Hyacinth (Suitors of Seattle) Read online

  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 you 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!"

  *****

  Fred beamed with pride as he stood at the top of the steps with Hyacinth, getting ready to walk her down and give her away. Another of his beautiful girls was making a good match for herself, and he couldn't be prouder.

  As they walked slowly down the stairs, Hyacinth kept her eyes on Lawrence, seeing the love shining from his eyes as she made the short walk toward him. Finally, her father placed her hand in his, and she stepped close to him.

  *****

  She hadn't cared about being the center of attention for her wedding, so she'd done her best to keep the reception short. After they left the party, Lawrence drove her home through the quiet streets with her snuggled close to his side. "It was a really nice day for a wedding," she told him nervously. She found it hard to believe that she was actually going home with her new husband, and she would never live in her parents' home again.

  He kept his arm tightly around her shoulders. "I'm so happy we're finally married. It's felt like an eternity since you agreed to be my bride on Tuesday morning."

  Hyacinth nodded in agreement. She wanted to be with him every moment of every day, so their time apart had seemed long and unnecessary to her. "I'm glad we get to finally leave all those people behind and just be alone together." Yes, she was nervous, but she was even more excited about spending her life with the man beside her.

  He kissed her fore
head as he pulled up in front of his small carriage house. He helped her down, walking with her to the door and sweeping her off her feet to carry her over the threshold. She giggled. "Don't be silly, Lawrence. Put me down!"

  "I can't seem to do that," he said with a laugh. He carried her toward the stairs and straight up them.

  She saw two maids and the cook watching them as he carried her toward what she assumed was his bedroom, and she blushed. "Everyone knows where you're taking me!" How could she ever face the servants again?

  He laughed as he set her on her feet, closing the door behind them. "You didn't think they knew I was going to make love to my beautiful new bride?" His hands reached out, and he plucked the flower from her hair, setting it in a vase he'd already filled with water for just that purpose.

  She backed up a step as he walked toward her, removing his jacket as he went. "You're my wife, and I'm going to enjoy every second with you." He tossed his jacket over a chair and removed his tie, throwing it onto the dresser. Stopping in front of her, he put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around so he could see the row of buttons down her back. He groaned. "I suppose you'd be angry if I just ripped the buttons off the dress to get you out of it faster?"

  She nodded, not sure if she could speak. He was acting very differently than she was used to. She wondered for a moment if it was Tuesday, but she knew it wasn't. Now that she knew what his 'Tuesday affliction' was about, she had to stop blaming all of his odd behavior on the day of the week and just accept that Lawrence was odd at times.

  He carefully unfastened each button, pressing a kiss to the flesh he exposed after each one. "Have I told you yet today that I love you more than I ever dreamed it was possible to love someone?"

  She smiled. That was the Lawrence she knew. "Not yet. I wouldn't mind hearing it, though."

  He leaned over and nipped her neck, grazing his teeth against her skin. "I love you, Hyacinth Bennett. I'm so glad you agreed to spend your life with me." Finished with his task of unbuttoning her dress, he pushed it off her shoulders until it fell to a heap on the floor.

  She stepped out of it gracefully, wearing only her petticoats and corset. Turning to him she cupped his face in her hands. "And I love you, Lawrence. I love you so much. I never thought I'd find the kind of man I could love the way I love you."

  He leaned down and kissed her softly. "Forever."

  Epilogue

  Violet stood in the park, watching a lonely man walk along holding the hand of a small child. They stopped and talked for a moment, their eyes meeting. Violet's fingers flew over her sketch pad, capturing the moment. The love and pain in their eyes was almost more than she could bear.

  She usually only did portraits of her family members, choosing to work mostly on landscapes. Her upcoming exhibit at the new art gallery in Seattle was only meant to have landscapes, but she knew that this man and boy would be displayed prominently. There was something about the emotion on their faces that drew her to them. She wanted to hold them both close and tell them everything would be fine.

  Within a few moments, the pair had walked on, but she could see she'd done a credible job of sketching them, and she knew the looks on their faces would be implanted in her brain for her entire life. Anytime a person saw that much raw emotion, they couldn't help but remember it. Always.

  She tucked her sketch pad under her arm and walked down the street toward her home, wondering who she had drawn. She shook her head. It didn't really matter, she supposed. They were simply subjects. All the world was filled with subjects for her to draw. Why would they be any different?

  She tried to put them out of her mind as she rushed toward home. Hyacinth's book would be released the following day, having been accepted by Lawrence's publisher immediately. They would be celebrating that evening, and she was looking forward to it.

  Hyacinth said she had other news as well, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what that news was. She'd already watched three of her sisters through their pregnancies. She knew the signs as well as anyone else. She smiled as she thought about another niece or nephew. Another tiny little face to paint. Another child to hold close.

  She'd chosen a career over a family, refusing the suit of every man who had asked her, not that there had been a great deal. Everyone had always known she was going to be an artist. She had no time for love.

  She looked down at the sketch she'd made of the man and boy in the park. Sometimes, she wished it could be different, though. The kind of love she saw between the two was something she'd never feel.

  Sighing, she continued her journey home. She had her family. They wouldn't let her be lonely.

  Brides of Beckham Series

  Mail Order Mayhem

  Mail Order Mama

  Mail Order Madness

  Mail Order Mix Up

  Mail Order Mistake

  Mail Order Maternity

  Mail Order Match Maker

  Mail Order Motherhood

  Mail Order Meddler

  Mail Order Misfit

  Mail Order Minx

  Anthology With Others (Including Mail Order Matron)

  Western Kisses

  Western Nights

  Dallas Billionaires Series

  Steven

  Justin

  Cody

  Stand Alone Books

  Dream Lover

  Making Me Believe

  All For Emma

  Making Deals

  Lies

  Suitors of Seattle

  Rose

  Lily

  Amaryllis

  Daisy

  Jasmine

  Regencies

  Loving Lily

  Courting Constance

  Writing as Morganna Mayfair

  Thrice Blessed Trilogy

  Conquered

  Stenwick Siblings Trilogy

  The Earl's Design of Love

  The Duke's True Love