Almost

Part One

Jo took a rather timid look at herself in the mirror. When she noticed her timid expression, she gave a sigh. She was being rather silly. Just because it was Easter was no excuse for Jo to act so childish-or so she thought. At Meg and Amy's suggestions-pushings really-Jo bought herself a new dress. It was light blue-grey, and made of very fine material. She had thought the dress was entirely too expensive for Plumbfield-with the children always making messes, but Amy had insisted. She even paid for the dress-something that still bothered Jo. However, Laurie was a very persuading person, and Jo eventually accepted the "gift."

Then this morning, Meg had arrived with flowers. She already had some delicately arranged in her hair-which was down. It turned out that Mr.Trent-Edward-was coming to town for Easter. Meg was really getting into it and insisted on putting flowers into Jo's hair. At first, Jo simply rolled her eyes and gave Meg a look, but Meg refused to take no for an answer and began arranging baby breath in Jo's hair. She looked at the clock and noticed that she was a little early. She had just enough time to sit down for a minute. On the table was a picture of everyone at Plumbfield, taken some years ago. She gave a small smile and picked it up, her thumb on Fritz. "Happy Easter," she said softly, brushing her finger over the image.

Nick brushed off his Sunday clothes as they hung on the hanger. He made a little face and looked at them closely. They'd have to do-besides, the only people that were going to see him were the children-and everyone else at Plumbfield. Like Jo. Nick sigh and shook his head; he was going to have to stop this. It was obvious that Jo wasn't ready to move on. She'd made that perfectly clear a while ago. Ever since then, he'd been trying to make himself feel better by reminding himself that she had offered the promise that one day she would be ready. Funny thing, but that wasn't much comfort now.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Nick gave the door a funny look, but opened it anyway. Laurie stood there with some packages behind him. "Nick! Happy Easter! How are you?" he said.

"I'm fine Laurie, what ya got there?" Nick said, pointing. Laurie smiled and gently pushed his way inside.

"Just some Easter surprises!" he said with a grin.

Of course Jo and Nick had no idea what was going on behind their backs at that very second. The children, who were supposed to be getting ready to go to church, were busy in the barn with a plot all their own.

"I still say we should have gone with the original idea!" Emil said.

"That's just because today was your day Emil!" Nan retorted.

"Children! Don't fight, please. We all agreed to work together. As in no more betting! Now Mr.Laurie just went over to Nick and I saw Meg with Jo quite a while ago," Franz said, "This will work. It has to work."

"Don't worry, it will," said Dan with a grin.

"Yeah, we planned so much for this, it can't go wrong!" Nat said.

"But," Fritz said, then left it hanging. There was a silence in the room as one by one the children looked up at him. "Should we have done this?"

"Of course we should," Amy said, entering the room, "It's obvious that they have feelings for one another. We're just helping them to act on their feelings."

"Why does it sound so easy when you say that? Look, I'm just concerned about Rob. What if he's too young to understand this?" Franz asked.

"Well that's why he hasn't been a part of it," Amy replied, "Besides, he adores Nick! He would just love to have him as a daddy!" Another silence fell over the room. "What?" Amy asked.

"How do you know that?" Franz asked.

"Well....we sort of played a little game. We pretended that Nick was his daddy and he told me it was fun and good," Amy said in an innocent voice.

"You did what?!!!" Franz almost started to cross the room towards her. Just then Laurie entered.

"All of you, be quiet! It's time to go!" he looked at all their faces and sigh, "Look, we've all come this far. The Easter-Spring Dance is tonight. If it doesn't work, it was never meant to be. Okay? Now don't worry." He smiled and everyone felt a little better. This was the day they had been waiting for.

Nick looked in the mirror. "This is crazy," he muttered. He had on a brand new suit. A "gift" from Laurie. It was a very nice suit-Nick really liked it! That was just the problem; he couldn't accept a gift like that. But Laurie had insisted. Then there were the flowers. Laurie had told Nick that Jo loved to receive lillies on Easter. As her employee, Laurie thought Nick should be the one to give her the flowers. Nick picked up them up and fingered the petals. A small smile formed on his lips before he could catch himself. He sigh again and, with one last look in the mirror, left.

"Here Mother, these are for you," Rob said, handing Jo a small boquet of wildflowers. "Franz helped me pick them."

Jo knelt down and hugged him tightly, "Sweetheart! Thank you! They're so lovely! Why don't you go out to the wagon, and I'll be right down." Rob nodded and skipped down the stairs. On his way down he passed Nick.

"Hi Nick!" he said with a grin.

"Hey Rob, is your ma upstairs?" Nick asked.

