Remembering

Some things may be better forgotten but some things should always be remembered.

Marianne giggles as Bog wraps his arms around her middle and starts kissing her neck, his damp short black hair tickling her as much as his mouth. She quickly turns the fire underneath the water down low and reaches her hands back to caress through the freshly washed mane.

"You are so lucky that stuff gets that horrendous smell out," she mutters.

"So you keep reminding me," Bog chuckles. "Not that I don't remember how traumatizing my first memory of the skunk smell was when Amber disturbed a nesting mother. This is the first time I've ever been sprayed by one, though. Hopefully, Dragonfly only needs one spray to get through her thick canine skull not to follow skunk trails."

The lovers turn their attention to the sulking puppy laying down near the dog door, where she had retreated to after her bath. Dragonfly lifts her head slightly at the attention before laying it down again with a sigh.

Marianne sighs herself before disentangling from her husband and adding oatmeal to the now boiling water. They may only have had Dragonfly for a week but she's grown really fond of the goofy puppy and even two days after the incident, the Poodle has yet to fully recover, despite getting treated by Sombreville's vet almost immediately.

"Is she going to be alright," Marianne questions worriedly?

"She'll be back to normal in a few days," Bog assures. "I'll take her to the vet clinic tomorrow for Dr Basil to make sure she's cleared and this will help with any nausea she's feeling."

Dragonfly saunters over as Bog pulls out the jar containing her ginger tea and happily laps up the medicinal treat. The puppy still turns up her nose as Bog put her half-filled food dish down. Dry kibble is less than appealing but she tentatively eats the half-filled dish of wet dog food Bog places down beside it.

Marianne definitely understood the poor dog losing her appetite over the nauseating smell that surrounded her and Bog for a few hours. Just a few minutes of smelling that from a distance had resulted into her own dash as her morning sickness reared its cruel head after nearly two weeks of peace. Bog himself had lost his own appetite Saturday night and all day yesterday, only able to keep a light meal down.

Hence, Griselda's recipe for homemade gruel that even ailing stubborn Rois will eat. The elder woman had immediately handed over the family recipe that her own mother-in-law had handed down to her. It's just as appreciated as Dr Basil's recipe for easily digestible homemade food for sick dogs.

It's a good thing that Bog has experience in taking care of animals.

"She's just lucky that she didn't get sprayed directly in the face fully," Bog continues, petting the puppy's head. "When I was nine, Amber went temporarily blind in one eye because of a skunk's spray and we had to wait until her sight came back on its own."

"Bog, that memory doesn't help my anxiety," Marianne mutters.

"Sorry," he chuckles sheepishly.

"So, what did you think of our Memorial Day tradition," Bog asks?

"I was so worried that I would do something that could be seen as disrespectful but it was so wonderful," Marianne replies. "I just wish that Dad didn't delay the moving until after the holiday. I'm sure that he would have liked Sombreville's version, even though he dislikes military holidays."

"Your dad doesn't like military holidays? But I thought Donald was a veteran himself," he mentions, pulling the reins to turn the horses onto the road to their house.

"Dad is but...," she starts before sighing, running a hand through her short brown hair. "Grandpa was a Vietnam veteran and while Sombreville may treat their soldiers as heroes, a lot of other places don't. Dad had grown up watching all the pain his father went through before he...died and it disgusted him that when he went into the military himself, he was treated with more respect than his father who went through so much more and with so much less support. Dad calls the military holidays a politician's poor apology for the disillusionment, horror, and lack of care that a soldier goes through after all their honor and glory talk."

"That's a pretty good assessment," Bog remarks. "It's why Sombreville doesn't treat them like other holidays because they aren't like other holidays. Other holidays are for celebrating but the military holidays are for remembering those that are usually forgotten in our daily living, so we try to make sure that it's represented with honor."

Marianne has to agree that Sombreville's Memorial Day celebrations certainly had done that. Instead of the usual flamboyancy that accompanies the town's parades, there were no fireworks waiting to be lit or decorated floats with people waiting to perform in dazzling uniforms. The only ones waiting were veterans and active military adorned in their dress uniforms and medals, riding with their significant others on horses or in carriages driven by family members. No festive decorations covered the open carriages or the horses' shiny black tack either, just wreaths of red silk poppies around each of the horses' necks.

Sure, Bog had told her in advance what to expect but seeing it was something entirely different, especially since Bog had made sure that she was apart of it. He had given up his usual place of driving the fringed canopy surrey that Loch and Griselda occupied and let her drive Goblin in the parade. The grey stallion had behaved spectacularly for her, despite his unhappiness that Bog had lent Fairy to pull Stuff's great grandfather's carriage since her Fell pony had thrown a shoe this morning.

