Part Five

Monday, January 11, 2010

It’s so hard to stay motivated when graduation is so close. I feel like curling up in a warm corner with a book, rather than doing the study that I really need to do if I want to graduate on time. Summer can’t come fast enough this year!

“Good morning, Mary,” Di greeted Mrs. Gorman, as she entered the farmhouse. “Is Andrew around? He asked me to come and help him with something.”

The older woman smiled. “He’s in his study and I’m sure he’ll be very glad to see you, considering the mess I saw the last time I walked by.”

Di shuddered and went in the direction indicated, after giving her thanks. She found the room in a state of wild confusion, with Andrew sitting on the floor in the midst of it all.

“And what might you be doing in here?” she asked him, her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. “You’re not suggesting I help you clean up, are you?”

He sprang to his feet and kissed her nose. “Not at all. I just thought the room would look nicer if you were standing in it.”

Di shook her head and picked up a pile of papers from the desk, tapping their edge to neaten them. “Seriously, Andy, what are you doing? You’re not usually this messy, are you?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m looking for an important piece of paper and despairing of ever finding it. I thought I could use a fresh set of eyes.”

With a nod, Di signalled her agreement. “Tell me what I’m looking for.”

Andrew described to her a document and suggested some places she might look for it. The two settled down to work together. Half an hour later, the document had still not come to light and Di started casting her eyes around the room, looking for inspiration.

“How about that box up there?” she asked, pointing to a cardboard archive box lodged on the very highest shelf, its lid brushing the ceiling.

“It’s just full of keepsakes,” he answered, shrugging. “I wouldn’t have thought it would be in there, but you can look, if you like.”

“You don’t mind?” she asked, even as he pulled it down.

“I don’t think I have any secrets,” he answered, with a grin. “Go for your life.”

Di lifted the lid, finding it less than half-full, and started to sort through the contents. She was halfway down the pile when her brow contracted in confusion.

“This looks kind of familiar for some reason,” she murmured, pulling out a picture of an ugly bunch of flowers. Her eyes widened as she remembered where she had seen something like this before. “Andrew, what is this?”

“What?” he asked, surprised at the sharpness of her voice. “Oh, I didn’t know I still had that. I wonder why I kept it.”

“But what is it?” she persisted.

He took it from her hand and gazed at the picture, a thoughtful frown on his face. “I’ll try to remember how it goes, but I’m not that good at this kind of thing.” He pointed to each kind of flower or spray of foliage in turn. “This one is called rue, and it stands for regret. That one, I’m not sure what it’s called, but it’s a warning. The buttercup is for childishness. The columbines are for folly. I think this other one is for patience. The one with the blue-black berries is blackthorn, which stands for difficulty, I think. That’s about all I can remember, but the other ones weren’t that pleasant either.”

“From an artistic point of view, it’s all wrong,” she noted, frowning. “It’s out of proportion. And why are some of them such ugly things?”

“Weeds,” he added. “Some of them, if I found them on my farm, I’d get rid of them in a flash. But that seems to have been the thing – when you’re talking about the meanings of flowers, a lot of them were for common weeds. Though, I’m pretty sure that this is a selection of some of the worst. There’s a pretty little yellow-flowered weed I know that means ‘future joy’. I’d rather have gotten a picture of it instead.”

“It would at least be pretty, too.” She smiled.

“True,” he agreed. “Though, it serves no purpose that I know of. Celandine isn’t good for anything but to be decorative – and to stand for ‘future joy’, it seems. Blackthorn, on the other hand is quite a handy thing. In England, it’s used for cattle-proof hedges, they make preserves with its fruit and use its wood for walking sticks. I’ve always thought it strange, that the one that is so useful is the one that means something so negative, but I suppose even difficulty has its purpose.”

“But why do you have it?” Di asked, watching his face.

Andrew gave a casual shrug and dropped it onto the pile Di had been making. “I don’t know why I kept it. It was a pretty unpleasant thing to receive, I can tell you.”

Diana shook her head, still not understanding.

