Chapter 39 – Unexpected Surprises

The morning after they returned from Chicago, Elizabeth, Nathan, Allie, and Jack knock on the Coulter's door before school. Elizabeth announces, "We have a surprise to show you. Meet us outside in ten minutes." So, the four of them head back outside and pile into Lee and Rosemary's car, with Nathan climbing in the driver's seat.

Rosemary looks at Lee, clapping her hands, inquiring, "Lee, did you know about this?"

Lee replies, "Sorry, honey. I don't know what it is either." Lee, Rosemary, and Patrick finish getting ready and open their front door, seeing Nathan and Elizabeth smiling from their car. "When did you learn how to drive, Nathan?"

"Joseph showed me the other day. I wanted to be a part of this surprise, so I finally learned." Lee cranks the engine, and the Coulter's get in the car with Elizabeth blindfolding them. She hops back in, and Nathan puts the car in gear and drives. Rosemary tries removing her blindfold, but Elizabeth catches her in the act, telling her, "Not so fast, Rosemary. No peaking, and I am being serious."

Rosemary frowns, remarking, "Fine." Elizabeth laughs but continues to watch Rosemary as Nathan drives along. Eventually, they pull up to the Hill, and Nathan parks the car. Nathan helps Lee, Elizabeth helps Rosemary and Jack, and Allie takes care of Patrick.

When they get about ten feet away from the stage, Elizabeth yells, "Now!" Rosemary and Lee take off their blindfolds as quickly as possible, and Rosemary gasps.

All Rosemary can manage to get out is, "Oh, Lee. They finished the roof. It is wonderful." She jumps into his arms, and he twirls her around.

"It looks better than I thought it would. How long did it take and how many people?" questions Lee.

"The weather cleared up after you left, so we were able to get it done in a couple of days. It was me, Michael, Bill, Kurt, and Joseph. Joseph was great. He helped improve on the design."

"Remind me to thank him when I see him again."

Elizabeth can't wait any longer and blurts out, "This is where we want to get married! Would that be okay with you?"

Rosemary squeals, replying, "Of course. This is the perfect place for your wedding." Elizabeth is giddy with joy; she hugs Rosemary, Lee and walks into Nathan's open arms. "Elizabeth, we have a surprise too."

"You aren't coming home with another child, are you? The last time you were on a trip, you found your amazing son."

"Nope, not unless you count this little one," responds Rosemary as she rubs circles around her growing belly. She clasps her hands together, grinning, "I am producing a play, and we will perform it out here. It will be a spinoff of Alice in Wonderland."

Elizabeth shockingly inquires, "Don't you think you might be trying to do too much? Things will only get harder for you the next two and a half to three months."

"You don't think I can handle being very pregnant, caring for Patrick and Lee, writing my newspaper, and producing a play all at the same time?" Rosemary pauses for a moment and then utters, "Nonsense, I can do anything I set my mind to do."

"I know you can, but the question is, should you?" asks Elizabeth. Rosemary rolls her eyes, swats her away, and carefully climbs the stairs to admire the stage, the newly finished roof, and the beautiful view.

The following afternoon, Rosemary is frantically gathering her things together. She is excited to get back to town to hold auditions for her play, but she is already ten minutes late. Rosemary throws her stuff in the car and drives to the church. She bursts inside and is embarrassed when everyone's eyes are on her. Rosemary apologizes, "I'm sorry for running late. Shall we get started?"

Lee sarcastically mumbles, "If we have to."

Rosemary hears him and gives him an annoyed look, exclaiming, "Lee!"

"Sorry, Rosie. We are happy to be here!"

Rosemary rolls her eyes and inquires, "Does anyone need the material?" A few people raise their hands, so she passes out the scenes to them and Lee. "Why don't we start with the children, and then we can move on to the adults?" Patrick, Allie, Emily, Opal, Nicholas, Cooper, and Robert perform their audition scenes. Rosemary scribbles down notes for each one, smiling to herself. Next came the adults. Unfortunately, there were not as many adults auditioning, but she is hoping for the best. Rosemary looks down at her list and back at her husband. "Why don't you go first, Lee?"

"If you insist, my dear." Lee walks to the front of the church and performs the scene as best as he can, and when he finishes, Rosemary has her head down, scribbling notes on her paper. She finally looks up, mentioning, "Thank you, honey. You can sit down now."

Lee shrugs and joins Patrick in the second pew. He whispers, "Mama sure is serious, huh?" They both laugh.

