It started the Valentine's Day before she turned 16 that spring.
Sarah had come home from a typical day in high school to find a package had been delivered for her.
"Sarah look!" Her stepmother pointed to the red brocade box sitting on the table. "You got a Valentine!"
"From who?" Sarah asked. She picked up the box and examined it.
Karen watched over her shoulder, smiling. "I really don't know. Beautiful box though! Open and see!"
Curious, the teenager carefully untied the lace ribbon and opened the lid.
"Ohhh..Sarah.." Karen breathed. It was a perfect crystal rose, deep red and exquisitely cut. Obviously expensive. It was long stemmed and made to sit up in a crystal vase that was also included.
Sarah was almost afraid to touch it, but gingerly lifted it out of the box and held it. "Wow...did Dad send me this?" She turned to ask her stepmother.
"I doubt it Sarah. He got you a box of candy but don't tell him I told you it was supposed to be a surprise after dinner. That is from someone else. There is a card at the bottom." She pointed out.
Sarah took it out and opened the envelope. She noted that the paper was thick and well made, not just cheap stationary, but like the paper she had seen in expensive gift shops, sold by the sheet.
When she unfolded the note inside, she was even more surprised.
Beloved Sarah,
Look for me when the 13th rose appears.
With sincere affection on Valentine's Day.
Love,
J.
Sarah couldn't believe it. She read the fancy, loopy script over and over, trying to figure out who on earth "J" could possibly be.
Karen took the card from her and read it then handed it back. "Who is that?"
Sarah tucked the rose and card back into the box and held it to her chest. "I'm not sure, Karen. Must be someone from school."
"I'm impressed. Some certainly likes you. Oh Sarah..a secret admirer! How sweet!" Karen grinned at her stepdaughter.
Sarah nodded, at a loss for words. "I'm going to take this upstairs."
She turned at dashed up the stairs, going into her room and closing the door.
She sat at her vanity and took the vase out, then placed the rose within.
It sparkled and shimmered in the sunlight as she ran her fingers over it. She read the note again.
"Who are you?" She asked out loud. "And what does this note mean?"
No answer came as she sat there, trying to figure out where such a gift had come from.
"Sarah your father's home!" She heard from downstairs.
Looking at the clock she realized she had been sitting there for almost 2 hours, thinking at staring at the rose.
She sighed and stood. "Alright!" She called back. "Coming!"
Karen had made a nice dinner and Sarah's father gave his wife and daughter each a heart shaped box of candy, and Toby got a stuffed bear and a lollipop.
He was concerned as Karen told him about the fancy gift Sarah had received, but his daughter assured him she would be careful and let him know when she found out who it was.
Robert was worried that his daughter was too young for such things.
Later that night as Sarah crawled into bed, she was still trying to figure out the mysterious gift. "I suppose whoever it is will come forward."
She watched as the rose, in direct line with her window, seemed to sparkle even more in the light of the full moon.
"Whoever you are...Happy Valentines Day." She whispered, her eyes closing as she drifted off to sleep.
As she slept a snowy owl came to rest outside her window. He kept watch through the night, and as the sun began to rise, flew away and disappeared into the sky.
_
Year after year, no matter where she was, Sarah received a crystal rose on Valentine's Day.
She graduated High School and went off to college, and still they found her. They never broke, nor the color ever faded.
Every year as she opened the box inevitably waiting for her, she would hope the sender would leave some clue, but the notes were all the same. The roses, however, where all different shades of red and pink, from the lightest blush to a red so deep it appeared black until the light hit it. She would place each one with the others in the vase, and smile.
The 12th rose found her when she was 26 and in London, visiting her mother on holiday. Linda had moved there a few years before when she had gotten a part in a play there, and fell in love with the city, so she stayed.
Sarah didn't mind traveling there at all. She had brought her roses with her, because they had become her most precious belongings.
"Oh my Sarah, those are gorgeous!" Linda exclaimed as she took them out to add the rose she had just received to the collection.
"Thank you," Sarah answered. "I have become very attached to them over the years." She admired the glass flower in her hand, another red, but shot through with streaks of baby pink.
