by Kelly, Carla
Joe had thrown him a lifeline!
But—hadn’t everything he’d said in the past ten minutes told Isabella he loved her? He’d spoken of love in every single way he knew how.
One more glance at Joe, who pointed at Isabella. I love you. Say it!
Relief, sweet relief.
He heeded the woman who held his heart in her dainty, capable hands.
“I love you, Isabella Pattison.”
She looked up, her eyes sparkled . . .
“I love you with everything here,” he tapped his temple, indicating his mind.
Her delight died beneath a bucket of cold water. She opened her mouth as if she intended, finally, to contribute to the conversation.
Good thing he wasn’t done.
“And I love you with everything here.” He tapped his fist over his heart. “You are precisely the woman I’ve searched for, my perfect match. The one I want, the one I need to make my life whole. Will you have me?”
Fear slammed into him, knocking his confidence sideways a good ten miles.
One beat passed, then two.
He’d never intended to propose! No, no, no!
Proposals did not go well for him, especially in public. This wasn’t the time nor the place. He’d only intended to confess, in specific words, that he loved Isabella.
“You best say yes, Dr. Pattison,” a young, feminine voice called over the crowd, “or I’ll leap into his arms myself.”
Laughter tittered among the women. A few men’s baritone chuckles mixed in.
Isabella closed the distance between them, four ladylike steps, and stood immediately before him. He fancied her scent of violets reached him.
She searched his eyes.
What more was there? He’d explained himself. He’d apologized and begged forgiveness. He’d admitted she was the more capable problem solver between them. He’d asked for a future with her, including her fondest dream: continuing as a dentist. He’d confessed his love—in front of every soul in Uinta County. He’d foolishly asked her to wed him. All in a ridiculous calico suit of clothes!
“Before I say yes,” she said, “I need to know what you intended by ‘will you have me.’”
He blinked. Startled. Memories poured in, her heartbreaking tales of a family whose love she couldn’t feel, people who she’d chosen to leave.
“I hesitate,” she said, “to give my answer before I know if this means we’re to go forward courting or continuing on as before . . .”
“Isabella, I . . .” His mouth dried, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. Was she giving him a chance to retract his proposal? Did he want that chance?
“Or,” she asked, “do you mean to ask me to be your wife?”
No! He didn’t want a do-over. Insecurity in this lovely woman’s eyes told him everything he needed to know.
He’d ensure she had no chance to misconstrue his offer.
With his hat still tucked beneath his arm, he lowered to one knee. Lit from the west, by the setting sun, she looked like an angel.
“You are an angel, dearest Isabella. You own my heart, my body, my soul. You own my life, because without you, my life has no meaning. I love you more than I loved my parents and brother. You are everything.”
Tears overflowed, streaming over her cheeks. He wanted to kiss them away. But he had one more thing to ask.
One question, upon which everything hinged.
The question that had caused him as much pain as his broken heart could bear. He must ask once more.
Clarity stole in, banishing doubt.
The error, in the past, had been not in asking the question, but in asking it of the wrong woman.
With Isabella, everything, including this most important question, was absolutely right.
“Will you, my Isabella, do me the esteemed honor of becoming my wife?”
Applause erupted. Commotion, too, as matrons shushed those who dared utter a word. They wanted to hear the good dentist’s reply!
If they’d been able to hear, they’d know Isabella hadn’t said a thing.
But Henry witnessed the truth in her eyes as more and more tears flowed. Happy tears.
She nodded, her sweet smile conveying everything within her heart. She stepped into his arms, took his freshly shaved cheeks between her hands, and kissed him.
On Thursday, July 17, 1890, The Chieftain published the first edition following the Calico Ball.
The headlines: WYOMING STATEHOOD CELEBRATIONS, CALICO BALL SUCCESS.
The final event of Uinta County’s celebration of statehood for Wyoming was a gala ball in the style of a calico ball. Mayor Gardner invited a committee composed of the city’s professionals to this very purpose. Under the direction of the city engineer and bridge builder, a team of craftsmen constructed the large dance floor and pavilion. Determined the most romantic public place in town, three upcoming weddings have already been scheduled for the coming week.
