Chapter Two
The Web Series Usurpation
Rosemary Fox put on the last piece to her wedding ensemble, a pair of pearl earrings that belonged to her late grandmother. She stood up from the bed, and straightened her dress over the bright red, knee high boots she wore. Her sister Lillian scoffed.
"I can't believe you are actually going to wear those with that dress. It's a medieval cut, Rose, for God's sake, and you're wearing boots that look like they belong on a superhero," she said.
"Exactly," Rosemary said, smiling. "Sheldon's request. They're his favorite."
Lillian rolled her eyes. "I don't want to know what kind of kinky shit you and Sheldon are into. At least you can't see them."
A knock sounded at the door. Lillian answered, and Erik walked into the room.
"More photos?" asked Rosemary. "My mom already went downstairs."
"Nope. Just a note from the groom," Erik said, bowing a little as he handed her the letter. She saw her name, written in Sheldon's hand, on the outside. "And I'm off. Best wishes, Rosemary."
Erik disappeared downstairs, and Rosemary found her sister glaring at her.
"It's bad luck for…"
"Oh shut up," Rosemary laughed and unfolded the note.
Rosemary,
I apologize for my hasty exit from your boudoir early this morning. Your tyrant of a sister seems to believe all that superstitious mumbo jumbo, and I feel I did not give you a proper good-bye. I promise to make up for it this evening as we consummate our marriage. Additionally, I wanted to assure you I am wearing the special item you requested for our nuptials. I find your taste exceptional, as they are quite comfortable. I love you.
Your Husband in Less Than Twenty Minutes,
Sheldon
Rosemary grinned widely and blushed deeply as she read his note through five times, thinking about when she bought Sheldon that "special item."
March 2017
Emerald City Comic Con came a month earlier than the previous year, and due to both Sheldon and Rosemary's busy schedules, they could only attend one day, this time with Lillian and Yoshi in tow. Several debates went through the group as to an appropriate costume ensemble, and they finally settled on the Ninja Turtles, all being children of the eighties, Lil and Yoshi the later part of the decade. A simple costume, they purchased green sweat suits and during the Christmas holidays used fabric paint to put on shells. Rosemary purchased green Vans for both her and Sheldon, seeing her sister and brother-in-law didn't seem to care and wore their usual outdoor boots. Still, Rosemary felt happy as they slipped their masks on before entering the con, all having selected a turtle to match their personality. Not going for green make-up, Rosemary knew their costumes were certainly not as elaborate as her and Sheldon's second-place win the previous year, or even comparing to those they wore for their occasional bedroom role play. But she was certainly comfortable.
"So Rosemary…ahh…Leonardo," said Sheldon, beaming at her from behind his purple mask as they entered the main exhibit hall. "Where shall we go first?"
"Raphael and I," said Yoshi in his orange mask, gesturing to Lillian in red. "Want to go to the 3-D photo booth."
"Ooohhh…that sounds cool," Rosemary said, looking up at Sheldon, then frowning. "But I would rather have a figure of us in regular clothes. Or even in our wedding attire."
"What wedding attire?" asked Lillian, leafing through an artist's portfolio at nearby table. "We need to get that wedding dress."
"Mom's coming in two weeks, so we can go then," Rosemary said. "I kind of know what I want already."
"I'm sure you already have the shoes planned," laughed Yoshi.
Rosemary shared a covert look with Sheldon, who reddened slightly in that adorable way of his. He'd made the request for the boots after their third time playing The Adventures of Wonder Woman and Dr. Cooper.
The couples spent most of the day separate, having different interests, but went to a few panels and stood in some celebrity lines together. Later in the afternoon, Sheldon and Rosemary walked down the large Seattle streets toward the Pike Street Market to pick up some spring flowers for their townhome in Tacoma, Rosemary knowing Sheldon enjoyed the market a lot, remembering when she first brought him nearly a year ago.
"I'm glad Yoshi and Lillian will be spending the night with us this evening," said Sheldon, holding Rosemary's hand, looking cuddly in his turtle sweat suit. "I can do the interview for my new web series Fun with Gemstones. They already agreed."
Rosemary smiled. He'd been talking off and on about his new web show about gemstones, having picked up the interest in designing her engagement ring. He'd persuaded his co-worker and friend, mathematician Carson Silverthorne, to co-host. They finally seemed to be ready to film their first episode, an introduction to gemstones, this week, using geologists Lillian and Yoshi as their first guests.
