No Cause for Concern

Detective Polehaus pays Penny Wise a visit at the antique shop where she works and shares some unsettling news: a stranger has been to the county courthouse and requested a copy of her entire criminal history, including her arrests from the days of the Green Ring counterfeiting conspiracy and Dr. Trask's trial. It was all perfectly legal, and the detective assures her there is probably no cause for concern, but Penny is not comforted. As she puts it, "That's what people say just before a volcano erupts."

Penny is engaged to Wooton Bassett, and the two have been taking premarital counseling with the Parkers. Her homework for the week happens to be learning to assume the best about people instead of the worst, so she resolves to believe the mystery man had a good reason for snooping. But the mystery deepens at the college bookstore, where a clerk named Lindsey, an assistant to the art department's dean, mentions that a man was recently asking all about Penny - her grades, her advisor, her reputation. He was tall, with red curly hair, brown eyes, and a remarkably sharp chin. Connie realizes the description sounds exactly like someone they know, and Penny, gazing dreamily at the memory of those eyes, concludes it must have been Wooton.

Determined to think well of her fiancé, Penny decides Wooton must be researching her for a special wedding surprise, and she cheerfully volunteers odd personal facts, from her favorite shade of yellow to her rain-dependent shoe size. Wooton admits he is working on a secret project but insists he would never dig through her records; if he wanted to know something, he would simply ask her. Penny is satisfied until her boss, Jacques Henri, reveals that Wooton stopped by the shop and collected her employment history, claiming he needed it for their marriage license - even though the couple already got their license the week before.

Penny finds Wooton at the library, where he is sheepishly hiding books of paintings by Claude Lorrain, her favorite seventeenth-century painter, for his secret surprise. He denies ever visiting the antique shop, but then the librarian thanks him for using the newspaper archive to research Penny Wise - something Wooton never did. When Penny loyally declares that no one is more honest than Wooton, the librarian dryly suggests it must have been someone who looks and sounds just like him. A light bulb goes on. Following the sound of a familiar voice through the library, Wooton comes face to face with the culprit: his identical twin brother, Wellington.

Wellington freely admits to investigating Penny, insisting everything he did was above board and in his brother's best interest. He asks to speak with Wooton alone, and Penny agrees to leave, wanting to show that she trusts Wooton and has nothing to hide - though she frets to Connie afterward about what Wellington might be telling him. Over lunch, Wellington lays out his case: he and their father hired a private detective, and he is convinced that "Miss Wise is nothing but a glorified gold digger" who came from a poor family, followed a wealthy friend to college, cozied up to the rich Dr. Trask, and has been scheming her way into the Bassett family fortune ever since. Wooton bats away every accusation, pointing out that Wellington has twisted innocent facts into a sinister story, and that he already knows all about Penny's past and loves her anyway. Unmoved, Wellington hands over an envelope and warns his brother to consider its contents carefully.

The envelope holds Penny's credit report - Wellington's supposed bombshell. But it falls completely flat, because Penny has already told Wooton everything about her student loans and credit card debt, even though she was ashamed of it. Wooton knows she isn't marrying him for his money; she is marrying him because she loves him. Touched that he thought the best of her, Penny thanks him, and Wooton tenderly replies, "You are the best of me." When Wellington learns his evidence changed nothing, he still insists the marriage is a monumentally bad idea, though he grudgingly admits he is impressed by their conviction. Penny surprises him by warmly inviting him and the whole family to the wedding - after all, he shares her favorite face. Caught off guard, Wellington promises to think about it.

Later, at Whit's End, Wooton is so excited that he gives Penny her wedding present early: a graphic novel he drew chronicling their whole relationship, from the day they met to the day he posted her bail. Penny notes that he may not know absolutely everything about her yet, but neither of them is worried. They have their whole lives ahead to keep discovering each other, always believing the best about one another.