Rosemary looks around, questioning, "Who wants to go next? Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth steps up to the front and is about to start when Rosemary notices Nathan isn't there, inquiring, "Where's Nathan?"

"He is watching Jack. I couldn't convince him to come."

Rosemary frowns in disappointment and then invites Elizabeth to begin. She acts out her scene and sits back down. Next to audition is Fiona, Michael, Molly, Lucas, Clara, and Minnie. When they are all done, Rosemary speaks, "Thank you for auditioning. I'll make my decision by tomorrow evening and let everyone know. I'll tape the list to our office door. Our first rehearsal will be on Saturday morning, and we will be performing this in four weeks." They all file out of the church, except for Lee and Patrick, who join Rosemary on the first pew.

"So, what do you think, Rosie? Did you find someone for each of the parts?"

"I am not sure yet, but I think I have some good choices."

"Great. Are you ready to go home, Rosie? I'll fix dinner, and you can relax."

"Sounds delightful," responds Rosemary as she gathers her things. Lee carries her stuff to the car, and the three of them drive home.

The next morning after Lee and Rosemary drop Patrick off at school, she kisses Lee and heads home to work on her casting. Rosemary knows if she stays in the office with Lee, she'll be distracted by everything going on. She needs to focus, something she is finding harder to do lately. Rosemary sits at the kitchen table with her peppermint tea and her notebook and sketchbook. She looks over her notes and makes the obvious choices. Patrick will play Andy, Alice's little brother. Allie will play Alice, Lee will play the King of Hearts, and she'll play the Queen of Hearts. Now, Rosemary must decide on the rest. She thinks to herself, "Hmm…maybe Lucas as the White Rabbit and Hickam as the Mad Hatter…yes…those are brilliant. Now the Cheshire Cat. Does it have to be a guy? Hmm. I don't see why. I think Fiona would be fabulous." Rosemary looks at her cast sheet one more time. "Elizabeth can play Alice's sister, Molly can play the Duchess, and Robert, Nicholas, Cooper, Emily, and Opal can play various smaller parts." She claps her hands together with a smile on her face. "Yes, these are all perfect. Now, hopefully, they will like their parts, and I can get the costumes all done. Hmm. I sure don't have much time." Rosemary opens her sketchbook and starts drawing the costumes. She spends pretty much the rest of the day drawing and redrawing each costume until she can't keep her eyes open anymore.

Lee and Patrick walk in their door to Rosemary asleep on the settee with her sketchbook lying beside her. She wakes up suddenly, inquiring, "What time is it?"

Lee sits down next to her, kissing her on the cheek. He answers, "It's only 4:00 pm, love. I finished up early for today and thought we could spend time as a family. What have you been doing?"

"I made my cast list, and now I am designing the costumes."

"Can I see the cast list?"

"You certainly may not, Lee Coulter. You have to wait like everyone else." Lee rolls his eyes at his wife. Suddenly, they hear some scratching at the back door. Thinking it's Nanny, Patrick opens the door. But instead of their cat, it is a small woolly black dog, who runs in as fast as she can to Rosemary. The little black dog leaps on the settee between Lee and Rosemary and barks until they pet her. Both Lee and Rosemary oblige, giving her some loving, and then she rolls over on her back to get rubbed on her stomach. Patrick does the same, petting her on her tummy. Lee and Rosemary look at each other, and Rosemary inquires, "Where do you think this dog came from?" Lee checks out back and then the front to see if anyone is looking for a puppy, and there is nobody, so Lee comes back inside. He grabs a bowl and pours some water for the puppy. The puppy bounces over, laps up the water as fast as possible, and then joins Rosemary and Patrick on the settee.

Patrick excitedly asks, "Can we keep her, Mama, Papa?"

Lee replies, "I don't know, Patrick. She might belong to someone. I guess if we cannot find her family, we can talk about what to do then." Lee shakes his head, mumbling to Rosemary, "I cannot believe I am possibly saying yes to another animal."

Rosemary chuckles, revealing, "It's because you are a good Papa and a good man, and we love you."

Patrick shouts, "What should we call her?"

"I don't think we should name her yet, buddy. We don't want to get too attached to her," remarks Lee.

Rosemary states, "In the meantime, what do we do with her? I think she needs a bath because she stinks. We can use the washtub. I think she is small enough. Can you fill it up, honey?"

"Yes, dear." He messes with Patrick's hair, asking, "Would you like to help?"

"Yes, sir."