Having seen a bit of Fun with Flags and enjoying it in an ironic hipster way, as she occasionally embraced as a Pacific Northwesterner, she hoped this new web series would be a bit better quality. In fact, she knew it would, as Carson held an interest, and a degree, in film and filmmaking.
Her reflection on Fun with Gemstones disappeared as they passed by an adult entertainment shop, a male mannequin out front wearing an elaborate pair of silky briefs. She stopped and looked, imagining Sheldon in them. Hmmmm…
Pulling him inside the shop, not caring they were dressed as Ninja Turtles, she looked around for the men's section. The shop nearly empty of customers, the woman behind the counter glanced up and smiled.
"Comic con?" she laughed.
"Yup," grinned Rosemary, pulling Sheldon toward the erotic menswear.
"Rosemary, this is…um…" she turned to find Sheldon a deep red. "This is an inappropriate…"
"Oh, I like these better," she found a simple pair of bright red silk briefs on a small rack and pulled them out for Sheldon. "I want to see you in these."
"I've always worn just my white cotton briefs and those have been good enough," he said haughtily.
"I wear silky, lacy things for you all the time," she argued, putting the briefs up to Sheldon's pelvis, and turning her head to the side as if visualizing him. "Your turn."
She knew Sheldon could not argue with that logic, but he did look uncomfortable.
"Okay, for the wedding," she continued and looked over at the women's section. "And…pick out something for me. For our wedding night."
Sheldon walked over and studied the wall of negligees, Rosemary giggling how carefully he concentrated. She looked over at a display of accessories and smiled, grabbing a couple of items. He finally walked over with a white, completely sheer baby doll nightie.
"This," he said.
"Why bother?" she laughed. "You can see everything."
"Exactly," he said, giving her a devilish grin, then he looked at her hand. "Um…blind folds? And are those fuzzy handcuffs?"
Rosemary just laughed, grabbed the nightie, and made their purchases. Without further word of sexual adventures, they continued to the market.
That evening, Sheldon set up his dry erase board behind their sofa, featuring the words "Sheldon Cooper presents Fun with Gemstones." Rosemary, not participating in the film, grabbed her laptop and settled into the kitchen to work on her education bill, pouring over standardized testing data, arguing against its value.
Grabbing files and her tablet as well, she studied Sheldon as he set up the camera, Lillian and Yoshi already sitting on the couch, looking amused.
"Um…Sheldon, isn't Carson helping as well? Should you really call it Sheldon Cooper presents?" she asked.
"Rosemary," he said in his slightly condescending tone. "Sheldon Cooper presents is now a recognizable brand."
"A brand?" Rosemary said, not able to keep the laugh out of her voice.
"Yeah bro, I don't know how recognizable the Sheldon Cooper presents brand is," Yoshi laughed. "Your most popular video in the flag series has only 100 views."
Sheldon's eyes narrowed, and Rosemary gave her bother-in-law a warning look before heading into the kitchen, deciding not to argue the point. Sheldon could take it up with Carson later this week, the young man with his girlfriend Olivia in Idaho, visiting his grandmother for the weekend.
Rosemary slipped into the work of writing her bill, studying the data, texting senior senator Don Meagle occasionally for advice, reworking her rhetoric. After quite some time, raised voices from the living room brought her out of concentration.
"Seriously, what the hell? If you already know so damn much, why do you need us as guests? You keep interrupting immediately after asking the question," said Lilian angrily. She stormed into the kitchen and stood before her sister. "I'm done with this. Let's go get some drinks and…"
"No!" Sheldon cried. He ran into the kitchen. "I want to remedy a criticism Rosemary had of Fun with Flags."
Rosemary looked at her fiancé, puzzled, trying to remember what she said.
"She said my guests were not of value. I chose celebrities and friends rather than those with knowledge on the subject," Sheldon said. "And you and Yoshi are geologists…and…"
"Then let us talk!" Lillian said. "I'm going to be a doctor this summer, Sheldon. Trust me, I'm an expert."
"Me too," called Yoshi from the living room. He didn't look too concerned, having just turned on the Playstation.
