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Candy Hearts Peals of laughter and giggles of amusement burst from the drawing room moments after Barnabas Collins entered Collinwood. He closed the door behind him, removed his Inverness cape and, along with his cane, hung it on a hook in the entryway. Barnabas entered the foyer, hearing laughter come from the drawing room once again. He crossed to investigate and stood in the doorway to the drawing room, observing David and Amy as they sat on the floor, arranging and re-arranging some kind of colorful objects. The actions were almost immediately followed by more laughter and giggles. Barnabas moved further into the room to more closely observe their activities. As he neared, he could see the multi-colored objects were in the shape of the stylized hearts used to symbolize love in this modern culture. Each heart had something printed on it in pink lettering. "Good evening Amy, David." "Hello Barnabas." "Hi, Barnabas." "May I ask what you are doing?" The children looked up at Barnabas as if he'd just asked what the secret of the universe was, then David looked back down at the conversation hearts. "We're making funny sentences." Barnabas' puzzled expression caused Amy to stare up at him from her place on the floor and ask, "Didn't you make sentences with Valentine's candy when you were young, Barnabas?" "No, I did not." The children exchanged mischievous glances then David scooped up a large handful of the hearts, stood and hurried over to the table by the sofa. He dropped the handful of candy into a pile on the table and glanced over his shoulder at Barnabas. "I thought everybody played with these, Barnabas. Aunt Elizabeth said she did when she was a little girl. They've been around forever... Don't they have these in England, Barnabas?" Collins smiled down at David as he approached the table, curious. "I'm sure they do, David. I just... never had the opportunity to amuse myself in this manner." "Here, you try, like this. You read what each one says, then you try to make a funny sentence out of them. And you know what the best part is?" Barnabas shook his head, an amused smile on his face. "No, I'm afraid I don't know, David." "They're candy, so when you're done playing, you can eat them!" David picked up a purple heart from the pile, popped it into his mouth and crunched it with his teeth. Barnabas nodded and smiled at the child's enthusiasm. David hurried back to his place on the floor when Amy began to giggle. Collins took a step closer to the table and reached out to inspect the confectionery pile David had left there for him. Turning a number of the hearts over so the words faced up, Barnabas saw there was an assortment of sentiments printed on the candy pieces, including such phrases as 'BE MINE', 'OH BOY', 'MY GAL', 'VALENTINE', 'I LUV U' and 'KISS ME' among other things. He examined the candy carefully, wondering how it was possible to make a proper sentence using these phrases, then realized the object of the activity was to have fun, not be grammatically correct. Making several attempts to construct the silly sentences that seemed to amuse the children so, Barnabas finally shook his head in defeat. Perhaps one needed a child's outlook to see the amusement in the activity. "That's not very funny at all, Barnabas." Amy stood beside him, shaking her head while her voice reflected disappointment at Barnabas' simple, unimaginative sentence, which read 'BE MINE VALENTINE'. "I agree with you Amy. Perhaps I do not have the talent for this that you and David seem to possess." "Oh, it's easy. Here, let me show you." Amy quickly arranged a line of hearts that, when finished, read 'OH BOY KISS ME YOU HUNK I LUV YOU VALENTINE'. She read it aloud to David, who giggled. Barnabas shook his head, not really seeing the humor, but beginning to understand. "Thank you Amy, David." He gathered up the handful of hearts and returned them to the pile on the large tray the children were using to keep the candy from scattering all over the floor. David looked up as Barnabas knelt beside him. "You can keep those if you want to, Barnabas." "No, thank you, David. I shouldn't want to deprive you of a single sentiment. David, if one were interested, where would you purchase these hearts?" "Mr. Neuman has tons of them at his candy store. We got all of these for a quarter!" "I see. Thank you David." "Sure, Barnabas." He and Amy returned to their game as Barnabas moved toward the drawing room doors. He looked back over his shoulder and shook his head, but smiled as Amy once more giggled with delight at some sentiment David had constructed.
