Pucking Sweet

Poppy is impressed that Jake, Caleb, and Mars (who are all changing their last name to Price to match Rachel’s) have pulled off such a deft PR campaign. Rachel texts Poppy that the Price polycule will be getting married that evening. At the impromptu wedding, Poppy grows emotional. She cries because she cannot marry Colton and Lukas but knows that Colton wants to be married. 

Colton insists that he just wants the three of them to be together. During a fraught discussion of potential scandal and censure, Lukas says that he never wants to have children, due to his fraught childhood. When Poppy gets upset, Colton realizes that she is not drinking champagne. When she refuses to do so, both men realize that she is pregnant.

Lukas, overwhelmed by Poppy’s news, plans to move out of Colton’s apartment, arguing that their living situation was temporary. Colton explains that he oversaw the renovations of Lukas’s house assuming that the three of them would live there together. Colton rejects Lukas’s attempt to end their relationship. He makes sexually explicit comments that tempt Lukas, but Lukas flees from this emotional intimacy, too.

Three weeks later, Poppy and Colton listen to the fetus’s heartbeat, something that affects Colton strongly due to his past struggles with his heart health. Their doctor promises to monitor the baby’s heart closely as the pregnancy continues.

During a recent visit, Colton’s mother gave him her engagement ring, but he does not feel right proposing without Lukas. He and Poppy have both seen Lukas, but their interactions were short and shallow. Colton realizes how much he loves and misses Lukas, and Poppy encourages him to talk to Lukas. Colton recalls Lukas’s previous comments about fighting the things he wants and begins scheming how to win Lukas back.

The doorbell wakes Lukas, who is already asleep even though it is early. He has been sleeping a lot to avoid his feelings. He regrets leaving Colton and Poppy, but his long-ingrained self-loathing stops him from believing that he deserves them back. When he doesn’t open the door quickly enough, Colton lets himself into the house. Lukas urges him to leave, but Colton refuses.

Colton declares that he is moving in, but he won’t force Lukas to speak to Poppy until Lukas is ready. He proclaims his love, causing Lukas to retreat to his bedroom. He plans to wait until Colton gives up and leaves. Several days later, Colton is still there. He constantly repeats that he loves Lukas and has decorated the house with pictures of Lukas, Colton, and Poppy. Lukas fears the pain when Colton leaves, something that he assumes is inevitable.

Colton reassures Lukas that Poppy loves him, too, despite her distance. He plays the fetal heartbeat recording and confesses his fears about fatherhood. He hopes that Lukas is the biological father because of his heart condition. Lukas asks to see the sonogram picture. He and Cole embrace. Lukas tentatively imagines a future between the three of them, even though it frightens him.

Lukas interrupts Colton in the shower to tell him he loves him, the first time he has said it aloud. He admits that he wants to resume their relationship and help raise the baby, even though this frightens him. The two kiss, and when Lukas removes his shirt, Colton learns that Lukas had the penis sketch that Poppy drew on him during the bingo game permanently tattooed. They have sex, during which they playfully joke about their first time having sex with another man.

Lukas worries that Poppy will not forgive him for breaking up with her and will not trust him to love their baby. Colton reassures him that she will forgive her and encourages him to show Poppy how he feels.

Poppy hosts a fundraiser with the Humane Society. She is surprised when Lukas and Colton show up together. Poppy worries that Lukas is only present because Colton forced him, not because he truly wants to be with them. Poppy tries to focus on work even when Lukas asks to speak to her, but Colton encourages her to listen. She agrees to meet after the photoshoot, during which she decides to adopt a kitten named Miss Princess.

After the photoshoot, Lukas finds Poppy crying because her apartment won’t allow pets, so she cannot adopt Miss Princess. Lukas offers to adopt the cat, which Poppy refuses, thinking he wants “emotional leverage.” She sees his penis tattoo and laments his immaturity. He explains that he was seeking an outlet for his sadness that wasn’t drinking or sex—he didn’t want to be unfaithful to Poppy and Colton, even while they were apart. 

Before they can discuss Poppy’s pregnancy, they are interrupted by the team captain, Sully, and his wife, Shelby, who are hosting a costume party that evening. Poppy hurries away. Lukas, worried that he has made things worse with Poppy, asks Sully and Shelby for help with the cat adoption and confesses that he is in love with Poppy.

Sully and Shelby help Lukas adopt Miss Princess. He intends for the adoption, as well as the nursery he is assembling, to be a “grand gesture” to show his commitment to his relationship with Poppy and Colton. Colton is skeptical of the plan but says that he trusts Lukas, which Lukas finds very affirming.

Lukas considers the process of learning how to be a good parent and plans to read books and take classes. He is scared and excited to think of the family they will have together. He looks forward to having a permanent home, something he has always lacked.

