A Penny Earned, page 4
His fingers probed deeply. His thumb worked against the numb of flesh, increasing her pleasure, the energy between them rising incrementally until Penny hung on the edge. Pressure built and at any moment, she felt like she would explode from the compression. Suddenly, a random thought popped in her mind. She said it before she could stop herself, “Oh shit, my clam is going to cramp!”
Fred didn’t stop or break his stride. “I’m going to make this oyster shoot out a pearl.”
The shock of his words coincided with the arrival of her time of pleasure, making her gasp, trying to catch her breath. Fred had no intention of allowing that to happen as he gathered his wife in his arms and yanked away the pajama bottoms. He scrambled out of his own, whispering her name.
In one motion, he impaled her, groaning in pure male satisfaction. Fred Quartermaine wasn’t one to make a lot of discussion points about matters which required his firm approach. This was no different. He moved with precision, connecting, disconnecting, and reconnecting their bodies until she clung to him. Her breath was hot on his neck. Penny’s nails scored his back. The heavy panting in his ear fueled their lovemaking, taking the tender connection to a fevered pace. She cried out as she clamped around him, pulling and milking him of his final resolve. Together they tumbled over the edge, ending in a sweaty ball.
“Damn, Mrs. Quartermaine, that is some way to begin a Tuesday morning,” he said, kissing the side of her face. “What, may I ask, was all of that about a clam?”
“Nerd foreplay,” she said, laughing. “Pretty quick on the comeback response. I nearly burst into laughter.”
“Speaking of nerds, we need to go see my parents this evening and break the news to them. I know my mother will be happy.”
“No, you call them and break the news to your parents. I don’t need to go with you.”
“Hey, Mrs. Quartermaine, you marry me, you marry my family. They are also now your family,” he said. “Mi Parents es Su Parents.”
“Therefore, my parents are also your parents.”
“Well, he did tell me on the boat to call him Dad,” Fred said, laughing. “My own father didn’t find any humor in it, but whatever. I just got a pearl out of that there oyster, so I have done something right to start my day.”
“Whatever is correct,” she said, detaching their bodies. “I have a doctor’s appointment today and a few errands to run, and then I should be back in time for the drive to Hartford.”
Fred sat up on the side of the bed. His hair stood on end, giving him the look of a sexy, disheveled mess. “Do I need to go with you to the doctor? Is this for your foot or Roddy?”
“Who is Roddy?” she asked, frowning at him as she collected her clothing.
Fred pointed at her belly. He smiled sheepishly at being caught with his hand in the baby naming jar. “I kind of named him Roderick, you know Roddy for short.”
Penny’s eyebrows shot up at his presumptive determination of the sex of their child. “If it is a girl?”
“Rory sounds really cool. Rory Quartermaine, I like that,” he said, grinning. “Holy shit. I’m going to be a dad. This is amazing.”
He was right; it was amazing. They were going to be parents. In a different lifetime, the planner in her would have wanted to wait a little before starting a family, but this way had been better. No planning, just rip off the bandage and viola, instant family. “You know I actually like Rory Quartermaine, and it works for a girl or a boy,” she said. “Hmm, look at you scoring all kinds of points this morning.”
Penny slipped from the room, walking to the bathroom to prepare for her day. The doctor’s appointment would help get her head right in preparing to welcome the addition for the family. However, she needed a couple of sips of wine to get her mind right for dinner with her husband’s family, an evening which took an unusual turn, leaving both Penny and Fred speechless.
JAMES QUARTERMAINE had achieved the level of Professor in the Society of the Golden Orb by culminating years of research and archeological discoveries that were catalogued and marked for posterity in museums all over the world. As a far as he knew, a collection in the Louvre held his name from items he discovered in the Vosges while he was staying in Gérardmer and Remiremont. An esteemed lecturer and presenter, Dr. James Quartermaine published books, journals, articles and more, along with being a Professor Emeritus at Yale University. The next step, had he continued his pursuit of historical treasures, he would have become a Grand Meister, one step down from Headmaster of the Society of the Golden Orb, a title he never wanted, but a title he’d been offered on several occasions.
