Rose (Suitors of Seattle) (3 page)

Shawn thought for a moment, and finally it clicked.  “I think I may have met her in the park one day as I was returning to my office after lunch.”
  He thought of the young lady who had barred his path in the park.  Yes, she would have been someone who would have someone match them up together.  She was just that bold.

“And?”

How could he answer that?  Was he interested in her?  She hadn’t left much of an impression, but there were just too many men here to be picky.  “She seemed nice, but we honestly only met for a moment.”  He wasn’t about to commit to anything until he’d seen her again and talked to her.  He was lonely, but he wasn’t one to jump with both feet into anything without investigating all his options.

Harriett nodded, seeming to size him up.  “Would you like to be formally introduced to see if you think you’d suit?  I’d be happy to arrange dinner here with both of you so you could get to know her a bit better.”

Shawn frowned.  “Is this how courtships are usually carried out here?”  He’d never had someone come right out and try to force him to get to know a young lady before, and the whole situation seemed extremely odd to him.

Harriett laughed.  “Not at all.  Rose is just a special young lady, and I’m overly cautious.” 

His mind raced as he tried to figure out what he thought of her.  “I think dinner would be a good idea.  I can’t answer whether I think we’d suit, because honestly, I barely remember her.  I am interested in marrying soon, though, so I’d be happy to get to know her.”  Why not?  It would certainly solve his loneliness problem if they suited well.

Harriett nodded.  She seemed surprised by his words, but she said nothing about it.  “Would Monday night suit you?”  She knew Rose would drop whatever she was doing if it gave her the chance to get to know Dr. Shawn better. 
Rose was set on marrying the man, and even Rose knew she had to have the man’s approval before it could happen.

“That would be fine.  What time?”

“Seven?”

“That would be perfect.”  Forgetting about the tea that had yet to be served, Shawn got to his feet.  “I look forward to seeing you then.”
  He nodded politely as he walked toward the door.

Harriett got to hers.  “Thank you for meeting with us.”

As Harriett watched Shawn see himself out, she sat back down thoughtfully.  “Do you think he had any inkling who Rose is?”  Harriett’s eyes met Higgins’ with a worried frown.

Higgins shook his head.  “I’m really not certain.  He didn’t know who she was at first.  That much is certain.”

“Are we making a mistake by introducing them?”  Harriett was concerned that Rose would be hurt by the man.

“I think Miss Rose is much too wrapped up in herself.  Being rejected by a man would be good for her in a way it wouldn’t be for other young ladies.  I don’t think we have much to worry about, though.  I don’t think he’d ever hurt her.”

Harriett nodded.  “I hope not.  She’s a sweet girl, and she doesn’t deserve that.”

Rose stood in front of the looking glass in the bathroom at her house brushing her teeth.  She’d bought a brand new toothbrush for the occasion and she was going to make sure her teeth sparkled. Normally when she got ready to go out somewhere, she spent most of her time on her hair, but he was a dentist.  He wasn’t going to notice her hair.  He’d only notice her teeth.  Besides, her hair was already perfect as usual.

Her mother had told her she had to take one of her sisters to dinner and she’d chosen Lily.  Lily was always the easiest to take around men, because no one could ever be interested in Lily’s hoydenish attitude.  You never knew if she was going to pick her nose or
chew with her mouth open just to get a reaction.  She’d been taught proper manners just as all her sisters had, but with Lily, they just didn’t seem to take. 

In a way, Rose felt sorry for Lily.  In another year and a half, she’d be old enough to marry, but no men would be interested in her for anything other than their father’s wealth.  Each of the sisters had a sizable dowry, and in a town like Seattle, that was common knowledge. No one had ever been interested in Rose for just her money, of course, but what else did Lily have to offer?  A dinner she’d shot herself?

