Iris (Suitors of Seattle Book 8) (7 page)

Edna Petunia took Iris's hand in hers.  "You know, I think you're doing the right thing by waiting.  It's only a week."  She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she stood up abruptly.  "Well, if you're getting married on Monday, you won't need me after that.  You'll have to find a new nurse, but that should be easy enough.  I'll move on Monday afternoon.  When will the wedding be?"

"Move?  You're not leaving the area, are you?"

"Oh, of course not!  Someone has to keep an eye on you.  I'll move on with my life, so moving in that sense, but also moving out of this house."  Edna stretched, a twinkle in her eyes.  She didn't say where she was moving, and Iris knew better than to ask.  "Do you want me to send your mama a telegram in the morning?"

"Oh, good Lord, no!  If I send her a telegram, she could be here in time to stop the wedding.  No, we'll send her a letter.  There's no way she'll get here to change anything then.  I'll give her a choice of planning the reception here or in Seattle.  I'm sure it'll be Seattle, though.  She wants to have a huge party for her friends to show off her daughters and grandchildren."  Iris rolled her eyes.  "They've all seen us a million times.  I don't know why it matters so much."

Edna's face grew serious.  "It matters because she's proud of you.  She wants to show off the good matches her daughters keep making for themselves and all her beautiful grandbabies. I think you having the reception is just the right answer."

Iris nodded, hugging the older woman impulsively.  "I'm sorry we won't have more time to work together.  I'm going to miss you, Edna Petunia."

Edna wiped a tear from her face.  "I'll miss you too, Iris.  Your family has reminded me what love is all about."  She pushed Iris away.  "Look at you getting maudlin so late at night."  Glancing at the clock, she put her hands on her hips.  "It's time for you to be in bed, young lady!"

Iris laughed.  "I'm a doctor.  You can't boss me around!"  She stood up though, knowing Edna was right.  She did need to sleep.  She hoped she could sleep well and not just spend the night daydreaming about her wedding night.  Who would have thought she'd be so passionate?

"Watch me!"  Edna kissed Iris's cheek before slipping off into her room. 

Iris watched the older woman practically float off to her bedroom and wondered again what was happening.  She couldn't be marrying someone...could she?

Chapter Seven

Iris spent most of the morning struggling to write the letter to her mother.  She began it four times, only to throw it away.  Finally, Edna Petunia walked into the examining room where she was working on it.  "If you don't get that letter finished before lunchtime so we can mail it on our way home, then I'm going to send that telegram, and there will be no wedding to worry about telling your mama about."

Iris glared at the backside of the old woman as she left the room.  She stared down at the blank page in front of her and quickly scrawled out a note in her less-than-perfect script.  "Dear Mama, You're not going to be happy with me, but let me just say that I've come up with a compromise I think you'll be satisfied with.  I'm going to be married on Monday afternoon.  Edna Petunia approves of the man, so I'm not having Aunt Harriett investigate him.  I'm marrying immediately, which I know will make you unhappy, but we just can't wait, Mama.  As Edna Petunia always says, "Better to rush the wedding than have a bastard baby."  Anyway, what I thought we could do is have a reception in Seattle in six months time.  That way, you can plan a grand party.  All of your flowers will be there along with the grandbabies, and we each get what we want.  I get to be married immediately, but you get to have a nice reception.  Please tell me you don't hate me for doing this.  I know you were holding out hope that I wouldn't be like my sisters, but I just can't wait six months.  All my love, Iris."  She read over the letter and sighed.  Her mother would never forgive her.  "P.S. I will write you as soon as I have my new address to give you.  I'm adding three more grandbabies.  Their names are Mallie, Ettie, and Katie Harvey."

She folded the note before she could change anything about it, or worse, throw it away so she'd have to start over again.  She took it to the front where Edna Petunia sat making a hat.  She didn't recall the older woman bringing in hat making supplies or leaving, but she asked nothing.  With Edna Petunia, there was no telling.  She wouldn't be surprised if the woman had laid a finger aside her nose and caused the materials to simply appear, just as St. Nicholas did in the poem when he needed to perform magic. 

Iris threw the letter onto the desk where Edna was working.  "There.  It's done.  Are you happy now?"

"I'm always happy.  The question is, how do you feel about it all?"  Edna carefully sewed a huge, ugly flower to the front of the hat while she talked.

Iris thought about that for a moment.  "I think I'm happy with it.  I know Mama will be disappointed, but I do think she'll feel a lot better because of the compromise."  She wished she could explain in person, but she knew her mother would stop everything if she tried.

"I do too."  She held up the hat.  "What do you think?"

