Just to be With You

7: Missing

Peregrin soon grew bored of dancing, and in fact, of Myrtle’s company. He was beginning to think that he had made a wrong decision in choosing her over Celandine. He excused himself from his dance partner and joined Frodo, who had not been dancing.

“Not dancing tonight, cousin?” Pippin asked. “I can remember a time when you ruled the dance floor. No one could dance as well as Frodo Baggins!”

Frodo smiled. “You were ten at the time, Pippin, and I assure you, there were many that could dance better. My excuse for this evening, though, is that all of the good partners were already spoken for. I had meant to ask Estella for a dance – to make her feel more welcome – but she seems to have disappeared.”

“So she has! And Meriadoc with her.” Pippin grinned. “Now I wonder where they’ve gotten to.”

“We should not make any assumptions, Peregrin. Merry can control himself far more than you.”

“Well, I suppose you are right there. But Stella did look especially lovely in Pearl’s dress. I was even considering turning on the Took charm…”

“Stop right there, Peregrin Took. You know as well as I that this is the first time Merry has taken a real interest in a lass. I certainly will not allow you to steal her from him!”

“You are no fun at all, cousin Frodo.” Pippin helped himself to an ale. “We shall have to interrogate him in the morning, and find out everything that happened.”

Against his better judgement, Frodo rather liked Pippin’s idea. He decided that it must have been his Tookish curiosity getting the better of him.

“I wonder if anyone has noticed Meriadoc’s absence,” he said.

Several guests had in fact noticed. Pervinca and Pimpernel had seen the pair leave, and had exchanged whispered comments about it. Odo and Rosa had left the party earlier and returned to Crickhollow, but Fredegar had noticed that his sister was nowhere to be found. He had not yet realised that Merry was missing with her.

Paladin Took wandered over to his sister. “Well, Esmie, have you noticed that Meriadoc has disappeared with Miss Bolger?”

Esmeralda sent her brother a mock-scowl. “This is my son we are talking about, brother, not yours.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the Thain insisted, but he was smirking.

“My Meriadoc is a well-behaved, young gentle-hobbit. A pity that’s the one thing he never managed to pass onto Peregrin.”

Paladin laughed. “I am defeated. There is no way I can argue with my dearest sister. But Esmeralda, I’m sure you cannot deny that you have wedding plans in mind.”

She laughed with him. “No, I cannot deny it. To be honest, Paladin, I worried that perhaps Merry would never settle down. He does spend a lot of time with Frodo, and did with Bilbo also, before he left.”

“You and Saradoc worried that he would never have an heir? No one to succeed him as Master of Buckland.”

“Well, yes, but not only that.” Esmeralda smiled. “I can remember how happy and proud you and Eglantine were on Pearl’s wedding day, and when little Peridot was born. I want to feel that way someday.”

“And I am sure you shall.”

* * * * * *

“Merry?” Estella whispered. Though she did not really wish to wake him, she could see no other way for her to escape. “Merry, wake up please.”

The only response from Meriadoc was a particularly loud snore. Estella sighed again. It seemed there would be no way for her to leave. She decided the best thing she could do with the time she had was to make up various excuses as to why she had ended up beneath Master Meriadoc Brandybuck on his bed. But just as she had rejected the third or forth reason, Merry unexpectedly moved in his sleep. It was only a very slight movement – a roll towards his left side – but it was enough for Estella to wriggle her way out from underneath him.

Once free, she had to take a moment to stretch her limbs. She had been there long enough for her muscles to start cramping. Her eyes fell upon Merry’s face as she did, and she smiled. He looked so peaceful as he slept, and she knew that she wanted nothing more than to wake up to that face every morning for the rest of her life.

She also knew that she could not simply leave him like that. She took the ribbon that was in her hair and placed it in his hand. After kissing him softly on his forehead, Estella slipped silently from the room.

When she came to the ballroom, she found it empty, save the empty glasses and deserted tables.

“Must be later than I thought!” she mumbled to herself. “Everyone has gone. I’ll have to go to Crickhollow.”

It took her a few moments to find her bearings. She had not been paying much attention when they had come to the ballroom, staring fondly at Merry instead. After a few wrong turns, she found the front door of Brandy Hall. She struggled with the lock before she was finally outside. From there, Crickhollow would be easy enough to find.