Rose cringed slightly.  Maybe after she and Dr. Shawn were married, she could take Lily under her wing and try to teach her to be more ladylike.  Once Lily saw what a perfect life Rose had, she would surely want to have the same thing.  Wouldn’t she?  What woman wouldn’t want to be married to a handsome man and living a life of ease? 

She finally stopped brushing her teeth because her gums were starting to bleed and stepped into the hallway.  Lily was leaning against the wall
, waiting.  Rose decided to be kind.  “Lily, you should put your hair up tonight.  The dress mother picked out for you is beautiful, but if you put your hair back, you’d look so much better.”

Lily shook her head.  “I like having my hair in braids.  I don’t need to have some fancy hairstyle, because I’m not trying to catch a husband.”  She walked past Rose into the bathroom and shut the door in her face.

Rose just shrugged.  She didn’t know why she even tried.  Lily obviously was much too immature to be able to understand how important appearance was to a young lady.

Rose felt like she had butterflies in her stomach the entire ride over to her uncle’s house.  She knew she’d make a good impression, because she always did, but she needed to make the best impression she’d ever made.  He was going to be her husband and the father of her children, after all.  There wasn’t a more important man to her.

He had just pulled up in his buggy and parked it in the street when their driver stopped in front of Uncle Max’s house.  Lily jumped down quickly, but Rose waited for Dr. Shawn to come to the buggy and help her down.  He did so like a true gentleman, holding her hand and smiling at her.

He placed her hand on his arm and walked with her toward the house.  She smiled up at him, her lashes mostly covering her eyes.  She wanted him to see how ladylike and sweet she was.   She’d perfected the moves when she was sixteen and all the boys in the area had fluttered around her like bees to honey before her aunt had married her uncle and ruined everything.

“Were you busy at the office today?” she asked, her voice soft and sweet.  He had to believe she was gentle in everything.

He nodded.  “No one in this area has ever seen a dentist.  I’m pretty disgusted by the shape most people’s teeth are in.  Has no one ever heard of a tooth brush?”
 

Rose had a toothbrush at home, but truly had never used it more than once per month.  She didn’t know how often you were supposed to use the thing.  “I brush my teeth regularly,” she told him.  Was regularly whenever she thought about it?

He gave her an approving nod.  “Brushing your teeth every day is important.  More people should do that.”

Every day?  Rose vowed to start brushing her teeth as part of her morning routine.  If it made Dr. Shawn happy, she’d do just about anything.  “I agree.”  The door was opened for them by a butler.  Aunt Harriett didn’t usually have a butler, so she must have hired someone just for the evening.  She did that when she was giving fancy parties.

As annoyed with her aunt as Rose was that evening, she knew she’d worked hard to make sure Dr. Shawn was a good man, so she greeted her properly.  She kissed her cheek and thanked her for the invitation.  “How are you feeling, Aunt Harriett?”

Harriett smiled, but looked a bit pale.  “I’m okay.  The morning sickness is hitting me all the time right now.”

Rose shook her head in sympathy.  “I’m sorry.”  She sat down on the small sofa hoping Dr. Shawn would sit beside her, but instead, Lily took the spot.  She was wearing a blue silk gown and had her hair in long braids.  Why couldn’t she have put her hair up just once?  And why on earth hadn’t she left the spot on the sofa open for Dr. Shawn?

Shawn watched the two girls sitting together.  Was that the girl who had been with Rose in the park?  Had he even met Rose in the park?  He waited for someone to introduce them, so he wouldn’t make the mistake of saying they’d met when he really wasn’t sure if they had. 

Rose smiled at him.  “Do you remember my sister, Lily?  She was with me in the park the day we met.” 

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief.  She
was
the girl from the park, and he had met her sister.   “Yes, of course.  It’s good to see you again, Lily.”  He smiled at the girl with the long braids, wondering how old she was.  She looked to be at least sixteen, but by that age, most girls wore their hair up and not in braids.  “Do you have any other sisters?” he asked politely.

