The Courtship Begins

"What is this?" she said the next day. There were the beginnings of circles under her eyes. It was clear that she hadn't slept after her encounter with Tyr the night before.

"It's a box," Mrs Grady said. "And it's addressed to you," she added. It was midday and Wanda still couldn't get that stupid kiss out of her mind. Her first kiss was stolen by the man who'd proven time and again that he was nothing but a cruel sadist. Why would he kiss her, though? Leaving her with an ache and the memory of those soft, soft lips…

"Mrs. Anasazi."

"What?" she asked, coming back from her daydream.

"I asked, 'aren't you going to open it'?"

"There's nothing leaking from it? It's not ticking?"

"No, and no," the older woman smiled.

"You seem very amused by all this," the CEO growled.

"I am amused. You know what it is and you know who it's from."

"I most certainly do not," she yawned into her hand. "Who would possibly be sending me-"

"Open it," Adeline told her boss. "It's not going to bite you."

"You know he's only making a run at the company," she said in a mulish tone as she finally opened the box. "He's just trying to- Oh." It was a couple of carnations, food-dyed a beautiful purple, and sitting next to a single white rose. "Oh my God… How did he know?"

"Well, someone's skimping on their bouquets. Hey, what's the matter, Jou-chan?" Sano asked, noticing her tears.

"How did he know? How could he have remembered? It's beautiful. How could he? How could he?"

"Here, come and sit down," Mrs. Grady said, leading the shocked woman to one of the couches. "Why don't you explain why this is so important to you?"

"Don't you see? It's carnations, my favorite-"

"Your favorite flower is carnations?" Sano laughed.

"One of them. And they're dyed my favorite color."

"And the other one is white roses, right?"

"White roses symbolize friendship. Red roses are overplayed in my opinion."

"But I don't get why you're so amazed. It's an amateur dye job at best."

"That's the point," she exclaimed. "When we were in fifth grade, we did an experiment where we left carnations in water and food dye overnight. The pattern that resulted was one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen. I fell in love with carnations that day, but no one ever knew that. How could he know my favorite flowers, my favorite color? No one has ever given me flowers, much less something so… so…" she started crying again, blaming her lack of sleep for her lack of control.

"Precious," Mrs. Grady sighed, "we should put these in sunlight," she smiled, handing the woman a tissue as she passed.

"So… these are happy tears?" Sano asked just to be sure he wouldn't have to go kick Tyr's ass.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, desperately trying to get herself under control.

"Well all right then," he said with an uncomfortable pat on her head. "I won't have someone messing with my little sis." The woman laughed, truly smiling for the first time in years.

"By the way, sweetie. This," she pointed to the flowers now sitting on a desk in the corner, drinking in sunlight. "Is not the act of a man making a run at the company. This is the act of a man trying to prove his worth."

Something about that phrase resonated with her, and she looked down and away. "It'll take more than some beautiful flowers to win me over." She vowed, wiping her eyes.

The bouquets continued to show up daily, in an array of colors and arrangements. Her office was soon full of flowers, everyone noticed that there was something different about their boss. She had a secret smile almost all the time. She was still focused, and still ran the company as it should be run. But when her attention wasn't on matters of business, she would get a dreamy look in her pretty brown eyes. What was he trying to prove anyway?

Two weeks later, the man himself appeared, carrying a big bouquet of flowers for her.

"I see you've been receiving my gifts," he said, looking around her office. There were a few drying in the sun, but mostly the woman seemed content to let them bloom and die naturally.

"What are you trying to prove here?" she asked the floor.

"I'm trying to prove that I care for you," he said, lifting her head with a finger under her chin. "This isn't a game for me, Wanda," he said in Italian. "I love you and I want you."

"That… that isn't fair," she said, tearing up.

"All is fair in love and war," he said meaningfully in Italian. "I came to invite you to lunch," he said, changing the subject. "I've been speaking to Esperanza and she suggested-"

"You've been speaking to my housekeeper?"

"She was my housekeeper first," he reminded her. "Besides, she likes me. She considers me a little rapscallion, capable of great things. She considers my pursuit of you a great thing. She suggested a picnic by the lake down on 5th street."

"I… I can't," she said in Italian. "I have a lunch meeting today. How are you speaking Italian so fluently?"

"Photographic memory," he said. "It's the only way I passed all my classes. I took Italian freshmen year because you did."

"And you sat behind me, blowing spitballs until Mr. Cunicelli separated us."

"I read through the textbook so I'd pass the class."

"Is that Spanish?" Mrs Grady asked, happily typing away.

"Italian. My favorite language," she muttered.

"Italian is-"

"Yes," she said in annoyance. "How did you-"

"You took it for four years. Mr. Cunicelli wasn't that cute."

"He might have been," she countered with a stubborn glare.

"I'll take a raincheck on that lunch," he said in English.

"Who says I'll let you?" She asked, also in English. He got that boyish grin on his face that made her heart flutter and handed her the bouquet. Then he took one of her hands and kissed it, exiting the room without a word.

"Whew. That got me hot," Mrs. Prindle said as she walked in the room. "Isn't that the boy that came back from the dead?"

"He was never dead, just lost."

"Well, I can't say that I approve of how he used to carry on before, but he certainly seems to be making up for it now. Courting you is about the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Wanda had managed to pull herself together during this little speech. Placing herself firmly in business mode, she straightened up.

"Mrs. Prindle. I've noticed that the progression charts are about two weeks behind. The phase progression charts cannot be made without them. Why is this the case?" She settled in to listen to the woman's excuses, firmly blocking out the feel of his lips on her hand.

… …

The media was having a field day with this latest development in Wanda's life. People were flooding phone lines to give their opinions on the budding relationship between the 'bad little rich boy' and the 'Christian CEO', whether the subject was on the air or not. Opinions ranged from 'he's scum that should be ashamed of himself' to 'he's changed, we should give him a chance to prove himself' and everywhere in between. There were even a few 'she should be grateful' opinions thrown in there for good measure.

Wanda ignored it all, completely focused on what he was going to do next. Growing up in the Jenkins household, she'd learned to guard herself and her thoughts. There were spies everywhere in the house, waiting to carry news of her exploits to her parents. She hadn't even been that old when she learned that. She had an excellent memory and she remembered clearly the one servant that she had confided in going straight to her mother with the information and being paid for her trouble. It had been a test; even at the ripe old age of six, she'd known not to trust the staff. But it still hurt her to know that she was all alone.

Her parents had made it clear that she was a mistake that was only kept around for appearances. She had one purpose in life and that was to protect her older brother, the loved child, from his own stupidity. Derek was an idiot by nature, spoiled and entitled. She was supposed to take the fall for him when he screwed up. But when the big moment had arrived, she had failed. She could still remember the smirks on the faces of the Board members. They had fully expected her to go to jail for him so that they could continue to use him and eventually get him out of the way too. The thought of strangers running her family business had prompted her to put her own brother behind bars. But no one saw it like that and she had never bothered to explain her reasons to anyone. A lifetime of silence is a hard habit to break.