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Frodo ambled down the road towards the market square with her basket in hand, curious as to where Sam was today. She’d been disappearing more frequently and for longer as the month dragged on and Frodo worried that she had done something for Sam to dislike her; it wasn’t like Sam to avoid her this much, especially not since she moved in with her in Bag-End.
Frodo had invited Sam to stay the night more often than not since returning home. Minas Tirith had allowed them both time to figure out whatever feelings had strengthened between them on their journey to Mordor, and Frodo had liked the company at night; the nightmares felt less powerful with Sam curled up next to her, hair braided and breath soft. But since August had started, Frodo had seen less and less of her love. At first she’d not given it much thought, boiling it down to their schedules simply never lining up, but after two weeks of the same sneaking around and poor excuses from Sam, her mind had begun to wander towards cheerless thoughts.
With a heavy heart Frodo passed between the market stalls, picking up the bits and pieces they needed back home, trying not to linger on the ‘what if’s too much. Lost in her thoughts she didn’t notice when Merry came up to her until he started speaking. “Hullo, cousin. How are you today?” Frodo nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice.
“Oh, Merry, it’s just you. Truth be told I’ve felt better. You haven’t seen Sam at all today, have you? She’s been avoiding me all month.”
“Sam…? Um, no, can’t say that I have.” Frodo could see the cogs turning in Merry’s head.
“Meriadoc Brandybuck, if you know something about why Sam has been hiding from me for the last four weeks, I should like to know.”
“She’s not…avoiding you, per se, she’s just… busy! Yes, busy with… preparations… for your birthday! Yes…” Merry smiled awkwardly.
“My birthday is a month away, Merry, why is she preparing for it now?”
“Don’t ask me! I don’t like to question what Sam does,” –he quieted his voice to a whisper– “truth be told she scares me a little.”
That made Frodo laugh, “Sam Gamgee scares you? Wait ‘til she hears that.”
“Hey! Don’t you tell her anything, I don’t need her having more ammo against me.”
“ More ammo?”
“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything. And if you really want to know what’s up with her, ask her. She’s probably ready to tell you now. See you around, cousin.” And with that, Merry strolled off, whistling a tune Frodo didn’t recognise.
She sighed and continued on with her chores for the day. ‘ She’s probably ready to tell you now .’ Merry’s words echoed in Frodo’s mind as she tried to work out what they meant, whilst deliberating what she would say to Sam when she saw her later, that was if she saw her later…
***
The late summer sun beat through the canopy above as Sam made her way down the beaten path winding through the trees. “–No, no that’s too… that’s not right…” She groaned and tugged at her hair, finding the right words seemed like an impossible task. She silently cursed Merry and his insistent attitude that this would be the easiest thing she would ever do in her life, and while he wasn’t entirely wrong (proposing to Frodo seemed like the most natural thing in the world to Sam) he had underestimated just how difficult it would be to keep a secret from the Lady of Bag-End.
Sam never liked keeping secrets in general, but especially from Frodo, she always felt like a fraud when she had to hide something and it didn’t help that she was awfully bad at it. And Frodo could always see through her thinly veiled excuses, so Sam had resorted to sneaking out of the smial whenever Frodo busied herself in her books to avoid confrontation and yet another poor excuse.
She shook her head and moved her focus from her speech to the flowers basking in the warmth of the sun. Sam had planted them specifically for Frodo, but she had spent the last month making sure Frodo never found out about their existence to avoid running the risk of ruining the entire plan. Merry had helped with it; he'd stumbled upon Sam in the woods after she’d gone to check on the flowers and had immediately noticed that something was up with her. Sam’s normal apprehensive demeanour had seemed to double in severity since planting the flowers, and running into Merry of all people hadn’t helped. In fact it made it worse, until he offered to help her with a proposal plan. ‘Operation Tulip’, he had called it. “But there’s not just tulips, Merry.” Sam had protested, “There’s forget-me-nots, and red dianthus’ too, and heliotropes.”
“Yes, but you have three different tulip colours growing here, Sam, so it’s ‘Operation Tulip’ or I’m telling Frodo.” Sam’s smile vanished in an instant and Merry gave a chuckle. “I’m joking, obviously. I would never spoil something like this, Sam, I promise. Your secret is safe with me.”
Sam looked down at the flowers, now in full bloom, and smiled. She had chosen each one specifically for their meanings, and had poured her heart and soul into making sure they were perfect. Frodo deserved the best of everything, and Sam wasn’t about to make this any less than that. She wasn’t the best at making flower crowns, her sisters had usually made them for her, but Daisy had agreed to teach her how and to help her practice. Sam set to work collecting all of the flowers, and once she had a good selection she sat down on a felled tree. Digging out the base (a couple of bendy sticks she’d found) and some twine from her bag she set to work on weaving them all together.
