The Lakeside Inn Read online

  Barbara handed her the present. “Happy birthday.”

  Penny kissed her sister’s cheek. “Thank you.” She touched the soft pink ribbon tied around the pretty floral box. “This is too good to open.”

  “I thought the same thing. You can lift the lid without undoing the bow.”

  Carefully, she removed the lid. “Oh, wow. This looks delicious.” Nestled on a bed on white chocolate flowers was a large pink chocolate heart.

  “It’s a strawberry chocolate heart filled with raspberry jelly. Brooke made it especially for you at Sweet Treats.”

  Penny inhaled the heavenly berry scent. “It smells as delicious as it looks.” Picking up the heart, she lifted it to her mouth.

  “You’re eating it now?”

  “Of course, I am,” she said with a grin. “Mom’s not here to tell me it’s too early. And besides, I need all the energy I can get. Someone woke me up when everyone else is sleeping.”

  A heavy knock sounded on the front door.

  Barbara frowned and looked at her watch. “It’s only six-thirty. Who could it be?”

  “Unless it’s Wyatt, I don’t know.” Penny made sure she was decent before walking onto the landing. Charlie was already barking and racing down the stairs ahead of her.

  Diana stumbled to her bedroom door, her hair a tangled mass of curls. “Who’s at the door?”

  “We’ve got no idea,” Barbara said as she hurried after Penny. “You might want to brush your hair. You look like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

  Diana frowned and disappeared into her room.

  Before Penny reached the ground floor, Diana was already coming downstairs. She’d thrown on a sweatshirt and pulled the curls off her face with a hair tie.

  Penny peeked through the glass panel beside the door. “Katie?” Throwing open the door, she frowned at her youngest sister. “What are you doing here?”

  She held out her arms. “I thought it would be obvious.”

  When Barbara joined them, she stared at her sister in silence.

  Katie stuck her hands on her hips and frowned. “It’s Penny’s birthday. You know; presents, a special family meal, and looking at photos we’d sooner forget.”

  Diana scrambled past her sisters. “Katie,” she squealed. “It’s so good to see you!” She shooed Charlie away and threw her arms around her sister. “How did you get here at this time of the morning?”

  “I flew into Kalispell last night, then hired a car to come here this morning. I wanted to surprise you.”

  She’d certainly done that, Penny thought.

  “It looks as though someone has already been enjoying their birthday.”

  Penny looked at the chocolate heart she was still holding. The bite mark on one side made her smile. “I needed the sugar. Thanks for coming.”

  Now that she was over the shock of seeing Katie, Penny studied her sister’s face. Even as her sister laughed and hugged Barbara, she looked pale and drawn, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. It must have something to do with finding a literary agent. For a long time, she’d tried to get her children’s books published. It was disheartening when she couldn’t even get beyond the first hurdle.

  When Katie saw Penny looking at her, she frowned. “I’m okay, just tired.”

  Diana pulled Katie toward the kitchen. “Come and have breakfast and tell us what you’ve been doing.”

  Katie stopped in the middle of the dining room. “Good grief. Is this the same house?”

  “We’ve done a little remodeling,” Barbara said proudly. “Do you like it?”

  As she turned in a slow circle, Katie’s eyes widened. “It’s amazing. You took down the wall between the dining room and the study and you’ve painted the walls.” She looked above her at the modern pendant lights. “You’ve even replaced the light fixtures. It looks incredible.”

  Charlie woofed in agreement and everyone smiled.

  Katie knelt on the floor and gave their canine buddy a big hug. “I’ve missed you, boy. Did you help everyone with the painting?”

  Penny smiled when Charlie made playful growling noises. It was as if he was telling Katie all about his adventures around the house.

  Barbara patted his head. “Charlie was a good boy and only supervised. Although he got close to dragging his tail through some paint.”

  “Your mommy wouldn’t have been impressed.”

  Diana grinned. “Penny saved the day. She whisked him outside before too much damage was done. We’ve remodeled a lot more than this room. I’ll show you the rest later on.”

  They continued through to the kitchen. While Barbara made everyone a drink, Penny put two slices of bread into the toaster, and Diana and Katie took their favorite breakfast cereals out of the cupboard.

  Katie leaned against the counter. “Apart from Penny’s birthday, there’s another reason I’m here.”

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at their sister.

  “I thought over what you said about Grandma and Granddad’s house and how important it was for it to stay in our family. So, I’ve decided to come home.”

  Penny, Barbara, and Diana threw themselves at their sister, wrapping her in a huge family hug.

  “I can’t believe you’re staying,” Barbara said.

  Diana grinned. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

  “I’m sorry it took me so long to make up my mind.”

  “You’re here now,” Penny said happily. “That’s all that matters.”

  Charlie ran around the kitchen, excitedly woofing at everyone.

  Stepping away from her sisters, Penny took a doggie treat out of a drawer. Like magic, Charlie sat on his bottom with his tongue hanging out and not a woof in sight.

  “Good boy,” she whispered. Once Charlie was quiet, her sisters’ chatter returned to normal. As she buttered the toast, Penny looked over her shoulder at Katie. “Do Mom and Dad know you’re staying?”

