Hyacinth (Suitors of Seattle)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Hyacinth shook her head, trying not to laugh at him. "Why don't you guess?"

  He looked into her eyes for a moment, brushing the rain off the brim of his black hat. How was he supposed to guess her favorite flower? It wasn't like she had it written on her forehead for everyone to see. "Are you going to the library today?" he asked, trying his hardest to keep the conversation under control.

  "No, I usually stay home on Tuesdays. Mama likes for us to spend the day together at least once per week." She studied him for a moment before adding, "I also spend Monday afternoons at the battered women's house."

  He nodded. "I see. Well, I'll be off then." He tipped his hat to her. "You won't come to dinner with me?" He had always been happy with his own company, but lately, he wanted her to be with him all the time.

  Hyacinth watched him for a moment. "No, not tonight. Why don't you come to dinner with my family? I don't think you've met my father yet." She was from a very tight knit family and wanted her father's opinion of the man before they became closer friends.

  Lawrence felt his heart expand in his chest. Was she truly inviting him to spend the evening with her family? Asking him to meet her father? He needed to get to know her father if he was going to court her. "I'd like that a lot."

  Hyacinth smiled briefly. "We usually eat around six. If you arrive by half past five that would be best." She turned and rushed back across the street, opening the door and leaving her umbrella in the foyer so it wouldn't drip rain throughout the house. She stomped her feet on the rug just inside the door that her sister Violet had made when she was ten.

  Walking back into the parlor, she took the seat beside her mother on the sofa. "I've invited Lawrence to have dinner with us this evening. He's new to town and as far as I can tell, knows no one but our family. You don't mind do you?" The question was rhetorical. She knew her mother wouldn't mind if she invited a man to dinner. Her mother was thrilled that she was finally showing an interest in a man and not living in a dream world.

  Mary smiled, shaking her head. "I don't mind at all. I do think it's time for you to talk to your Aunt Harriett about him, though. Even if he's just a friend, it's good to have him checked out and make certain he's not dangerous in some way."

  Hyacinth sighed. "I know you want there to be a romance blooming, but there's really not, Mama. He's just lonely." She was starting to think she wanted there to be a romance as well, but she had no idea how to go about showing that to Lawrence.

  "Why did he send you flour? Do you know yet?"

  "Something about how he was given advice that sending flour to a woman was a gentlemanly thing? I think? It didn't make much sense to me. He's a confusing man sometimes." Hyacinth shrugged, wishing she knew what was going on in the man's head.

  Mary shook her head. "That makes no sense at all. Someone must have told him to send flowers to a woman, and he took it to mean flour. It's the only thing that makes sense."

  Hyacinth nodded. "That really must be it." She looked at her mother, knowing she had something planned for their day together, because she always did. "What are we going to do today?" Please don't say shopping. Please don't say shopping!

  Mary smiled, taking Hyacinth's hand in hers. "I think we're going to spend today shopping! You need some new dresses now that you're going out more, and you really need a new hat."

  Hyacinth sighed. "Why don't you ask Rose to shop with you? You know I don't enjoy shopping." She'd never enjoyed shopping the way Rose and her mother had. None of her sisters had to her knowledge, but since Rose and Mary loved it, Mary assumed all women did.

  "Nonsense. All women enjoy shopping." Mary got to her feet. "We'll have lunch at the diner while we're out. It'll be a good day."

  Hyacinth knew better than to argue when her mother had her mind set to something. "Yes, Mama." She kept her face straight, trying hard not to let her disappointment show. She loved her mother and if showing her love meant shopping, she could do it.

  *****

  They spent the entire day shopping for dresses and hats. Hyacinth stood still while the seamstress measured her for several gowns. Finally, when they were just about to leave, Mary said, "We'd like to see some wedding dresses as well please. My daughter is convinced she's going to be an old maid, but I think she's going to need a dress much sooner than she realizes." Mary's eyes twinkled as she smiled at the seamstress.

