Mysterious Code
“Did you send Honey an orchid?” Mart hissed in his older brother’s ear.
“Did I what?” Brian demanded as he straightened his tie.
“I said, did you send Honey some kind of a flower, because our tomboy sister is, as we speak, fastening said orchid, sent by your best friend, to her not so slender wrist.”
Brian blinked a couple of times as Mart’s words registered. Although he intended spending a good portion of the evening dancing with his sweet, pretty next-door neighbor it had not occurred to him to send a flower. “Did you send Di a flower?” he asked, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Mart had, then he was really going to look bad. Not that looking bad was the real reason he was worried, but the idea of hurting Honey’s feelings, made him feel very bad indeed.
“Unfortunately, I failed to contemplate the possible advantageous nature of such a meritorious gesture,” Mart said mournfully.
That was something, anyway. “I guess we’re not going to be able to talk her out of wearing it, are we?” Brian knew than answer, but asked the question anyway.
Mart rolled his eyes. “My guess is the first thing she’ll do, maybe even before she sidles up to James Winthrop Frayne the Second to say thank you, is to rush up to Honey and Di and wave it in their faces.”
“Terrific,” Brian said. He followed his brother downstairs suddenly not quite so excited about the evening ahead.
“Look,” Diana cried, “here they are now.” She pointed towards the entrance where all three Beldens now stood.
“Oh, Trixie looks so pretty,” Honey said, admiring her friend’s new white dress and green shoes. “I hope she realizes that.”
“I’m sure Jim will make sure she knows,” Di said with a sly grin. “Let’s go say hi.”
Jim had reached the trio before the two and was standing proudly next to Trixie.
“Diana, you are a vision of loveliness,” Mart said, as they approached. “I hope you’ve noticed I’ve chosen apparel that should compliment your signature color.”
Di blushed and laughed. Mart was wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt and purple and gray tie. She moved to stand beside him. In her lavender dress with its white trim, they did make a very attractive couple. “That was very thoughtful of you,” she said, tucking her arm into his.
Jim held out his hand to Trixie, who took it and lightly touched the white flower on her wrist and smiled.
Brian was left standing with Honey. He saw those beautiful hazel eyes move from Di and Mart to Jim and Trixie, her gaze lingering on the orchid and wished he was even half as smart with girls as he was with cars, first aid or school.
“You look very nice tonight, Brian,” she said with that sweet smile he loved.
Great, she’d even managed to compliment him before he could open his mouth. “Thanks, you look—”
Before he could finish the music grew louder and she offered him a half smile and turned to walk back across the room towards the refreshment table.
Honey busied herself by showing people where to leave their jackets and directing them to the bathrooms and refreshment table, though obviously not at the same time. She had danced once with Brian, but worried that he was just being polite had excused herself while he danced with one of the girls in Mart’s year; and then another.
It was silly to be disappointed, she told herself. She’d known about the orchid Jim had sent Trixie and had secretly hoped that Brian might do the same. How dumb was that? Of course Mart hadn’t sent a flower either, but he had quickly and eloquently complimented Di, and even dressed with her in mind, that was romantic too, wasn’t it?
She smoothed her hands over the self-embossed pale lemon dress she’d chosen for the evening. Its wide scooped neck and nipped in waist showed off her slender figure and she’d felt pretty when she’d turned in front of her mirrored closet. Now, she felt plain compared to most of the girls present, and conscious of the fact that their figures tended to be more developed than hers. Not that that was likely to change. She had a very similar build to her mother and she knew what that meant.
Her cheeks flushed as the thought crossed her mind. What was wrong with her anyway? This was Di’s party and she was Di’s friend. She should be concentrating on other people enjoying themselves instead of thinking about herself. She caught Trixie’s eye across the room, still dancing with Jim. Her friend waved happily and fixing a smile to her face, Honey waved back.
“Hey, Honey, would you like to get something to eat together?”
She looked up to see Brian, standing before her, darkly handsome, smiling and holding out his hand. She nodded, and took the proffered hand, even though it was only a matter of a few steps to the buffet. They filled their plates and somehow Brian managed to find a small table for two. He deposited their plates and held her chair out for her, before taking his own seat.
