Chapter Five
Five months to the day that they’d dined at the Parker House, William held out a small, pale blue porcelain jewelry box while he and Rose drifted around the Public Garden lagoon in a swan boat. Though it could seat eight, there were only the two of them, piloted by a young man in a white shirt and dark hat, all but hidden behind the large copper swan.
William had scooted close to her on the seat that could easily hold two more, and then he’d presented her with the box.
“Rose Olivia Malloy, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Rose looked down at the smooth porcelain and felt all the blood leave her head. Dear God, was she going to faint in the middle of the lagoon?
At that point, he lifted the hinged lid, presenting its contents to her.
Rose’s breath caught in her throat at the contents. Inside, nestled on a bed of cream satin, was a delicate milgrain-worked ring of silver and rose gold. In the very center sat a bezel-cut diamond, and around this a circle of deep rose-colored rubies and around those a halo of twelve circular diamonds giving the ring a scalloped edge. It was unusual and exquisite.
“As soon as I saw it,” William intoned, “I knew it was meant for you.”
With her heart pounding wildly in her chest, she looked up from the ring to William’s eager face. So familiar to her, so beloved. He was offering her a new start at a married life.
She felt the smile tug at her cheeks, and then she nodded. He slipped his arms around her, bent his head, and kissed her. She dropped the ring box onto her lap and kissed him back soundly.
When he pulled back, he laughed. “Please don’t let that fall out of the boat, dearest. I’m not sure there’s another one like it in all the world, as I’m certain there’s no one else like you.”
He picked the ring out of the box, took hold of her trembling hand, and slipped it onto her finger.
“A bit big,” he said, tilting his head, “but we can get that fixed easily enough.”
***
“I’m engaged.”
Rose allowed Claire to shriek and then shriek again. Then she grabbed her in a hug to stop her.
“Are you really?” Claire asked. “That’s wonderful! Oh, I hope I’m next. That’s twice for you and not once yet for me.”
“Shh,” Rose cautioned. She wished Claire wouldn’t bring up her past so casually. She had still not breathed a word of her previous marriage to anyone. Instead, Rose had allowed her attachment to William to grow over the past months, and when he’d asked her to marry him, it was easy to say yes. Her heart was full and happy.
She smiled thinking of how the boat had rocked when he’d jumped up and yelled to anyone within hearing, “Rose Malloy has agreed to marry me!”
“Tell me everything,” Claire insisted, grabbing Rose’s hand and dragging her to a bench in the back garden of her home on Myrtle Street. “Don’t leave anything out. What’s it like to kiss him? Let me see the ring again. It’s lovely. You never had a ring with,” she lowered her voice a little, “with Phineas. Everything is so perfect. This is how it is all supposed to be.”
Rose didn’t have to speak. With her friend radiating excitement, she knew she would never get a word in anyway.This was how it was supposed to be, Claire had said. A handsome young man in love with her. She, in love with him. He dined with her family on occasion, got on well with her mother, her brother, and her sister. It was easy.
And that caused her a pang of guilt for Finn. How would it have ever worked out?
William had even gone to Reed to ask his permission and had been granted it readily.
“Maybe Franklin will get the hint,” Claire chattered on. “You do think he likes me in that manner, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Rose assured her, though she couldn’t help wishing the man wasn’t so slow to act. She would love to have been second to be engaged in this case. However, as far as Rose could tell, Franklin’s mother was partly, if not entirely, to blame. In the eyes of Mrs. Brewster — a woman with an inflated sense of self and far too much reliance on harsh henna by the look of her hair — no woman would be good enough for her son. What’s more, Franklin’s mother had let every female in Boston know it.
If anyone could win over the woman, though, it would be Claire, with her endless good nature and soft manners, quite superior to Rose’s own less reserved nature. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry about her own future mother-in-law, as William’s parents were nearly always abroad.
“When and where?” Claire asked.
“In September.”
“A safe month,” Claire said.
Rose nodded. September was usually not too hot while also too early for the first fall cold snap.
