The Proposal at Siesta Key (12 page)

“Penny, I'm starting to realize that you don't like to ask for help. Why don't I go with you so if your parents are upset with you, you can come stay at my house?”

“I couldn't.”

“Sure you could. My parents love to have company,” Zack said. He got to his feet, too, then pulled Leona up by the hand. “Hey, why don't the three of us go with you?”

Ack, but this was getting awkward! “I think having Violet with me is enough. Thank you for the offer, though.”

Violet picked up Penny's tote bag and started walking down
the sidewalk. She was smiling, but other than that, she didn't let on a thing.

Which made Penny realize that Violet couldn't have planned this better if she'd orchestrated it herself. Now, instead of facing her parents alone, she had Violet by her side. Which was exactly what Violet had suggested in the first place.

B
y the time Penny and Violet reached her house, the sun was beginning to set. Its rays sent out a spectacular glow, casting the usual blue sky into shades of pink and rose. The cooler temperature had brought out many of her neighbors. Snippets of conversation and laughter lit the air.

The lovely sunset, the chirping of birds, and even the faint perfume of blooming rosebushes created a wonderful atmosphere. Penny would have remarked on the beauty of it all—if she hadn't been worried about what would happen when she arrived home.

It turned out that her suspicions were correct.

Her parents were not happy. As a matter of fact, they were so eager to discuss their disappointment in her—their words, not hers—that they looked completely flummoxed seeing Violet walk through the door by her side.

“What are you doing here?” her mother asked her the moment they walked in the front door.

Penny grimaced. Her mother was practically glaring at Violet! “Mamm, I invited her here.”

Instead of looking intimidated, Violet merely stood by Penny's side and smiled politely. “My brother Zack and I started talking to Penny when she walked by. When she told me that she wasn't sure what she was going to do for supper, I decided to accompany her on the off-chance that you both had already eaten.” She smiled again in a winsome way, practically daring Penny's parents to argue with her reasoning.

Of course, what Violet had alluded to was the fact that the kitchen was completely neat and tidy. No meal was waiting for Penny.

Her father rested his closed fists on his hips. “If you will excuse us, we need to speak with Penny in private.”

But instead of apologizing and scurrying off—which was absolutely what Penny knew her parents wanted Violet to do—Violet looked her father directly in the eye. “Before she eats or after?”

“She missed supper.”

“How about I wait for you in your room?” Violet asked Penny. “Then when you're done, we'll go get something to eat.”

“It's late,” her mother said. “Too late for Penny to leave the house for supper.”

Violet nodded as if that made perfect sense, which, of course, it did not. “Penny, would you like to come to our
haus
for supper and then spend the night?”

“You wouldn't mind?” she asked. “I need to be at work in the morning.”

“You can simply leave from our
haus
.” Her lips curved up in a half smile that seemed to convey everything she was thinking but didn't deem appropriate to share. “Which way is your room, Penny?”

“It's down the hall. The door on the right.”

Once Violet stepped inside her bedroom and closed the door behind her, Penny faced her parents. “What did you want to speak to me about?”

“You know. You
must
know,” her father said around a glare.

“I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what, exactly, you are upset with me about.”

“We don't like that you've been gone so much, Penny,” her mother murmured.

She knew they worried about her. She knew Lissy's kidnapping and death had everything to do with their worry. But she also knew that her independence was a long time coming. Still, any retreat she made now would be closely guarded.

Therefore, she kept her answer short but respectful. “I do know that.”

After a moment's silence, her mother's patience erupted. “That's it? You don't have anything else to say?”

“Mamm, what more can I say? I've taken a job. It has kept me busy.”

“Not that busy.” Pointing at the grains of sand still stuck to her toes, her mother said, “You went to the beach today.”

“I did. I took one of the guests at the inn.” As she said the words, she practically willed her body not to flush. She knew she was not telling the whole truth. However, she didn't feel as if she had any choice.

“I think we all know that you chose to go. I think we all know that you wanted to go.”

“You're right. I did choose to go to the beach.” Mentally she shook her head in wonder. When, exactly, had her parents decided that everything needed to be twisted and turned? They were speaking of Siesta Key like it was a den of iniquity! “Mamm, spending the day at the beach was fun. I'm glad I went! The
sand was soft and silky, the water was beautiful, and everything smelled fresh and clean. I saw lots of people there who were at least six or eight years younger than me.”

Her father harrumphed. “I don't know what that has to do with anything.”

“It has everything to do with everything.” When he merely looked at her myopically, she attempted to explain. “It has everything to do with how I'm feeling. With how I've
been
feeling. For years.”

He blanched. “Years?”

At last he was listening to her. “Daed, I was sad when Lissy died. I was scared, too.”

