Double update!

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"Heath?"

"Yes, love?"

MJ took a moment of silence to savor being called love before continuing the conversation.

"Who's Carter?"

They were out in the kitchen garden picking vegetables for that night's dinner. They'd already been there for nearly a week, and it had been one of the best "nearly a week"s of MJ's life. Her days were spent either playing music with Heath and his siblings, or wandering around their expansive property. There was a beautiful pool to swim in, or a nice forest to walk through, though they didn't exactly own that part of the property. It was part of a trust or something, and MJ didn't exactly understand it, but it didn't matter, no one else went there, and it was the same as if the Spencers owned it. She had ridden a horse for the first time, and it was as if she'd been doing it her whole life. It felt so natural to hold the reins in her hand, and to gently shift them this way or that to guide kind and patient Cinnamon. The beautiful brown mare seemed to be able to read her mind, and it felt amazing to sit on her back and feel her going exactly where she wanted her to go. Looking at Heath's face and seeing the pride and joy as he watched her conquer this skill was wonderful, too.

The evenings were spent playing games with his family. They were a clever family, very in tune with each other, and they loved games. MJ knew she was a smart girl, but she'd never had anyone to pit herself against, intellectually speaking. Her father and uncles, her aunts and cousins, were wonderful people, but they weren't intellectual, per se. This was a whole new experience for her.

At first, she'd lost game after game, of Scrabble, of Trivial Pursuit, of Cranium, because she couldn't bring herself to crush her opponents. She saw, however, how the rest of the Spencers played, and how Archie crowed when he took a spot that Poppy had been waiting to play on, or how the elder Spencers actually high-fived each other when they worked as a team to defeat one of their own children.

And she'd became a steely-eyed, blood-thirsty, play to the death, Scrabble player.

"Well-played, MJ," Heath had said with admiration when she took a triple-word play space, just before Heath's turn.

"Thanks," she'd murmured, blushing to the roots of her curly hair.

"Carter?" Heath repeated, bringing MJ back to the vegetable garden. He rose from where he'd been cutting an eggplant (over here they called them "aubergines," MJ reminded herself, a much prettier word) to look at MJ. "Where'd you hear that name?"

"I overheard your parents in the kitchen a few minutes ago. They were worried because they heard Carter was back from somewhere and he might be stopping by this evening." MJ looked inquiringly at Heath.

Heath sighed as he carefully put the eggplant (aubergine) in the basket so as not to squash the beautiful tomatoes they'd already picked. They moved on to the squash, and MJ wondered if Heath was just not going to say anything.

"Carter is Carter Holmes," he finally said. "He's a class-A dick, as you like to say. Or, he's a wanker, a tosser, and just a horrible, horrible person, as we'd say over here." Heath found some nice yellow squash, and bent to cut them.

"We all kind of grew up together, his family home is just down the road, and he was always over here, or we were always over there, you know? He liked tennis and horses and music, same as us, and it was comfortable. And after a while, he liked Poppy. And she liked him." Heath bent further into the squash bed and MJ could hear him hacking at a particularly thick stem.

He came out holding the squash, wiping sweat from his forehead. "And everyone thought it was grand. It was practically engraved in stone. And Poppy gave herself to him, completely." Heath rose, and put the squash in the basket, but he wasn't careful this time. MJ grabbed it and moved it so it wouldn't bruise the more tender vegetables in the basket.

"I don't mean to make it sound so Victorian," Heath said with a tight smile. "It's not a big deal in this day and age to have sex with someone, we know that. And it's not like Poppy wanted to 'save herself for marriage' or anything so idiotic, you know?" He shook his hair out of his face. "But the way Carter did it was so cruel. He used her up like she was a face flannel. And then he tossed her aside." Heath shook his head.

"They were supposed to go to Cambridge together."

"And they didn't?" MJ asked.

"The pillock couldn't get in," Heath said, his voice scathing. "Even with his family's money, and all his father's connections."

"So where did he go?"

"Some private school in America," Heath said. "I don't even remember what it was called."

"So what happened?" MJ's voice was gentle. They were just standing in the garden, not even pretending to gather vegetables anymore.

"He came home for Christmas, like Poppy did, and they were supposed to see each other for the first time since they'd left in September. Poppy was so happy, MJ, you should've seen her. They'd been talking via text and Instagram and all that, and he hadn't said a fucking word." Heath's voice was hard and brittle.

"Oh god, Heath, what happened?" MJ had grasped Heath's arm.

"He'd found another girlfriend, and he brought her home with him to meet his parents," Heath said, his voice soft. "I still can't believe it happened, you know?"

