Almanzo wants to surprise Laura with something different and new. Almanzo comes up wooden vases and Charles suggests wooden flowers. When Almanzo shows them to Charles, he wants some as well. They try to surprise their wives with them, but things go embarrassingly wrong. A one shot. Story complete in chapter.
Flowers, Flowers Everywhere
“Manly? Are you almost ready?”
Almanzo looked up at the sound of his wife’s voice. He wasn’t sure if she was coming out to the barn or not. He was finishing up the gifts he was making to surprise Laura and Caroline. He had mentioned it to Charles before the summer ended.
He wanted to give Beth something new, something different, he told his father in law. He couldn’t think of anything until he noticed a small wooden vase that he had made for Eliza Jane when they first moved to Walnut Grove two years ago.
He was working on more of them; he had twelve of them done so far which was good. The problem was he hadn’t figured out what he could put inside them. Beth loved prairie roses and she would fill the house with them during the summer when they bloomed. The problem was he wanted some colorful flowers for the colder months.
But he wasn’t sure what kind.
“What about wooden ones?” Charles suggested. Flat ones, he told his son in law.
“I don’t know, Charles,” Almanzo said. “I’ve never made flowers before.”
“But you’ve seen them, haven’t you?” Charles said looking at him. “If anyone can do, Almanzo, it’s you.”
And Almanzo had. It was easier than he thought it would be. He had come up with tulips, thistles, daisies, even flat prairie roses. He showed them to Charles and he loved them. He loved them so much that he wanted some to surprise Caroline with.
And so, he made extra. There were so many of them now, he couldn’t keep count anymore. They were tucked away in a small keepsake box that he made, but had never given as….
“Almanzo?” she called again, this time the voice was closer.
“Comin’ darlin’” he called out, looking for a cover.
Almanzo quickly grabbed an old towel that had seen better days. He pushed the vases down and covered them as best he could.
“Manly,” Laura’s voice called again. “Come on, we’re meeting my parents at Nellie’s.”
Almanzo turned toward her voice and frowned. “I thought your Ma and Pa were comin’ here, Beth. I thought that’s what we decided.”
“Ma and I decided that if the two of you weren’t ready that we’d go over there without you two,” Laura said, walking into the barn. She took one look at Manly and frowned. “You’re not even ready yet?”
Almanzo didn’t say anything; he was staring at her, a wide smile on his face. It was as if he was looking at her for the first time in his life. She was wearing his favorite green suit, the one she wore at their wedding.
“It’ll only take me a minute to change,” he walked over to her; put his arms around her shoulders, swaying her back and forth.
He kissed her and pulled back. “You look lovely tonight,” he told her, smiling. “Listen, do you mind if I meet you there? You know, get us a table and order?”
Laura stared at him waiting for him to smile or make a joke about it, but he didn’t.
“Almanzo Wilder,” she said, looking at him. “What are you up to?”
He tried not to smile. She always knows, doesn’t she?
“Nothin’” he said, “Do you see anything here?”
Laura looked at him. She looked around carefully and she had to admit she really didn’t see anything except….
“Why is there an old towel in here?” she said, looking at the one sitting on top of Manly’s worktable. “I thought we got rid of that musty old thing….”
“Um, Beth, if you and your Ma decided to go over there without us, why didn’t the two of you go?”
Laura looked at him, shook her head and frowned. “You and Pa wanted us to all go together, Manly. I guess you both forgot.”
“Almanzo, Laura,” Charles called out from the barn door, with Caroline bringing up the rear. “Is there anyone in here? We tried the front door, but there was no….”
Laura was about to grab the towel, but Almanzo took her hands in his, but she wouldn’t let him. In fact, she managed to get one free.
“Charles, is Caroline with you?” Almanzo called out, removing her hand from the towel. He swept her up in a bear hug and then he kissed her, distracting her, hoping that she would forget all about the towel.
“Are we interrupting something?” Charles’ voice called out. “Shouldn’t we be….”
Laura and Almanzo broke apart. “Is Caroline here with you?” he repeated, still looking into his wife’s eyes. He was smiling.
“She’s right here, Almanzo,” Charles answered, placing his arm around her. “Listen, if you two want to be alone….”
“No, it’s fine. Beth was just leaving.”
“Was I?” Laura asked.
“Yes, you were, remember? You said that you and your Ma were going to….”
“Almanzo, I didn’t mean…”
“Laura,” Caroline scolded. “You did tell me that we’d meet your Pa and Almanzo over there. I hate to admit it, but…”
“Oh, alright,” Laura said and turned to face Caroline. “Come on, Ma, let’s go down to Nellie’s and let the boys fend for themselves.”
