Primula licked the last of the buttercream frosting from her fingers and leaned back against the great oak with a contented sigh and her wine glass in hand. Drogo has really gone all out this time, she thought with a loving smile at her husband of over 20 years.

Besides the buttercream cake with strawberries, their meal had consisted of little sandwiches made of thin slices of ham and watercress; cold potato salad; an herb-roasted chicken with gravy; jellied cranberries; honey-glazed turnips and carrots; stewed dandelions mixed with the leftover hazelnuts from Autumn; freshly baked pumpernickel bread with butter; and a bottle of fine wine--mandatory on any picnic. Oh, and there had also been that fresh bouquet of her name-flower that he'd managed to have hidden away too. While they ate, Drogo had deftly weaved the stems into a flower chain for her to wear.

Drogo slipped his arm around his wife's shoulders and nuzzled her creamy neck, his free hand idly fingering the laces of the bodice of the new dress she wore. Just as she had when she was newly of age, Primula let out a giggle that warmed Drogo all the way to his furry toes. Primula lifted her head, batting long eyelashes and soon the hobbit couple were engaged in a deep kiss, the world around them lost in their unbridled passion.

They had been coming up to this spot underneath the lone oak tree on the hill overlooking the Brandywine River since they began courting, all those many years before. This was their favorite spot and also one that held much meaning for the both of them. It was where they had once shared their first true kiss under a Summer's Sun ... and many more since then. It was where Drogo had proposed and she accepted. It was where their wedding had taken place and also where Primula had first told her husband she was finally with child after many years of marriage and wanting for a family.

And now every time they came to stay at Brandy Hall whether it be for a wedding, birth, funeral, holiday, or just to visit with family, Primula and Drogo always made sure they journeyed up to "their tree" as it had been dubbed by the Brandybucks.

Their kiss dwindled to an end and they rested their curly heads together, sitting back against the thick trunk of the oak tree to watch the Sun set amidst a fading blue sky scattered with clouds of purple, pink, and pale green. The heart Drogo had once carved into the bole of the tree, bearing their initials and the year (1355), had now grown to be just over their curly heads.

After such a spectacular sunset, the hobbit couple made their way hand-in-hand down the hillside, across a meadow dotted with wildflowers, down a small dirt path that twisted and turned through the woods, until they came to a stone pathway that meandered around the gardens of Brandy Hall. They followed this path for a ways until it brought them to the river and the row of wooden boats moored next to a short dock.

Leaving their picnic basket on the dock to retrieve when they returned, Drogo found the Bagginses' red-painted boat and eased himself into it with great care after inspecting it thoroughly. The boat had once been a gift to the couple on their fifth wedding anniversary by Primula's parents, Gorbadoc and Mirabella. It was tradition to gift the married couple with an item made from wood upon their fifth wedding anniversary and while Drogo had found the interpretation of a rowboat to be amusing, it had made Primula thrilled to no end for she loved the water so.

Growing up in Hobbiton, long the ancestral home of the Baggins family, Drogo had had little experience with boats and such. Boating wasn’t considered to be natural and the folk there simply fished The Water from the bank or dipped their toes in its cool water on a hot Summer’s day, but nothing more than that. Why, the first time he'd ever set foot inside a boat, he'd been shaking much to Primula's dismay. It was only his deep love for Gorbadoc’s youngest and most beautiful daughter that had prompted him to even think about setting foot in a Brandybuck boat in the first place.

However with a bit of coaxing from Primula and her siblings, Drogo had learned to let go his white-knuckled grip on the sides of the boat and come to appreciate the joyful aspects of a day drifting on the currents of the Brandywine River. Primula and her four brothers, had taught Drogo over the years all he ever needed to know about boats until the stout hobbit could maneuver one with ease along the river and feel mostly comfortable doing it. Primula had been so very happy and proud the first time he had even taken her out upon the Brandywine River all by himself, although to this day he still remained a very poor swimmer despite the Brandybucks’ best efforts to teach him otherwise.

Drogo untied the thick ropes mooring the little red vessel they'd named 'Ruby' after his mother, and rowed until he was even with the dock where Primula stood waiting, the full Moon casting its silver glow over her fair skin. Holding the rowboat steady, Drogo took his wife's hand and helped her step into the boat. Primula smiled her slow sweet smile when her husband kissed her proffered hand before he took up the oars and began to row into the night upon the moonlit water.

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