Mars with Venus Rising

by Hope Toler Dougherty

  “Be glad you missed this.”

  Winnie perched on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel, sister?”

  Jancie lowered her eyelids. “Like a freight train sat on my chest.”

  Penn smiled at the mixed metaphor. “The doctor says everything went fine. You’ll be good as new in no time.”

  Jancie snorted, weak, but reminiscent of her old self. “That sounds like ‘one size fits all’ to me.”

  “We’ll let you get some rest. We’re not supposed to visit over ten minutes.”

  Her chin trembled. “I wish you could stay.”

  “We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow. With bells on. Don’t worry.” Winnie straightened the sheet and smoothed the pillowcase.

  Penn hugged Jancie goodbye, and her aunt whispered, “I’m glad you’re here. She needed you.”

  ~*~

  Standing on her grandfather’s front porch, Penn savored John’s arms around her. His heart beat slow and strong under her palm. Thank you, God, for John. How would she have managed today without him? She’d probably still be driving somewhere on I-85.

  Instead, she’d trusted this man who promised to deliver her to her aunts safely and quickly, who even now kept her from sliding to the porch in an exhausted heap.

  His warm breath tickled the curls springing around her ear. “You need to get some sleep. Winnie wants to get back up there bright and early tomorrow.”

  She did need sleep. Waking up in her bedroom on Oakland Street this morning was eons ago. She needed to think about John, too. What did today’s events mean for them? Did it change the way she felt about him? No. Did it change the way she felt about flying? No. Maybe.

  It was too much to think about right now. She needed to call for a substitute teacher for Monday, for sure. Probably for the whole week. She needed to—Peri. She gasped and jerked upright.

  John tightened his hold. “What is it?”

  “Peri. I completely forgot—”

  He settled his head back in place on top of hers. “Already taken care of.”

  “What?” How could she forget Peri?

  “I called Andy before we left. He knows horses. He’s got it covered.”

  She rocked back on her heels. “I can’t believe...thank you, John.” She cupped his cheek. “Thank you for everything today. I don’t know...I can’t...but I will pay you, John. It’s too much.”

  He pressed his thumb gently against her mouth. “You don’t have to thank me. And, no, you won’t pay me. Let people help you.” John leveled his gaze with hers. “You were tremendous today. You are the bravest person I know, Penn Davenport.” He splayed his fingers against her back.

  She closed her eyes. “I’m not brave. I was scared to death the whole time. I can’t believe I didn’t throw up.”

  “Whenever I had to do something hard, my mom always quoted her favorite author, Mark Twain. ‘Courage is resistance to fear, not absence of fear.’ Babe, you resisted your fear and won.”

  “I really don’t remember much of anything except the Bible verses rolling around my mind. The whole time. I haven’t thought of those verses in years, but today they came back with a stubbornness that sank in and stayed for the whole flight.”

  “That’s God, Penn.” He brushed back the hair from her face. “Listen. I’ve got to roll. Alice and Benji are waiting for me.”

  Her stomach clenched. Her chest tightened with a new heaviness. She didn’t want him to leave. The ten hours they’d shared seemed like a lifetime. “Do you know how to get to their house?” She plucked at his shirt sleeve, enjoying the hard band of muscle underneath.

  He grinned. “Alice insisted on writing down directions even after I told her I had my phone.” He kissed her forehead with a light brush of his lips. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.“ He moved to the front steps.

  She wrapped her empty arms around herself. “What time?” A question to keep him talking and on the porch.

  “Eight or eight thirty? Call me when Winnie decides.”

  Ten hours before she could see him again. She pressed her lips together. “You’ve got her keys, right?”

  He dangled them from his left hand. “Yes, ma’am. Get inside and go to bed. Now.”

  “OK. Yes, sir.” She saluted him. “Will do.” She rubbed her ring as taillights blinked in the darkness.

  27

  After dressing and downing a glass of orange juice, Penn checked the front window every five minutes until John arrived at eight o’clock.

