Chapter 14
The acid-green flowers of the euphorbias were looking absolutely perfect, Vanessa thought as she walked through the garden. Placed next to the blowsy blooms of the pearly-pink peonies, they seemed almost incandescent. Love-in-a-mist was rippling through the borders, and clematis was throwing out its flowers, smothering the arches in the south garden.
Oliver had once told Vanessa never to overlook the importance of verticals in the garden and so Orley was filled with towering spires of mystical-blue delphiniums, lemon-yellow hollyhocks, white lupins and magenta larkspurs, which caught the eye and provided interest at a level that many gardeners disregarded.
Vanessa had learned so much from Oliver over the years and, although her main interest would always be interior design, she had come to share his passion for the garden, which was why she was so thrilled that Jonathan and his team were helping to restore it.
Walking into the walled garden now, she caught Jonathan’s eye and he waved her over.
‘Hey, what do you think of these supports for the beans and peas?’
‘You made these?’ she asked, looking at the impressive structures that the team were placing in one of the raised beds.
‘I merely supervised,’ he told her.
‘They’re beautiful. I love them.’
‘Remember all the pruning we did? Never throw anything away. All these supports have come from around the garden.’
‘They’re great,’ she said. ‘They’ve got a real Beatrix Potter feel to them.’
‘Yes, well as long as Benjamin Bunny doesn’t pay us a visit! We’re about to direct-sow some French and runner beans. I think we’ve had the last of the frosts, but I like to wait until the end of May to be absolutely sure.’
Vanessa watched as Ryan and Oz worked on the bean and pea structure, making one long support system whilst Andy and Jenna placed wigwam-like constructions in each corner of the raised bed. It truly was a work of art – both functional and beautiful, and didn’t that make for the perfect garden?
‘We’ve got some flower seeds and herbs to plant amongst the vegetables. Things like chives and marigolds, which not only look great but are fantastic companion plants and help deter pests,’ Jonathan told her. ‘Jenna? Tell Vanessa why we’re planting the chives.’
The girl looked up from the wigwam she was trying to make straight. ‘In with the carrots,’ she said.
‘Not where. Why?’ Jonathan said.
‘You testing me?’
‘Yep!’
Jenna rolled her eyes. ‘It helps improve the flavour and keeps away carrot flies.’
‘That’s right.’
She gave a smug smile and got back to work.
‘I knew that too!’ Andy chimed in.
‘I’d hope so,’ Jonathan said.
‘Test me next time.’
‘I will,’ Jonathan promised, a touch of pride colouring his voice.
‘That’s really impressive,’ Vanessa said.
‘It’s not just about manual labour here, you know,’ Jonathan boasted. ‘We do try and teach them something too. Something they can take away and hopefully use in gardens of their own one day.’
‘Gardens of our own?’ Andy cried. ‘We’ve got a stairwell we share with five other flats. No chance of growing anything anywhere.’
‘Have you got a nice sunny windowsill somewhere?’ Jonathan asked.
Andy looked unsure. ‘I suppose. Maybe. I’d have to check.’
‘Try a few herbs in a pot.’
‘I could try growing some pot.’
‘Basil would be better for you,’ Jonathan said and Vanessa couldn’t help but smile.
‘Hey, I’ve got a good joke about pot,’ Andy began.
‘Unless it’s about a pot used for growing things in, we’re not interested,’ Rod warned.
Andy rolled his eyes and got on with his work.
‘Listen,’ Vanessa said once everyone was concentrating on the garden again, ‘I hope you won’t mind, but I thought it was time that my daughters met you. I feel so rude that I’ve not introduced them yet.’
‘That’s okay,’ Jonathan said, wiping his hands down the front of his corduroy trousers. ‘I’m sure they’re busy young women.’
‘That’s no excuse not to say hello.’
‘So, you want to do this now?’
She nodded. ‘If we could.’
‘Where do we go?’ He glanced towards the house and Vanessa thought she could see apprehension in his eyes.
