Hyacinth (Suitors of Seattle)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  "No, he won't. Everyone else likes you, though, so just ignore Alex."

  Lawrence went back to sit at his usual table and work. He knew that Amaryllis had a school group dropping in that day, so he'd approach her after. What he really wanted to do was practice his marriage proposal on her. It had to be just right before he proposed to Hyacinth.

  *****

  Hyacinth sat in her room tapping away at her book. Her mother was feeling under the weather so she wanted to take the time to write on her regular day off. She felt like she was getting very close to the end of the book, and she was putting every spare moment into it. She'd gotten proficient on the typewriter, typing much faster than she'd ever written.

  She paused reading over a section. She wasn't certain if she'd gotten a detail correct. She sighed. She was going to have to go to the library and see if she could get the answer there, or she'd have to see Lawrence. She really didn't want to seek Lawrence out, because it was Tuesday, and there was no telling what he would do.

  She was rather surprised he hadn't been by already that morning, doing something absolutely insane. That's what Lawrence did after all. Acted crazy on Tuesdays.

  She left a note for her mother and bundled up. It had snowed overnight, and she wore her coat, scarf, hat, and mittens for the ten-minute walk. Once she arrived, she stomped the snow off her boots, and hung her coat in the entryway to the library, listening closely as she heard Lawrence's voice. She didn't really want him to see her, so she'd wait until after he sat down.

  "Amaryllis, there's no one in this world that I adore more than you. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and I love you more than I've ever dreamed I could love a woman. Will you marry me?"

  Hyacinth blinked a few times in astonishment. Did her beau really just propose to her married sister?

  She walked into the library unable to stop herself and confronted Lawrence. "I don't know what your problem is, or why you go crazy every Tuesday, but I'm telling you now. I don't ever want to see you or hear from you again. I hope you have a great life being in love with a woman who's already married." She turned away from him and started for the door. Suddenly, her research didn't seem at all important, and she knew she'd not be able to write another word that day.

  Lawrence felt his heart drop into his stomach. He knew he'd have to explain everything, but how?

  Amaryllis quickly stood and caught Hyacinth's arm as she started to leave. She pressed something into Hyacinth's hand. "This will explain everything. Lawrence will be by to talk to you at eight this evening. He'll take you for a drive."

  "I won't go." She never even wanted to look at the man again. How could Amaryllis think she would?

  "Read that and I think you will. Please, Hy. Give him a chance." Amaryllis's voice was pleading.

  Hyacinth nodded once to acknowledge her sister's words before leaving the library. She tucked whatever Amaryllis had given her into her pocket, her eyes too full of tears to read just then.

  As soon as she was gone, Lawrence looked at Amaryllis. "I've really messed up now."

  Amaryllis shook her head. "She loves you. When she realizes you were just listening to really stupid advice every Tuesday, she'll come around. She'll read it. She's not one to throw away love just because she's angry."

  "I hope you're right." His eyes stared at the door Hyacinth had gone out of. She hadn't even stayed at the library to do whatever business she needed to do.

  *****

  The entire way home, Hyacinth had alternated between shaking with anger and crying her eyes out. She'd never had her heart broken, because she'd never given her heart to anyone before. When she arrived home, she hurried into her room, threw herself onto her bed and had a good cry.

  Finally, when she'd cried herself out, she looked at the piece of paper Amaryllis had pressed into her hand. It was a clipping from the newspaper. As she read the words, her jaw dropped with astonishment. She recognized the words, of course. She'd written them.

  In June, as soon as she'd finished school, she'd gone to The Seattle Times to ask for a job as a reporter. The editor had simply laughed at her. "Who do you think you are? Nellie Bly?"

  She'd left the office, discouraged, but not feeling strong enough to argue with him. She'd then invented a man's name and written to the editor, asking if she could write an advice column for men to help them woo women. The editor had readily agreed, and she had quickly written twenty-six short columns that would be printed once per week for six months.

  After three months, the editor had asked for more, because he'd gotten several letters from men who had said they enjoyed her column. She'd shot off a few more, and had saved most of the money she'd earned, but spent a bit on Christmas presents for her family.

