Jasmine

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Jacob smiled. "I'm glad we got rid of that mean mother, and got our ma back. Are we going to have cake every time you get married?" His face was so serious that Jasmine decided not to disillusion him.

  Lee started to explain, but Jasmine put her hand on his to still his words. "Yes, we are. Every single time we get married, I promise you, we'll have cake."

  The boys exchanged an excited look, and later, Lee asked Jasmine why she'd told them that. Jasmine shrugged. "Because they obviously thought it was a great idea, so why not agree? Today is the only day we'll marry, but cake is what they want, and they got it." She hadn't really lied. If they married again, she would make them cake with no problem. Of course, weddings weren't going to happen in their household as often as the two boys seemed to think it would.

  They tucked the boys into bed together, and Jasmine decided to take a bath afterward. She wanted to be as sweet smelling as she could when she went to her husband. She quickly dried off and pulled her nightgown over her head, laughing at herself, because she knew that she would only wear it for the short time it took her to walk from the bathroom to the bedroom.

  When she walked into the bedroom, Lee was sitting propped up in the bed with candles lit all over the room, instead of the lantern. "I thought you'd like the candles better. They're a bit more romantic." He watched her face, obviously hoping he'd made the right call.

  She smiled, quickly divesting herself of her nightgown and climbing onto the bed with him to join him under the covers. She went straight to him and put her head on his shoulder, not in a huge hurry to make love as she usually was. "I was devastated when I thought I was going to lose you and the boys." She hated making herself vulnerable to him by admitting it, but he needed to know how much she cared. She may seem like a tough woman, but she wasn't. She needed to be loved as much as the next woman did. Jasmine couldn't settle for love from anyone else, either. It had to be Lee.

  He pulled her close, both arms going around her and just holding her. "I wouldn't have let that happen. If she hadn't come with the divorce papers in hand, I'd have started proceedings myself." He stroked his hand over her hair, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry she caused you so much grief."

  Jasmine kissed his shoulder. "So you don't think just any mother will do for your boys? And any wife for you?" She was fishing for compliments, but she had to know she was special to him and not just the only woman who was willing to put up with his boys' nonsense.

  Lee grinned. "You're the only woman I've courted at all since she left. He looked down at her. I've talked to other women, thinking I might be interested, but they were always afraid of my boys. How could I love a woman who couldn't meet my boys head on, prank for prank?" He wondered if she had any idea how special she truly was to him and his boys. He hoped so.

  She sighed. "How could anyone love someone who couldn't deal with a couple of seven year olds' pranks. I know that they seemed advanced, but those boys need some help learning how to prank someone well. They were just going to do generic pranks, nothing geared toward Gloria. Do you know they never even thought of putting the honey in her boots?" Jasmine shook her head. "I'll have to take them in hand." She knew she wasn't a typical mother, but that's not what they needed, and she was proud that she could meet their needs.

  Lee let out a bark of laughter. "Those boys do not need help learning to prank people better. They need to learn that it's not all right to constantly prank people." He kissed the top of her head as his hands stroked down her sides. "You'll help me teach them that, right?" She and his boys were like peas in a pod. That was what drew him to her.

  Jasmine shrugged, kissing his cheek. "I guess. I like the idea of teaching them to do it better, though." Maybe if she noticed them doing silly pranks, she could help them. Once in a while.

  "I know you do." He lifted her chin for his kiss. "I love that about you, Jasmine."

  Jasmine felt her heart jump. "You do? Is that all you love about me?" Had he really just said he loved something about her? Did he love her? No one ever had, unless they were family and obligated to love her, of course. Lee was the first person in her life who had cared for her at all without that obligation.

  He cupped her face in his hands, looking into her eyes by the lights of the candles scattered throughout the room. "I love everything about you, Jasmine Fields. You've become everything to me." He kissed her lips gently, before pulling back. "Thank you so much for coming into my life and making our family complete. The boys could not have a better mother, and I couldn't have a better wife."

  Jasmine smiled, her eyes alight with happiness. "I love you too. And the boys. I think I loved all three of you from the moment I first saw you drag them out of church by their ears." She could still see them as they left the church that morning. "What did you do to them for putting that snake in the pastor's Bible?" she asked. She'd never actually seen Lee punish the boys, so she wondered what he did when they did something major.

  He shook his head. "The same thing I always do. I talked to them sternly. I need to get more creative with punishments. I just don't feel like I can spank them. Not after the way their mother was." He sighed. "I'm afraid I'll go overboard with them."

