My lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom

Screenplay draft

Title: My lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom
Credit: Written by
Author: baileyconnor11
Draft date: 20 May 2026
Contact: baileyconnor11@gmail.com

FADE IN.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - NIGHT

The single bulb above the sink throws a cone of yellow across a scarred pine table. ORIN PECK, late forties, sits with his back to the boarded bedroom door. His hands, large and scored from decades of axe work, turn a dried rose stem between thumb and forefinger. He covers it with a square of oilcloth. Wind moves through the hemlocks outside. A single knock sounds on the porch boards. Orin does not move. A second knock, lighter. He rises, crosses to the door, and opens it six inches.

On the step stands IRIS VALE, raven hair pulled back with a single silver clip, wearing a blue satin dress that has darkened at the hem from rain. She holds a fresh rose against her collarbone. Her eyes are level with his.

IRIS
I was sent.

ORIN
By who?

IRIS
Mother the Mountain. She said you would be awake.

Orin studies the rose, then the satin catching the porch light. He steps back and opens the door wider. Iris enters without looking around. She places the rose on the table beside the oilcloth square and sits in the empty chair. Orin closes the door. The wind continues against the glass.

EXT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAWN

Orin splits firewood behind the cabin. Each swing is measured. Resin stains his hands. He stacks the split wood in silence.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - MORNING

Orin eats from a single iron skillet at the table. The radio in the corner hums static. He turns the dial until the static clears into nothing.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Orin stands in the doorway of the boarded bedroom. He does not open it. He turns away.

EXT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

FRANK PECK stands in the doorway with a canvas grocery bag. He clears his throat.

FRANK
Some things the mountain takes it never gives back.

Orin takes the bag without a word.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - NIGHT

Wind rattles the single window. Orin sits alone. The covered square of oilcloth remains on the mantel.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - NIGHT

A single knock sounds. Orin rises. He opens the door six inches. Iris stands under the porch light in the blue satin dress, the rose against her breast.

Orin hesitates, hand on the latch. Rain begins to slant across the porch. He weighs the cost of opening against the cost of leaving her there. He pulls the door wider.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - NIGHT

Iris sits at the table. Orin pulls a second chair from against the wall. He sets out two plates.

EXT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Iris and Orin work side by side at the woodpile. She matches his rhythm without speaking. The axe falls. Wood splits clean.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Frank returns with another bag of groceries. He sees the blue satin dress drying on the line outside. He steps inside.

FRANK
Last time a woman stayed you stopped speaking for six months.

ORIN
Leave.

Frank sets the bag down and goes.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - NIGHT

Iris sits across from Orin at the table. She describes standing on the summit at first light, naming the quartz ledge. Orin listens. He rises, takes the covered square from the mantel, and shows her the rose-pressing board. Dried petals lie under glass. Iris touches them.

IRIS
The mountain keeps what it is given.

EXT. QUARTZ LEDGE - DUSK

Iris and Orin walk the narrow trail above the old quarry road. She stops and shows him a scar on her wrist. It matches one his wife once had from a fall on the same rocks. Orin steps back.

ORIN
You read the letters in the tin.

IRIS
The mountain remembers its own.

Orin walks back alone.

EXT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Frank stands on the porch with the COUNTY DEPUTY. The two men wait. Orin opens the door.

FRANK
Is she real or another of your silences?

Orin says nothing. The deputy shifts his weight. Frank turns and they leave.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAWN

Orin wakes to an empty cabin. The second chair sits at the table. Only the rose remains on the wood, its stem still damp.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Orin sits alone with two plates. The silence he chose has become the only thing he still possesses.

EXT. QUARTZ LEDGE - DUSK

Orin carries the rose to the ledge. He places it on the white rock. Moonlight gives the stone a faint silver sheen.

INT. ORIN'S CABIN - DAY

Orin returns. He turns the rose-pressing board face-up on the mantel. He planes a second place at the table, the shavings curling to the floor.

EXT. BLACK BALSAM GENERAL STORE - DAY

Orin’s truck pulls into the narrow lot. The folded blue satin dress rests on the passenger seat. Orin gets out and walks toward the door for the first time in years.

FADE OUT.