Margreet and Lisa went upstairs together to check all the rooms. Cees and Sita's room was already done. They would be staying for another week.

"Nice that they are staying, I haven't spoken to them often, but they are just a nice and funny couple!" said Margreet.

Lisa couldn't agree more: "I felt comfortable with them right away, and that rarely happens to me with new people! I look forward to seeing the new guests! All the rooms will get full today."

"Yes, so let's do a quick check-up and put things in order where necessary."

The Hydrangea branches turned out to be still fine to leave for the next guests. They rinsed the vases and the undersides of the branches thoroughly for a moment and put them in the window sills with fresh water.

In room 2 Lisa remained standing. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like we need to do something with this room...something special..." She looked at Margreet questioningly. Margreet quietly made the effort to feel, to listen to her inner self, but got no impression.

Lisa suddenly saw a picture before her and began to describe it, "Flowers, lots of flowers! Also those plastic flower petals on the bed, a special comforter cover... I can totally see it, so special... Do we have those, a comforter cover for special occasions?" she asked Margreet.

"I wouldn't know, we'll just have to ask Annerieke about that later."

"Why would that be, that we should do something special with this room?" wondered Lisa.

"No idea, but if we're going to carry out what you saw in front of you, I'm sure we'll find out this afternoon!"

They decided to quickly continue their tour of the rooms, changing the beds of the departed guests. They put the bedlinen in the washing machines and walked to Annerieke's house. They knocked on the back door, calling her name.

"Where's the fire?" came Annerieke cheerfully toward the utility room.

"Nowhere, but Lisa just got a special impression at one of the guest rooms. Tell yourself, Lisa."

"Yes, at room 2..." she began, explaining what she had seen in her mind. "Do we have a comforter cover with pillowcases for a special occasion?"

Annerieke thought for a moment, "No, not at the guest house, but here at the house, hold on, I'll get the set."

A moment later she returned with a stack, a cover with two pillowcases. They were of a light old pink color with a floral design.

"This was my first set when I married Erik. The set of our wedding week. We spent it here at home. The guest house was under construction, almost finished, but that week we told Simon not to disturb us. We had a great time together! Only Erik and I..." She smiled at the memory. "And I had bought this set a few weeks in advance, to do something extra for our first week."

Annerieke looked at her daughters: "In room 2, there will come two women. I know their names, but nothing else. In theory, they could be sisters or girlfriends, but since you experienced this so specifically, I suspect there is more to it, that they are a couple who have such a soul connection with each other. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there is something like that going on... Would you guys change that bedding?"

Margreet and Lisa nodded eagerly. Lisa took the set from Annerieke and asked, "And those flowers? We have some of those glass vases left over, in the work closet, shall we put together bouquets from the garden?"

Margreet nodded, "Good plan Lisa, and where might we find some of those plastic flower petals?"

"I'll give Elly a call, maybe she's seen something like that at the thrift store, you never know!" Annerieke suggested.

From the phone call Margreet and Lisa already understood, that Elly herself had a box of those petals, and that she would bring them along immediately. They looked at each other with a smile on their faces: "What a surprise that will be for those women!"

"Annerieke," Lisa began, "I've seen that those winter lilacs are already blooming. They already started a little when we bought them, and they've opened up a lot further in one day."

Annerieke smiled, understanding what she was getting at, "Just cut off what you need and supplement with other flowers. Make something beautiful out of it! I'm enjoying your action, and I'm dying to see the faces of those women!"

.

Margreet and Lisa got to work. They changed the bedding and were pleasantly surprised by Elly, who came up on her own initiative to bring the box of petals. "So nice, I hadn't been here for years, but still remembered the back entrance, and because of the contacts with you ladies and the renewed friendship with Annerieke, I felt free enough to go in there and look you up here!" Of course Elly wondered what was going on, whether a wedding couple was coming or something.

"No idea," Lisa replied, "I got such a strong feeling this morning that something special had to be done..." She explained how it had gone. "So we'll go by our gut, hopefully we'll do the right thing!"

"Special," Elly thought, "I'd love to hear from you later how it turned out. I'm going home again, see you later!"

"Thanks for bringing this!"

"Yoo-hoo!" called Elly from the stairs. "You're welcome!"

Margreet and Lisa distributed the flower petals on the bed, a few on the nightstands and on the shelf above the sink. Then they left for the garden with pruning shears and a basket. They cut off all the flowering branches from the winter lilacs and looked for other flowers there that had still survived the chilly month of November. They took them to the bathroom, and filled the vases they still had in the work closet with nice mixed bouquets. It was a cheerful job, and it made them happy because they were somewhere convinced that they would be doing both women a lot of favor with it.

"Imagine," Lisa said, "that they were really a couple... they probably wouldn't have had it easy. Two women in a relationship... that's still far away from being accepted by everyone."

"No..." thought Margreet, "and I must say that I wouldn't condemn them for it, but on the other hand I find it quite a strange thought. I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea of two women having a relationship with each other or two men. It seems to me that somewhere it doesn't feel complete, especially on a physical level."