“There was an old lady in Sleepyside, who used to watch what all the young people did,” he explained. “She noticed everything, and she’d know if you were moving too fast with a girl, or if you were about to make a fool of yourself, or if you were about to let the right girl get away. Sometimes, if she was feeling particularly magnanimous, she’d send you a warning right before you did something stupid. It amused her to send these cards to boys, with pictures of flowers on them. If you got one, you’d know it was from her and you’d have to go and ask her what it meant.”

“And why did you get one?” Di asked. “What was she trying to tell you?”

Andrew chuckled. “Mostly that I was too young to get married. That the girl I’d charmed into wearing my ring was not the right kind of girl for me. That I would be miserable right now if I’d gone through with that marriage.”

“You think she was right?”

He nodded. “I think I told you that I left Sleepyside for good when I was eighteen. About five years later – at a far better age for getting married – she hooked up with some up-and-coming stockbroker. I saw her a year or two ago. I never noticed when we were dating my senior year of high school just how empty-headed she was. She’s good to decorate his arm, but not for much else.”

Di fingered the card, tracing the outline of a buttercup. “Mart got one of those cards when he was engaged to me.”

With one hand, Andrew lifted her chin so that she met his eyes. “It doesn’t have to mean the same thing. I’m sure it didn’t mean the same thing. You’re not like her. You have so many good qualities, Diana.”

She smiled and let him draw her into an embrace. They stayed that way for a few minutes, before Andrew pulled away.

“And look what you’ve uncovered,” he told her, pointing into the box. “Right under that nasty thing is the piece of paper I’ve been looking for.”

“At least something good came out of that,” she observed. “Though, it’s also good to finally know what happened with Mart. I never could understand what went wrong. He just got cold feet and ran away from me.”

Andrew shrugged. “You were both too young. Sometimes, you have to listen to the old people when they say that. They’ve seen it all before.”

Diana smiled. “I’ll have to remember to listen to old people more often, then.”

“Just don’t count me as one of them just yet,” he answered.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Such a beautiful Valentine’s Day! Andrew is a true romantic, though you wouldn’t think it to look at him. I think I’m in love.

Andrew’s arm was draped around Diana’s waist as he walked her to the door after another very successful date. He pulled her closer and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

“I’ve got to go. Early morning tomorrow.”

They kissed for a few minutes on the doorstep. Andrew seemed in no hurry to leave. At length, he pulled away, caressed the side of her face and kissed her once more.

“What time do you need to be up?” Di asked, smiling up at him.

Andrew groaned. “Four-thirty. I really need to go.”

His hand slid down to squeeze hers in what seemed to be a final farewell. As they were parting, however, a thought seemed to occur to him and he stopped moving.

“Is it all right if I go away for a few days?” he asked. “I’m not wanting to abandon you, or anything, but I’ve got some things I need to deal with and I do my best thinking in a quiet spot.”

Diana pushed down the faint echo of emotion she felt every time someone important to her talked about leaving. “Where are you going to go?”

“My fishing cabin. I thought I’d take two or three days there to sort out something that needs thinking through.” He paused, watching her face. “If it makes you uncomfortable, I could stay here. I could probably find enough peace and quiet somewhere in the vicinity.”

Di shook her head, knowing that she was being silly. “No, you should go. I’ll be fine. I’ll sure be busy enough.”

Andrew nodded and kissed her. “Thanks, sweetheart. I’ll drop in to see you before I go. If I can get away tomorrow, I’ll probably be back by Friday and maybe we can go out.”

“I’d like that,” she answered with a smile. “I miss you when you’re not here.”

“I miss you when we’re apart, too.” He gave her one last, lingering kiss. “I need to be going. See you soon.”

Di watched him walk away with a smile on her face.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

We’re getting married! I’m so happy. Andrew is so happy. My mother is FURIOUS. She thinks I’ve done this on purpose to stay away from her. Trixie is horrified that I could even think of marrying her uncle. They can all get over it because we’re getting married!

“Have you got it?” Barbara demanded, as Di walked in the door. “Let me see!”

Diana held out her left hand, displaying the diamond solitaire ring. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Her friend nodded, tipping Di’s hand back and forth to catch the light. “And huge.”

“It’s not.” Di felt a blush rising. “It’s perfect.”

