Chapter 690: A Different Time, Part 4
Oren checked the calendar. It had been a week since he'd called Jorick, and he was no nearer to a solution. He had three days left until the fourteenth. Three days to craft the perfect proposal.
"It can't be done," imaginary Jesslynn scolded. "You should have taken more time, put more thought into it."
He shook off his discouragement. He'd spent the last two days pouring through books of poetry, looking for just the right prose. Nothing seemed to fit, and for the twelfth time he mentally crossed it off the list. It was back to dancing, which he still wasn't sure Etsuko could do, let alone how he'd instigate it at the still un-chosen romantic location.
I'll test it tonight. Somehow.
With that in mind he kept an eye on her, looking for the perfect moment. He tried to help her with the dishes, but she shooed him away and told him to relax. He attempted to interfere with the laundry, but she suggested he play the ABC game, as they'd come to call it, with the children. "They need to work on their letters." Later, when she finally sat down to work on Jayleth's pajamas, he'd barely stood before she asked him to check the refrigerator. "It has been making an odd noise."
By the time he figured out that an action figure was lodged in the fan (how did that even happen?) she was upstairs cleaning the playroom.
Does the woman never take a break?
He hesitated in the playroom doorway, watching as she neatly stacked books, then turned to putting toy cars in a brightly painted chest. A stray lock of hair fell from behind her ear to brush her cheek. He imagined reaching for her, tucking it back, his fingertips lingering across her jaw, down to her lips-
"Does Oren need something?"
He jerked out of his thoughts and cleared his throat quickly. "Er-No. No. I just-"
"I do not need help," she asserted. "Though Oren-sama - I mean Oren - is kind to offer. The boys have already done much of the work. I am only finishing up those things they missed, while they nap."
He stepped up behind her and caught her elbows, pulling her back against him. "Those things can wait."
He felt the suppressed giggle vibrate through her body. "If that is what pleases you."
"Yes." His nose brushed her hair, and her delicate scent filled his senses. Lavender and honey, with a hint of cherry blossom. That was how he always thought of her; like a delicate cherry blossom, creamy and pink and-
He broke off the thoughts and spun her around in his arms. He brushed that stray hair back and cleared his throat again. "I-I realized we've never danced together." As the words left his mouth he inwardly cringed. That wasn't as smooth as he'd hoped. If this was a portend of how the proposal was to go-
"Danced?" She blinked her large eyes at him. "Oren-sama - I mean-Oren is correct. Is this a cause for concern?"
"I wouldn't say concern. When I was young, dancing was part of courting. Young ladies would debut, at a cotillion, and men would vie to fill their dance cards." He lowered one hand to her waist and lifted the other to her arm.
"You have been thinking on the past?" He saw the flash of concern in her eyes.
"You've worried her," imaginary Jesslynn scolded. "I don't blame her. I'd be jealous."
Oren rushed to correct his mistake. "No, no. Not in that sense. I-I only marvel sometimes at how times have changed, how-courting rituals evolve."
Etsuko nodded. "That would seem an interesting study. Though I believe you would find the courting customs different even between nationalities."
"Yes, I suppose so." Why did she take everything so seriously? A discussion on societal norms was hardly what he had in mind, but he didn't know how to steer the conversation away from it, how to avoid a scholarly look into dating.
With no other option, he swept her arm up to his shoulder and spun her into a waltz. Her composed veneer slipped, revealing gasping surprise. Her feet tangled with his and, in a moment, they'd have gone over if he didn't stop to catch her.
"I-I apologize." Her delicate cheeks tinted pink and ashamed eyes dropped. "I'm afraid I do not-This is a dance I am unfamiliar with. I will learn, if it pleases-"
"No, never mind." He forced back a sigh and pulled her to him in a hug. "It is no matter."
Her voice was muffled against his chest, "It would be no trouble."
"No. It was only a moment's fancy." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and inhaled the soft cherry scent of her hair. "But come, the playroom is clean enough. They'll only tear into it again when they wake."
Her shame melted into a knowing smile. "As you say."
***
Oren spent the next day trying to find the "perfect" romantic place. The library was still open and, after skimming a wedding magazine, he came away feeling optimistic. Weddings were held in perfect romantic places, so surely they would be the same locations? Even imaginary Jesslynn agreed with that.
A top location seemed to be parks, full of flowers and green trees, but the muddy mid-winter spaces he could find looked naked and unappealing.
He sat in a chipped concrete gazebo and thought about dashing his brains against the pillars. At least it would save him from the impending disaster.
"And it would be less painful than rejection," Jesslynn reminded him.
Home again, he swallowed his pride and asked Xandria if he could borrow her laptop. She handed it over, with the suggestion he not check her "browser history", whatever that was. It took him some time to figure out how to get a search page and, after battling pop ups and trying to ignore her wallpaper image of two naked men kissing, he managed to order a computer of his own, as well as learn there were no romantic places within a hundred miles. Or at least none he could find.
So much for the helpfulness of technology.
