AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rose
I walked slowly to Mr. Metcalfe’s
door, hoping Victoria wouldn’t be there. I knocked on the door and Shannon
answered.
"I’m ready to be your flower
girl! Father let me practice. See?" Shannon moved out of the way and I
stepped into the suite. There were pieces of paper littering the floor. Shannon
stood there, beaming at her handiwork.
"My, Shannon! It looks like
you’ve done a lot. And what a fine job you’ve done. I think you are ready to
help both Victoria and me out."
Shannon’s nose wrinkled up.
"Victoria? I didn’t know she was getting married tomorrow. I thought it
was just you."
I nodded. "She might be,
Shannon, so you’d better be ready for us. Is your sister here, by any
chance?"
She shook her head. "No. I
haven’t seen her since breakfast. I thought she was going out with you."
Shannon leaned over to pick up some of her paper shreds to put back in her
basket to practice some more. I picked up a few and handed them to her.
"We separated earlier after
we both found our dresses. Has the tailor dropped it by yet?"
Shannon shook her head. "No.
You’re the only one who has knocked on the door all afternoon." She took
off towards the opposite end of the room and began her slow walk towards me,
smiling the whole time, as she littered the floor of the room with paper.
"Is your father here? I’d
like to speak with him."
Shannon pointed towards the
sitting room. "He’s in there. He’s reading a paper, I think."
"Thank you, Shannon. You’ve
been a big help. Now, keep practicing! We may need you more tomorrow."
She nodded, and I went into the
sitting room, where Mr. Metcalfe was. I knocked on the door.
"Rose. Please, come
in." Mr. Metcalfe stood up as I walked into the room. He folded his paper
and put it on the table next to his coffee cup. "Is everything all
right?"
He motioned for me to sit on the
couch, so I did. "Yes, sir, everything is just fine. I came here to ask
you a question." I stopped and watched his expression. He nodded, and I
continued. "Victoria has expressed an interest in having a double wedding
tomorrow. I don’t know if she made you aware or not, but we both picked our
wedding gowns when we were out. I do hope this was all right."
Mr. Metcalfe let out a long
breath. "I knew that this day was going to happen. It’s the one day I’ve
been dreading all of her life. I think I know how much in love the two of them
are, and I am forever grateful for what Officer Lowe did for my daughter, as
well as for you and Jack. Has she expressed an interest to you specifically?
What does Officer Lowe think?"
I shook my head. "I’m not
really sure. I do recall a past conversation where he said he’d marry Victoria
anytime she was ready, so I am betting that still holds true."
"Do you think Lowe loves my
daughter?"
I looked at Mr. Metcalfe. I could
see the concern in his eyes. "Yes, sir, I do. I do believe he does love
her very much. He risked his job and his life to save not only Victoria, but
Jack and me as well. He wasn’t supposed to go back, but he said something told
him to. Something inside told him to go back. To this day, he’s still not sure
why he went back, but I do know he is glad he did. He saved the woman he loves
from certain death."
I watched as Mr. Metcalfe leaned
back in his chair. He took a long drink of his coffee, then sighed again.
"As long as she is happy and they are truly in love, they have my blessing
to get married whenever they feel necessary. Just tell Victoria that if she does
want to get married tomorrow with Jack and you to let me know so I can arrange
it." He peered around the corner into the bedroom, where Shannon was
throwing paper again. He smiled as he watched his youngest daughter. "I
see she’s all ready."
I looked in the direction of the
bedroom again. Shannon had made an even bigger mess. I laughed as I saw her
pick up the paper and then walk slowly to the other side of the room, stepping
and tossing paper as she went. "I see I taught her well. I do hope the
hotel staff aren’t going to have a fit when they see the mess she has
made."
"They needn’t worry about
that. I’ll make sure she picks up her mess before anything happens. If she
makes the mess, she can clean it up." Mr. Metcalfe stood up and walked
towards the room where Shannon was. "Having fun, Shannon?"
She smiled her childish grin and
nodded as she played around some more with the paper. "Has Victoria been
by here since we got back from the dress shop?"
Mr. Metcalfe sat back down in his
chair and shook his head. "Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her. I do
need to speak to her if she wishes to commence with this double wedding
tomorrow. If you see her, please tell her to come talk to me."