  "Mama, I'm not getting married!" Hyacinth was mortified that her mother was even suggesting buying a wedding dress.

  The seamstress looked between them, but she easily recognized Mary as the dominant personality and brought out her book of wedding dress designs. There weren't many available with Seattle not being a huge city yet and there being so few women around. Mary flipped through the book quickly. "Would you be able to customize a dress for her? Hyacinth is rather wide in the hips, so she'd need something like this one for the bottom, but she doesn't have much of a bust, so I think this one would be perfect for her top half. Could you make that work?" Mary pointed out two different gowns as she talked.

  The seamstress nodded eagerly, recognizing the amount of money she could make from such an order. "I'd be happy to do that, Mrs. Sullivan. Would you like me to have that done before the other dresses or after? Your daughters don't tend to give you much notice when they marry."

  Mary frowned. "Hyacinth is going to be different, aren't you, dear? She's going to give me a perfectly respectable six months after she's engaged before she marries. She knows that her mother needs that from her." She glared at Hyacinth, obviously trying to shame her into agreeing.

  Hyacinth ignored the entire discussion, knowing she wouldn't be marrying anytime soon anyway. Instead she looked around the small shop, cataloguing each detail in her mind for inclusion in a later book. She would be certain to describe the counter in detail as well as the ignominy of being forced to stand on a chair in her underwear, while some strange woman put her hands all over her, measuring every last part of her, clucking over her small bosom. She couldn't help that God had given her a bit less on top than the average girl!

  Hyacinth plopped down in a chair, pulling out her notebook and scribbling some details of the experience while her mother ironed out the details with the seamstress. She'd been going to the same shop since she was a young girl, but she'd never before really paid attention to the place. So often, she'd worn her older sisters' cast off dresses, or simply wore the same dress for so long that it was in tatters before she moved on, so she hadn't spent as much time there as most of her sisters.

  After the dressmaker, they went to the diner where she'd eaten on several occasions with her mother and sisters. During the summers as she was growing up, her mother would spend one afternoon per week with two girls. So in four days she would have spent an afternoon with each of them for more personal time. Hyacinth had enjoyed their time together, even though she'd had to share her mother with Jasmine, the sister her other sisters detested. It happened both because of age order, and because she complained the least about spending time with Jasmine.

  Jasmine hadn't bothered Hyacinth as much as the others, because she'd never been able to figure out what would really bother Hyacinth. It wasn't that she hadn't tried, because she really had, but Hyacinth had been in her own world so much that it had been impossible for Jasmine. Hyacinth had only found out the true reason her sister had been so much easier on her in letters after Jasmine had moved to Montana to help Daisy out.

  As they sat down at the table in the diner, Mary sighed heavily. "It would be so nice if Jasmine was here with us."

  Hyacinth smiled. Her mother looked so forlorn it was almost comical. "It would. I miss her and Daisy." She really did, too. It wasn't just to be agreeable. Jasmine had been great fodder for her imagination. She'd often watched her naughty sister and jotted down notes about the way she'd behaved. She knew someday those notes would come in handy.

  "You should meet those boys of hers. They aren't identical, which is a blessing for everyone involved. They prank everyo
ne around them way too much as it is. If they were identical twins, the world would not be a safe place." Mary loved her step-grandsons with everything inside her. She seemed almost proud of the boys' pranks, despite her words.

  Hyacinth grinned. She'd heard a lot of the pranks the boys had played on Jasmine and Daisy since Jasmine had married. "They sound like they're a handful. I hope they keep Jasmine on her toes."

  Mary laughed. "I think they're afraid of pranking Jasmine now. They learned quickly. Of course, she has to constantly be on the lookout for what they may be doing to other people." She sighed heavily.

  "I'm sure she does." Hyacinth shook her head. "I don't know what she's going to do when she has babies of her own."

  "I don't either, but I hope she has a hard time with them. She deserves to have children who are just as hard to handle as she was."

  "Mama! I can't believe you'd say that." In all the times her sisters had complained about how terrible Jasmine was, their mother had never agreed with it.

