Nothing is wrong.”
“Taste the pie.” She waggled her fingers. “It’s guaranteed to make you smile.”
He did as he was told. Stupid as it was, he liked having her nearby, tempting him to take a mouthful of the forbidden fruit. The a la mode was an added bonus.
Sure enough, it made him smile. “You win.”
“I always do. You know what would be great? There’s a gallery opening tomorrow night that I really want to see. You can take me to it, if you’re free.”
He looked at her as if she’d flipped her lovely little lid. Her suggestion sounded suspiciously like a date. “You don’t need an older guy like me taking you anywhere.”
“You’re not old. You’re barely into your forties. Besides, you’re yummy.”
