Flowers, Gems And Estella - Chapter X
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Estella was regretting having volunteered to help the Cottons to plan and organize the upcoming wedding. To Mr. Filbert Bolger and Mrs. Poppy Bolger – Mr. Samwise Gamgee and Miss Rose Cotton invite you to be present at their wedding on the first of May, in Hobbiton. They hope you will be able to attend, and await your answer by post. Wiping sleep from her eyes, she dipped the pen into the bottle filled with lilac ink, then brought it back to the thick, cream-colored paper. To Mr. Argus Boffin –
She stopped short of finishing the sentence – she’s never heard of anyone by that name. Looking again at the list, she discovered that there was no one named Argus – and that she instead had intended to write Griffo Boffin, along with his wife Daisy. Must be all that sleep I haven’t had.
“Sancho Proudfoot,” Rosie’s mother read from the list of invited guests, “He hasn’t married, has he?” she asked of her daughter, “His father was quite a looker in his day.”
Estella gazed down at the paper in front of her – it was blurring in and out of focus. She looked to the clock on the mantelpiece – it was well after ten. To Mr. Reginard Took – Mr. Sancho Gamgee and Miss Rose Proudfoot invite you to be present at their father’s wedding, for he was quite the looker in his day.
“I don’t believe he is, mother,” Rosie answered, “And I hope you’re not trying to set Estella up with him – he’s awfully quiet, and rather boring – she wouldn’t like him, would you Estella?”
To Mr. Seredic Brandybuck and Mrs. Hilda Brandybuck – Mr. Samwise Cotton and Miss Rosie Gamgee invite you to not try to set Estella Bolger up with anyone that she wouldn’t like – someone boring and quiet – and definitely don’t try to set her up with someone like Mer –
“Estella! Are you okay?”
Estella’s eyes shot open – she was lying face down on an unfinished letter, lilac ink smeared over her face.
“Sorry!” she said, her blurry eyes looking around confused, “I – I guess I just dozed – dozed off, I guess.”
“And no wonder! Look at the time, Rose dear!” Lily Cotton gasped, gathering the invitations into a neat pile on the table, “I’ll take care of these – you go and clean Estella up.”
A cold rag was pressed to Estella’s face in the kitchen, awaking her instantly – she rubbed it over her cheeks and nose, cleaning the ink off.
“It does look nice with your eyes though,” Rosie humored, “At the wedding you should wear lilacs in you hair – it goes well with the dark and light browns.”
“And what are you going to wear? I have yet to see your dress – and it’s April! If you don’t have it already – well, I don’t know what you’re going to do,” Estella said, taking the washcloth from her face.
“Oh, I do have it! It’s – it’s a nice dress, but –”
“But what?”
Rosie sighed. “Well – I’ve been to a few weddings, Estella, and the dresses that the brides wear are always magnificent – but with all those beautiful dresses, either the bride or the groom was rich, and therefore able to afford a dress like that. The one that I was able to get – it’s so plain, it doesn’t look like a bride’s dress at all – the dress you’re wearing now is more elaborate than it – and it’s not just the dress. I’ve been out to the Party Field, to see how it’s decorated – the other weddings that I’ve been to, that take place outside – well, they have things like streamers, attached to poles, and flowers bursting from every corner, of every color. While there are a lot of flowers down at the Party Field, many of which Sam provided himself – it’s nothing compared to what I’ve seen before, at those rich weddings. I’m so afraid that no one will like it – our families aren’t exceedingly rich, and Sam’s already accepted so much financial help from Frodo – I’m not sure what we’ll do afterwards. I don’t even know where we’ll live – not with my parents, or with his.” Her eyes were glistening with tears that threatened to soon spill over.
Estella smiled warmly, and took Rosie’s hand, speaking to her. “It doesn’t matter at all how posh everything looks! You don’t need to have a lot of flashy decorations – no one will care, and if they do, they’re not anyone worth worrying about. It’s you that matters – you and Sam. You love him, don’t you?”
“Of course I do!” she said, wiping gleaming tears from her eyes.
“Well then, that’s all that matters! You’re marrying the hobbit you love, and everyone’s there to see you two, not the decorations, or your dress – or the poles and streamers! They’re there to see you two devote your lives to one another – and you don’t need one cent to know how important that is.”
Rosie seemed happier from Estella’s words, and relented to show her the dress she’d picked out – it was not the traditional white, but a beautiful light turquoise, with floral trim on the hem, sleeves and neck. It felt light and soft, like fine silk – although Rosie admitted that it was not silk. There seemed to be no difference to Estella.
“I asked Sam if he would like to come with, to help me pick it out,” Rosie giggled, “I think he wanted to, just to spend some time with me, but – well, Pippin was with him, and he was like, ‘Nah, Sam’s going down to The Green Dragon, aren’t you Sam?’ And he looked at me, and said, ‘Yeah – yeah, but I’ll see you tomorrow, Rose – love you.’ Isn’t that just like a lad?”
“Well, when you’re married, you’ll probably be able to say to him, ‘No, Pippin – my husband is not going out with you tonight, because he is staying home with me, and helping to take care of our children.’ And you can tell him that he can just find someone else to have to go out drinking with.”
“Like his cousin, for one. ‘I’m sorry, Peregrin, but you and Meriadoc will have to settle with being only a musical duo at The Green Dragon, instead of a singing trio.’ And of course, after your and Merry’s wedding –”
“Rosie!”
“Pippin will just have to go all by his lonesome,” Rosie finished.
Estella laughed. “Maybe then he’ll meet a lass, and not make a fool of himself – and her. Of course, the problem here is that it happens after my and Merry’s wedding – which I don’t plan on attending anytime soon – or ever, for that matter.”
Rosie looked beautiful in her dress when she wore it in front of the mirror the next morning – Estella helped her to decide on the perfect hairstyle. Several pins were placed her brown-gold curls to keep it up – delicate tendrils drifted down to caress her cheeks and neck.
“Sam won’t be able to resist, Rosie,” Estella said.
“Yeah,” she said wistfully, “Help me get the pins out of my hair – we have those invitations to finish. If you promise not to fall asleep, you may assist me in Bywater today when I mail them.”
A large bag of letters was taken to the post office that morning – but only with the assistance of Rosie’s older brother Tom were they able to bring it in.
“You’re begin awfully nice to me – helping me mail those letters and all,” Rosie said, surprised at him.
“Well, what else am I expected to do, when my little sister’s getting married?” Tom said, slapping her on the shoulder. Rosie retaliated by punching him in the side – he tousled her hair that they had spent so long brushing out of the elegant style from that morning.
“I bet you can’t wait until you get married Estella – then Fredegar will act loving and sweet, and won’t make fun of you!”
“Oh, but he’ll make fun of me even more – if he can even tear himself from constantly reminding my fiancé that he’ll lose no sleep over pummeling him into the ground if he’s less than perfect to his baby sister.”
There seemed to be no lack of excitement in the Cotton household about the upcoming wedding – and Estella knew that there would be no lack of love in the future Gamgee household.