While Lee and Patrick are preparing the bathwater, Nanny comes down the stairs and sees the puppy. She is not sure what to think of this bouncy ball of fur. The puppy first stairs back in return and then slowly walks up to Nanny and tries to play. Nanny chases the puppy around the room a couple of times, and then they both jump on the settee with Rosemary, one beside the other. Rosemary giggles and pets them both.

Lee, Rosemary, and Patrick walk into town the following morning with the adorable puppy. She's a hit with all the school children, visiting each one of them. Patrick wants to keep her at school, but Lee convinces him to leave her with them. Lee and Rosemary get her situated in their office with a blanket and a bowl for water. Then Lee steps away to the jail to talk to Nathan. He is hoping Nathan can help find out if the puppy belongs to anyone. Lee hands the posters Rosemary and Patrick had drawn up the night before to Nathan. Lee inquires, "Do you think you can help, Nathan? I told Patrick we should find her a home."

Nathan answers, "I'll see what I can do."

"I'm sure Rosemary will add a notice in the paper, and we can put up flyers in town, but other than those two things, I don't know what to do."

"Well, I can start off asking around during rounds. Maybe someone will have heard or seen puppies roaming around. And I can lookout in the woods near the rowhouses. The puppy could have gotten separated from her mother or siblings."

"Thanks, Nathan. We really appreciate anything you can do."

While Lee is gone, Rosemary gets to work on the paper's next issue, which she hopes to get out on Monday morning. She wants to get the articles out on the four mayoral candidates, the first play performance at the newly completed Hill Amphitheater, and the precious puppy. But first, Rosemary types up the cast list. She looks it over and giggles to herself. As she sips her tea, the puppy runs up and tries to jump up on her lap. Rosemary picks her up and holds her for a little while. She talks to the puppy, "You are so adorable. Where did you come from, little one? Is anyone looking for you?" The puppy licks her face. "You sure are making it hard not to fall in love with you." Lee opens the door and stops in his tracks when he sees Rosemary holding the puppy. All he can say is, "Oh, no."

Rosemary innocently asks, "What?"

"I have a feeling we are keeping the puppy."

"Oh, Lee. She is so cute. But I realize having a puppy with a newborn is not ideal. Can we talk about it more later?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

"Did you ask Nathan to help?"

"I did."

"Good." Rosemary gives the puppy to Lee, pointing to the door. "She needs a walk." Lee chuckles and takes her outside.

Lee and Rosemary pick up Patrick from school a few hours later. They come back to the office, and Rosemary convinces them to stay in town for dinner since she wants to be around when people see the cast list. Rosemary helps Patrick with his homework, and when he finishes, he plays with the puppy until it's time for dinner. Surprisingly, the little black puppy is very smart. She sits, lays down, spins in a circle, and stays for the most part. Patrick is so excited she already knows so many tricks.

Lee suggests, "It looks like someone might have trained her. Besides, I don't think dogs learn tricks on the first try."

Patrick giggles, stating the obvious, "She smart, Papa." The puppy starts barking excitedly and runs to Lee, wanting him to pick her up. Lee reluctantly grabs her, scratches her behind the ears, and makes baby talk to her.

Rosemary chuckles, questioning, "Now, who is getting attached?" Lee laughs because he knows Rosemary is right.

Trying to change the subject, Lee offers, "Who's ready for dinner? I'll bring the puppy home, and then we can head on over to the saloon."

Rosemary responds, "Sounds good. I'll put out the cast list, and Patrick and I will get us a table."

Bright and early Saturday morning, the Coulter's are at the church along with the whole cast. Rosemary is as happy as can be. She is finally able to produce her own play right alongside her best friend and family. Rosemary passes out the scripts, mentioning, "I am so glad you are all here this morning. This will be so much fun, but it will require a lot of practice. Why don't we do a group read-through this first time? So, we can all get a feel for our characters. Then afterward, I would like to show you what I have for your costumes. Is anyone able to volunteer to help with the set, props, and costumes?" Hannah, Minnie, and Allie all volunteer to help. "Thank you, ladies." Over the next couple of hours, the cast does a read-through, and Rosemary is pleased with who she selected. And they all seemed to have fun with their parts. After she shows everyone the sketch of their costumes, she announces, "Thank you. We are off to a great start. Opening day is May 24th, and we have a lot of work to do. So, plan for rehearsals from Tuesday through Saturday each week. And please have your lines memorized by next week. Have a great weekend! Hannah, Minnie, and Allie, can you please stay for a bit? I want to discuss some things." They all pile out of the church except for Lee, Patrick, Hannah, Minnie, and Allie.

