Chapter 11 #3
Julie was hanging from James’s arm. “We want her to be our mommy!”
“Shh,” James said, feeling startled by his girls’ bluntness. It might be true, but it could be rather overwhelming to someone not expecting it. “I told you in the car. It’s too soon for that.”
“But later,” Jill said in a stage whisper to Kelly, leaning over as if the two of them had a secret. “Later we want her to be our mommy.”
For just a moment Kelly’s mouth twitched up as if she had to suppress laughter, then her gaze softened and she stepped aside from the doorway. “All right. In that case, I guess you can come in.”
The three of them walked in, and James couldn’t help but think they were a motley crew. The girls were in their nightgowns and leggings, and he wore the workout shorts he’d changed into after work and a T-shirt with a spaghetti sauce stain down the front.
“You should have brought her flowers,” Julie said, pausing at the gorgeous polished staircase. “A lady is supposed to get flowers.”
“We don’t have any, sweetheart, so we’ll have to do without.” He was looking up the stairs, thinking about Rose behind one of those doors.
“There’s some flowers in the garden,” Kelly suggested. “You can pick some if you want.”
“Yay!” Julie cried. “I’ll pick some pretty ones for you, Daddy.”
James managed to bite back a groan of impatience. “All right. But be really quick.”
The girl ran off with Kelly to the backyard, and Jill stayed with him, looking like she was about to burst.
He felt about the same way.
He glanced up the stairs and almost jumped back in astonishment when he saw a dark, dour figure descending the stairs, looking almost unearthly in the dim light and out of the blue.
Grandmother Beaufort.
“What are you doing here, young man?” she demanded when she reached the bottom. She peered up and down his body with obvious disdain.
“I’m here to see Rose,” he explained. “My other daughter is getting some flowers from the garden.”
“I see.” She sniffed and looked up and down his body again. “And this is what you feel is appropriate attire for paying suit to a Beaufort?”
James glanced down at himself again. “We came here in a hurry and didn’t have time to change. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Jill leaned up to him and whispered, “Maybe you should wear the coat and hat you were wearing for the ball. You looked really handsome in them.”
James managed not to choke on the idea. “I don’t think so, honey.”
“That will be much more appropriate,” Rose’s grandmother said, like she was speaking an oracle from the gods. “I will retrieve them for you.”
“Please don’t,” James began, calling the words toward the old woman’s back to no effect. “I don’t need to—”
There was no sense in continuing since she’d left the hallway.
Jill did a little jig at the idea of her daddy in such a dashing costume, and James prayed the woman wouldn’t be able to find them.
Things were crazy enough as they were. He didn’t need to look like a fool when he finally got a chance to speak to Rose.
Kelly and Julie soon came in from the garden with an enormous bunch of miscellaneous flowers, the bouquet almost half the size of Julie herself. James felt a flicker of hope, telling himself he’d just take the flowers and run upstairs before the jacket and top hat made an appearance.
He was too late however. Just as he was reaching for the flowers, Rose’s grandmother came in with the historic items.
“Ooh,” Julie gasped. “You’re going to look so handsome, Daddy!”
James hesitated to take the hat and coat, but the old woman narrowed her eyes at him. “You will present yourself appropriately, young man.”
“Please, Daddy!” Jill said, still tugging on his arm. “You’ll look like a prince!”
“A prince!” Julie echoed.
Right. A very gallant prince in a top hat, tails, and workout shorts.
“I’ll put them on upstairs,” he said, starting up the stairs, vowing that nothing more would stop him from finally getting to Rose.
The girls ran up at his heels and Kelly and Mrs. Beaufort were right behind them.
There was only one closed door in the hall, so he went to stand in front of that one. He shifted the ungainly bouquet into one hand and knocked on the door with the other.
“Put on your coat and hat, Daddy!” Jill cried, grabbing the clothes from Mrs. Beaufort and thrusting them at him.
With a sigh he set the hat on his head and had the jacket halfway on when Rose opened the door.
It looked like she’d been crying, and she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and yoga pants. She stared in shock at the people collected outside her door.
Her eyes ended up resting on James, who must have looked like an absolute fool.
“Surprise!” Julie screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Daddy,” Jill hissed, “Put your other arm in!”
“What—” Rose choked, staring around and suddenly looking unsteady on her feet.
“We’ve come to take you home as our mommy!” Julie declared, her volume just slightly less in decibel than her earlier announcement.
“Shh,” Jill said, giving her sister a nudge. “We’re not supposed to tell her that yet.”
James was completely at a loss for words. The whole thing had become a farce. Kelly was somewhere behind him, but he could hear her strangling on laughter. And Rose couldn’t do more than make another squeak.
Finally Mrs. Beaufort took control of the situation. She cleared her throat and then took both of the girls by the hands. “We will leave your father to declare himself now. Come, Kelly. We will be in the parlor having lemonade.”
“Lemonade!” Julie repeated.
“We’ll be downstairs, Daddy,” Jill added. “Don’t forget to give her the flowers.”
Then the four of them trooped down the stairs, leaving him alone with Rose in the doorway of her room.
He thrust the bouquet of flowers at her, and she took them, needing both hands to hold the huge collection.
Now he had to say something.
But first he was going to take the damned hat and jacket off.