***
The next day, Cabe was in her backyard, pruning a rosebush. She heard the familiar sound of Keith's car in the driveway. She waited until she could hear footsteps on the gravel path that led around the garage.
"Go away, Partridge. I don't want to see your face right now. Or hear you either. Not after you wouldn't listen to me yesterday." Cabe proclaimed, giving the stem of the innocent rosebush a particularly vicious attack with the pruning shears out of her anger.
"Cabe? It's not Keith, it's Laurie." Keith's sister leaned on the gate of the chain-link fence. "Can I come in? I want to talk to you."
Cabe nodded curtly in response to her question. "Keith send you?"
"No. I came on my own. Keith is locked in his room at home and he's bawling his eyes out. I couldn't take it anymore so I came to see you."
"He didn't even listen to me!" Cabe burst out accusatorily. "The band is something special for your family, don't you see? Besides, having an amateur like me singing could ruin songs that could be big hits for you."
"I understand, Cabe." Laurie said, sitting down on the grass next to Cabe. "But you would be welcome. Keith had to ask us before offering to let you join the band, you know. It had to be a family decision, and we agreed to add you to the band. You can sing better than you give yourself credit for, Cabe."
"I'm not really a Partridge either. I want to be one, someday, if your brother ever gives up this funk of his," Cabe said. "And imagine what having your brother's girlfriend in the band would do to your record sales. A lot of that is due to Keith's teen idol image, and if he's not single that image is ruined."
"Cabe, joining us isn't something that Keith offers lightly," Laurie said, putting her hand on Cabe's arm. "He has never even asked us to consider including any of his other girlfriends in the band. He plans on proposing to you later, but he doesn't want to get married until you both have graduated from college. Just don't tell him that I spilled the beans on him. He wants to make it a surprise."
"It'll still be a surprise, whenever it comes," Cabe said, and then she looked at Laurie with comprehension dawning in her eyes, along with a lot of tears. "I didn't think that it was...oh God, Laurie, I didn't think that he was proposing to me! He was asking me to become a Partridge someday, and I turned him down because I thought that he did this with all of his girlfriends who could sing! I turned him down!"
"No you didn't. You just misinterpreted what he was asking," Laurie replied. She held out the box with the stage costume in it. "Besides, Keith wanted to coach you on playing the guitar and singing. You would have become a professional once he was done with you. He is an excellent teacher. He was the one who taught me to play the piano."
"Really?" Cabe asked. "I didn't know that. I thought you took lessons from an old lady like the rest of us did when we were kids."
"Really. He's big into positive reinforcement. Whenever I played something right, he would give me candy. I have no doubt that he could think of other rewards to give you. I'm sure that he'd be glad to play strip rehearsal...every time that you get a song right, he would take off a piece of clothing...."
"LAURIE!" Cabe gasped, shocked that Keith's sister would say such a thing about her brother. "Laurie, we agreed that we wouldn't do that kind of thing until we got married."
"I know." Laurie said, grinning. "But the look on your face was worth it. Look, we will understand if you don't want to join the band now, if you want to wait until you've married Keith. You just made a mistake in how you told him--go back to the house and explain it to him."
Laurie held out the box with the costume in it. Cabe nodded and headed for the Partridge house. Laurie got in the car and headed out to get her chores done.
Shirley let Cabe into the house. A few moments later, Cabe was locked into the bathroom down the hall from Keith's bedroom. Slowly, she slipped out of her own clothing and into the red velvet stage costume. Cabe looked in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her, looking unfamiliar. Cabe adjusted her ruffles before walking down the hall to the closed door of Keith's room.
"Go away, Mom," Keith muttered miserably as Cabe pushed the door open. His half-regrown hair lay in messy tangles, and his clothes were rumpled. He hadn't changed his clothes from the day before.
"I'm not your mother, Keith." Cabe said gently.
Keith rolled over, revealing that his shirt had come unlaced and was slipping off one shoulder. Keith's face showed his shock--he just stared at her.
Cabe did a model's turn for Keith and it was as though his fantasies had come true after being so brutally shattered. Cabe stood before him, clothed in the gorgeous stage costume that he had chosen for her. The white ruffles accented her small bosom, and the velvet clung softly to her slender waist.
"Laurie explained how special this was. She told me that you don't offer this to a girl unless you really love her. I didn't realize that when you were asking me to become a Partridge, you were asking me to become your wife someday. I'm sorry that I answered without thinking about how it might hurt you."
"Why did you ever say no to me? Why did Laurie have to explain it to you?"
"Because, Keith, this isn't mine yet." Cabe gestured to the costume that she wore. "I'm not a Partridge, and I can't be a true part until I am a part of your family. When we're married, Keith, then I'll join the band."
"So, what, you can't sing with us? Laurie loves you like a sister. I love you."
"I'm working on getting it so I can,' Cabe said, and kissed Keith on the cheek.
Then Keith understood. His eyes lit up as he realized that Cabe wanted him to marry her before she joined the band. He turned his head and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"Do you promise that you'll join the band after we're married?" Keith asked.
"I promise," Cabe whispered into Keith's ear, and then she blew into the convenient ear. Keith yelped and jumped, making the bed bounce.
"Let me get dressed in clean clothes," Keith said, looking at his rumpled top in disgust. "Then I'll make up for my bad behavior. I should have let you explain."
"I should change too," Cabe murmured, and left for the bathroom. By the time that she had changed back into her street clothes, Keith's door was open. He was inside, brushing out his hair and fluffing it out as much as he could in its current half grown state.
When Cabe entered the room, Keith gathered her into his arms and held her tight. Shirley walked by to check on Keith and Cabe, and she smiled when she saw Cabe in her son's arms. Her fondest hope was that the pair would get married someday. Preferably while his grandparents were still around to see it.