Disclaimer: I don't own The Penderwicks
Well it's me again! (And we thought we'd just gotten rid of her...) Anyway I'm back for the third installment, so if you haven't please go read my other Penderwicks stories first. (Enough - Worth - and finally Promise) Anyway I'm gonna stop rambling now so...happy reading!
The Penderwicks
Promise
Chapter 1 (Skye's POV)
Saturday mornings usually had a way of "persuading" me to sleep in. But considering I'd been perched on the roof until 2:00 am to see a rare passing comet, well it made me consider just skipping this Saturday all together. And I probably would have but the distinct scent of pancakes was pretty persuasive too. But I still don't think it would have been enough to budge me, but an equally annoying and suspicious voice was drifting in with the smell of breakfast.
Rolling over I cracked a tired eye at my clock and saw that it was barely 7:00. It was hardly 7:00 and Jeffrey was singing... Moaning I crammed a pillow over my head as I rethought Jane's bright idea of showing him the key under the mat. He was probably busy raiding the fridge before anyone else even got up.
Now I was faced with a difficult choice, stay in bed and leave him unpunished, or get up and give him what he deserved for waking me up. I wrestled with the ethics of each decision before I almost fell back asleep. But he had to hit a high note right then. Flinging my feet onto the cold floor I stumbled toward the kitchen as I plotted what I'd do to him. I thought it at least involved a lengthy lecture on how being a musical genius on piano doesn't automatically translate to a great singing voice. Just a lecture seemed pretty anti-climactic, but my ears were still ringing from Rosy's future marital advice. Something about not laying blame, just offering constructive guidance.
I always thought Jeffrey responded to a rap in the shoulder pretty constructively...
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I stepped into the kitchen and surveyed the scene. Dad was sitting at the table reading the newspaper, and Jeffrey was at the stove wearing a full apron. I was just glad it wasn't the kind with the ruffles, I'm pretty sure that would have scarred me for life. Noticing me out of the corner of his eye Jeffrey turned to beam a cheesy grin. "Good morning my fair lady, I take it your slumber was sweet?"
Folding my arms I frowned in irony. "It was brief anyway…"
He reached for a spatula before he flipped a pancake. "Well I will briefly have your breakfast served!"
Faking ignorance I smirked. "You're not making stuffed peppers are you?"
He shot me a playfully smug look. "You have to admit those were actually awesome! But no, my Princess Penderwick, that's not what I'm making."
I just stared at him in silence before I raised a slow eyebrow. "Did you really just just call me Princess Penderwick…?"
He bit his lip in thought before he turned back to the pancakes in resignation of my point.
"We shall never speak of it again..."
At that dad laughed and folded his paper in half. I just collapsed into the chair across from him and laid my head on the table. The moment was ruined by now, and I was too tired for a lecture anyway… Rosy's lecture idea never gave the same satisfaction as playful abuse… I sighed. Chalk it up to something else adulthood was ruining…
Dad laughed. "I take it you saw your comet last night daughter?"
"Yep… It won't be around for another forty years so…" I mumbled into my arms as I threaten to doze off right there.
"Hmm forty years…" Jeffrey mused to himself. "I wonder if I'll still be this handsome then?"
I snorted my obvious opinion to that, but didn't bother to look up. Not until I heard a plate being sat in front of me anyway. "And dinner, that is to say breakfast, is served madame." Jeffrey said, this time with a french accent.
I looked from him to the pancakes and then back again. Giving one of his classic smirks he gestured toward the front of his apron, which read "Kiss the cook."
I just rolled my eyes before I tore off a piece of pancake with my fork. Sure I knew Jeffrey was a better cook than me, but that REALLY wasn't saying anything so I still wasn't sure if this would be edible. But surprisingly it was, and he'd even thought to add blueberries. It almost made me want to forgive him for waking me up. Turning toward him I nodded in calm acknowledgement of his feat.
"Thanks, that's almost worth a kiss I guess."
"Almost?" He said with his most playfully pathetic voice.
"Yeah…" I said with a slight smirk. "Almost, but I can't really forgive that apron, it would be out of character. Sorry about that."
Still faking defeat he collapsed into the seat next to me. "Oh how a good deed never goes unpunished."