Entertainment included music by the city orchestra, dancing, refreshments from J. P. Adam’s Bakery, and Dr. Henry Merritt, DDS. Dr. Merritt regaled the crowd with pleas for love and commitment from his lady love, Dr. Isabella Pattison, DDS. The display concluded with an official engagement. The nuptials are scheduled to be held at the pavilion on Friday, August 1. As all were present at the moment of engagement, all are invited to celebrate the marriage that afternoon.
The Chieftain is pleased to report the financial success of the occasion—the calico ball, not the engagement (according to those who heard most clearly, the financial success of the soon-to-be-wed couple is under question). Dr. Naomi Chandler, MD is to be thanked for her selection of this theme.
The Council of City Professionals delivered 291 ladies’ costumes, 300 various ladies’ undergarments, 188 sunbonnets, 94 aprons, 107 men’s shirts, 87 men’s neckties, 20 calico handkerchiefs, 1 men’s union suit of calico, and 1 finely tailored suit of clothes of superior calico construction.
Ticket sales netted an unexpectedly generous dollar amount. $292 was put into the hands of the Widows Union, an elected body representing the families of men and boys who perished in the disaster last November. The Widows Union will ensure the needs of survivors will be met. Food, clothing, firewood. And transportation, should any wish to remove to locations with family nearby. Sheriff Preston reported no difficulties in delivery of calico and cash.
It is possible more donations will trickle in this week. If so, Dr. Merritt and Dr. Pattison will deliver again to Almy next Sunday.
As a lasting memorial to the extraordinary work of the Evanston Council of City Professionals, the pavilion will remain a monument to the people of Evanston, and the county of Uinta, and the people of the great state of Wyoming.
Six weeks after the most publicly attended wedding in the history of Uinta County, Dr. and Dr. Merritt attended an intimate supper party hosted by their closest friends.
“Or,” Chadwick asked, “do you prefer Mr. and Mrs. Merritt?”
Isabella emerged from a hug with Naomi and Sophia to note Chadwick shaking Henry’s hand in the way of closest of confidantes.
Henry chuckled. “Best ask my wife. After all, my name hasn’t changed.”
Isabella tapped her chin, pretending to consider. “From you, I’ll answer to anything. But I prefer missus.”
“Has a lovely ring to it, hasn’t it?” Naomi squeezed Isabella’s hand once more. “It’s wonderful to have you home. Don’t you ever leave us for a month and a half, not ever again.”
“Missed us, did you?” She’d been walking on clouds, even when at “home” in Los Angeles. But Evanston was home. To return brought satisfaction.
Henry’s hand settled at her waist. Make that immense satisfaction, with her husband at her side. Anywhere, with him, would be home. But she’d missed her friends.
Noting the warmest of welcomes for Henry from Joe and Chadwick, Naomi and Sophia, she amended that distinction. Definitely their friends.
“Do come in out of the cold.” S
ophia shooed the group into the dining room, closing the front door against the glorious mid-September day. On the warm side, actually.
The house—make that the meal Chadwick had prepared—smelled delicious. Aromas of roasting meat and bread blended with the sweet-tart of fruit. Her stomach rumbled.
Soon they were all seated around the dining room table. Had it been only last spring that she’d sat at this dining room table, one of five, and content?
Three men at one end and three ladies at the other put Chadwick and his wife properly seated at the head and foot of the table, the Chandlers on one side, and the Merritts on the other.
She couldn’t help but smile! The Merritts. How she liked the sound of that.
Dishes were passed, the meal enjoyed, and conversation begun well.
“I propose a toast.” Joe raised his wine goblet, his free arm draped across the back of Naomi’s chair. “To new lettering on the Merritt and Pattison dental office windows. Drs. Merritt and Merritt, Modern Dentistry.”
“Hear, hear!”
