His Royal Badness and the Mistress of Muscle -Vol. 2

Chapter 31: Asking

Prince narrates:

Mrs. Smith greets me when I get to their house. "Mr. Smith is in the den." she says.

He's at his desk surrounded by family photos and I sit across from him. "How are you today?" I ask

"Good. You?" he replies

"Fine." Except that my hand is shaking.Must. Act. Cool. I pick up a photo of Sammy. "Did Penelope take this?"

"Yes. If I had her talent I'd have gone into photography instead of sales. Sometimes I sit in Penny's studio parking lot in awe of the place. She's my baby and I'm so proud."

"You should be. Maybe I shouldn't, but I've taken people into her office even when she's gone because I like showing off her photos. "I laugh.

He smiles. "Good for you, not being jealous of your girlfriend's success. I saved for years' for my children's educations. When Penny told me in her junior year of high school that she wasn't going to college to study photography I was crushed. It was one of the saddest days ever. But eventually she met Grace and Grace talked her into going to study photography. It was a happy day here when she asked 'Do you still have my tuition money?' She didn't have to ask twice."

"Thank goodness you still had the money."

"Hell, Sabrina won so many pageants that had scholarships I didn't need to use all of her money and I paid for for Penny's tuition near in full. Something tells me that you didn't come over to discuss Penny's education. What did you really want to talk about?"

Mr. Smith is a good man. A tad overprotective, but kind, caring and only wanting the best for his daughter. Over five minutes pass as I try to form sentences in my mind.Talk about social anxiety! Suddenly I blurt out,"I'm deeply in love with Penelope and would like to ask for her hand in marriage!"

He looks worried. "When were you planning on this?"

"After the tour."

"You do realize her marrying you would make her more of a public figure, right? Do you think she can handle that kind of scrutiny?"

"She's handled the attention she has received well. When she went to the opening of Supplement Shoppe she handled that like a pro:signing books, shaking hands."

"She was in her element that day-not yours.""I know that-but that was an example of how well she can handle attention" This isn't going well. Maybe I should just forget about getting his blessing and ask her anyway. Margaret would probably think me doing something so old fashioned was ridiculous in the first place and maybe it was.

"I always knew someday a man would want to marry Penny, but I have to admit, you weren't the sort I thought she'd choose." Mr. Smith laughs a little. "I was expecting a regular Joe."

Should he be telling me that? That I"m not what he expected for his baby? Does that mean I'm not "good enough"? Given my history with girls' fathers I'm naturally skeptical.Mr. Smith continues,"If you're going to waltz in here wanting to marry Penny we have to talk about a few things."

Oh, lawd. This is going to be awful. "Such as?" I ask as my throat dries up.

"If you were to marry, you'd have to think about church. My wife would most likely push for a church wedding. Do you have a church you attend?"

"Uh...no Sir, not right now"

He sighs a little. "You'll also need to decide how much or how little financial backing you'd give her studio."