Hyacinth (Suitors of Seattle) (13 page)

He nodded, smiling.  "That one worked, didn't it?"  He was proud that he'd done one of the things she'd suggested just right.

Hyacinth shook her head.  "No.  You put poison ivy leaves in my pockets.  I couldn't figure out who'd done such a thing, but then I remembered the article about mint leaves."  She sighed heavily, wishing she'd never started writing the terrible column.  "I'm really sorry."

Lawrence felt a grin slowly transform his face.  "Does this mean you're not angry with me any longer?"
  He was hopeful that she was going to forgive him easily now that she knew it was her advice he'd messed up so badly.

Hyacinth looked up at his grin and fought to hold back the giggle that was inexplicably at her lips.  She shook her head.  "Oh, Lawrence.  We're both such idiots."

He laughed, the sound booming through the quiet night.  "We are.  You liked me for who I was, and I was trying to be someone else so that you would like me."  He shook his head.  "Maybe we should both just accept the fact that we care about each other and stop trying so hard."

She nodded, scooting across the seat to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.  "I'm so glad I finally know what's wrong with you."  She hoped he would ask her to marry him then and there.  For the first time in their courtship, she felt like she could finally agree.  She wanted to be his wife.  There was nothing she wanted more.

Lawrence used his gloved hand to tip her face up to his, kissing her passionately.  "I thought I'd never get to do that again after what you heard me say to your sister.  I'm so glad she knew what to do.  I don't know that I would have admitted to the advice I was getting if she hadn't just taken over the situation."  He could have lost her forever, and he couldn't have stayed in Seattle.  He'd have had to move on where he could stop thinking about her constantly.  He doubted that would have even worked.

Hyacinth smiled up at him, kissing his chin.  "Well, Amaryllis is the smartest of all of us.  We've always known that.  She definitely knew exactly what to do to make things work for us."
  She'd never been so glad for Amaryllis in her life.

"So I'm forgiven for proposing to your sister?"

"Only if I'm forgiven for giving every man in Seattle horrible courting advice."  She smiled as she rested her forehead on his shoulder.

"I think we can call that even."

Hyacinth laughed.  "I'm so glad you're being so understanding."

"I'm just happy we were idiots in front of Amaryllis
, so she could fix us both."

She grinned, her face pressed into his neck.  "It's freezing out here."
  She needed to get back inside, so he needed to hurry and ask her to marry him before he took her home.

He nodded.  "I need to get you home.  Your father will skin me alive if we stay out too long in this weather."

She was slightly disappointed as she returned to her side of the buggy.  She was finally ready to marry him, and he hadn't proposed.  Soon, he would, though.  She was pretty sure of it.  He was a good man, and he wanted to marry her.  Didn't he?

Chapter Ten

Hyacinth

Your smile makes me smile.

Your frown makes me frown.

You always manage somehow

To pick me up while I'm down.

I want to spend my life with you

And love you through the years.

I want to be there to see your laughter

And wipe away your tears.

I'm not good at grand gestures.

I can't be like that you see.

But I love you more than words can express.

Hyacinth?  Will you marry me?

Written by Lawrence Bennett and
published in The Seattle Times, February second, 1897.

Hyacinth noticed her family giving her funny looks at breakfast on Tuesday.  She wasn't certain why, and she was almost afraid to ask.  Iris kept giggling behind her hand, and Violet had sighed over and over, looking at her and saying, "It's so romantic."

Finally Hyacinth put down her fork.  "What's romantic?  What's wrong with you people?"
  She needed to know what was afflicting them all so she knew what to do about it?  Were they all sick at the same time?  What on earth was wrong with her family?

Her father pushed the newspaper to her, opened to the page he obviously wanted her to read.  She skimmed the page until she saw her name, a
nd then she read more slowly.  "He didn't!"

Mary shook her head.  "Obviously the boy is still having his regular Tuesday spells.  You were certain they'd be over this week."
 

Hyacinth sighed.  "He just thought it would be the best way to ask, I guess."  She ate her breakfast slowly, thinking about how she would respond.  Should she send him a note?  Go to his house?  She had no idea how one responded to a
proposal poem that was put in the local newspaper.  What was the etiquette behind it?

After her sisters had left for school, and her father had left for work, Hyacinth sat in the parlor with her mother.  "How on earth am I supposed to respond to a wedding proposal that my sisters and parents knew about before I did?"
 

Mary shrugged.  "You're on your own with that boy, dear. 
He has his own way of doing things, that's for certain."

