14Penelope stared at the clock. It was almost ten-thirty and November and Travis had yet to come home. Not that Penelope was complaining, of course. This is what she had wanted; for her daughter and Travis to hit it off. She had been thoroughly pleased when November had announced that she and Travis were going out to dinner, and had even offered to baby-sit. Savannah was sound asleep in the guest room. She had wanted to stay awake until November and Travis had returned, but her excitement at the two of them going on a date had worn her out.
"Your move," Henry murmured.
Penelope focused her attention back on the chess game she and Henry were playing. Thinking for a moment, she made her move, but then frowned when Henry checkmated her.
"You weren't concentrating," Henry said, smiling. "Worried about November?"
"No, just eager to hear how it went."
"Eager to gloat, you mean," Henry teased.
Penelope smiled slightly. "Maybe, maybe not," she said, shrugging.
They only had to wait another fifteen minutes. When Penelope heard the car pull into the driveway, she quickly made herself look busy by turning the television on and settling into one of the reclining armchairs. Henry laughed as he packed away the chess set.
"She's going to know you were waiting anxiously, you know."
"Shush, you," Penelope said, swatting at him with a pillow.
The front door opened and closed, and November and Travis appeared in the living room. Penelope pretended to look surprised.
"Oh, you're back already. Time flies, doesn't it?" she said, standing up. "I was just about to put the kettle on. Coffee or tea?" she asked.
Travis declined with a shake of his head. "It's getting late. I should get my little girl home to her own bed." He excused himself and disappeared down the hallway into the guest room. He returned a few minutes later, Savannah in his arms. "Thank you again for watching her, Penelope. Henry. I really appreciate it."
Penelope waved him off. "It was our pleasure. You can drop her off here any time you want; you know that."
November dropped her handbag on the couch and turned to Travis. "I'll walk you out."
After bidding Penelope and Henry goodnight, Travis followed November outside to his car. He motioned for November to open the back door of his car for him, and ducking, placed Savannah in her car seat. He shut the door quietly so as not to wake her, and then turned to November.
"I had a great time tonight," he said softly. "The best time I've had in a long while."
November shrugged casually. "Yes well, I try."
Travis laughed and reached a hand out to brush her hair away from her face. "Is it something you'd be willing to repeat sometime soon?" he asked nervously.
November smiled and nodded. "I think I could be persuaded to put in a repeat performance, yes."
Travis smiled and took her hands in his, rubbing small circles on the backs of them with his thumbs. "I'd kiss you, but we have an audience," he said, glancing behind November, who didn't need to turn around to know he was referring to her mother.
"You'd think that at twenty-five years of age, I'd be old enough to be able to stand outside my parents' house with a date without having one or both of them spying on me."
"Well, I can understand why they'd be spying. You're their baby, after all."
Laughing, November shook her head. "I don't think I was ever their 'baby'."
They stood there staring at one another quietly. When November shivered from the cold air, Travis reached up and rubbed the tops of her arms, telling her she should go inside.
"You'll call me?" November asked.
"I'll call you."
Wrapping his arms around her, Travis pulled November close and buried his nose in her hair. She smelled like lavender, and as he breathed her in, he realised he could stand there all night just holding her. Reluctantly though, he let her go and walked to the driver's side door, pulling it open. With one last smile, he slid into the seat, started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. November watched him drive away before turning and hurrying back inside her parents' house.
"So?" her mother's voice drifted out of the living room. "How did it go?"
November walked into the room and sighed. "It was perfect."
Penelope smiled fondly at her daughter. "I'm glad." She crossed the room to give her daughter a hug. "You deserve a good man."
November nodded and stepped out of Penelope's arms. Picking her handbag up off of the couch, she turned back to her mother and said, "Thank you, by the way."
"For what?"
"For giving me a little nudge in Travis's direction."
Penelope tried to look innocent. "I have no idea what you mean."
November scoffed and shook her finger at her mother. "Mum, did you really think we didn't know about your little schemes to get India, Juliet, and Sierra to go out with their husbands?"
Penelope grinned sheepishly. "Why didn't you say anything, then? If you knew what I was doing."
"I didn't know. Not until I had gone to Travis's house to apologise, that is. But by then it didn't matter whether you had made me go to set me up, or if I had gone for some other reason. As soon as I saw him, I knew I wanted to see him again."
"I just want you to be happy, November," Penelope said.
"I know, and I am."
With a kiss on the cheek, November bid Penelope goodnight, and left the room. Henry came up behind Penelope and wrapped his arms around her.
"You heard?" she asked.
"I heard."
"I told you it'd all work out," she gloated.
Henry chuckled. "Yes, you did. Remind me never to doubt you again." He turned Penelope around in his arms and kissed her softly on the lips. "But now you don't have anyone to set up anymore. Assuming things work out with November and Travis, that is."
Penelope looked at her husband with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I've still got plenty of nieces and nephews that need to find good husbands and wives."
Henry shook his head and smiled. "You are impossible."
"But that's why you love me," Penelope said against his lips.
Henry tightened his hold on her and nodded. "Yes, it is."
Author's note: No idea where this came from. It just popped into my head one night, and pretty much wrote itself. And no, I won't be continuing it. I only ever intended it to be a short story, and this is where the story ends. Let me know what you think :) Thanks!