Chapter Eighteen
“You’re not going to wear that to the ward Valentine’s party, are you?” AnnaMaria had come over to give Eroica the latest letter form their mother. “Mom is right when she says that you need help in the wardrobe department.”
Eroica, sorting through piano music, and wearing jeans, a plaid flannel shirt, and a baseball cap asked, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? I’m not going to the ward activity to get married.”
“You won’t get to the temple to get married either, if you don’t put forth some effort. Come on.” AnnaMaria grabbed Eroica by the arm and hauled her into the bedroom. In a matter of moments she had Eroica ready to go, in a floral print dress and her cream colored boots. With her hair french braided down her back and a few curls in front, Eroica looked casual enough to not feel out of place.
“When you get to this activity tonight,” AnnaMaria lectured, “Make sure that you mingle. Don’t spend the whole time hiding in the kitchen.”
Before Eroica could protest, there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, she was greeted with a huge bouquet of yellow roses.
“Are you Ero-eeka Hamilton?” the delivery man asked.
“Well, sort of.” She grimaced at how he massacred her name.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” He thrust the flowers at her. “Sign here please.”
“But there must be some mistake,” she faltered.
“Nope. No mistake. This is 1612 North Apple Tree Way, and you are,” he looked at his clipboard again, “Ero-eeka Hamilton. Sign here please.”
“But there’s no card.”
“Nope. No card,” the delivery man repeated.
“But who sent them?”
“Don’t know. And,” he looked again at his papers, “It appears that they were paid for with cash. So no name. Sign here please.”
Eroica felt as if she were committing a crime as she signed the form and took the flowers. AnnaMaria was much more excited than Eroica was.
“All right Eroica, tell all,” she demanded. “You must know who these are from.”
“But I don’t. I was thinking maybe you knew. I’ve never told anyone that yellow roses are my favorite. Did you tell anyone?”
“No. It certainly is romantic, though. Could they be from that friend you spent Christmas day with?”
“Definitely not. I think he was just looking for something to do.”
“Well, someone has his eye on you.”
“Or someone is trying to make a fool of me.”
“That’s silly. Roses in February are much too expensive to be used for practical jokes. And there must be two dozen here at least. Maybe it’s someone in your ward. Let’s tuck one of these in your hair so he will know that you received them.”
“I think we ought to go back to having parents arrange marriages,” Eroica sighed.
“Knowing Dad, you would wind up with a bumbling musicologist who had four-inch-thick glasses and who snored scales.”
“So maybe it isn’t such a good idea,” Eroica admitted as she allowed AnnaMaria to fasten a yellow rose into her hair.
Just as AnnaMaria warned against, when Eroica got to the church she went straight to the kitchen. She hadn’t been to many ward activities because of her accompanying job. But the ones that she had gone to, she found some way to help in the kitchen. This kept her from having to participate much.
When she walked into the kitchen, the first person she saw was Mark Wallace. He was grating cheese to put on heart shaped pizzas.
“I didn’t know that you were on the food committee,” Eroica managed as Mark greeted her.
“I didn’t know that you were, either.”
“Well, I’m not.”
“Well, neither am I,” he laughed. “Help me cover these pizzas with cheese so Sister Corothers can get them into the oven.”
For the rest of the evening Mark and Eroica seemed to be thrown together. Eroica thought that it was just circumstances, but she did wonder. By the time they finished preparing pizzas, there were just about no places left at the tables to sit.
“I think we are through in here, Eroica. Let’s go eat.” Mark took her by the hand and found a place where there were two chairs next to each other.
When dinner was over, Barry Drewer got up to thank everyone for helping with the activity, as he usually did. But this time he had a few surprises.
“As you all know, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I hope you are all with a special Valentine,” he began.
Eroica stopped listening and started wondering who could have sent her such a huge bouquet of her favorite flowers. It didn’t seem to be anyone in the ward. And she didn’t know too many other people. Lost in her own thoughts, her attention was suddenly caught by what Barry Drewer was saying.
“You all know Dr. Wellesford. It seems he finally found himself an eternal accompanist. He has announced his engagement to Melinda Jeppson.”
Barry paused for exclamations.
“I also hear rumors about Valarie Rogers and Bruce Merrington. I think they are planning a June wedding. Is that right Bruce?”
Bruce nodded while people clapped and whistled.
“And David, David Shepherd. Have you asked her yet? Now there was a quick courtship. David and Mary Hunter are getting married this summer also. I can see that David’s friends are surprised, but Mary’s friends aren’t. I guess that’s the way of it. Does anyone else have any announcements they want to make?”
A nervous silence followed.
“The rest of you ought to get busy,” he continued.
“Hey, Barry,” someone shouted, “What about you?”
“Okay, okay. I’m getting to that.” Barry, knowing that he had everyone’s attention, was in no hurry. “Harmony Sawyer, come on up here.”
Harmony turned bright red, but she stood up and walked over to Barry amid all sorts of surprised exclamations.
“Harmony has agreed to marry me on May fifth, as soon after graduation as we could make it. Those of you that will still be in town are invited to our wedding reception that night, right here in this building. So Tony, Tim, and Doug, you’re not going to be able to play basketball that night. And that’s all for our ward activity. I don’t think I’m going to be able to top this. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Everyone was in a hurry to congratulate everyone else, and to confess their surprise, or to be the first to say that they knew all along. Eroica was surprised. Not only had Dr. Wellesford managed to get himself engaged in less than two months after proposing to her, but everyone knew that he was hunting for a piano playing wife. Everyone but her.
“Let’s go congratulate them,” Mark grabbed her hand.
So Harmony had a secret after all. Eroica hoped that they would be happy, but she wondered just the same.
“I can’t believe she actually said yes,” Barry was saying to the people who had gathered around.
“I can’t believe you kept it a secret for so long,” they were all exclaiming.
“You know,” said Barry as he put his arm around Harmony, “She’s everything that I’ve been looking for. I just didn’t know what I was looking for until I met her. I’m the luckiest man alive.”
Eroica concluded that Harmony would be happy.
After Mark dragged Eroica around to congratulate everyone, they went back to the kitchen to help clean up. This was normal for Eroica. She felt foolish leaving ward activities by herself, when everyone else left in couples or groups. So she found a way to be one of the last ones out of the building. She wondered what Mark’s excuse was.
“Let me walk you out to your car,” he offered after the last dish had been cleaned and the counters had been wiped.
“I didn’t drive. I walked. It was so nice outside, and I don’t get to look out of too many windows when I’m at school all day.”
“Eroica, you do too much walking late at night. It’s not
a good habit. It may have been fine when you left your house earlier this evening. But it’s almost eleven o’clock, and it’s about twenty degrees outside. Will you let me give you a ride home?”
Eroica didn’t know what to say, so she just followed him out the door.
“I didn’t mean to sound harsh,” Mark continued as they drove towards her house. “I do worry about you though, living alone.”
“But I live next door to Anna and John.”
“That’s good. But John has his own family, and other responsibilities.”
“I don’t think I’m a bother. I do take care of myself.”
“Eroica, I know that,” he said softly. “Please don’t get angry with me. I just want you to be careful.”
“I will,” she answered, resolving to be so.
Mark pulled into Eroica’s driveway and walked her to the front door.
“With you watching out for me, how could I not be safe?” she asked, laughing and serious all at once.
“Good night, Eroica. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Eroica went in and shut the door, being sure to lock it. She picked up her water pitcher of yellow roses and took them back to her bedroom. Valentine’s Day was usually a trying day for her. But something was different about this one. As she drifted off to sleep she had a vague sensation that Mark Wallace was the difference. He was what made her Valentine’s Day happy.