Brian smiled again, glad he was finally able to spend some time with Honey. Somehow, he’d found his evening had not worked out the way he imagined. Instead of feeling relaxed and confident, Mart’s revelation about Jim had left him self-conscious and hyper-aware. And just as he feared, both Diana and Honey had focused their gazes, if not their full attention, on the white flower gracing Trixie’s wrist.
And then Mart had used his full verbal prowess to completely erase the hint of disappointment in Diana’s violet eyes. Meanwhile, he’d just stood there while Honey looked wistfully at her friends. She’d even complimented him on the way he looked and then disappeared before he had a chance to say anything to her. He’d managed to grab her for a quick dance, but as soon as she noticed one of Mart’s classmates hovering nearby she’d excused herself and he’d been left to dance with a series of girls whose names he knew but who made little impression.
Although girls had often asked him for help with their homework, or to reach something on a high shelf in the library, Brian had never paid much attention. He was determined to graduate from high school early and with the best possible marks and that coupled with his responsibilities at home took up most of his time. But when he’d returned from camp and found the Manor House had new residents and his sister a new best friend, he started paying a little more attention to girls; or to one girl in particular.
Of course, Honey was only thirteen, almost fourteen, he told himself, so anything beyond sitting together and the occasional smile was not really appropriate. But maybe he was just a little too cautious, and a little too boring. His siblings sometimes teased him about how responsible he was. He’d never really minded until now. He hated the idea that Honey might feel that way too. Why hadn’t he thought to buy a flower— not an orchid, a simple white gardenia would suit Honey better. And he might have considered coordinated dressing, but Honey, unlike Di didn’t have a signature color. In fact she looked good in lots of colors: greens and yellows and creams and golds. She looked nice in blue and lilac too, but she rarely wore them. He got the impression that she considered them to almost belong to her friends, and wanted to leave them their special colors.
At least now they were sitting together, just the two of them. He couldn’t go back and change what had already happened, and he couldn’t be someone he wasn’t. He was fairly sure Honey liked him, just the way he was, so he would be himself and hope that was good enough. “I noticed you’ve been your typical self this evening,” he said.
Honey’s shifted in her chair. “My typical self?” she sounded as if she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“Showing people around, making introductions, stowing coats— your typical, thoughtful self,” he smiled as he spoke, not wanting there to be any confusion about the fact that he was paying her a compliment.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” she said, blushing slightly.
She almost always blushed when singled out for praise it was one of the things he loved, liked about her. Brian made the mental correction automatically, vaguely aware that if his complexion were a little paler it might betray a slight blush of its own.
“I hope you’re going to dance more than once with me during the rest of the evening,” he added, after sampling a hot dog.
“You have lots of girls wanting to dance with you,” she returned.
“But I want to dance with you,” he said, hoping the fact that his heart was in his mouth did not show on his face.
He’d heard about people’s faces lighting up from within and knew he was seeing it first hand.
“Then I am definitely available,” she said, eyes shining.
“You two scored a good place to eat,” Mart looked down at his brother and friend as he and Diana contemplated the line at the refreshment table.
“Yes, we did,” Brian agreed.
“There’s a bit of a queue now, too,” Mart added. “It all looks good though,” his gaze dropped to Honey’s plate, which held a hot dog, some potato salad and a piece of fried chicken.
Seeing his look of longing, Honey smiled up at him. “Are you too hungry to wait, Mart? Because you could have something of mine.”
“No, he can’t, and waiting is good for character development,” Brian answered instead, pulling Honey’s plate away from his brother’s outstretched hand. “You are going to need lots of energy for that promised dancing, Miss Wheeler.”
Honey giggled and Diana laughed, patting Mart’s arm. “Don’t worry, there’s so much food, no matter how long we have to wait, there will still be plenty.”
“I suppose I’m man enough to suffer a little longer,” Mart said dramatically.
“Are you going to tell me the guy I saw with a fistful of potato chips and some popcorn earlier, wasn’t you?” Brian hooked a dark brow in his brother’s direction.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than monitor my calorific intake?” Mart demanded.
“You’re right, I do. Honey, where were we?”
Diana pulled Mart away and Honey returned her attention to her meal. “That was nice of you. I am really hungry tonight but when I saw the look on Mart’s face, I felt bad.”
“His intention, I assure you. But you should put yourself first occasionally, Honey. You deserve it.”
“I can be very selfish,” Honey protested, making him laugh. She shrugged her slender shoulders. “Anyway, I could say the same thing to you. You’re always putting other people ahead of yourself.”