  Dropping them at the hospital, he insisted they go up without him while he checked out the town. He promised to come back for lunch and visit with Jancie after they’d seen her first.

  Sleep had agreed with Jancie. Color painted her cheeks again. She reclined on her pillows more like a queen than a heart patient. Her glasses gave her the familiar take charge attitude people expected from her.

  Penn released a breath she’d held since exiting the elevator. Jancie was back. The two sisters, her sweet aunts, teased each other, smiling and holding hands.

  She left them to visit her grandfather roomed on the floor beneath Jancie’s. She hadn’t had the energy yesterday evening to venture a trip to his room.

  He greeted her with a booming ‘hello’ and a weak hug less robust than ones from her childhood.

  A couple of minutes into their chat, his cellphone rang. He glanced at the screen, wrinkled his nose, and apologized for taking the call. That was the grandfather she remembered.

  When she returned to Jancie’s room, she heard a rich laugh that scattered tingles like dropped gum balls up and down her back. Her heart flipped over, and she curbed her grin into a more sedate, welcoming smile.

  “Look who’s here.” Jancie’s cheeks glowed pinker. “And he brought me flowers.” She pointed to an arrangement of daisies, chrysanthemums, and three yellow roses with pink tips. “Lovely. He’s made my day. I love flowers from a man.”

  John winked at Penn.

  Her aunt wrinkled her forehead. “I’m confused about something, though. Winnie says both of you came yesterday. Together. But you’re using our car. Not that we mind one bit, but what’s the matter with Gretchen?” Jancie raised her eyebrows.

  Penn played with the curls at the back of her neck. She opened her mouth and closed it. The subject of her flying had to be addressed sooner or later. Why couldn’t it be later? How would the aunts take the news?

  Jancie seemed to be bouncing back at record time, and Winnie hadn’t cried since yesterday afternoon.

  She sent a wide-eyed plea for help from John.

  “Penn and I came down together. We had a good trip. A good day to travel.”

  Both aunts tilted their heads.

  “On the motorcycle? You rode the whole way on the back of a motorcycle?”

  John raked his hand through his hair. “Well, no, not exactly...”

  Penn inhaled and let the words tumble out in a rush. “John flew me down in a plane.”

  Two mouths dropped wide open. Surprise crackled through the room.

  “What?”

  She shrugged. “You heard me. I flew on a plane. John flew it. He got me here faster than we could’ve driven. I got on a plane and didn’t throw up. We landed, and we’re here.” She picked an imaginary piece of lint from her blouse. No big deal. Yeah, right.

  This news, shocking and unbelievable, shouldn’t be unveiled now, especially when they’d already experienced an emotional roller coaster first with their brother and now with Jancie’s health scare.

  As the aunts continued to stare, the familiar panic awakened somewhere around her heart and spread to impede her lungs. Her gaze latched onto John.

  He moved from his place beside the bouquet of flowers and pressed his hand in the small of her back. The heat of his palm permeated her body, a shield against the panic, an anecdote to the trembling. “She was fantastic. She had a goal—” He gestured toward them. “Get to her aunts as fast as possible. She set her mind to it and accomplished i
t.” He rubbed his hand up her back, settled on her shoulders. “She didn’t even need medicine.”

  “I could have had medicine?” Why hadn’t medicine occurred to her yesterday? She could have been knocked out in the back instead of gripping the armrests for all she was worth.

  He jostled her. “You didn’t need medicine. You had your Bible verses, remember?”

  “True, but...”

  He chuckled. “You didn’t even need the Cirrus.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “Ah, wasn’t that the plane we flew on?”

  “Yes, but it’s a special plane, Penn.”

  “Special?” Indeed. It had ferried her to her aunts.

  “Remember that red handle in the roof?”

  A frown cut across her brow. She didn’t want to relive that experience, was working on forgetting it.

  He lowered his head. “You asked about all the dials and knobs, the red handle in the ceiling.”

  Not a significant clue. “Don’t know what you mean.”

  “I told you it was a parachute for the plane, and you thought I was making fun of you.”

