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“Dance with me?” the farmer asks on that 24th day of Spring as the two of them stand in the center of town, her blue eyes shining in the sunlight.
After exchanging goodbyes with Shane, Elliott grasps his wife’s hands in his own, squeezing them with such affection pouring from just his emerald gaze and innocent touch alone.
“Yes,” he breathes, the answer coming forth before a single other thought can pass through his brain. “Could I refuse that soft, kind face?” Elliott inquires aloud, smoothing his hand down his wife’s left cheek, relishing when she closes her blue eyes at his touch. “The touch of spring-time’s sweet embrace?” the auburn-haired writer continues, leaning forward and inhaling the scents of the flowers braided carefully into the farmer’s brown hair before he drops a kiss to his wife’s forehead.
He presses himself as close to her as physically possible.
“You flatter me,” she happily says, a smile playing across her entire face at her husband’s shower of compliments.
“How could I not when I have the world’s most gorgeous and captivating woman in my arms and deeply rooted in my heart?” Elliott continues in a truly reverent tone of voice as his emerald green eyes practically sparkle under the sun.
“Shall we dance?” the farmer inquires, turning and pulling her husband behind her, anticipation bubbling in her blood.
“You’ll let me know if you need a break, yes?” Elliott asks, a nervous inflection coming into his voice. “Harvey mentioned that at this stage…” he begins before his beloved cuts him off at the pass.
“Elliott, honestly, I’m okay, dearest,” she reassures, threading their fingers together before she kisses her husband soundly on the lips. “I’ll let you know if something changes,” she insists, a soft sigh escaping her mouth inadvertently.
Elliott smiles gently down at her, his strong hand placed carefully at the small of her back as they walk to the other dancers.
Elliott bows before his wife as she attempts a curtsy across the field from the writer. Crossing the distance between them, the writer presses his right hand into the brunette farmer’s left before he spins them in a small circle, doing his best not to spin them too quickly. They spin twice before they switch hands, Elliott’s left hand grasping the farmer’s right as he reverently caresses his wife’s knuckles with his long, thin fingers. Five spins follow this time before Elliott passes his wife beneath his arms, the movement ending with her chest pressed against his, their hearts beating in tandem. Elliott brushes bangs away from his wife’s forehead, delighting when the farmer’s calloused hands sweep through Elliott’s own flowing ginger hair. He rests one hand protectively against his wife’s hip, squeezing gently as his other hand remains entwined with hers. The beloved farmer’s free hand comes to rest on Elliott’s shoulder which she softly squeezes in return, relishing the feeling of his corded muscles beneath her fingertips. The happily married couple continues to sway contentedly in each other’s arms, eyes filled and shining with love and soft sighs leaving their lips as Elliott spins them to change their direction when prompted. While the music comes to a crescendo, Elliott gazes tenderly at the woman before him, tightening his hold on her hip slightly.
“Having a wonderful time, dearest?” he inquires, green eyes studying his wife’s face for even the most minimal of expressions.
“Without a doubt, yes,” she answers almost immediately, a small gasp escaping her lips and a joyous expression settling on her face. “Elliott,” the brunette farmer exhales softly, her blue eyes brightening with happiness.
Elliott’s green eyes blaze with excitement and tenderness at hearing his name spoken so sweetly.
“Is it…?” he begins before trailing off, truly rendered speechless at the thought currently forming in his brain.
“A kick,” she smiles in agreement, grasping the hand Elliott had splayed on her hip and moving it to rest along the curve of her swollen belly. “And a particularly strong one, too,” the farmer sharply inhales, a second strong kick landing right beneath where she had placed Elliott’s hand.
The smile that lights Elliott’s face in that moment could power the whole world, the farmer muses. He gently rubs his thumb across the fabric of his wife’s green floral dress, which she had revealed she’d chosen specifically to match the color of his eyes. At the feeling of the touch of Elliott’s fingers on her belly, a volley of five kicks in succession quickly follows.
“Someone sure is active today,” Elliott whispers gently, dropping to his knees in the middle of the field before he presses his forehead to his wife's stomach, his cheek pressed against where he believes their unborn baby's foot to be. "Must be from all the dancing and spinning," he muses, a small laugh escaping his lips as he wonders what that must feel like for their child.
"I think it might be because I'm starving," the farmer loudly laughs, a rumble escaping her stomach at that very moment. "Pierre and Gus seem to have really outdone themselves on the spread of food this year," she comments, inhaling deeply the scent of all the offerings on the other side of the grassy clearing.
"Then allow me to accompany you to get some refreshments and sustenance, beloved," Elliott offers, standing and lacing his fingers with his wife's, his other hand resting at the small of her back.
"Hard to believe that this time next year we'll have an almost one year old," she says, blue eyes widening at the thought.
"Yes, merely a week or two more before our little one comes to meet us," Elliott agrees, helping her to sit down in one of the high-backed chairs, nodding secretly to Harvey to ask the man to keep an eye on his wife while he goes to obtain food and drink for them both. "You are going to be a wonderous mother, my darling," the writer assures, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head, his fingers tangling in her brown braid that swings halfway down her back.
"And you will be the most amazing father, Elliott," she returns the sentiment, knowing that with just how tender Elliott is to her and how he tends to worship her that their child will be the most loved baby in all of Pelican Town, if not in the entirety of Stardew Valley.
As Elliott steps away to grab plates of food and drinks for them both, the farmer can't help but reflect on the fact that her first Flower Dance she was practically a stranger in town, the second she was engaged to Elliott, and this third year she is but weeks away from welcoming their first child into the world.
"So much can change in just three years," she whispers aloud, thinking not just of the progress she has made on the farm, but of her friends, marriage to Elliott, and now a baby on the way.
Life couldn't get any more perfect than this Flower Dance in her third year of living in Pelican Town, not until the birth of their child, at least. Despite Elliott's well-intentioned comments that she should return to the farm to rest, the farmer dances the day away in her husband's embrace, enjoying what is potentially one of their last days as a family of two.