Flower Of Hope – Episode 34


IT was a quiet party that Fabio drove back to the pensione to the clip-clop of the mule’s hooves. Caroline had checked the parcel before leaving and knew the seeds were genuine. She put the small, silk-bound bundle safely in her pocket.

William was smiling.

At sunset, they crossed the market place.

“Fabio!” Caroline called, sitting bolt upright. “Stop! Please, stop!”

“What is it, my dear?” William asked his daughter anxiously.

She was already scrambling from her seat.

“Luke said I must make a wish before we go!”

“The Fontana del Porcellino,” Fabio explained to William, pointing. “It is ahead.”

“Papa, do you have a coin? A small coin for the piglet?” Caroline had jumped to the pavement and her shawl had fallen loose.

William, laughing, found a coin and pressed it into her hand.

“Hurry, then,” he said.

Caroline hurried, but without running as there were still people about on the pavements. Just as Luke had promised her, there was the bronze boar sitting on his plinth, his long snout shiny with the touch of many fingers.

She slipped her offering into its mouth, and gave profound thanks for Kellard’s change of heart.

Then she made her wish.

“May we return to this beautiful city one day!”

Luke’s manager took down a large appointments book which creaked as he opened it.

“I must remind you we have important clients visiting at the end of this month, Mr Hathern.”

“I had forgotten that visit was due,” Luke said distractedly. “Please make sure the staff are issued with all the correct clothing.”

“Black coats and white gloves it is, sir.”

Luke nodded his thanks. It was important for Hathern’s to appear at its best when wealthy clients came to call.

Fortunately, the growing areas had been well-tended while he’d been away.

“You are invaluable, Mr Nash,” Luke told him.

“Thank you, sir.”

Nash shuffled his feet, which meant he wished to say more.

“If you have any more questions, man, now is the time to ask. Once I clear these letters and start my rounds, you’ll have to chase through the greenhouses to find me!”

“The seeds, sir. Those you went to Florence to . . . to wrest from that reprobate Kellard – oh, yes, sir, at Hathern’s we know all about his tricks! What became of that enterprise?’

Luke shook his head.

“No luck?” Nash said sympathetically. “I’m sorry for it, sir. But never say die! I hear that Mr William Waters and his daughter have returned to London recently. Perhaps they will have fresh news.”

“Indeed,” Luke said unenthusiastically.

He glanced at one letter then dropped it on to his desk. He’d had no direct word from William and Caroline since their return. The rumour was that William had been unwell, so that probably explained it.

“The paths need clearing along the long borders, sir. I’ll get the men started now, shall I?” Nash asked.

Luke nodded and returned to his papers. Just as restlessly, he pushed them away.

If only he could shift the idea lodged in his aching head that he might never have a reason to see Caroline again, he’d feel a lot better.

Someone knocked at the door, bringing him more papers. When the door handle rattled a second time, he didn’t bother to look up.

Then someone politely cleared his throat, and Luke saw William Waters’s broad manservant standing to attention in front of his desk.

“I’ve brought you this package, sir,” Albert Lea said. “Miss Caroline says if you’d be so kind, her father would like a receipt to say you received and opened it.”

Luke pulled the small silk package towards him.

“Thank you, Albert.”

He opened it.

Suddenly his aching head seemed to ease and a surge of joy filled his heart.

Despite his advice to Caroline not to engage with Kellard, clearly she had. He hoped she’d put herself in no danger.

Transfixed, he gazed at the seeds of the plant that had caused so much trouble. Nestled in his palm were the unmistakably rounded, shiny, brown-button seeds of the Flower of Hope.

Now all he had to do was plant and raise them . . .

Alison Cook