65 pages • 2-hour read
Pucking Sweet
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Chapter 78-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 78 Summary: “Colton”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, illness, child abuse, emotional abuse, and substance use.
Two months later, Colton and Lukas attend Violet’s wedding. Poppy has already attended two days of pre-wedding events. Colton reminds Lukas of their commitment to be on their best behavior and not further irritate Poppy’s family. Anderson approaches, making subtle mocking comments about Poppy’s relationship with the two men. Colton contrasts his behavior with that of their teammates on the Rays, who are accepting of their relationship.
Anderson implies that if Colton or Lukas doesn’t marry Poppy, she will leave them, and then judgmentally alludes to her pregnancy. Rowan, Poppy’s brother, behaves similarly to Anderson. Hank, her father, is slightly more cordial, and when Rowan’s insults become more pointed, Hank reprimands his son. Colton and Lukas commiserate over their rude behavior but vow to remain civil for Poppy’s sake.
Chapter 79 Summary: “Poppy”
Poppy is relieved to see Colton and Lukas after two days with her judgmental sister and mother. She cringes when they explain her family’s rude behavior, though she isn’t surprised. When they attend the rehearsal dinner, Poppy is surprised to see Tina and even more surprised when Violet explains that she invited her. Violet brushes it off, but Poppy recognizes this as a gesture of goodwill from her sister. Violet is pleasant to Colton and Lukas.
Rowan approaches and goads Lukas into bickering with him. Poppy stands up for Lukas and Colton, as does Tina. Annmarie approaches and is deliberately rude to Tina, Colton, and Lukas. Lukas reminds an irate Poppy of the rules that the three have set for the wedding weekend, which include not fighting with her family.
The dinner passes slowly. Poppy, as the maid of honor, is at the head table. Anderson keeps crowding her, which she dislikes. Tina encourages Poppy to leave, insisting that her family will never appreciate her. Olivia, drunk, takes the microphone, reveals that Violet and Anderson began their affair while he was still engaged to Poppy, and then confesses her love for Violet before the microphone is taken away.
Furious, Poppy demands to know if Annmarie knew that Violet had begun seeing Anderson while he was still engaged to Poppy. Annmarie doesn’t deny it. Poppy snaps that she is “done” with her family and announces to the room that she is pregnant and has two partners. The crowd is astonished, but Lukas and Tina are delighted.
Chapter 80 Summary: “Poppy”
Poppy overhears Violet and Anderson discussing a contract; they reveal that Anderson was paying Violet to marry him. Annmarie took away Violet’s inheritance, claiming that she gave the money to Poppy. Violet only agreed to marry Anderson after losing the money, as she had no other plans to make a living. Anderson cruelly insults both Poppy and Violet and insists that they go through with the wedding. He grabs Violet and shakes her as Lukas and Colton approach; Lukas punches Anderson.
Rowan accuses Lukas of assault; Poppy and Violet counter that Lukas was protecting Violet. Hank asks Violet for the full story. He denies caring about whether either of his daughters married Anderson; he only wants their happiness. When Poppy points out that Annmarie manipulated both her daughters, Hank defends his wife. Poppy accuses him of negligently allowing their mother to do whatever she wanted. She insists that he has not shown respect to any of his children.
Hank apologizes and promises to do better. He assures Lukas that Anderson will not press charges and compliments Lukas’s tattoo, laughing when Lukas names Poppy as the original artist. Rowan continues to insult Poppy, so Colton, with her blessing, threatens Rowan if he continues to bully her. Tina helps Violet leave the canceled wedding before Annmarie notices. Violet and Poppy plan to repair their relationship going forward.
Chapter 81 Summary: “Colton”
Four months later, Colton catches Lukas singing playfully to Miss Princess, teasing his partner about growing fond of the cat. They are counselors for a youth hockey camp along with Jake and Caleb. Poppy arrives to watch the chaotic camp. After a child’s hockey stick strikes him in the chest, Colton experiences dysrhythmia, which causes him to collapse. Lukas urgently instructs Jake to call for an ambulance.
Chapter 82 Summary: “Poppy”
Poppy tries to rush to Colton, but Claribel stops her, fearing that Poppy, who is close to her due date, will slip on the ice. Poppy begins experiencing contractions. Lukas is torn between accompanying Colton and Poppy; Claribel reassures him that she will remain with Poppy so that he can accompany Colton. Poppy’s water breaks as Claribel hurries her to the hospital.
