Coming Up Roses

by Staci Hart

  “No. He doesn’t know I’m here. But I owe him so much, Tess, more than I can ever make up for. I’m here because I owe it to him to fix what I broke, to clear his name. Luke said I have to do this alone, and he’s right. It’s time to move on.” She laid her palm on her stomach.

  Something about the look on her face, the tone of her voice, the gentle honesty written all over her hit me deep in the recesses of my heart. She was alone and afraid, and she’d come to Luke. She’d sought safety, and as much as I hated what had happened and how it had happened, I found I couldn’t hate her for it.

  She wasn’t evil. She was afraid. But not for herself.

  For her child.

  What she’d done, she’d done for her baby. And that was a truth I could find forgiveness for.

  “You won’t hear from me again,” Wendy promised. “I won’t interfere, and as soon as I talk to Mrs. Bennet, I’ll be out of both of your lives. Make him happy, Tess. He deserves it.” She offered a small smile, bowing her head as she turned and walked away.

  My mind reeled.

  As long as I’d known Luke Bennet, I’d believed him to be flighty and unpredictable, unreliable and irresponsible. Even through the last few months I’d held on to that kernel of doubt, the old ideology never letting go.

  But I was wrong—he was exactly the opposite. He was kind and giving to measures of absolute certainty. He sacrificed himself for others, even when it cost him dearly. He shouldered responsibility for things that were not his to be responsible for. He was steady and sure in ways I never thought he could be, in ways that had brought Wendy across the country strictly to seek safety in him. If the baby had been his, he would have done anything, everything to provide. Even now, even having endured what she’d put him through, I believed he would try to help her, do what he could to ensure her security.

  And if I gave him the chance, he would do the same for me. More, if I let him.

  I wanted to let him. And I wanted to give him everything he had given to me.

  Ivy rushed to the back, wide-eyed and back stiff, but before she could ask any questions, I grabbed her hands, smiling.

  “I need your help.”

  “Anything,” she said with a sputter.

  “Help me tell Luke I love him.”

  And her own smile spread. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  25

  MOMENTS

  LUKE

  The entire Bennet clan was squirrely.

  The Bennet penchant for gossip—regarding Wendy, I assumed—was the cause. Every time I walked into a room, it was to whispers that burst into overly loud chatter. I was being systematically guided through my day in an effort to keep me out of the shop. My siblings disappeared at intervals. My mother led me around by the nose, citing my promise to make up my transgressions, an especially fresh bruise after Wendy had come by to talk to her. They’d said goodbye with a tearful hug, and afterward, I’d been surprised the Bennets didn’t bust out a preordered cake and pour the good scotch to commemorate the occasion. Instead, Mom had wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest while she cried. Partly from relief, I was sure. But her words only spoke of her pride in me.

  That, and her desire for me to make things right with Tess.

  But that was the thing. The only thing for me to do was wait, and it was driving me to the edge of insanity. I’d asked to see her, but she’d blown me off. I wanted her to hear the news about Wendy from me, but not over text. I needed to see her.

  But I’d lost the right. And by this point, she’d probably heard from one of my siblings. No chance that news wouldn’t spread like wildfire.

  That night, I lay in the top bunk with Kash snoring below, phone in hand and Tess’s messages pulled up. There were so many things I wanted to say. But I couldn’t say any of them. Not if I wanted her back.

  And I wanted her back. I wanted her back so badly but had no control. The thought of losing her was white-hot pain in my chest, the knowledge that it was largely out of my hands crippling.

  But I knew what she needed. I could be patient. I could give her space. Because I believed in my love for her, and I had faith that she’d come back to me. So instead of typing out all the words of my heart, I clicked off my phone and tried to sleep.

  When I woke, it was with that same solid sense of hope I’d gone to sleep with, alive and tangible in my chest. In fact, it was stronger, more vital than it had been since everything came unraveled. Maybe it was because I was no longer beholden to Wendy, or maybe because my name had been cleared.

