Page 101 of Follow Your Bliss

The hot September evening gave no quarter, even as the sinking sun infused the sky with shots of pink and orange. Sweat tracked down my back, soaking my white Oxford shirt under my suit jacket where I climbed the front steps of Bastian’s Bistro. I took another look either way down the street to see if Rose had magically appeared.

But she wasn’t walking or driving up the street. I sighed and went into the restaurant.

“Mama,” Becca said, phone in hand near the empty hostess station, “Rose won’t let me down.”

Enough was enough. Becca hadn’t wanted me to pull Mom aside at the church, but it was time to move forward because loving Rose was my future.

“Maybe it’s for the best if she doesn’t stand in the wedding,” Mom said. “I’m thinking of her, too, and how awkward it’ll be for her to walk with Jason now that they’ve broken up.”

I approached them. “Rose was probably worried about coming tonight because she didn’t want to upset you.”

Becca pointed at me. “Bingo. She also said she had to finish something before she could come, and that it couldn’t wait.”

I frowned at Becca in question.

Becca shrugged back with a smile. “No idea,” she singsonged.

Mom frowned. “It seems a little rude, is all.”

“Ma,” I said with all the calmness and respect I could muster. I took a deep breath, symbolically filling myself with the strength of my love for Rose. “I’m sorry. I was completely out of line not to tell you about me and Rose from the beginning. I was afraid to hurt you again, and I own that I messed up. I promise not to hide important things from you just because I think you won’t like them. You asked me if I was serious about Rose, and I hate that I didn’t answer. I am. I love her. I’d marry her tonight, if she’d have me. I don’t ever want to hurt you. But as a very wise woman told me, I might have to disappoint you sometimes, and we’ll both have to learn that we can still love each other after it.”

Mom frowned back at me, her eyes glossy. “Jason, I’ve just been so worried you’ll get hurt again. You didn’t deserve what you went through with Kasey, and I don’t want you to fall for someone else who’ll take advantage of your good heart.”

“But Rose is an amazing, loving person, which you’d know if you’d give her half a chance. You were really rude to her at our house, and I—”

Mom’s brows pulled together in a question and her mouth opened, but I kept talking before she could speak. “Yes, I saidour house. Mine and Rose’s. And she has a right to do what she wants in her own house. She didn’t do anything to deserve you talking to her like that, and I should’ve spoken up for her. She wanted to tell you about us. I’m the one who was afraid to tell you something I didn’t think you’d like.”

Mom’s face crumpled, and she took my hand. “I only want what’s best for you.”

“Rose is best for me,” I said.

“I just don’t want her to take you away from me.”

I squeezed her hand. “Ma, I wouldn’t love the kind of woman who would. Never again.”

“Hey Rose!” Becca called with a smile. “I’m so glad you made it!”

I followed her gaze to my right. Seeing Rose standing in the same room as me hit my system like a drug. My heart thudded into service like it’d been stopped before, and even more sweat poured down my back. She was breathtaking in a flowery dress with a corset top and her long hair curling down. I could tell from the style and how it hugged her curves that she’d made that dress, and my heart swelled with pride for the talent and beauty of this amazing woman.

And when our eyes met, all the stars that had come untethered in my sky snapped back into place.

“I’m sorry I was late.” She stepped forward with a small white box in her hands. “I was putting the finishing touches on this. It’s for Becca, but it’s also for you, Mrs. Betty.” She handed the box to Mom, who looked like she wanted to sink into the ground. “Here, open it.”

“Oh. Um, thank you.” Mom wiped her eyes and carefully removed the ribbon and top of the box. Behind her, Becca’s smile was huge.

I could hardly take my eyes off of Rose, but she didn’t look at me again. How much of that had she heard?

“Oh,” Mom breathed. She pulled a blue handkerchief from the box. “You fixed it, but you—”

I stepped closer to see it as Rose explained.

“You mentioned how you always wanted to have the names of all the brides who carried it embroidered on it, and I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if it was actually their signatures? So, I got Becca to track them down for me, and I embroidered them for you.” She twisted her hands. “I hope I didn’t overstep.”

“I only found Great-Grandma Mary’s this afternoon,” Becca said, “so Rose didn’t have much time to finish it for tonight.”

A tear rolled down Mom’s cheek. She reached over and took Rose’s hand. “It’s beautiful, honey. Just beautiful. It’s exactly what I wanted, and now the tradition won’t be lost. Thank you. It means so much to me that you went to all this trouble for my family.”

“Of course. Try and keep it in this archival, acid-free tissue paper. It’ll help keep it from yellowing. And I wrote up some instructions to best preserve it.” Rose tugged on a card stuck into the box. “There’s no reason it shouldn’t last until your descendants run out of places for signatures.”

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