07/03/04
Yes, eveyone, it's the day before the 4th of July and look how long it's
been since I've submitted anything!! I really am sorry for the delay. My
summer, surprisingly enough, is actually busy and full of stuff, other than
last year where I mainly stayed at home and did, well, nothing. So now, I
have the MG Epilogue up for you.
Let me just say I started out writing it about a week after I 'ended' it. I
thought it was all right for a while but it didn't seem too right, so I
scratched it about the end of May and remained in a writer's block until
about a week ago. I really, really, just like the way I have it ended but I
promised an epilogue and it's not much, but I felt it had been a while
since I've mentioned one of the repeating points in the story (big hint
the title)
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Epilogue
Mid-Spring, Bywater, 1420 T.A.
It was a day that no one in the Shire would have expected to be so perfect. It was the uttermost climax of Spring with the showers of rain well passed and the flowers very much in bloom. Nothing in the land was much disturbed save for when the mild breezes would pass through every now and then.
Tents were scattered amongst the border of the Party Field the first day of the month of May. Mr. Gaffer Gamgee guessed to himself that there was not a hobbit absent at the gathering and he twisted restlessly in his seat. He gave his head a scratch and sighed loudly.
"Keep patient, you ol' rascal. It'll happen soon enough... then you'll regret it came by so fast," Mrs. Bell Gamgee muttered to the Gaffer with her handkerchief ready. She never was too good with weddings.
The Gaffer turned around to face the tree after getting another good look at who had arrived. Nearly all the seats were taken.
The flaps of the tent doors encircling the field whipped softly in the wind and a loud chatter was coming out of a particular one in the back. Many of the lasses were hurriedly tucking and adjusting and pinning whatever had to be tucked, adjusted, and pinned.
Rosie Cotton's hands were trembling slightly as she kneaded them out of nerves and she checked once more over the condition of her dress. It was flawless, just it had been for the last twenty minutes--- just like it had been the last four times she checked it.
Marigold Gamgee came up behind her to look in the same looking glass. She squeezed Rosie's arms and Rosie forced a confident smile.
"You look lovely, so stop fretting! Everything will be wonderful, I promise," said Marigold and Rosie nodded with the same pretend smile plastered on her face, and after a silent minute, Rosie gave a shaky breath and turned to Marigold with the most worrisome face.
"But--but Marigold, how is it? Being married, getting married? I've told myself I've been ready for a long while but now that's it's actually here, I'm not sure..." She burst out very fast and Marigold laughed.
"Rose, you will be the happiest you've ever been, I can tell you that from experience," Marigold advised sweetly (for she had been married to her brother Tom for a while now), although it was too short for Rosie's comfort, and kissed Rosie's cheek as she left. Rosie sat herself in a chair for a few minutes and sighed. No one ever told her getting married was so nerve-racking, otherwise she would have planned to have stopped her mother from inviting the entire Shire.
Nearly a quarter of an hour later, a little lass of eight taking part of the wedding had stepped up to Rosie's side as she sat staring at her hands in her lap, and folded her hands civilly behind her back. Her flushed cheeks contrasted with her fair skin and her round green eyes caught Rosie's when she got her attention.
"Ms. Cotton?" She asked politely and Rosie looked up, "Would you mind braiding my hair, please?"
Rosie smiled softly and beckoned the lass to come and sit before her. Rosie took her red locks and wove them into a braid down her head and the little lass stood up afterwards and Rosie tied her ribbon into a bow at the bottom.
"Thank you, miss," She said courteously and Rosie nodded. She looked back down at her lap quietly and the girl stared at her and her magnificent wedding dress (as the girl thought) until she said brightly, hoping to make Rosie smile, "I can't wait until I'm married... have you loved him a very long time?"
Rosie did smile and responded, "Yes, a very long time."
A grin broke across the lass's face and she ran off after thanking her once more to find her sisters. Rosie stayed smiling by herself for a minute after until she stood up and walked toward the tent door outside.