Rose nodded.  “We have six younger sisters.  I’m the oldest.  I’ll be eighteen next week.  Lily comes next.  She’s sixteen and a half.  Then Amaryllis is fifteen.”

His brows drew together.  “Are you all named after flowers?”  He couldn’t remember when he’d met someone once.  Give them all similar names and he was sunk.  Maybe he could just shout out ‘flower’ and they’d all come running.

Mrs. Farmer must have seen what was running through his head.  She stood and limped to the corner of the room and picked up two small canvases.  On each were miniature paintings of four girls, with their names painted beside them.  “This was made for me when I married into the family two years ago.”

He took the two canvases and smiled.  The pictures were very well done and the names were written with careful lettering.  “Is there a local artist who did this?  This is beautiful.”  His eyes skimmed through the names on the lists.  Why would anyone name their children after flowers?

“My sister did it.  She’s something of an artist.”  Rose brought all the attention back to herself.

“Which sister?” he asked, still studying the small portraits. 

“Violet.  She’s the second to the youngest.” 

He looked through the faces and names until he came to Violet at the end.  “She’s very talented.”  He liked being able to put a face with the sister’s name so easily.  Maybe she could paint something for his office.

Rose nodded.  “She is.  She loves to paint so much, she spends all of her free time with a paintbrush
in her hand.”

He handed the canvases back to Mrs. Farmer.  “Those are truly wonderful.  I think they must have come in handy more than once.”
  He hoped if he married into the family someone would do something similar for him so he could learn all their names.  Would Rose mind if he never figured out which of her sisters was which?

Harriett nodded emphatically.  “I think I’d still be calling each of them
‘flower’ if I hadn’t received those.”

He looked back to Rose.  “You don’t have any brothers?”
  He himself had two brothers, but no sisters.  His mother had always lamented the fact that she had no daughters.

“No.  I do have a male cousin, though, but he’s just a baby.”

Shawn’s eyes met Harriett’s.  “Yours?”  It was nice to know that males ran in the family.  The idea of having a large number of daughters frightened him more than a little.

She nodded.  A man walked into the room then, obviously freshly bathed as his hair was still wet.  He walked to Shawn and held his hand out to shake.  “I’m Max Farmer.”

Shawn nodded his head, gripping the other man’s hand tightly.  “Dr. Shawn Henry.”  He always used doctor when he introduced himself now.  He loved the sound of the word when it was referring to him.

“It’s good to meet you.”  Max looked at Harriett.  “I’m starving.  Please tell me it’s time to eat.”

“We were just waiting on you to clean up.”  She walked slowly across the room and linked her hand through Max’s arm, leading the way into dinner.

Shawn stood for a moment unsure of what to do.  There weren’t an even number of males and females.  Finally, he offered one arm to Rose and the other to Lily.  Lily giggled softly.  “I think I like you.”

Shawn smiled down at her.  She’d be fun to have as a sister.  “I’m glad.”  He took both of the young ladies into dinner, noting the differences between them.  Lily walked like she wanted to get somewhere.  Her strides were long and purposeful.  Rose took short tiny steps.  He could see that under her pretty silk gown, Lily was wearing boots that looked like she’d been tromping around in the woods with them, while Rose wore slippers that weren’t meant for much more than dancing.

When they reached the dining room the sisters sat beside one another
, and he sat across from Rose.  After the quiet prayer Max said for them, Lily fixed her plate quickly and ate with a relish.  Rose took tiny bites and spoke softly during the meal, helping her aunt keep the conversation going. 

Shawn knew that he’d pick Lily for a friend any day, but he was oddly attracted to Rose.  She would certainly do. 
He wondered if they could skip the courting process and just get married, but then mentally shook his head.  That wouldn’t be fair to her.

*****

Rose knew from the minute he offered Lily his arm to take her to the table as well that she’d made the right decision.  There was no need to let anyone else court her, because she was in love.  This time it wasn’t infatuation or just a crush.  She knew that Dr. Shawn was the only man for her and she had to have him or no one.