“I know we’re engaged, but if you like, I can do all the things I meant to before. The courting, and the flowers and the meeting your parents and such.”
“Those do sound nice, but I quite liked your unconventional courtship of the past few weeks—the skulking about, the explosion…and the kisses.”
“The kisses were not explosive?” he asked, with false shock. “I’ll have to try harder.” He grinned, in a way that prefaced a terrible pun.
“Don’t say it,” Poppy warned.
“I just wanted to note that marriage to you might be illuminating.” He took her hands in his.
“Oh, please stop.”
He leaned closer and said, “Sparks may fly.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she said.
“You’re incendiary.”
Poppy winced. “What have I agreed to?”
“You agreed to marriage, because I set your heart ablaze.”
“Stop, stop, stop. This is actually painful.” However, she made no effort to pull away.
“Very well,” he said. “I won’t add more fuel to the fire.”
“Carlos!”
“Should I put a damper on it?”
“Or I will,” Poppy said, laughing. “I love you, but…”
He held her. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”
“You mean all I have to do to stop your puns is to say I love you?”
“Try it,” he encouraged her.
“I love you, I love you, I love you.”
“And…I have nothing to say except that I love you as well.”
Poppy smiled. “In that case, the marriage can go forward.”
“Splendid. I’m burning to…”
“Wait, I love you!” she said.
“You’re learning,” he said, and kissed her. “And so am I.”
Epilogue
On a fine August morning, Poppy woke up in her family’s home in London. She lay in her own bed, in her own bedroom, and contemplated the early sunlight creeping its way along the wall.
It seemed incredible that she’d had such adventures this summer, or that her life had changed so dramatically within the span of a few months.
Carlos had (naturally) dazzled her parents when he’d met them. Poppy was a little dazzled herself when she heard him describing his home and all the luxuries Poppy could expect once she arrived in the role of Señora Poppy St George de la Guerra. Apparently, Carlos had been downplaying his status on the island. To hear him tell it, his family owned a large chunk of it, not to mention the shipping they controlled…a vital lifeline for any island nation.
In all, it seemed that Poppy more or less stumbled into a brilliant match. Everyone approved, the date was set, the details attended to…and now it was the fateful morning.
