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This mishap could have happened to me too. I didn't know Hanny yet, and from everything Grandma Ruth had said, she seemed a bit boring. But the fact that things weren't perfect for the bride either made her instantly likeable to me. At least I wouldn't be alone if I ever made a mistake in this family, was a bit scatterbrained, or ran late.
Isabella! What are you thinking! You'll never see this family again after today. Never! Tonight the contract with Carter ends.
This thought made me uncomfortable.
"Can't Hanny just take the bouquet as it is?" Grandma Ruth now inquired. "The guests are sitting so far back anyway, no one will see. There just won't be a bouquet in the photos then." Pragmatic. I liked Grandma Ruth. She could have worked well in a hotel. Maybe a job in a hotel wasn't so different from being the head of a large family after all. In the hotel, the guests were the family.
"But she can't go without flowers at the wedding! After all, you only get married once in your life! What would that look like!" Catherine looked desperately at Grandma Ruth.
"What else do you want to do?" asked Grandma Ruth.
I stared thoughtfully at the bridal bouquet.
Purple roses.
Hadn't I just...?
"There are purple roses growing at the driveway! I saw them when we drove in. Three bushes," I said excitedly. "We could just cut a few and use them to spruce up the bouquet," I now suggested.
"What? Just cut something from my bushes?" Carter's mother clearly didn't like the suggestion.
"Excellent idea," Grandma Ruth praised me.
"But what will the garden look like then?" Carter's mother lamented.
"That's really not so important now," Grandma Ruth decided. "That's what you have a gardener for. He'll fix it up. Or he'll just bring a few new bushes and plant them." Grandma Ruth shook her head. "Catherine, didn't you just say that you only get married once in your life and shouldn't go without flowers? Now you can do your part!" With these words, Grandma Ruth tapped her silver cane on the ground three times. She wouldn't tolerate any contradiction. I grinned to myself and tried not to show my amusement too much. What a woman.
"Come, child, let's go to the front and then you can fix up the bridal bouquet." These words were directed at me.
What?
I was supposed to fix up the bridal bouquet.
"Well... I don't know if I can do that," I replied, slightly panicked, thinking of all the dead plants I had on my conscience. My lack of a green thumb was one of the reasons Emmett had fired me. And now, just a few days later, I was supposed to arrange a bridal bouquet?
But Grandma Ruth wouldn't take no for an answer. She linked her arm with mine, tucked her silver cane under her other arm, and pulled me with surprising strength towards the driveway where the three rose bushes with purple blooms grew.
"This was your idea, so you can do it," she declared.
If only the old lady was right about that.
A little while later, I stood in front of the rose bushes with garden shears in hand.
"Be careful of your dress, my dear," Grandma Ruth warned me.
I nodded and looked at the plants, perplexed. Luckily, it was a variety without thorns. I had never seen anything like that before. Carter's parents really seemed to spare no expense to make their lives as comfortable as possible. Even the roses here had no thorns.
Should I cut higher or lower?
At an angle or straight?
After a second, I shrugged, grabbed the tattered bridal bouquet, took measure, and cut off five blooms of about the right length. Then I carefully untied the ribbon around the bouquet and replaced the crushed roses. Fortunately, not all the flowers in the bouquet were damaged.
I took my work in hand and examined it critically.
"That looks pretty good already, child. Much better."
"I think it's still missing something," I remarked, frowning. The bouquet looked a bit boring. How much money had the florist wanted for this?