Page 11 of Persuading Penny (Jane Austen Association #4)

A s I drove to my old house, my childhood home, I tried to come up with a good reason not to go at all. Part of me was curious to hear the Healy’s appreciation of the house. Keely had mentioned how they loved it, and I was intrigued by what in particular they liked.

But, then again, a part of me found it a little bittersweet to go back to my home, all while not really being in my home.

I turned down the familiar lane, passed by the Humphreys, the Sutherlands and the Pattersons, then came to the final bend in the road that brought me to Copperfield Corner.

A smile instantly came to my lips. I hadn’t fully realized just how much I missed the place. Oh, our little country cottage was fine, and we lacked nothing, but this... It was a beautiful home, though modest by some standards.

I pulled into the drive, leaving my car beside the Healy’s, while noting that Keely and Hugh hadn’t yet arrived.

The door to the house burst open and Georgina came running out as I stepped out of the car.

“Come see my room,” she shouted with glee. “Come see how we did my room. It is so, so pretty.”

She grabbed my fingers with her small, delicate hand and pulled me toward the door.

“We put up a rainbow curtain, a new comforter and a bunch of pillows and cushions,” she went on. “Pink ones, and green ones, and yellow ones. I have a cushion in the shape of a unicorn and one in the shape of a pink heart.”

Reagan met us at the door. “I see she’s already giving you her room’s inventory.”

“She’s a delight,” I said as I entered, though I couldn’t hide my concern for the changes that had been made.

“Don’t worry about the new décor,” Reagan quickly said. “No major changes. I mean, we didn’t paint the room or anything... not that Georgina didn’t try to convince us that we should.”

The little girl looked up at me. “I wanted to paint those dull green walls bright yellow, like the sun. I told Mom we’d be doing you a favor.”

I smiled, actually pleased with the idea of changing the color. “That might well be. Houses of this type do tend to have dull washed-out colors on the walls.”

“Does that mean we can paint them?” she said, excited.

“That’s enough of that, Georgina,” Reagan said. “Your room looks fine the way it is. Instead of complaining about the wall color, you should be thanking Penny for allowing us to stay in her beautiful home.”

Georgina looked up at me with a sweet smile. “Thank you. I hate the color of my wall, but I love the swing set outside. I love the little pond out by the woods. I love running up and down the stairs. I love looking through the windows where the glass is all wavy and blurry. I love...”

Reagan laughed. “Okay, sweetie. I think she gets the picture.

She looked at me. “Let me take your jacket.”

I shrugged off my navy-blue tweed jacket and handed it to her. She turned to put it away in the front closet that I knew all too well.

“What a beautiful blouse,” she said.

“Thank you.” I looked down at my gray pants, my sensible Mary Janes peeping out from under the hem, then flattened the fabric of my baby blue blouse against my belly. It was a simple blouse, with tiny puff sleeves and a bit of a ruffle at the collar.

Richard came to join us, wiping his hands on the tea towel wedged into the waist of his jeans. “Penny,” he said, his hand extended to shake mine. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you, too.

Little Tommy came running up behind him. Imitating his father, he held his hand out to me. “Hawo.”

“Hello,” I said, shaking his tiny hand.

“Come see my room,” he said, keeping his little hand in mine.

“Mine, too,” Georgina said.

“Now, you two, stop bothering the guest,” Reagan said. “Penny came over for dinner, not a tour of her own house.”

“It’s no bother,” I said, smiling down at the children. “Actually, I’m a little curious to see.”

“Okay,” Richard said. “I need to get back to my roast, so we’ll leave you to it, and will be in the dining room when you come back down.”

“Oh,” I said. “I forgot. I brought a bottle of wine. I was so caught up with Georgina’s new décor, I left it the car. It’s in the passenger seat.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get it,” Reagan said.

I nodded and smiled as Tommy tugged at my arm, leading me to the stairs. The children chatted all the way up, each eager to describe their room. At the top of the stairs, they quarreled over whose room I should go see first.

“How about we stop at the very first room we come to,” I said.

They nodded and we headed down the hall, first coming to Tommy’s room. His stuffed animals were everywhere as well as a few toy cars.

He hurried in to put a few cars back in a large toy chest. “Isn’t it nice?”

“Very.”

“Now my room,” Georgina shouted. “Now my room.”

We continued on to Georgina’s room. It was indeed brighter with its new rainbow curtains on the windows and colorful pillows and cushions on the bed. As she showed me her favorite cushion, I heard voices from downstairs.

