The Hundred Roses
Three of the flowers were marked with blood-red ink, and I had seen that same drawing twenty-two years earlier.
The bouquet arrived shortly after noon. One hundred yellow roses, no card, no return address: just my name on the label. TryMarriage Counseling
I’d barely stepped away from the kitchen sink when the doorbell rang, sharp and sudden. Daniel, my husband of eighteen years, was away on a business trip. That part was normal. His suitcase by the door, his last-minute calls from airports: I’d built an entire stable life around that rhythm.
There were no icy silences between us. No hidden phone calls. No reason to suspect.
So when I opened the door and saw the delivery man hiding behind a huge bouquet of flowers, my first instinct was to smile.
“Amber?” he asked. OrderFresh Flowers
“It’s me.”
He placed the flowers in my arms: they were so heavy I almost laughed. Dozens and dozens of bright golden petals reflected the light from the porch.
“Wow,” I said. “Someone really put in the effort.”
I looked for a note hidden among the flowers.
There was nothing.
“No paper?” I asked. DownloadReference Apps
He checked the card. “No paper. No signature. Just his name.”
Just my name.
Something was wrong
At first, it didn’t bother me. Daniel wasn’t a poetic man: once, for our anniversary, he’d sent me a necklace without a card and then said, “I thought the gift said it all.” I brought the roses inside and placed them on the dining table, and for a brief, intense moment, I felt moved. They lit up the entire room.
Then the sensation changed. A little tingling behind my ribs. FindWedding Venues
My husband knew I loved white roses. White for our wedding. White for the day my mother died. White for our fifteenth anniversary. The yellow roses were beautiful, but they weren’t mine.
Then I saw the number on the florist’s label.
Exactly one hundred.
Not ninety-nine. Not one hundred and one.
Daniel was thoughtful, even generous, but he certainly wasn’t the “a hundred roses for no reason” type. And yellow roses, I remembered with some uneasiness, didn’t just symbolize friendship or jealousy in every culture. TryMarriage Counseling
