{"id":36485,"date":"2021-04-30T22:59:58","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T02:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=36485"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:38:36","slug":"a-rose-for-mama-by-ac1830","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=36485","title":{"rendered":"A Rose for Mama (by AC1830)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: Adam and Hoss have a surprise for Marie.\u00a0 A story for the 2021 Mother’s Day Challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating – K, Word Count – 748<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Rose for Mama<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marie Cartwright closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the air filled with scents of pine and wildflowers, silently giving thanks for this Eden she enjoyed with her husband. Opening her eyes she beheld the handsome, dark haired man and gave him a big smile as he led her to their horses for the ride home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMon cher, thank you for this day just with you. When I awoke I felt it would be a special day and you have made it so. The Spring weather could not have been more perfect for our picnic and… time together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been too long since we had a day like this and I will warn you, it\u2019s not over yet. I believe Hop Sing has been planning a meal for you as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat have I done to deserve all of this, my love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou married me, my love.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marie\u2019s laugh at that statement sounded like music to Ben\u2019s ears as they walked their horses across the pasture to the barn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy darling, let\u2019s unsaddle the horses here and let them roam. Adam and I can tend to them after dinner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marie smiled agreeably and headed to the barn with Ben after releasing their horses. Inside the barn she stopped when she spied her stepsons waiting by the main door. A frown crossed her gentle features when she saw what Adam was holding.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you have one of my scarves, mon petit?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adam swallowed at his stepmother\u2019s direct question, but a nod from his father gave him encouragement. \u201cWe, um, that is Hoss and I, were hoping you might play a short game of Blind Man\u2019s Bluff with us.\u201d\u00a0 The lad held his breath as he awaited her response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marie\u2019s frown flipped and she brought her hands together in a single clap. \u201cA game? Oh that will be such fun. Of course, I will play.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hoss clapped his hands and danced around as a five year old is wont to do while his older brother tied the scarf around Marie\u2019s head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The silk scarf of sapphire blue covered her eyes, making her world quite dark.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t see, can you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNon, mon petit. I cannot see.\u201d\u00a0 She held out her arms and a strong yet gentle hand took her elbow as the other hand rested in the small of her back. She was carefully guided through the door and into the yard.\u00a0 Her senses were heightened by her lack of sight.\u00a0 Every sound was magnified, every smell strengthened.\u00a0 She felt rocks and dirt under her feet and could smell the strong pine scent on the breeze.\u00a0 She was being turned and she heard the boys running and calling to her from many different directions. Suddenly all was quiet except for the song of birds celebrating the Spring day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When she heard a giggle and then a sniffle she reached out and touched Adam. She exclaimed, \u201cI win!\u201d and reached up to slip the scarf from her eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Blinking against the bright sunlight her warm brown eyes landed on the object in front of her, which was not her stepson.\u00a0 Her hands covered her mouth as her eyes misted over and a cry of delight and disbelief escaped her delicate lips.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0A card was held out for her to read.\u00a0 She lifted her eyes to the tall, dark headed boy and the shorter, pudgy boy, and took the card.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To celebrate our first year with you as our Mama we planted this rose bush for you to enjoy.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Love, Adam and Hoss<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marie knelt down and gently touched one of the single delicate pink flowers and dark glossy leaves of the young plant.\u00a0 Turning she opened her arms wide and the two boys rushed to her with hugs of love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh mes enfants, mes ch\u00e9ris. Merci!\u00a0 My children, my darlings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When she rose up Ben\u2019s arms awaited her. \u201cOh Ben, how could this be? Surely it\u2019s not the rose I brought from New Orleans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben smiled down at her with a tear of joy in his deep brown eyes. \u201cIt is your rose bush but I cannot take credit.\u201d He indicated their Chinese friend who had joined them, and his sons.<\/span><\/p>\n

With joyful tears trailing down her cheeks she hugged all three and gathered with them around their gift of love – the small rose bush with pale pink flowers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

La Fin<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Marie Cartwright<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Adam and Hoss have a surprise for Marie<\/p>\n

Rating – K, Word Count – 748<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8333,"featured_media":36486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1090,30,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-hoss","category-prequels","category-challenges","wpcat-1090-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/A-Rose-for-Mama.png?fit=419%2C314&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}