“That must be Keely and Hugh,” I said. “How about we go down to say hello.”

“Hawo!” Tommy shouted with glee, his arms open wide to welcome any visitors.

As we neared the stairs, I could make out Richard and Reagan’s voices, but Keely was unusually quiet. I hurried down the stairs, hoping nothing bad had happened.

“Oh, Penny,” Reagan said. “Perfect timing. I’d like you to meet...”

As my eyes set on Cliff’s face, Reagan’s voice faded into the distance, and I didn’t hear the rest of her statement. My heart raced as I grasped the handrail.

“Uncle Cliffy!” Georgina shouted as she reached the second to last step and jumped into his arms, quickly wrapping her legs around his waist.

“How’s my favorite little niece?” he said.

“And me!” Tommy shouted as he jumped up and down on that same second to last step. “What about me?”

Cliff set Georgina down and prepared to catch Tommy in the same manner.

“All right, kids,” Reagan said. “Let’s give Uncle Cliff a chance to take his jacket off.”

I stared at him, numb. Why hadn’t Keely told me he’d be here? No, why had I not suspected that he would.

“Penny,” Reagan said. “I’d like you to meet my brother-in-law, Cliff. He’s going to be working in Bath for the next month or so.”

I slowly took the final steps down and faced him. “Yes,” I said with more calm than I would have thought myself capable of. “We’ve met.”

“You have?”

“I’m the production accountant on the same movie Cliff is working on.” My voice was unbelievably smooth all the way.

Cliff’s lips parted ever so slightly, and his eyes widened with surprise for a split second before he caught himself and resumed his stoic stance.

Was he surprised by my cool response? Did he expect me to remain bothered by his presence?

No, I wanted to say. I’ve moved on. I’m over you.

“Oh,” Reagan said. “Isn’t that a coincidence. Great. Then I guess you two will have a lot to talk about.”

Just before the situation became even more awkward, Keely and Hugh arrived.

“Cliff,” Keely said. “I was hoping you’d be here tonight.”

He immediately reached out to take her hands in his and give her a quick and friendly kiss on the cheek.

I couldn’t help but wonder if Reagan noticed the complete lack of such a greeting where I was concerned. Did no one notice the coldness that ran between us?

Richard joined us, once again wiping his hands on that tea towel. “Dinner is going to be ready in half an hour, but if you would all come to the dining room, I have a nice and light little appetizer that I’ve prepared.”

We all followed him to the dining room and took a seat.

Reagan and Richard initiated a conversation about the history of Bath, with Hugh and Keely giving their takes on some notable spots, but Cliff and I stayed rather quiet until the topic of movie making came up.

He went on to chat with Keely and Reagan, while Hugh discussed law with Richard, and I listened to the children who kept me busy with stories of their various adventures since arriving at Copperfield Corner.

I tried my best to concentrate on what they were saying instead of eavesdropping on Cliff’s part of the movie making conversation. But as their discussion turned to the technical aspect of movie making, I finally gave my full attention to the children.

“... and then the frog jump up into my face,” Georgina was saying.

“And I caught three frogs,” Tommy added, working hard to get three fingers up to show me.

Throughout the dinner, Reagan and Richard were warm and attentive hosts, ensuring we all had plenty of water and/or wine, or whatever else we might need.

After each course, Reagan cleared the dishes, insisting we all stay right where we were and that she did not need our help.

Moments later Richard would arrive with the next course and the next and finally dessert.

“I don’t know if it will be any good,” Richard said. “But I wanted to try a very English treat, a Banoffee Pie.”

“What the hell is that?” Cliff let out with a crooked grin.

“Uncle Cliffy,” Georgina said, shaking a scolding finger at him.

“My apologies. Let me start again; what in the world is that?”

The little girl nodded in acceptance of his new phrasing.

“A Banoffee Pie,” Richard said, “is a concoction of bananas, cream, and toffee all spread over a biscuit base.”

“Sounds... questionable,” Cliff said.

Richard set his piedish down.

“Ooh,” Cliff said with a grimace. “Looks even more questionable.”

We all smiled as we looked at the slightly soggy whipped cream.

Richard looked at his dessert. “I guess it does look a little wonky.”

“Did you make your own toffee?” Keely said.

“Yes. And I think that might be part of the problem.”

“I told him to use the store-bought stuff, but he was adamant; he wanted to make it from scratch.”

“I’m sure it’ll taste great,” Keely said. “I had this at a friend’s house once. It was delicious.”

“Great,” Richard groaned. “You’ll have something to compare this disaster to.”