She talked about him abandoning her, and about how helpless she felt, about how she didn’t know what to do for the first time in her life. She wanted to be strong and she wanted to protect Magnolia from having to bear it too, and about how unfair it was of her to ruin Magnolia’s time with her family and no doubt make her worry when she couldn’t do anything anyway.
Once it started, she couldn’t stop. More and more flowed out, things that she hadn’t even admitted to herself. Feelings exploded about how upset and how much it hurt that Oakley had abandoned her when she needed him the most. It stung that he apparently thought she had lied to him and been having an affair with Raz. He might even think she was a murderer now. She wanted to reach out and fix things, to apologize and make things right, but her hands were tied and all she could do was sit there, shackled in her own house, unable to prove her innocence. She was unable to run the shop and prove that everything was fine, and unable to talk to the man who ignited the mark in her hand.
She was stuck, trapped, and doomed.
Her voice broke partway through. All the stress that she’d been holding inside cracked through and she cried, but she couldn’t stop talking. And Magnolia didn’t say a single thing the entire time. Maybe the call had ended and they’d lost service and she wasn’t even there anymore. Maybe she was listening the whole time. But whatever it was, even without a response from her sister, Poppy talked and let it out. She let herself feel and let the hurt feel real to her. She made herself finally admit how scared and wounded she was and that she needed someone and she needed them now.
It might have been five minutes or it might have been an hour. Time didn’t exist while she was talking. Maybe nothing existed except for her voice.
And then, finally, she was done. As her lips closed out the final words and she went silent, her throat ached and her body felt weary and beat down. She melted back into the couch, feeling the soft cushions cradle her and take the weight off her muscles. She didn’t hurt anymore. It was just a dull throb inside of her chest that pulsed with every heartbeat. She felt…numb.
She barely heard Magnolia’s comforting words. She heard them, but it felt like another language. Her phone and the hand that held it rested on her stomach as she stared blankly at the wall. Her sister kept talking to her, telling her that everything was okay and that she was so glad that Poppy had told her and that she was going back to the house and she was going to get packed and she’d get Aspen to watch their child and come back right away and that she loved her and everything was going to be okay. None of it processed. She felt empty and hollow, devoid of emotion. Spent.
The hurt was gone and the stress was gone. The anxiety about hiding it from Magnolia was gone. All that remained was a faint, warm glow in her chest.
She didn’t have to deal with it alone anymore.
And that was worth its weight in gold.
9
Magnolia arrived the next morning, and not a moment too soon.
It hadn’t been immediately obvious to Poppy how much she missed her sister and needed that figure in her life until she’d heard Magnolia’s voice the night before. All of a sudden, it became a mystery how she’d lasted as long as she had.
She was a fighter. Always had been. Magnolia was the sweet one, Lilac was the daredevil, and Jasmine was the clever one. But Poppy? Poppy was the leader. The fighter. The one who never stayed down and the one who never let anything bother her. She was indestructible, and well known for it. She was good at it too, good at keeping people out and not letting anyone see how much stress she was under. It was always there, bubbling under the surface, but after a while, she’d developed the ability to hide it well to the point where nobody ever knew. She could be incredibly stressed, losing sleep, and not a single person would know, not even Magnolia.
However, this was more stress than she’d ever been exposed to. She’d land on her feet in every facet of life. If she was worried about not making rent, she’d be able to confidently say that she would find another place to live if it came to that. If she was worried about hitting her numbers as a prior sales rep, she could always work harder and have a lucky break. If she was worried about a big assignment coming up, even if she blew it, she’d be okay.
If she failed at proving her innocence, she would die.
That was it.
Game over.
There was no silver lining in the cloud, no positive that she was able to lean on. If she was found guilty, she would either be arrested or put to death. Cruel? Perhaps, but the council didn’t have one fuck to give. If she was a murderer, she was a danger to society and the Immortal Council was in charge of deciding how much of a danger she was. Just because she was a witch didn’t mean she couldn’t be executed.
They were immortals. But, that was just a fancy way of saying that she couldn’t be killed by natural means and most unnatural means. But they could strip her of her powers just like they could strip her of her immortality, and then, that wouldn’t be a very challenging task at all.
So, the stress was a bit more overwhelming than worrying about landing a big client.
Her other sisters knew about her predicament, and though they called and wanted to come down, Poppy turned them down. Having them there wouldn’t actually help with anything, and most of them lived halfway across the country so it wasn’t exactly a hop, skip, and a jump to come over. They had lives, full lives, and she’d probably rather die than be the one who dragged them (though they would willingly come) and uprooted them just for them to sit there and hang out with her while she awaited her trial and tried to get in touch with Oakley.
Magnolia was a different story. She was closest to Magnolia. Still, knowing that made Poppy’s stomach turn. Magnolia had been eagerly looking forward to spending time with Aspen and the wee baby for what seemed like forever. She was always the “mom” of the group, the caretaker. The one who went above and beyond to help people, and the one who occasionally got run over by assholes who didn’t appreciate her. There wasn’t a single part of her that was a pushover, but she had the urge to be there and be the helper more than was probably healthy.
Poppy prepared herself for seeing her sister. Hearing her voice the day before had brought her completely undone, the tears and the sniveling and the pain slipping out. But not this time! No. She was determined to keep her emotions on lockdown, and if not on lockdown, not pouring out like they had the day before. If she showed Magnolia her fear in person, Magnolia would be absolutely beside herself with worry and Poppy couldn’t do that to her own sister.
In a way, it was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, having Magnolia around was going to be very beneficial in terms of simple communication, having someone to talk to, having someone around so that she wasn’t still stuck in the freaking house by herself. On the other hand, she also gave Poppy a great distraction from everything that was going on, the least of which was Oakley, who had proven impossible to get ahold of and probably hated her guts now for something that she hadn’t even done. Maybe Magnolia would even be able to give some advice. That was her strong suit for some reason—giving solid relationship advice. Not that she, herself, was any good at picking the right guys, who tended to walk all over her, but she was wonderful for others.