Hyacinth took a pen and paper from the table in the corner of the parlor.  "I guess I need to pen him a note responding to him.  I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to do it."
  She would do her best to respond in a way that he'd understand.  She'd really wanted a proposal in person, of course, but if she had to, she would accept a proposal that all of Seattle had read.

She had written, "Dear Lawrence," and was struggling to decide what to say from there other than, "Yes, please," when there was a knock at the door. 

Mary smiled.  "Why don't you get that, dear?  I'm sure it's for you anyway.  It's time to talk to the crazy man."

Hyacinth walked sedately to the door, wondering if her mother was right.  Was it Lawrence?

When she opened the door, there was a huge bouquet of hyacinths held up by a man whose face was concealed.  She smiled.  "Hello, Lawrence."  How could it be anyone else?  She should have known he'd be there as early as was decent to come calling.

Lawrence popped his head around the bouquet and stepped inside.  "These are for you."

Hyacinth took the flowers and buried her nose in them.  They were her favorites, of course, but more than that, she was thrilled he'd finally learned something about how to court a woman. 

Hyacinth handed the flowers to a passing maid.  "Would you like to come into the parlor with my mother and me?" she asked.
 

He shook his head.  Digging deep into his pocket, he pulled out a ring with a beautiful diamond surrounded by tiny little amethysts.  "I thought you'd like a ring that matched your favorite flower," he told her, taking her left hand in his, and slipping the ring onto her finger.  "Hyacinth Sullivan, I'm a complete clod when it comes to courting a woman, but would you overlook that fact and marry me?"

Hyacinth looked down at the pretty ring adorning her finger and nodded, her eyes filled with tears.  "I'm happy to marry a clod like you.  Although, a private proposal would have been nice."

He grinned.  "This is your private proposal.  I thought I needed to propose to you in the newspaper that made it all work for us."

She laughed.  "That newspaper did nothing of the sort, but all right."  She stepped into his arms and hugged him tight.  "I can't wait to be your wife!"  She knew that he would want it to happen quickly, just as she did.

He kissed her forehead gently.  "I can't either.  Let's get married today."
 

Hyacinth stifled a giggle.  She did have the dress, but her mother would kill them.  "Mama would murder us both."
 

"Let's go tell her!"

Hyacinth smiled.  "I think she knew it was coming.  In fact my whole family was giggling and staring at me all through breakfast.  I had to finally demand to know what was going on to get them to settle down."  She wasn't ashamed to admit that her family already knew what was happening.

He took her hand and pulled her into the parlor.  "Mrs. Sullivan?  I'm going to marry your daughter."

Mary stood and clapped her hands together.  "Oh, that's wonderful!"  She looked between the two of them.  "Now, I think June weddings are just beautiful.  We'll need to start deciding which of your sisters you want in your wedding, Hyacinth.  Remember, Amaryllis is expecting, so she's probably not going to want to be part of it."  She waved them to sit down on the sofa across from her.

Hyacinth exchanged a look with Lawrence. "Well, Lawrence wants to ge
t married today, but I told him you'd never approve."  She looked at her mother hopefully, really wishing she would just say it was fine for them to marry immediately, so she wouldn't have to go through the hassle of planning a wedding.

Mary's eyes narrowed as she looked at her future son-in-law.  "There have been too many rushed weddings already.  You will do this one right!"  She
again gestured to the sofa, and the couple sat there together, still holding hands.  "Now, I'm thinking the first Saturday in June."  She walked to the desk at the side of the room and picked up a pencil and paper, moving toward the other sofa, obviously ready to take notes on the discussion.

Lawrence leaned forward, his face and voice earnest.  "Tomorrow."

Mary spun on him just as she was about to sit down.  "No.  No!
No
!  Not tomorrow.  Not today.  June!"

"How about Saturday, Mama?  That gives you some time to get things ready.  And I already have a dress."
  She thought about the dress her mother had forced her to choose, and she was glad that she had it now.

"No!  I'm not compromising this time.  You will wait a decent amount of time to marry.  What is wrong with my girls?  Not one of you has given me a chance to plan a wedding!  You're making me crazy!"

Lawrence sighed.  "I really don't want to wait, Mrs. Sullivan.  I love Hyacinth, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.  You're asking me to wait four months to marry the woman of my dreams.  How long was your engagement to Mr. Sullivan?" 

Mary blushed.  "That's neither here nor there.  You will wait.  June is the best time of year to marry, so you'll marry in June."

"Mama, you have to work with us on this.  We're not going to marry today or tomorrow, which is what we both want.  Please...this weekend."  Hyacinth did her best to make her mother understand how badly they wanted it to happen immediately.

"No!  June!"