* * * * * *

The Tooks, Frodo and Fredegar had returned to Crickhollow an hour or so earlier. They had concluded that Estella was with Merry somewhere, or that she had gone with her parents. Either way, they did not search the Hall for her, knowing that she would eventually turn up.

As they readied for bed, Pervinca turned to her elder sister. “So do you suppose they did anything?”

Pimpernel thought for a moment. “If it was Pippin, I would say yes in the blink of an eye, but with Merry, I’m not so sure. And I don’t know if Stella would want to do anything…inappropriate.”

“Merry was very drunk.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice.”

“Oh, yes,” Pervinca giggled. “He was almost tripping over his own feet during the Springle-ring. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so drunk. Not since Pippin at Old Bilbo’s party, anyway.”

“Not since Pippin when?”

Pervinca was about to explain the details of eleven-year-old Pippin’s unfortunate incident with ale when the sisters heard a soft knock.

“What was that?” Pimpernel cried. They waited for a moment in silence and the knock was repeated.

“The window!” said Pervinca. She unlatched the window of their bedroom to see Estella standing outside, panting heavily. “Stella!”

Together, Pervinca and Pimpernel helped Estella through the window. Once inside, Estella collapsed on her bed, exhausted.

“Where have you been, young lady?” Pervinca snickered.

Estella groaned and buried her head under a pillow. “I don’t want to talk about it right now! I’m tired and I want to sleep.”

“Fine,” Pimpernel sniffed. “But you will be telling us everything in the morning. You are lucky that your parents left before you did and so are not aware of your disappearing act with cousin Meriadoc. Be assured that if you do not tell us the story, we may feel inclined to tell them.”

“There’s nothing to tell anyway,” Estella grumbled, before falling fast asleep.

* * * * * *

Frodo and Pippin were awake bright and early the next morning. They were dressed, breakfasted and on their way to Brandy Hall before the rest of Crickhollow had risen. As close family to the Master of the Hall, they were allowed in without question. Very few were stirring inside Brandy Hall. The Brandybucks were renowned for their grand parties that usually required a good day to recover from.

On their way to Merry’s room, they passed Berilac, who only acknowledged them with a tired wave of his hand. Frodo and Pippin decided that it was best not to include Berry in their interrogating group. He hardly seemed well enough for it. They continued on to Merry’s room and stopped outside the door, listening intently.

“I can only hear Merry snoring,” Pippin whispered.

“Shh!” hissed Frodo. But as hard as he tried, he could hear no sound to hint whether Estella also lay within.

As quietly as they could, Frodo and Peregrin pushed the door open. They were quite disappointed with what they saw. Merry, very much alone, was sprawled on his bed, still dressed in his clothes from the party.

“Perhaps she heard us coming and hid,” Pippin suggested. He and Frodo started searching the room.

Their hunt was interrupted by a groan from Merry. “Oh, my poor head…”

With a grin, Pippin jumped on his cousin’s bed, as he had done when he was a child. “Good morning, Cousin Brandybuck! Not feeling too well?”

“Pip? What are you doing here? Go away!” Merry rolled over. It was at this moment that he noticed he had something in his hand. Sitting up, and ignoring the pain as he did so, he opened his hand revealing a navy blue piece of material. “What’s this?”

Pippin scuttled to sit next to Merry, and Frodo made his way to the side of the bed. Pippin broke into another broad grin. “I remember that! It’s the ribbon Estella was wearing in her hair!”

“But what’s it doing here?”

Frodo and Pippin exchanged looks of surprise, and Frodo asked, “You don’t remember?”

Merry paled. “Remember what? Frodo, what happened? My mind is a complete blur.”

Pippin frowned. “How are we supposed to interrogate him if he doesn’t remember anything?”

Ignoring his Took cousin, Frodo focused on his Brandybuck cousin. “Merry, how much of the party do you remember?”

“Very little,” Merry admitted. “I remember you all arriving. I remember Celandine getting angry at Pip. I remember greeting all of the guests…and they all gave me drinks.”

“Oh dear. Meriadoc, do you have any idea how much you drank?”

Merry shook his head. “Oh, Frodo. If Estella was here, you don’t think I did something terrible, do you?”

Pippin had, by now, realised how upset his cousins seemed and forgotten about his desire to interrogate him. “Well, she left her ribbon here, and that’s a good sign. It could mean that she was going to come back.”

“Or that I pulled it out of her hair and she ran away,” Merry said, grimly. “I can’t remember! I’m never drinking ale again!”