Over dinner, his son informed him that his wish had come true and the title he wanted more than anything in the world would be his. James and Cecily actually got to their feet and began to do a jig around the dining room table. They were going to be grandparents and could not wait to begin buying the new baby its own excavation kit. James boasted of creating a mini dig site in the back yard next to the garden for the young one’s first major playtime in the dirt with Pawpaw.
“Do we know the sex of the baby? What are we having? When will Tiny Quartermaine arrive? This is so exciting!” Cecily wailed, bombarding Penny with questions.
Penny tried to answer each, telling Cecily it was too soon to tell the sex of the child. She explained she was nearly three months along, and in six months, Rory Quartermaine would make their debut. James began to cry.
“Rory? The baby’s name is Rory,” said James. “I like that a lot. Rory Quartermaine. Ooh, Dr. Rory Quartermaine, Archeologist. It has a ring to it,” he said, sniffling a bit.
Not everyone was happy with the news. Anna, the other half of a dynamic duo of Fred’s siblings, wasn’t as excited upon hearing the news that she was becoming an aunt. She was still angry with Penny for yanking her chain and calling her out.
Anna sighed as if it bored her. “I mean really, Fred. You becoming a father is fantastic news, but what about becoming a husband first? The sex can’t be that amazing where you’re skipping entire life steps.”
Fred took Penny’s hand and lifted it, showing it to all at the table. “We are married.”
Cecily began to cry. James started an Indian war dance, and Anna, for some odd reason took exception to her brother being married to Dr. Penny Dobbs. She even said as much, folding her arms as if she were pouting. “I’m not understanding how this even works. Fred you’re on the road ten months out of the year. She travels as well. I don’t see how the two of you are going to make this work.”
“Anna, it will work because we want it to,” Fred said, “and besides, it’s none of your damned business. Stop being so...you. I’m going to be a father and you, little sis, are going to be the world’s greatest aunt.”
“If you say so,” she said, looking down at her hands. Fred, in her estimation, was the golden child of the family and could never do any wrong. Even his mistakes were used by their parents as teachable moments for Anna and her twin brother Andrew. It would only be a matter of time after the arrival of the child before they began looking at her to spawn and reproduce. “I hope you’re not expecting me to have kids next. I don’t want any and I’m gay.”
“We know that,” Cecily said. “If you don’t want children, it is fine. We never said you had to have any, plus, we’ve never pressured any of you to make us grandparents.”
Anna wouldn’t let it go. “What do you mean you know that? How did you know?”
“Sweetie, you were always more interested in the women your brothers brought home than their friends,” Cecily said. “We love you no matter what your life choices are.”
“So, if I, like Fred, bring home a black woman and say this is my partner, you’re okay with that? Seriously? You liberals get on my last over-accepting nerve!”
Penny and Fred kept their eyes down toward the table. Neither wanted to be pulled into the argument or used as a bargaining chip by either side. Anna’s face grew red, as if she were ready to implode at any moment, leading James to intervene.
James didn’t like the way the conversation was going, nor did he appreciate the downing of the mood. He thought he would liven up the conversation. With a snifter of brandy in his hand, he looked at Penny.
“Speaking of kids, Dr. Dobbs, did you know Philoneus and Roger had a dog? Yep, they did,” he said. “The dog was a purebred Brittnay Spaniel, which lost a leg and had a gimpy front paw. Prince Georgie, they named the pooch, who walked on his hind legs.”
“What?” Penny asked, wondering what bag of magic tricks James was opening to smooth down the ruffled feathers.
“It’s true. Prince Georgie also wore this little Bowler hat, but it confused people,” James explained. “I kid you not, people were constantly asking where Philoneus and Roger got a hairy kid that kept weeing on car tires and pooping on the sidewalks. I tell you, it was weird as hell to see, but amusing nonetheless and ever the more.”
