Not-For-Profit Flower Picking
A little, wonderful family day.
Author's Note: Hi there! Thank you so much for taking a peek at my story, and I hope that you enjoy it! I absolutely love to bring out the complexity/life of a character, and I hope that I've done that here with Won and Claire. There aren't that many stories out there about these two! This one's a little fluffy, but why not? :) If you're interested, my soundtrack while writing was "Little Bit" by Perrin Lamb and "Hero" by Family of the Year, among other songs. Enjoy!
The morning was a glorious, hazy daisy gold, and Claire couldn't wait to run headlong into it. She whistled a little ditty from the kitchen table, where she had set out a few omelets overflowing with green peppers and onions (sans onions for her little Abigail), and glanced expectantly over to the two lumps still nestled in bed. Clucking her tongue, she clunked her boots with each step and made a very serious, heavy sigh before diving with a silly yelp into the sheets. In the midst of her laughter and the lilting girlish giggles of her daughter, Claire tore the covers away, wrapped her arms around her colorfully clad child, and swung her off the bed and onto her own two feet after a warm snuggle.
"Mommy, I woulda gotten up!" mock-pouted Abigail, before stealing a self-conscious grin aside.
"Sure you would have," Claire shook her finger playfully, and then pointed to her husband, curled up more tightly then before and knowing what was coming, "just like Daddy got up today! Well would you look at that, Abigail! You're up before Daddy!" Abigail cheered as she danced her way to the table and took her seat, swinging her legs back and forth as she gazed excitedly out the window.
Claire caught her daughter's eye and made a clandestine motion, and the blue-eyed, black-haired girl winked. With quieted excitement she hopped from her seat and made her way over to the side of the bed with exaggerated tip-toeing. The two made a synchronized dive and army crawl over to the other side of the bed, where they piled onto Won—who could hardly find the energy to be disgruntled for being woken up on a day off in such a whirlwind of delight.
"Daddy, you have to get up, cause Mommy and I are gunna make up a picnic, and then we're gunna go outside! It's sunny! It's sunny!" Abigail continued to shout this mantra until her father narrowly opened his eyes again and put a finger up to his lips. She quieted down in a blink, but then, at her father's smile spreading behind the finger and his wink, she continued to whisper, "It's sunny! It's sunny!"
Claire kissed the crown of her daughter's head and then told her that she could start her omelet before it got too cold—and to remember, there were icky onions in two of them, so be careful! As she crawled away, Claire leaned down and touched foreheads with her husband, "Good morning!"
With a groggy chuckle, Won replied, "It's always a good morning here."
"You're just saying that," Claire murmured, smiling softly before stealing a quick kiss. Certainly those (thankfully past) still-dark mornings scrounging around the fridge for another bottle for a wide-awake and crying Abigail, those rainy and gusty dawns getting ready for work, those accidental early mornings on his days off, did not figure into his statement.
He kissed her back and then laughed, saying, "Well, it might not always be a perfect morning, but… waking up with you and Abigail is golden."
Eyes closed, Claire let out a deep, contented sigh. And then her eyes opened in sly slits and mischievous smile broke across her face, "Time with us is golden, huh? But then it's never Golden Service Time when I come to the shop! Even when Abigail comes with me!" She poked his cheek and then pulled him up from the sheets by the hand.
Won winced, "You won't let me live that down, will you?"
"I don't see how it could sit well with you—it was not a sound business decision!" Claire playfully reprimanded him, "Even I don't lower my prices for our good friend Zach! It's all fair, good business! Ha-ha!"
Won's eyebrows rose before he let out a long laugh.
Abigail's silverware clattered and she hollered, "Mommy, Daddy! Come eat, your food is getting coooold!"
Pigtails bobbing wildly as she raced across the bridge to get to the meadow at the foot of the mountain, Abigail barely controlled the picnic basket she was so happy her mommy had let her carry. Won cringed at every swing it made that clattered the lids, but then Claire would squeeze his hand and he could think of little else. With his other hand he adjusted his sunglasses, dropping them down his nose just a smidge to see the world in its entire vivid luster before protecting his sensitive eyes once again. Too many nights in dimly lit rooms counting coins—now Claire would sit across the table from him crunching the farm's numbers, the fireplace roaring in the corner and perhaps a kettle of relax tea between them… He sighed and indulged in a carefree smile. Claire caught this gesture and it filled her heart with easy happiness. She held his arm with her other hand.
When they heard Abigail's yelp their pace quickened to a run, but soon they were standing, mouths agape, at the foothills of Mother's Hill.
"Look at all these flowers, Won!" Claire gasped, gazing at the breathtaking expanse of toyflowers and moondrops. There were great clusters and springs of blossoms with just enough space in between for walking. Peering across the meadow, she called, "Where's my precious flower? I like all of these, but where's my Abigail blossom?!"