  Jasmine smiled. "My mother never spanked us either. She said she should have with me, but she never did." She wouldn't spank her boys either. She didn't want their spirits to be ruined. They were too special for anyone to try to hurt them. She'd probably want to a time or ten, but she wouldn't do it. Ever.

  "Do you think we need to spank the boys?" he asked. "I'd rather not, but you're the one with them all the time now." He waited carefully, worried what her answer would be.

  "I think creative punishments would be better with those two." She thought for a moment so she could give him an example. "For instance, the next time they put a frog in someone's pocket, they should have to do chores for that person for two hours unpaid. If they try to prank us, they get the same thing. Neither boy is malicious, so we won't need to do more than that to them." She was all in favor of making the punishment fit the crime. If they had to do chores for someone they scared, maybe that would make them understand that what they did wasn't okay.

  Lee nodded. "I think that's perfect. Maybe they'll stop feeling the need to prank people to get attention with you here as well. They both love you so much. It was obvious in how they were so ready to get rid of Gloria as soon as she came." He stroked her back, glad she never came to bed with her nightgown on. He loved to touch her.

  "I'm so glad she's gone. I was worried that you would realize that you really did love her and you'd forget all about me." She sighed. "I couldn't lose you and the boys. My heart would break." She rested her head against his shoulder. "I hope you know you're my everything."

  He looked down at her with a smile. Brushing his lips across the top of her head, he couldn't help but thank God for the joy that came with having this special woman in his life.

  Epilogue

  Hyacinth wandered into the library where Amaryllis was working and with a wave to her sister went to a corner table at the back. She had been working there for months, and no one had asked any questions. She was the quiet one, the odd one, and that suited her just fine. She didn't want any of her nosy sisters to know what she was doing until she was completely finished anyway.

  She'd just turned eighteen, and she was so happy to be free of school. She was taller than her sisters at five feet nine inches, and felt like she was just not part of them. She had long hair that could only be described as chestnut that she usually wore in a bun to keep it out of her face.

  She nodded at the man at the table next to hers, a tall lanky man, whom she had seen in the library on and off. She knew he'd once been interested in Amaryllis, but now that Amaryllis was happily married with a baby of her own, he'd moved on to simply working in the Seattle library. Just like she had.

  He smiled at her as usual, but this time, instead of ignoring her, he got up and wandered over to where she was sitting, pulling out the chair acro
ss from her. "I've seen you here a lot lately. What are you working on?"

  Hyacinth pulled her notebook closer to her, not willing to admit to anything before she was finished. He knew her sister. "Just scribbling mostly." Why was he asking? He'd never tried to talk to her before.

  He held out his hand to her, and she shook it. "I'm Lawrence Bennett."

  "I know. You used to court my sister, Amaryllis." She looked down at her papers, not certain what else to say to him. He was a handsome man, one she'd had an interest in for years, not romantically, but she wanted to talk to him about his work.

  "Oh! Which flower are you?" Lawrence grinned as he asked the question, obviously thinking he was being terribly original by making a flower joke.

  Hyacinth looked up at him, wondering if he'd have a real conversation with her, and not just something superficial. "I'm Hyacinth, the sixth flower." She didn't add that she was the most boring flower of the bunch, but that's how she felt. Even her own family dismissed her as boring.

  "Amaryllis was the third, right?"

  She could tell he honestly couldn't remember, which pleased her. No man who was as interested in her sister as she'd thought he was, could possibly have forgotten that. "She is the third."

  He smiled, leaning back in his chair. "Your family has always fascinated me. What's the order of the names again?"

  Hyacinth sighed. Of course he was interested in her family and not her. Why would anyone ever be interested in her? "Rose, Lily, Amaryllis, Daisy, Jasmine, Hyacinth, Violet, and Iris."

  "Wow. I forget there are so many of you. All right, I know Amaryllis married Alex, but what about Daisy and Jasmine? Are they around? Happily married and all that?" He seemed genuinely interested, so she answered him.

  She couldn't help but wonder if he was researching them for a book. Every person she met became part of some story she made up. She had so many stories she'd written over the years, mostly short stories, but she so badly wanted to get them published. Maybe if she answered his questions, he would answer hers. "Daisy became a mail order bride and moved to Montana. She is married to Eli, and they have a daughter, Dinah. She's expecting again."