"I'm…sorry," said Sheldon with hesitation, Rosemary knowing he'd complain later. Somehow, Lillian always got to him, perhaps because she'd been threatening him with physical harm since he got together with her sister. Still, Sheldon insulting Lillian on her blog in the first place was how Rosemary eventually met him, so she couldn't complain about their continued arguments. They seemed to both enjoy the bickering and snide remarks. Rosemary looked forward to seeing how their relationship would blossom in the next several years…decades even.
The trio resumed taping, and Rosemary continued her work, pausing from time to time to listen, wondering how Sheldon's new hobby would turn out.
Later that week, Sheldon and Rosemary sat at the dining room table of Carson and Olivia, the younger couple talking about their visit to Boise and Olivia's impending start of grad school. Conversation finally came to Fun with Gemstones, and Sheldon couldn't wait to tell Carson all his ideas.
"I got the interview with the geologists already," he said between bites of take-out Chinese food. "And with no more basketball, we can create a regular film schedule and…"
"Fun with Gemstones?" asked Olivia. "That's a bit…boring, don't you think." She paused, then laughed. "How about Gents and Gemstones."
Carson's usually expressionless face lit up, as often happened around Olivia. "Yes! We can use opening music like Masterpiece Theatre."
"And you both wear suits and sit on leather armchairs," giggled Rosemary.
"And sip bourbon, occasionally swirling the drink in your pristine glass tumblers," finished Olivia. Then she almost jumped up with excitement. "We can get you both deep red smoking jackets and cigars. Just have them lit near you. You'll look all sophisticated. My father had a smoking jacket when he went to…" She stopped suddenly, the excitement gone, and studied her food.
Silence fell, Sheldon knowing the reason. Olivia, in running away from New York to be with Carson, left against her father's wishes. The CEO and owner of Eagleton Financial, Olivia's father disapproved greatly of this and officially disowned her the previous month. Sheldon, having met the man and seeing the large argument between him and Carson first hand, did not find this to be a big loss, as Eagleton appeared most unpleasant. Still, he knew from lunch conversations with Carson that losing her family hurt Olivia immensely. He planned to propose, but news of the abandonment put a shadow over them, and he now waited for a better time, the ring hidden at Sheldon and Rosemary's.
Rosemary broke the silence first. "Both Carson and Sheldon have nice suits, and we have that leather sofa. I think both will work."
Sheldon locked eyes with Rosemary across the table and smiled. While he still floundered in social situations, Rosemary always knew when to speak and what to say to make things less awkward.
The next evening, Olivia and Carson came over to the Cooper-Fox residence, the couple bringing in several bags from the trunk of Olivia's car, Carson's motorcycle left at home. Carson, already wearing a nice black suit that made his blonde hair look nearly white, pulled out his camera equipment, shaming Sheldon's, as well as a green screen. He moved aside Sheldon's white board without asking, and set up the screen behind the couch.
"I'm going to add a library to the background," he said matter-of factly.
"But the dry erase board is part of the Sheldon Cooper presents branding," Sheldon argued.
Carson raised an eyebrow and looked dead into Sheldon's eyes. "Please do not take offense in this, Sheldon, but I watched a few episodes of Fun with Flags and although interesting, they were of very poor quality. Ill scripted, badly paced, no true use of editing, uncreative camera work. Sheldon, medium shot is not the only shot of choice. And…"
"Excuse me but…"
"I am excited to work on this project because I enjoy film and filmmaking. In fact, I have far more education and experience with both than you. I've attended workshops run by Steven Spielberg, editing classes from Academy Award winners. And I know film criticism as well. I intend to make Gents and Gemstones quality, something people will find informative and entertaining, not in the ironic awesomely bad way you seemed to be going for with Fun with Flags, but legitimately good. Your ideas and research are flawless, Sheldon. Now let me do my work," Carson finished with deadpan finality.
Sheldon found no words, and glanced for help from Rosemary. But the women retreated to the kitchen, sitting in lively conversation, coffee brewing. Sheldon turned back to Carson, seeing the camera and sound equipment, some pieces Sheldon himself didn't know how to use. He'd always controlled Fun with Flags 100%, when Amy tried to give him an idea, he shot her down and Amy always backed off. But Sheldon knew Carson, being like Sheldon himself, would not back down. And he'd seen a couple of Carson's pieces, including a recent film he did on their SpaceX campus and the work in the mathematics department. He'd even gotten a local news anchor to narrate. The video had over 90,000 hits on YouTube, Elon Musk himself sharing the link on his Twitter account.