Barbara raised an eyebrow. “If I ever get engaged, I’ll know not to expect something like it. Unless I’m going to marry a rich man.”

“Andrew’s not exactly rich,” she explained, feeling as if she was clutching at straws. “He has nothing on my own father, really. He’s just… well-established. He can afford to splurge every now and then.”

The sceptical look still graced her friend’s face. “So, this is what you get when you marry an older man?”

Diana forgot her embarrassment and became serious. “I’m not marrying him for financial reasons.”

“I know,” Barbara replied with a sigh. “You’re marrying him for his body.”

“Barbara! I never expected that from you of all people,” Di spluttered.

In response, the other girl giggled. “So, it’s true, then.”

“No!” Di squeaked. “Of course it’s not true. I’m in love with him and he’s in love with me.”

“I know, sweetie,” Barbara soothed. “I’m just teasing. Still, he does look very nice in a pair of jeans and a well-fitting T-shirt. You could do a lot worse.”

Diana shook her head. “I’m not going to discuss this with you.”

Barbara smiled. “Good, because I could never really think of him that way. I still tend to address him as Mr. Belden. It’ll be strange when you’ve married him. I might find myself calling the pair of you ‘Mr. and Mrs. Belden’.”

“Please! Just don’t!” Di grasped her friend’s arm. “Enough people are giving me a hard time without you starting as well.”

Her friend nodded agreement. “Okay, from now on, you will hear no criticism or teasing from me. I will be a supportive friend.”

“Thank you,” Diana replied. “That’s exactly what I need.”

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

My post-graduation job is all lined up! And, of course, as soon as I knew about it, we had to set the date for the wedding, so that I could arrange for leave. It’s going to be at the end of June and I’ll have a two-week break afterwards for a honeymoon. My mother burst into tears when I told her over the phone. I’m not sure whether she was crying about the wedding or the job.

“We need to talk,” Di told Andrew as they met at the farmhouse door. “My mother’s been on the phone making demands and I need your opinions.”

“Let’s take a walk,” he suggested, taking her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. “What’s the problem this time?”

Di sighed. “I think she’s been making a list of reasons why the date we chose is not suitable. Her latest effort included the fact that it’s the same weekend as the garden club’s annual rummage sale, which she is not involved in anyway, the opinion that the wedding would be classier if we had it in the city and the opinion that my hair is all wrong for a wedding and I should spend twelve or eighteen months growing it out.”

“I don’t care about the garden club, I don’t like the city, and there’s nothing wrong with your hair,” he told her. “It’s perfectly lovely.”

“My mother doesn’t think so. She says I shouldn’t have cut it.” She sighed. “She’s probably right, but I didn’t know you were going to propose.”

“I like it.” He ran a hand through it and kissed her. “It reminds me of the day we first met up in Des Moines. Of course, I’ve liked all twelve of the ways you’ve had it in between then and now, too. However you want it to be, I approve – within reason.”

“Within reason?” she asked. “What aren’t I allowed to do with it?”

Andrew shook his head. “Allowed doesn’t come into it. I’d just prefer if you didn’t… turn it green, for example.”

“I don’t wear green,” she answered, smiling. “And I haven’t had twelve hairstyles since that day we met up.”

“Yes, dear.” He ducked away from the hand that tried to swat him. “Anything else?”

Once more, she sighed. “Just that she’s been conspiring with Mrs. Belden – I mean, Helen – to try to add extra flower arrangements for the reception and fancy menu holders. And she wants to invite a lot of Daddy’s business associates and their wives.”

“Do the flower arrangements and menu holders matter?”

“No.”

“Then we won’t worry about them, will we?”

“I guess not,” she answered. “But I don’t want to change much else, especially not the date or the venue, or to add all the business associates.”

“Sounds good to me. We’re agreed, then? We’ll hold the wedding in Sleepyside, just like we planned, on the day we chose; we’ll let your mother and my sister-in-law collaborate over whatever they like; we’ll tell them that we’re just having close family and a few friends, but we’ll also let them invite a few extras if they feel the need, but not every businessman your father ever met. We could ask Honey and Trixie to try to keep the mothers in check and alert us if things are getting out of hand. And, if you need to, you can tell your mother that I love your hair how it is. How does that sound?” Andrew paused to survey a view containing sheep.