  Or it could be the hope set in motion by Natalie’s agreement to come to the shop to talk to me about potentially working with the magazine again. That was, if I could convince her, which I felt certain that I could.

  But today, I could sense a shift. I only hoped it was in the direction I wanted.

  Kash was already gone for the day, and I pulled on clothes and padded downstairs, breaking up another Bennet whisper session. My mother, Laney, and Jett popped apart with comically wide smiles on their faces.

  I folded my arms and gave them a lazy smile. “What are you whispering about?”

  “Nothing! Nothing at all, Lucas,” Mom said, floating across the room with a flush smudging her cheeks. “Did you sleep well? Are you hungry? Laney, get the donuts. We have Blanche’s. Would you like Blanche’s?”

  I eyed her as I baited, “No time. Going down to the shop.”

  Her face snapped open like I’d known it would. “Oh, no—you have to have breakfast first! They don’t need you down there, no, not yet.” She hooked her small hand in my elbow and tugged me toward the table.

  It was like the time they’d tried to throw me a surprise party. The Bennets sucked at secrets—everyone except Marcus and Dad at least.

  “Not hungry, but thanks, Mom.” I dislodged her hand in the same motion that I kissed the top of her head. “Natalie’s coming to the shop to talk about the feature, and I need to meet her soon. Want to make sure everything’s looking good down there before she gets here.”

  The three of them exchanged a worried glance.

  Mom grabbed my arm again as Laney pulled out her phone and scooted into the kitchen.

  “Well, if you have to go, I’ll come with you,” Mom insisted. “Just let me get my shoes on.”

  The next fifteen minutes were spent being stalled by my mother. First with a case of missing shoes—her favorites for her outfit, she insisted. Then, it was a hunt for a sweater even though it was almost ninety degrees out. Whoops, look at that, she had forgotten to take her medicine, which killed another five minutes. A bathroom stop, a brief phone call, and a question Laney needed an urgent answer for in the kitchen, and we were finally walking out the door.

  “Subtle, Mom,” I said with a smile as I opened the door.

  She smiled slyly up at me as I passed. “It’s unlike you to be suspicious, Lucas.”

  “You would make the world’s worst spy, you know that?”

  With a laugh, she said, “It’s true. Never did have a taste for firearms.”

  And then it was my turn to laugh as we descended the stairs to the sidewalk, turning for the shop. I looked up, not sure what to expect.

  That was when I saw her.

  Tess stood in front of the turquoise door, sunlight gleaming on her auburn hair, casting a shine on it like a new penny. Her velvety eyes were alight with hope and apology as she stood before me, waiting for me.

  “Hear her out, Lucas. And tell her how you feel,” Mom said gently, squeezing my arm before letting it go.

  I drifted toward Tess with a confession, a profession, an admission on my lips, but before I reached her, she stepped toward me to grab my hand and tow me to the window, turning me to face it.

  My lips parted in awe as I took in the display—I’d only seen Tess until just then.

  Written across both windows in flowers were the words Love happens in moments. And I stepped closer, distantly noting that her hand fell away.

&
nbsp; In each window were three vignettes, marked by signs held by scrolling frames. Moments, moments we’d lived, moments I’d lived with her, moments I’d loved her. The first was a small pile of hay with our blanket tossed over it, a whiskey bottle and two glasses on display next to a sign that said, When you first kissed me. The ladder she’d fallen from: When you saved my life. The swing I’d made for her: When you stole my heart. Numb feet walked me to the other window where three of our succulent crates were strung. Sometimes, things work out, its sign said, and next to it was a piece of our broken installation. And sometimes, they don’t.

  At the end was a mirror, its elaborate gilded frame carved in whorls and waves. In the curves of the scrolls, ranunculus in creams and peaches over leaves of green.

  I glanced at my reflection, then at the sign under the mirror.

  But as long as I have you, nothing else matters.

  Tess moved to my side, and for a long moment, I memorized the sight of us in the mirror, the vision framed by flowers, the rightness of it staggering.

