The Bottle House #4

That night as Molly lay awake she started to daydream.  She visioned herself in her mother's wedding gown.  She had found it in a trunk at her aunt's house in Raleigh.  One afternoon she had tried it on.  It fit her perfectly.  She placed the long veil over her head and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

I could be married to Lee she thought.  "Yes, I think I am in love with Lee Brown!"

"Molly Patricia Brown" she heard herself say.  

Lee had a hard time leaving Molly's place that night.  It took all he could do to turn and leave.  He waved back at her when he got to the crossing.  All the way home he kept saying to himself "You are one happy man, Lee Brown!"  "I want to ask her to marry me!"  First there was much work to be done.  He ran the last quarter mile home.

Lee and Molly were in church each Sunday.  They held hands sitting next to each other. They went for walks and had picnics.  Tongues began to wag around town among the gossipers.

 He labored on the farm tending to the animals and making plans for the Spring planting season.  He found his mother's wedding rings.  He cleaned them with some ammonia and castile soap with an old toothbrush.  They sparkled in the sunlight.  He would need to get them resized for Molly's slender finger.  

He started to pour a concrete foundation out in the clearing in the woods where he stored the colored bottles.  He took some  lumber that was out in the barn that he had intended to build a shed with.  Slowly but surely the small one room cottage started to take shape.  It was a fantasy dwelling.  There was even a tiny fire place.  Lee placed the colored bottles in a random pattern and they were kept in place by concrete and large stones and the lumber.  He never mentioned what he was doing because he wanted to surprise her for her birthday and propose to her inside that magical little bottle house that caught the rays of sunlight and cast colors in all directions.  He couldn't wait.

Molly's birthday was fast approaching and Lee was running behind.  He had been set back by the rain.  The corn needed planting.  His cow was due to have a calf.  He was wondering if he could possibly get it all done in enough time.

Finally just a few days before Molly's birthday on April 19th Lee put the last glass bottle in place and stepped back to admire his work.  It was small but he was able to enter the door by stooping over.  Once inside he could stand up with a few inches to spare over head.  It was perfect!

The jeweler had the rings ready for pick up and Lee hurried into town to get them.  He chose a small red velvet box to put them in and put it in his jacket pocket.