Friday

When Meemaw woke up it was still raining. She was heading down the hall when she saw Sheldon's door open and heard the music from Penny's. She peeked into Penny's room and found them curled up together. Wyatt had warned her that Penny was scared of storms. Looks like her Moon Pie had taken care of Penny pretty well.

She headed down to the kitchen to make waffles. 20 minutes later Sheldon walked past on his way to the bathroom. Penny was clutching her monkeys as she followed behind him. Once they were seated Meemaw served them some waffles and bacon.

"I was thinking that since it is raining today, maybe we could go to the movies," she said. "There's a double feature at the Opera House. Two older movies, Freaky Friday and Doctor Dolittle. How does that sound?"

Penny looked at her wide eyed. "With popcorn?"

Sheldon grinned hopefully. "And red vines?"

Meemaw laughed and nodded. "Yes. We'll have popcorn and red vines, and sodas. After that, we are going to go to the mall. If I'm not mistaken, Penny's dad has a birthday coming up and I thought Penny might like to get him a gift."

"Is there anything you don't know, Meemaw?" Penny asked in awe.

Meemaw winked at her. "If there is, I don't know it."

Of the two movies, Dr Dolittle was the bigger hit with the kids. Penny really wanted to own a pushmi-pullyu. Sheldon thought it would be really cool to talk to monkeys. Walking through the mall, they talked about all the different animals they would like to speak with. After a bit of searching Penny found a small radio that she thought her dad would really like because it had a little mounting bracket that he could use to attach it to his cart and listen to as he was driving from one job to the next at work. Wyatt loved sports radio programs and often missed out on many of his favorites. Sheldon bought Wyatt a new reel for his fishing pole and a few lures that Penny had never seen before so he was pretty confident Wyatt didn't have them.

They went to Mary's for dinner. Missy had a couple of her friends over and Sheldon blushed when they teased him. Penny remembered her promise to Meemaw, but it wasn't easy to keep it. She didn't like Missy's friends at all. Especially the one who kept calling Sheldon 'cutie pie'.

Saturday

Penny sat on the couch with Sheldon, their hands clasped tight. They heard the truck pull up and stood. As soon as Wyatt stepped through the door, Penny ran over and hugged him tight. He swung her up into his arms and cradled her close.

"Miss me, slugger?"

Penny nodded against his chest. "Yes, daddy! I missed you bunches and bunches."

He grinned. "I missed you oodles and oodles."

He set her down and reached out to shake Sheldon's hand. "Sheldon, it appears you took very good care of my little girl. I am very grateful."

Sheldon puffed out his chest a bit. "Thank you, sir."

Penny grabbed his hand and tugged. "Daddy! Guess what! I got you a gift! Cause it's your birthday tomorrow!"

Wyatt looked down in surprise. "You remembered that?"

Penny shook her head. "Meemaw did! And there's a cake, too!"

Wyatt looked over at Mary and Meemaw and smiled. "I have no idea what to say. Thank you, ladies." Meemaw and Mary waved him into the kitchen where a few gaily wrapped presents sat beside a chocolate cake. Wyatt glanced around the room and realized that this family hadn't just adopted his daughter as one of their own. They had done the same with him.

Penny fell asleep half way home. Wyatt turned the truck radio down low and thought about their leaving. Penny had cried and clung to Sheldon fiercely, making him promise over and over that he was definitely coming on vacation with them. She had kissed and hugged Mary, Meemaw and Missy, too. George got a hug and he tugged one of her curls. Then another hug for Sheldon.

He was glad she had enjoyed her trip. It was worth the argument he had with his ex. She had called out of the blue and asked him to send Penny to New York to visit. When he had explained she was visiting a friend, Julie had gone ballistic. Especially when she found out it was a male friend. It didn't matter to Julie that Sheldon was 12 and Penny was 9½ .

Wyatt sighed. Luckily, though, Julie didn't have any say in how he raised Penny. She had insisted on having custody of Mike and Caroline, but had been quick to let him keep full custody of Penny. Mike and Caroline were 7 and 6 years older than her, respectively. They didn't require as much hands on raising. Julie had never been fond of babies, and when they divorced, Penny was only 5.

It wasn't that Julie was a bad mom, or a bad woman. She knew her strengths and weaknesses. She had known she couldn't devote the time to Penny that Penny needed. She knew he would. But he had agreed that after his vacation, he would send Penny up for a long weekend before school started. He dreaded telling Penny. She hated New York.

Sheldon smiled as soon as Penny came into view. Mommy parked the van and he scrambled out. The moment his feet hit the ground, Penny was hugging him.

"You're here!" Penny squealed. He hugged her back and looked over at Mr. Wyatt.

"Hello, sir," he said happily.