"I find that difficult too," Lisa replied, "but when I think of the connection you have with Huib and I have with Sjaak... When you just met a soulmate from the same gender and have such a similar connection with that person... That must be possible! I think..."

Margreet nodded: "Yes, I believe so too. It feels good, but still special. If they really turn out to be such a couple, then I'm curious, what that's going to do to me, how I'm going to experience it!"

They looked around the room. "Are you missing anything?" asked Margreet, looking at Lisa.

Lisa shook her head, she felt that it had turned out beautifully.

But then all of a sudden, she still saw something in front of her. "I don't know how we can do it, but how cool it would be if we could make it into a sort of four-poster bed. Not a real one, we can't just add a couple of legs... or could Huib make that, something simple? Look, here on both sides of the headboard a narrow plank to almost the ceiling, a plank in between and then another plank from there to the middle above the bed. Do you see what I mean? And then find a nice net curtain at the thrift store, I've seen them there, and drape it over it... Could we pull that off?"

Margreet laughed, "It would be phenomenal. I'm going to get Huib, are you coming with me?"

"Yes, you consult with Huib, then I'll just go to Annerieke, ask her if she might have another kind of net curtain like that, that would save time."

Enjoying their plan, they quickly walked out and ran to Huib and Annerieke. They each shared their question with them and met again on the way back to the guesthouse. Margreet together with Huib, who was willing to take the measurements, knowing he had enough material in the barn. And Lisa with a thick stack of a big net curtain with flower pattern. "Annerieke had bought these too for their first week. She had attached them with strings to all kinds of places so that it had been like a four-poster bed. You should have seen her when I asked her, she was so happy with it! She remembered well how surprised Erik had been then. I'd like to be there when those two women arrive..."

"Maybe we'll have some unexpected work to do upstairs...I think we can do some window washing, it just might be necessary," Margreet chuckled.

"Let’s do that! I'm on!" Lisa laughed.

Huib chuckled, "Great couple you are, the mischief radiates off of you!"

.

Half an hour later Huib had cut boards to size in the barn and sawed and filed off the end of the board that would go above the bed. Because he didn't want to drill into the wall, he had put the uprights on sturdy blocks so the setup wouldn't fall over. In Room 2, he put the set-up together. Margreet and Lisa helped him by holding the shelves. For extra security, they tied both uprights to the bed with a sturdy, thin rope. And finally, together they draped the beautiful net curtain over it. Margreet had found a slightly thicker knitting thread in the color of the comforter cover among her yarns. She crocheted two cords by hand, with which she loosely knotted the net curtains at the sides, next to the pillows.

They looked at the result from a distance. Lisa and Margreet even took pictures of it. They all agreed that despite the fact that it had been provisionally put together, it looked great!

.

They heard someone coming upstairs. Lisa looked around the corner, "Ha, Annerieke, will you come and see?"

"Yes, it's almost time for lunch, so I thought I'd take a look right away... Oohhhh how beautiful! Huib, did you make that scaffolding like that? You have such golden hands, boy, really great! The whole thing is a picture, absolutely! I am getting more and more curious about the reactions of both those ladies."

Sjaak also came upstairs: "I heard your voices upstairs, is there something going on here? Oh my gosh, what happened here? Is this a bridal suite? Are there a bride and groom coming?"

"We don't know," Annerieke said, "I only know that two women are coming here. Lisa, you can explain it!"

Lisa told of the impressions she had received, the bright pictures, and how they had taken action and managed this together. Sjaak pulled her against him: "How lucky I am to have such a wonderful wife! And yes, you guys are great too, but Lisa is the best, sorry, it is what it is!"

Laughing they went downstairs to have lunch together.

.

From 3 o'clock the new guests could arrive. Margreet and Lisa had agreed to meet each other together with Annerieke in the kitchen at a quarter to 3. They had no idea how long it would take for the two women to arrive. Therefore, in consultation with Annerieke, they had decided to put on kitchen aprons and help her prepare dinner. When the two women would arrive, Margreet and Lisa would go upstairs with their aprons on to clean the windows.

They had only just started when the doorbell rang. Annerieke went to the front door. She welcomed the first two guests, the two women, Rosanne and Angelique. They were young women, about the age of Margreet and Lisa. Annerieke invited them to come in and led them around downstairs as she was used to, meanwhile sharing some practical things with them.

"Everything is written on a card next to the sink in your room, but I like to tell it to you too," she smiled at the women.

Rosanne responded: "That is also nice, a little contact about general things to start with. By the way, I think it looks cozy in here. You'd expect it to be static, with those dining tables, but you've really made something of it!"

"Thank you, that is partly the work of Margreet. She works here in housekeeping and lives in the back of the field with my son Huib. You will probably meet them in the coming week. We also have Sjaak and Lisa here, also a couple. Sjaak is our gardener, Lisa has been here almost as long as Margreet, officially not as a colleague, but she helps Margreet regularly with her work. Those two have become good friends. They are really an asset to our guesthouse family!"

"Gee, how nice of you to mention it in that way," Angelique said surprised.