  "You know as well as I do that your sister had no idea what propriety was. She was an absolute monster to each and every one of her sisters. I think only you escaped the depth of her terror, but only because she couldn't figure out how to torment you." Mary shook her head. "Why, I think if she were here now, she'd be talking to you constantly about ending up with one of Amaryllis's cast offs."

  Hyacinth frowned. "Why is everyone so convinced that Lawrence and I have a relationship other than friendship?" She just couldn't see what they did that made people think they were becoming a couple.

  Mary laughed. "He stands outside our house every morning watching for you to come out so he can walk you to the library. He sent you flour for some absurd reason. The man is very interested in you whether you've realized it yet or not."

  Hyacinth shook her head. "He's not."

  "We'll see."

  *****

  Lawrence arrived at precisely half past five that evening, a huge bouquet of hyacinths in his arms. "I wanted to buy you roses, but when I said they were for you, the florist insisted that you would only be interested in receiving hyacinths. I'm not certain why." He was confused about it but had gratefully accepted the advice of the florist.

  Hyacinth smiled, taking the flowers from his outstretched hand and inhaling deeply of their scent. "My sisters and I are well known around town for only wanting our own flowers."

  "Which means what?"

  Hyacinth blinked at him. The man's books were sheer genius, but he had no clue about anything else in the entire world from what she could tell. "Well, Rose loves roses. Lily loves lilies. And so on down the line."

  Lawrence's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, I see! That's why you told me I should guess which flower you liked best. I guess it makes sense that you would feel an affinity with the flower you were named after."

  Hyacinth walked to the kitchen with Lawrence trailing behind her, putting the flowers in water and carrying them into the parlor where the entire family could enjoy them. She placed them on the low coffee table in the center of the room, straightening up to introduce Lawrence. "This is my father, Fred Sullivan."

  Lawrence held his hand out while Fred got to his feet and shook the younger man's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Lawrence."

  "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Sullivan."

  Hyacinth smiled, nodding to Iris who was sitting on the sofa, holding a squirrel in her arms. "That's my sister, Iris, who says she's going to be a doctor someday." She couldn't help but hope Iris would be a doctor. She wasn't passionate about women's rights like Daisy was, but she did like the idea of women being able to work in professions that had traditionally belonged to only men.

  Lawrence smiled down at the pretty girl, who looked to be around fifteen. "I'm sure you'll make a wonderful nurse."

  Iris looked at Lawrence with fire in her eyes. "Maybe you should have your ears examined, Lawrence. My sister just told you I plan to be a doctor, not a nurse."

  Lawrence's grin stretched across his face. "My apologies, Miss Sullivan. I'm certain you'll make a fabulous doctor."

  Iris nodded regally. "Yes, I will." She put the squirrel into a small cage, shutting the door. "I'll feed you in a little while, baby."

  Lawrence gave Hyacinth a questioning look, and she decided to take pity on him. "His mother was killed, so Iris is raising him. He had almost starved to death when she found him so she's been feeding him with a bottle ever since. I'm sure he could eat nuts like a normal squirrel by now, but Iris hasn't given him that option yet." She nodded to a girl who looked to be a bit older than Iris. "That's Violet. She's our artist."

  Lawrence nodded, smiling at her. "I'd love to see your artwork someday, Violet."

  "You already have," Violet said very seriously.

  "I have?" Where would he have seen the work of a young lady?

  Violet nodded to the painting on the wall above the sofa. Lawrence had assumed the painting was done by a professional. "That's lovely." It was a landscape portrait of the beach and ocean at sunset. He would have readily paid for such a beautiful painting. "Have you had an art show yet?"

  Violet shook her head. "Not yet. I hope to soon, though. I'll finish school in a year and a half, and then I'll do what I can to have my art shown in the best galleries in all of New York."

  "Why New York? Why not Seattle?" Lawrence asked.

  "How would anyone ever see my work if the exhibit were in Seattle? No, it has to be New York. That's where all the good galleries are."