“I take my responsibilities seriously,” Brian admitted. “But it’s not quite the same thing as being thoughtful the way you are.”
“Isn’t it a great party, guys?” Trixie and Jim appeared at their table, hand in hand.
“It does seem to be going well,” Brian said.
“Your dress is gorgeous, Trix and so are you,” Honey beamed at her friend.
“That’s exactly what I told her,” Jim squeezed the hand he was holding.
Trixie’s freckled face flushed but she looked pleased. “You look great too, Honey, doesn’t she?” She turned to her brother.
“Honey always looks lovely,” Brian said, knowing he was probably letting his friend down again, by not waxing lyrical about the color or style of our outfit. “And tonight is no exception.”
“Don’t forget we promised to practice our skating for Bobby. He’s looking forward to it.” Trixie said. “ Oh, look, the line’s getting shorter now,” she nodded towards the food. “Let’s go. I’m starved.”
“She seems to be having a wonderful time,” Honey said, her gaze following her friend and her brother.
“What about you?” Brian asked softly. “Are you having a good time too?”
Honey nodded, then her brow furrowed and her face fell. “Oh, darn it. One of my skates needs fixing. I meant to ask Regan or Tom to take a look but I forgot. I doubt they’ll be able to fix it in time for me to keep my promise to Bobby.”
“Oh, that’s okay, Honey. I fixed your skate.”
“You what?”
“Fixed your skate, you mentioned a few days ago that it needed mending. I took care of it when I was up at the stables. I guess you’d left it there, meaning to ask Regan.”
“Oh, Brian,” Honey reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Thank you. That was so nice of you.”
“Anytime,” he said, not sure why such a small act should have her looking at him that way.
“You really are a special person,” she said and, releasing his hand, continued with her meal.
Brian did the same, but the feeling of being less than he should be was fading and he realized he was going to enjoy his evening after all.
Author's notes: I know other people have done a wonderful job of filling in the gaps in canon Trixie, but so many of these short scenes have been stuck in my head forever, that I just had to get them out. Here is where my Brian/Honey obsession, I mean interest, really comes out.
Disclaimer: Trixie et al belong to Random House and not to me. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
“Did I what?” Brian demanded as he straightened his tie.
“I said, did you send Honey some kind of a flower, because our tomboy sister is, as we speak, fastening said orchid, sent by your best friend, to her not so slender wrist.”
Brian blinked a couple of times as Mart’s words registered. Although he intended spending a good portion of the evening dancing with his sweet, pretty next-door neighbor it had not occurred to him to send a flower. “Did you send Di a flower?” he asked, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Mart had, then he was really going to look bad. Not that looking bad was the real reason he was worried, but the idea of hurting Honey’s feelings, made him feel very bad indeed.
“Unfortunately, I failed to contemplate the possible advantageous nature of such a meritorious gesture,” Mart said mournfully.
That was something, anyway. “I guess we’re not going to be able to talk her out of wearing it, are we?” Brian knew than answer, but asked the question anyway.
Mart rolled his eyes. “My guess is the first thing she’ll do, maybe even before she sidles up to James Winthrop Frayne the Second to say thank you, is to rush up to Honey and Di and wave it in their faces.”
“Terrific,” Brian said. He followed his brother downstairs suddenly not quite so excited about the evening ahead.
“Look,” Diana cried, “here they are now.” She pointed towards the entrance where all three Beldens now stood.
“Oh, Trixie looks so pretty,” Honey said, admiring her friend’s new white dress and green shoes. “I hope she realizes that.”
“I’m sure Jim will make sure she knows,” Di said with a sly grin. “Let’s go say hi.”
Jim had reached the trio before the two and was standing proudly next to Trixie.
“Diana, you are a vision of loveliness,” Mart said, as they approached. “I hope you’ve noticed I’ve chosen apparel that should compliment your signature color.”
Di blushed and laughed. Mart was wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt and purple and gray tie. She moved to stand beside him. In her lavender dress with its white trim, they did make a very attractive couple. “That was very thoughtful of you,” she said, tucking her arm into his.
Jim held out his hand to Trixie, who took it and lightly touched the white flower on her wrist and smiled.
Brian was left standing with Honey. He saw those beautiful hazel eyes move from Di and Mart to Jim and Trixie, her gaze lingering on the orchid and wished he was even half as smart with girls as he was with cars, first aid or school.
