I have beautiful gardens everywhere around my home.  I live in an oblong log house that is very well built.  I inherited it from my grandmother who was also a midwife and greenwitch (herbalist).  My practice, as a midwife, keeps me very well supplied with whatever I need to buy, in fact, I have been known to work for free if the person couldn't pay me.  My patients are well satisfied with my service, they and their children are healthier for it.    My religion is Pagan, my church is the forest.

When I first saw my soul mate, his back was to me and he was stealing my flowers.  "What are you doing?"  I asked.  "Oh, are these your flowers?  I thought they were just growing here for the village."  He said, turning around and blushing profusly with a few of my favorite flowers in his hand.  "Yes they are mine and you're stealing some of my favorites.  I did plant them here for the village to enjoy, but only to view and not to take without my permission.  If everyone picks them, they will not be here very long for people to enjoy. Besides did you ask permission of the flowers?  I think not, or you wouldn't be ripping them up like that."  I spoke, the anger rising in my voice then, seeing the apologetic little boy look on his face, falling away into humor.  There was something about this man, I couldn't keep my anger with him.  I had a difficult time not laughing.  I wanted to throw my arms around him and give him a very large hug.

We fell into conversation like a pair of old friends.  It seems he had been
invited to tea with a matchmaker, who, it so happens was a friend of mine, and she had told him he was to meet a very beautiful and talented young single woman who was looking for a husband as he was looking for a wife.

She was a friend of mine all right, in fact I had been invited to tea with her that  same afternoon,  at the very time David had been told to be at her home.  Although she had failed to give me the same information she had given David, the town blacksmith's new apprentice.  David really wasn't apprentice age, he had just moved here and would be working in partnership with our old blacksmith and then taking over the business when Jon passed on.  All Suzanne had told me was that she would like some of my advice over a friendly tea.  Suzanne was my best friend and confidant, but she obviously had taken my life into her hands over my protestations of being fully content with the single life.  We had this conversation many times before.  David and I were on our way to this tea when we met.  It's a good thing we were both planning to arrive early.

I wasn't going to share this with David, however as our conversation went onward, an equally devious plan formed in my mind and I shared the entire thing with him.  We were to pretend to never have met.  I would pick a bouquet for him to give to me at tea.  Then I would ask him where he'd gotten such beautiful flowers, when he told me, I would fly into a rage and we'd get into an argument right there and then.  Totally upsetting Suzanne's plans.  Of course we'd tell her, eventually.   I chose some special flowers for David's bouquet and we separated, hoping no one had seen us.  Some of those flowers only grew in my garden, and everyone in town knew it.  I hoped Suzanne would notice them and worry about my reaction, I now planned to be late.

I arrived about 5 minutes after David, to give our plan more credence. I tried to look surprised to see David there, however when our eyes fell upon each other's faces for a second time that day, we both blushed.  It was so obvious  we had fallen in love, I burst out laughing immediately and our plan fell.  We never let on to Suzanne how we were going to decieve her.

David and I married the following Spring, with Suzanne as my Matron of Honor.  We had one child 9 months later.  Very happy we were until one day following David's return from a large city a good distance from us.  He had gone back to his birth place to see his sister and buy some new metal and supplies for his growing business.  He returned two weeks later.

I expected David back this evening and I had a wonderful surprise for him. He enjoyed my lamb stew so much I made it often and it was simmering now over the fire.  I had visited my best friend Suzanne for tea and told her of my surprise for David.    Cornsilk, the nick name I had given our daughter Bridgid, was playing at a neighbors home and I would collect her soon for supper.   Her hair was white blond and her eyes cornflower blue, just like mine when Iwas her age.

I was going to be very subtle about how I told David.   I was choosing flowers to do the telling.  I had his favorites, Cornsilk's favorites,  baby's breath and now I was looking for my favorite.  I had known before he  left, however I wanted to wait until the first trimester was over before I told him.  I was somewhat surprised he hadn't caught on that I was again carrying our child, a boy this time.

Unknown to me, David had returned while I was at Suzanne's, he had seen Cornsilk playing and had brought her home with him.  I had one of those flat flower baskets a patient had given me.  I was holding it on my left arm. Somewhat puzzled that I couldn't find my flowers in the main flower garden, which looked as if someone had torn at it,  I wandered behind my house to look in my kitchen  garden.  Something caught my attention and I looked up toward my back door.   Lo and behold, there was David, home at last.  I saw him in profile through the open door.  He was looking out of the front window, perhaps for me.