Page 15 of A Season for Scandal

“Well,” Grandfather said, “as I’ve said to you before, Mari, don’t run away with yourself, investing too much time or effort into it. I’ll admit it’s interesting work – but we’ll never be able to grow on the scale of the nurserymen, so there is not much point in distracting ourselves from the running of the shop.”

His words were like being doused in cold water.

“I won’t disturb you,” he continued. “I just wanted to let you know that I had a strange visit from Geoffrey Earnshaw this morning.”

I stilled. “Mr Earnshaw?” I murmured. “What did he want?”

“He wanted to assure me that the change in circumstances between you and that good-for-nothing son of his…” Here Grandfather sniffed. He had been less than impressed by Simon breaking off the engagement, and I had only barely managed to talk him out of challenging Simon to fisticuffs. As a young man, Grandfather had apparently trained with Gentleman Jackson himself, although he became hazy if pushed for details on his illustrious fighting career.

“That disgraceful young turnip,” Grandfather continued with a growl.

“What exactly did Mr Earnshaw say?” I prompted gently, my heart hammering.

“Oh, yes.” The anger cleared from Grandfather’s face, replaced with a puzzled frown. “He said that he didn’t want us to be worrying about the rent. That as a gesture of goodwill he was even going to reduce it.”

“Reduce it?” I managed, stunned.

“Least he can do in the circumstances. I have to admit I didn’t think old Geoffrey Earnshaw had that sort of decency in him. And that’s not all…”

“No?” I said weakly.

“He’s offered us a twenty-year lease with the rate set, all legal-like. Now what do you make of that?” Grandfather tucked his fingers into his waistcoat pockets and rocked back on his heels.

“Twenty years!” I exclaimed. “But that’s … wonderful. An incredible offer. Even better than we’d have got if—”

“Better than if you’d married the turnip,” Grandfather finished succinctly. “And I tell you, Mari, I’ll be thanking my lucky stars you avoided that fate for the rest of my days, I truly will.”

“Well,” I said mechanically, still trying to digest the news. “He didn’t…” I hesitated. “Mr Earnshaw didn’t make any kind of demands?”

“Not a thing,” Grandfather said. “Man was pale as a ghost, begging my forgiveness, practically crawling. Don’t know what came over him.”

I did. I felt a shiver tingle up and down my spine, a wide smile growing across my face. The Aviary had triumphed.

Part of me (quite a big part, I had to admit) had doubted it. As much as Iwantedto believe what Izzy and Mrs Finch had told me, the whole thing had just seemed so … far-fetched. And yet here we were; the Aviary had clearly found something Mr Earnshaw didn’t want found and applied pressure to fix my problem. It had worked – exactly as they had told me it would.

I felt dizzy. The relief, as it finally seeped in, was enormous.

“Mari?” Suzy appeared in the doorway. “Can you come out here? There’s a delivery for you.”

“That’s fine, Suzy – you can sign for it,” I said.

“That’s just it. Someone gave it to Scout to deliver to you. They said it had to go to you directly.” Suzy’s voice was uncertain.

“They gave it to Scout?” I asked. I had been pleased when the girl had turned up promptly the morning after our encounter with Scullen and accepted the job at Bloom’s. So far she had proved a hard worker, and it was a relief to see more colour in her cheeks and that haunted, hungry look easing from her eyes. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s curious...” Suzy gave a bewildered chuckle. “It’s flowers.”

“Flowers?” I blinked.

“Why would someone sendyouflowers?” asked Grandfather.

“I suppose we’ll find out.” I quickly untied the back of my apron, slipping it off and hanging it up before following them out to the front of the shop. It was quiet, with no customers currently browsing – only Scout, standing in the middle of the shop, clutching an enormous bouquet of flowers.

“What on earth…?” I moved closer, reaching out with my fingers to touch the petals of a tiny starry white flower.

“Edelweiss?” Grandfather bent closer. “Where has someone got hold of that in March?”

“It’s a very …unusualbouquet,” Suzy said diplomatically.