Victoria Connelly - The Rose Girl

by Unknown

  Her breathing was thick and fast, and she felt as if she were about to faint when he finally let her go.

  ‘Please don’t tell me you didn’t want me to do that,’ he said.

  She shook her head. ‘I won’t,’ she said, ‘because I really wanted you to do it.’

  ‘God, Evie!’ he said with an exasperated sigh. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about all this before?’

  She sighed. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I guess I just want to try and do everything myself.’

  ‘But you don’t have to. Why would you want to anyway?’ Lukas reached out a hand and stroked her cheek. ‘I’m here for you. I always have been, ever since that time I crossed the moat and saw you in the middle of that huge heap of horse manure.’

  She laughed. ‘What a time you picked to say hello.’

  He smiled and cupped her face in his hands. ‘I’ve always been here for you, but you kept pushing me away.’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’m really sorry. I wanted to be –’ She paused.

  ‘Whatever you do, don’t say independent,’ he told her.

  ‘Why not? What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘It’s pretty damned lonely, for a start.’

  She gave a small smile. ‘I guess.’

  ‘I don’t think people are meant to be on their own, do you?’

  ‘But I’m not on my own.’

  ‘Well, I know – not now. You’ve got your sisters and this place and that funny old woman.’

  ‘Esther!’

  ‘Yes, Esther,’ he said. ‘But what would happen if they moved away?’

  She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘They’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘Can you be sure of that?’

  ‘We can’t be sure of anything, I suppose,’ she said. ‘I’m not even sure if we’ll all be living here much longer if Celeste gets her way. But I’ll have this baby – whatever else happens. Anyway, you’re one to talk – leaving your home and your family behind and travelling around the UK on your own.’

  He laughed. ‘I guess,’ he said, ‘but it’s a lonely way to live and you know I didn’t want to leave here once I’d met you.’

  ‘I know,’ she said.

  ‘I thought about you every day. Every minute.’

  She gave him a withering look. ‘Right!’

  ‘I did! You got my texts, didn’t you?’

  ‘You filled my entire phone!’

  ‘I really missed you.’

  Her face softened. ‘I missed you too.’

  He stroked the soft blondeness of her hair. ‘So, this part-time job you’re offering me – is it because you really want me here or just because you’re going to be incapacitated for a while?’

  ‘I am not going to be incapacitated!’ Evie said. ‘Gertie and I just think it might be a good idea to have an extra pair of hands whilst I’m busy with the baby.’

  He grinned. ‘I see.’

  ‘Well? Are you going to accept the job or are you just going to stand here teasing me all day?’

  He laughed. ‘I’m going to accept the job, silly!’ he said.

  ‘Don’t call me silly,’ Evie said. ‘I’m being serious.’

  ‘I know you are,’ he said, ‘and I’m dead serious too – about you. I want to be with you forever.’

  ‘But what about your studies? Your art? You can’t just give all that up,’ she said.

  ‘I can still study,’ he said, ‘only I’ll have you and this little one by my side.’

  ‘I don’t want you to regret anything,’ she said.

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘You say that now, but you could quickly change your mind and I want you to know that I won’t mind. You can walk away.’

  ‘Evie – I’m not going to walk away.’

  ‘But I’m just saying that you can. If you really want to.’

  ‘I won’t want to.’

  Evie took a deep breath.

  ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ he said.

  ‘I don’t know what to believe,’ she said. ‘I believe I love you, and I’ve never ever said that to anyone before.’

  ‘And you really think I’m going to walk away from that?’ He moved an inch closer to her and she felt the warmth of his body against hers. ‘From this?’ He rested his large hand over her belly and she gasped, covering his hand with her own.

  ‘I believe you,’ she said, resting her head in the crook of shoulder. ‘I really believe you.’

  30.

  The day of the auction came much too quickly for Celeste, which seemed strange for her to admit because she’d truly believed that she’d already done the hard part in agreeing to sell the paintings. But, as she caught the train into London, she couldn’t quell the nervousness that was bubbling inside her at the thought of witnessing her beloved paintings being sold. How she would react was a mystery to her, but she sincerely hoped that she would not either bid for the paintings herself or land the winning bidder a fierce punch.

  At Liverpool Street station, she caught the tube to the station closest to Faraday’s auction rooms. Blinking in the bright city sunshine as she surfaced from the underground, she headed in the direction she hoped was right, passing a neat row of boutiques and a florist’s selling the kind of roses she and her sisters despaired of: horribly gaudy hybrid teas with absolutely no scent whatsoever. Shaking her head in disapproval, she continued past the terrace of fine red-bricked mansions and then she stopped.

  Reaching inside her handbag for her pocket A to Z, Celeste acknowledged that she was hopelessly lost. How many streets were there in London? How could it be so very complicated? What on earth had she been thinking of, coming here? She should have stayed at home in Suffolk where she knew her way around. She thought of the three rural roads that made up the village of Little Eleigh and how she could happily navigate her way around the myriad footpaths and fields that surrounded the manor.