It was a strange feeling to feel so proud but at the same time so humble as she drove through the streets of Sombreville with the others once the parade had started. At first, it was only the resident military that was in the parade but once they got to the city park, the other residents joined the parade on foot and walked behind the procession. She would have blamed the prickling tears on the pregnancy hormones but Griselda was also sniffling as they journeyed to Sombreville's cemetery to pay homage.

Of all the holiday celebrations that she had experienced, that was definitely the most special. A true Memorial Day celebration as the horses' silk poppy wreaths were removed by civilian residents to be given to the military residents to be placed on the graves of those that died because of war. It was formal but also relaxed as the residents talked to their fallen friends and family.

The other thing that Sombreville's Memorial Day celebrations differ from other Memorial Day celebrations is the lack of turning the day into a glorified picnic. Something her stomach reminds her as Goblin and Fairy pulls up to the barn. Toasted cheese sandwiches sounded good right about now.

"That was Dad," Marianne mentions as she ends the call and walks back into the living room. "Jared Larson had overheard me talking to Mom at Sunny and Dawn's wedding reception about Sombreville giving gifts to the local military bases during Armed Forces Day and..."

"You were talking about that," Bog interrupts?

"Yeah, Mom had wanted to know about the holidays coming up that Sombreville celebrated as a community and I told her that we would be missing that one since we wouldn't be back home until Saturday afternoon," she answers. "Anyway, Sunny's dad is the type that can't believe anything until he sees proof of it, so he checked into it. Dad said that he was impressed by finding out that the town also kind of adopts soldiers that had no support, as well as sending care packages out each month for the deployed, and wants to know if Sombreville accepts donations for their military gifting."

"Mr Larson could have just called city hall," he chuckles, pulling her down to the couch to sit on his lap.

"He seems to be under the impression that Sombreville might not be very hospitable to outside donators," Marianne comments. "Apparently, he had first asked a business associate that he knows vacations here and he had told him that Sombreville residents don't take kindly to wealthy outsiders."

"Who would...Greyson," Bog groans. "Can't he ever let it go! I'm thirty-one, for heaven's sake!"

"Is it terrible that I think the whole thing is hilarious," she giggles?

Any attempt to glare at her for her laughter is ruined as his own chuckle breaks forth. It really is such a stupid thing to be vindictive about considering the circumstances. Neither his mother or Greyson had even wanted the arranged marriage. He preferred extravagant partying and she liked the simpler things. It was their parents' bright idea for them to spend a romantic time at a secluded cabin in Foret Lodge before their wedding.

Every time his parents told him the story, they insisted that their interactions were completely platonic as Loch showed Griselda the sites of Foret Lodge and Sombreville. It's wasn't their fault that Greyson couldn't accompany them since he slept most of the day because he partied too long into the night. Then when Griselda refused to go home with him, saying that she wasn't going through with the wedding and that she wanted to stay in Sombreville, Greyson hadn't even cared. A fact made perfectly clear when he drove off with one of the girls he partied with every night.

However, their parents did care and they loudly objected because the arranged marriage was to solidify a business deal between the families. Griselda had used her stubborn tenacity and refused to budge on her decision to live a simple life, even if it meant the cost of her inheritance. It wasn't until the elder Greysons started threatening their own son's inheritance did the playboy even come back into the picture to try and persuade Griselda to renew the engagement.

Griselda being Griselda came up with the perfect solution to fervently declare that she wasn't available and didn't care about her family's objections. She proposed to Loch several days before he was deployed, who agreed to get married right then and there despite his worries about the possibility of leaving her an army widow. The real trouble came when she realized that she was pregnant sooner than what should have been possible for how long they were married and Greyson spread rumors that the child was his in the hope that Loch would divorce her and she'd agree to marry him.

His plan backfired when not only the Roi family stood behind Griselda's declaration that it was Loch's child but her own family supported her as well and stopped doing business with the Greysons. By that time, though, Greyson's ego was thoroughly bruised because of Griselda choosing a "poor, ugly, mongrel" over him when he was willing to take her back. Which started his campaign to do everything in his ability to irritate Loch and Griselda.

"Okay, it is funny," Bog concedes once his laughter stops. "Just don't say that to Mom and Dad when Greyson is around."

"At least the guy has enough respect to not cause any problems during the holiday," Marianne comments.

"That's because he's scared of angering Mom too much," he explains. "Mom may have been raised a lady but after that whole mess where he claimed to be my dad, Mom had only stayed calm until after I was born and then she sent him to the emergency room."

Tea Blend.