“You look very nice tonight, Brian,” she said with that sweet smile he loved.
Great, she’d even managed to compliment him before he could open his mouth. “Thanks, you look—”
Before he could finish the music grew louder and she offered him a half smile and turned to walk back across the room towards the refreshment table.
Honey busied herself by showing people where to leave their jackets and directing them to the bathrooms and refreshment table, though obviously not at the same time. She had danced once with Brian, but worried that he was just being polite had excused herself while he danced with one of the girls in Mart’s year; and then another.
It was silly to be disappointed, she told herself. She’d known about the orchid Jim had sent Trixie and had secretly hoped that Brian might do the same. How dumb was that? Of course Mart hadn’t sent a flower either, but he had quickly and eloquently complimented Di, and even dressed with her in mind, that was romantic too, wasn’t it?
She smoothed her hands over the self-embossed pale lemon dress she’d chosen for the evening. Its wide scooped neck and nipped in waist showed off her slender figure and she’d felt pretty when she’d turned in front of her mirrored closet. Now, she felt plain compared to most of the girls present, and conscious of the fact that their figures tended to be more developed than hers. Not that that was likely to change. She had a very similar build to her mother and she knew what that meant.
Her cheeks flushed as the thought crossed her mind. What was wrong with her anyway? This was Di’s party and she was Di’s friend. She should be concentrating on other people enjoying themselves instead of thinking about herself. She caught Trixie’s eye across the room, still dancing with Jim. Her friend waved happily and fixing a smile to her face, Honey waved back.
“Hey, Honey, would you like to get something to eat together?”
She looked up to see Brian, standing before her, darkly handsome, smiling and holding out his hand. She nodded, and took the proffered hand, even though it was only a matter of a few steps to the buffet. They filled their plates and somehow Brian managed to find a small table for two. He deposited their plates and held her chair out for her, before taking his own seat.
Brian smiled again, glad he was finally able to spend some time with Honey. Somehow, he’d found his evening had not worked out the way he imagined. Instead of feeling relaxed and confident, Mart’s revelation about Jim had left him self-conscious and hyper-aware. And just as he feared, both Diana and Honey had focused their gazes, if not their full attention, on the white flower gracing Trixie’s wrist.
And then Mart had used his full verbal prowess to completely erase the hint of disappointment in Diana’s violet eyes. Meanwhile, he’d just stood there while Honey looked wistfully at her friends. She’d even complimented him on the way he looked and then disappeared before he had a chance to say anything to her. He’d managed to grab her for a quick dance, but as soon as she noticed one of Mart’s classmates hovering nearby she’d excused herself and he’d been left to dance with a series of girls whose names he knew but who made little impression.
Although girls had often asked him for help with their homework, or to reach something on a high shelf in the library, Brian had never paid much attention. He was determined to graduate from high school early and with the best possible marks and that coupled with his responsibilities at home took up most of his time. But when he’d returned from camp and found the Manor House had new residents and his sister a new best friend, he started paying a little more attention to girls; or to one girl in particular.
Of course, Honey was only thirteen, almost fourteen, he told himself, so anything beyond sitting together and the occasional smile was not really appropriate. But maybe he was just a little too cautious, and a little too boring. His siblings sometimes teased him about how responsible he was. He’d never really minded until now. He hated the idea that Honey might feel that way too. Why hadn’t he thought to buy a flower— not an orchid, a simple white gardenia would suit Honey better. And he might have considered coordinated dressing, but Honey, unlike Di didn’t have a signature color. In fact she looked good in lots of colors: greens and yellows and creams and golds. She looked nice in blue and lilac too, but she rarely wore them. He got the impression that she considered them to almost belong to her friends, and wanted to leave them their special colors.
At least now they were sitting together, just the two of them. He couldn’t go back and change what had already happened, and he couldn’t be someone he wasn’t. He was fairly sure Honey liked him, just the way he was, so he would be himself and hope that was good enough. “I noticed you’ve been your typical self this evening,” he said.
Honey’s shifted in her chair. “My typical self?” she sounded as if she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“Showing people around, making introductions, stowing coats— your typical, thoughtful self,” he smiled as he spoke, not wanting there to be any confusion about the fact that he was paying her a compliment.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” she said, blushing slightly.