Iris looked at the hat.  It was one of the most hideous things she'd ever seen in her life, and she hoped with everything inside her that Edna hadn't made that for her for the wedding.  "It's...nice.  Who's it for?"

"Oh, you can get that worried look off your face, Iris Sullivan.  The hat is for me, not you!"

Iris tried not to let the relief show on her face.  "It will look darling on you," she fibbed.  She hoped Edna wasn't planning on wearing it to her wedding, but if she did, the world wouldn't end.  She couldn't ask for a better maid of honor, even if she could find one with better taste in hats.

"I can see you hate it, but it suits me, don't you think?"  Edna perched it atop her gray hair and modeled it for Iris. 

"It does suit you."  And surprisingly, it did.  Iris frowned, remembering her conversation with Mallie the night before.  "I told Mallie we, meaning you, would make her a dress and a hat for her birthday last night.  I don't suppose you could..."

"I'm not disappearing from your life, Iris Sullivan!  You can't get rid of me that easily.  Of course, we can do that.  I just can't work for you any longer."  Edna Petunia smiled proudly.  "I'd be honored to help you make some dresses for those precious girls."

Iris waited expectantly for the reason why Edna Petunia couldn't continue working for her, but the answer never came.

"Let's go mail that letter, and we'll get some lunch," Edna suggested.  She turned the sign in the door to closed, and the two of them left the office arm in arm.

*****

Iris didn't have much to prepare for her move to the Harvey ranch.  She carefully packed all but two dresses in tissue paper early on Saturday morning.  She had a good thick stew on the stove for Francis and the girls when they arrived.  Edna Petunia, as usual, was nowhere to be found, but Iris did her best not to think about that. 

She popped two loaves of bread into the oven just as she heard a knock on her door.  She opened the door wide and was immediately embraced by Katie.  "We're here to take all your things to our house so you can move in on Monday and start being our ma!"

"You are?" Iris asked, feigning surprise.  "Shouldn't someone have asked me to be your ma?"

"Pa did!" Mallie said.  "Don't you remember?"

"Well, he asked me to be his wife, but he can't ask me to be your ma!  Only you girls can do that!"  Iris grinned at the looks of pleasure on their faces. 

The three girls all crowded around her.  Mallie looked at her younger sisters.  "Y'all okay if I ask?"

Katie nodded soberly.  She was obviously taking the conversation to heart.  Ettie looked back and forth between Francis, who stood off to the side with a smile on his face, watching and listening to the conversation, to Iris.  Finally she nodded, seeming unsure of what was happening.  "You can't take back your 'yes' now, can you?"

Iris almost pulled the girl into her arms, but decided to see how things played out first.  She certainly didn't want Ettie to get upset by the whole thing, but she wanted the girls to feel like they had some say in getting her for a step-mother. 

Mallie seemed to understand what Iris wanted, though.  "Dr. Iris?  Would you do us the great honor of becoming our new ma?"

Iris tilted her head to one side as if contemplating the question.  Katie and Ettie stood side by side, holding hands, looking as if their whole future hung in the balance.  Finally Iris nodded.  "I can think of nothing I'd like more."

The two younger girls threw themselves at Iris, almost knocking her off her feet.  "I was so scared you'd say 'no,'" Ettie admitted with a frown.

Iris stroked the girl's hair.  "How could I say 'no' to you three?  I think even if your pa was an ogre, I'd have to marry him just to be your mother."  They were such darlings, and she already loved them so much.  She just hoped they remembered to be darlings to her after the wedding.

Katie seemed to consider that for a moment before asking, "What's an ogre?"

Iris smiled, thinking of the bedtime stories she could tell the girls.  "An ogre is a huge man who is ugly, stupid, clumsy, and malformed."

Katie's eyes widened with wonder.  "Have you ever met one?"

Iris nodded.  "When I was in medical school, I had one for a classmate.  He flunked out though."  Her eyes were twinkling as they met Francis's over the heads of the girls.

Francis let out a bark of laughter.  "Girls, move out of my way.  I want to kiss my fiancé." 

"What's a fiancé?" Ettie asked as she moved out of the way.

Francis, stroked Iris's cheek with one finger before answering.  "A fiancé is the person who has promised to marry you.  So until she's my wife, Iris will be my fiancé."  He didn't wait for a response before he dipped his head and claimed Iris's lips in a kiss.  He kept the kiss light, aware of the young eyes watching them.

When Francis straightened up, Iris wished she could pull him back down for a longer kiss, but she knew the girls didn't need to see that.  "I'd better check on that bread," she said, slightly flustered by Francis's kiss.  In two days, they wouldn't have to stop.  They could wait for two more days.