“Don't talk about your sister,” Mamm blurted.

“I'm not,” she retorted impatiently. “I'm talking about
me
.” She stressed the last word, hoping against hope that something about what she was saying, something about her words this time would sink in. And that her dear father would notice her as a person instead of as a reminder of all they'd lost. “I was glad when we moved here. Glad when you and Mamm kept me close. But that was years ago. Time has moved on.”

Her father folded his hands behind the back of his neatly tucked-in white cotton shirt. “The years passed, but the dangers didn't change.”

“But I have. I'm not a scared twelve-year-old little girl anymore.”

“So what? You're going to ignore everything we taught you?” he asked. “You're going to ignore everything we've done for your welfare?”

Penny pulled herself inward. He wasn't hearing her. Yet again, nothing was going to change. But still, she decided to say her piece, if for no other reason than to know that she, at
least, was making strides. “Father, I saw a lot of teenagers at Siesta Key.”

“Well, sure—”

“Listen. Those teenagers weren't at the beach with their parents, they were with their friends. They were having a
gut
time, simply enjoying a sunny day. And it was obvious that this wasn't the first time, either. Daed, they were doing things that I should have been doing for years now. All I'm doing is catching up.”

After looking awkwardly at her father, Mamm picked up a dishrag. “You never said you missed those things.”

“That is because I knew you would be upset if I said anything. And I knew there was no way when I was sixteen or seventeen or even twenty that you would have let me go to Siesta Key alone.”

Instead of commenting on that, he waved a hand toward Penny's bedroom. “We're not just talking about your sudden need to act like a teenager, Penny. You keep doing all sorts of strange things.”

“Like what?”

“Like bringing Violet Kaufmann to our house.”

Penny felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. She certainly hoped Violet hadn't overheard that. “There's not a thing wrong with Violet, and there isn't a thing wrong with me inviting guests over. What
is
wrong is the fact that you are denying me meals if I don't come home early enough.”

“You have been receiving the consequences of your actions.”

“Consequences of your choosing.”

“
Nee
, daughter. You have been making the choices. Things don't have to be this way.”

“I'm starting to feel that the only way things will change is if
I move out. Unfortunately, because I've hardly had any freedom, I have nowhere to go.”

Her mother looked stricken. “Unfortunately?”

“Mamm, you must see how unfairly you're treating me. I'm too old for this.”

“Watch yourself, daughter.”

Never before had she dared to verbalize her thoughts. But now, realizing that if she didn't speak up in this moment nothing was
ever
going to change, Penny knew she had no choice. Suddenly, she felt so angry at herself for having lived in a fearful fog, so disappointed that her father wasn't even trying to see her side of things, so betrayed that her mother simply glossed over everything that had been happening to her, that she lost her temper. At last. “Watch myself? Father, that is
all
I have been doing! Things need to change.
I
did not die. I am going to live my life and make friends and go to work and one day, with God's help, find the right man and get married. Those are normal, right things that I should be doing.”

“We never said you couldn't marry,” her mother interjected timidly.

“Mamm, all three of us know that even if I met the perfect man on Sunday at church it would not be all right. What you have to decide is whether you want me here at all. If you don't, I'll start looking around for a new place to live.”

“You wouldn't do that. You wouldn't actually leave us, would you? After everything we've been through? Penny, I can't lose another daughter.”

And that was the problem, Penny realized. Her mother couldn't differentiate between Penny growing up and moving forward and Lissy being kidnapped and killed when she was twelve.

In her mother's mind, both girls were still leaving her.

And her mother was doing everything she could to bend Penny to her will. Even using manipulation and guilt.

“I never thought I would leave, but I'm afraid I will now. It's time you both accepted me and accepted my future.” Before they could answer, she turned and walked down the hall to her room.

Her hands were shaking and she knew her cheeks were flushed, too, but when she opened her door and saw Violet standing with tears in her eyes, Penny knew she'd made the right decision.

Sometimes, the hardest path to take was the only path worth walking on.

T
he next morning, Penny found herself sitting between Beverly and Tricia at the hospital. On the other side of Beverly sat Eric Wagler, who, as best as she could figure out, was kind of Penny's boss, too. Neither he nor Miss Beverly seemed in any great hurry to actually explain their relationship, but it sure seemed to be a rocky one. From what Penny could discern, Eric owned the inn but Beverly ran it. Mr. Eric seemed all right with this. In fact, he seemed to take it in stride.

Miss Beverly, on the other hand, seemed far less comfortable with their relationship. Penny wasn't sure if it was because they didn't like each other much or if they simply didn't know each other well.

Penny found the tension floating between them a bit odd.