The quick blast of breeze outside on her face was nice after the stifling hours inside the warm tent. She stood behind it, opposite of where her wedding would take place, and overlooked the hills adjacent to the field. She wished for an absurd second she could have found and grabbed Sam at that moment and ran away with him into the fields, away from everyone else.
And although her mind had been muddled with the small details of the wedding and the party and predicting even what came afterward, her mind kept returning to Sam. She wondered if he worried as much as she did.
Sam, she thought as she felt herself smile wide like a lass with a childhood crush. Yes, she had loved him for a very long time.
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Perhaps it was an unknown fact, but female hobbits always spent twice as much longer than the male hobbits did whenever there was an occasion to get primped and pressed for. Inside the tent where the groom-hobbits and young ring-bearer lads prepared to get dressed, they were passed ready for the wedding than most of the hobbit maidens were in the tent next door.
Many of them stood chatting and laughing until they would be called out by Mrs. Cotton herself. She made herself the wedding ceremony planner and she had every move and event down by the minute.
Many of the younger lads participating in the wedding had found some old sticks from the trees and began sword playing inside the humid tents. They circled around the room smacking their sticks, but hid them away whenever Mrs. Cotton would check in on them.
Samwise Gamgee stood in a corner watching them and whispering pointers to the young lads as they passed about how to really win a sword match with certain moves. He laughed as he watched them take out and cover their swords every time Mrs. Cotton came but no matter how many times he tried to get his mind off his worries, he still had an uncomfortable lump in his Adam's apple.
For the final time, Mrs. Cotton poked her head in and waved her hand. "Come now, we're going to begin in less in ten minutes, so we better start filin' out! My child, what did you do to your slacks?!" She yelped as she saw one of the lads with a stick in his guilty hand with mud on his knees.
Sam took a deep breath and gnawed at his lower lip anxiously. Frodo Baggins came up and gave him a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You'll do fine," He said as if he read Sam's doubts. "There's nothing that can go wrong now. You'll have your Rose always just like she'll have you. That's what you've wanted, isn't it?" Frodo asked but it wasn't a question meant for him to answer. Sam smiled.
He gave Frodo a hearty hug and pulled away beaming. "Tell Mrs. Cotton I need just another minute or two. Thanks again, Frodo... for being here for me, I mean." Frodo nodded softly and left.
Sam took another deep breath as he did before and looked over to a bundle he had laid by his belongings. It made him think of Rosie and his sudden yearning just to see her before they were out in front of everyone drew him outside the tent before he realised it.
He peered around the tent flap hoping Mrs. Cotton was looking elsewhere and crept over to the tent where Rosie should be with the other maidens.
He looked inside even though he knew Rosie's mother would be furious if he stole a glance at his bride before the wedding. She wasn't inside.
She thought on this for a moment before closing the tent flaps, trying to think where Mrs. Cotton could have possibly whisked her away to, when he heard his name from the other side of the tent he had been peeking in.
"Sam?"
Sam whipped around and found Rosie looking over the side of the tent facing the wide field. His face brightened up and her face did just the same.
He took her gloved hands. "You look, well, lovely. Beautiful," He stumbled breathless and she held his hands tighter.
"You as well." She smiled widely as she stared back warmly as if she hadn't seen him in days. "My mother will throttle you if she finds you with me before the wedding. She'll all about tradition." She smirked.
They stood behind the tent as the wind snapped strongly at its flaps. It was cloudless and the sun shone a warming white light across the plains. Sam thought of the bundle in the tent and kissed Rosie's temple after a few silent intimate moments.
"Wait here... I have a little something for you," he grinned. "I was going to wait until the following ceremony party but I've thought better of it."
Before Rosie could protest, Sam was back inside his tent and emerged with his hands behind his back. She eyed him curiously but he brought his hands back out in front. They were blooming with the purples and blues of morning glory.
"Morning glory?"
"O' course."
"Just like all those times."
"You remember?"
"How could I forget, Sam?"
"Well," Sam explained, "It's been before the war that I've given you any... I just assumed."
