Author's note: Well, well, I just posted Chapter Five last night and I'm already working on this! I can't believe I'm actually being prompt for once. I just read you review, Lady Baggins of the Shire; it's sooo funny! I love your reviews, they're so encouraging! :) I hope I'll have a few more reviews by the time I finish this chapter. It will be pleasant to write, not nearly as glum as the last one was until the very end. Please R and R! Thank you!
Disclaimer: Same as all the other chapters!
Chapter Six: No Longer
Dora's mother, Ruby Baggins, walked down the road to the Bywater farmhouse with her daughter in tow. Ruby was the town gossip, and Iris Bywater was her closest confidant, so she usually got all the news first. And indeed, Iris and her daughters were the first to be told that Amaryllis had eloped.
"Mercy me! What is this next generation of hobbits coming to?" Iris exclaimed when Ruby had babbled out the news.
Opal sniffed disdainfully; she hated weddings, anyway. Glory had, by far, the most dramatic reaction. She'd been working on a quilt, and she gasped and stopped sewing so abruptly that she dropped her needle. "She ran off? Just like that?"
"Yes, just like that! Not the least bit of warning. Took a suitcase and some money, and that's all! Left her wedding dress folded up on her chest of drawers, she did! Just like that, I tell you!" Ruby declared, slapping her knee to add emphasis.
Glory stood up and dropped the quilt. "Does Bilbo know?"
"Of course! They told him first off."
"What did he do?"
"He stared at them for a moment, turned white as a sheet, then ran into his room and locked the door! Hasn't come out since. Can you believe that?"
"Oh! Oh, no!" Glory shrieked. She jumped over the heaped up quilt, sending her needle flying and her mother scrambling to the floor to find it, ran out of the room, and was dashing down the road before anyone had time to move.
"Land's sake! What's the matter with her?" Ruby Baggins gasped.
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm sure. I'll go after her!" Dora replied quickly, exiting just as quickly as Glory had.
"I wonder what's gotten into them?" Opal said, too surprised to insert the usual jab of sarcasm into her tone.
"Oh, just the mad twenties, I suppose," Iris answered as she found the needle and jabbed it into her pincushion. But the expression on her face told of something more, though the Ruby and Opal were still too confused to notice. Mothers often know things other people would never guess.
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When Glory reached Bag End, there was quite a cluster of hobbits forming around the front door. She ran up into the midst of them and put her hands on her hips. "Why are all of you here?" she demanded with unusual determination in her voice.
"Haven't you heard? Bilbo's shut up in there! That Amaryllis ran off last night." The speaker, a Bolger, didn't even look at her as he replied. He was busy, as the others were, peering in the windows and arguing over whether they should go inside.
"Of course I've heard! But why are you all gawking about?"
"We want to know what's happening!" a young Bracegirdle squealed, standing on his tiptoes to see over the shoulders of the crowd in front of him.
"What business is it of yours? Go away, shoo, no one needs you about, making trouble. Go, go, right now!" Glory shouted, waving her hands at them as she would a flock of chickens, with a most uncharacteristic frown on her face.
The hobbits, too frightened by this sudden transformation to realize that it really wasn't her business either, fled accordingly, and Glory boldly walked through the door.
A small crowd of Bilbo's male relatives was standing around the bedroom door, saying all sorts of things they believed to be coaxing or comforting into the keyhole.
"Come, now, old fellow, it's better to be a bachelor anyway!" one well-intentioned and portly gentleman offered. "Much less fuss, with babies and gowns and bonnets and all. It's much better keeping to yourself. Eating whatever you want, and all that."
"Yes, yes, indeed. And anyway, it's not as though she was the only lass in the world! Why, my cousin, Berylla, is just lovely, and quite nice, if you get on her good side. I could put in a word in for you, if you'd like!"
"I've got some very good wine, all the way back from 1230! We could have some, perhaps, if you'd just come out!"
Glory watched this scene appraisingly for a moment, then stepped forward decisively. "Excuse me, gentleman," she said politely, and they stopped talking for a moment and stared at this resolute intruder.
She walked between them until she was standing right by the door, leaned over to the keyhole, and loudly commanded, "Bilbo Baggins, you open this door right now!"
A moment of silence, then a voice came from behind the door. "Glory?"
"Yes, of course, Glory, who did you expect, a dragon? Let me in right now!"
To the astonishment of the spectators, the door swung open. Bilbo's face popped out from behind it, looking a little tear-stained, but extremely surprised. "I've never heard you shout before, Glory."
"Yes, well," she said breathlessly. She'd just realized that she hadn't any idea what she'd really come down to Bag-end to do. She just hadn't been able to bear the thought of Bilbo all alone, in so much pain. She wanted to make him feel better. She didn't want him to be hurt. But how could she really help? All her determination began to dissolve, right in front of the curious eyes of Bilbo and his less than helpful kin. A few moments of silence passed, then she looked up, and one of her hands stretched out unconsciously. "I'm so sorry, Bilbo," she said softly. "I don't want you to be unhappy. Please." Then she turned around and walked quickly out of Bag-end, tears beginning to pool in her eyes.
To her relief, there was no one outside, so she let herself burst into comforting sobs as she walked down the lane. "Oh, why did I just do that?" she moaned.