‘I’ll bring them out here,’ she told him. ‘I’d like them to meet everyone.’
‘Okay.’
‘Right,’ she said, ‘I’ll do that now.’ She bit her lip, suddenly feeling anxious.
‘You okay?’
‘Yes. I’ll be back in a minute.’
He nodded. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
Vanessa gave a weak smile. She’d been wanting to do this for weeks but, now that the moment was finally upon her, she couldn’t help feeling intensely nervous, which was silly really because she was just introducing some of the dearest people in her life to one another. Why should that make her nervy?
She walked back to the house, barely noticing the swallows wheeling and screaming above her.
‘Tilda?’ she called as she entered the house. ‘Jassy?’
‘We’re in here, Mum!’ Jassy called back, and Vanessa entered the living room.
‘Ready?’ she said.
‘Let’s get this done,’ Jassy said.
‘Well, you might sound more enthusiastic about it,’ Vanessa tutted, annoyed by her daughter’s tone.
‘I just mean I want to get back to my work.’
‘I’m not going to keep you long, don’t worry. Are you ready, Tilda?’
Tilda nodded. ‘Shall we go?’
Vanessa led the way back out into the garden.
‘So, Mum – with you introducing us like this, does that mean you like this guy?’ Jassy asked, peering at her with those intense blue eyes of hers.
‘What?’ Vanessa could feel her face heating up under the scrutiny of her daughter. ‘Jonathan is a part of life at Orley now and I think you should meet him.’
‘You do like him!’
‘Well, of course I like him. He’s a good and kind man.’
‘And handsome?’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ She saw Jasmine cast a glance at Tilda and Vanessa wondered what was going through their minds. She was about to introduce her daughters to a man. A man who wasn’t their father. But he was a gardener, a friend. Did Jassy and Tilda think that she was in a relationship with him?
‘Listen,’ she said. ‘Jonathan Dacre is a friend. A good friend. Nothing more. He’s working here with his team and he’s doing us a very great favour in the process. The walled garden hasn’t looked this good since your father was able to take care of it.’ She paused, the mention of Oliver shaking her a little.
‘It’s all right, Mum. We didn’t mean anything,’ Tilda said.
‘You said to me that they had dinner together,’ Jassy said to Tilda.
‘We did have dinner together. I told you – we’re friends. That’s what friends do.’ She looked from one to the other. ‘Look, girls, if you feel uneasy about this—’
Tilda reached a hand out and touched her mother’s arm. ‘We don’t,’ she said with a smile. ‘We want you to be happy, Mum, and if Jonathan is a friend, that’s fine. And if he’s more than a fr—’
‘But he isn’t.’
‘But that’s fine too,’ Tilda said.
‘Well, that’s very kind of you to say, Tilda, but it’s not something you need to think about.’ Vanessa moved on, picking up her pace.
They reached the walled garden a few moments later and everyone looked up as they entered.
‘There are so many of them,’ Jassy said.
‘It’s a good turnout today,’ Vanessa said. ‘Come on. Let me introduce you.’
‘Which is Jonathan?’
Jassy asked. ‘That one with spiky hair and a nose ring?’
Tilda elbowed her sister in the ribs just as Jonathan approached.
‘Hello,’ he said, stretching to shake both Tilda’s and Jassy’s hands.
‘Girls – this is Jonathan. Jonathan – this is Tilda and Jassy,’ she said, indicating each in turn.
‘You’ve been working really hard out here,’ Tilda observed. ‘It looks great.’
‘We do what we can,’ Jonathan said.
‘I should come and paint you all,’ Jassy declared.
‘Please do!’
‘But I don’t like painting outside. Too many flies.’
Jonathan laughed. ‘I agree!’
The girls then met Rod and the rest of the team. The boys seemed particularly keen to meet Tilda and Jassy and it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened. It began with Andy whispering something to Jenna, pushing her to say something.
‘He wants to know if you’re Tilly,’ Jenna said quietly.
‘I used to be,’ Tilda said.