“That all sounds good. The other thing I’m worried about is Mart,” Diana admitted, as they continued to stroll. “I’m still not on the best of terms with him, after our break-up and, of course, we’ll have to invite him. I just don’t want it to be uncomfortable for all of us.”

“I don’t think it will be that bad. Since he’s moved on to your friend Honey, my presence will be as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra la,” he joked. A moment later, he stopped walking and stared at her. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

Slowly, Di shook her head. “It sounds like a quote, but I don’t know from where.”

Andrew shook his head. “Your education has been sadly lacking, I see. It’s Gilbert and Sullivan. From the Mikado. I won’t sing it for you, but the words go something like, ‘The flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra la, breathe promise of merry sunshine. As we merrily dance and we sing, tra la, we welcome the hope that they bring, tra la, of a Summer of roses and wine. … And that’s what we mean when we say that a thing is welcome as flowers that bloom in the Spring.’ Though, I think I left out some tra las and things.”

“They don’t have a place in ordinary speech,” she quipped. “I don’t quite understand the reference, though.”

“Well,” he explained, “at that point in the story, the character doing the singing is trying to convince another character to marry the woman that he himself is engaged to, but cannot marry because he is married already, to the girl that the other character was originally going to marry.”

“Andrew, if that explanation was supposed to make it clearer, it didn’t work.”

He shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to take you to see it sometime.” Taking her hand, he started walking once more. “Don’t worry about Mart, though. He’ll be fine. He’ll see that you’re happy and you’ll see that he’s happy and it will clear the air between you.”

“How do you know that he’s happy?”

“I do talk to my sister-in-law, you know. Helen knows when her children are happy and she told me that Mart is.” He sighed. “This is hard, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve always had trouble relating to my brothers, but you’re going to have a lot more trouble.”

“They’re a whole generation older than me, instead only half of one for you,” she observed. “Though I noticed that you just lumped your sister-in-law in the same category as my mother.”

His brow creased. “Helen’s kind of standing in for my mother, since she can’t be here herself. You probably haven’t ever seen it, but at times Helen has tried to mother me – with limited success. We’ll figure it out, though. I won’t let this become a barrier between us.”

She smiled and kissed him. “Thank you. I think I needed to hear that.”

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Was I insane when I decided to finish college and plan a wedding at the same time, when my mother and two of my closest friends and the place the wedding will be held are all half-way across the country? I think I must have been. This is probably going to kill me!

At the end of a long day, all that Di wanted to do was curl up somewhere with a sandwich, a cup of coffee and a good book, but she entered the house to find that she was wanted on the telephone. With a sigh, she sank into the nearest chair and took the receiver.

“Hello?” she greeted, in a weary voice.

“It’s nice to talk to you, too, Di,” came Trixie’s teasing voice down the line.

Diana sighed once more. “Sorry, Trix. It is good to hear from you, I’m just tired.”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be tired,” Trixie answered. “You have no excuse. At least, I really hope you have no excuse, or at least not the same as my excuse. I guess I might have to face you actually having this excuse one day, but I really don’t want to think about that just yet, you know?”

Di frowned, not following her friend’s train of thought. “What’s your excuse, Trixie?”

“Oh, I haven’t told you that part, yet,” she replied, sounding almost as if she might be bouncing with glee. “Jim and I have news. We’re having a baby.”

“Oh, Trixie!” Di barely managed to breathe in her excitement. “Congratulations! That’s wonderful news.”

Her friend laughed. “Thanks. It wasn’t so wonderful when we first found out, but now that we’re getting used to the idea, we’re getting pretty excited. Baby should be here in time for Christmas. You should have seen Jim’s face when I first told him, though. He looked like he was going to faint.”

“I bet your mother is excited – her first grandchild.” Diana paused for a moment, wondering whether her own mother would find that kind of news exciting.

