His voice had started rising with every word until he was finally shouting by the end. His face turned red and splotchy with anger as he pointed at me like I was the lady from the Scarlet Letter.
Prue’s expression had also turned stormy, though. “You can’t call her names just because she wants to be happy, Daddy. That isn’t fair.”
“You stay out of this, young lady,” he barked. “I won’t have her corrupting you, too.”
I was honestly too shocked to speak anymore. I wanted to tell him to go to hell. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t corrupting anyone. I wanted to tell him that I was on the verge of never speaking to him again, but I was pretty sure none of those things would’ve made a difference.
He’d never been shy with his opinions, especially where Cooper and Nolan had been concerned. He’d said horrible things about them ever since the day the cheating scandal made the local news.
The difference was that I’d never stood up for them before. I’d never stood up to him.
This time I was doing both at once.
“No,” Mom said, stepping between Dad and Prue. “She’s right. Poppy deserves to be happy, just like anyone else. Probably more than most people, considering what she’s been through.”
“Oh, Jesus.” He threw his hands into the air. “She’s put herself through all of this bullshit—not to mention dragged our family’s name through the mud. Now she wants to parade around like the whore of Babylon, and we’re supposed to pat her on the head for it? No, thank you. Count me out.”
Mom’s voice shook as she took a step toward my dad. “Our daughter is not a whore, and she isn’t a tramp. I won’t listen to you say those things anymore, Ezra.” She turned to me. “You have a right to be happy. You do. But... but there are consequences for every action, and I hope you’ve considered that.”
My dad’s words had already made it perfectly clear what the consequences of my actions would be. Choosing to openly love my guys would mean losing the last, tenuous connection with my father.
Until recently, that would have been more than enough to make me think twice. It would have been enough to make me back down.
But the truth was that he’d been withholding his affection for six long years. He’d berated me more times than I could count for making what he considered my poor choices and falling in with Cooper and Nolan. The line about dragging our family’s name through the mud wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard a million times before.
The only real difference this time was that he’d called me a tramp and said I’d be acting like a whore.
And after the initial sting, his harsh words and name-calling had only hardened my resolve. I was going to be with Cooper and Nolan, and if it meant sacrificing my relationship with my dad, then at least he had already done most of the work for me.
“I have thought about it,” I assured her. “I’ve thought about it for a long time. This is what I want. It’s what I’m going to do. I’m not asking for anyone to understand or approve.” I paused to give my dad a hard look. “And I’m not asking for anyone’s permission. But I will be happy.” Turning back to my mom, I said, “I love you all, and I hope you’ll eventually be able to be happy for me.”
She nodded. “I think we will.”
But as I turned and walked back toward Cooper’s truck, I wasn’t so sure. It seemed I might have burned a bridge with my dad forever.
Chapter Thirty
Poppy Evans
“Aren’t you going to tell us what happened?” Cooper asked as he gave me a hand up into the passenger seat of the truck.
“It’s all still sort of a blur,” I said, which was certainly true enough. My heart still raced, and I overflowed with conflicting emotions where my family was concerned.
None of the emotions I felt for Cooper or Nolan were conflicting.
“We heard your dad raise his voice a couple of times,” Nolan said from the back seat. “And your mom looked like she was about to have a heart attack.”
“Or two,” Cooper added. “Or three.”
I would have laughed if the topic hadn’t been so serious. I had to admit their description of the events had been pretty accurate.
“She wants me to be happy,” I said, taking a deep breath to try to calm my nerves. “I don’t think she fully understood everything I said, it was a lot to take in, but that’s fine. She doesn’t have to understand. But they are clear I’m going to be with both of you from now on.”
“Holy shit,” Cooper said as a wide grin crossed his face. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time. If not ever.”