Rose (Suitors of Seattle) (6 page)

“Well, I have.  We went walking in the park, and he was extremely courteous.  On the way there, he made sure he walked on the outside of the sidewalk, and he patted my hand where I held his arm.”  She sighed.  “He even shortened his stride so I wouldn’t have to hurry to keep up with him.”

“That’s nice.”  Lily climbed into bed and closed her eyes tightly, hoping sleep would come quickly.

“And he kissed me goodnight.  I could feel his kiss all the way to my toes.”

“He kissed your toes?”  Lily’s eyes opened in shock as she stared at her sister.  “Why did he kiss your toes?”  Was that even proper?  Why would a dentist, someone obviously worried about oral hygiene, kiss someone’s toes?

“He didn’t kiss my toes.”  Rose’s voice was disgusted.  “His kiss was so sweet and loving that I could
feel
it in my toes.”

“That’s just strange.”
  Lily rolled to her stomach and put her pillow over her head.

“You don’t understand anything!”  Rose pulled her nightgown over her head and brushed out her hair.  “I can’t wait to be his wife.”

“You know, no man is perfect.”  Lily’s voice was muffled with the pillow over it.

“Dr. Shawn is. He’s perfect in every way.”

Lily sighed.  “That’s what all the women in the battered women’s shelter say too.  That their husband seemed so perfect before they married.  I hope he’s going to treat you well.”

“You know he will!”

“I know nothing of the sort.  Apparently Aunt Harriett trusts him, though, so I guess he’s okay.”  She closed her eyes.  “Good night, Rose.”

Rose glared at Lily.  “You’re just trying to spoil things for me and it’s not going to work!”

“It’s not?  Oh well.  I give up then.  Good night, Rose.”

Rose sighed.  “Good night, Lily.” 

*****

Shawn left his office and locked the door, running his fingers through his hair.  He was sick of wasting most evenings courting Rose.  Would it be too soon to just ask her to marry him so they could be done with the whole thing?  He wandered past the bank where her father worked and noticed it was still open.  He’d left work early to go home and change before seeing Rose again.  He was supposed to eat dinner with her family.  He had met most of her sisters, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to see them all at once.

He opened the door for the bank and went to the clerk at the counter.  “Is Mr. Fred Sullivan in?”

“Yes, sir.”  The man gestured in the direction of the offices and Shawn went that way. He found the office where he’d first met Rose’s father and knocked briefly. 

At the call of “enter” he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.  “Dr. Henry.  Can I help you?”

Shawn nodded.  “May I sit?” he asked.
  He hoped Mr. Sullivan would accept that he was ready to marry Rose.  He just didn’t want to have to waste any more time.

“Of course.” 

Shawn took the chair across from Fred.  “I know I haven’t been courting Rose for very long, but you’re a businessman the same as I am, so you’ll understand when I say that I don’t have time to continue on this path.  I’d like to ask for her hand in marriage now.”

Fred studied his face carefully.  “Do you care for my daughter?”

Shawn was glad Fred hadn’t used the word love, because he wasn’t anywhere close to being in love with Rose.  “I do care for her.”  He cared for her in the way he cared for most people, but with the positive addition of sexual tension.  He’d be thrilled to take Rose to bed with him.  He was ready for that aspect of marriage more than most.

Fred sighed.  “I’m worried about her.  She’s always had men surrounding her
, telling her she was perfect and beautiful and they loved her.  You’re not the type of man she’s usually interested in.”

Shawn shrugged.  “Does that mean you don’t think I’ll make her a good husband?”  Shawn got angry.  Had he wasted the past two weeks on the girl?
  He hoped not, because he really didn’t want to start the long, tedious process of courtship with anyone else.

“I’m not saying that.”  Fred shrugged.  “Yes, you have my permission to marry her.”  He said it quietly, with a hopeless sound to his voice.  “You’ll treat her well?”