Since moving up to Tacoma from Pasadena nearly a year ago, Sheldon had been trying to remedy some of the poor habits he developed during his time he allowed his friends to baby him, Leonard, Penny, Amy, and the rest catering to him, mothering him. He'd been working on the whining, and he knew stubbornness to be another of his least attractive traits, especially since Lillian called him a stubborn ass the previous weekend.
He looked again at Rosemary in the kitchen, knowing one of the reasons he admired her was her social tact, which despite being an introvert, she related to others well, found common ground. Looked for people's strengths. He listened to her describe her work on her bill and other issues in the state senate and knew she worked hard to negotiate. Sheldon could do this as well.
"Okay," he said to Carson. "I'll grab the bourbon."
Two hours later, they finished, and Carson packed up the equipment, taking the flash drive with the Yoshi and Lillian interview.
"I'll work on this tomorrow, post it to the YouTube account we opened, and e-mail you the link," he said as they departed, Sheldon noticing his pale face alight with excitement.
Trudging up to the bedroom, Sheldon watched Rosemary change and brush out her long, black hair, her movements calming him. He opened his mouth to complain, but stopped himself. No whining. Instead, he attempted to remove Gents and Gemstones from his mind, choosing to focus on curling up with Rosemary instead, reading comic books until they both fell asleep.
Saturday went by with their usual errands, and Sunday morning dawned. Sheldon awoke early, as usual, unable to sleep in, unlike Rosemary, who snored softly beside him. Checking his phone, he found an e-mail from Carson.
Finished the first episode of Gents and Gemstones. Turned out great. Make sure to share the link. Also, I contacted Rosemary's sister for some of the artwork. I think we should use her in the future as well. Cheers! C.S.
"Rosemary!" Sheldon cried, feeling his fiancé jolt awake beside him. "Gents and Gemstones is posted!"
Sitting up yawning, her hair everywhere, Rosemary said, "Okay, you get the laptop set up, I'll make some tea and coffee, and we can settle in." She slipped out of bed. "How long is it?"
Sheldon thought for a moment, not having clicked on the link yet. "We shot about an hour of footage."
Rosemary pursed her lips and nodded, and Sheldon heard her sigh heavily as she made her way downstairs.
Clicking on the link, the Cooper/Silverthorne YouTube page popped up, and Sheldon gasped. Since posting the video around midnight, mere hours ago, the first episode of Gents and Gemstones already had 500 views. Several comments praised the film, and only one of the 120 viewers who rated the video gave it a thumbs down.
Sheldon struggled not to push play, waiting for Rosemary, reading the comments instead. Mostly praise, some questions about further episodes, requests for topics. Far more engagement then Fun with Flags.
Rosemary came back to bed with two mugs, and settled back down with Sheldon.
"Hey, it's only seven and a half minutes," she said.
"What?!" Sheldon said, baffled. What had Carson done? He hit play.
Eight minutes later, Sheldon and Rosemary sat with their mouths open, staring at the screen.
"That was amazing!" cried Rosemary, finally taking a sip of her neglected coffee. "Fast-paced, humorous. And the transitions, how he used music. Just…wow! You should be very proud."
But Sheldon didn't feel proud. The premiere episode of Gents with Gemstones proved to be perfect, and somehow, Sheldon felt slighted. Carson seemed to manage to do what Sheldon attempted over and over with Fun with Flags and failed…make a high quality, informative, and entertaining web series. And he did it with minimal effort, a talent, a know-how Sheldon did not possess. A strange mix of anger and jealously seized his heart.
"That's…different than what I envisioned," he said finally.
"The opening is cool, like Masterpiece Theatre," Rosemary said. "And you two introducing yourselves in this fancy library, funny, charming. And how he did close ups of Lil and Yosh. And how instead of just showing you talking, he used you and him and my sister as voice overs for images...and her comics! This is just too cool." She scrolled down. "Look! People want more. See these comments! I'm going to share this with everyone." And with that she leaped up with her coffee and headed toward her computer in their office.
Sheldon shared the link on his social media as well, then sulked, staring out the window at the rainy day.
Penny cuddled with Leonard on their sofa, enjoying her coffee and half-watching some documentary while browsing through a fashion magazine. Sliding over and picking up her phone to text Bernadette about shopping next weekend, she saw a notification from Sheldon.
"Ugh, Sheldon just posted his new web series," she said, sitting up, Leonard pausing the television.
