Free A Vow to Love by Sherryl Woods Page B

force. She flung open the door to find not Sam but her grandparents in the hallway.
    "What are you doing here?" she asked, regarding them with astonishment. Only after the words were out of her mouth did she realize how inhospitable she sounded. Judging from her grandmother's suddenly uncertain expression, she at least hadn't mistaken the lack of welcome. Brandon was less easily offended.
    "I'm sorry," she apologized in a rush. "It's just that you caught me off guard. Come in." She hugged her grandmother and stood on tiptoe to kiss her grandfather's cheek.
    "Brandon, I told you we should have called first," her grandmother said. "Penny probably has plans for the evening."
    He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh, fiddle-faddle, she can always throw us out, if she needs to leave." He regarded her hopefully. "You got a date?"
    "No."
    "Oh," he said, clearly disappointed. "Thought maybe you and Sam might have plans."
    "Now why would you think a thing like that?"
    Her grandmother shot a warning look at her grandfather. For once, thankfully, he took the hint and dropped the matter.
    "So, this is your apartment," he said, pacing around the tiny living room. "Not much space."
    "I think it's charming," her grandmother said hurriedly. "You've fixed it up beautifully. I love all the plants in the windows."
    Her grandfather scowled. "Didn't say she hadn't. I just hate to think of her all cramped up."
    "I love it," she reassured him. "It's cozy. Can I get you something? A drink? Coffee? Tea?"
    "Tea would be nice," her grandmother said. "Then we'd like to take you out to dinner."
    Penny had the oddest feeling that dinner would be a very bad idea. Her grandparents clearly had something on their minds and she had a hunch she didn't want to know what it was. "Actually, I'm afraid I can't join you." She gestured toward the hastily stacked papers and books on the coffee table. "I'm working on a paper for class."
    "Nonsense," her grandfather said. "You have to eat. It won't be a late evening. After our trip we don't want to be out so late ourselves."
    They followed her as she went into the kitchen, lingering in the doorway when they realized there wasn't room for all of them in the cramped space. She put the teakettle on. "You still haven't said what you're doing here. You didn't mention any plans to come to Boston the last time I talked to you."
    "You know your grandfather," her grandmother said, gazing at him with amused affection. "He was getting restless."
    Feeling left out was more like it, Penny thought. He probably figured things were going on in Boston that he ought to be controlling and manipulating. Things like her relationship with Sam.
    "I was not restless," her grandfather countered. "My first great-grandbaby's birthday is this coming weekend. Do you think I wanted to miss the celebration?"
    "That's right," Penny said. She looked at her grandmother. "Elizabeth Lacey's going to be ten, right?" She grinned, recalling the stories of how that birth had disrupted her grandparents' wedding reception. "And you two are celebrating a tenth anniversary. Any big parties planned?"
    "That's why we stopped by, actually," her grandmother said. "Besides taking you out to dinner, I mean. We wanted to invite you to come out to the Cape. Kevin and Lacey are inviting the whole family out for the weekend. They'd really like you to come. They said they haven't seen hide nor hair of you since you've been in Boston."
    "I know," Penny said, thinking of her mother's half brother and his wife, whom she'd barely gotten to know all those years ago at the christening and hadn't seen since. "I've been meaning to call, but getting settled has taken every spare minute I've had. I have talked to Dana a few times, but our schedules are so hectic we haven't been able to get together."
    Her grandfather snorted disparagingly. "How long could it take to settle into a place this size?"
    "Brandon!" Her grandmother frowned at him.
    "Oh, hell, Lizzy, I just think she