Rose (Suitors of Seattle) (16 page)

Rose closed her eyes, hating that they kept running into old beaux of hers.  “Shawn moved here just a few months ago.  As soon as I saw him, I knew none of the rest of you would do.”  She knew her words were rude, but she was tired of men like him trying to make Shawn angry with her.

Shawn grinned, squeezing her hand tightly.  “I didn’t waste any time after I saw you either.”

Michael looked down at them.  “So you’re happy, Rose?”

Rose nodded without hesitating.  “Of course.  I married the man I love.”

Michael shrugged.  “I guess the best man won.”  He turned and walked away without another word.

Rose turned to Shawn.  “I’m sorry about that.”

Shawn made a face.  “Exactly how many old beaux do you have?”

Rose blushed.  “I honestly never bothered to count.  Too many to admit to.”
  She was ashamed of the way she’d played one man against another.  

“Why were there so many?  You couldn’t have just settled on one?”

She sighed.  “Honestly, I didn’t know what I wanted, and there were all these men who seemed interested in me.  My parents didn’t seem to care that there were always men buzzing around me, so I just…let them keep coming.”  She looked down at her knitting, embarrassed. 

“So we’re probably going to be running into your old suitors for the rest of our lives?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me.”  She played with the yellow yarn she was using to make booties.  “I’m sorry.”  She looked into his eyes for the first time since Michael had walked off.  “I never really considered how it would look when I did marry if I had all these men who I had flirted with coming around all the time.”

Shawn nodded.  He hated that she had been courted by so many men, but he didn’t think
he had the right to complain about her past when other men had loved her and he’d kept her from them.  He threaded his fingers through hers.  “I wish we weren’t constantly running into them, but they’re in your past.”  His free hand reached down and touched her stomach.  “How are you feeling today?”

She smiled.  “I was a little nauseated this morning, but I’m much better now.”  She looked at him.  “I think we should go home.”

“Home?  I thought you liked the beach.”

“I do like the beach, but there are things we can do during a day off at home that we can’t do at the beach.”  She stood up and brushed the sand off her skirt before leaning down to put her knitting into her bag.  “Would you like to go home and do some of those things with me?”

His eyes lit up, and a slow grin crossed his face.  “If you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, I would like that better than anything.  The beach is fun, but home is so much better…for some things.”

They giggled like children as they hurried back to the buggy.  “It looks like rain again.  It’s probably good we’re taking our party for two indoors,” she told him.

“I’m always willing to have an indoor party for two with you.”

*****

Rose felt better about her relationship with Shawn after their day off together.  She hadn’t realized just how nervous she’d been about their marriage until he’d told her he’d taken off work to spend a day with her.  She had felt like she’d always come in second to his career, and she no longer felt that way.

On Saturday, they decided to go to the mercantile to look at fabric for baby clothes.  She knew they were nowhere near needing it yet, but she loved to browse and wanted to start making things for their child.  There was a small cradle in the corner that he ran his hand over, and she shook her head.  “I’d rather the baby used the cradle my sisters and I all used.  Would you mind?  I’m sure Mama and Papa would be happy to give it to us.”

He smiled at her.  “I’d like that.”

As they left the store with their purchases, they ran into Lily who had three boys talking to her.  Rose smiled.  Her sister was wearing the pretty new dress they’d purchased for her and had her hair up just as Rose had taught her. 

Lily disengaged herself from the boys and ran over to Rose, throwing her arms around her older sister.  “Thank you!”

Rose grinned hugging her in return.  “Has
he
noticed you yet?” she whispered.

Lily shook her head.  “I don’t think so, but maybe I’ll choose one of the other boys.”  She sighed, looking down at her feet.  “Who am I trying to fool?  It’s him or no one.”

“How could he resist a beauty like you?”

Shawn looked between the sisters, unable to hear their whispered conversation.  “You look beautiful today, Lily.  I really like your hair
that way.”

Lily beamed at Shawn.  “Thank you!  Rose taught me to do it
like this.”  She smoothed the skirt of her dress down, looking back at Rose.  “May I come over after school on Tuesday?  I have some questions for you.”

Rose nodded.  “Of course, you can.”

Lily hugged her again.  “You’re the best sister ever!”

As they walked away, Shawn looked down at Rose.  “What was that all about?” he asked.

“Lily just wanted me to help her with something.”

“What?”

Rose shook her head.  “I promised not to tell.”

Shawn lifted an eyebrow.  “If you can’t even tell me, it must be about a boy.  Who is it?”

She just kept walking, not acknowledging he’d even said anything.  “I can’t wait to start making clothes for the baby.”

Shawn shook his head.  “You sure do work hard to keep a man guessing.”

She grinned at him as they headed toward home.

*****

Monday afternoon, Rose was sitting in the parlor when a maid knocked on the door.  She looked up to see Alex, Higgins’s step-son standing there.  She stood up and smiled.  “Come in!  How long are you in town for?”  Alex had finished school when she did, but he’d gone off to college to study to be a lawyer.  He wanted to be able to help women who were being abused like his mother had been.

“Only three days.”  Alex grinned at her.  They’d gone to school together and once his mother had married John Higgins, he’d gotten to know her because they’d both worked in the house for battered women.

“Well, have a seat.  Tell me all your news.”

“I actually have a favor to ask.”  Alex had always gotten straight to the point.  He sat down in the chair perpendicular to the sofa, and she resumed her seat.

“If I can help, you know I will.  Do you mind if I keep knitting?”  She gestured to the needles and yarn lying beside her.

“Not at all.  What are you making?”

“Baby booties,” she told him, her eyes twinkling. 