"Yeah, he said he would," Leonard said, grabbing his tablet. "Best to get it over with right away. Like ripping off a band aid. Just listen for some sound bites so we look like we paid attention."
"Yup," said Penny, settling back with her husband. "Wow! Seriously, 1,000 views! Who watches this crap when they don't have to?"
Leonard just shrugged and pushed play.
After the film finished, Penny looked at Leonard.
"That was good," she said.
Leonard nodded enthusiastically.
"Like really good," she continued. "I want more."
"That wasn't agonizing. Just the opposite," said Leonard. "I was actually watching, paying attention."
Penny grabbed her phone and dialed Sheldon, who answered on the third ring.
"Hey sweetie," she said. "We just watched the gemstone show, and it's so cool. Like, a thousand times better than Fun with Flags."
"I know," came his deadpan voice.
"Well, good job to you and your math friend," Penny said.
"Thank you."
Silence. No smug comments? Nothing?
"Well, good-bye."
"Bye, Penny."
And he was gone, leaving Penny puzzled. Finally she shrugged and turned to Leonard. "Let's watch it again."
Early afternoon, south of Hofstadters, Amy snuggled with a baby bonobo at the San Diego Zoo, where she spent much of her time now working with the other primatologists, finishing out the year at Caltech before becoming an employee of National Geographic full time and heading to Gabon with her husband and baby next year. This particular bonobo had been injured in the enclosure, and the sleeping primate needed time to heal before rejoining the others.
Amy dawdled on her computer and smiled, seeing Sheldon posted his new web series. Clicking on the link, she watched, amazed by how far he came. The production quality was so much better than Fun with Flags, which Amy had both sentimental and frustrating memories of, mirroring her overall relationship with Sheldon. Seeing Sheldon online, she dialed him on Skype.
"Hello, Amy," he said in his formal tone. He looked to be sitting at the kitchen table, Rosemary bustling around behind him.
"Hi Amy," Rosemary called. "Too bad you and Erik aren't here. Sheldon is making a meatloaf for dinner, his Meemaw's recipe, and I'm experimenting with German chocolate cake."
"Oohh, that meatloaf recipe is good," smiled Amy. "Sheldon, Gents and Gemstones is great. You've come a long way. So much better than anything we ever put together. Nice work."
She saw his face tighten as she spoke.
"Thank you," he said coldly.
What the hell, thought Amy, then almost laughed aloud. Not my problem.
It didn't seem to be Rosemary's either, as she leaned into the screen cheerfully. "Are you holding a monkey? Oh my God, so cute."
Amy explained to the couple about the bonobo, then ended the conversation when the baby began to fuss. She wasn't sure what Sheldon's problem was, but found she didn't care, no longer the one to constantly cater to his emotional needs. She needed to focus on the bonobo. Whatever the issue, he and his friend finally produced an excellent web series premiere. One that had, as she looked back at the page, 2,000 views. She left the comment, Can't wait for more!
Raj and his fiancé Laura approached the door of the Wolowitz home, looking forward to having Sunday dinner with his friends. Ringing the doorbell, he leaned down to kiss Laura, but was interrupted by Bernadette pulling them in the house.
"You have to see this!" she cried, her high voice a little shrill in her excitement.
He sat on the couch with his friends, seeing YouTube on the screen, loaded to something called Gents and Gemstones.
"Oh yeah, this is Sheldon's new series," he said. "Wow! Five thousand views! And just posted today. And look, the top comment is from a geology professor at MIT asking if there will be more. He wants to use them in class."
"Yeah, and it's actually good. Not like that flag crap," said Howard. "We've watched it four times already."
"Ooohhh, let's see," cooed Laura in excitement, and the group watched.
Raj found the show to be excellent, much better than Sheldon's previous efforts.
"I'm going to text him," Raj said, pulling out his phone.
"We did that, praising the thing and all, and all he said was thank you," shrugged Howard. "Very un-Sheldon. I was expecting a long lecture on his methods."
Raj texted a short paragraph of praise to Sheldon, who simply sent a shrug emoji.
"Is the great Sheldon Cooper being modest?" asked Raj as they sat down to a sumptuous Sunday meal.
"I thought that wasn't one of his strengths," said Laura.
"It's not," said Howard. "But apparently filmmaking is now. That Rosemary is the best thing to ever happen to him." He took a bite and smiled at Raj and Laura. "So only two months until the wedding. What are my next Best Man duties?"