“Calm down, Merry,” Frodo ordered. As the eldest, he felt it his duty to remain level headed. “Estella’s bound to have gone back to Crickhollow. We probably just didn’t hear her arrive. Why don’t you have a wash, eat some breakfast and then speak to her. I’m certain that she did not drink as much as you did.”

It took some convincing, but Merry finally agreed to Frodo’s plan. Once he was clean and well fed, he did indeed feel much calmer, though it was with very little confidence that he made his way to Crickhollow.

It had taken Merry long enough to get ready for the rest of Crickhollow to be out of bed and dressed. Frodo, Merry and Pippin found Paladin, Eglantine, Rosamunda, Odovacar and Fredegar having breakfast. Merry did not much like the smirk that his uncle’s face wore.

“Is Estella here?” Pippin immediately asked.

“She was,” Rosa answered, “but she went for a walk with Pervinca and Pimpernel.”

Merry could barely hide his relief. “Do you know where they went?”

“Bucklebury,” said Eglantine. “Market day today.”

Frodo, Merry and Pippin expressed their thanks and left. Fredegar, not wishing to be left behind yet again (the girls had not let him come with them), followed after them. “Wait for me!”

Though Merry was uncomfortable at having Estella’s brother with them, there was not way that they could refuse Fredegar. He did not seem particularly angry at Merry in any case, which they all took as a good sign. Before too long, they had reached the town of Bucklebury, bustling with life.

“It won’t be easy to find them,” Merry sighed.

“And it won’t do to split up and look for them,” said Frodo. “We shall just have to search the whole town.”

Fortunately, it did not actually take long for them to find the three lasses. Pervinca, Pimpernel and Estella were stopped at a sweets stall. The young hobbit serving had eagerly offered them a sample of his goods. Frodo wondered if the lad knew who the girls actually were.

“Pervinca!” Pippin called.

“Oh, hullo Pip,” she replied, mouth full of toffee. “This toffee is simply divine. We must buy some to take to Hobbiton. Rosie will love it!”

Upon hearing this conversation, the sweets-maker mistook them for a young married couple discussing their child.

“That stuff won’t be no good for young‘uns, ma’am,” he stated.

Pervinca laughed. “Oh, I was not speaking about a child! I meant a good friend of mine.”

Estella caught Merry’s eye and blushed. She knew that he had come looking for her, and that Frodo, Pippin and Freddie were there for moral support. But what was she going to say to him? What needed to be said?

Frodo saw that Merry and Estella needed some time to speak alone. “Come on, lads. Let us see if this toffee is really as wonderful as Pervinca claims.” He pulled Merry aside and whispered. “Now is your chance, Master Meriadoc.”

“Thank you, Frodo,” said Merry, and Frodo grinned. Merry beckoned to Estella, and led her out of the bazaar, while the stall owner was mobbed by the richest group of customers he had ever seen.

Away from the crowds of Bucklebury, Merry handed Estella’s ribbon back to her. “I believe this belongs to you.”

“Yes,” she replied, accepting the ribbon. “I was going to come and get it back – that’s why I left it. To let you know I would be coming back.”

“Stella, what happened last night?”

“You don’t remember?”

Merry shook his head. “I have vague memories, and mostly from the earlier hours of the party. Believe me when I say that I am truly sorry for anything I may have done.”

Estella gave a little laugh. “There is no need to be sorry, Merry. You were very drunk…”

“That is no excuse for inappropriate behaviour!”

She held her finger to his lips. “Meriadoc, you did nothing inappropriate. I took you to you room to make sure you had some sleep. Unfortunately, you fell asleep on top of me!”

Merry managed to laugh. “Well, that is certainly not what I expected. Are you certain nothing else happened? You seem hesitant…”

Estella blushed again, and looked at her feet. “Well there was one thing, but I would not call it inappropriate.”

“What was it?”

“You did this.” Estella stepped forward and kissed him. For a moment, he stood in shock, but then he kissed her back, savouring how perfect it felt.

Their kiss was interrupted by the sound of applause. Breaking apart, Merry and Estella saw Frodo, Peregrin, Pervinca, Pimpernel and Fredegar standing nearby, clapping and cheering. They simply had to laugh.

Merry wrapped his arm around Estella’s shoulder, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Well, Miss Bolger, we appear to have been found out.”