But perhaps not any stranger than how the four of them had come to accompany Michael Knoxx to the hospital. Beverly had needed to go, of course, since she had been the one to whom Michael's parents had entrusted his care.

Eric came because he was English and had a rental car.

Tricia came because even though she didn't know Michael,
she was Beverly's niece and had said she felt strange staying back at the inn without her. But if Penny were being completely honest, it didn't seem as if Tricia knew her aunt all that well, either.

Yet when Tricia, Beverly, and Eric had begun shuttling Michael out the door, Michael had stared at Penny in confusion.

“I need you to come as well.”

“Michael, there's no need,” Beverly said gently. “Besides, I need her to stay for the rest of the guests.”

“I think differently.”

As Penny had looked on, embarrassed by the situation and torn between listening to Michael's request and following Miss Beverly's wishes, Michael, for the very first time, had displayed his star power. “I'd like Penny to be there. And since I believe she was hired in part to help me, it makes perfect sense that I should get my way on this.” Then, after launching that zinger, he raised one brow. “You don't mind, do you, Pen?”

Penny didn't think she minded. But then, she was discovering that when he called her Pen, she agreed to just about anything he asked of her. “I don't mind,” she said at last.

“Great.” He'd smiled. “Now I'm ready.”

Beverly sighed. “Let me go ask Sadie to come over for a few hours.”

When they'd arrived at the hospital, Michael had signed himself in before being whisked away by a pair of nurses. An hour later, they were told he had been taken into surgery.

And two hours later, they were still waiting.

Penny was starting to get worried. Though she'd tried to find something of interest to do in the waiting room, the flashy magazines about English celebrities didn't mean much to her. The same could be said for the shows on the television.

She got to her feet and started walking around, looking down
the hall every couple of minutes and waiting for the doctor to come out and talk to them.

A moment later, Tricia joined her. “Do you mind if I wander around with you? I can't sit in that chair for another minute.”

“I don't mind at all.” Penny smiled softly at her, glad for the company but a little confused as to why Tricia had sought her out. Though they were about the same age, they seemed very different. She wasn't sure what they could talk about.

However, it didn't seem Tricia was of the same mind. “Are you Michael's girlfriend?”

Penny was so flustered by the question, she blurted the first words on the tip of her tongue. “Definitely not!”

Tricia blinked. “Sorry. I, um, just thought you two seemed pretty close.”

“We're not.” Still, it was tempting to imagine that she and Michael were close, that she meant something special to him. “As a matter of fact, I hardly know him.” Though, that wasn't really true. Not anymore.

Tricia didn't seem put off by Penny's outraged tone. Not at all. Actually, it seemed to only spur her curiosity. “But didn't you go to the beach together yesterday?”

“We did.” Penny rubbed the knot of tension that was forming at the base of her neck. She ached to share with Tricia that she was feeling close to Michael. That he was becoming important to her. Really important to her. But that would only be setting herself up for embarrassment. A month from now, Michael would be gone and she'd have to face everyone knowing that she'd made a fool of herself over him.

“At first I thought you took him because Aunt Beverly asked you to. But then she told me it was your day off.”

“Going to the beach wasn't any big deal.”

“It seemed like a big deal to him.” With a smile, she added, “I went to his room with Aunt Beverly last night. He kept saying that it was the nicest day he'd had in some time.”

Penny kept her eyes averted. “He really wanted to go to the beach. And I did go with him, but that was mainly because he needed someone to go with and he doesn't know anyone else. I've been helping to take care of him, you see.” Yes, that should be the spin on her obvious affection for him. She was spending time with Michael because she was so dedicated to her job.

“I get that, but I don't know, Penny. He sure seems taken with you.” She smiled again, showing Penny that she was being completely sincere. For some reason Tricia didn't see that there was anything strange about
the
Michael Knoxx liking Penny Troyer in a special way.

“Well, he isn't. He's simply nice.”

Tricia looked tempted to say more, but she simply shrugged. “You're right. He is nice.”

Yes, that was how she should think of him. A nice man. Because when he was healed and feeling better, he would leave and be off traveling again. Being everything everyone needed him to be.

Thinking about him on stage and about how, well,
compelling
he'd been, she realized that was exactly how she could make Tricia understand. “Have you ever seen him speak?”

“
Nee
. To be honest, I had only heard of the Knoxx Family and the message they preach in the most general terms. They visited Berlin a year or two ago, but no one in my family went to hear them speak.”

“I heard them here. Michael was . . .” Her voice drifted as she struggled to find the right way to describe his charisma, and the way his talk had made her feel.

“He was mesmerizing,” she finished.

Tricia grinned. “I bet. He does seem to have a way with words. And, well, he is terribly handsome.”

