Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Valerian's half-sister, however, had been dead serious when she said 'yes'.
The rest was history, and as soon as she had set foot in this remote mountain-top town, Poppy had known she was where she was supposed to be.
The Internet might as well have been alien technology where Hartland was concerned. The signal here was that bad, but the lack of online access was exactly how Poppy needed.
Life in Hartland was life without any chance for her to hear any news about Valerian. But more importantly, life in this sleepy little town meant more time with Him, whom she needed the most.
The first few weeks, she had just cried and prayed for God to comfort her. She just wanted the sadness and pain to end. More days passed, and Poppy’s prayers gradually changed direction. All she wanted at that time was to understand. But when months went by, her prayers underwent another transformation, and she found herself just being thankful.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
It was that simple.
And it was how Poppy learned to let go of the questions, and to stop searching for the hows and whys.
God knew best.
That was all she knew for certain. And so she thanked Him even for the aches and tears. She thanked Him even when she was still hurting. She thanked Him with the full assurance that things would eventually work out.
Someday.
SEVERAL DAYS CAME TO pass before Poppy mustered the courage to open Heather’s package. Inside was a letter...along with a data stick.
I know I have no right to ask anything of you.
I know how much my brother’s hurt you, and how you did nothing at all to deserve it.
But I just can’t stand by and do nothing.
Please give this a listen. That’s all I ask. Please.
Poppy asked for her boss’s permission to use his computer, and her heart was already pounding as she plugged the data stick and saw there was only a single audio file saved.
“I’ve already bent a lot of rules the last time.”
Poppy didn’t recognize the woman’s voice at all.
“And I don’t plan on making a habit out of it. This time, I need to be in possession of all of the facts—”
“Then ask me whatever you want.”
That, Poppy readily recognized, and her heart was already breaking at the mere sound of his voice. I thought I was over him, God. I guess not.
“How about telling me what the hell happened?” the other woman burst out. “The last time we spoke, you were talking like a man completely in love with his future wife.”
“At that time, I wasn’t—”
“You didn’t know it then,” the still-unknown woman cut Valerian off, “but trust me, you were. And that was the only reason why I agreed to help you out with your wedding and all the other things you wanted done in secret. But now you’re telling me you want all of those contracts invalidated? Why?”
“Because she’s no longer my wife.”
Silence.
“Yes, it’s exactly what you think.”
The heaviness in Valerian’s tone made Poppy wrap her arms around herself for some reason.
“I fucked up, Charlotte. Big time.”
Poppy finally had a name for the other woman, and other memories started trickling in. Charlotte. The woman he had asked help from, in the event the trouble in Risto resulted in Valerian’s...death.
“And with everything in Risto still up in the air, I don’t have any time to waste. I need you to make the necessary adjustments. The offshore accounts should be under Poppy’s maiden name, and she can have full access—”
But Charlotte was interrupting him again. “You obviously still love her. So why don’t you just ask for her forgiveness—”
“Because I don’t deserve to.”
“It can’t be as bad—”
“Didn’t you hear me say I fucked up?” Valerian exploded. “It wasn’t any lie. It was the truth. You remember what I told you about Camelia? How she was still another man’s mistress when we first met, and how she invested that man’s money in my company? What I never fucking told you was that I had always known the truth. From the very start. I just pretended I didn’t for the sake of my pride. I pretended to be blind because I had no fucking choice. But I also swore to myself that it would be the last time my woman would feel the need to save me with another man’s money.”
“I’m sorry, Valerian—”
“You haven’t even heard the worst part yet. When news of Risto’s political unrest broke out, Camelia wanted to ask her ex-lover again for money. She would rather whore herself out instead of trusting me. So I broke up with her and ended up with Poppy. Who I didn’t plan to fall in love with, but I did. And it was unbelievably good between us, Charlotte. She was the angel I never deserved until she told me she knew of a man who wanted to help me. It was like the fucking past all over again—”