Rosie held the morning glory between herself and Sam and smiled. "This is just like that time years ago," she reminisced, "when you gave it to me during Halfred's wedding party. I don't think I ever told you that that night, I fell in love with you." She said fondly as she tucked a golden curl behind his ear. Her nerves seemed to have disappeared.
"Now look where we are," Sam said, giving a comical look around the place and she laughed. She gave a nervous tug at her dress and look down through the tents where she could see the rows of people in front of the mallorn tree. Her nerves came right back as fast as they went.
"Sam, have you ever wished that any of this could have happened sooner?" She asked solemnly, "There were so many years where we hesitated everything between us, and-- and, would you think it better if we got married before the war? If things hadn't gotten in the way... and if we didn't wait so years to actually talk to each other..." She gave a short laugh and continued, "Do you ever wish that, Sam?"
Sam stayed quiet for a moment and held her hands tightly with the morning glory. He looked into her green eyes and remembered when he was much younger and knew that just a look from her made his entire day, just as it still did.
"There are times I did, yes, but there has been no other day before today where you have looked more beautiful, or another day where I have loved you more." He said.
He dipped her head back slowly with her crown of flowers atop her curls and paused to look at her as if to etch her face into his memories. And after moments of feeling each other's breath on their lips he kissed her as if they were at the altar. She kissed him back deeply. Every kiss was like the first with Sam and he was right, he always was. This was the time to be married, when they loved each other the uttermost.
They didn't hear any footsteps coming towards them but just after a few moments they heard someone straining their throat. They pulled away and saw Merry Brandybuck looking innocently in the aisle with a smirk of his face.
"It won't be too long until you officially need to do that, really," Merry said and Sam blushed and Merry chuckled. "Aye, but really, the ceremony is about to start and they are all looking for you two."
They walked over to him blushing still slightly, and Merry clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Now Samwise, you should know now that the groom cannot see the bride before the wedding. Well, thank heavens I found you before Ms. Lily Cotton did. She's already in a tizzy on where you've run off to..." Merry continued aimlessly pulling Sam with him.
Sam turned back in the midst of his talking and caught Rosie's eye. They held a look only two lovers exchange before Rosie was pulled into a group of lasses readying her at the last minute. They kept their gaze on each other until Sam turned the corner and her heart fluttered at the thought of their wedding at long last... the wedding of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton.
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The End
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Epilogue
Mid-Spring, Bywater, 1420 T.A.
It was a day that no one in the Shire would have expected to be so perfect. It was the uttermost climax of Spring with the showers of rain well passed and the flowers very much in bloom. Nothing in the land was much disturbed save for when the mild breezes would pass through every now and then.
Tents were scattered amongst the border of the Party Field the first day of the month of May. Mr. Gaffer Gamgee guessed to himself that there was not a hobbit absent at the gathering and he twisted restlessly in his seat. He gave his head a scratch and sighed loudly.
"Keep patient, you ol' rascal. It'll happen soon enough... then you'll regret it came by so fast," Mrs. Bell Gamgee muttered to the Gaffer with her handkerchief ready. She never was too good with weddings.
The Gaffer turned around to face the tree after getting another good look at who had arrived. Nearly all the seats were taken.
The flaps of the tent doors encircling the field whipped softly in the wind and a loud chatter was coming out of a particular one in the back. Many of the lasses were hurriedly tucking and adjusting and pinning whatever had to be tucked, adjusted, and pinned.
Rosie Cotton's hands were trembling slightly as she kneaded them out of nerves and she checked once more over the condition of her dress. It was flawless, just it had been for the last twenty minutes--- just like it had been the last four times she checked it.
Marigold Gamgee came up behind her to look in the same looking glass. She squeezed Rosie's arms and Rosie forced a confident smile.
"You look lovely, so stop fretting! Everything will be wonderful, I promise," said Marigold and Rosie nodded with the same pretend smile plastered on her face, and after a silent minute, Rosie gave a shaky breath and turned to Marigold with the most worrisome face.