"Glory! Glory! Wait!" She turned and looked over her shoulder, and saw Bilbo running after her. She really didn't want to wait and hear what he thought about her ridiculous behavior, but she felt much to drained to put up any sort of resistance, so she stopped and turned, but not before rubbing the tears off her face and trying to look calm.
Bilbo's face was full of concern as he caught up to her. "Glory, what's the matter? You looked so strange , and you ran off so quickly. Are you all right, dear?"
The affectionate word, though spoken in a fatherly sort of tone, sent a little thrill over her and granted her a bit of courage. "I'm all right. I was just worried about you when I heard, because I knew you'd be sad, and I didn't want you to be…" she trailed off miserably. "I know it's not my business, I just-"
To her surprise, Bilbo chuckled softly and gazed at her affectionately. "You're extremely sweet, Morning Glory." He put his hands in his pockets and lifted his chin. "You needn't worry about me. Why, I feel right as rain already!" He took a swaggering step. "I'm perfectly fine."
"You needn't lie about it," Glory said flatly, then quickly clapped her hand over her mouth. "Goodness, I'm sorry, Bilbo. I didn't mean-"
He just laughed again. "You're right, you clever thing, I am lying. Right now I feel absolutely horrible. But I'm bound to get better, so don't trouble yourself over me." He reached out and took her right hand. "You still wear this?" he asked wonderingly, staring at the flower ring he'd given her all those years ago.
Glory nodded vigorously. "All the time."
Bilbo smiled and released her hand. "I'd forgotten all about it." He glanced back over his shoulder at Bag End. "Well, I must go back and face the lion's den of relatives now. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye," Glory said, still inwardly delighting in the warmth his hand had left on her fingers.
He took a few steps, then turned. "You really did make me feel better somehow," he said gently, then walked up the path and through the little green door in the hill.
Glory walked the rest of the way to the bridge cradling her right hand in her left and trying to pretend he was still holding it. He'd only been looking at the ring, of course, but still…
When he reached the bridge, she was greeted by Dora, who wasn't nearly as calm and sensible as usual. "What happened? Are you all right? I was going after you, but when I got near Bag End, a big crowd came rushing toward me, and they said you'd scolded them and gone inside! What did you do? You didn't tell him, did you?"
Glory grinned mysteriously. "Well, not in so many words…"
"WHAT?" Dora shrieked, looking frazzled enough to tear her hair out. Glory began to giggle, and Dora's jaw dropped. "You tricked me! Oh, Glory, that's so mean. Tell me what really happened."
"Something quite good, actually. Here, let's go home."
When they arrived at the Bywater farmhouse, the tale had been told. Ruby and Opal pounced on them with questions, but they managed to escape to Glory's bedroom under pretense of getting more scraps of cloth for the quilt; they really used the time to squeal over the highlights of the day. "He called you dear!" "He said I was sweet!"
They were interrupted by Iris, who knocked courteously on the door before she walked in. "Glory, there's something I have to ask you," she said calmly.
"All right, what is it, Mother?" Glory asked, careful to sound innocent.
"Are you in love with Bilbo Baggins?"
Glory had a horrible sensation that the floor had dropped out from under her. She sat down, in the general direction of the bed, but slipped off the edge and ended up landing on the on the little rug by her night table. "How did you know?" she croaked.
"Oh, by how you rushed out today. And other things. I've seen the way you look sometimes, dear. I know you care very much about him."
"Mother! But- does anyone else know? Ruby or Opal, I mean? They were there when I ran out, too! Have I been making a fool of myself this whole time?" She pulled her knees up to her chest and pressed her face onto them.
"Oh, mercy, no, dear! I only know because I'm your mother. I know you too well to not notice. No one else would ever guess. I wasn't even sure until today, and I know Ruby and Opal won't have any idea- no offense to your lovely mother, of course, Dora."
"Oh, of course not, Mrs. Bywater," Dora said respectfully; she'd been watching the whole scene with silent astonishment, and jumped when Iris spoke her name.
"Please don't tell anyone, Mother," Glory said, climbing unsteadily to her feet. "I've spent years and years trying to keep it a secret."
"Of course I won't tell anyone, Glory. Now, I must go start dinner." But instead of turning away, she leaned down and whispered in her daughter's ear. "I know you would make him very happy." Then she swept out as serenely as she'd come in.
"That was odd," Dora commented, sitting down on the bed. Glory sat beside her, and didn't fall this time.
"Yes, very odd," she agreed, but she felt somehow that her burden had become a bit lighter.
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Glory didn't see Bilbo for the next few weeks; he kept for himself for a while. But after a month or so, he began behaving quite normally, going calling and strolling about town, and he even came to supper at the Bywater farmhouse one night. Glory was delighted, of course, and she was almost sure that he paid more attention to her than he used to, though in the same non-romantic sort of way. This impression was confirmed by her mother (who kept the secret well), and Glory enjoyed Bilbo's company even more than she had before. In a way, this situation was a little worse, being around him all the time, feeling so close and yet so far from him. But mostly, she was happy. It wasn't a proposal, but friendship was something, after all.
A/N: I'm being so fast with this story! However, I'm going on vacation for a week, so don't expect any updates for a little while. And I will update my other story (As Time Goes By, also an LOTR story, very much in need of reviews!) before I write more of this one. So please R and R (and thank you, Lady Baggins of the Shire and NobleWynne for already reviewing Chap. 5! Y'all are the best!). :)