  She turned. I met her. Looked into the face I loved so well, and all the things I wanted to say boiled down to one.

  “I love you,” I said, my hands framing her face, tilting it up to mine.

  A laugh slipped out of her, her eyes shining with tears. “Wait, that was my line.”

  But I smiled without an ounce of regret. “You did all this for me?”

  “Because I love you, Luke Bennet,” she said, smiling as she spoke the words that would forever change me. “Can you forgive me for my fear if I promise to always have faith?”

  I drew a breath that drew her into me, and I answered her with a kiss, pressing my lips to hers in a delicate crush of decision and affirmation. And I kissed her with every corner of my heart and soul open in offering.

  She melted into me, her body pressed against mine, the space between us gone, even when I broke the kiss.

  “I am so sorry, Luke. I was so afraid—afraid for our future, afraid I’d lose you—and I can’t … I don’t want…” Her voice broke.

  I thumbed her cheek, the space under her palm on my chest aching. “Shh. Please, don’t apologize,” I whispered.

  “You told me nothing matters, not as long as we have each other, and you were right. Losing you would leave a wound that would never heal. Nothing matters, not as long as I have you.”

  With a breath, I made a promise. And with a kiss, I sealed it.

  “I’m yours,” I said against her lips before taking them.

  Forever was written in that kiss.

  When it finally broke, I gazed down at her, brushing her hair from her face with a smile on mine. “I knew they were keeping me from something, but I had no idea you’d done all this.”

  Tess laughed. “We hatched the plan yesterday.” Her smile faded. “I’m sorry. For what you’ve been through the last few days. I should have been there for you.”

  But I shook my head. “I didn’t know how to handle it either, and I don’t blame you for needing time.”

  She gazed up at me in wonder. “Anyone else would have been furious with me for pushing them away like I did.”

  A chuckle. “Four days we were apart. Granted, they were four of the longest days of my life, but you needed a couple of days to process my ex-wife telling a room full of people she was pregnant with my baby. You weren’t being unreasonable, and you have nothing to apologize for. And Wendy won’t bother us again. You were right, Tess. She would have always manipulated me, and I would’ve let her. But not anymore. I promise you that.”

  A sheepish expression touched her face, brightened her cheeks. “Wendy came here yesterday. She told me everything, and after talking to your mom … well, we thought maybe there was a way we could help her after all. We need an extra set of hands, and she needs a stable job with insurance and an employer who understands her situation, who can be flexible if she needs to take a few days off. We want to give her a chance, if you feel the same.”

  I searched her face. “Is that really what you want?”

  “It is. I believe her. And I want to help her.”

  “Then I’m in.”

  “All in?” she asked with a sidelong smile.

  “All fucking in.” My eyes traced every plane and angle of her face. “I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe you came back to me.”

  “Oh, I didn’t go far,” she said on a laugh. “I love you, Luke Bennet. And I’m not going anywhere.”

  She tightened her arms around my neck, and I leaned in, knowing exactly what would happen before it did. I knew the moment our lips would meet, knew the way she would taste. I knew the softness of her lips and the familiar curves of her face, fitted in my palm. I knew her. And in that moment, I realized she always would come back, and I always would be waiting.

  Because the way I loved her would never fade. And as safe as she was in my arms, I was safe in hers.

  We wound together, a tangle of arms, bodies flush and kiss deepening. God, how I’d missed her. And for a moment, I gave myself over to the joy of finding what I’d thought I’d lost.

  Cheering was what broke the kiss with a shocked pop. Whooping, whistling and clapping came from beside us, our surprised faces swiveling to the entirety of the Bennet clan, Tess’s dad, Ivy under Dean’s massive arm, everyone watching us with watery eyes and flushed cheeks. Blushing, we turned to them, though she was still tucked into my side. I couldn’t let her go, didn’t want a millimeter between us. Tess laughed, leaning into me, the weight of her hand on my chest like an anchor, tethering me to the earth as I took in the happy faces of those who loved us.