Shawn nodded.  “Of course, I will.”  He looked his future father-in-law in the eye.  “I know you worry about your daughters being abused, and Rose and I have talked about her work at the women’s shelter.  I wouldn’t hurt Rose.”

Fred nodded slowly.  “If she wants to marry you, then you have my permission to marry her.”

Shawn stood up and held his hand out to the older man.  “Thank you, sir.  You won’t regret it.”  He turned and left the bank.  On his walk home, he passed the mercantile and turned to go inside.  There was a small display of rings, so he looked over them.  He chose the most expensive ring, because he thought Rose would want the best, and had it put into a box, before hurrying home and changing for dinner.

*****

Rose was excited about having Dr. Shawn over for dinner with her family, but she was nervous about her sisters’ behavior.  You never knew what was going to happen when they all got together.  She’d made certain he hadn’t met Jasmine yet, because Jasmine was the real trouble-maker.  Lily was embarrassing because she liked to pretend she was a boy, but Jasmine?  You never knew what Jasmine would do, but it was going to be something that would shock everyone to the core.

Rose cornered Jasmine in the parlor before Dr. Shawn arrived.  “I need you to be on your best behavior tonight, Jaz.”

Jasmine grinned from ear to ear.  “Why?”

Rose sighed.  “You know Dr. Shawn is coming to dinner and I want to make a good impression on him.”
  She kept her voice low and even, trying to keep Jasmine from knowing just how important the night was to her.

“Are you afraid he won’t marry you if I throw a pea at his head?”  Jasmine had started a food fight with their youngest sister, Iris, just the previous evening.

“Something like that.”  It was more that she was afraid Dr. Shawn would worry that insanity was a family trait, but she didn’t say that.

“I promise not to lob any food at him.  There.  Feel better now?”

Rose eyed her sister.  “Not particularly.  Don’t do anything Mama wouldn’t approve of, okay?” 

Jasmine shrugged.  “That I just can’t promise.”

“Please, Jaz.”

Jasmine kissed her sister’s cheek.  “I love you, Rose.”  She left the room before anything else could be said, leaving Rose staring after her in fear.  What was she going to do?  She knew Jasmine had something planned.

Dr. Shawn was there a minute later and they sat down to dinner with him on her left.  Jasmine had maneuvered her way into sitting directly across from their guest, which frightened Rose to no end. 

The first half of the meal passed uneventfully, with Jasmine showing perfect manners.  Rose sat tensely just waiting to see what would happen.  Finally Jasmine looked at Rose and said, “Relax.  I’m not going to do anything.”  She then turned to Dr. Shawn and explained, “Rose is afraid I’m going to do something to embarrass her and then you won’t ask her to marry you.  I don’t know why she doesn’t trust me!”

Rose groaned and tried to sink under the table.  By pretending she didn’t know why Rose was embarrassed of her, she’d embarrassed her.  Of course.  It was just like Jasmine.

Dr. Shawn choked down a laugh and eyed Rose out of the corner of his eye.  She was bright red, and sinking down in her seat.  “Is that so?”

“Oh yes!  Rose is absolutely crazy for you, and she doesn’t want anyone to do anything that could jeopardize her relationship with you.  Isn’t that sweet?”  Jasmine smiled at Rose, a sickeningly sweet smile that made Rose want to throttle her.

“Very sweet,” Dr. Shawn returned.  He looked over at Rose.  “Don’t worry.  Your sister doesn’t frighten me.”

“That’s enough, Jasmine!” Rose’s mother’s voice rang out.  “You know better.”

Jasmine hid her grin and did her best to look properly contrite. 
“Sorry, Mama.”

Rose didn’t say another word throughout the meal, but she carefully plotted how she’d get back at her sister.  She could….she could….she could talk to Lily after Dr. Shawn left and figure it out then.  She was so angry, she didn’t even have any good ideas.

After dinner, she went into the back garden with Dr. Shawn, a huge area overrun with flowers, because her mother loved to plant flowers.  There was a section for her and each of her sisters, and she led Shawn to the rose garden and the stone bench there.  He stared around him in amazement.  “So many flowers!”