"Yep! She's in her room. Are those for her?" he pointed to the flowers. Nick nodded and then Rob looked down on his shoes.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked, sitting on the steps next to Rob.

"She won't like your flowers better than mine, will she?" he asked in a timid voice.

"Aw, no! She could never like anyone's flowers as much as the one's you gave her. You know how much she loves you! Don't worry Rob, look, if you don't want me to give them to her, I won't," Nick said. Rob seemed to think for a long time.

Then he said, "Those are her favorite. Maybe she'll like them both the same!" and with a smile and a wave, he was skipping down the stairs again. Nick looked back fondly and then finished going up the stairs. In the hall Franz just smiled and shook his head. "Franz! Nick's gonna give mamma her favorite flowers!" Rob said smiling, like he had some big secret.

"Is that so now?" Franz asked, leading him out of the house.

Nick stopped outside of Jo's room. Her door was half open and he could see inside. Jo had on a new dress, light blue, that he'd never seen before. She literally took his breath away and it took him a minute before he could knock on the door. Jo turned around and smiled.

"Well you look very nice!" she said.

"So do you," Nick said. There was an akward silence for a few beats as Nick stared at the flowers in his hand. He shook his head and said, "Here! These are for you!" Jo's eyes got big and her expression turned into one of surprise.

"Lillies," she said softly.

"They'd, uh, probably look silly in your hair....a little too big. But, uh, the ones you have in your hair now look real nice.....we should go," Nick tried to fill in the silence. Jo nodded her head and then gave a little laugh. She picked up a beautiful hat; it was straw, covered in a lacey material, with little flowers sewn on the top.

"Amy bought me this ridiculus hat, and I can't seem to get it on," she hesitated for a moment and then held it out to him, "Could you help me?" Nick swallowed hard.

"Sure," he said. Their hands brushed as he took the hat and Jo looked up at him. She turned around and faced the mirror, keeping eye contact with his reflection. He gently placed the hat on her head and tried to pin it the right way. After a few tries, he finally got it right.

"There, doesn't look ridiculous on you," he said. They just stood there like that for a moment, and then the kids started yelling from outside. Jo looked down and smiled, "Let's go!" Nick hesitated, then held his arm out to her, and she took it.

When they got to the wagon, everyone was trying to act so normal that it was strange. Rob started to say something, but Franz tickled him. Bess was riding with her parents, Meg, and Meg's children. All the rest of the kids were piled in the back of the wagon. Nick helped Jo up, then got in beside her.

"Happy Easter everybody! Ready to go to church?" Nick asked, flicking the reigns. The kids began to point and poke one another behind him. Finally Franz gave the kids a look and nodded toward Nan. She got a pleased look on her face and then gave Dan a triumphant smile.

"Mrs. Jo?" she said sweetly.

"Yes Nan?" Jo replied, turing around in her seat a little.

"We are going to the Easter-Spring-Dance tonight, aren't we? I mean, I've never been there and all the boys say it's lots of fun!" Jo's face became clouded for a moment, as various memories flashed in her mind.

Then she gave Nan a big smile and said, "Of course sweetheart. We wouldn't miss it!" After slightly hesitating, she added, "Nick, will you be joining us as well?"

Nick shrugged, "Don't see why not." Franz let out a breath rather loudly.

"Franz, are you alright? You look tired," Jo's face showed her concern.

"It's alright Aunt Jo, you're probably right," he replied with a smile. From then on they rode on to church with the usual amount of chatter.

"Father! That was a wonderful service," Jo exclaimed, shaking his hand after mass.

"I ain't been in a lot of churches but I have to say this is one of the best one's I've ever been to," Nick added.

"Thank you, you're too kind," he said, "Oh! Mrs. Bhear! I was wondering if you could help us out?"

"Of course Father, I'll help if I can," Jo said.

"Well, you know that today is our annual Easter Dance," he began.

Jo nodded, "Yes, we're going. The children are quite looking forward to it."

"Well then you also know that we try to raise money for the church every year, in some way or another," at Jo's nod he continued, "This year, the ladies have put together a little auctioning event. It seems they're going to "auction" off all the eligable ladies they can find." Jo began to shake her head no, but Father went on, "Please, think of the church! We could get so much money!" Jo looked up at Nick.

"What's the harm?" he asked, "It's only one night?"

"Alright," Jo said, finally relenting, "I'll do it."

Nan practically fell down as she ran over to where everyone else was standing. "Franz! Franz!" she exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" asked Meg.

"Mrs. Jo! She's going to be in the auction tonight!" Nan exclaimed.

"Well that's quite alright! After all, Father talked me into it too..." Meg trailed off, "Oh..."

