Meet Me by the Rose Bush

Chapter 1 : January 20, 1811

"Why don't you just marry my cousin?"

I tried to ignore my friend's comment as she sat beside me ripping apart her chocolate croissant. This is the first time since the new year that we had gotten together to have lunch. Sighing, I set my tea cup down on the table and looked at her.

"Why would I want to do that? Besides you know how I feel about marriage"

I love Ida, her friendship means the world to me, but her cousin was obscurely creepy. Ida looked at me and chuckled.

"I know. I just wish someone would get him off my father's back. He's been begging him to set him up with someone. He just can't find love by himself I guess." She said while stirring her tea.

My stance on marriage is quite uncommon. I do not want to marry a man for financial benefit or just purely for benefit at all. I want to marry a man because I love him, and that is it. My mother does not quite understand because she wants me to start a family already.

"Oh, is that prince Louis?" Ida had said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I had looked up from my tea to indeed see the prince walking through the door of the cafe. He was decently attractive, wearing a plain white button up and black dress pants. The prince's eyes have met mine and it made me feel as light as a feather. He smiled and tripped over his own feet a bit as he kept eye contact. I broke eye contact to look at Ida and held in a chuckle.

"Okay Jo, I see you eyeing up the prince. he's single you know." She said with a hint of sarcasm.

I could feel my cheeks turning the brightest shade of red. Looking back down at my tea, I giggled a bit.

I asked Ida, "What is he even doing here anyways? Doesn't he have princely duties to attend or something?"
"He comes here once a week to have lunch with his fencing team." She replied.

I had turned my head to look at the table across the room that the prince was sitting at only to find he was looking at me once again. Flustered, I immediately turned my head back once again. Why was this happening? He's just a boy.

"So same time next week?" Ida asked while finishing her tea. I smiled at her and nodded my head. "Of course, who else am I going to talk about the latest drama with?" Was my response as i packed up my biscuit to give my father later.

~

"Hello mother!" I said while walking through the threshold of my parents home. Our family cat, muffins, walked straight up to me and starting purring as I gave him a little pat on the head.

"Yes hello dear, I wanted to tell you my friend's son has gotten back from traveling and he's quite an eligible bachelor." I heard my mom say while she was scrubbing some dishes. My moms comment had of course annoyed me which caused me to roll my eyes.

"Mother," i said with a stern voice, "we are not talking about this subject. You already know how I feel." Without saying another word, I headed through the house to my room and shut the door.

Right before I closed it shut I could hear my mothers voice from the kitchen. "I just do not understand why you do not just marry! Someone needs to take care of your father and I! I want grandchildren before I wither away!" I ignored her best i could, she was frustrating.

Searching through my pile of books, I was trying to decide which to read next. I had read everything in this pile at least two times. I opted for one of my favorite classics, Romeo and Juliet. As I sat down to read it, my mind just refused to focus. I kept drifting back to seeing the prince in the cafe earlier that day. Lord, he had such a charming smile. No, I told my self, he is a prince and can not marry someone like you. He is promised to another line of royalty.

After about an hour of trying to read the novel, I sat the book down on my desk and headed outside to see my father. He was injured a few years ago at work and has not been able to go back since. So during the day he occupies our garden to busy himself.

I sighed in relief as I stepped outside into the backyard and felt the grown out grass on my bare feet.

"Papa!! I'm coming!" I smiled as I saw my father tending to the tomatoes of our garden. He got up from his place on the ground to hug me as I approached him. "Hello dear! How was your lunch with Ida?" He asked while handing me basket full of fresh tomatoes.

"It was good, although she tried setting me up with her cousin again! Oh, and we saw the prince as well!" I responded while looking through the picked tomatoes and making sure they were not rotten. I could hear my dad laugh, "I have heard that prince is the new heart throb of London this year!"

My fathers comment made me blush a bit, "he is alright I think, I mean we did not speak but he was quite handsome." My father scoffed while standing up and brushing the dirt off his trousers. "Alright. Let's get these back to the house, I have to take them to the market tomorrow."

" oh, I can take them on my way to the bakery tomorrow! It's near by." I said to him as I picked up a basket. He looked at me and smiled, "that's alright dear, I'll do it."

~

The sun had left the sky and it was now dark. Night time had always been my favorite, it's quiet and the whole town is asleep.

As I was brushing through my hair, I heard a soft knock at my bedroom door. "Jo, it's supposed to rain later tonight. Could you go get the laundry I pinned up earlier today?" My mother had asked me. I put down my brush and replied, "yes of course, if I do not do it father will insist he should do it and he does not need to go outside this time of night." My mother chuckled at my response.

I had grabbed the laundry basket just outside the kitchen before heading outside. I set it down next to me when I reached the clothing line. As I started unpinning the clothing and placing them in the basket, I heard some noise. I brushed it off at first as I thought it was just a bunny passing through. That was until I sneezed and heard a faint "bless you!"

I turned my head towards the noise and it was near the roses in the garden. Carefully I slowly walked towards the bushes until I saw a person.

I gasped, "your highness?" Realizing the prince I had seen earlier that day was admiring my fathers roses. "Oh, you?" He had said in relief when he noticed who I was.