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I turned my head in time to get tackled by a small blond blur. Pen’s arms wrapped around my waist, and a rush of pure, indescribable relief filled my lungs.
I hugged her back, my chest so tight it hurt to breathe.
“Hey, Pen.” I smiled past the swell of emotion in my throat. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” She looked up at me, her eyes shimmering with tears. She looked a lot thinner than the last time I’d seen her. While I was glad to see her again, we needed to have a talk about her hunger strike—after I finished squeezing the hell out of her. “I didn’t think I was going to see you or Rhea again,” she said in a small voice.
My heart broke at the vulnerability in the words.
“Trust me. I would’ve found a way to see you again, one way or another.” I meant it. My father and Caroline couldn’t have stopped me from seeing Pen forever. I would’ve found a way around their stonewalling, though this was a much better alternative than other, perhaps less ethical alternatives.
I didn’t think I was going to see you or Rhea again.The last part of Pen’s sentence registered, and a furrow dug between my brows. What did she—
A flash of movement caught the corner of my eye. I turned, taking in the woman hovering in the doorway.
“Rhea!” I gasped. “You’re back.”
Pen’s old nanny smiled, looking tired but satisfied. “I’m back,” she confirmed. “Mrs. Kensington called me after the new year. Penny put up such a fuss that the nanny they’d hired after me quit.”
“That new nanny sucked,” Pen said. “She didn’t even know that Blackcastle is a soccer team.”
The remaining tension broke, and there were hugs and tears all around as the three of us reunited for the first time since November. Well, not tears from me—I hadn’t been able to cry again since I reconciled with Xavier. I suspected I’d emptied the well so thoroughly it’d take another twenty-odd years before the phenomenon happened again.
However, the joy of seeing Pen again didn’t stop me from scolding her about her hunger strike. It wasn’t healthy, especially not for someone with her condition.
“What’s this I hear about you refusing to eat?”
She slunk down in her seat. “I didn’trefuseto eat. I simply skipped a few meals and threatened to skip more unless they let me see you.”
“You shouldn’t do that, Pen,” I said gently. “Your health is the most important thing, and skipping meals can be seriously harmful.”
“But they took you and Rhea away, and the threats worked!” she protested. “See? Look at us.” She gestured at our trio. “Honestly, I should’ve tried that tactic sooner. Then we wouldn’t have had to sneak around for so many years.”
I sighed while Rhea shook her head. There was no arguing with Pen; she won every time.
“What do you want to do today?” I asked, switching topics. As long as she ate regularly going forward, there was no use dwelling on what was already done. “I took off work, so I’m all yours.” I’d planned on going into the office that afternoon, but I’d just emailed Jillian to tell her I wouldn’t be in.
Pen pursed her lips, her little face scrunched in thought. “I want to watch a movie.”
My eyebrows shot up. She rarely wanted to do something as calm as watching a movie. She watched soccer games, but that was different. “A movie? Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She gave a definitive nod. “I don’t want to get tired too fast.”
“Then a movie it is.”
We decamped to the screening room, where I put on a cartoon about fairy princesses and filled her in on what’d happened since we last talked. I omitted the non-kid-friendly parts; there were some things about my life that Pen never needed to know.
“Did Xavier hurt you?” she asked. “Because I told him I’d sic Mary on him if he did.”
“He did briefly, but he didn’t mean it, and he apologized.” I paused, my brow creasing. “Who’s Mary?”
“A haunted Victorian doll.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’thavea Victorian doll. They creep you out.”
“I know.” Pen’s grin was pure mischief. “Buthedoesn’t know that.”
I couldn’t help it; I burst into laughter. She wasdefinitelygoing to be a handful when she grew up.