I nodded as I arose from my
chair. "If you will, I need to go check a few things before tomorrow. I
need to see if Jack got some of his things out of our suite. He’s going to
sleep with Harold in his room tonight, since it’s bad luck to see your
betrothed before the big day."
"If you need anything else
or any help, please alert me at once. I’ll do what I can."
I smiled as I thanked Mr.
Metcalfe for all he’d done for both Jack as well as me. I set off in search of
Victoria, though I didn’t have to search long.
Victoria
The chirping of a robin outside
Harry's window awoke me from my slumber. I sat up in bed and looked to see
where he had gone. He was leaning back in a chair, watching me sleep from the
other side of the bed. "Were you watching me?"
He nodded as he walked to me. He
knelt beside the bed. "You just do that to me. I can’t help but watch you.
No matter what you’re doing, it fascinates me."
I stood up to stretch, and he
looped his arms around my midsection. "You do know that borders on
stalking, don’t you? What do I have to look out for in our married future? You
with a spy glass in a bush outside our children’s school?"
Harry laughed. "Not quite
that far. I just won’t let you out of the house unless I’m with you. I wouldn’t
want some ordinary bloke taking you away from me."
I kissed him gently on the lips.
"That won’t happen. I love you too much. Plus, some unmarried Jezebel
might think you are single if we don’t get a ring on that finger soon." I
picked up Harry’s left hand and played with his ring finger. He evidently saw
the look on my face.
"Do you have something you’d
like to talk to me about? You seem kind of far away."
I dropped his hand, but quickly
picked it back up again. "Remember how earlier I said Rose wanted to have
a double wedding?" Harry nodded. "I think, well, if it’s all right
with you, that I think, well, maybe, just maybe if my father says so, that
might you be, well, would you…"
Harry cut me off. "I’m going
to be retired before you finish. Are you trying to ask if I want to marry you
tomorrow?"
I blushed. "I wasn’t
rambling that badly, was I?" Harry nodded, and I playfully poked him in
the ribs. "Anyway, would you?"
He walked over and picked up a
blank notebook that the hotel had provided. In a fake accent, he started in.
"Let me see, I have a cricket lesson today later on, followed by another
equestrian lesson tonight, then breakfast with the queen tomorrow. I think I
can pencil you in for sometime tomorrow afternoon." He held the pencil in
his hand, poised to write. I had to laugh at his demeanor.
"Pencil me in if you want to
marry me." There was a knock on the door, and I looked at Harry. I started
to walk behind the bedroom door when Harry called out, asking who it was.
"It’s Rose." I breathed
a sigh of relief as I heard her voice from behind Harry’s door. I motioned for
him to open it, and she stepped in.
"I’m here to talk some sense
into you two. Jack and I are getting married tomorrow, as you know. I know I
said I wanted both of you to be in the wedding, but now I want you both in the
wedding in a slightly different capacity." She looked at both of us.
Harry looked at me and smiled.
"And Rose, what capacity is that?"
Rose continued, "Victoria,
marry Harold tomorrow. Be my co-bride."
"Co-bride?" I looked at
Harry. He put his hand to his mouth, trying not to laugh at Rose’s serious
nature. "I’ve never heard of that one."
"Oh, you know what I mean.
Now, if I have to sit here and tie you to that chair over there and talk some
sense into you, I’ll do it. You love each other, so why not get married?"
"You talked us into it.
We’ll do it." I looked at Harry. and he held out his hand and pulled me to
him. "Consider it done."
Rose’s eyes widened. "I
don’t want to have to…wait. Did you just agree with me?"
I nodded. "We just decided
it. I was going to tell you when I left here in a minute. Didn’t you say Jack
was on his way up?"
Rose nodded. "Yes. He was
getting some items out of our suite." She looked at me. "You’d better
leave, too. It’s bad luck to see your betrothed before your wedding day."
She reached for my hand. "Come on!"
I kissed Harry one more time
before Rose yanked me out of the room. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Harry walked us to the door. "I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, future Mrs.
Lowe."
Just hearing that made me want to
melt. I turned around and waved slightly at Harry as he escorted Jack, who
passed us in the hall, into his room.
"Oh, Victoria, your father
wants to talk to you, too." Rose led me to the elevator, and I hadn’t a
clue what my father wanted.