  Finding the correct page, she studied the tiny map, crossed the road, took the first right and was mightily relieved to see Faraday’s before her. It was a large white Georgian building towering an impressive four storeys, with two enormous arched windows on the ground floor advertising today’s event. It was all very impressive and it made it hard to believe that Julian really wanted to give up his position there and run an antiques shop in middle-of-nowhere Suffolk. But she had seen the passion in his eyes when he had talked about his plans for the future and she had no doubt that he would follow his heart, even if that meant leaving London behind.

  Which brought her to the subject of the north wing. She had talked through the idea of Julian opening an antiques centre at the manor with Gertie and Evie, and they had been all for it.

  ‘Does this mean we won’t have to sell the manor?’ Evie had asked.

  ‘Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Celeste had said, ‘but it’s a route that’s definitely worth considering.’

  ‘I think it’s a brilliant idea,’ Gertie had said. ‘It’ll be a good source of revenue and will bring more people here and help spread the word about Hamilton Roses.’

  ‘And don’t forget the rent from The Lodge,’ Evie had said. ‘We’ll have tonnes of money coming in!’

  Celeste couldn’t disagree about that, but she did have some reservations. Having Julian working at the manor would be a strange experience and she wasn’t yet sure how she felt about it.

  Julian Faraday at Little Eleigh Manor.

  There would be no getting away from him and no getting away from the fact that she was beginning to have feelings for him. Feelings she wasn’t at all sure she was ready to have yet. At the moment, it was easy to avoid him if she needed to. She saw him when it suited her and could deflect his phone calls and ignore his emails if she wanted to. She couldn’t do that so easily if he was in her home, could she? She couldn’t hide from the knowledge that she liked him and that his feelings for her were growing stronger too.

  Entering Faraday’s now, she looked around the foyer at the crowds of peop
le before making her way into the sale room, where she immediately saw Julian. He was wearing a crisp navy suit that made his dark red hair gleam, and Celeste had never seen him looking quite so businesslike. He was chatting to an elderly lady whose neck was encased in large pearls and whose fingers wore massive rings set with precious stones. Was she here for her family paintings, Celeste couldn’t help wondering?

  As soon as the lady walked away, a gentleman waylaid Julian and then a middle-aged couple stopped to chat. Celeste watched in amusement as he paid court to his customers, and then he saw her.

  ‘Celeste!’ he cried across the room, turning several heads. Celeste blushed as he approached her, kissing her on both cheeks, which caught her off guard. He’d never done that before, but perhaps she’d do well not to read too much into it. This was Julian Faraday in London, she reasoned. This was how he greeted people.

  ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘It’s certainly busy.’

  He nodded. ‘It’s a good crowd. That’s exciting. Where are you sitting? Come with me.’

  He led the way down the aisle between the neat rows of chairs, his right hand in the small of her back.

  ‘Oh, not the front!’ Celeste said. ‘I couldn’t bear it.’ She walked back a few paces, choosing herself an aisle seat in the middle of the room.

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay here?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said with a tight smile. Her nerves were definitely getting the better of her. ‘Go on, Mr Auctioneer – get those paintings sold.’

  He gave her a grin and a funny little salute before making his way to the rostrum at the front of the room. An expectant silence followed and then the madness began.

  The first few lots were rather dull landscapes in oil which went for staggering amounts of money. Celeste looked around the room in awe. Who were these people and how on earth did they make so much money? She noticed a row of tables along the side of the room which were manned by staff with telephones glued to their ears and computer screens in front of them. It seemed that the auction was not just confined to this little room in the centre of London but included the whole world.

  Tens of thousands of pounds were exchanging hands at an alarming rate, the figures being shown in all the major currencies of the world on a large screen behind Julian. Celeste watched in wonder, her eyes wide and her heart racing wildly as the time approached for the rose paintings to be shown.

  Celeste’s mouth had gone quite dry when the first of her paintings was brought out into the room. Julian’s eyes met hers across the crowds and then the torture began.

  First was the Frans Mortelmans of the pink and crimson roses in the basket.

  ‘Grandma’s favourite,’ Celeste whispered to herself, tears filling her eyes a few heart-stopping moments later as it sold. Even though it reached forty-five thousand pounds, it hurt so much to know that she would never see it again. She knew that Gertie and Evie would be watching the auction online at home and wondered if they would be cheering or crying.

  The Frans Mortelmans was followed by the Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and then the Jean-Louis Cassell painting of white roses that Celeste loved so much. Each of them made over thirty thousand pounds, but every time the gavel fell, its strike was like a bullet being fired into Celeste’s heart.

  The rose painting sale finished with the delicate Pierre-Joseph Redouté. ‘The Raphael of flowers,’ Celeste said to herself, remembering what Julian had told her about the painter. It reached a record price: sixty-five thousand pounds, receiving the first round of applause in the sales room that day.

  All of the paintings had met and far exceeded their reserve price which, in a way, was a wonderful thing, but it meant that none of them was coming home with her. She knew then that she had secretly been wishing that at least one would. But at least they had the little painting that Evie had liberated from Simone, Celeste thought. That was some consolation.

