The time had come. Much as Emily didn't want to disappoint anyone, she knew she had to tell ten of her suitors that their time In Care-A-Lion had come to an end.
There was a special room just off the great room where she could ponder her decision. Since she knew she was ultimately going to choose her "planted" lover, she had been rather whimsical in her choice of the other men. Some were there just because she liked their names. Some were there because they reminded her of guys she had liked from seeing them on TV. She wasn't going to claim, at this stage of the game, that she knew any of them well enough to make a thoughtful decision.
She looked up at Mary Anne. The cue card said, "I know what I have to do." Emily repeated the line. Then Firefly just happened to pass outside the window, lighting up the sky. All of a sudden Emily had an idea. She had managed to visit the gift shop at the antique auto museum while Bentley was entertaining himself in the English wing. For souvenirs, she'd bought models of a number of cars that had gone out of production years ago. She thought Ricki might enjoy them, but now she had another use for them. She could get more later.
Emily called to Chris. She posed her suggestion to him. Chris looked dubious at first. "You realize we've never done anything like this before, don't you?" he said.
"Well," Emily responded in her most charming drawl, "Mike Fleiss told me I could have anything I want." She tapped her right foot. You could hear the beautiful amethyst colored glass clinking against the quarry tile floor.
"All right," said Chris. "We've always said there were no rules. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the audience believe us for once."
Emily smiled. She felt a bit less sorrowful over the business of the night.
The men were waiting for her in the great room. Chris walked in and tapped his butter knife against his wine glass. A tray of roses was placed on the table next to a stack of small boxes. Emily smiled shyly. She thanked all the man for coming. "As you know, I'm looking for love, and looking toward the future. I'm very sorry to see some of you leave tonight, but I hope you had a nice time while you were in Care-A-Lion. I just can't dwell on the past, though."
All of the man looked uneasy. What could Emily mean? Emily continued, "Could I ask Edsel, Nash, Woody, Hudson, Packard, Austin, Hillman, Stu D. Baker, Morris and Stanley to join me?"
What was going on here? The ten men she named stepped away from the group and walked over to Emily. She handed each of them a box with his namesake car. Then she said, "I'll walk you outside. I know the perfect driver is out there somewhere for every one of y'all. Just keep your tanks full, your oil clean and your tires inflated."
She gave each man a hug and returned inside, her shoes clicking on the pavement.
Still in the room were Joseph, Richard, Jason, Owen, Thad and Bentley, who had already had a chance to spend a little time with Emily. Other arrivals had been Gilles, Guy, Ames, Mike and Ryan. And then there were Beamer, Ford, Dodge, and Mini Cooper.
"Okay, guys," Emily addressed the remaining men. "I'm asking y'all to stay, so you can come up and grab your own roses."
One by one, each man took a rose from the tray. Bentley was at the end of the line. Just before he could reach for the last rose, Chris rushed, grabbed Bentley's hand, and pushed him aside.
"Gentlemen, this is the last rose tonight," Chris said to no one in particular. "Emily, whenever you're ready." Chris stepped back, wiping the perspiration from his brow. Emily shook her head. Bentley took his rose. Mary Anne dropped her cue cards.
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