*****

Hyacinth was thrilled to see that the sun was shining for her wedding day.  They'd still been in the parlor arguing when Fred arrived home from work, and he'd taken a look at the three frustrated people and asked what was happening.

When he heard both sides of it, he whispered something in Mary's ear that had her blushing bright red.  "You wouldn't!" she whispered back.

"Oh, I would," he responded.

Mary sighed in defeat.  "Fine.  Marry this Saturday.  What do I care?"  She'd immediately started penning notes to local business people to get everything organized. 

Every once in a while she'd look up.  "You know your sisters
in Montana aren't going to have time to get here for the wedding.  What do you care, though?  You're getting married on Saturday."  She'd look back down and scribble more notes.

Finally, after she'd written five
notes, she'd looked at the young couple across from her.  "Since you're insisting on this early wedding, you're going to make it happen."  They'd been dispatched to take notes all over town, arranging for their perfect wedding. 

When Hyacinth sat up in bed
on the morning of her wedding, she saw that Violet was in her room with her watching her sleep.  "What's wrong with you, Violet?" she asked.

"Well, Lawrence told me to give you this the instant you woke up on the morning of your wedding.  You're awake."
 

Hyacinth looked at her sister's hand, blinking twice to clear the sleep from her eyes.  "Thank you."  She held her hand out for the single
hyacinth in her sister's fingers.  She still had the flowers her fiancé had given her scattered throughout her room in different vases.  She tucked the one in her hand into the vase on the table beside her bed.

"Are you ready to be married?" Violet asked.

Hyacinth put her hand on her stomach to calm the butterflies there.  "Yes, I think I am."  She was more than a little nervous, but every time she thought of Lawrence, she couldn't help but smile.  He was a good man, and she couldn't wait to be his wife.  There wasn't much time left to wait, either.  Just a few more hours, and they would head to the church.  "I need to start getting ready!"

"Hurry and get your bath. 
We're all going to help you get ready today."

Hyacinth nodded, knowing it was part of the family's ritual.  Every time one of them got married, the others gathered around.  She was surprised Rose, Lily, and Amaryllis weren't already there.

After her bath, she got back to her room and saw all five of her sisters that lived in Seattle waiting for her.  She was glad she'd put her petticoat on under her bathrobe, because she knew there would be no way to kick her sisters out of her room as she dressed for the day.

Rose pushed her into a chair and started to brush her hair out for her. 
Iris sat on the edge of the bed and calmly explained about how babies are made.  Hyacinth turned to her younger sister in surprise.  "How do you know all that?"

Iris grinned.  "Medical books have a lot of information that doesn't pertain to illness."

Hyacinth let out a brief laugh as the others kept working around her.  Violet sat watching the whole thing, a pencil and paper in hand.  She would occasionally turn the pages and start a new sketch, but Hyacinth had no idea what she was doing. 

Amaryllis gave a great deal of advice about marriage, some of it making sense, but some of it not.  "Just be glad you'll have servants from the beginning.  The first two years we were married, I had to cook.  You know what a terrible cook I am!"

Lily just stood leaning against the wall watching the whole thing.  When the hyacinth was placed in her hair, and she was deemed ready other than her dress, Rose and Lily worked together to pulled her dress on, doing their best not to mess up her hair that had been so perfectly coifed. 

Rose took a step back and wiped a tear from her eye.  "I can't believe Hyacinth is getting married.  She's one of the babies."

Hyacinth raised an eyebrow at her sister, but said nothing. 

Lily nodded.  "Just two flowers left after
Hy.  Violet and Iris.  Of course, they're both going to be career women.  They won't marry."

Iris shrugged.  "I may marry some day
, but it will be long after I finish medical school."

Violet stood and walked to Hyacinth hugging her tightly and handing her five pieces of paper.  In the first sketch, she was portrayed with her hair wet and around her shoulders, Rose behind her calmly brushing it dry.  In the second, her hair was dry, and Rose was pinning the strands up.  In the third, her hair was finished all but the hyacinth.  In the fourth, her flower was in place. 

The last sketch was the one that caught Hyacinth's eye though.  She felt a tear track down her cheek.  "Is this really how you see me?"  She looked at her younger sister, astonished.

"You're so beautiful Hyacinth.  I drew that so you'd remember how it felt to be in a wedding dress waiting for your husband."
 

Hyacinth hugged her younger sister.  "Would yo
u mind if I gave it to Lawrence?"  She knew he would treasure the memento of their wedding day.

Violet shook her head.  "Of course not.  It's my wedding gift to you both."

"Thank you!"

*****