“That must have been hard.”
He nodded.
Michelle waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. She glanced at Penny. The picture on the menu was almost fully colored. She hoped the meal arrived soon. She was running out of things to say.
“Look, Daddy, I’m coloring good.” Penny held up the picture. Scribbles ran over all the lines. Michelle didn’t think she remembered seeing a green elephant before.
“Wonderful, Penny. I like your picture.” Josh’s tone was sincere and full of love.
Watching them, Michelle’s heart melted. He was so obviously proud of his daughter it warmed her from head to toe. How much she’d missed in her own life by not having her parents while she grew up. She never remembered her grandmother being so proud of anything she’d attempted.
“Show Michelle.”
“Don’t gots to,” Penny said slapping the picture down on the table and frowning at Michelle.
“I can see it from here. It’s pretty,” she said, refusing to be hurt by the child’s actions.
“Turn the sheet over, baby, and draw a new picture on the back,” Josh suggested with an apologetic glance at Michelle.
Once Penny was again engrossed in coloring, Michelle shrugged. “It’s all right if she doesn’t warm up right away. From what you’ve said, she’s had a lot of different people in her life over the last year. She’s probably protecting herself by not getting too friendly until she knows if I’ll be around for a while or not. Wise on her part. We both know I won’t be around for the long term.”
Once again, Michelle began to question the wisdom of her plan. It seemed straightforward when she'd first voiced it. She’d help Josh, he’d help her. But Penny was an unknown in the equation. What would this arrangement do to her?
Dinner went well. Michelle wondered if Josh had a talk with Penny before they came to the restaurant. She was the model of propriety. When Michelle commented on it, Josh smiled smugly.
“So, tell me, how did you manage? Quite a difference from the doughnut place,” Michelle said.
“Told her she could bring her bear.”
“The teddy bear?”
He nodded. “Usually I don’t let her bring him everywhere with her. She’s old enough to go out in public without it. But I let her bring him on the condition that she was a very good girl.”
“Bribery.”
He nodded smugly. “Works every time.”
“I’ll remember that.”
When they finished eating, Michelle suggested they try one of the major department stores on Canal Street. The children’s department was large and offered a wide variety of clothes. She found two dresses immediately that she thought would be appropriate for Penny.
“Which one do you like?” she asked the little girl.
Penny had retreated to her dad’s side and looked at the dresses suspiciously.
“I like the blue one,” Josh said nudging his daughter.
“I like both the blue and the pink. Which do you like, Penny?” Michelle asked again.
Penny pointed to the blue one.
“Let’s go try it on, shall we?” Michelle asked, replacing the pink one on the rack.
“Don’t gots to,” Penny said, clutching her bear tighter.
“Don’t have to,” Michelle corrected. “Don’t say got, Penny, say have. And I think you’ll look very pretty in this dress. You can try it on and show your daddy. Want to?”
Penny shook her head.
Michelle looked at Josh for help, but he just watched her with amused interest.
Frustrated, she knew this was some kind of test. But she hadn’t a clue how to deal with children. Spotting the teddy bear, she had an idea.
“I tell you what, Penny. Let’s try on the dress to see if it fits and then we’ll go find something pretty for your teddy bear. So he’ll be all dressed up at the wedding, too.”
“Bribery,” Josh murmured.
“Okay,” Penny said, relinquishing her hold on her father’s leg and holding out her hand for Michelle’s.
“Whatever works,” Michelle said triumphantly.
The sound of Josh’s laughter followed them to the dressing rooms. Once there Michelle had another minor skirmish in getting Penny to remove her hat. When she saw the chopped-off hair, Michelle began to understand why Penny wanted to wear her hat all the time.
She looked adorable in the dress, despite the baseball cap she’d insisted in putting on once the dress was buttoned.
“Go show your daddy how pretty you look,’’ Michelle said with a smile.
When Penny darted from the stall, Michelle picked up the bear, wondering where they could find clothes for him. He was a bit ragged, obviously from years of loving.
Penny rushed back in, her face smiling. “Daddy said I look like a fairy princess.”
“And so you do. We’ll take the dress home and you can wear it on Saturday.”
Penny pirouetted before the mirror for several minutes before allowing Michelle to unfasten and remove the dress. Once again wearing her shorts, shirt and baseball cap, they left to find Josh.
As they waited for the clerk to ring up the sale, Michelle moved near Josh.
“Where does Penny get her hair cut?” she asked softly.
He looked sheepish. “I cut it. She hates barber shops.”
“Barber shops? Josh, she should go to a shop that caters for children.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. “You were right at the beginning. I do need a wife. You can take her there, buy her clothes, and do all the things for a little girl that I don’t have a clue about.”
“Your daughter looks darling in the dress,” the sales clerk told Michelle.
She started to correct the woman, then just smiled. In only a few days, technically Penny would be her stepdaughter. For a moment, Michelle tried to consider all the changes she’d find in her life. It seemed like a lot all at once. But she couldn’t lose sight of the reason for the charade.
For a moment she let herself imagine marrying forever. To bind her life with Josh’s. Maybe they’d have children of their own. And if that happened, they’d outgrow his house and need a larger one. Nothing as ostentatious or cold as Talmadge Hall, but a