"Yeah, we don't do blood ties, they don't say anything about who we are to each other, right?"

Rosanne and Angelique looked at each other thoughtfully for a moment and then burst into laughter. "I've never looked at it like that, but I think it's a good one, we'll keep that in! Away with the standard rules!"

"Hahaha, if Huib would hear you say so, he would find you women after his own heart! He hates standard rules. We all do, by the way. We prefer to live from within, and you will find out that soon enough!"

"Hmm you make me curious," Angelique responded, "how we will notice that!"

Annerieke smiled, "Shall we go upstairs for a while? The guest rooms are all on the second floor. This week they are all occupied."

While talking, Annerieke walked up the stairs. Both women grabbed their suitcases and went after her. Upstairs they saw two young women busy washing windows. They greeted them.

"You must be Margreet and Lisa?" asked Rosanne, "Annerieke told me that Margreet works in the housekeeping here and Lisa helps out regularly. Who's who?"

They got off their step stools, dried their hands, and shook hands with both women as they introduced themselves.

Then Annerieke brought them to room 2, opened the door and... both women uttered "oooh's and aaah's" and looked around dumbfounded. When they looked at each other and then at their hostess, tears stood in their eyes.

"How did you guys know...?" Rosanne began, but couldn't continue talking because she started sobbing.

Angelique put her arm around her, swallowed a few times and finished the question, "How did you guys know we just got married? Yesterday, yesterday we got married. Who told you?"

Annerieke, with tears in her eyes from emotion, replied, "No one, I didn't know anything about you except your names, but this morning Lisa and Margreet were getting the guest rooms ready for the new guests, and then Lisa got impressions, pictures, for this room. Come on in girls, and tell yourself Lisa."

Margreet and Lisa, slightly shocked by the reaction of their new guests, had remained on the landing, but now came into the doorway. Lisa recounted what she had experienced that morning, and how they and Annerieke and Huib had decorated their room. "It's only provisional, but we really enjoyed doing it!" she concluded.

"Provisional?" Rosanne had wiped away her tears and could speak again. "A bridal suite will look different in a five-star hotel, but in what you made here, I feel so much love! And you didn't even know us, you didn't know... we..."

Again, she shot so full that talking was no longer possible, and her partner took over from her, "When we got into a relationship, we were both disowned from our families. We were despised for having a relationship with a person of the same gender. Our families thought it was disgusting. Many of our friends felt the same; we were left with only two real friends. They were the only guests, our witnesses, at our wedding yesterday. So I just thought for a moment, they might have passed something on to you, although that seemed almost impossible, because we only told them we were going to this village, but didn't mention the name of the guest house. It just didn't seem important... and now... because of everything we've been through, a tricky question now comes up: if you had known we were a married couple, would you have done this?"

Margreet stepped forward, "Rosanne, Angelique, I have no experience with same-sex couples. I do know that there is a lot of fuss about it, but I don't know anything else about it. Lisa and I talked about it briefly this morning, because Annerieke had told us that two women would come in here. You could be sisters, or 'just' friends," placing quotation marks with her fingers at the word 'just', "but because Lisa got such a specific bridal suite-like picture, we were already assuming more that you would be a bridal couple. I told Lisa that I couldn't imagine much a relationship with another woman, but that I wouldn't judge you for it at all. Lisa suggested something beautiful, she compared it to how our own relationships with our partners had come about, with a deep connection, a click between our souls. She thought, if two women experienced the same thing, gender would no longer matter. You said something like that didn't you Lisa?"

Lisa nodded, "I don't remember exactly how I said it, but at least the intention is correct. Actually, thanks to you I hope to get a little more idea about it."

"I think that's a great starting-point from you guys, thank you, that does me a lot of good!"

Angelique confirmed what Rosanne said: "We definitely have to do something with that, meet up with you guys sometime or something, if you want, maybe all together?"

Annerieke nodded at her, "I'm in! As for me... I'll invite you all to my place one day, further down the road." She pointed in the direction where her house was.

"You really mean it huh?" Rosanne was quite overwhelmed by this. "Just imagine Angelique, our own family treated us like dirt, and these total strangers are closing in on us!"

Margreet spread her arms wide, "Can I do that literally for a second?"

She embraced Rosanne and continued, "I just broke contact with my parents two days ago myself, and even though I did it myself, I can feel what something like that must have done to both of you."

She also embraced Angelique, while Rosanne herself went to Lisa and then to Annerieke.

As the front doorbell rang again, Annerieke went downstairs to meet the next guests.

Lisa and Margreet decided to finish their work for a while. "I'll be honest with you," Margreet laughed, "we had a special reason for cleaning the bathroom windows. We wanted to see your reaction, hence... those windows were not dirty at all hahaha!"

Angelique and Rosanne shot up with hearty laughter.

"Tight plan of yours," Angelique said, and as Margreet and Lisa walked to the bathroom, to Rosanne, "Shall we go unpack our suitcases for a while? I feel like really settling in here and not to go living out of suitcases!"

To chapter 114. The other guests arrive

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