Tired after a long day at Wyndecliffe, Julia Hoffman entered her room at Collinwood, pulling off her gloves. She switched on the desk lamp and placed her purse on the corner of the desk, her gloves on top of the purse. She was about to turn away when her eye was caught by a row of small, colorful objects. She was certain they had not been there when she left that morning. Julia stepped closer to the desk, seeing the row of colored objects were in fact small candy hearts with messages printed on them. She'd seen David and Amy playing with some a couple of days before, and heard Mrs. Johnson scolding them for eating so many they had spoiled their appetites. Julia chuckled softly, then grew concerned. She hoped the children hadn't been in her room while she was away. They normally respected her privacy, but if they got an idea to do something into their heads, they didn't always remember their manners. Julia glanced at the hearts quickly, reading the message. She was about to turn away, but paused then looked at the heart message more closely. The candy hearts were neatly arranged on a sheet of elegant writing paper, and the message read 'PLEASE BE MINE I LUV U VALENTINE'. She bent closer to be sure she was reading the tiny printing correctly, then straightened. Julia shook her head. This didn't seem like something David and Amy would do. They had been intent on making silly sentences with their candy hearts, not something that seemed to convey sincerity. Glancing at her watch, Julia knew the children wouldn't be in bed yet, so decided she would ask them if they knew anything about this. Julia left her room to search for the children. She found them in David's room, ready for bed, and playing a card game. They looked up and smiled when she entered in response to David's reply to her knock. "Hello, Doctor Hoffman." "Hi, Doctor Hoffman." "Hello, David, Amy. I'd like to ask you both something." "Sure." "Okay." "Did either of you go into my room today and leave a heart message on my desk?" David's eyes grew wide and he shook his head vigorously. "No! We know we're not supposed to go into your room when you're not there. We didn't, honest!" "Honest, Doctor Hoffman." Julia smiled and placed a calming hand on each child's shoulder. She shook her head. "I'm not accusing either of you, but I am curious as to how the message got there." "What's a heart message?" Julia glanced at Amy and smiled before answering her question. "A message made from those candy conversation Valentine hearts you and David have been amusing yourselves with the past few days." "Oh, those. No we didn't do it." "What does the message say, Doctor Hoffman? Is it funny?" "No, it's not funny, David, and what it says isn't really important. Since neither of you left the message, I wonder who did." Amy stood, a huge smile lighting up her face. "Oh, Doctor Hoffman, do you know what this means? You've got a secret admirer!" Julia smiled indulgently. She'd thought Amy still too young for such romantic notions, but perhaps not. One thing Julia was sure of, however, was that she did not have a secret admirer, unless Roger had suddenly developed a romantic streak. "I'll bet a ghost did it!" "David. Maybe... it was Barnabas!" Julia's eyes grew wide as she looked at Amy, who was nodding her head, certain that her suspicion was correct. But David shook his head. "It couldn't have been Barnabas, Amy. He didn't get it." "Get what, David?" Julia's curiosity was piqued. "Oh, Amy and I showed him how to make funny sentences with the hearts the other day, but he didn't get it. His was all gunky - the kind that make girls go all dreamy and make a guy want to be sick." David punctuated his comments by acting out the word 'dreamy'. He batted his eyes and made his voice go higher and sweeter, then mimed being sick to his stomach. Amy made a face at him, her determination firm. "He could have, David." "He just wasn't interested, Amy. I said he could keep some of the candy, but he said no." "Maybe he bought some of his own. You did tell him Mr. Neuman had the hearts at his store." Julia silently watched the exchange between the two children, then smiled. "I'll let you two get back to your game. I'm sorry if I upset you, but I am glad you followed the rule concerning privacy." "Doctor Hoffman." "Yes, David?" "Are you angry with the person who did go into your room and leave the heart message?" "No, I don't think so, David, but I would like to know who it was. Goodnight." The children each said goodnight as Julia left. She returned to her room and stood by the desk, studying the heart message again. Could Amy be right, could Barnabas be responsible for leaving the heart message in her room? It really wasn't something she would expect from him. Smiling to herself, Julia decided that if Barnabas really were responsible, two could play the game of conversation hearts. If it had not been Barnabas who left the message, she would be no worse off than she was now; destined to spend Valentine's Day alone in her room, trying to get caught up on paper work.
Entering the Old House drawing room, Barnabas paused a moment, aware that something was different. He glanced around, his gaze being drawn to the desk in the corner of the room. He crossed to stand before it and smiled slowly. A single red rose lay on the desk blotter, and beside the rose, a message created from the candy hearts he'd seen David and Amy playing with. The message read 'I LUV U ALWAYS BE MINE.' Collins glanced around the room, hoping whoever had left the message would be there, but knowing he was alone. He smiled.
Julia found another message in her room, on her desk, when she returned there after supper. The day was Valentine's Day and she had dined with the children because Elizabeth, Roger and Carolyn all had dates for the evening. As David and Amy settled down to work on a history assignment under Maggie's supervision, Julia excused herself to do some work in her room. She'd been hoping for another message and was pleased with the invitation this one held. It read simply 'MEET ME GAZEBO'. She smiled, wondering how her candy correspondent had found a conversation heart with the word 'gazebo' on it, but didn't spend too much time contemplating it. Now she too had a date and needed to get ready.
Dressed appropriately for a Valentine's Day date, but also warmly since she didn't know how long she would have to wait in the February chill, Julia wandered about the gazebo, looking up at the clear sky and the bright stars. She heard the crunch of footsteps on the frozen ground and tensed slightly. She turned away, facing toward the wall, and waited as the footsteps came closer. They slowly climbed the steps to the gazebo, and she felt someone standing behind her. Julia took a deep breath and slowly turned around. A smile lit her eyes and her face when she saw Barnabas standing there. He too smiled, then slowly raised his hand. Between his thumb and forefinger he held a candy heart that read 'KISS ME'. Julia's smile widened and she held up a candy heart in reply that stated 'YES'. Their eyes met and Barnabas stepped close, pulling Julia into his embrace. Their mouths came together for their first kiss. In years to come, the family would often wonder why Julia and Barnabas gave each other little candy conversation hearts and exchanged knowing, amused smiles every Valentine's Day.
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