Page 97 of Snapdragons
Niles met Penelope’s eye. “See what I have to put up with, Penny?”
She climbed onto the bed, where he sat propped up on pillows, with a blanket pulled up to his chest, which was wrapped in bandaging to ease some of the pain in his ribs. She settled in, seated directly beside him. To the Gents, she said, “I am fully aware of the scandalous nature of my current location, but as nothing untoward is actually occurring and he does, in fact, look like something tossed out of purgatory, I will trust the lot of you to keep your mouths firmly shut on the matter.”
“Else what?” Kes asked.
“I’ll tell Our Julia, Lily, and Le Capitaine that you are causing problems and let them exact whatever punishment they deem appropriate.”
That threat hit its mark, and she very swiftly had vows of silence from all of them.
Everyone found places to sit or lean as Penelope reached to hold Niles’s bandaged hand.
“How are you feeling?” Henri asked. “Truly?”
“Like I just fought ten rounds against the Bath Butcher.”
“Accurate,” Kes said with a nod.
“I don’t think anything is broken though,” Niles said. “And there’s nothing that hurts that won’t heal.”
Penelope tucked herself against him, not saying as much but clearly showing that she was grateful he wasn’t worse off than he was.
“Would you like to hear something that’ll make you feel remarkably better?” Lucas asked.
“Coming from you lot, I’m not sure.”
They grinned, all knowing perfectly well that they’d been known to be more than a little ridiculous at times.
“You want to hear this,” Aldric said.
“I always listen to the General.” Niles was beyond intrigued.
“Firstly,” Digby said, “we have settled upon the perfect nickname for Penelope.”
“Have you?” He turned to look at her, but she only shrugged.
“I have not yet heard this.”
Lucas looked ready to burst. “Mag,” he declared. “We’ve tested it out amongst ourselves and will not be swayed from adopting it.”
“I might believe it is perfect if I had any inkling why you’ve chosen it,” Niles said.
“It’s a simple thing,” Lucas answered. “She’s our Puppy’sPenny, but she’s tiny, more like a quarter penny. But we couldn’t call her Farthing, now could we?”
Digby looked horrified at the very idea. “Certainly not.”
“We chose the next best thing,” Henri said.
Ah.To his sweet Penny, Niles explained, “Magis a cant term for a farthing.”
She smiled broadly, looking at the Gents with every indication of delight. “I accept.”
“Our second announcement,” Digby said, “is that Mag has had a stroke of absolute brilliance, something frankly, we’re all a little embarrassed to not have realized sooner.”
“What is this brilliant idea, Penny—I intend to keep calling you Penny rather than Mag, assuming you’ve no objections?”
“None.” She looked exceedingly happy. “I was thinking of the fairings we had at the fair, and I realized we’d sorted the difficulty with biscuits in just the way we ought to with land.”
“Martin must have hit me harder than I thought, because my mind can’t make sense of that at all.”