  “Not yet. I thought I’d go to this morning’s church service and surprise them.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” Diana said. “They’ll love seeing you.”

  As they made their breakfast, Penny listened to Katie tell everyone what she’d been doing in Los Angeles. She was happy her sister was here, happy they could finally make plans for their future. But sad that their grandma wasn’t here to share the day with them.

  Chapter 13

  Wyatt tied his shoelaces and walked outside. He’d been awake since four o’clock this morning, thinking about his wife and what happened after she’d died. Usually, when he was feeling down, he played some music and looked at the pictures of her in his photo albums.

  But this morning, Anya’s smiling face did nothing to reduce the heaviness in his heart or the raw emotion clogging his throat.

  It was the anniversary of the day they’d met. They’d always gone somewhere special to celebrate their relationship and the new life they were creating together.

  He breathed in the sweet scent of the new day before walking along the gravel trail beside the lake. When his muscles were warm, he broke into a jog, steadily increasing his speed until he was running. After a few minutes of pushing himself hard, he slowed down, gasping for air. He hadn’t been running in months and it showed.

  He looked along the shore of the lake, half expecting to see Charlie bounding toward him. He and his neighbors had a sixth sense when it came to the timing of their walks. It didn’t matter whether Wyatt left home earlier than usual or at the normal time, Charlie and Penny, and sometimes her other sisters, would meet him at some point along the trail.

  This morning, he needed to be alone, to think through what was happening in his life. When he came to a fork in the trail, he veered left, going in a different direction than usual.

  He started running again. Images of Anya flashed in front of his eyes. Before the accident, she’d asked him what he wanted her to do if he died. They’d only been married for a couple of years, and he’d jokingly asked if she
was tired of him all ready.

  She’d said she was serious, that she really wanted to know. He’d told her he expected her to move on with her life, find someone to love and have that love returned. Anya’s response was simple. She wanted the same for him. She wanted him to be happy, to live the life he’d always dreamed about.

  Over the last few days, he’d replayed that conversation over and over, trying to relate it to how he felt about Penny. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his wife out of his mind. She had been his rock, his safe place to fall. And today, more than ever, he felt that loss like a dagger to his heart.

  When he could breathe without gasping, he jogged again, only stopping when he couldn’t suck any more air into his lungs. For forty minutes, he kept running, willing his unfit body to believe he was actually enjoying himself.

  By the time he arrived home, he was exhausted. Slowly, he stretched, easing the tension in his calf muscles and hoping he didn’t live to regret going so far.

  After he’d finished, he walked onto his veranda and frowned. Attached to the door was a large piece of paper showing a picture of a gift-wrapped box. Inside was a message from Penny. It was her birthday. Her family was going to church and she wondered if he wanted to come over for lunch.

  He looked across the yard at her house, at the roses that always seemed to be in bloom. Her family had enjoyed a wonderful life in Sapphire Bay. They’d lived, loved, and died with the knowledge that this was the place where they wanted to live.

  And now, unexpectedly, he felt the same way.

  Penny handed her mom a bowl of pasta salad. So far, lunch had been the usual boisterous affair it normally was when one of her sisters came home. But with all four daughters under one roof, their parents were in seventh heaven.

  “I can’t believe my girls are all staying in Sapphire Bay for twelve months. Just wait, you’ll never want to leave.”

  Katie’s mouth dropped open. “We only agreed to one year, Mom. Not a lifetime.”

  Mabel waved her hand in the air. “I said the same thing to your father when we came back to Sapphire Bay. After spending two years in Denver, I wasn’t happy coming home. But, thirty-five years later, I’m still pleased we returned.”

  Penny’s dad handed Wyatt a plate of barbecued steak. “What about you? Have you caught the Sapphire Bay bug yet?”

  “Dad!” Penny said quickly. “You know Wyatt’s leaving in a couple of months.”

  “A man can change his mind. Especially if he has the right incentive.”

  While she was getting over the shock of her dad calling her an incentive, he wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

  “Don’t worry, Penny. Wyatt knows us well enough by now to know I’m joking. If he wants to leave God’s own paradise to live in a concrete jungle, that’s his decision.”

  She didn’t dare look at Wyatt.

  He helped himself to a piece of meat before holding the plate toward her. When he didn’t let go, she looked at him. He smiled and a blush heated her cheeks.

  “I’ve enjoyed living in Sapphire Bay a lot more since your daughters moved into this house.”

  Her dad, for whatever reason, seemed happy with Wyatt’s reply.

  Seated on the other side of the table, Diana grinned. “We like having you as our neighbor, too. Don’t we, Penny?”

  “We do.” Oh, no. Everyone was looking at her as if she should add something more. What did they want her to say? That Wyatt was the most amazing man she’d ever met and it would devastate her when he left? She wasn’t ready to admit that to anyone, let alone the man sitting beside her.

  “I think it’s incredible that you found our great-grandmother’s dresser,” Katie said. “It must have been like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes adventure.”