“For Max and Harriett’s baby? Or are you trying to tell me something?”

She laughed.  “I’m not trying to tell you anything.  I’m coming right out and saying it.  I’m having a baby.”

Alex smiled.  “Congratulations!”  He watched her fingers quickly knit a few stitches.  “About my favor…”

“Sure.  What is it?”

He blushed, not meeting her eyes.  “Well, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Which is?”  She looked up at him, surprised he was hemming and hawing over anything.  He was usually very plain-spoken.

He took a deep breath.  “Do you know if Amaryllis is interested in anyone?”

She blinked a few times, before a smile spread across her face.  “Amaryllis is only fifteen.  She’s not allowed to be interested in anyone until she’s eighteen.”

He sighed.  “I know.  I…I have feelings for her, and I want to start writing to her, but I don’t know if she’d welcome letters from me.”

Rose loved the idea of Alex eventually marrying her sister.  “I think she would, but I really don’t know.  She’s always got her nose stuck so far into a book that I never know what she’s thinking.”  Amaryllis never talked about boys to her.

Alex sighed.  “I know.  I’ve always been the same way.  At school, all the fellows have someone back home they write to.  I’m the only one who doesn’t.”

“Is that what this is about?  Don’t pretend feelings that aren’t there, Alex.”  She didn’t want her sister to go through the feelings of rejection she had.

“No, the feelings are there.”  He sighed.  “I’m just afraid to act on them.”

“Do you want me to talk to her about it?  To see if she’d welcome letters from you?  Or do you just want to write to her?  I’m sure she’d respond, and even if she doesn’t have feelings now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they developed.”

“Would your parents be angry if I asked her to go for a walk?”

She sighed. “They wouldn’t allow her to leave with you at her age.”  She thought for a moment.  “Why don’t we go over there together?  They won’t say a word if you’re with me.”

“Would you mind?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “Of course not.”  She got to her feet.  “Let’s go now.  We should get there right about the time she gets home from school.”

“Thank you, Rose!”

*****

Shawn finished up with his last patient of the day earlier than he’d expected, so he hurried home, thinking he could spend some extra time with Rose.  As he reached the end of their street, he saw her leave their home with a tall dark haired young man he’d never seen before.  He watched for a moment, not quite believing his eyes, but decided to follow them, to see where they went.

He felt the anger building inside him as he followed them through the busy streets.  It was bad enough that she was willing to step out with another man, but that she would do so while she was pregnant, and so publicly, was even more upsetting.  When they reached the park, she stopped and talked to one of her sisters, inviting her to be part of the conversation.  He wasn’t sure which sister it was, because he still couldn’t keep them all straight.  The three of them talked for several minutes, before her sister walked toward their house alone.

Rose sat down with the young man on a park bench
, and they continued to talk for a good thirty minutes, neither of them noticing him watching them.  Finally the man embraced her and she walked toward their home with a smile on her face.

Shawn sat down on a park bench with a frown on his face.  Why was she with another man so openly?  He couldn’t believe she would cheat on him, but that was obviously what was happening.  And why did he care so much?  It wasn’t just that he was angry that she was humiliating him.  He was jealous, he finally realized. 

As he walked home, he thought about all the different ways he could ask her what had happened, but decided instead to wait.  She’d tell him eventually, wouldn’t she?

*****

Rose was thrilled when she and Alex ran into Amaryllis on their way to her parents’ house.  She stopped her and the three of them talked, with her feeling out of place.

“Would you be willing to write to me while I’m at school?” Alex asked.

Amaryllis had nodded.  “Sure.  I like writing letters.”  She’d been oblivious to his real question.

Alex shook his head.  “No, I mean would you be willing to write to me as more than just a friend?”

Amaryllis had blinked twice before her eyes widened behind her spectacles and she’d nodded happily.  “I’d really like that, Alex.” 

Rose had backed away so the two of them could talk a little more before Amaryllis had hurried off toward home, worried Mama would be upset with her for being so late.

“I think that went really well, Alex.”  Rose grinned at him as they sat together on a park bench.

“I think she likes me too!” he said with surprise.

Rose had laughed.  “Well, of course she does.  You’re very likable.”

He sighed.  “I hope so.  Amaryllis is really a special girl.”

Rose smiled.  “Just don’t tell anyone you’re writing as more than friends.  Mama and Papa wouldn’t like it.  Neither would Higgins.”

Alex shook his head.  “I won’t tell anyone.”  He stood up and hugged her when she got to her feet.  “Thanks for being such a good friend to me.”  He looked at her.  “You’re a lot different than you were before you married.  I like you better now.”

She smiled.  “Shawn’s really good for me.  I love him more than I ever thought possible.”

“I’m glad.”  He’d turned to leave the park, waving.  “I’ll see you when I’m home for Christmas, I’m sure.”

“I plan to be as big as a house by then.”  She patted her stomach happily.

He’d laughed as he’d gone on his way.   Rose watched him go, thinking about what a great brother he would make.

Shawn walked home slowly, trying hard to believe what he’
d just seen with his own two eyes.  His wife, the wife who declared her undying love on a daily basis, was having an affair with another man.  And not until Shawn had seen her with him, and realized the extent of her lies, had he realized he loved her.  He wanted to scream and cuss and kick things, but instead he walked home calmly to talk to his wife.

She was waiting in the foyer for him as always and hugged him, greeting him with a sweet kiss.  He started to pull away, but decided that he’d see just how far she was willing to go with her game.  Would she ask him for a divorce so she could go to the other man?  He obviously loved her too…why hadn’t she just married
him
?