‘What’s that mean?’ Andy asked, finding the courage to speak to her at last.
‘It means that I’m a piano teacher these days.’
‘No, really?’ Andy said.
Tilda nodded. ‘Yes, really.’
‘Can I have your autograph?’
‘And me,’ Oz added, coming forward. ‘I’m Oz and I’d still take you out for a drink even if you’re just a piano teacher these days.’
‘Right!’ Jonathan shouted, clapping his hands together. ‘I think it’s time we got back to work.’
The team groaned.
‘Things were just getting friendly,’ Oz moaned.
‘Yeah, and that’s why it’s time you grabbed that hoe and got to work in the raised bed,’ Rod said. ‘Go on now, lad!’
‘Spoilsport!’ Oz said, winking at Tilda, who gave him a smile, Vanessa couldn’t help but notice. Now that was something she had naively overlooked: she was introducing her two daughters to a group of young offenders. But wouldn’t it be awfully hypocritical of her to prevent her daughters from seeing who they liked when she’d so recently reprimanded the ladies in the post office for judging these young people without even knowing them? Still, the thought of her Tilda running around with a young man like Oz – as funny and endearing as he might be – was enough to bring her out in hives, she had to admit.
‘Thanks, everyone,’ she said, raising an arm to guide her daughters away.
‘I might come and paint you after all,’ Jassy said.
‘Please do,’ Jonathan said.
Was it her imagination or was Oz now eyeing up Jassy? Vanessa wondered.
‘I think you’d better stick to painting in the oast house,’ she whispered to Jassy.
‘Why?’ Jassy said loud enough to turn the heads of the team.
‘Too many flies,’ Vanessa said. ‘Way too many flies out here.’
Jassy looked up and down the garden as if trying to spot them.
They’d just left the walled garden when Jonathan caught up with them.
‘Hey!’ he said. ‘Are you forgetting something?’
Vanessa turned to look at him. ‘I – er – am I?’
‘Wasn’t I going to meet somebody else? Dolly, isn’t it?’
‘You’re introducing him to Grandma?’ Tilda asked.
‘Oh my God!’ Jassy exclaimed. ‘Good luck with that!’
Vanessa sighed. ‘Run along, you two,’ she said as if talking to two young kids rather than grown-up daughters.
‘I’ll see you later, Mum,’ Tilda said. ‘It was good to meet you, Jonathan.’
‘You too,’ he said.
‘Jassy – haven’t you got somewhere you need to be?’
Jassy shrugged. ‘Not in a hurry.’
‘Oh, I thought you were. Haven’t you got something you should be painting?’
She frowned and then, finally, it seemed to click. ‘Oh, right!’ And she leaned forward to whisper something into her mother’s ear before leaving.
‘What was that about?’ Jonathan asked.
‘Nothing,’ Vanessa said.
‘So, you want to introduce me to Dolly?’
‘Let’s do it another day, shall we?’
‘Why?’ he asked. ‘I’m all buoyed up after meeting your girls – who are wonderful, by the way.’
‘Thank you.’
‘So why stop there? I want to meet everyone.’ He grinned and then narrowed his eyes. ‘Vanessa?’
‘I just feel . . .’
‘What?’ he asked softly.
‘Jonathan!’ Jenna’s voice cried out from the direction of the walled garden. ‘Nat’s cut himself. There’s blood everywhere!’
‘Oh, crikey! Look – wait here, I’ll be right back.’
Vanessa watched as Jonathan ran towards the walled garden and decided to make the most of the opportunity to flee, finding a favourite spot in the south garden and sitting on the bench which overlooked one of the herbaceous borders. It was a secluded spot where one could see but not be seen and it had been a favourite place of Oliver’s. After a long day’s work, the two of them would often walk out into the soft summer evenings and sit there side by side, listening to the last of the birdsong as the garden slowly sank into darkness.
Sitting there now, her fingers plaiting themselves together, Vanessa could feel the presence of her husband. He was always so close to her when she was in the garden and, if she looked out across the lawn, she could almost imagine him walking towards her, his long stride eating up the grass until he was by her side.