“Yes, both our families are pretty excited. Moms has already started knitting.” Di could hear the frown in her friend’s voice, but it disappeared with the next sentence. “Your mother is going to be mad at me, though, because of the difficulty of fitting my bridesmaid’s dress.”

Di’s first thought was that it was good for her mother to have a problem to deal with that was caused by someone else, but she squashed that idea down. “I’m sure it will be fine. Honey will know how to deal with that, won’t she?”

“I really, really hope that Honey isn’t pregnant, too,” Trixie observed. “Moms would not be happy with Mart if she was.”

“I meant from a sewing point of view,” Di corrected, exasperated. “Honey will know how to make the dress so that she can let it out at the last minute if needed. She told me last night that she was holding off cutting the material just yet – I guess this is why.”

“I only told her this morning,” Trixie answered, sounding confused.

Di rolled her eyes. “I bet she’d guessed, though. Surely you’ve had some kind of symptoms that led you to wonder whether you might be pregnant. You didn’t just take the test for fun, did you?”

“Not my idea of fun. Okay, so, yes, I had symptoms and I guess Honey might have noticed some of them.” There was a short pause. “My bust measurement changed. Maybe that was it.”

“Probably,” Di answered, with a giggle. “That would be a bit of a tip-off for Honey, if she’s trying to make sure your dress is right.”

“Good luck with that,” Trixie grumbled. “Sorry to mess up your wedding with our carelessness, Di.”

“It’s not messed up,” Di chided. “It’s wonderful news and it doesn’t do anything bad to my wedding at all.”

“That’s what you say now,” Trixie joked. “Just wait until I fall asleep during the wedding reception.”

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

It’s so wonderful to have Honey and Trixie here with me! I didn’t know how much I missed having these girls nights until last night, when we stayed up talking until two in the morning. We probably would have stayed up longer, but Trixie fell asleep and we had to get Jim to come and get her. Only a few more days until I’m Mrs. Belden!

“Okay, is everyone here?” Trixie called, standing on tiptoe to try to see through the crowd. “I think I count twenty-two people, which should be right.”

“What do you think, Diana?” Trixie’s mother asked. “I see all of our family and your friends from Sleepyside. Are all of your friends from other places accounted for?”

Di nodded. “I think so. Does that mean you’re going to tell me where we’re going now?”

Trixie grinned and shook her head. “We told you this was a mystery bachelorette party and that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”

“But I don’t even like mysteries,” Di wailed, trying not to smile. “You’re the one who likes mysteries.”

“But I didn’t have a bachelorette party, and Honey’s not getting married for another ten months, so it’s being inflicted on you,” Trixie explained. She raised her voice. “Okay, everyone. We’re ready to head out. Let’s move!”

The noise level went up as the twenty-two women showed their enthusiasm. Di found herself being escorted to a car, where she became the front seat passenger. Trixie, at the wheel, made no conversation, but watched for some kind of signal. When it came, Trixie started the engine and smoothly pulled out. A stream of other cars followed her.

“There’s not going to be a stripper in amongst this anywhere, is there?” Di asked, a little fretfully. “I don’t think my mother would like that.”

Trixie nodded. “Your mother will enjoy it. Since you’re marrying an old person, I thought I’d get a stripper who’s an old person, so you’d know what you’re getting into.”

Di squeaked in indignation. “Trixie! I am not marrying an old person! And my mother would not like a stripper of any age.”

Her friend shrugged. “That’s funny. She seemed disappointed earlier when I told her that we weren’t having one.”

“Trixie!” Di repeated. “Please. The truth.”

Trixie gave a large, fake sigh. “Fine. There is no stripper. I never had that conversation with your mother. You are not marrying an old person, only one who’s middle-aged.”

“What?”

“Well, if people live about seventy years, thirty-five is half-way, which would be middle-aged, right?”

Di crossed her arms over her chest. “Trixie, when we’re thirty-five, if you call us middle-aged, I am going to do something you will regret. Do you understand?”

Her friend’s eyes were shining. “I don’t know what your problem is with this.”

Diana closed her eyes and counted to ten. She could choose to laugh or to get angry. In the end, she chose to laugh. Life was too short to worry about Trixie’s hang-ups.

Continue to part six.