  When I reached the end of the line, I realized with no small amount of shock that Natalie stood at the edge of the brood, and a photographer stood next to her. I couldn’t see the girl’s face though—her camera was pointed at us, shutter flashing.

  Tess saw her too and sucked in a breath. “Is that—”

  “I forgot she was coming the second I saw you. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

  “Well,” she said, straightening her spine, “let’s go see if we’ve got a shot.”

  Before we could talk to Natalie, we were rushed by our family and friends. Mom was crying and blubbering and taking turns holding our faces and hugging us. Dad just smiled proudly from the back of the crowd, his eyes deep with emotion and hands in his pockets. My brothers and sister making jokes and laughing and hugging and clapping shoulders, as was our way. Tess hugging her dad, kissing the top of his head. His grip was iron, his smile sideways, his blessing plain.

  And the second I could, I laid a hand on the small of Tess’s back and nodded to Natalie.

  She stood, smiling on the sidewalk, as the photographer snapped pictures of the front of the shop. When we approached, she offered a hand and a smile.

  “Well, we didn’t quite expect all of this, but what a pleasant surprise,” she said, gesturing to the windows.

  “I know just how you feel.” I glanced at the photographer. “I didn’t think you’d be shooting though.”

  “It was too perfect not to. We haven’t filled the spot, so I was hoping we could still do the piece, if you’re interested. I know after the other day you might not want to—”

  “We’ll do it,” I interrupted. “But this isn’t the installation you asked for.”

  “It’s not, but this story is even better. The Bennet family comes together to save the family legacy. How Luke Bennet and Tess Monroe brought the failing flower shop back from the dead and found love somewhere along the way. I’d like to feature you, the two of you, as the center of the article. What do you think?”

  I glanced down at Tess, deferring to her, sure she’d decline such a public exposure.

  But to my utter shock, she smiled broadly and said, “I think it sounds brilliant.” She looked up at me, full of hope and love. “What do you think?”

  “Tess, I want to tell the whole world how much I love you, and this seems as good a medium as any.”

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nbsp; And she laughed up at me as long as she could before I kissed her.

  26

  MAKE A WISH

  TESS

  The day was a whirlwind.

  The Bennets rallied, taking care of the shop while the photographer followed Luke and me around as we toured a typical day in the life of Longbourne. Luke and I clipped flowers, buckets and armfuls. I made a few arrangements as the shutter clicked. We went to storage and pretended to work on things, which mostly consisted of Luke using power tools without purpose and the two of us fiddling with some of the old installations like they were new. While we stuffed our faces with pizza, the photographer shot the rest of the Bennets in their natural habitats—Mr. Bennet and Kash in the greenhouse, Mrs. Bennet in the front with Jett, Laney taking pictures with her phone and ribbing Marcus, who looked both wildly out of place and perfectly himself in a suit black as midnight.

  Everyone seemed equally pleased and exhausted by the time we were finished in the early afternoon. Mrs. Bennet retired to rest, and the rest of the brood dispersed. I jumped into work with Ivy, and I thought Luke would leave to run deliveries. But he didn’t seem to want to be parted from me, and for that, I was ecstatic.

  Four days without him had been too long.

  We closed the shop at dusk, said goodbye to everyone, the last ones there, as we always were.

  And when we were alone, it was as if no time had passed, as if nothing had changed. Except everything had, and in the best way.

  I sighed blissfully as he locked the grate and the front door. The possession I felt for him ran bone deep as I measured the breadth of his back, marked the flashes of his jaw. The care he took, the love he gave to this shop, to his family, to me. In this man was a heart too big to contain, with patience and love beyond the bounds of comprehension. And he was mine.

  Never had I felt so fortunate. Not in my entire life.

  When he stood, he turned to me with that smile on his face, the one that had once infuriated me simply because I thought it could never be mine. The one that now lit me up like a pyre, dedicated to my love for him.