Penny burst into laughter. “It’s the more that intrigues me. What happened to the dog?”
James took a breather, leaning back in the chair. “It got into some dyes Philoneus had. Indigo dyes he had around the place. So many containers of the stuff. Black as coal dyes. Not sure what he used them for.”
Fred sat up straight. “Could those indigo dyes be used on stones, Daddy, I mean like diamonds?”
“Yes, I suppose, but to get the ink to adhere to the material, it would need to be fired at a very high temperature to get the inks to hold, but why would he need to do such a silly thing as that?” James said, looking at his son as if he were the dumb one at the table. “I’ve heard of a HPHT annealing, which is high pressure, high-temperature heating, creating the same environmental factors in which diamonds are naturally created. It could work. I think they use a similar process on lab created diamonds.”
James looked at his son’s face. After spending time on digs during his son’s formative years, he knew his children inside and out, especially his oldest. When Fred Quartermaine got an idea, the man got an idea. The light he emitted when he was on to something of interest, James also noticed in the woman Fred has chosen as his wife.
Penny spoke up, “It would be an ideal means to hide conflict diamonds by passing them off as black diamonds.”
Fred was staring at her. “Do you still have the one I left for you in the safe?”
“I do,” she said, smiling at him and using the phrase from yesterday which created a coupling of them as husband and wife.
“Cool, we will take a look at it as well as the ones I brought back with me from the wall safe in the sunroom,” he said. “I didn’t send them to Boston with the other stuff because for some reason, it kept rubbing me wrong. The first batch I found I sent to the Society. The ones we found in the wall safe in the sunroom along with the envelope are still bugging me. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but there is something. Now, the dyes. There was a lot of that dye in the basement. I saw it when I went down to clean up the blood from your accident.”
“Fred,” she spoke softly, “in the closet, before I fell, I also discovered something odd. There is a gap in the walls. Not like a safe or storage or anything like that, but it looks like a wall was built around a wall. If that makes sense.”
“It would make sense if the walls were closing in,” Fred said.
“Or if the walls could talk,” Penny stated.
“Penny, I think we need to take a closer look at those maps,” Fred said, softly. “Philoneus was a snake. Roger tried to keep up, but there were things in that bathroom I found...let me just say, Roger may not have died of natural causes.”
“Fred? What are you saying?”
“I found cases of eyes drops, arsenic, powders and other toxic materials tucked away in the back of those closets. I am so glad I had the place sprayed,” he said, looking at her and waiting for her to say what he needed to hear.
“Do you think we need to go back? I mean, is there something in the walls?” Penny asked.
“Two of the three maps say there is, but where is the main thing,” Fred said. “I packed up all the furniture and sent it to Boston. If there are clues in the furniture, it’s gone. If we went back, we’d have to rent a bed and chairs or even a table to eat on. So many of the pots and pans were antiques, and I shipped those as well.”
Penny reached out to touch his hand, holding it in her own. “Listen at you, Mr. Creature of Comfort. I have been on sites where I had a piece of cardboard to sleep on and the jacket on my back as a blanket. Think outside the walls of the home, Fred.”
“Okay, what? A blow-up mattress, a card table with two folding chairs, and a skillet and a pot with two plates, cups, and saucers?”
“Perfect. I mean, how long do you think it will take to find what we need?”
Fred didn’t like it. He wanted to plan a quick, sexy honeymoon for them to bond as husband and wife. The one thing he didn’t want was to return to that filthy ass house. He sure as hell didn’t want to go there and sleep on an air mattress. He couldn’t make love to his woman on an air mattress; he’d deflate the thing after three good deep strokes.
“I read everything that went through your dirty mind,” Penny said, smiling. “That clam just clenched.”
Anna shook her head and said, “If that is some form of sexual reference, I hereby submit my reaction of air vomiting.”