Laura threaded her arm through Caroline’s and the two of them walked out of the barn.
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Älmanzo and Charles watched them until they disappeared. “You were supposed to have these ready,” Charles said, turning to face his son in law. “At least that’s what we agreed on this afternoon.”
Almanzo pulled the towel off. He had stuffed six of the twelve vases inside it.
“Here, take these. I have six more in the keepsake box. Take these back to your house and do what we decided. I’ll take care of our house.”
“I need some of the flowers you made, Almanzo. That was the whole idea, wasn’t it?”
Almanzo looked up. Was that really the idea? Where was he, asleep?
He shook his head to clear it.
He walked to the where the keepsake box was, pulled it down and placed it on the work table. There were tons of flowers in there and tons more under the work table. Manly handed him the draw with the flowers in it and wrapped them up inside another towel.
“I’ll do my part over here and once I’m done, I’ll stop by and pick you up, okay?” Almanzo said.
Charles nodded. “See ya later then.”
And he walked out the barn door.
“Uh, Almanzo?”
Manly looked up and saw Charles standing in the barn doorway. He frowned. “Is there somethin’wrong?”
“Yeah, the rig is gone.”
Almanzo frowned and shook his head. “We saw them walkin’. We watched until they disappeared.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Charles said, shrugging. “I guess they came back to get it.”
Almanzo looked at Charles. “How come we didn’t hear it? Don’t you think we should have heard them?”
Charles looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
Manly sighed and shook his head. “Alright, help me set the flowers up here and then we’ll go and set them up at your place.”
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“We should have told them we decided to go back for the rig,” Laura said, waiting for the four steak dinners they had ordered. They were getting it to go, which was the reason they came back for the buckboard.
“I guess we’ll go back to our house,” Caroline told her, “it’s closer.”
Laura nodded. “You’re right, but I have a feeling that we should go back to ours. I don’t think they realize that we took their rig.”
“They should have heard us, Laura,” Caroline answered, smiling, “but I guess we should go back, we left them there.”
Laura smiled and nodded her head. “Thanks, Ma,” she said hugging her.
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“What do you mean they’re not here,” Almanzo said looking at Percival. “How long ago did they leave?”
“I guess I’d say about half an hour ago, Almanzo,” Percival answered, replacing the dirty tablecloths with clean ones. “As you can see, gentlemen, we are closing for the night. We shouldn’t even have let you in the door.”
“Well,” Charles asked. “Where could they have gone; where’s the food?”
“My guess is back to the Wilder farm, Mr. Ingalls,” Percival said, grabbing another tablecloth. “Laura and Mrs. Ingalls were discussing it when they left. They took the food to go.”
“When did that start,” Almanzo looked at Charles as he opened the door for his father in law.
“Two weeks ago,” Percival called out, as the two of them looked in his direction. ”It was a special request, actually a few of them.”
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“Manly? Pa?”
“They’re not here, Laura,” Caroline called, as Laura closed the door to the little house. “I’m sure they’re back at your house.”
Laura nodded. “We’d better get back, the food’s getting cold.”
And they closed the door, the two of them, not even noticing what Charles and Almanzo had done.
XXXXXXXXXXX
“Manly? Pa?”
Laura called out but there was no answer there either.
“They couldn’t still be in the barn?” Caroline asked as she put the food on the table. It was then she noticed what the men had done.
“Laura, come in here. Look what your Pa and Almanzo have done.”
“I already see it, Ma,” Laura said, bringing in one of the wooden vases with the wooden flowers inside. “They’re all over the house.”
“They’re beautiful,” Caroline said, picking up the thistles on the table.
“It was Charles’ suggestion,” Almanzo’s voice came from behind them. “We were discussing having flowers in the house all year round. I discussed it with Charles and he wanted some too, Caroline. He wanted to surprise you with them.”
“You mean you put these lovely flowers in our house too?” Caroline asked.
Charles nodded. “You didn’t see them?”
“We didn’t go inside,” Laura said, walking over to stand by her husband. He placed an arm around her and pulled her close.
“Well, now that you’ve seen them here,” Almanzo piped up, “Maybe we should go back to your place and enjoy Nellie’s Special Steak Dinner.”
“Almanzo,” Laura said, “the food’s getting cold.”
“I’m sure it already is, Beth,” Manly answered smiling. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Well, let’s go back to our place and warm it up,” Charles said, walking over to join his wife. “Come on, I’ll drive.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Almanzo smiled as they all trouped out of the Wilder farm.
It wasn’t too long before Laura came back in again, ran into the dining room and grabbed the two paper bags with the food. She shook her head and closed the door behind her.
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