Midnight Rose

Chapter Two : The gift

It was only two nights later that I heard a voice in the garden calling to me. So I walked to it, and again I was grabbed from behind.

  "Do we have to go through this song and dance every time, or are you going to keep this up for as long as you come to see me?" I questioned .

 "Sorry Miss Shadowfire, it's just a habit of mine. But I promise, the next time I come to see you I will not grab at you and we will meet face to face." He replied back.

  " I still have yet to know your name sir, and I just can't go around call you sir. " I said.

 "All shall be revealed the next time we meet Miss Shadowfire, but for now is there a place where we can sit and talk for a while where no one will think to look for you for a short while?" He questioned me.

  "Yes there is. It just so happens to be right over there, in the other side of my garden." I answered back.

 "Then p!ease lead the way so that we may sit for a while Miss." He said

 We actually ended up sitting and talking in the garden for several hours. Just as we were getting to know each other he said that he needed to leave. I told him that his absence would be alright since the garden was my favorite place to sit for your on end anyway, and that I looked forward to speaking with him again soon. As I was raising from the bench to leave he grabbed my hand and said, "My name is James." 

 I was about to turn around so that I could see his face, but he had already left the garden. "Well how do you like that," I thought to my self, " You tell a lady your first name and leave without so much as a toodles! " It was a short amount of time before my family was to gather for dinner, so I thought I would head to the kitchen to see if my mother needed any help that night.

The rest of the night was just like any other for my family, so there wasn't much to do. I was feeling a little tired from my talk in the garden so I excused myself and headed to bed a little early. I had hoped I would find another rose when James left, but with no such luck. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

The next few days were like every other and were somewhat normal, well as normal as my life usually had been. My mornings were filled with the things my mother thought a young lady should know how to do and would need for the rest of her life. (I can say now that sewing is one thing that I hate above all else that she thought me!) But the rest of the day was mine to do with as I chose! So I spent the afternoons like I would any other, outside in my garden tending to my flowers. I had everything: hydrangeas, morning glories, roses, iris, lilacs and lilly's of all different colors and heights. I had spent most of my youth taking care of them and trying to see what new colors I could make for the next blooming season.

I was in the bed farthest from the house, when I heard someone calling my name. I was about the see if it was my mother trying to get my attention, when James walked out from behind my morning glories! But what surprised me most of all was that he walked out with a bundle of flowers with him that I didn't know what they even were.

When he came out of my flowers the first thing I noticed about him were his silver eves, they were so captivating, then I happened to notice his bright red hair! Though the ring that stood out the most were the knives that I could see sticking out from all over him, and the fact that he had two small scars under his left eye that looked freshly healed. When he was beside my flowers he was smiling at me.

   "Why James, are those flowers for me? One night thing you were trying to court me!" I stated 

"Well, if I can be honest with you, that is what I'm actually trying to do. " James replied with a sheepish grin on his face.

   "Well I'd have to say that you are the first gentleman to scare me twice and then bring me flowers the third chance meeting. But I do see some flowers in the bundle you have the I do know." I told him.

"To tell you the truth, the only ones that you don't have growing in your lovely garden are the blue bells. " James answered back.

  "Then what are the flowers that are in with the blue bells? I've never seen anything with that color, at least while they were still fresh that is." I asked if James.

 " You actually do do have a cousin of these in your garden, right over there. " He said pointing to my rose bush. "These just happen to be a midnight blooming version of those!" James said with a smile on his face.

   "So that's why they have that off color? " I asked as I took the flowers from James.

"Yes, they only bloom around midnight and stay open till first light, if they aren't picked right away." Said James.

   " I thank you very kindly for the flowers! So are we walking around tonight or just sitting in my garden again? " I asked if James with a small smile.

"Actually Miss Shadowfire, I was wondering if we could go for a walk. Seeing as last time all I did was grab you to keep you from screaminh." Stated James.

   "I would love to, and would you please start calling me Isadora? When you call me 'Miss Shadowfire' that sounds too formal. " I asked if James.

"I shall start calling you Isadora's then if you wish. " Said James.