Rose nodded.  “Mama loves flowers if you couldn’t tell by our names.  We each have our own section here.”  She gestured around her.  “This is mine, of course.”
  She’d always been proud of the rose garden.  It was her favorite place to sit.

“I’ve never known a family quite like yours.”

“We are different.  Mama and Papa made an agreement before they married that she would get to name all the girls and he would name all the boys.”  She shrugged. “We have a lot of flowers now.”

“What would you father have named the boys?”

She grinned.  “He says he would have named all of them ‘Fred’.  He wanted a dozen boys named ‘Fred’.”

Dr. Shawn shook his head.  “Judging by the girls’ names in your family, I almost believe he’d have done it.”

She giggled softly.  “Probably.”

He eyed her for a moment, before sliding his hand into his pocket.  “I talked to your Papa today at the bank.”

She gave him a questioning look.  “You did?”

He slid off the bench and onto one knee.  Thankfully the weather had been unseasonably dry and he didn’t get mud all over.  “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She stared at him a moment, before nodding emphatically, tears pricking her eyes.  “Oh, yes!”

He opened the ring box for her and showed her the ring.  “Is this okay?  Do you like it?”

She held her hand out for him to place it on her finger, trying to keep from shaking.  “It’s perfect!”

He stood and drew her to her feet, kissing her softly on the lips, his tongue tracing them for the first time.  When she didn’t open her mouth, he pulled back, knowing there was plenty of time for that later.  “When?”

“Whenever you want!”

“This weekend?” he asked.
That seemed like a reasonable length of time to him.

She shook her head.  “Oh, no!  That’s not enough time to plan the wedding
, or have a gown made, or anything!”

He sighed.  “Okay, what’s the bare minimum amount of time you need?”
  Please let it be less than a month.  If she said six months, he’d leave right there and then.

She thought to everything that would need to be done.  The local seamstress would put her dress on a rush order
, and she could use the church.  There were no weddings coming up.  They could have a reception right there in her own backyard.  “A month?”

He nodded reluctantly.  “I can wait a month, but just barely.”  He leaned down and kissed her again briefly, glad the courting time was over.  “Four weeks from Saturday?”

She nodded slowly.  “I’d love that, Dr. Shawn.”

He smiled, brushing another quick kiss across her lips.  “We’re engaged now.  You don’t have to keep calling me Dr. Shawn.”
  He didn’t add how much he liked it, though.  It was nice having her respect him so much.

She hugged him tightly, surprised by her own forward action.  “I like calling you Dr. Shawn.  It suits you.”

He nodded.  “Call me Dr. Shawn, then.”

She took his hand and pulled him toward the house.  “Let’s go tell Mama.  We’re going to need to get started planning right away.”  She sighed.  “The only bad thing is, if we plan a wedding that quickly, we won’t be able to see much of each other, because I’ll be too busy.”

“It’s more important that we’re always together sooner, though, isn’t it?” he asked, relieved that he would be able to get out of coming over every evening.  She’d be too busy.  That sounded good to him.

She nodded.  “It’s so much more important.”

For the next month, Rose was in her element.  She decided to have the five sisters following her in age be her bridesmaids, and each would carry their namesake flower in their bouquet.  Thanks to a local greenhouse, they would have no problem getting them.  Her bouquet would, of course, consist of roses of every color she could find, but mainly red.  Red roses were her signature flower.

Violet and Iris would each be flower girls, and they’d carry their own flowers as well, but they’d also carry
a single rose at the center of their bouquets. 

She would have roses covering the church
, with a small basket of red roses on each pew as she walked down the aisle. 

The day after Dr. Shawn proposed
, she went to the seamstress and described the dress she wanted.  She wanted a white dress with her shoulders bare and the dress form fitted through her waist, so form-fitting she’d have to cinch her corset as tightly as she ever had.  She would wear white slippers and have a single rose in her hair.