While all his children delighted him, Edward couldn’t help but reserve a special place in his heart for Connie, trying to make up for Lily’s lack of interest in her as best he could. Lily doted on Harry and the baby, and barely seemed to notice Connie at times, but if it bothered Connie she never said.
Connie was so different from her mother, quiet and studious, and even as a child she was incredibly stoical in the face of pain. There was a day Edward remembered well when she came in with a thorn deep in her thumb, which clearly pained her, yet she shed not a single tear when Edward tenderly pulled it out. Even Lily had marvelled at her courage.
The years passed, the children grew, and Edward found himself more involved in philanthropy than gardening, the wealth he had accrued from designing gardens for the great and good, allowing him to do charitable works nearer to home.
I have decided to design a garden for the village, he wrote in his diary in 1904, the people of Heartsease need a place to go for recreation, and I will willingly share my expertise.
So in summer of 1905, Lily proudly opened the Heartsease Public Gardens for the first time. There was a grand party, and the whole village turned out. They had bunting and flags, and a village fete. Lily, Edward and the children – the girls dressed in white muslin dresses, Harry in a sailor suit – were photographed with the villagers in front of the gates of the new park. It was one of those languorous long summer days that seemed to go on forever. The sun shone, the village band played, and Edward felt blessed to live in a place like Heartsease. He watched with pride as the village children ran joyously in the gardens he’d created for them. After the knot garden, he wrote in his diary, the Heartsease Public Gardens are my greatest achievement.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ Lily said, as they returned home that night, the children full of sticky cakes and buns, and exhausted from running wild with the village children. ‘You do so much good for everyone.’
She kissed him lightly on the cheek, and that evening, when the children were in bed, she and Edward sat on the veranda, watching the sun go down behind the hills, and listened to the bats screeching in the dusk. They held hands and celebrated their good fortune.
Later, looking back to that time, it seemed to Edward that the sun had always shone, and the summers seemed endless, full of joy and laughter as his children tumbled up in a happy family time.
Lily’s diary, July 1905
Today I opened Edward’s gardens. It is such a noble and good thing he has done for the people of Heartsease. Now all the villagers have somewhere to go, and judging by the children today, the gardens are an instant success.
I am so proud of Edward, so lucky to have married him. I looked at our beautiful children tonight, as they slept, and thanked God that I have been so fortunate. After all that early heartache I have my heart’s desire right here, with Edward in Lovelace Cottage. I feel I will never want for anything again.
Chapter Seventeen
Kezzie spent several days mulling over what Joel had said. Maybe he was right. If she got in touch with Richard again, she could know one way or another if it was definitely over. It had been nearly six months now, and no word from him, but then she hadn’t made it easy for him to get in touch with her. Perhaps, as Joel had suggested, Richard had been trying to.
But then again, if he’d been trying to find her surely Richard would have got in touch with her via Flick? She didn’t hold out much hope for him finding her through Facebook, as Richard didn’t even have an account. While he embraced modern technology for business, he was less keen on social networking in his personal life, claiming he’d rather speak to people face to face than online.
After some internal debate, she decided that rather than ringing him up again – she wasn’t yet ready for the humiliation of having him slam the phone down on her, or hearing that other woman on the phone again – her best bet would be to use the excuse of the Summer Fest as a reason for getting in touch, and to do it by email.
After much deliberation Kezzie sat down at Jo’s rickety desk with a glass of wine to write an email to Richard.
To: Richard.Lacey@L&GGardendesigns.com
From: [email protected]
Dear Richard, she wrote. And then got stuck. What to say next? I hope you’re missing me as madly as I’m missing you?
I know you said you never wanted to hear from me again last time we spoke but I thought I’d email anyway?
I think we’ve made a huge mistake?
No, she couldn’t say any of that. It was way too personal.
She started again.
To Richard? Too formal.
Hi, Richard? Too friendly.
In the end she went with,
Richard,
Kezzie here. Just wanting to pick your brains about a community gardening project I’m working on. We’re planning to overhaul a local park, and we need to raise a considerable sum of money. I know it’s cheeky of me after all this time, but I was wondering if you could think of anyone I could contact who might be able to offer their services.
Hope you’re keeping well,
Kezzie
She felt like she had been reasonably casual, and not too intense, while managing to maintain a friendly air. She read the email over several times, and took a great big gulp of wine.
‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ she said, her finger hovering over the keyboard for a minute, before she decided she may as well just go for it, and pressed send. The minute the email had gone she regretted it, but it was too late now. Oh well. She’d have to deal with the fallout tomorrow. As she went to turn the computer off, an email pinged straight back into her inbox. Kezzie swallowed hard. She’d assumed Richard would have gone home for the evening, and hadn’t imagined he’d still be sitting at his desk. It was tantalizing to think of them connected by their computer screens. So close, and yet so far away.
From: Richard. Lacey@L&GGardendesigns.com
Kezzie,
If you want help with your gardening project your best bet is to contact the RoseThyme Agency who have a lot of gardening celebs on their books.
I recall from our last conversation I said I didn’t want to see you any more. That hasn’t changed. I think it advisable for you not to contact me again.
Richard
Kezzie felt as if a cold bucket of water had been thrown over her head. Seeing the words there so starkly in front of her was even more hurtful than it had been all those months ago. She let out a howl of anguish. Part of her wanted to launch a tirade at him, telling him how wrong he was, begging him to forgive her, but she was too proud. All that would do would make him hate her even more. Instead, she responded with a curt, I only contacted you for the information you gave me. Thanks for that. You won’t hear from me again. And then she deleted her hotmail account. It was one she didn’t use very often, but she couldn’t bear the thought of any more correspondence like that from Richard. Better if he didn’t know how to contact her. And now she’d opened the correspondence, better if she wasn’t tempted to contact him again.
Kezzie switched off the computer and stared out into the gathering gloom. Finally she had to face it, after all these months of pretending. It really was over. Richard was never going to take her back.
Lauren was having the opposite problem. After years of thinking Troy didn’t want her, she was being faced with the prospect that