‘All right if I sit here and hold your hand?’ he’d ask her.
‘I think that would be all right,’ she’d reply.
Thirty years of hand-holding, she suddenly thought, and how it pained her that there would be no more. She looked down at her hands. She still wore her wedding ring. Her engagement ring, which was a large emerald-cut diamond, lived in a jewellery box in her bedroom. She didn’t wear it when she was in the garden for fear of losing it. But she’d never be without her wedding ring. In fact, it hadn’t left her finger since Oliver had placed it there on their wedding day, sliding the slim gold band on with such love in his eyes that it made her gasp just to remember it.
She twisted the ring on her finger now and wished with all her heart that she could bring him back. That perhaps there’d been some sort of mistake and she’d merely imagined the last couple of years, and that she’d walk across the lawn back to the house and would hear his voice calling to her.
‘There you are! Where’ve you been all this time?’
‘In the garden,’ she’d explain.
And he’d laugh. ‘I thought I’d lost you!’
‘I thought I’d lost you!’
‘Silly girl,’ he’d chide, and they’d laugh.
Oh, how she wanted to be able to laugh.
‘There you are!’ a voice startled her out of her reverie. But it wasn’t Oliver’s longed-for voice – it was Jonathan’s. ‘I couldn’t find you.’
She looked up at him, blinking back the tears which had risen as she’d thought of her husband.
‘Everything okay?’ Jonathan asked.
She nodded. ‘Nat okay?’
‘Yeah. He had a little accident with a pair of secateurs, but we’ve got him all plastered up. May I?’ He motioned to the bench and Vanessa nodded, feeling the weight of the seat change as he sat down. She’d never sat there with another man before and she couldn’t help feeling that she was somehow betraying Oliver’s memory.
‘You – er – seem anxious about something,’ Jonathan said.
‘I’m fine.’
‘Really?’
She nodded.
‘Okay,’ Jonathan said, leaning back on the bench, his long legs stretched out in front of him. ‘I’ll just sit here until you tell me what’s wrong.’
Vanessa blinked in surprise. He sounded serious. ‘What makes you think—’
‘Don’t lie to me, Vanessa.
I know you better than you think.’
For a moment, she was too bewildered to speak.
‘Go on,’ he said, ‘try the truth.’
She looked down at the gravel path, noticing a weed that she was itching to pick, but she resisted and looked back up at Jonathan, who remained steadfastly on the bench beside her, going nowhere.
‘Tilda and Jasmine,’ she began hesitantly.
‘Yes?’
‘They think we’re – er – seeing each other.’ Her fingers knotted in her lap.
‘I see,’ Jonathan said calmly. ‘Is that all?’
‘What do you mean, is that all? Isn’t that enough?’
‘No. I thought something really significant was bothering you.’
‘This isn’t significant to you?’
He sat up straight and leaned towards her. ‘I didn’t mean it to come out like that. I meant’ – he ran a hand up and down his left leg – ‘I meant that this is natural, you know?’
‘No, I don’t know.’
‘We’ve been spending a lot of time together. We like each other, don’t we? It’s only natural that your daughters are going to start thinking—’
‘I don’t want them to start thinking that.’
‘What?’
‘I’m not ready for that. For this!’ she cried.
‘Listen—’
‘No – you listen! Oliver is here. He’s right here in this garden. On this bench!’
Jonathan blanched and looked uneasy at this confession.
‘You’re getting all worked up over nothing,’ he told her.
‘How can you say that? This isn’t nothing!’ She stood up, needing to get as far away from Jonathan as possible.
‘I think we should talk about this.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ she said, and turned her back on him before marching across the lawn towards the house.
‘Vanessa!’ he called after her, but she didn’t look back and nor did she stop until she reached the sanctuary of her bedroom, where she sat on the edge of the bed and closed her eyes against her hot tears.
Love in an English Garden Page 17