An hour passed before Sam finally finished the crown, and she sat back and admired her work. It wasn’t the best, Daisy probably would’ve made one a lot better, but she was proud nonetheless. And it was for Frodo, who would care more that it was personal from Sam than how perfect it looked, but Sam still hoped it was good enough.
As she was packing everything away and giving the remaining flowers one last water, a rustling sound came from behind; Sam spun around so fast she nearly knocked Merry off his feet.
“Merry! What’re you doing out here? Did anyone see you?” Sam gave him an uneasy look.
“I’m here to tell you that Frodo was looking for you today, she’s getting agitated.”
“About what? You didn’t tell her anything, did you?”
“I told her that you were planning birthday celebrations because she wouldn’t stop asking after you. You haven’t been as sneaky as you think you have, Sam.”
Sam sighed, “At least she doesn’t know about this place… I’ll talk to her later.”
Merry slapped her on the back and grinned, “You still going to go through with ‘Operation Tulip’?”
“If I can, plans might change after tonight.”
“All I ask is that you tell me how it all goes, no matter when or how, I need to know whether or not to beat up my cousin,” Merry grinned again and laughed, and took Sam’s arm as they walked back through the forest.
“Thanks for the help, Merry, really. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do this without you.”
“Ah, it was nothing, just happy to help a friend, is all.” Sam smiled back at him and allowed herself to be half-led, and half-dragged, towards town.
Once back in Hobbiton, Sam and Merry parted ways and Sam made her way up the hill to Bag-End, preparing what she would say to Frodo as she went. She stopped to take a deep breath at the door, praying to the Valar that she’d have the strength to lie to Frodo for one final night. She stepped over the threshold and put her bag down gently beside it, and called out for Frodo, “Frodo? Are you home?”
“I’m home, Sam.” Sam jumped at the sound of her voice.
“Hi, dear, did you have a good day?”
Frodo shook her head lightly, almost in disbelief, and disappeared into the study.
“Frodo…?” Sam followed her, now worried she’d done something to upset her. She stopped just before the doorway to the study, “M’lady?”
Frodo looked up from her desk, a tired look on her face, “Yes, Sam?”
“Are you okay? You’re acting strange.”
“I should be the one asking you that.”
“Frodo– please tell me what’s up with you tonight.”
“Where have you been?”
Sam’s brow furrowed, “What?”
“Where were you today? I was looking for you everywhere. You weren’t at the market, your father said he hasn’t seen you since yesterday morning, and Merry gave me the most awful excuse for what you were doing.”
Sam shuffled nervously on the spot, “Can I come in?”
Frodo sighed, “This is your house too, you don’t need to ask, love.”
“Right… yeah…” Sam looked around, trying to think of what to say that would convince Frodo enough to leave it for the night. “If you must know I was, um… baking for the Mayor up at Michel Delving…” Sam looked sheepishly up at Frodo, silently praying it was enough.
“Sam. Please . Just stop.”
“What’s wrong?”
“‘What’s wrong’?! You’ve been ignoring and avoiding me for the past month , Sam. I should be asking you that. Have I done something for you to dislike me?”
“I– no! No, you haven’t done anything–“
“Then what’s going on?”
Sam stared at Frodo, unblinking, trying to hold back tears. All she could see was Frodo’s face growing sadder by the second as she thought of what to say. A quiet, “Stay there,” was all she could manage.
Sam went to her bag that was still sitting by the front door and pulled out the crown. She held it in her shaking hands for a moment, trying to calm her breath before walking back through Bag-End to where Frodo stood in the study. Sam took a deep breath before stepping back into view.
“Don’t… don’t hate me for avoiding you, please. I didn’t mean to avoid you, I just don’t like keeping secrets from you and I know that if you asked me what I was up to every time I left I would’ve caved at some point and I wanted this to be a surprise… I tried my best to make this during times you were busy so you wouldn’t notice but clearly I didn't do a very good job at that, and I had this whole set-up and speech planned that I was going to do tomorrow so the flowers wouldn’t die before I gave it to you but… but I don’t want to wait any longer; I think I might actually lose my mind if I have to keep this secret from you for another day.” She paused to breathe, gently stroking one of the flowers tied into the crown. “Frodo, I love you more than anything. You are the most special part of my life and I couldn’t imagine it without you. We’ve been through hell and back again, and survived. You’ve been through something I could never imagine and you’re still here with me, and I’ve never been happier. After the whole ring situation I— I didn’t want to get you something that could give you any type of pain, so… so I made you this crown. It’s not much, I know, and it won’t last forever but… but I truly believe that we can. I love you like the sun loves the moon, Frodo Baggins, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
Time seemed to stand still. Sam fought with every muscle in her body not to crush the delicate flowers still sitting in her hands as she waited for Frodo to say something. Anything .