Suddenly the black pigtails popped up among the buds, and she called out, "Mommy, should we eat in the flowers? They smell so pretty!"
Claire reached out her hand and Abigail's small fingers wove in with hers as the farmer explained, "We should sit somewhere where we can enjoy them without stepping on them, I think! Then the flowers will feel better, and we'll be able to look at them all better!"
As Won and Claire smoothed out the picnic blanket and she began to dish out the containers with easy-to-eat food, she noticed the cogs turning in his mind. Abigail had gone to chase a beautiful black and yellow butterfly, and while they sat back and watched her frolic back and forth in her little robin's egg blue overalls, he pondered aloud, "Do you know… I think in Forget-Me-Not Valley those yellow flowers sell for a good 60 G! That's as much as one of your turnips, if you'd believe it! And those white ones… I believe if I recall correctly... 130 G!"
He adjusted his glasses and then filled his plate as he continued, "Why don't we pick all of these flowers? We could make thousands of gold!" The glint of a sale shone in his eye, but then he noticed Claire's expression and said, "Imagine though, it would be wonderful for those Forget-Me-Not Valley villagers—they'll get to enjoy all of the beautiful, hand-picked, naturally grown Mineral Town flowers, and maybe they'll even consider visiting and buying more of your produce, and… oh what a golden opportunity this is! How profitable that you thought of this meadow as our picnic place, rather than the beach, as I was thinking! All of that sand—peh!—compared to this lucrative beauty!"
Claire put her hand on her husband's and caught his eye, and then she said, "Won, this isn't lucrative beauty. It's just beauty! And we couldn't just pick all of these flowers—Mineral Town deserves these flowers, and these flowers deserve a bright life right in this meadow. Just like you aren't a 'lucrative' husband for me to have—you're a blessing, you're a wonderful husband and father, without any consideration of money."
Not quite sold on letting the idea go and, frankly, a little disgruntled that his wife didn't think him "lucrative," Won sat with his chin in his hand, eyeing the field and thinking about how many flowers it would take and how much time it would take to pick them before he would earn a thousand gold off of them…
"Daddy, look what I brought!"
In the middle of his gold-tinted train of thoughts was thrust a bouquet of fragrant flowers! Abigail skipped over to Claire and bid her mother to lean her head down, and she put a toyflower crown on her head. Won grinned dreamily, "Fitting for such a queen of the natural world!"
Abigail returned to him and tugged on his ear, and so he dropped his head too, "Now that wasn't as nice as when you crowned Mommy!"
"Sorry Daddy!" she giggled, pulling off his colorful hat and crowning him with a moondrop circlet. When he looked up, he saw how proud Abigail was to see her parents so bedecked, and he saw Claire's look. An uncomfortable sense of shame started to creep in as he thought of all of his business plans for these simple flowers, which allowed his daughter this creativity. The urge was still there to take those flowers on the picnic blanket for the vase at home and slip them into his briefcase, but he was beginning to see what Claire had meant… And even though Claire made so much money, she wasn't a "lucrative" wife-she was his beloved wife! It was still difficult for him to separate the concepts of providing amply for his family and loving them... On an impulse he selected a tiny, beautiful toyflower and beckoned Abigail to come closer. He tucked it carefully behind her ear, and she beamed. "Oh thank you, Daddy! I just couldn't get any to stay when I was picking flowers!"
She kneeled down in between her father and mother, and as she hugged Won Claire could barely contain her delight. Abigail turned and snuggled up to her mother, and Won leaned over to Claire and brushed her cheek. Before Abigail could settle back in and start eating from her plate, Won and Claire embraced her, attacking her from both sides, and she squirmed happily between them.
Before they left, stomachs full and minds well rested from an afternoon of making pictures out of clouds, taking in the fresh spring air, and flower picking, Abigail had crafted crowns for her parents, herself, May and Stu, the Doctor and Elli's new baby, the horse, and the family dog.
As Claire surveyed the fields that night, just beginning to turn a light shade of promising green, she felt Won's fingers intertwine with hers. He stepped beside her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"You know..." Won said, "I was thinking about how brilliant our Abigail is... a crown of those flowers would sell for so much more than even the net worth of the blossoms because of the artistry, and..."
He looked down at his wife and his voice petered out when he saw her frustrated frown. "Just kidding!" He laughed, before muttering, "Kind of..."
Claire rolled her eyes with a grin and then laughed, shaking her head, "Next she'll be showing you how to market the bread right back to Jeff at the Supermarket!"
"I've thought about it..." Won replied, evoking a stare from Claire. He couldn't keep up the joke and burst out laughing. She joined him, honestly a little relieved! When they were quiet again, the warmth still in their cheeks, they soaked in the final rays of sun and the still evening.
"We have quite a golden life, don't we?" she smiled, using his word.
"With or without thousands more in the bank…" Won murmured with a smile, leaning down and kissing Claire's forehead, "I can most assuredly say we do."