Isabella sipped. The new sign, to properly reflect her new marital status, was most welcome, indeed. Not quite ready to return to the patients Dr. English had managed in their absence, Henry and Isabella had merely observed the new signs on their way to their new residence, arranged for by Naomi and Sophia while the newlyweds were on their wedding trip.
The small rental would do, as long as necessary. Isabella liked the idea of living two doors down from the little house where Doc Joe and Doc Naomi resided.
Henry set his wine goblet down and leaned near to kiss her cheek. How she loved this man. Her man.
“I can’t wait another minute,” Sophia said. “Tell us, Henry, how your visit with Isabella’s parents went. Do they approve?”
He laughed aloud, meeting Isabella’s eye. How she loved the happiness sparkling in his beautiful brown eyes. “Very well.”
Her cue to tell the story. “My parents, having been forewarned by telegram—” she’d sent it the day of the wedding, only at Henry’s insistence (she couldn’t give them time to arrive in Evanston and spoil her happiness, now could she?)—“met us at the station and took to Henry instantly.”
He stroked his thumb along the nape of her neck. She loved his familiar touch and that he seemed incapable of being near without touching her. In this intimate setting, he could. And did.
“Tell them,” he whispered near her ear, “what you discovered.”
After all she’d disclosed to her dearest friends, they’d want to know. “I—we—discovered our first evening in my parents’ home wouldn’t be a quiet one. Florence and Dudley, and the children, were present.” She’d worried about Henry, bombarded with the entire family at once. “It turns out they love him.” Emotion surged, filling her throat. She pressed a palm to her collar bones.
Henry stepped in. “And they love Isabella, very much.”
She nodded, still amazed to discover how wrong she’d been. Happy tears filled her eyes. One glance at her husband—husband!—and he picked up the conversation.
“It seems,” he said, “Mrs. Pattison ceased writing letters to Isabella, not because of failing love for her daughter, but because she loves her so completely. She feared she couldn’t write without offending, and having been chastised by Dr. Pattison—father, not daughter—who urged his wife to allow their daughter to choose for herself, she did the next best thing. Mrs. Pattison loves new clothing more than anything else. So she commissioned and shipped new costumes, coats, shoes, etcetera, as wordless declarations of ongoing love and support.”
Henry had been immensely relieved to discover the spending and excess were Mother’s doing.
She squeezed Henry’s hand. “I’d believed Mother’s stylish clothing was her way of ensuring I caught a man’s attention. I hadn’t realized she’d meant to express love.”
How wrong she’d been about many things.
“Wonderful,” Naomi said, with happiness. “What of your sister and her silly husband?”
Isabella shared a look with her husband, her smile matching his own. “Let’s say Dudley will come around.”
“Oh?” Sophia set down her water goblet. “Need I inform him of a thing or two?”
“No, no. Nothing like that.” Isabella couldn’t help laughing. “He did bring his impressionable children to meet us and dined with us, too.”
“But?” Leave it to Sophia to discover things left unsaid.
“I learned Dudley had heard Florence crying on more than one occasion.”
Both Sophia and Naomi spoke at once. “And?”
“Perfect, obedient Florence believed Mother loved me best.” She’d learned a thing or two about a mother’s love.
Joe clapped Henry on the shoulder. “Did you thank your mother-in-law for the calico suit of clothes?”
“Indeed. She takes full credit for bringing about our wedding.”
“What about me? I introduced you!”
Laughter enveloped them all.
“She’s not angry?” Joe knew human nature, as well as human anatomy. “I suspected she’d fuss about missing the wedding.”
“Mother seemed willing to overlook a great deal of things, as her fondest wish has been realized.”
“Your marriage.” Sophia supplied.
Henry kissed Isabella’s temple. “Our marriage.”
“Mother expressed affection for Henry with that ridiculous calico sack suit long before she knew more than I had a man for whom I wished to provide one calico shirt.”
Laughter filled the dining room and overflowed Isabella’s heart. She simply couldn’t contain her flourishing happiness.