“The idea of returning to Kearney, Missouri has me feeling the same damned way,” Fred said. “Besides, I was planning a little sexy honeymoon for us. You know, to get away and bond.”
Penny’s eyes twinkled. “I know an amazing restaurant in New York that serves the most decadent cheesecake,” she told him. “And in Pittsburgh, downtown, there is a Korean restaurant called Bae Bae's Kitchen you have to try.”
“Penny what are you saying?”
“Let’s drive to Missouri but make it our special road trip, like a gastronomy honeymoon. We can stop in each state at the best and highly recommended places to eat lunch and dinner,” she said. “We get an air mattress and a card table, a pan, and a pot, and we rough it while we hunt. Plus, I might need this to end the novel. If we make an amazing find, it would be the perfect end to Dirk Dengales’ story.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Baby, once this child arrives, we might not be able to get in more adventures for at least a couple of years. Let’s close it out with a bang,” she said, leaning forward to offer him a kiss.
“A bang you shall have,” Fred said, feeling better about the drive across country, again.
James watched them go back and forth, sharing ideas and pieces they were lacing together. Then he saw the connection between them. His son had married a woman who understood him and how his analytical mind worked. Then he looked at his daughter.
Anna read her father’s expression. “No. Whatever the question, the answer is no, and don’t ask!”
The table erupted into laughter with Penny offering Anna a soft smile. Both women understood what the look meant: a truce would be made. Penny’s plans were to be a good wife to Fred, and now, the entire family knew it. It would only be forward from here.
Chapter 5 - Bag
The trip started out backwards and never seemed to upright itself as if a bag filled with kittens tumbled into a yarn factory and mayhem commenced. Penny, hit with a bout of morning sickness from hell, delayed the departure from New Haven by three hours. Fred thought it would be a good idea to end the trip, taking it as a sign to remain home. Penny, of course, didn’t want to hear his argument, stating this would be the honeymoon they would never forget.
“Penny, this is a sign of aggravation to come on this trip. We have no timelines. I say we put it off for a week or sixteen,” Fred suggested.
“No, there is something in that house calling to me, Fred, and we have to solve this mystery, this riddle, a puzzle of pieces Philoneus left for us,” she said, dragging the suitcase behind her.
Fred wasn’t sure what all she’d placed in the bag, but it was heavier than it needed to be. Along with the suitcase, there was the ox box with her office set up and a purse large enough to carry a small child. He sighed.
“Honey, are you planning on coming back?” he asked, looking at all the items.
“Before, I simply was doing a pass through. Now, I have all the items I need at my fingertips to be overtly amazing,” she said. “Plus, the purse has my wigs.”
“You need those why?”
“In case Dr. Penny Dobbs needs to be on the job,” she replied, winking at him as if only they shared a secret.
“I am regretting this already, plus, I hate that damned house,” Fred grumbled. “Now I have to sleep on an air mattress and eat off a card table, and I don’t even remember if there was poo paper left in the house.”
Penny had heard enough. There were messages left in that house by Philoneus, and dang blasted, she planned to discover them all. These were the adventures she wrote about in her stories, and in order to write them well, she needed to live them, in a vehicle, like a nomad.
“Stop being a grumpy bear, Dr. Quartermaine, and let’s get to rolling,” she said, climbing into the passenger seat.
He started the vehicle, pointing the nose towards I-95 Southbound into New York when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere. An hour and a half into the trip, Fred’s trusty Suburban got a flat tire. Since he was never a man to be unprepared, he had a full-sized replacement tire to change, but it had to be done on the side of the road, a dangerous venture in the poor lighting of the early morning. He rolled the vehicle slowly as far as he could to a well-lit area and pulled in to change the tire.
Penny, holding an umbrella, shielded his head from the rain. Thunder rolled in the distance as she looked up to see bolts of lightning in the sky. Thinking better of holding a metal rod in her hand, Fred was left in the rain to change the tire, bringing him back to the car, soaking wet, and cursing up a blue streak.
