The Rose Girls

by Victoria Connelly

  When he returned, he was holding something large wrapped in brown paper.

  ‘I wanted to get you this,’ he said. ‘Now, don’t go getting excited because it’s not the original – as much as I’d have loved buying that for you. But I think it’s a pretty good copy,’ he said as he handed it to her.

  Celeste unwrapped the brown paper, which had been tied with a great big bow the colour of a summer sky.

  ‘Julian!’ she said a moment later as she gazed at the painting. ‘The Fantin-Latour.’

  ‘It’s just a reproduction,’ he said, ‘but it’s by a great artist friend and –’

  ‘It’s wonderful!’ Celeste said. ‘I love it!’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘What a lovely gift,’ she said, tears of joy sparkling in her eyes. They gazed at one another and Celeste swore that she could see tears swimming in Julian’s eyes too, making them even brighter than usual, and she could wait no longer.

  It was hard to tell who was the more surprised by the kiss – Celeste for giving it or Julian for receiving it – but it was a moment that changed everything, sealed everything, made everything perfect, and Celeste had never felt happier in her life.

  When they stepped apart, the painting still held between them, they laughed.

  ‘I really wasn’t expecting that,’ Julian said.

  ‘You should have been,’ Celeste said, ‘and I should have done it a long time ago.’

  The smile that graced his face – the one that she had thought she’d never see again – made her heart soar with joy and love.

  ‘Come on,’ Julian said. ‘Let’s share all this with those sisters of yours.’

  They left the study hand in hand and walked into the hallway, where Celeste’s eyes caught sight of the barometer. As always, it was reading ‘Change’ and she couldn’t help smiling because, for once, it was right.

  ONE YEAR LATER

  Celeste opened a window in the study. The room had been stripped of its old furnishings and was now a bright and beautiful workspace. The Victorian partners’ desk had been moved into another room because Celeste hadn’t been able to part with it, no matter how it made her feel. In its place stood a modest table which Celeste had made her own by placing photographs and vases of flowers around it.

  Julian had been right to push her to make the changes in the room. It had been a painful process but a necessary one.

  There had been so many changes at Little Eleigh Manor, Celeste thought. Lukas had moved in and he and Evie were now officially engaged.

  ‘I don’t need to get married,’ Evie kept protesting.

  ‘We know!’ her sisters kept telling her.

  ‘But I think it’s nice for Alba, don’t you?’ Evie said.

  Celeste smiled now as she thought about her beautiful niece, Alba Rose. Lukas had been with Evie during the entire length of the nine-hour labour and she had a feeling that he was very much a part of their family now.

  It was wonderful having a baby at the manor. Celeste had been absolutely terrified of the thought of her youngest sister being pregnant but Evie, who was now a redhead, was a brilliant mother.

  Things seemed to be moving forward for Gertie too. After James and his wife had left for France, Gertie had given all of her poetry books to a charity shop and had taken up kickboxing instead, enrolling in an evening class where she had met a man called Aled who was very cute and who, crucially, wasn’t married. Since then, the two had gone travelling around Italy, Switzerland and Spain, carefully avoiding France, which no longer held an appeal for Gertie.

  Meanwhile, Mr Ludkin had finished his work in the north wing and Julian had been converting it into his antiques centre, much to the fascination of Esther Martin, who had actually offered to help out once it was up and running.

  ‘Do you know how many years I’ve spent sitting in a chair by myself ? Let me be useful, for pity’s sake!’ she told Julian and Celeste when they asked if it would be too much for her.

  The reproduction Fantin-Latour – or the Phantom-Latour as it was affectionately known, because it was but a ghost of the real thing, had been hanging with pride in Celeste’s study. And it really was her study too these days, with its freshly painted walls the colour of a New Dawn rose, its light, bright furniture and the beautifully delicate curtains which swayed in the gentlest of breezes, making the room a heavenly place to work in.

  Celeste smiled. And what about her, she thought? Well, she’d been spending more time with Julian – a lot more time. They’d walked and talked and laughed and kissed, and she felt happier than she’d ever felt in her life.

  Leaning out of the window now, her bare arms on the sun-warmed stone windowsill, Celeste looked out across the moat to the garden and sighed with deep satisfaction as the scent of roses drifted towards her. Julian was out walking Frinton down by the river and Gertie, Esther, Evie and Lukas were in the walled garden with baby Alba. Celeste had promised to join them as soon as her desk was clear.

  ‘Which it is,’ she said to herself as she turned back into the room. There had been a time when she would have spent an extra hour in the study, tidying, planning and organising, but not anymore: she was finally learning how to let go, enjoy herself and relax, and there was no better way of doing that than by joining her sisters and the rest of her family in the rose garden.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  To Emilie, Sophie and Jennifer at Amazon Publishing for believing in this story and for helping me make it the very best it could be. To fellow rosarians Richard Stubbs, Jo Skehan and Nattaporn Vichitrananda. To Adele Geras for her wonderful novel, Watching the Roses. To Alison for her story Teddy Bananas, which inspired my ‘ceiling on the floor’ scene. To Judy for listening to my ideas for this book over the last two years. And to Roy, who taxied me around a fair few rose gardens and who has dug endless holes in our own garden in which to plant my own ever-expanding rose collection!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2011 Roy Connelly

  Victoria Connelly studied English literature at Worcester University, got married in a medieval castle in North Yorkshire and now lives in rural Suffolk with her artist husband and family of rescued animals.

  She has had ten romantic comedies published around the world as well as books across many genres including novels, novellas, short story collections, children’s adventures and autobiographies. Her first published novel, Flights of Angels, was made into a movie in 2008 by Ziegler Films in Germany. The Runaway Actress was shortlisted for the RNA’s Romantic Comedy award.

  Ms Connelly loves books, films, gardening, walking, historic buildings, and animals – especially ex-battery hens. She is also passionate about roses, and her home is surrounded by more than thirty different varieties of rose bush.

  Her website is www.victoriaconnelly.com, and readers can follow her on Twitter @VictoriaDarcy.