  She remembered that part. Again, pain tightened her throat at his teasing her, tittering on the edge of hysteria.

  “Penn, a Cirrus plane is equipped with a parachute for the whole plane in the event of problems, a safety net, so to speak. James knew that. And knew about you and flying. He upgraded us from the Cessna to the Cirrus, to give you that safety net. But you didn’t need it. You did it by yourself. With those Bible verses and the love for your aunts.” He slid his hand to her neck and kissed the top of her head. He whispered, “You need some time with your aunts.” John brushed away tears from her cheeks. “I’ll leave you ladies to chat. I’ll be down in the cafeteria.” He kissed her temple and left.

  Penn dropped onto the bed with her aunts and cried until she was spent.

  With all three sobbing, they emptied the box of tissues and resorted to paper towels from the bathroom.

  When the storm subsided, and she lay scrunched between them like too many celebration cookies crammed into a cookie tin, she sighed, spent but renewed. The aunts held her hands, and peace and happiness washed over her like a warm wave.

  “Penny, I don’t know what to say.” Winnie wiped underneath her chin with a damp washcloth. “I hate that you went through what you did to get here. You did it because I was in such a state—” She twisted the cloth in her hands.

  “I got on that plane because I wanted to be with you as fast as I could. John offered to drive Gretchen, but I chose the plane. Nobody made me.” She said the words as much for Winnie as for herself. She had chosen to fly. John hadn’t forced her. He’d offered. Suggested. She’d made the decision.

  “That John.” Jancie reclined onto the pillow and closed her eyes.

  Penn clutched at the hem of the sheet. “Aunt Jancie. We’ve worn you out.”

  “No, but I am going to rest a minute.” She slid up the sheet. “Why don’t you go find John?”

  “I think I’ll rest, too.” Winnie stretched her legs beside her sister and tucked her head on the pillow.

  A good idea. Let them muse and chat on yesterday’s miracle.

  ~*~

  Penn found John typing notes on his iPad in a back corner of the cafeteria. Wisps of his dark hair fell in front of his eyes as he concentrated on the screen.

  As she approached, he raised his gaze and smiled. “Everything good?” He offered a chair.

  “I think it’s going to be.”

  His eyebrows met. “You’ve been crying.”

  Her hands flew to her face. How could she not think to put on lipstick at least? “Sorry. I’m sure I look a mess.”

  “You always look good to me, Penn.”

  She smoothed her cheek. How did she respond to that statement? She’d come back to it when her emotions stabilized. When the sharpness of the flight had mellowed. “It’s been an emotional two days.”

  He closed the tablet. “We need to talk.”

  Not yet. She couldn’t think straight yet. Yes, she’d flown in a plane, but she didn’t know what that meant for her future.

  For their future.

  “Has the doctor been by?”

  New topic. That was quick…

  “He made his rounds first thing this morning. Before we got here, Jancie said.”

  John rubbed his chin. “Do you have an idea about your schedule this week? When she might be released? What the word is about your grandfather?”

  He wanted to talk about this week, not about what the flight had meant to her, to the two of them.

  Thank you, God, for saving me from embarrassing myself.

  That made sense. He hadn’t kissed her, really kissed her since they’d landed. He’d kissed the top of her head, her temple. Reminiscent of a brother’s touch.

  In fact, the kiss after the landing had been her doing. She’d dragged him to her, initiated it. Not John. She planted that kiss on him before he could refuse. True, he’d responded, but—

  “Penn. Are you OK?”

  “Yes.” She shook her head to wipe that kiss out of her mind. “Umm, she might be able to leave tomorrow.”

  He fiddled with his phone lying next to the iPad. “And then what?”

  “I figure she’ll need a few days to recuperate before going home. My grandfather’s doing fine. He’s being released sometime this week, too.”

  She stiffened. “John, I get what you’re asking. When I texted her, my department head gave me the whole week off. I’m hoping we can drive back maybe Friday, but you don’t have to stay that long. I’m sure your boss needs you.”