Wyatt patted his arm and headed to the back of the vehicle. Mary was unloading Sheldon's duffle bag and backpack. "Here, let me," he said quickly. He took the luggage and carried it into the house. Penny took Mary's hand and pulled her inside. She wanted to show Mary her new bed. Once that was accomplished, Penny and Sheldon went outside to look at the camping equipment Wyatt had already packed into the truck.

Wyatt poured Mary a cup of coffee and they sat down at the table. "So, how was the drive?"

Mary grinned. "Shelly was very excited to be coming. He has spent the past week reading everything he could about camping, hiking and Colorado. He's missed Penny quite a bit. Thank you for letting her call him twice a week."

Wyatt smiled. "I didn't have much choice. She cried the first two nights home because she missed all of you."

Mary looked out the window at the two of them sitting on the tailgate. "She's a very sweet child, Wyatt. You have every right to be proud of her. We loved having her visit."

He nodded. "I'm lucky to have her. And Sheldon's no slouch either, you know. That boy's so smart it's scary. But he's got a good heart and he's made her life a lot less lonely."

Her eyes grew a bit misty. "I love all my kids. But Shelly, well, he's special. He never really fit in with others. All those smarts of his makes it hard for him to be a kid. He has a grown up brain in a child's body and he can't always blend the two. But Penny has a way of drawing him out of his mind and into the real world."

Wyatt grinned and refilled his own cup. "Then let's thank whatever luck, good fortune or deity there is that they saw fit to bring our kids together."

Mary nodded her agreement, and they started discussing the camping trip.

The only thing Sheldon had dreaded about the trip was the sleeping arrangements. He had learned from Penny that each year they set up three tents, One for Mr. Wyatt and Penny, one for Mr. Allen and his wife, Mrs. Carrie, and one for their kids, Chris and Toby. Toby was 13 and Chris was 14. He had resigned himself to sharing a tent with two boys he didn't know. After all, Penny would be nearby.

So he was very surprised and very grateful when Mr. Wyatt presented him with a small pup tent just for him. Not only any old pup tent, either. It had the Green Lantern Corps on it! Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Salaak, Kilowog and Katma Tui were on one side, and the Corps symbol on the other. Sheldon couldn't think of an adequate way to express his gratitude, so he did what Penny did when she was really happy. He hugged him. Just a quick, very loose hug, but it seemed to make Mr. Wyatt happy.

Toby and Chris were pretty nice guys. Sheldon didn't know many kids his own age, and the ones he did know weren't exactly friendly. The boys were mostly interested in swimming in the lake or talking to the girls on the other side of the hill. Penny's aunt spent most of her time sunbathing or swimming. Mr. Wyatt and Mr. Allen fished most of the time. Sheldon was pleased to see he was using the new reel.

That left him and Penny to occupy themselves. That was pretty easy to do. They fished a bit, but mostly they hiked around. They walked along the trails and around the lake. There was a wildlife watching tower they visited. And the ranger station had two different group tours. One took them bird watching and one took them on a canoeing ride down the little river.

In the mornings they had eggs and bacon cooked on the grill. Usually there were sandwiches and chips for lunch. At night they cooked on a campfire. Usually they had whatever fish the men had caught, along with hot dogs and baked beans. Their last night there, Mr. Wyatt insisted they do something special. First he built a nice size bonfire. Then they made s'mores, sang songs and slept out under the stars.

Sheldon was just dozing off when he heard Penny whimpering. He sat up and looked over. She was curled up under her Cinderella sleeping bag, and it looked like she was having a bad dream. Sheldon looked around but the others were all asleep. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and moved over beside her. He laid back down on his side and reached over to wake her. She immediately rolled toward him and grabbed his hand.

"Sheldon, a big owl swooped down and carried me off. It made me live in it's nest and wouldn't let me play with you no more. And it said I couldn't go home cause Daddy needed my room for a dog. That he wanted a doggie more than he wanted me," she cried. Sheldon hugged her close. He sang Soft Kitty in a low voice until they both fell back to sleep.

Wyatt snapped a couple of pictures before waking them. His brother had woken him up a few minutes earlier and pointed to Sheldon and Penny. They were sleeping facing each other, hands clasped together. He decided he'd send one to Mary. She'd enjoy seeing the two kids looking so peaceful.

Sheldon sadly watched the scenery go by. As much as he was glad to see his Meemaw, he had hated to see Penny's tears as she said goodbye.

"Did you have fun, Moon Pie?"

Sheldon nodded. "Yes I did, Meemaw. We hiked, and fished and had a bonfire." He looked in the backseat at his belongings. "Mr. Wyatt got me my own tent, too. And he said I could take it home with me. He said next year, I just had to bring it back with me."

She smiled and reached over to pat his shoulder. "That sounds wonderful."

It was, he thought to himself.