He was the most handsome man Penny had ever seen. But reducing him to only his looks felt like a travesty. “
Nee
, it was more than that. He was speaking to over a hundred people, but the way he looked at the audience made each person feel as if he was having a private conversation with only them. It was meaningful and real.”

“He talked about being trapped in the ravine, didn't he? And about how he's coped with losing a leg.”

“He did. But it was more than that,” she said. “He . . . He made me believe in miracles.”

Tricia's eyes widened. “Wow. I wish I had seen him. I would like to believe in miracles again.”

“Do you not? Sorry. Forget I asked that.”

“I don't mind answering,” Tricia said softly. “If you want to hear.”

“I do. Of course I do.”

Tricia looked pleased. Or maybe it was more like grateful? “Back at home, I had trouble with some girls. One made up a story about me and everyone wanted to believe it. I had to get away, so I came down here to see Aunt Beverly without an invitation.” Looking away, she added, “Actually, she didn't even know I was coming. But I had complete faith that I'd find her and she'd take me in. And she did. So maybe I do believe in them after all. Do you?”

“I haven't for a long time. But lately, it feels as if everything is coming together for me.” Not comfortable with sharing her past or discussing her feelings about Michael, she said, “Some things have happened to make me and my family wary about most
things. But the evening Michael and his family spoke, something made me decide to make a change. And once I did that, it set a lot of other things in motion.”

Tricia looked at her in wonder. “Do you think that's all it takes? That each of us needs to have the presence of mind to make that first step, even when we aren't sure where it leads us?”

“I don't know. I'll let you know a year from now when I can look back on how things turned out.”

Tricia grinned. “Let's make a promise, then. In one year, we'll write each other and say if we thought it was
gut
that we went down that path. Or if it had been a bad mistake.”

“That's a deal.” She was about to add something more, but Beverly stood up just then and motioned them closer.

“Girls, the
doktah
is coming.”

Penny rushed to Beverly's side just as the doctor was introducing himself.

“How is he?” Penny blurted, unable to wait another moment.

“Michael is in recovery, so he's a bit groggy,” he said around a smile. “But when he's more himself, I'm going to tell him the same thing I am telling all of you. The surgery went well.”

“Oh, praise God,” Beverly said.

Penny sighed in relief as the surgeon continued. “We repaired the scar tissue that had gotten a bit aggravated during the last month and found the source of that infection. We cleaned that area well, too. He's going to be just fine.”

“This is such
wonderful-gut
news,” Beverly said. “Michael is such a nice man. I've been hoping and praying that you wouldn't find anything unexpected.” Looking at the four of them, she grimaced. “I'm embarrassed to say that at times I was afraid that you would have worse news for us.”

The surgeon's expression turned serious. “The worst of it was
seeing the damage done to his limb. He made a bad decision ignoring his pain for so long. If he'd simply told his family and made an appointment, everything could have probably been taken care of in an office visit.”

Beverly nodded. “I'll be sure and share that with his family.”

The doctor grinned. “I'll be telling him my feelings about that, too. I know he likes to think he is invincible, but none of us are. The Lord expects us to take care of ourselves to the best of our ability.”

“Those are words to take to heart,” Eric murmured.

“Is there anything else, Doctor?”

“Just be sure and let Michael's family know that they can call me if they have questions, though I doubt they'll need to. Michael asked me quite a few questions before we put him under anesthesia. He might not always take care of his leg, but he knows its limitations well.”

“What happens now?” Eric asked.

“As I said, he's in recovery. When he's feeling a little less woozy, we'll put him in a room and keep him overnight. Unless something unexpected happens, he'll be able to leave around noon tomorrow.”

Penny smiled at Tricia. “That's
wonderbaar
. I thought he might be here for days and days.”

The surgeon shook his head. “These days, we send folks home as soon as we can. People like being in their own beds. Now, who is Penny?”

She was so surprised, she held up a hand. “I am.”

“Would you mind coming with me? Michael has been asking for you.” He smiled to himself. “He's asked for you so many times, the nurses decided it would be a good idea for you to keep him company for a spell.”

“Are you sure he asked to see me?”

Behind her Tricia giggled. “He's sure, Penny.”

And the surgeon nodded. “I'm very sure. Come along now.”

She took a step forward but looked over her shoulder as she did. “Do you think this is all right, Miss Beverly?”

She was wearing the same amused expression as Tricia. “I think it's more than all right, Penny. If he's asking to see you, I think that's a mighty
gut
sign. You go on ahead. I need to call Michael's parents, anyway.”

“All right then.” Steeling her shoulders, she followed the doctor through the big set of automatic doors and realized that her conversation with Tricia had been perfectly true. One never did know what the future had in store.

Or what miracles were about to take place in their midst.