“M’lady? Did– did I say something wrong? Oh gods I completely misjudged us didn’t I– I thought we were at this stage in our relationship… oh Samwise you fool!”
Frodo rushed forwards, taking Sam’s hands in her own, the crown closing the gaps between them. “Samwise Gamgee, you did everything wonderfully right, maybe a little haphazardly, but I love that about you; I love everything about you and I wouldn’t change what we have for all the golden rings in the world.” Frodo took the crown from Sam’s hands and looked it over, admiring her choice of flowers, a tender smile on her lips. “My answer is yes, I will marry you, Sam.” And she kissed her, slow and deep. A kiss filled with all the love a Hobbit could possibly hold for one so dear to her.
“I– you will?”
“I will.” Sam smiled, a wide, caring smile filled to the brim with emotions, and held Frodo’s face in her hands a beat longer before placing the crown on Frodo’s head. She kissed her again. “You make me the happiest Hobbit in all of the Shire, I hope you know that.”
“I wouldn’t be marrying you if I didn’t. And I definitely wouldn’t be marrying you if you didn’t make me the happiest Hobbit in all of the Shire. You said you had a speech planned? Can I hear some of it?”
“It was mostly what I said to you already, m’lady, save more about the flowers and why I picked them, and less about the avoidance that I really didn’t mean to happen…”
“It’s okay, I understand now. I was just worried that you didn’t want to be with me anymore, I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got naught to be sorry for, it was me who kept the secret.”
“And I’m glad you did. I’d like to hear the part about the flowers, if you don’t mind, Sam.” Frodo smiled and took Sam’s hands again, pulling her down to sit on the sofa together.
Sam smiled sheepishly and recalled the speech Merry had helped her write. “–It’s made from forget-me-nots, they mean ‘faithful love’ or ‘true love’, and you are my one true love; red dianthus, that means ‘ardent love’; the heliotropes stand for ‘adoration’ and ‘devotion’, feelings I hold strongly towards you; and the tulips, well… the pink ones stand for ‘my perfect lover’ which you most definitely are, the purple ones mean ‘eternal love’, and the red ones are ‘a declaration of love’, ‘trust’ and ‘undying love’ which is sort of ironic when you think about it –because flowers die and all– but they felt the most perfect to me for something like this.”
Frodo’s smile had widened significantly while Sam had been talking, and once she had finished Frodo pulled her closer and planted a kiss on the other Hobbit’s temple. “They’re perfect, my love, all of them. And gorgeous too, where did you grow them so that I wouldn’t see?”
“Some ways down and off the path in Bindbole Wood, I could take you there tomorrow if you wanted, most of the flowers are still in bloom, I only cut the ones I needed for the crown.”
“I’d love that, Sam.” She kissed Sam again and rested her head on the other’s shoulder when she pulled away. “First things first, though, how are we going to break the news to everyone?”
“I think everyone already thought we were engaged…” Sam looked down, embarrassed; Frodo simply laughed.
“Of course they did, you’re not the best at keeping secrets, love, and we don’t exactly hide our relationship anymore.” They had in the early days. When they’d first arrived back in the Shire, they’d hidden what they were to each other from all except Merry and Pippin, who had known since the day they had reunited in the City of Kings. Everyone suspected it, of course; they were the talk of the town. One doesn’t spend all her waking (and sleeping) hours with her gardener without attracting unwanted, suspecting eyes. Frodo hadn’t minded, she was used to being the centre of attention ever since Bilbo had taken her on as his heir, but Sam wasn’t, and she frequently hid herself away within her flowers when unsought questions came searching for answers. But now everything and everyone was much calmer, and Sam and Frodo were comfortable enough to show their love for each other publicly, no matter who’s eyes were staring.
But now it was the case of sharing even more personal news, and even if everyone did already have their suspicions it didn’t make it any easier, especially not for Sam.
“We can figure it out tomorrow, Sam, there’s no rush.” Frodo stroked her thumb over Sam’s warm hand, something she noticed calmed her now-fiancée down very effectively; Sam relaxed back into Frodo’s chest and nodded. “Tomorrow.”