"Well who's going to bid for Mrs. Jo?" Dan said. When everyone glared at him he added, "I mean, we're gonna get Nick to bid for her, and no one else in town is going to outbid him. That's what I meant."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Dan," Franz said.

"Dear Lord," Jo began to say grace at the dinner table but suddenly stopped. "Nick, perhaps you would like to say grace?" she asked suddenly. Franz looked up in surprise by moving his eyes, but Amy's whole head shot up. Jo gave a startled glance in Amy's direction, but then Nick started.

"Dear Lord, we thank you for this food and for these people to share it with. This has been a real nice Easter and we hope that the church can raise some money tonight. Amen," Nick said.

As everyone began to eat, Franz leaned over to Tommy and whispered, "Now!"

"So Mr. Laurie, are you gonna bid for Mrs. Jo tonight?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy!" Jo exclaimed.

"It's alright Jo. I'm afraid not Tommy. I don't think Amy would appreciate it if I was gone all evening." Amy smiled and raised her eyebrows at Franz.

"Franz, won't you be bidding for Jo?" Amy asked in a sly voice.

"Uh...um," Franz cleared his throat.

"Perhaps Franz has someone else in mind Amy," Jo said rather sharply.

Franz saw his opportunity and jumped in with, "Why don't you do it Nick?" But it was a little too late.

"Stop it!" Jo exclaimed, "Would you all just stop it? Worrying about who'll bid for me....do you all really think that no one will? Well fine then, but please don't fight amongst yourselves this way!" She shook her head and quickly went outside. Before she was even out the door, Nick was getting up from his chair. He gave everyone a look before going out after Jo. Once he was out of hearing distance they all started yelling at one another.

"Amy! Why did you do that?" Franz exclaimed.

"Me!! Me? What? You did it!" Amy retorted.

"Everyone! Would you stop it!" Nan said very loudly. Everyone got quiet. "There, that's better. Now we all messed up. So it's time for Plan B," she grinned.

"Oh no!" Nat groaned, "Not the plans again!!"

"Plan B? What are you talking about?" asked Amy.

"I don't know yet," said Nan, her smile getting bigger, "but I'll figure out somethin'."

"Jo?" Nick said softly as he came onto the porch. Jo had her back to him. "Come on Jo," he said, turning her around. She quickly wiped at her eyes. "Aw Jo, you don't have to do this tonight if you don't want to," Nick said.

"I do want to Nick, that's the thing. But they're in there planning what to do when no one bids for me. Acting like this is so important. And then telling you to bid for me!"

Nick gave her *the look* and said, "I was gonna bid for ya anyway." Jo just looked into his eyes for a minute and then started to slowly walk away.

"Nick really, you don't have to," she said, walking to the railing.

"I want to," he simply said, "Course if you don't want me to..." Jo forced herself to look at him, but then looked down at her feet again.

"They're probably right you know," she said, gazing at the horizon.

"About the biddin'? Come on Jo! You have this new dress, those flowers in your hair....you make great conversation-you're real smart-why wouldn't anyone bid for you? That's just silly. And so what if they don't? I'll still bid. It'll make it easier for me to win...." Jo turned to him and grinned. "See, it's all just for fun. Now can we go back inside and eat? Asia's cookin' looked so good..." Nick grined back as Jo nodded and took his arm.

Jo walked into Nan's room and sigh when she saw Nan going through her dresses. "Nan! I've been looking everywhere for you; it's almost time to go!" Jo exclaimed.

"I know Mrs. Jo, but I just want to look perfect tonight!" Nan said with a sigh.

"Why don't you wear what you wore to church this morning?" Jo asked. Nan looked at Jo as if she was telling her to wear nothing.

"Mrs. Jo! I can't wear that! Not to the dance!" Nan exclaimed. She threw the piece of clothing she was holding on the floor and sunk onto the bed.

Jo slowly sat next to her and said gently, "Nan, is there something you're not telling me? You can tell me anything you know." Nan was looking at her shoes but finally looked up.

"Mrs. Jo, um....well have you ever liked a boy?"

Jo tried not to laugh as she said, "Yes, I have Nan. I loved my husband very much."

"Yeah, well, how can ya tell if they like you back?" Nan asked.

"Well Nan, I suppose it can be by the way they treat you. But Nan, let me tell you that sometimes, it's good to have all kinds of friends as a child, instead of sticking to one person. That way when you're older, you'll know who you really belong with. Does that make sense?"

Nan nodded and with a big smile said, "Yep Mrs. Jo!" "Let's go," Jo said, holding out her hand. Nan took it and they went out to the wagon.