Chapter 83 Summary: “Lukas”
Lukas paces anxiously after Colton is taken for emergency medical treatment. Jake calls to report that he and Claribel are with Poppy, who is in active labor and doing well. A nurse leads Lukas back to speak with Colton, who will be undergoing surgery to put in a pacemaker, something that will end his hockey career.
Upon learning that Poppy is in labor, Colton urges Lukas to go be with her. Colton instructs Lukas to stay with Poppy and the baby even if he dies. Lukas urges him to name the baby before he starts surgery, even though the risks are low.
Chapter 84 Summary: “Poppy”
Poppy frantically seeks an update on Colton’s condition, but Claribel refuses to leave her side to investigate. Poppy feels shaken by the deviation from her birth plan. She expresses her fears about motherhood, which are linked to her own painful relationship with her mother. Claribel reassures her.
Lukas enters, looking worried. Poppy worries that this means Colton is dead, but Lukas reassures her and encourages her throughout the birth.
Chapter 85 Summary: “Colton”
Colton wakes up in intensive care, grateful for the medical technology that gives him more time with his family. He connects with Poppy and their son, who was born several hours before, via video chat. Poppy is relieved to see Colton well and introduces their son, Colton’s biological child. Colton proposes the first name Bennett, but Poppy rejects St. James as her son’s last name, insisting that he be a Morrow like his father. She wants to give Bennett the same middle name as Lukas, but Lukas rejects this, as his middle name was after his abusive grandfather. They give him Colton’s middle name instead: John. Colton cries, overcome with emotion.
Epilogue Summary: “Poppy”
Six years later, Bennett calls Poppy to watch him play at the beach. Lukas plays with their daughter, Christina Grace, and Tess and Langley’s daughter, Emma. Tess, Langley, and Emma have accompanied Poppy, Colton, Lukas, and their children on their annual family vacation. Poppy is pregnant with their third child, which they plan to be their last.
Lukas is now the Rays’ assistant captain; Colton works in sports media. The three adults enjoy dinner together. Poppy admires her rings, one from each of her partners, which she wears even though they are not married legally. The three of them have sex, proclaiming their love and how much they enjoy their life together.
The next morning, Poppy gets an urgent call from one of the Rays’ players, Henrik, who reports that he impulsively got married to Teddy, one of the physical therapists for the team. He asks for help to “defraud the Swedish and American governments” (666). Poppy urgently prepares to work.
Chapter 78-Epilogue Analysis
In the final chapters of the novel, Poppy stands up to her family, something that she experiences as a tremendous relief and is the full resolution to The Challenges of Craving Familial Validation that she hopes for. Though the dramatic events at Violet’s canceled wedding give Poppy the courage to stand up for herself against her mother’s manipulations and her father’s apathy, the novel does not present this as a singular event that will solve Poppy’s worries about how her past will affect her child’s future. As she notes as she prepares to give birth, her fractured relationship with her mother still makes her fear that she, too, will push her child away. Her relationship with Violet is similarly uncertain; though the sisters allude to the possibility of a reunion after learning that they were manipulated by Annmarie in overlapping ways, Poppy does not consider this reunion likely to come to pass.
Despite her worries about how her childhood will affect her as a mother, Poppy’s nuanced approach to naming her son illustrates her embrace of her newfound family and its non-traditional structure. Though Lukas proposes that they buck tradition entirely and name their son Bennett St. James, Poppy insists that she wants her son to have his father’s last name, Morrow. This suggests that while the novel advocates for the idea of leaving behind unhelpful traditions, it does not insist that all conventions must be given up merely for the sake of difference or novelty. Lukas, on the other hand, sees some forms of history and convention as a burden; when Poppy proposes using Lukas’s middle name, Anton, as Bennett’s middle name so that Lukas is represented as well, he refuses. Anton was his abusive grandfather’s name, and he does not want to let any part of his grandfather’s legacy touch his son. The novel thus presents naming as something that can have important meaning (Colton naming Bennett before his surgery is important, as it recognizes that the family will always contain Colton, even if he dies during surgery) but that it should still be approached thoughtfully and with an eye toward the individual, not tradition.
In the novel’s Epilogue, even as the narrative gives Poppy, Colton, and Lukas their “happily ever after,” Rath sets up the next romantic grouping in her series: a relationship between Henrik, a Rays player, and Teddy, one of their physical therapists. This last reference to an ongoing Rays narrative serves less as a cliffhanger (since Henrik and Teddy are not prominent in Pucking Sweet) and more as an element of world building, as well as a promise between Rath and her readers that there will be more of the Rays to come.
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