"And you still don't know who sends them? How romantic!" Linda practically swooned. "Whoever it is must adore you."
Sarah smiled at her overdramatic mother. "Well, Maybe next year I'll find out. It will be the 13th rose." She showed her mother the note.
"Oh I bet it's someone you went to school with. How lovely. High school sweethearts?"
Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Who ever it is, if he was there, never showed himself. I went out with exactly 2 guys in high school and I doubt either one of them had the resources to afford these or find me wherever I am. "
"You better keep me posted, sweetie." Sarah's mother told her. "This guy really has it bad for you."
Sarah said nothing, but placed her vase with it's roses on the dresser then left the room to go out for dinner with her mother and her boyfriend.
She gave the dozen roses one last look, and closed the door.
_
Sarah, now 27, woke up on the morning of the 13th Valentine's Day wondering what the day would bring.
As soon as she rose and was drinking coffee, the intercom and buzzer that was attached to the doorman downstairs in the building where she rented her small apartment came to life.
"Miss Williams, there is a package for you!"
She threw on her robe and dashed downstairs, where the day manager waited holding a box. "Here you are. What is it?" The older woman asked curiously.
"I'm not sure." Sarah relied, taking it and speeding back upstairs to open it in private.
She got to her apartment and went inside, taking it to her coffee table where her other roses sat, and sat on the sofa. She removed the lid and gasped.
This rose was clear, but unlike the others, it's pedals were fully opened. She held it up and saw that it was not quite clear, but iridescent. She placed it in the middle of the others and it reflected all the colors of all the other flowers.
She took the note out of the box and opened it.
A budding beauty fully realized, like you.
Tonight my love, as promised.
Be ready at 7pm.
Love,
J.
Sarah spent the day pampering herself. She got her hair done and had a manicure and pedicure. She took a long bath, and took her time applying makeup, perfume, and dressing in a long sheath of red silk she had been saving for months. She wanted to look perfect. The strappy sandals she had bought were a perfect match to the color of the dress.
She looked at herself in the mirror, happy with the results. The dress was backless, with lacings going across and tying at the small of her back, and was slit up the side to mid thigh.
Whoever had been wooing her all these years, she figured, deserved to have the woman he had such a fondness for look her best.
At 5 minutes to seven Sarah sat nervously on the chair in her living room staring at the door.
The intercom buzzed and she jumped. She calmed herself and pressed the button to speak to the night doorman. "Yes?"
"You have a visitor, Miss Williams, a man. Are you expecting someone?" Came the voice of Mr. Parsons, who sounded a bit suspicious. Truthfully Sarah had very few visitors besides family. She was a bit of an introvert and dated infrequently.
"I am, thank you please send him up."
"Will do Sarah. Go on up." She could tell he had turned to address the man.
Sarah listened see if she could her a voice but didn't hear a thing, so she moved away from the intercom and she stood by the door waiting. A moment later she could hear light footsteps approaching her door.
There was a pause, and a knock.
She looked through the peephole but saw only a large bouquet of flowers the man was holding, and what looked to be a head of blonde hair.
"Here you go." She said to herself.
She reached out with a shaking hand and took a deep breath pulled open the door.
The man that stood there, smiling, was the last man she ever expected to see. A man she had thought was conjured up from the depths of her teenage imagination, but she recognized him immediately. No one else could look like that.
"Goblin King?!" She said, shocked, taking a step back.
His blue eyes twinkling merrily, his smile widened. "Hello Sarah. I believe you were expecting me? You look magnificent, love."
Sarah felt lightheaded all of the sudden.
The Goblin King's expression changed from happy to concerned. "Sarah dear, are you alright?"
That was the last thing she heard as the world spun and went dark.
This is fluff. Pure unadulterated fluff, and some of the "good stuff" later. It will just be a few chapters long. Just for fun to celebrate Valentines Day. No big plots, no bad guys, no twisty turny story. Just love, maybe a little silliness, a bit of citrus and spice, and probably some S&J snarkiness for fun. Enjoy!