"But--but Marigold, how is it? Being married, getting married? I've told myself I've been ready for a long while but now that's it's actually here, I'm not sure..." She burst out very fast and Marigold laughed.
"Rose, you will be the happiest you've ever been, I can tell you that from experience," Marigold advised sweetly (for she had been married to her brother Tom for a while now), although it was too short for Rosie's comfort, and kissed Rosie's cheek as she left. Rosie sat herself in a chair for a few minutes and sighed. No one ever told her getting married was so nerve-racking, otherwise she would have planned to have stopped her mother from inviting the entire Shire.
Nearly a quarter of an hour later, a little lass of eight taking part of the wedding had stepped up to Rosie's side as she sat staring at her hands in her lap, and folded her hands civilly behind her back. Her flushed cheeks contrasted with her fair skin and her round green eyes caught Rosie's when she got her attention.
"Ms. Cotton?" She asked politely and Rosie looked up, "Would you mind braiding my hair, please?"
Rosie smiled softly and beckoned the lass to come and sit before her. Rosie took her red locks and wove them into a braid down her head and the little lass stood up afterwards and Rosie tied her ribbon into a bow at the bottom.
"Thank you, miss," She said courteously and Rosie nodded. She looked back down at her lap quietly and the girl stared at her and her magnificent wedding dress (as the girl thought) until she said brightly, hoping to make Rosie smile, "I can't wait until I'm married... have you loved him a very long time?"
Rosie did smile and responded, "Yes, a very long time."
A grin broke across the lass's face and she ran off after thanking her once more to find her sisters. Rosie stayed smiling by herself for a minute after until she stood up and walked toward the tent door outside.
The quick blast of breeze outside on her face was nice after the stifling hours inside the warm tent. She stood behind it, opposite of where her wedding would take place, and overlooked the hills adjacent to the field. She wished for an absurd second she could have found and grabbed Sam at that moment and ran away with him into the fields, away from everyone else.
And although her mind had been muddled with the small details of the wedding and the party and predicting even what came afterward, her mind kept returning to Sam. She wondered if he worried as much as she did.
Sam, she thought as she felt herself smile wide like a lass with a childhood crush. Yes, she had loved him for a very long time.
·· ··÷¦÷·· ··
Perhaps it was an unknown fact, but female hobbits always spent twice as much longer than the male hobbits did whenever there was an occasion to get primped and pressed for. Inside the tent where the groom-hobbits and young ring-bearer lads prepared to get dressed, they were passed ready for the wedding than most of the hobbit maidens were in the tent next door.
Many of them stood chatting and laughing until they would be called out by Mrs. Cotton herself. She made herself the wedding ceremony planner and she had every move and event down by the minute.
Many of the younger lads participating in the wedding had found some old sticks from the trees and began sword playing inside the humid tents. They circled around the room smacking their sticks, but hid them away whenever Mrs. Cotton would check in on them.
Samwise Gamgee stood in a corner watching them and whispering pointers to the young lads as they passed about how to really win a sword match with certain moves. He laughed as he watched them take out and cover their swords every time Mrs. Cotton came but no matter how many times he tried to get his mind off his worries, he still had an uncomfortable lump in his Adam's apple.
For the final time, Mrs. Cotton poked her head in and waved her hand. "Come now, we're going to begin in less in ten minutes, so we better start filin' out! My child, what did you do to your slacks?!" She yelped as she saw one of the lads with a stick in his guilty hand with mud on his knees.
Sam took a deep breath and gnawed at his lower lip anxiously. Frodo Baggins came up and gave him a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You'll do fine," He said as if he read Sam's doubts. "There's nothing that can go wrong now. You'll have your Rose always just like she'll have you. That's what you've wanted, isn't it?" Frodo asked but it wasn't a question meant for him to answer. Sam smiled.
He gave Frodo a hearty hug and pulled away beaming. "Tell Mrs. Cotton I need just another minute or two. Thanks again, Frodo... for being here for me, I mean." Frodo nodded softly and left.