  Penny breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for Katie. Out of all of her sisters, she was usually the least likely to bail her out of an awkward situation. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she was usually dreaming about her next story.

  Mabel added a buttery cob of corn to her lunch. “It’s a pity there was nothing inside.”

  “We all thought it might have some information about our great-grandfather,” Barbara said. “I even went to the Polson Public Library and the Local Historical Society. But no one had any information about him—or none that I could find.”

  Penny looked around the table at the people she loved. “Do you think we’ll ever know what really happened to him?”

  “He disappeared many years ago,” Mabel said. “If your grandma couldn’t find any information about her father, it’s unlikely we will. Did you find anything that might help in your great-grandmother’s journal?”

  “There was only a brief mention of someone thinking they’d seen him after he’d drowned. Margaret spent a lot of time looking for her husband but, after the first sighting, no one else saw him.”

  Diana reached for the corn. “I have a feeling we’ll discover what happened to him.”

  Penny’s dad tapped the edge of his glass with a spoon. “On that positive note, I’d like to propose a toast.” He waited for his family to stop groaning before continuing. “I promise to keep it short. First, I’d like to wish Penny a happy birthday. We love you with all our hearts and hope you have an amazing year.”

  Everyone clapped and cheered.

  “And,” Allan continued, “I’d like to thank our girls for coming home. Your grandma would be proud of everything you’re doing. I’d also like to thank Wyatt for being here. It’s good to know there’s someone living beside my daughters who looks out for them.”

  “It’s the muffins Penny takes to him each morning,” Barbara whispered.

  Penny scowled.

  Wyatt laughed and held her hand. “And I look forward to them each day.”

  “You do?” Penny asked.

  “I do.”

  Her dad studied them with a smile. “May this year bring us all love, hope, and joy—and, if we’re lucky, a slice of your mom’s delicious apple pie after lunch.”

  Mabel chuckled. “Wyatt isn’t the only man who enjoys his home baking. Let’s have lunch and then I’ll show you what I brought for dessert.”

  Allan kissed his wife’s cheek. “I’m looking forward to that.” He raised his glass and smiled at Penny. “Happy birthday, honey.”

  After the last glass had clinked against the others, Penny smiled at Wyatt. The day had started with a surprise visit from her sister and had only gotten better.

  After lunch, Wyatt sat in the living room with Mabel and Allan. They’d been banned from the kitchen while their daughters did the dishes and packed away the leftovers.

  While Allan told them about a fishing trip he was going on with some friends, Wyatt glanced at the dresser they’d found.

  “Gordon is determined to catch a bigger fish than me,” Allan continued. “But he’ll have his work cut out for him. I’m taking my secret weapon.”

  Wyatt frowned. “I didn’t know anglers had secret weapons.”

  Mabel laughed. “I thought the same thing before I saw what Allan was talking about. Over the years he’s developed quite a knack for creating fishing flies that work. I keep telling him to get some kind of patent and sell them to other people. But he’s worried it would spoil his advantage when he goes fishing with his friends.”

  Wyatt leaned forward. “I’m with you, Allan. I’d keep my secret safe for a few more years.” He frowned and turned back to the dresser. If he had something he wanted to keep safe, he wouldn’t tell the world about it, either. He’d hide it where no one would look, but somewhere that was easy for him to find. Somewhere like a hidden compartment.

  He walked across the room and ran his hands along the back of the dresser.

  “What are you doing?” Mabel asked.

  “When Allan was talking about his secret weapon, it made me think about your grandfather. Penny said he didn’t have a lot of money, so this dresser would have been a special piece of furniture. If there were any papers o
r information I didn’t want to share, I’d hide it somewhere no one would think to look.” Starting at the top, he pulled the first drawer away from the frame.

  Bending down, he looked through the cavity from the front to the back, then used his hand to pat the underside of the wooden top.

  Mabel and Allan stood beside him.

  “I never thought of that,” Mabel said. “How can we help?”

  “There’s not a lot you can do at the moment.” It wasn’t until he reached the third drawer that he found something interesting. “I’ll get Penny and her sisters.”

  When he walked into the kitchen, Penny was loading the cutlery into the dishwasher. “You should come into the living room. There’s something strange about the dresser.”

  Penny dried her hands on the dishtowel. “What is it?”

  “I think I’ve found a hidden compartment.”

  Diane and Barbara looked at each other before dropping what they were doing.

  “Come on, Katie,” Diana said. “This could be exciting.”

  Wyatt tried to keep calm. The chance of finding any clues about Penny’s great-grandfather’s life was so remote it wasn’t funny. But, even so, he couldn’t help the excitement building inside him.

  He followed the sisters into the living room. “Your dad was talking about keeping things safe and I wondered if your great-grandfather had secrets he didn’t want to share. I guess I’ve seen too many movies where there are hidden drawers and compartments in desks.”

  He pointed to the third drawer. “Feel the base and then compare it to the others.”

  Penny ran her hands over the wood, then tapped the base. Picking up another drawer, she did the same thing. With a frown, she repeated the same thing on the first drawer she’d tested. “That’s odd. The bottom of this drawer sounds hollow compared to the other one.”