Read Online Penelope by Bernadette Marie - Free Book Online

that. His brother told him everything.
    “Maybe.” He nodded. “That’s exciting. Must be something in the water.”
    His father’s brows drew together. “Why do you say that?”
    “Nothing, Dad.” He laughed again. “I just have a friend who’s expecting too. Don’t get too worried. I had nothing to do with it.”
    “Well, that’s why I think he needs a real job.”
    “I’m sure if he needs one, he’ll get one.” He took another sip from his beer. “Sadie said the kids grew nearly two inches since I’ve seen them last. I’ll have to stop by.”
    “I think your mother would like to have everyone over for dinner since you’re back. Can you make time for that?”
    Brock gave it some thought. “Yeah. I have some things I promised to do, but I’m sure I can do it whenever Mom wants to.”
    His father grew quiet and rolled the beer bottle between his palms.
    “You’re okay though? I mean you’ve healed? How is your sleep? You’re not drinking are you?” He looked at the bottle. “I mean excessively.”
    Brock reached across the small table and rested his hand on his father’s. “I’m fine. The bullet left me with a scar.” He pulled up his sleeve and showed him his shoulder. “I was very lucky. I know that. As for what I saw and what I went through,” he considered. “I know I’ll have some restless nights. I might even look into some support groups. I’m not above looking for help if I need it.”
    His father nodded. “You always did have a good head on your shoulders.” He sat back and took a pull from his beer. “So now what? Now that you’re home, what are your plans?”
    Brock sipped his beer and let out a breath. “I’m going to head to Parson’s Gulch, Oklahoma for a bit. Sergeant Monroe’s family is opening a daycare center in his grandmother’s old house in town. They’ve done a lot of work to it. I offered to go down and help with assembling the play yard and the classrooms.”
    His father narrowed his eyes on him. “There’s more. What else is there?”
    Brock couldn’t help but smile. Just the thought of Penelope made him do that. “Okay, there’s a girl. Nothing big,” he tried to be calm and use his words carefully. “I just met her. She’s got a lot on her plate now. But, she’s good people.”
    His father crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “You have a way of reading people. If you say she’s good people, she is.”
    That meant a lot coming from his father. Now, to convince his mother would be a different story.
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Penelope sat at the table in the small kitchen of the old house with Amelia and Vivian pouring over the photos Vivian had taken of her wrecked home.
    “I hardly filled up Sam’s truck. The tree had fallen in before they got to it and everything was ruined,” Vivian said.
    Penelope looked at the pictures from the girls’ room and it brought her to tears. She’d only had a few very precious toys when she was young. Toys her mother deemed educational and useful, but she would have been devastated to have lost them.
    “I wish we could do something to replace it all,” Penelope scanned through the photos again.
    “I’ve lived in this town my whole life. I’ve seen it leveled worse than this. I was unlucky this time, but my girls and I were safe. I can’t even be upset about all of this.”
    “I still don’t know what you were doing here. It was like a divine intervention that you weren’t at the house,” Amelia said, looking over Penelope’s shoulder.
    Penelope looked up at Vivian who was already smiling wide. Then Sam cleared his throat.
    “I think the two of you need to come clean and tell her about the body you were burying in the basement that night.”
    Penelope nearly broke out in a laugh when Amelia gave him a shake of her head.
    “Did Adam’s mother make an appearance that night?” she asked, looking right in Vivian’s direction.
    Vivian’s humored look sobered up. “You say crap