Much good had come from a wedding trip to Los Angeles. Introducing her husband to her parents had uncovered irrefutable truth.
Her parents hadn’t stopped loving her.
She’d made a faulty assumption and allowed the error to cause years of pain. In hindsight, she could see how foolish she’d been.
“Proof” of her parents’ failing love, in the full light of disclosure, became irrefutable demonstrations of undying love.
Watching her parents, at their advanced ages, showed how much in love they still were. To Mother, marriage meant happiness and fulfillment. No wonder Mother had wanted her daughter wed.
“I hesitate to mention it,” Naomi said, already apologizing, “yet I know you’d rather hear this from us . . .”
“What is it?”
“While you were away, a lengthy article ran in the newspaper.” Naomi shared a heavy look with Sophia.
“You must tell me about it.” Nothing Fisher said could hurt her. Everyone local whom she loved sat at this table, hale and happy. “Henry and I haven’t subscribed to the rag in months.”
“A witticism.” Sophia grinned. “One we found much satisfaction in.”
“Do tell.” Isabella wanted to hear this.
“It appears Mr. Fisher’s eyes are opened.” Sophia sat a little straighter, preparing to recite. “‘Why shouldn’t the girl who as a graduate is resolved to set the world on fire, be ultimately satisfied to start a flame in somebody’s heart, if he’s all the world to her?’”
Warmth, akin to full sun in July, spread through Isabella. “Indeed, why not?” In this room, with the man she loved and her four best friends who wholly comprehended the capacity of embracing the best of both worlds, no discussion was required.
“Hear, hear.” Naomi raised her glass. “First glimpse of wisdom from Thomas Fisher to date.”
Joe tapped his knife against a crystal goblet. “Speech, speech!”
Henry laughed. “I gave the finest speech of my life for the entertainment of the people of Uinta County.” His touch settled on Isabella’s shoulder once more. “Have you a speech for our intimate friends?”
Love radiated from her husband, more than enough to fill the holes within her. “Thank you,” she told him once again, “for bringing balance into my life. Now, instead of happiness and laughter, I have you to laugh with an
d to share in my happiness.”
If she’d given him laughter and happiness, he’d provided her peace and simple joy. Two elements she’d been desperately missing. How well he completed her life, brought meaning, and ultimately proved the one thing she’d most needed since determining to pursue dentistry as a career. “With you, Henry Merritt, I see the sacrifices I made for dental school were utterly worth it.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Merritt.”
How she loved this man. He’d made her an equal partner in every way. He not only asked her opinion, but wanted her thoughts. He often deferred to her judgment, for as he’d said, she was the better problem solver.
“Without dentistry, without that path, we’d never have met.” She’d told him of this insight on their first full day as man and wife, while traveling in a private compartment from Evanston to Los Angeles, a wedding gift from the Hugheses and the Chandlers.
But more had simmered in her heart, refining to a pure truth that begged to be shared. “My entire life, your entire life, prepared us to be in the right place at the right time, our very natures, formed by our experiences, making us an ideal match for one another. I wouldn’t trade the journey—or the unexpected destination—for anything.”
One soft clinking of crystal doubled, then quadrupled. She’d spilled her innermost thoughts before their friends!
Her smile softened, ripe with comprehension of all Henry had braved to make her his in front of the entire county. No matter what he’d said, the man was the furthest thing from a coward.
He leaned near. “They expect a kiss.”
The soft tinkle of crystal, music to her ears, brought her back to her groom.
She met him halfway. This brush of lips, warm, familiar, was special beyond measure. This kiss sealed every word spoken, from her wedding vows to her deepest, heartfelt realizations. A promise of so much more to come.
“Whoever said female professionals couldn’t have it all was not only mistaken. They are unenlightened.”
“I’ll kiss to that.” Henry’s kiss caused her brimming heart to overflow.
Applause filled their ears as she looped her arms about her husband’s neck. Who cared if they kissed while seated at the supper table? She imagined she’d seal many a realization this way. In the office (probably without patients present), at home, and with their friends.