After lunch was finished, the four of them carried all of Iris's things out to the wagon.  She had one more small trunk that she would take with her on Monday, but otherwise everything she owned was on the wagon for the ride out to the Harvey ranch.  "Do you want to come out with us and put your things away for yourself?" Francis asked.

Iris thought about that for a moment.  If she went with them, she'd be able to see more of the house and spend more time with the children.  If she didn't, she'd have an easier time making it through to her wedding still a virgin.  No, she needed to stay home.  She shook her head.  "No, I need to stay here.  I'll put my things away on Monday, though.  You don't need to do that for me."

Francis nodded as if he could see right into her mind, knowing what she was thinking.  He kissed her quickly before climbing up onto the wagon where the girls were already perched.  "I'll see you at church tomorrow."

Iris nodded, watching as they drove away.  She couldn't wait to see Andy at church and see what he had to say about them marrying so quickly.

*****

Iris sat with Francis and his girls at church the following morning.  It felt strange, and she knew everyone was looking at them, but she did it anyway. 

Edna Petunia sat alone at the back of the church.  When Iris invited her to join them, the older woman shook her head with tears in her eyes.  "No, you have a family now.  You need to be with them, not this crazy old woman."

Iris started to tell her she wasn't crazy, but she didn't believe in lying, so she'd simply squeezed the older woman's hand before joining Francis at the front of the church.

She shared a hymnal with Francis, the two of them each holding one of the pages open to the right song.  Katie sat to her left, proudly gripping Iris's arm, as if to stake claim on her new mother. 

After the service, people lined up to meet her.  "Aren't you the new doctor in town?  Did you know Francis before you arrived?" One of the older ladies in the church peered at Iris as if she was trying to figure out exactly what had happened to make Iris the new fiancé of someone she'd known for years. 

Iris shook her head.  "No, ma'am.  I met Francis the day Mallie broke her arm.  I'd never set eyes on him before that."

The woman frowned.  "Francis isn't one to just run off and marry the first pretty face he sees.  How'd you get him to ask you to marry him?"  She crossed her arms over her chest.

Iris shrugged, feeling annoyed.  "I'm not sure.  Maybe he took one look at me and knew I was the perfect mother for his children."

The woman humphed.  "If it was that easy, he'd have married my daughter Beulah Mae years ago.  She would do the right thing and stay home with her family, not try to have a
career
."

Iris looked at the younger version of the crotchety old woman she was talking to.  The younger woman was so thin she looked unhealthy, and her nose was huge.  Iris knew that looks weren't terribly important, but she certainly wouldn't have wanted to wake up to that face every morning.  "I guess you'll have to ask Francis then.  I'm not sure why he'd choose me."

Francis had a hard look on his face.  "I chose Iris because she's a beautiful intelligent woman who's good with my children."  His hand reached for hers, squeezing it softly.  "I also didn't grow up playing with Iris.  When you've known someone since you were both in diapers, it's hard to think of her as a potential wife."  He gave Beulah Mae an apologetic smile.

Beulah Mae blushed.  "I don't think I could parent another woman's children anyway.  I'd always be asking myself if Katherine would do something the same way I'm doing it.  Or if she'd approve of how I'm doing things."

Iris hadn't thought about those things, but she was secure enough in herself that she wasn't terribly worried.  She didn't think Francis would be comparing her to his dead wife, so she simply smiled at Beulah Mae.  "Have you lived here your entire life, Beulah Mae?" she asked softly. 

The older girl nodded.  "Sometimes I wish I could go somewhere else, but Mama needs me."

The old woman smiled, patting her daughter's hand.  "That I do.  Every woman should be so blessed as to have a daughter like you."  She frowned at Iris.  "Good day."

Iris looked at Francis, trying to figure out what had just happened.  He leaned down to whisper, "Mrs. Pinkston always had the notion that Beulah Mae and I should marry, even though neither of us were at all interested.  She just can't let go of the idea, though."

Tracy and Andy stopped in front of them.  Andy grinned at Iris.  "So, I get a new sister, do I?"

Iris blushed.  "Yes, you do."

"And you couldn't wait until next month to get married?"  He turned his attention to Francis.  "What's your all-fired hurry there, Francis?  You couldn't wait another minute to get her to...be your wife?"  His pause was deliberate enough that Iris blushed.

Francis shrugged.  "I didn't marry her within minutes of meeting her like you did Tracy."

Tracy ignored the men and hugged Iris.  "They're both crazy.  Welcome to the family."

Iris smiled.  "Thank you.  I'm happy to be part of it."

"What will your companion do?" Tracy asked, her eyes searching the church.

"You know, she asked me to find someone to replace her.  She's done working for me."  Iris frowned.  "I'm not sure what she's going to do, but I do know I need a new nurse."