While the interior decorator prepares the nursery, Colton and Lukas attend Shelby’s birthday party. They’re shocked to see Poppy there, as she hadn’t planned to attend. Lukas worries about making his declaration before his gesture is ready. She is dressed as Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as part of the party’s costume theme; she’s annoyed when neither Colton nor Lukas knows the reference. Colton orders Lukas to fix things between them immediately, before Poppy can grow more upset. Lukas finds Poppy in an upstairs room and confesses his love.

Poppy is overwhelmed but happy about Lukas’s explanation of how much he wants Poppy and their child to be in his life. He confesses to still being frightened but is eager to learn how to be a parent. He explains how running from pain was a survival mechanism in his childhood. He apologizes for hurting her and asks that she try not to hurt him, which she promises. Both Poppy and Colton reassure him. They have sex, which is briefly interrupted by Langley and Tess, Rachel’s best friend.

They return to Lukas’s house, which they now all consider their home. Lukas shows Poppy around the house, and she is pleased to see that Lukas and Colton touch one another freely. They have sex in various rooms; it is the first time Lukas and Colton have directly had sex with one another, and they find it emotionally fulfilling. Poppy feels grateful for the attention that her partners pay to her pleasures, something she lacked in previous relationships. Poppy is shocked when she learns that Lukas adopted Miss Princess.

Colton has a difficult checkup with his cardiologist during which the doctor notes concerning symptoms and recommends that Colton retire from hockey. Colton is hesitant to take that step, but the doctor reminds him that taking good care of his heart is important if he wants to live longer. He returns to the rink, musing that hockey has become less central to his life now that he has loving partners and a child on the way.

He goes to Poppy’s new office, which is far nicer than her old one. He produces Human Resources forms that will protect them from any professional consequences of being in a romantic relationship. They agree to make one another their emergency contacts. He also asks that whichever of the two men is not the baby’s biological father adopt him so that all three parents have legal parental rights.

Because of Colton’s questions, Poppy worries that something is wrong, and Colton explains what he learned at the doctor. He tells her that his hockey career is likely ending but that he looks forward to “new dreams” with his family. He explains that the forms are his equivalent of a marriage proposal, as they cannot legally marry as a group of three. He and Poppy have sex, during which they repeatedly declare their love for one another.

Stepping in cat vomit makes Lukas lament Miss Princess’s place in their home, but he checks on the cat because of Poppy’s intense love for her. When the cat seems unwell, he panics and goes to an emergency vet. He calls Langley to accompany him, as he doesn’t want to upset Poppy or Colton until he knows more. 

Langley teases him about his commitment issues and his clear love for Poppy and explains that he and Tess are in a committed relationship, though they do not plan to marry. Lukas admits that he is in love with both Poppy and Colton and that Poppy is pregnant. Langley is supportive and happy for them. Miss Princess is healthy; she merely experienced bloating.

Poppy explains her relationship and pregnancy to Annmarie, who is not supportive. Poppy laments the necessity of having this conversation, but she, Colton, and Lukas decided that it was important as part of their plan to legally protect their family and child. Colton’s family, by contrast, was extremely warm and welcoming.

Annmarie threatens to give Poppy’s inheritance to Violet and Anderson. Poppy reports that both Violet and Anderson have told her that theirs is not a love match, but Annmarie insists that Poppy is making this up out of jealousy. She implies that she will use Poppy’s father’s influence to damage Colton and Lukas’s career; Poppy retorts that if her parents hurt her partners, she will use her PR skills to damage their reputations in turn. Poppy insists on bringing Lukas and Colton to Violet’s wedding, but Annmarie says that if Poppy reveals their romantic relationship at the wedding, she will not release Poppy’s inheritance.

Poppy’s plan to hide their relationship at Violet’s wedding displeases Colton and Lukas. Lukas believes that Annmarie will use the inheritance to sow discord among the three of them and emphasizes that they don’t need the money. Poppy agrees that Annmarie is scheming but sees her inheritance as symbolic of her relationship with her late grandmother. Poppy struggles with wanting her family’s approval, even if she knows that they are unlikely to ever give it to her.

Lukas grows jealous when an elderly woman gives Poppy her nephew’s phone number in a matchmaking attempt. Lukas and Poppy covertly have sex in a private room, during which Lukas admits he is angry because he dislikes the way Annmarie is manipulating Poppy. He fears that he will react badly when Poppy’s family is unkind and make the tough situation at the wedding worse.

When Poppy returns to the party, she encounters Rachel and Tess, who can tell that she was “just hooking up with someone” (590). Poppy tries to deny it, but Lukas walks past at an inopportune moment. Rachel and Tess tease her, but it is not judgmental. They realize that she is pregnant when she rejects a glass of wine. She admits that there are two possible biological fathers and that she refuses to choose only one. Rachel, who realizes that the other man is Colton, promises to keep Poppy’s secret.