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“Pretty, is she?” Penny teased.
“Not a patch on your mother and about ten years older than me, but nevertheless a good neighbour,” he replied seriously.
She tensed at the mention of her mother. “Do you miss her badly, Dad?” she asked, following him into the house. Allie poked her in the shoulder. She turned and glared at her.
“What?” she mouthed.
“Stop it!” Allie hissed back through her teeth.
They helped set up a tray of coffee and hot milk, which Penny carried through into the conservatory; it was sunny, but a chill breeze sprang up that made the temperature feel cooler than the otherwise exceptionally mild temperatures they had been experiencing. Allie handed out plates and there was a comfortable silence as they munched slices of Mrs. James’s delicious flapjack.
“So what have you two chickens been up to, eh?”
Penny listened as Allie chatted easily with their father. At a lull in the conversation he turned to her with a frown.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing!” She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile but he wasn’t fooled.
“I know you, chick, there is something troubling you. Come on, spit it out.”
She threw Allie a panicked look.
“No colluding, you two. I might be older now but I’m not in my dotage yet. Now tell me what is going on?”
* * *
“If it wasn’t for thesuitcase contents, I have to say I would possibly struggle to believe a word of this,” Penny’s father said. “You say your mother and I died in South Africa? Damn good thing we didn’t go, your mother wasn’t feeling well. Turned out it was the first sign of cancer.”
“Mum felt ill before you went but she insisted she would be fine to travel since it was your ruby wedding anniversary. She said she was probably getting over a virus or something,” Penny explained.
“Yes, I remember we discussed it at length but I wanted to make certain she was well enough to travel and well, you know the rest.” He shrugged sadly. “How very peculiar to think there might be, or are, lots of other versions of ourselves out there somewhere. I know other dimensions have been surmised at by scientists, but to actually have the evidence in front of you, it’s, well...”
“Dad, you know that you can’t tell anyone, you do understand?” Penny interrupted.
“I wouldn’t share this, chicken; they’d cart me off to a care home and label me as senile! However, perhaps you should go and find a top scientist in this field? With the evidence you have, they might help you work out how to return to your own dimension.”
“No, she shouldn’t, they’d want to keep her locked in a lab somewhere and the investigation would become an experiment that could last for years!” Allie said fervently.
“Or they’d lock me up in a loony bin!” Penny added ruefully.
“Hmm, perhaps you are right. Look, it isn’t every day something of this magnitude happens. I say we open a bottle of fizz to welcome my daughter, your sister, into our world properly, but first come here and give this version of your old dad a hug!”
He stood up and opened his arms. Penny gladly went into his hug with gratitude, her heart bursting with love for him. Allie came and wrapped her arms around her back so she was sandwiched between them and there they stood, quietly accepting what they could both have condemned as nonsense.
Tears slipped from her eyes. She let them fall, enjoying the release of a cathartic cry cushioned by her family.
Father and sister waited, supporting her until she lifted her head. They each stepped back.
“Here.” A box of tissues was thrust into her hands and her dad patted her back before disappearing into the house.
“Dad never ceases to amaze me,” Allie said with a shake of her head.
“I underestimated him,” Penny replied as she wiped her face and blew her nose. Their father returned with a tray of champagne flutes, each brimming with pale golden fizz.
“It’s not actually champagne but a sweeter Asti Spumante. I know you dislike dry drinks, Penny.”
Interesting that the other Penny likes sweet drinks too... I’ve never really liked alcohol, I prefer Coke.