And just like that, the conversation shifted to Raj and Laura's wedding, Raj shocked by how fast time seemed to go.
After dinner and cleaning up, Rosemary and Sheldon stood together at the work bench in the garage, both painting. Rosemary put the finishing touches on a Native American-style mask, this one a wolf, a gift for Senator Meagle, who continued to help Rosemary with her education bill. Sheldon worked on a tiny school house for a new model train display his club would be putting together for a show in the town of Everett, north of Seattle.
The strange feeling of anger burned in him all day, but wanting to avoid complaining, the whining so many of his friends accused him of, he did not divulge his feelings to Rosemary. She did not know what a big baby he used to be, and he found himself a new man, in love with her, moving away from Caltech, from Pasadena. He liked his new self, but this feeling over the film began to eat at him. He opened his mouth to reveal this to Rosemary, but she spoke instead, studying her mask closely.
"I'm so proud of you, Sheldon," said Rosemary, beginning to mix some colors in order to get a deeper red. "I know you sometimes have problems letting things go, but allowing Carson to take over the editing of the film, do what he does best, really paid off. I think you guys have something really amazing started."
Sheldon started to respond but Rosemary began to laugh.
"You know who you are?" she said.
"Um…no?"
"You and Carson are George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," she said, beginning to paint again. "Lucas is great with ideas, but just an okay director. And Spielberg is amazing at visualizing other people's ideas. And together they brought us Indiana Jones. Ohhh…let's watch one tonight. Maybe the one with Sean Connery."
Sheldon never thought of this…he just wanted all the credit. One of the reasons he never put Amy's name on the white board for Fun with Flags although she did do a lot of the research. But letting someone else use their talents actually made the product better. A lot better.
"Or Walt Disney," Rosemary continued. "He was good with ideas, and he surrounded himself with talented artists. Or John Lasseter at Pixar. Didn't Erik mention he met him once?"
Sheldon felt a lot better. He was the George Lucas, the Walt Disney, the John Lasseter.
"I think that's a talent unto itself," Rosemary said. "Being able to identify gifts in others, know when to let someone else take the lead." She held the mask back to study, then continued painting. "What is the next episode about?"
Sheldon, who felt suddenly light and happy for the first time about the success of Gents and Gemstones, said, "Sapphires. And I have most of the research complete due to your engagement ring." He glanced down to her left hand, which was currently bare due to her painting, but he did see the mark of her frequently wearing the ring. He smiled in satisfaction. "And you should be a guest."
"I'm hardly an expert," she laughed.
"We'll label you a sapphire super fan," he said.
"That I am," she giggled, leaning over to kiss Sheldon.
Sheldon continued his work, knowing he would get Rosemary as a guest on the show. He was the Disney, after all.
Now on the Cooper-Fox wedding day, Rosemary stared down at her engagement ring, the special Tolkien styling Sheldon designed for her, the TARDIS blue sapphire gleaming from the cleaning she got before heading to the mountains for the ceremony.
"The ring is so pretty," said Lillian, standing by her sister, adjusting her veil and train. "Remember that episode of Gents and Gemstones? You were so cute."
Rosemary smiled, thinking about shooting that episode at the jeweler, that afternoon picking out their wedding bands, one of which, Sheldon's, sat on the nightstand in front of her, Lillian taking it down for the ceremony shortly. Her ring rested in Best Man Leonard's pocket.
The door opened, and Yoshi whisked into the room.
"Hey ladies, so ten minutes to the big moment," he said, shaking a little.
"Are you nervous?" Lillian asked him, kissing his cheek.
"A bit. I've never ministered before," he said.
"You'll be great, Yoshi," Rosemary said. "What's happening downstairs?"
"Folks are getting seated. Sheldon is about to head down. Everything looks perfect," he said. "I guess I should be down there too. Greet people like a good minister should." He kissed his wife and slid from the room.
For the first time, Rosemary felt butterflies in her stomach, her excitement at seeing Sheldon growing. She stood up and looked out the window, the forest moving softly in the summer breeze.
Author's Note: In the next chapter, Rosemary shops for her wedding dress, Sheldon seriously ponders the pros and cons of having children, and an opening at Sheldon's SpaceX campus may pave the way for another move from Pasadena.
Thank you for reading. Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Take care!