  “He called while ago to check on you. He says to tell you good job for flying yesterday. Reesa’s thrilled, too.”

  “They’re nice people.” She rested her chin on her palm. “When do you have to leave?”

  “I don’t have to leave. I can stay as long as you need me.”

  And there it was. Good, kind John, still helping her.

  “Thank you. You’ve been such a help. I couldn’t have—”

  He held up a hand. “Penn.”

  “I know. I’ll stop. But you can go back. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Worry about you? The bravest girl I know? Are you kidding? I thought if I hung around long enough somebody might start baking something. I’m looking to snag a celebration cookie, or a cinnamon roll, or—”

  She smiled. Maybe the smile would offset the ache in her chest. “I’m sure some baked goods will be coming your way. You can count on that.”

  28

  Joy bubbled in Penn’s chest the following Saturday afternoon as she glided her aunts’ green sedan into their driveway.

  Home again, home again. Jiggety jig.

  Finally.

  After leaving her grandfather with frozen casseroles and a day nurse, they’d been on the road since Friday morning, turning the eight-hour drive into a two-day marathon journey. Stopping about every two hours for thirty or forty minutes, they’d stayed overnight about halfway in Winchester, Virginia.

  She excited the car and stretched to release the knots of the marathon journey. A few more hours and she could climb into her own bed again.

  Thank you, God.

  Penn reached for Jancie in the back seat. “Let’s get you inside. I’ll come back for our bags.”

  Jancie batted her hand away, climbing out by herself. “Penny, I’ve told you and told you. Please don’t treat me like an invalid. I’m not back to one-hundred-percent, but I’m getting there. I’m still sore, but besides that, I’m feeling pretty good.”

  Penn crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Fine. Just trying to help. Here. Take my bag, won’t you? And don’t forget the sack of Winesap apples Grandfather sent either. I’m going to see Peri.”

  “Don’t get fresh with me, girly.”

  Penn grinned. Home again, home again. “Just teasing you.”

  “When is your young man coming by?” Winnie rolled her suitcase up t
he walkway.

  “Hold on. I’ll get that, and I’ve told you and told you. He’s not my young man.”

  “John called every other day and texted, too.” Winnie continued up the stairs to unlock the front door.

  “He wanted to find out how you were doing.” Penn held the door for Jancie.

  “It’s more than that.” Jancie entered the family room and inhaled through her nose. “Thank you, Lord, for bringing us home.” Placing her hand on her chest, she faced Penn. “I wasn’t too sick to miss signals between you two.”

  Penn caught her breath. The connection between them wasn’t her imagination? “Signals?”

  “Sparks, electricity. Whatever you want to call it, the two of you have it.”

  Penn’s heart rate kicked into high gear. “I’ll take the bags up later. I want to see Peri first.”

  “Fine. Ignore me.” Jancie sank onto the couch. “It’s still true, honey.”

  ~*~

  Peri stomped in the paddock, his head and neck straining over the fence as Penn jogged toward him. He trotted to the gate and nibbled at her hair while she freed the latch.

  “You missed me, huh?” She buried her head in his neck and let his warm scent soothe away all the kinks of travel as well as the strain of last week. “Well, I missed you, too, buddy. A lot. I’m so glad you’re here and not visiting down the street.”

  She hopped onto his back and lay against his neck, squeezing him in a tight, whole body embrace.

  “You look great. Andy took good care of you, huh?” Peri nodded his head. Peri—he understood her no matter what. “And were you good for him? You didn’t break out and give him a scare, did you?”

  No response except for the swishing of his black tail.

  Penn chuckled. “Hmm. I think I know what that means.”

  Stretching his muzzle to the ground, Peri nipped at blades of grass.

  “I’ve got so much to tell you, buddy. I can’t even believe most of it myself.” She stared toward the back of the paddock. “I should have some sort of trumpet fanfare. Words don’t capture the magnitude of what happened.” She stroked his mane. “All right. Here it is.” She caught a hunk of his hair in her fist and drew in a deep breath. “I flew in a plane.”