  Lawrence nodded. "Very nice. I'm sure your mother is very happy with all the grandchildren. What about Jasmine? Was she the crazy one? The one Amaryllis always called a demented nincompoop?"

  Hyacinth grinned despite herself. "Yes, that's Jasmine. She went to help Amaryllis when she was pregnant with Dinah, and she met a man at church there. She married him and stayed in Montana. So now two of us are in Montana, but the other six are still here in Seattle." She missed her sisters, but really? She was glad there were fewer "flowers" walking around. It made it easier for people to remember her name and which one she was.

  "And what about Hyacinth? Are you getting married soon?"

  She looked at him in surprise. "I hadn't really thought about it. I'm absorbed in my scribbling." She closed her notebook when she saw him looking at it. She wasn't ready for anyone to see it and especially not a published author.

  "What are you scribbling about?"

  Hyacinth looked down. She didn't want to tell him, but she knew he couldn't help her if she didn't. Besides, he'd once been an unpublished writer, writing his first book, right? "It's a book I'm writing. A love story." She blushed as she added the last part. She'd never been in love. Was she even capable of writing a love story?

  Lawrence grinned at her. "Really? A book? And a love story? I want to read it." He reached for her notebook, but she plucked it off the table and clutched it to her chest. "Please?"

  Hyacinth shook her head. "Not before it's finished. It's my first novel. I have a lot of short stories, but this one is too important to me." She shrugged. "Maybe someday I could let someone see it." Like when she was ready to talk about publication. Then she'd have to let someone see it, wouldn't she?

  "Why don't I take you to the restaurant for dinner tonight, and we can talk about our writing?"

  She looked at him with surprise. "You wouldn't mind talking to me about it?"

  "Not at all. I would love to. I don't know any other writers here in Seattle, and it would be nice to have a chance to talk shop for a bit." He smiled. "Besides, who doesn't want to take a pretty lady to dinner?"

  She blushed at the compliment. Had anyone other than her family ever called her pretty before? She had always thought of her looks as boring like her personality. She didn't live; she wrote about living. "I...well, sure. I'd like that." She knew she wasn't speaking well and must be coming across as an imbecile.

  He smiled, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "I'll come by your house and pick you up around six? Would that work? And maybe we can go for a drive after."

  Hyacinth looked at him for a moment before nodding. "I thought you traveled around all the time. What are you doing back in Seattle?" Would he just be a temporary friend? Or was he back for good? She'd seen him a lot lately.

  Lawrence shrugged. "I got tired of not having a home base. My relationship with the local Indian tribe has made it to where this is a good place for me to research, so I bought a house here a couple of months ago. It's a good place for me to settle down."

  "That makes sense." She wanted to say more, but she was afraid if she did, he would rescind his offer of dinner, so instead, she stood up, still clutching her notebook to her chest. "I'll see you this evening, then."

  Lawrence watched her leave before going to the front desk of the library. He spotted Amaryllis sitting there, eating her lunch and reading a book. She took a big bite out of an apple, and he cleared his throat so she would notice he was there. "Oh, Lawrence! Hi! What can I help you with today?" They'd stayed friends even after her marriage, much to her husband's annoyance.

  "I was wondering about your sister, Hyacinth." He saw no reason not to get straight to the point. They were friends, so there was no need for him to stand around and pretend to need something else first.

  "Oh, you were?" Amaryllis looked over her shoulder where her sister had just left. "What do you want to know?"

  He shrugged. "What can you tell me? Let's start with her age. I want to make sure I didn't just ask a sixteen year old girl to have dinner with me."

  Amaryllis looked at him with wide eyes. "You and Hy are having dinner? Really?"

  He nodded. "Why is that so hard to believe? She's a pretty girl, and we seem to have a lot in common."

  Amaryllis gave him a surprised look. "I guess you do." She shrugged. "She just turned eighteen a few weeks ago. She umm...she finished school in May, and she spends a lot of time here, doing God knows what, and she volunteers at the battered women's shelter that Alex's parents run." She raised her hands palm up. "That's honestly all I know about her. She's really dreamy and quiet, but she's not shy like Daisy. She's just very private."

  Lawrence smiled. The things that mystified Hyacinth's sister about her, he understood. She must not mention her writing to anyone, or Amaryllis would know why she was the way she was. "That's mainly what I needed to know. Thank you, Amaryllis." He walked back to his table where he'd been working and sat down. Hyacinth Sullivan. Who'd have ever thought he'd be interested in one of Amaryllis's little sisters?

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