BREAKING POINT

Penny allowed herself to be led into the sitting room where a large log fire burned in the open grate. Coal was rationed but there was plenty of wood here. She spread her hands to the welcome warmth.

“Show Benny to aunt Ann, uncle Charles. How do you like my new baby?”

She smiled as aunt Ann took the puppy and cuddled it in her arms.

“Now this really is a sweet dog” Mrs Gellar said. “Not at all like that poor mongrel you brought back from the lost dog’s home”

Penny laughed.

“You were cross, weren’t you, aunt Ann. You were so sure he was alive with fleas and that I would catch them”

“Aha. Went after my bulbs too” announced uncle Charles gruffly but with good humor. “Now, a dog like this -better idea -very good retriever”

He shook his shaggy grey head, looking not unlike any kindly sheep dog himself, Penny thought. She loved these two people better than anyone in the world.. Except Jeremy. But of course her love for him was quite different. She was tied by the deep, lasting chains of childhood to these two who had no children of their own. When her own parents had died, uncle Charles and aunt Ann had adopted her, cared for her, devotedly. Uncle Charles had been a wonderful father as well as uncle. Penny would be grateful to him always… As long as she lived.

“Who is this Jeremy, child?” uncle Charles was asking her. “Your latest admirer, huh?”

“My fiancé” Penny said proudly, and added so that they should not feel she had neglected to tell them sooner : “We decided to get engaged very suddenly the other day. We were coming down to tell you all about it but Jeremy’s car broke down and he’s on a business trip right now”

“Well, I offer you my sincere congratulations, Penny” aunt Ann said when she recovered from her surprise. “You know we always hoped you’d find happiness again and not grieve forever over poor dear Howard”

“I hope this young man is worthy of you” put in Mr Gellar.

“You will love him uncle. He’s interested in shooting and golf. I think he said his handicap was two, or something like that”

“Aha. I was a scratch player when I was younger” uncle Charles announced triumphantly. “Still, two is not so bad”

“Jeremy is handsome and charming and cultured. I have met his father and he’s awfully nice. You would like him, Aunt Ann. He writes novels sometimes too”

Mrs Gellar beamed at her beloved Penny.

“All that matters is his character dear. Is he really a nice young man? Has he any money? I do want you to be well looked after”

“He has a job” Penny said after a moments hesitation. “And he is doing very well too. I think he said something about getting a promotion at his office one time too”

“Aha, very good. Very good” said uncle Charles.

“Why didn’t you bring your fiancé with you?” aunt Ann asked. “We want to see him”

“He’s away at work” Penny explained. “But I will bring him down here soon, aunt Ann. He’s usually busy and sometimes doesn’t get home till late…” she stopped and pulled herself up sharply. Hating herself for the lie, she added. “so his father tells me”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Young fellows these days don’t really know how to work” said Mr Gellar, twisting the end of his famous moustache. “When I was a boy, I used to get up at six….”

“Now Charles” said his wife. “we all know you worked very hard dear, but things have changed since your day. Life never stands still, you know” She turned to Penny and laid a hand on her arm. “We are so happy to hear your news, dear. It’s a good thing you are young enough to find new happiness.. A good husband. I always say time heals. Your poor Howard left us a long time ago.”

“Yes. It’s a long time ago” Penny said, her dark eyes saddening. “I feel a great deal older, and wiser, aunt Ann”

“But you still look Twenty” said Mrs Gellar, echoing Jeremy, Penny thought tenderly. “But you are too thin child. Not eating enough?”

Penny smiled and shook her head.

“I know, off your food” uncle Charles said, peering at her over his spectacles. “I remember I lost my appetite when I fell in love with your aunt…. ”

“Rubbish” aunt Ann broke in with an affectionate glance at her husband. “You ate like a horse. My mother always said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, so we cooked every delicacy we could think of… And you ate it”

Penny sat silently, feeling as she always did when she listened to them talking that she was back in her childhood days. How many hundreds of times she must have sat curled up on a cushion in front of this fire, absently turning over the pages of some fairy story and listening with half an ear to her aunt and uncle quarreling light heartedly over tales of their courtship

She never tired of hearing them say the same things over and over again, and they never tired of recounting them. After all these years, uncle Charles still failed to be aggravated by her aunt’s endless clichés, and she in turn was never irritated by his ‘Aha’s’ and his stories of when he was a nipper.

Although Penny had scarcely been in the house an hour, the atmosphere of home and security had completely enveloped her. She began to feel relaxed, happier than she had done for weeks. The nervous tension in which she lived with Jeremy did not agree with her although she would rather have died than admit it, and her health had consequently suffered. She was tired out and now at last she could ‘let down her back hair’ as aunt Ann would say, and give way to mental and physical fatigue.

After lunch, aunt Ann insisted that she lie down and rest.

“You are worn out, Penny” she said severally. “You work too hard, that’s what it is. I have a good mind to come up to town for a week and look after you”

“No, really, aunt, I’m quite all right” Penny said hurriedly. “I’m tired, but it isn’t the stress of working or anything like that. It’s just excitement, i expect”