  She didn’t stay for the rest of the auction but quietly left the room, feeling Julian’s eyes on her as she exited. She couldn’t bear to look at him; she needed to be alone and so left Faraday’s and walked the streets until she found a little park. She sat on a bench in the London sunshine, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

  They were gone. First the Fantin-Latour and now the other smaller paintings that had graced the walls of Little Eleigh Manor for so many years. Celeste closed her eyes, feeling the full weight of her guilt. She knew that most people would probably think she was a spoilt girl living in a medieval moated manor house full of antiques and that she had nothing to complain about, but she couldn’t help mourning the loss of something so beautiful and something that had been so precious to her grandparents.

  When her phone beeped, she took a look at the message, half-expecting it to be from Julian asking her where she had gone, but it was from Gertie.

  You did the right thing. x

  She blinked away the tears, taking comfort in the fact that her sister knew exactly how she was feeling at that moment.

  As much as she wanted to leave London and slink back to her quiet corner of East Anglia, she knew how rude that would be after all of Julian’s hard work and so, after a few more moments of relative solitude, she made her way back to the auction rooms. The sale was over and the foyer was full of people lining up to pay for their items. At first, she couldn’t see Julian but then she spotted him in the corner of the room. He was laughing and smiling as only he could. She’d never seen such a warm and relentlessly happy person and she felt her sad mood lift just a little as she watched him talking to a customer. Then he caught her eye, excused himself and made his way across the foyer towards her.

  ‘Celeste! Are you okay?’ he asked, his hand firm on her shoulder.

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘You’re shaking,’ he said. ‘Come with me.’

  ‘Don’t you have to be here?’

  ‘No, no,’ he said lightly, guiding her out of the room with his hand in the small of her back like before. They walked down a carpeted corridor and into a grand and spacious office overlooking a courtyard.

  ‘Is this yours?’ Celeste asked.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Not a bad little pad, is it?’

  ‘It’s beautiful.’

  ‘And fully equipped with a drinks cabinet,’ he said. ‘Can I get you anything?’

  ‘No, thank you.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ he asked. ‘You look as if you could use something.’

  ‘A cup of tea, perhaps?’

  ‘Of course,’ he said, picking up the phone on his desk. ‘Liza? Two cups of tea, if you wouldn’t mind.’

  ‘You sure it’s not too much trouble?’

  ‘Celeste – you were one of our big clients today. I think we can stand you a cup of tea.’

  She gave a little smile.

  ‘I got worried when I saw you leave,’ he said. ‘I hope you aren’t too upset by this whole thing. I think we got you the very best prices we could.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I know you did and I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us.’

  ‘You know one of the paintings will be off to Brazil?’ he said.

  ‘Really?’

  He nodded. ‘The Jean-Louis Cassell. A businessman who is crazy about roses bought it,’ he said. ‘The others are staying in the UK.’

  She smiled, strangely comforted by the thought that the rest of the paintings wouldn’t be too far away.

  ‘So,’ he said, ‘you’re staying for dinner I hope?’ He had an anxious look in his eyes, which seemed to suggest that he thought Celeste was about to up and run, and, much as she’d have liked to, she couldn’t do that to him.

  ‘Of course,’ she said.

  ‘Good!’ he said, clapping his hands together just as Liza entered with the tea things.

  Back at Little Eleigh Manor, Gertie, Evie and Esther were sitting in the kitchen drinking cups of tea of their own.

  ‘Did she respond to your text yet?’ Evie asked Gertie.

>   Gertie looked down at her phone. ‘She just sent a couple of kisses.’

  Evie looked grim. ‘She’ll be feeling pretty miserable, won’t she?’

  ‘I’m guessing so,’ Gertie said. ‘I wish she was coming home right away.’

  ‘I don’t,’ Evie said. ‘Julian will cheer her up.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Gertie said. ‘I just hope he doesn’t push things with her. I think he’s really falling for her.’

  ‘Well, I think Celly needs a good big push and Julian seems just the right sort of man to do the pushing too.’

  ‘Don’t be insensitive,’ Gertie said.

  ‘I’m not,’ Evie said, ‘but she needs somebody to pull her out of this constant dark mood of hers.’

  ‘She’s just had a lot to deal with.’

  ‘We’ve all had a lot to deal with,’ Evie said.

  Gertie gave Evie a look, the sort that was sure to wind her up.

  ‘What?’ Evie said. ‘You don’t think being pregnant whilst doing the work of three people is enough to be dealing with?’

  ‘I thought you said Lukas had accepted the job?’

  ‘He has,’ Evie said.

  ‘So, when’s he starting?’

  ‘Next week.’

  ‘Then stop moaning!’

  Evie shook her head and looked at Esther. ‘Honestly, I get no sympathy around here.’

  Esther gave a little chuckle at the sisterly banter.

  ‘Right,’ Gertie said. ‘I’m off out to get some work done.’

  Evie nodded. ‘I’ll join you in a bit,’ she said.

  ‘So?’ Esther began as soon as Gertie had left, leaning a little closer to her young friend.

  Evie grinned, knowing exactly what Esther was waiting to hear.

  ‘I told him I was pregnant,’ she said after a protracted pause. ‘With his baby.’

  Esther’s eyes lit up with joy. ‘You did?’

  ‘Yes! And I told him something else too.’

  ‘What’s that?’