  So...that's why Lawrence had acted crazy every Tuesday. He'd followed her advice. She hadn't actually read any of the articles as they'd come out, but she had saved the single sheet of the paper every week. She went to the bottom drawer of her bureau where they were all hidden, and got out the ones since Lawrence had come into town at the beginning of December.

  Reading them slowly, she could tell exactly which had been written and how he'd reacted to it each week. The newspaper had changed her advice from 'buying flowers' to 'buying flour.' The editors needed to be shot. She wondered how many other women throughout the area had been plagued with such a literal interpretation of her terrible advice.

  She vowed then and there she would not write any more articles on how to woo women, because she was hopelessly bad at it. Today's advice was the worst yet. He'd been practicing a marriage proposal on Amaryllis, and she'd walked in on it.

  Her advice had all seemed logical as she'd written it, but it just hadn't worked out the way she'd planned when it had ended up in Lawrence's hands. Well, at least she knew he wasn't losing his mind every Tuesday. He was just following some really insane advice to the best of his ability. And she could fault no one but herself for giving him the terrible advice.

  *****

  Lawrence was half-afraid as he pulled up in front of the Sullivan home at precisely eight that evening. He took a deep breath as he walked to the door, thankful that it wasn't raining or snowing. They'd be cold on their drive, but at least they wouldn't get wet as he did his best to help her make sense of what he'd done the past two months while he was courting her.

  He went to the door, not certain exactly what to expect, but Hyacinth was waiting for him with her coat on, all bundled up and ready to go. He was unable to read her face as he helped her into the buggy, and he didn't say anything as he immediately headed to the outskirts of town so they could talk.

  "I need to apologize to you," Hyacinth whispered softly.

  He turned to her in surprise, pulling over to the side of the road immediately. They were out of the main part of town, so no one would see them if they were to stop. "Why would you apologize to me? I'm the idiot who proposed to your sister today." He shook his head. He still couldn't believe she'd overheard him ask Amaryllis to marry him.

  "But you proposed on the advice of someone you considered to be a love expert." She took a deep breath, knowing it was time for him to know who his real mentor had been, but afraid of how he would react to the knowledge.

  He nodded. "I did. You don't think he's a love expert?" Amaryllis had told him over and over that the man giving advice in the column was clueless about how a woman should be courted. He wasn't certain if she was right, but he did have a lot of faith in Amaryllis.

  "I know he's not. You see...I wrote those columns." She looked down at her hands, refusing to meet his eyes. "I wanted to work as a reporter for the paper while I worked on my book. I thought it would be a good way to brush up on my writing skills, but the editor just laughed at me. So I wrote to him, as a man, and suggested my column. He gave me a trial, and he liked my work, and the men in the area all said the advice was helping them, so I kept writing it." She had never been so ashamed of anything she'd done in her life.

  Lawrence gaped
at her. He had been taking advice on how to court a woman, from the woman he was courting, and neither of them had known it. "I...don't know what to say." He was mortified. Absolutely mortified.

  "When you did the things you did, I thought you were crazy. Seriously, I thought you needed to be admitted to an asylum one day every week, because the things you did were that out of the realm of normalcy." She shook her head. "I...I had no idea how bad the advice I was giving was until you tried it all on me. I can now say, without a doubt, that I should not be giving anyone courting advice. I'm terrible at it. Everything that seemed like a good idea when I wrote it down was really bad in practice. I don't know why I suggested some of those terrible things, other than I needed more ideas to fill the column." She felt like crying. "I wonder how many other men in town took my horrible advice."

  Lawrence wasn't sure what to say to that. He'd loved the advice he'd received from her, even if it had all been a bit...odd. "I liked the advice. I felt like it gave me clear direction in how to approach you." He hated letting go of the idea of William Livingston. He'd almost considered the man a friend, but he was really a woman. It was...difficult to comprehend.

  Hyacinth shook her head. "It didn't though. I had almost decided there was no way I could marry you because you were crazy. It was like you were two different people. Six days per week, you seemed perfectly normal, and you were just who I wanted you to be. Then...one day per week, you became someone else. I couldn't figure out what your problem was." She looked at him as a thought occurred to her. "Did you put mint leaves in my pockets to make my hands smell good?"

  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, and 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 sh
ook 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 get 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.