Lee inquires, "Do you mind if Patrick and I get going? We need to let the puppy out. Do you need a ride later?"

"No, I'll be fine. I should be home in less than an hour," replies Rosemary.

Lee whispers to Rosemary, "Love you, my two favorite girls. I'll see you two later." Rosemary playfully hits his arm, and he and Patrick leave.

Lee and Patrick stop at his office on their way home when they bump into Michael and Fiona.

Fiona speaks up, "We were just talking, and we think it might be nice to have a Town Hall Meeting a week before the election. That way, all four of us can give our speeches, and people can ask us questions. Unless you want to do a debate after all?"

Lee answers, "A Town Hall Meeting sounds great. Who should host, when, and where?"

Michael suggests, "We were thinking Rosemary since she is editor of the paper if Bill agrees. Otherwise, maybe Nathan."

"I think either will work."

"How about Tuesday evening on Main Street?" adds Fiona.

"Sounds great. Why don't we find Bill and ask him?" The four of them find Bill in Abigail's café."

Fiona starts, "The three of us think we should hold a Town Hall this Tuesday on Main Street at 4 pm. We can each prepare a speech and people can ask us questions. We wanted to get your opinion on a host. I suggested Rosemary since she is the editor of the paper, but we would also be okay with Nathan or someone you choose."

Bill thinks about it, replying, "I am good with Rosemary. Besides, I don't think Nathan would want to host."

Michael questions, "Will Rosemary have our articles printed by then, Lee?"

"I believe she's hoping to publish on Monday. I'll talk to her and see. Patrick and I need to get home to let out the puppy."

Bill inquires, "You have a puppy?"

Patrick responds, "She's our new puppy. She came scratching on our door the other day."

Lee corrects him, "We are trying to find out where she came from and if she has a home." Bill, Fiona, and Michael nod in understanding. "Let's go, Patrick. Talk to you three later." So, Lee and Patrick run home, hoping to get there before the puppy leaves a mess. They are impressed when they open the door, and the puppy is on the settee, lying on a blanket. When she finally notices them, she immediately hops off the settee, sprints to Patrick, and licks him all over. Lee watches as this little stray puppy is making his son so happy.

Patrick questions, "Papa, can Jack come over and play with the puppy and me?"

Lee picks up the puppy, offering, "We can walk over together and see." Patrick knocks on the door, and Elizabeth answers. She invites them inside when the puppy squirms out of his arms, first racing to Elizabeth, then Jack, and then back to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth inquires, "Who is this?"

Patrick yells, "It's our new puppy!"

"Since when did you get a puppy, and what kind do you think she is?" questions Elizabeth as the puppy starts licking her.

Lee responds, "I am not sure if we are keeping her. She showed up at our house the other day, and Nathan is helping us find the owners if she has any. It seems like she's been trained, so I suspect someone is missing her. My guess is she is a poodle mix of some kind."

"What does Rosemary think of having a puppy?"

"She's falling in love with her like Patrick and I are." Elizabeth laughs, and Lee clears his throat. "We came over because Patrick wants to know if Jack could come and play with him and the puppy."

"Jack, would you like to go to Auntie Rosie's and Uncle Lee's and play with Patrick and the puppy?"

Jack replies, "Yes!"

"Okay, have fun, my sweet boy." Lee picks up the puppy, and Patrick and Jack follow him back over. They walk in the door, and Rosemary is already home.

Jack runs to Rosemary shouting, "Auntie Rosie, puppy!"

Rosemary giggles, answering, "Yes, it's a puppy. Do you want to play with her?" Jack scampers over and sits on the floor with Patrick and the puppy.

Patrick suggests, "I think we should name her Like-A because she like-as everybody."

Rosemary chimes in, "How about we spell her name differently, maybe, L-A-I-K-A."

"Rosie, I don't think naming her is a good idea," mumbles Lee.

Rosemary pats Lee on the cheek, offering, "It will be okay, sweetie."

"If you say so."

Then out of the blue, there's a knock at the door. Lee opens it, and standing there is Nathan and a man who he has never seen before. Lee frowns, hesitantly asking, "This is about the puppy, right?"

A/N: I wasn't planning on writing a puppy into this story, but after losing my precious little dog of 15 years, Laika, last weekend, I knew she needed to be in this story. So I hope you enjoy reading about her, and hopefully, she will be a part of the Coulter family soon!