I chuckled at that as I reached to pour on a new layer of maple syrup. Being as early as it was, (or maybe as tried as I was) I only had about 30% guilt at enjoying his labors. Dad laughed again as he laid down his newspaper and looked over at us. "Well I have to say I'm relieved. For a while I was afraid you both might starve to death if neither of you could cook."
I frowned as I shot dad a playfully hurt look. He just smiled as he reached across the table to squeeze my free hand. "You couldn't be brilliant at everything dear daughter. You had to have one weakness so the rest of us wouldn't feel so inadequate."
Jeffrey grinned as he started giving grand gestures. "Yes us mere mortals are forever eclipsed by the rays you emit!"
I frowned as I reached over to playfully flick his nose. Then smirking I dug back into my pancakes. "I don't mind, it just means you'll do all the cooking."
Jeffrey wagged a finger at me. "Yes but only if you learn to obey the apron."
I snorted in a huff before I turned in my seat to raise an eyebrow at him. "And what if that thing suddenly disappeared?"
Jeffrey just frowned with a playful pout. "Then we'd both be forced to live off of convenience store chips and stale bagels. But that's just until we died of the sheer loneliness of enduring a loveless marriage in which no cooks are ever kissed."
I stared at him like he was crazy for a few long seconds before I grinned slightly. "Okay so close your eyes then."
He blinked in surprise before he smiled and closed his eyes. Dad simply looked on in amused wonder as I grabbed the syrup bottle. Standing I swirled a dollop of the sugary stuff on his head before I leaned to kiss his cheek.
"Thanks for breakfast." I whispered as I walked out of the room. I wasn't exactly sure that's what he'd been hoping for, but from the look on his face I didn't guess he cared. I passed Jane in the hall and couldn't help but smile when I heard her round the corner into the kitchen.
"Are those pan-" She stopped short. "Uh Jeffrey...you do know you're covered in…" She paused. "Syrup I think...?"
I heard him breathe a contented sigh. "Yes Jane, I know."
But like they say, there's never any rest for the weary. Our mini vacation to Arundel had left Ben and Batty shouldering our chores, and I had a feeling they were ready for a little payback. I was trying to decide on the best tree under which to finish working a few long standing equations, when they struck. The next thing I knew I had a rake thrust into my hands, and Jane was pulled from her novel and shoved out the back door with another in hers. Walking over to me she sighed. "Kids these days just don't appreciate the artistic process it seems."
I frowned as I surveyed the massive collection of leaves littering the backyard. I rubbed my chin in thought for a second or two before I narrowed my eyes. "We need another victim…"
I guess Jeffrey was still running high on all the sugar he'd absorbed through his skin, because when I gave him the third rake he just started up on the leaves with a cheerful whistle. I on the other hand was hardly in the mood for whistling. My neck was a cramped up mess from my night on the roof, and now I knew my arms were going to be next. But I tried not to complain, I just did my best to busy myself with trying to figure out my equations mentally. And I'd almost gotten them when I heard Jane shriek like she'd just won the lottery.
I cringed as my neck went from bad to cataclysmic. But before I could "relate" that to Jane she had dropped her rake and darted back toward the house. And then it all clicked together. There on the back step with a bunch of flowers in hand was David. I didn't have anything against the guy since I'd met him, I mean he seemed harmless enough, but I was not about to rake while Jane swooned. Stopping to rest I leaned into my rake as I watched Jane gesturing wildly about who knows what.
"Hmm…" Jeffrey thought out loud before he turned to me. "Do you like flowers?"
I shrugged. "I don't hate them, I mean they contain the golden ratio and all, but if you mean shriek like a fangirl, no."
He laughed. "I mean would you like them from me? Because if you ever shriek like a fangirl I'm calling the men in white coats no questions asked."
I smirked. "Well yeah I guess. I mean unless you think I should accept them from other strange men beside you."
He finished raking one pile into another larger one and wiped his forehead. "No I think one strange man is enough for you Skye Penderwick."
I laughed ironically. "Yeah...I have to agree on that one."
I was expecting a comeback or even him to throw a handful of leaves at me, but he didn't… He just stared over at me until his smile softened. I was just about to ask what he was looking at when he finally spoke. "So no regrets about being my lady?"
I chuckled more out of awkwardness than anything else. "What seriously?"