Sam took another deep breath as he did before and looked over to a bundle he had laid by his belongings. It made him think of Rosie and his sudden yearning just to see her before they were out in front of everyone drew him outside the tent before he realised it.
He peered around the tent flap hoping Mrs. Cotton was looking elsewhere and crept over to the tent where Rosie should be with the other maidens.
He looked inside even though he knew Rosie's mother would be furious if he stole a glance at his bride before the wedding. She wasn't inside.
She thought on this for a moment before closing the tent flaps, trying to think where Mrs. Cotton could have possibly whisked her away to, when he heard his name from the other side of the tent he had been peeking in.
"Sam?"
Sam whipped around and found Rosie looking over the side of the tent facing the wide field. His face brightened up and her face did just the same.
He took her gloved hands. "You look, well, lovely. Beautiful," He stumbled breathless and she held his hands tighter.
"You as well." She smiled widely as she stared back warmly as if she hadn't seen him in days. "My mother will throttle you if she finds you with me before the wedding. She'll all about tradition." She smirked.
They stood behind the tent as the wind snapped strongly at its flaps. It was cloudless and the sun shone a warming white light across the plains. Sam thought of the bundle in the tent and kissed Rosie's temple after a few silent intimate moments.
"Wait here... I have a little something for you," he grinned. "I was going to wait until the following ceremony party but I've thought better of it."
Before Rosie could protest, Sam was back inside his tent and emerged with his hands behind his back. She eyed him curiously but he brought his hands back out in front. They were blooming with the purples and blues of morning glory.
"Morning glory?"
"O' course."
"Just like all those times."
"You remember?"
"How could I forget, Sam?"
"Well," Sam explained, "It's been before the war that I've given you any... I just assumed."
Rosie held the morning glory between herself and Sam and smiled. "This is just like that time years ago," she reminisced, "when you gave it to me during Halfred's wedding party. I don't think I ever told you that that night, I fell in love with you." She said fondly as she tucked a golden curl behind his ear. Her nerves seemed to have disappeared.
"Now look where we are," Sam said, giving a comical look around the place and she laughed. She gave a nervous tug at her dress and look down through the tents where she could see the rows of people in front of the mallorn tree. Her nerves came right back as fast as they went.
"Sam, have you ever wished that any of this could have happened sooner?" She asked solemnly, "There were so many years where we hesitated everything between us, and-- and, would you think it better if we got married before the war? If things hadn't gotten in the way... and if we didn't wait so years to actually talk to each other..." She gave a short laugh and continued, "Do you ever wish that, Sam?"
Sam stayed quiet for a moment and held her hands tightly with the morning glory. He looked into her green eyes and remembered when he was much younger and knew that just a look from her made his entire day, just as it still did.
"There are times I did, yes, but there has been no other day before today where you have looked more beautiful, or another day where I have loved you more." He said.
He dipped her head back slowly with her crown of flowers atop her curls and paused to look at her as if to etch her face into his memories. And after moments of feeling each other's breath on their lips he kissed her as if they were at the altar. She kissed him back deeply. Every kiss was like the first with Sam and he was right, he always was. This was the time to be married, when they loved each other the uttermost.
They didn't hear any footsteps coming towards them but just after a few moments they heard someone straining their throat. They pulled away and saw Merry Brandybuck looking innocently in the aisle with a smirk of his face.
"It won't be too long until you officially need to do that, really," Merry said and Sam blushed and Merry chuckled. "Aye, but really, the ceremony is about to start and they are all looking for you two."
They walked over to him blushing still slightly, and Merry clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Now Samwise, you should know now that the groom cannot see the bride before the wedding. Well, thank heavens I found you before Ms. Lily Cotton did. She's already in a tizzy on where you've run off to..." Merry continued aimlessly pulling Sam with him.
Sam turned back in the midst of his talking and caught Rosie's eye. They held a look only two lovers exchange before Rosie was pulled into a group of lasses readying her at the last minute. They kept their gaze on each other until Sam turned the corner and her heart fluttered at the thought of their wedding at long last... the wedding of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton.
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The End