Page 114 of Sunshine
The nickname wraps around me like a blanket. It’s so casual but so honestly given. Finn sayssislike he means it.
And I still don’t know what’s happening.
Izzy tugs on Daisy’s arm. “My turnnow?”
“Soon,” Daisy says. “Just hang in there for a couple more minutes.”
She takes a firm hold of Izzy's fidgeting hand and turns her eyes on me.
“Penelope,” Daisy says, voice cracking and eyes blinking to keep her tears under control. “You are my family in all the ways that count, and you always have been, but I hope that after tonight, I can finally say you’re my sister for real. I love you.”
Sister for real?Could this be… It’s not… Is it?
“Oh, Daze.” I take a step forward, arms open and cheeks damp, but she widens her eyes like I shouldn’t come any closer, and all the Davenport siblings shift together. I drop my arms and freeze in confusion. “I love you too.”
“Is it my turnnow?” Izzy asks.
“Yes,” Daisy replies. “It’s your turn now.”
“Yes!”
Izzy squares her shoulders, straightens her tutu, and gazes up at me with shining eyes. She clears her throat, then speaks like she’s been rehearsing for hours, and my heart bursts with so much love for this kid.
“Poppy—I mean Penelope. I love watching movies with you and going for milkshakes and driving around in your car while we sing along to the radio. I love snuggling with you on the sofa and talking to you about my day. If I had one wish, I would make you my mommy. I love you very much.”
That’s it. My heart explodes. It wasn’t built for this much emotion. I fall to my knees and open my arms, and Izzy rushes into them. Her little arms are tight around my neck, and I nuzzleinto her hair, breathing her in and letting my tears soak into the strands.
“I love you too, kiddo,” I murmur. “I love you so damn much.”
“Bad word,” she whispers against my ear.
“Yeah, yeah. Tell it to the judge.”
I kiss her cheek and squeeze her hard against me before I let her go, and she skips away with a giddy laugh to latch onto Daisy’s hand again. And she’s still bouncing on her toes.
I push myself upright and swipe at my face. “You guys… I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this but thank you. I spent so many years wishing I was one of you. Literally coming up with scenarios in my head where I was a genuine Davenport. I knew I wasn’trealfamily, but you were the closest I ever came. Your mom and dad were so special to me. And Daisy.” I tilt my head with the kind of smile that captures every moment we’ve shared over the last three decades as a tear slides down my cheek. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Oh, I didn’t.”
“You—”
They all step aside, letting the great wall of Davenports disintegrate, and reveal Dylan hiding behind them, down on one knee on the hardwood floor, holding up a ring in his hand.
I’m aware of the movement around me. An energy that’s loaded with joy and anticipation and excitement. But all I can see is the man I love looking up at me with blue eyes so full of adoration and affection and love. For me.
My hands shake as I step forward. “Dylan?”
“Poppy,” he says before pausing to swallow. “I didn’t know what was missing until you came back into my life. I was broken, and I didn’t even know it. Unable to look further than a day or a week ahead because the future felt so overwhelming. And then you reappeared, and it was like seeing you for the first time. Thesun rose that day like it does every other day, but for the first time in a long time, Ifeltit. And it changed things. I started dreaming about something different—a life full of fun and color and adventure. I wanted to be a better father but more than that, I wanted to be worthy of you.”
It’s not the thing you’re supposed to do when the man you love is on his knees for you, but I fall to the floor in front of him, unable to stand when all I want is to be in his arms. “Oh, Dylan.”
He grins like he wouldn’t expect anything different.
“I love you, Penelope, and I’m about to ask you a question that—if you say yes—will not only make you a wife but a sister and a mother and a daughter to two wonderful people who might not be here to tell you how much they love you too, but who I know would find no greater joy than welcoming you into our family and making you a Davenport officially. Forever.”
I nod in silence, a constant bob of my head as tears roll down my face and Dylan picks up my left hand.
“Penelope Golightly, will you marry me?”
