fess up.
“Does she get this from your side of the family?” Grace asked with an impish smile.
Billy barked out a laugh. “Now you’re just being mean. And unless Carol-Ann was hiding some genius, I have no idea where that little brain cropped up.”
“Her mom... Carol-Ann never mentioned it when she dropped her off?” Grace pressed.
“Nope. I have to say, I had more immediate questions than how well she read.”
He could still remember that last goodbye between mother and daughter. Seeing the shock and heartbreak in his daughter’s big blue eyes had shredded his heart, and he didn’t even know Poppy yet. Carol-Ann had promised that she’d be back, but Billy had seen the lie in Carol-Ann’s eyes. Was she telling the truth about Germany, or was she just walking away from her responsibilities?
Billy had been raised by an uninterested mother, so maybe he and Poppy had a few things in common. But he was determined he’d be the parent Poppy could count on for the rest of her life. No more betrayals. No more people she loved walking out on her. Billy was the end of the line here—and he’d be the superhero she needed to feel safe, whatever the cost.
“I’m done!” Poppy hopped up from her seat and brought the page over to Billy. He looked over it, pausing for the amount of time it seemed to take other people read a page of print, then passed it to Grace.
She took it from his hands, her soft fingers brushing his.
“This is very sweet,” Grace said, then nudged Billy’s arm. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he said with a curt nod. “Sure is.”
He wished he could take it home and spend some time poring over it. Sometimes he could sort out the short words. Poppy had filled the page with her diagonally slanted lines of printing, and he wished he knew what she’d so lovingly put onto that page.
“Do you mind if I hold on to this?” Grace asked. “I’d like to show Mrs. Mackel.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, pulling his eyes off the page, trying to push away that welling sense of disappointment. This was a good thing—Grace would show the principal, and the school would know just how smart his little girl was. Then they could give her that much-needed challenge that he didn’t know how to provide.
“Thank you.” Grace shook her head and shot him a grin. “She sure loves you, doesn’t she?”
What had Poppy written?
“I hope so,” he said uncertainly.
“Well, I think we can see how much she does,” Grace said, tapping the paper on her hand. “Poppy, this is really well done. I think you’re going to have a lot of fun in our classroom. Are you looking forward to meeting the other kids?”
Poppy squirmed, glanced around the room and then cast Billy an anxious frown. “I want to stay with Daddy...”
Billy squatted down next to her and looked into those worried little eyes. She’d had her mom walk out on her recently. And then she’d watched a big fight between Billy and Tracy, and Tracy had packed her bags... It was no wonder she was anxious. Let alone the fact he was virtually a stranger.
“You’re worried I’ll leave and not come back,” he said frankly.
Poppy froze, eyed him for a moment, then nodded slowly.
“Thing is, Poppy,” he said quietly. “I’m your daddy. I didn’t know about you before this, but now that I do, you don’t have to worry about me taking off. I’m here to stay. I’ll always pick you up after school, and I’ll make you your supper, and I’ll tuck you into bed, and I’ll probably always read the stories wrong, too. You can count on all of that.”
“You mess up the words,” Poppy whispered.
Billy chuckled and gathered her into his arms. She was as light and ferocious as a cat, and she inspired a protective surge inside him every time he looked at her. She was his.
“Do I?” he joked. “Well, I think my way is better.”
“It’s not,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Still—I’m the one guy you can trust to never tell you a lie, okay? And I’ll always pick you up after school. That’s a promise.”
Poppy was silent for a moment, and Billy stood up, lifting her with him. She was holding on to his shirt in one little fist. Neither of them wanted to let go of the other. He caught a mist of emotion in Grace’s eyes as she watched them.
Grace...beautiful and smart, and always several levels above the likes of him. He’d known that from the start. Her dad was a doctor; her mom was an accountant. She’d been raised to expect the best out of life, and Billy had known from the start that he was a far cry from what Grace deserved. Hell, Poppy deserved more than he could offer, too, but that was life. Sometimes you got the short end of the stick. Right now, his deepest wish was to maintain whatever respect Grace still had for him, and hopefully both Grace and Poppy could stay in the dark about his limitations.
“We should probably head out,” Billy said. “I think Poppy and I could use an ice cream.”
Poppy’s eyes lit up. This kid was easily bought, and that was a good thing. He needed every brownie point he could get.
“Thank you for coming by,” Grace said, and her gaze caught his for a moment.
“Grace...” He paused in the doorway. “It’s really good to see you again.”
It was more than “good”; it was a strange relief, like coming home in a whole new way. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed her over the last few years. She’d been an anchor in his life when he’d needed it most, and it looked like he was going to need her again. She cleared her throat and dropped her gaze, breaking the moment between them.
Maybe she hadn’t missed him...
“We’ll see you tomorrow, Poppy,” Grace said.
Billy dropped his cowboy hat back on his head, and he headed out into those familiar old Eagle’s Rest Elementary School hallways. Hopefully this school would do better by his daughter than it ever did by him.
GRACE PARKED HER car behind her mother’s SUV and turned off the engine. Coming back to Eagle’s Rest had been filled with reconnections, but meeting up with Billy was different. Billy was supposed to be safely out of the picture. She wanted to smooth layer after layer of life over the hole he’d left in her heart. He belonged to the past. Her mind was still spinning, and her emotions hadn’t caught up.
“Just over two weeks left...” she murmured. And while before that had meant relief at getting back to her apartment in the city again—the quiet, her own routines—now it was taking on a whole new urgency. It had felt good to see Billy again—too good. And she’d come too far to let herself slip into that place where she didn’t feel pretty enough or interesting enough to capture the heart
