When Emily wakes up, the first thing she sees is a red that completely obscures anything else from her vision. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she blinks for several moments before looking back down at the other side of the bed.
That's when she sets eyes on what she had seen when she first woke up.
A single red rose.
With a smile, she reaches down and picks it up, her mind at last remembering today's date.
April 23rd.
Not a birthday. Not their wedding anniversary. In fact, she doesn't know what it is.
Hank had always been a hopeless romantic in his own way, and for whatever reason, every year on this exact date, he treats it almost like their wedding anniversary.
She's never been quite sure as to why this is and, to be honest, she's always wondered. She'd never quite gotten the nerve to ask because she worries that she has forgotten something important and it might hurt his feelings that she had.
Standing, she stretches and walks over to her dresser. No sooner than she pulls the top drawer open, she spots another red rose. She lifts the rose out, taking the time to carefully place it beside the other before getting her clothes and dressing for the day.
After she is dressed, she leaves their bedroom with the two roses and walks into the kitchen to locate a vase.
Once she reaches the cabinet she opens it, finding not only the vase but another rose placed carefully inside the vase.
Over the course of the morning she finds a total of twenty-two roses, yet she's not any more aware of the cause than she was at the start of the morning.
It isn't until around two o'clock when there is any chance of having the mystery solved.
At two-fifteen, her husband walks through the door with several bags that he carries straight into the kitchen.
She tries not to immediately bombard him with questions, but only a few moments pass before she finds herself walking toward the kitchen and sitting down at the table.
"So…" she begins, feeling again as though she's that girl in high school who always had to ask her older boyfriend about how he spent his day while she was trapped in a classroom. "Where have you been today?"
"Oh, here. There. Mostly there," he replies as he starts putting groceries away in the refrigerator.
Despite his best efforts, however, she doesn't miss that mischievous, 'I know something you don't' grin.
"Where's 'there'?" she asks, finding herself smiling.
"Well, let's see," Hank begins as he closes the refrigerator door and leans against the table, looking at her and crossing his arms in thought.
"I drove your car to the gas station, filled up the tank, and brought it back. Then I took my pickup truck to the water, gas, electric and phone companies to pay the bills. After that I went to the grocery door and did all the shopping."
She blinks, more than a little surprised. Hank had always been good about taking care of business if she asked, but usually she would run the errands while he was at work so that he could relax on his days off. She hadn't been able to this week because the girls needed help with getting costumes ready for a school play, but she had been planning to take care of it tomorrow while Hank would be at work.
"You've been awfully busy today then."
"That I have," he smiles.
"Why?"
"Just wanted to take care of some things. What about you? How has your day been?"
"Boring. Not much going on with you gone all day," she says, looking out the window to hide a smirk.
"Oh?" he questions, a slightly nervous tension entering his voice. "Nothing out of the ordinary?"
"Well… Now that you mention it…" she turns to him again, deciding to let him off the hook, "I have been finding some lovely red roses all around the house."
He smiles brightly, relief clearly visible in his features.
"Have you now?"
She stands from the chair, walks over to him and kisses him.
"I have. Twenty-two of them."
"You found them all then. Good! I was hoping that you would."
Seeing how happy he is, she hesitates—as she does every year—but this time, Emily knows she has to ask.
"Hank… I've been meaning to ask you this for a while but I haven't because I didn't want to hurt your feelings…" she begins, carefully watching him. "What is so special about today? It's not our anniversary or a birthday or anything else…"
Rather than looking upset or disheartened as she had feared, he smiles softly.
"I've always wondered if you knew why April 23rd is important, but it's the anniversary of one of the best days of my life," he explains, taking her hand. "Twenty-two years ago, April 23rd, is the day I met you, Emily."
"Hank… I… That's so…" feeling herself tear up, she struggles with words until she simply kisses him. "You are the most hopeless romantic."
He smiles as he holds her close.
"Maybe so. Em, maybe so."
"I know so, but I also know that you're my hopeless romantic."
He chuckles and presses a kiss to her forehead.
"At least someone will claim me."
Rolling her eyes and smiling, she pulls away from him.
"And now that we've got that established, get out some plates so that I can make us some lunch."
"Yes, ma'am!"
With a wide grin, he salutes and then starts getting out the plates.
Emily just shakes her head as she prepares lunch.
Yes, he's her hopeless romantic and she couldn't ask for any better than that.
Fin.