"Oh no," MJ breathed, horrified.

Heath nodded, looking at MJ, blue eyes nearly black in the sunny garden. "Yeah. My parents were having a big party. Archie was just twelve, such a cute little thing, loud and crazy, even back then, and I'd just come off tour with the boys, so we were all together.

"Poppy was wearing the most beautiful dress, a lovely shade of lavender, with a fun, pouffy skirt, I don't know what it's called," Heath smiled at the memory. "And when the Holmes arrived, she just lit up, and she ran down the steps, she couldn't even wait for them to come in. Archie and I went to watch the reunion, and to say hi to Carter, because we were all friends.

So Mr. and Mrs. Holmes get out, then Carter, and then he reaches into the car and this absolutely stunning blonde girl steps out; miles of tan legs, even in the middle of December, wearing a short pink dress, not really appropriate for Surrey in winter, but really hot, you know?" He looked at MJ, who nodded.

"And Carter gives Poppy a little kiss, like everything's normal, and introduces her, calls her his girlfriend and all! He says, 'Poppy, dear, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Tiffany." Heath shook his head again. "I'll never forget her name, you know? Then he turns to her and says, 'Poppy is one of my oldest friends, Tiff, I'm so happy you got to meet,' like everything's fine!

"I'll never forget the look on my sister's face," Heath said. MJ had never heard his voice sound like that. "Not if I live to be a hundred. And poor Archie was standing next to me, actually holding my hand because he didn't know what else to do. I thought he was going to squeeze my fingers off."

"What did you do?"

Heath took a deep breath. "My parents were hosts, so they had to go greet the Holmes, try to act normal. So Archie and I went down the steps to get poor Poppy. I think she would've just stood there all night. She looked like Lot's wife."

"Did you say anything to Carter?" MJ asked, though she thought she already knew the answer.

"No. I've never spoken to him since. We went to Poppy, one of us on either side of her, and helped her up the stairs and into the house." Heath put an arm around MJ and began to lead her toward the kitchen as he spoke. "We got her all the way upstairs before she started crying. It was the most awful sound, MJ. Like she was going to die or something. Poor little Archie was terrified.

"A few of her friends were here, and they came to her room when they heard what had happened, but she sent them all away," Heath concluded. "She didn't want to see anyone but me and Archie. We helped her into her pajamas, and spent the night with her while the party went on downstairs. It was surreal.

"Archie snuck downstairs a few times and brought us sustenance," Heath said with a smile. "I think it was the first time he ever got drunk, actually."

"So what happened?" MJ asked as they went into the mudroom to wash the vegetables.

Heath shrugged.

"Poppy spent the weekend in bed, eating ice cream and leftovers from the party, Then she went back to Cambridge and got on with her life." MJ could hear the admiration in Heath's voice. "I don't think she's had a serious relationship, though. And I know she's never worn that shade of lavender since, which is a shame."

MJ let out a huge breath.

"That's quite a horrible story," she said, leaning into him.

"I know. Sorry it's so Jane Austen," he said.

They went into the kitchen, where his parents were starting preparations for dinner.

"Is it true about Carter?" he asked. "MJ said she heard you talking."

His mother nodded.

"I'd just as soon not see that gormless git again," Hugh said as he chopped something with considerable energy.

Heath smiled at his father's choice of words.

"You know, I was thinking tonight might be a good night for looking at shooting stars," Heath said, leaning on the counter. "It's new moon, and it's supposed to be clear. The Perseids are overhead now, you know?" He looked from his mother to his father to see what they thought. "Back pasture?

"We could pack dinner and leave straight away," he went on. "That way we wouldn't even be around if anyone came calling, you know?"

"You, son, are a very clever boy," Margaret said with a smile.

"And I thought that maybe MJ and I would stay after you guys come back," Heath added as an afterthought. "We could even sleep out there, you know?"

Hugh looked back and forth between Heath and MJ.

"Yes, that sounds absolutely delightful, I think," he finally said, lifting an eyebrow. "Now, why don't you run and tell Poppy and Archie about our plans. You don't have to tell them about your plans for after, of course," he added, waving his knife around for emphasis.

"Darling," Hugh said, speaking to his wife, "I think we'd better turn all this into sandwiches, what do you say?"

"I think you're right," she agreed. "And we're definitely going to need a few bottles of wine for star gazing, don't you think?"

"Your parents rock," MJ said to Heath as they went to find his brother and sister.

"Yeah," he agreed, laughing. "This is going to be a wonderful evening, I think."

"I think so, too," MJ said with. smile.