by Cora Wilkins
Right now, Kaye, Tori, Daniel, Chris and I were at the park. We’d decided to have a quiet picnic in memoriam of Zara, surrounded by gardens that she’d helped to grow with her renowned green thumb. We hadn’t been friends with her for very long, but in the time that we’d gotten to know her, we’d come to realize she was a perfectly nice lady. She hadn’t lived her life in a way that most would expect of a woman her age, but that didn’t mean she’d deserved what happened to her.
Chris held up a plastic cup filled with soda. “To Zara,” he said. “She was a lovely woman, taken from this town far too soon.”
“To Zara,” the rest of us repeated.
“Say, Chris,” I said a moment later. “How did you know Zara? When I saw you two in the flower shop together, you seemed rather…close.”
He looked slightly uncomfortable. “I was wondering when you’d bring this up,” he said.
Kaye shot a warning look at Daniel. “I think I may have left the stove on at home,” she said, hastily standing up. “We better go check.”
Tori threw her a strange look, and Kaye stared at her. “Also, Tori, didn’t you have that thing you needed to do?”
“What thing?”
“You know…that thing.”
A look of comprehension dawned on Tori’s face. “Oh, yes. The thing. Well, I better go.”
Kaye, Daniel and Tori sped away, and I stared after them. “Er…what just happened? Anyway, what were you saying?”
“I was going to tell you how I knew Zara. Since you asked, I suppose I have to tell you. Where do I begin… well, I know I’ve been acting strangely the last few weeks and missing our dates, but it was because I was busy planning something.”
“Planning what?”
“A surprise,” he said. “For you. Kaye and Tori knew about it, and so did Zara, seeing as I asked her to arrange all the flowers for you. When you walked in on us that day, we were in the middle of discussing it. That’s why I was so flustered when you caught us.”
“A surprise?”
“Yes. Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, so I suppose the candlelit restaurant filled with your favorite flowers will have to wait until another occasion.”
He got down on one knee, and my hand flew to my mouth. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small jewelry box and smiled up at me.
“Anne, being with you for the last year has been the happiest time of my life. I’d be honored if you said yes to marrying me.”
“Oh! Oh my God. Yes!” I cried, throwing my arms around him.
He squeezed me tightly and then slipped the ring onto my left hand. “I’m sorry I was acting so weirdly,” he said. “I was planning for it to be at Chez Pierre, where we had our first date, and it was taking a lot of time to sort out the details. Then Zara died and the whole thing was derailed.”
I hugged him again, my eyes filled with tears of joy. Of course Kaye and Tori had been in on it, those sneaky minxes. And Zara…she’d certainly been good at keeping a secret. I’d had no idea!
As spring ended, both of my shops continued to do well, and Tori and I came up with a new cupcake flavor with little fondant flowers on top. We named it the Zara cupcake, and our first batch sold out within half an hour. It turned out that despite the rumors, the people of York had been a lot fonder of Zara than she had ever known. She’d served the community for ten years with her beautiful flowers, and I hoped her death was a tragedy that would never be repeated.
Then again, that’s what I’d thought when Mr. Frobisher was murdered last year. I still hoped to God nothing bad would ever happen again, but if it did, then my friends and I were always up to help solve the mystery…
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Thank you for reading my short mystery story! If you enjoyed it, please leave a review. I’d greatly appreciate it.