  Lawrence knew nothing of art, so he didn't comment, but he thought he might be able to talk to someone at his publishing house about the girl's artwork. Surely someone would know the right person to talk to. He wouldn't say anything until he found someone who could help her though. "I see."

  Mary stood then. "It's good to see you again, Lawrence. Have a seat."

  He took the chair she indicated for him, sitting with his ankles crossed and his hands folded on his lap. He felt like he was under her family's scrutiny, and he was more than a little nervous.

  "Do you come from a large family, Lawrence?" Mary asked.

  Lawrence shook his head. "I wasn't blessed with siblings. My father died shortly after I was born, and my mother didn't remarry until a year ago. She put all her focus into raising me." He didn't add that she'd worked many hours as a laundress just to have the money necessary to make sure they had a roof over their heads and food to eat. He had a lot of admiration for his mother.

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Mary said. She sounded genuinely sad for him. "I can't imagine being an only child or raising my girls with no sisters."

  Lawrence shrugged. "I've never known anything else, so don't feel bad for me, Mrs. Sullivan. I was happy as a child." He had been lonely sometimes, but he'd always been wrapped up in the written word, so it was rare that he'd missed having siblings.

  Fred looked over at Lawrence. "I have no idea what writers earn. I don't think I've ever had one with an account at the bank. Do you earn enough to support my daughter?"

  Hyacinth felt the blush start at her neck and creep up all the way to her forehead. "Papa! We're just friends!" She hoped Lawrence wouldn't think she'd told her family that they were more than friends.

  Lawrence looked at Hyacinth in surprise. She really didn't realize he was interested in her? How was that possible? He'd given her a lot of flour, and even a bouquet of flowers, even though that's not what William Livingston had suggested. He'd gone back and read it just to be certain. He'd made certain she'd seen him several times every day, but that hadn't worked in his favor either. What could he do that would convince her?

  As they ate the chicken pie for dinner, Lawrence watched Hyacinth who sat beside him. He watched the way she sat quietly while her sisters chattered about their days. Violet talked about the new watercolor she was working on of a forest scene, while Iris talked about how quickly the little squirrel's health was improving. He'd been from a late fall litter, and they rarely survived according to the girl. Lawrence ha
d never really thought about when squirrels had babies.

  Hyacinth didn't really seem to fit into her boisterous family. She watched everything that happened around her as if she were mentally cataloguing the events for a later book. He knew that's what he did, so he assumed she was doing the same. He wondered how they'd ever entertain if they married, because they would each be so busy watching the guests they'd never say anything themselves. The thought made him chuckle, and he bit his lip to keep anyone from noticing.

  Hyacinth looked over at Lawrence wondering what he found so amusing about her family's supper. She'd ask him later, when no one else was around, because he obviously didn't want to share with everyone.

  After the meal, he politely thanked her parents for inviting him, and then looked at Hyacinth. "Would you like to take a short walk?" The rain had stopped mid-afternoon, and it was a beautiful day for mid-December.

  Hyacinth nodded. "I'll be back soon, Mama." She took her coat from the closet and waited while Lawrence held it out for her.

  Once they were outside, he took a deep breath. "I felt like I was a bug in a glass being observed there."

  Hyacinth grinned at his description. "Mama and Papa are convinced that you're courting me."

  He gave her an odd look. "I'd like to court you." He knew it was blunt, but he didn't know how else to tell her. She wasn't getting the hints. He'd been sure the flour would do it.

  "You don't have to say that, Lawrence. I enjoy our friendship." They turned right once they got to the street and walked toward the edge of town.

  He shook his head. "I'm not saying it because I think you want to hear it. I'm saying it because I mean it. I enjoy being with you and hope to get to know you better and maybe sometime soon we could get married."

  Hyacinth laughed. "I know you were in love with Amaryllis. I don't even compare to her." She thought of her older sister and her love for books. She was perfect for Lawrence. Hyacinth still couldn't understand why she had married Alex. The two of them seemed so different, but they were good together.