I was waiting for him to put on his usual ridiculous grin or do something else predictably Jeffrey, but he didn't… He just kept looking at me with a calm face. But it was a look too earnest and sincere for me to just dismiss with a joke or a punch in the shoulder. I shifted uncomfortably where I stood. Why was he being so serious all of a sudden anyway? How does raking leaves lead to this kinda drama? Things were fine between us, he should have known that.
But even as I thought it I felt a pang of guilt. Isn't this what I always worried about. I really wasn't very open with my feelings, so maybe it was only natural for people to wonder if I really did care about them. I frowned before I could even think how he might take it. But Jeffrey of all people should have known better. Right…?
Before I even realized it I was picturing him as that fourth grade Romeo waiting on another lousy leading lady. I felt another wave of guilt. Looking back up at him I hadn't meant to focus on his eyes, but there was something about them right now… Something that made every funny comeback line crumble before I even opened my mouth.
I remembered the summer when he first became a head taller than me, but other than that nothing much had ever changed about Jeffrey. His eyes were still as green as ever, (not that I expected them to change) and his face still had more freckles than the sky had stars. And trust me that was saying something. He'd asked me once if I minded all those freckles. I wasn't even sure now what I'd said, but I knew exactly what I hadn't said. I hadn't mentioned that they reminded me of a star cluster I'd seen in a book once. Or that I'd managed to number all of them once. And I definitely didn't say anything about the times I used counting them as a nervous coping strategy. I was sixteen when I first figured out that counting them mentally helped me look him in the face without my heart racing.
I never mentioned that to anyone… Was that why everyone was so worried about me breaking his heart…? Everybody...they all figured it was poor Jeffrey who'd fallen in love with me. Me the cold Skye Penderwick. But no one realized just how long I'd loved him. How long I'd wondered if he'd end up breaking my heart instead. Because how could he ever love someone like me…? No one imagined I could care for anything other than stars and equations… And now maybe even he didn't realize…
"No I don't actually." I finally said. It was a clear calm statement that sounded like it could as just as well been an answer to "do you like Brussels sprouts?" Maybe I felt a little angry, hurt I mean, that he had to ask me that. Did he think I was heartless?
Jeffrey smiled. "Good, now I can hopefully push the thought of you leaving me standing alone in the aisle out of my mind."
"Why would I do that?" I snapped a little too harshly. I wanted to take it back, but I couldn't.
He blinked seeming at a loss as to why I was angry before he gave a simple answer. "You wouldn't do that."
I sighed and rubbed at my forehead as I tried to calm my emotions. "Sorry I didn't mean to bite your head off. It's just... " I looked down at the leaf littered ground and then back up at him. "I think I have a complex about people thinking I'm cold, or cruel or something... Stupid right…?"
He smiled a little softer. "No that's not stupid, I think I have a complex of rejection instilled by harsh fourth grade Juliets." He stroked his chin in thought. "Now that one on the other hand, does sound stupid."
I grinned, and honestly it felt better than a grin had in awhile. Like at least one secret piece of my heart wasn't looming over me anymore. So much so that before I realized it I felt comfortable enough to let go of another.
"Well I'm not gonna reject you." My voice felt so warm and honest right then that as soon as I realized what I'd said, and how I'd said it…well... I was probably blushing ear to ear. But swallowing hard I tried to push the embarrassment away. (I may or may not have started counting…) But any attempt at beating back the nervousness was completely destroyed when he leaned to kiss me all of a sudden. And when he pulled back to smile at me… Well I knew there was just one thing to do…
Grinning right back at him I reached to give him a sudden shove. He went down like a chopped tree straight into the pile of leaves. Staring at him looking so bewildered and covered in leaves made me bust out laughing uncontrollably. But that turned into a slight shout of surprise when he grabbed my ankle and pulled me down into the pile next to him.
"Hey!" I shouted louder as I reached to tossed a handful of leaves at him. He of course returned the gesture, and before we knew it we were both as covered in leaves as the rest of the backyard. And I guess we didn't notice Jane and David until they were staring down at us. I stopped tossing leaves and looked up with embarrassment at the amused look on both their faces.
Jane cleared her throat before smirking and gesturing toward me.
"Oh David, I think you're already met my little sister Skye?"
Well as always please feel free to review, and thanks again for reading! More to come!