She almost always blushed when singled out for praise it was one of the things he loved, liked about her. Brian made the mental correction automatically, vaguely aware that if his complexion were a little paler it might betray a slight blush of its own.
“I hope you’re going to dance more than once with me during the rest of the evening,” he added, after sampling a hot dog.
“You have lots of girls wanting to dance with you,” she returned.
“But I want to dance with you,” he said, hoping the fact that his heart was in his mouth did not show on his face.
He’d heard about people’s faces lighting up from within and knew he was seeing it first hand.
“Then I am definitely available,” she said, eyes shining.
“You two scored a good place to eat,” Mart looked down at his brother and friend as he and Diana contemplated the line at the refreshment table.
“Yes, we did,” Brian agreed.
“There’s a bit of a queue now, too,” Mart added. “It all looks good though,” his gaze dropped to Honey’s plate, which held a hot dog, some potato salad and a piece of fried chicken.
Seeing his look of longing, Honey smiled up at him. “Are you too hungry to wait, Mart? Because you could have something of mine.”
“No, he can’t, and waiting is good for character development,” Brian answered instead, pulling Honey’s plate away from his brother’s outstretched hand. “You are going to need lots of energy for that promised dancing, Miss Wheeler.”
Honey giggled and Diana laughed, patting Mart’s arm. “Don’t worry, there’s so much food, no matter how long we have to wait, there will still be plenty.”
“I suppose I’m man enough to suffer a little longer,” Mart said dramatically.
“Are you going to tell me the guy I saw with a fistful of potato chips and some popcorn earlier, wasn’t you?” Brian hooked a dark brow in his brother’s direction.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than monitor my calorific intake?” Mart demanded.
“You’re right, I do. Honey, where were we?”
Diana pulled Mart away and Honey returned her attention to her meal. “That was nice of you. I am really hungry tonight but when I saw the look on Mart’s face, I felt bad.”
“His intention, I assure you. But you should put yourself first occasionally, Honey. You deserve it.”
“I can be very selfish,” Honey protested, making him laugh. She shrugged her slender shoulders. “Anyway, I could say the same thing to you. You’re always putting other people ahead of yourself.”
“I take my responsibilities seriously,” Brian admitted. “But it’s not quite the same thing as being thoughtful the way you are.”
“Isn’t it a great party, guys?” Trixie and Jim appeared at their table, hand in hand.
“It does seem to be going well,” Brian said.
“Your dress is gorgeous, Trix and so are you,” Honey beamed at her friend.
“That’s exactly what I told her,” Jim squeezed the hand he was holding.
Trixie’s freckled face flushed but she looked pleased. “You look great too, Honey, doesn’t she?” She turned to her brother.
“Honey always looks lovely,” Brian said, knowing he was probably letting his friend down again, by not waxing lyrical about the color or style of our outfit. “And tonight is no exception.”
“Don’t forget we promised to practice our skating for Bobby. He’s looking forward to it.” Trixie said. “ Oh, look, the line’s getting shorter now,” she nodded towards the food. “Let’s go. I’m starved.”
“She seems to be having a wonderful time,” Honey said, her gaze following her friend and her brother.
“What about you?” Brian asked softly. “Are you having a good time too?”
Honey nodded, then her brow furrowed and her face fell. “Oh, darn it. One of my skates needs fixing. I meant to ask Regan or Tom to take a look but I forgot. I doubt they’ll be able to fix it in time for me to keep my promise to Bobby.”
“Oh, that’s okay, Honey. I fixed your skate.”
“You what?”
“Fixed your skate, you mentioned a few days ago that it needed mending. I took care of it when I was up at the stables. I guess you’d left it there, meaning to ask Regan.”
“Oh, Brian,” Honey reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Thank you. That was so nice of you.”
“Anytime,” he said, not sure why such a small act should have her looking at him that way.
“You really are a special person,” she said and, releasing his hand, continued with her meal.
Brian did the same, but the feeling of being less than he should be was fading and he realized he was going to enjoy his evening after all.
Author's notes: I know other people have done a wonderful job of filling in the gaps in canon Trixie, but so many of these short scenes have been stuck in my head forever, that I just had to get them out. Here is where my Brian/Honey obsession, I mean interest, really comes out.
Disclaimer: Trixie et al belong to Random House and not to me. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
