Page 7 of A Curious Ending

‘I can’t,’ Abigail replied, ‘but I can appear where you are – and as you saw earlier – I can disappear when necessary. You may find it helpful to leave doors open to rooms you wish me to explore when you are busy in another part of a building. I am able to do this as you would still, strictly speaking, be within the vicinity.’

‘Or I could shut them,’ Lara muttered, picking up a basket filled with peach hypericum and carrying them out to the front of the shop.

On the pavement in front of her shop Lara had arranged tiers of wooden crates and on these had placed buckets and baskets filled with flowers. On one side of the central door the peach hypericum jostled with orange Chinese lanterns and purple heather. A willow basket filled with gourds and sedum added an additional splash of autumn colour. On the other side of the door Lara had propped an old butcher’s bike that was painted the same sage green as her van. In its large wicker basket were displayed bunches of red, gold and plum-coloured dahlias. The shop had two large picture windows and as a backdrop to her street display Lara had filled terracotta urns with branches of autumnal foliage, placing one in each window. She had also stuck handfuls of burnished beech leaves to the window so it looked like the wind had blown in and scattered them all over the front of her shop.

Once she was satisfied with the outside, Lara came back in and started unpacking the next box. Abigail watched as Lara cut and stripped the flowers, adding them to the vases and buckets around her. On a table towards the back of the shop Lara had arranged clusters of glass jugs and had already filled these with green and white flowers. Bells of Ireland swayed above small white spray roses and delicate petalled bouvardia. Abigail thought it looked charming and told her so. Lara’s demeanour thawed somewhat and she showed Abigail where she was going to place the flowers she had just unpacked.

‘I thought I’d do a display on the table at the front of delphiniums. They’re out of season but a bride particularly wanted them so I added them to today’s order. They cost an arm and a leg,’ Lara said, rummaging in the bottom of one of the boxes.

‘Ah, Delfini,’ Abigail remarked approvingly.

‘I suppose you were taught Latin?’ Lara asked, looking up.

‘I do read Latin. My mother insisted,’ Abigail replied, wandering over to look at the dusty purple delphiniums that Lara was now carefully extracting from one of the flower crates. ‘However, “Delfini” is Greek. My mother was a great flower lover – I suppose in more modern times she would have been called a botanist. When I was a little girl she told me that the delphinium is named after the Greek for dolphin, on account of the shape of its lower petals.’ Abigail smiled. ‘Of course, I had no idea what a dolphin was, but I did not like to tell Mother that. She was an intellectual and like many very clever people could be dismissive of those who did not measure up to her standards.’

‘What was her name?’ Lara asked, forgetting for a moment that she still did not know her Kindred Spirit’s name.

‘Maria. On marrying my father Hugo she became Lady Bourton. For some reason my father always called her Misha,’ Abigail shook her head gently, ‘I have no idea why.’ Abigail continued, lost in the past, ‘They really were very happy together. They met at a Christmas house party that neither of them had wanted to attend. They both sought refuge in the library to get away from the other guests and they fell into conversation. At that point he was just a major in the army,’ Abigail explained, ‘it was only when his cousin died unexpectedly that he came into the title and property.’

‘Were you named after your mother?’ Lara asked, eventually getting to the question she had been meaning to pose for the last twelve hours.

‘No, I was born the Honourable Abigail Rossmore, although everyone called me Abby.’ Her expression warmed as she looked at Lara. ‘I would be very pleased if you would do so too.’

‘Okay,’ Lara nodded, strangely moved.

Abby went on, ‘when I married I became Lady Davencourt, yet somehow when I found myself here,’ she gestured by rippling her fingers through the air, ‘I realised I thought of myself as Abigail Rossmore. In fact, it was stronger than that. I knew I was Abby Rossmore. I suppose it comes from having had a short life and having lived most of it as her. She must be the most significant part of me.’

Lara unbent from the box she was unpacking, holding several willowy stems of white Arum lilies in her arms. Rather appropriate she thought, in light of her next question, ‘Abby, how did you die?’ she asked quietly.

Abby stared at her fixedly for a few seconds. ‘It was widely reported that I died in a riding accident.’

‘Reported?’ Lara asked.

‘There appears to be someone approaching the shop,’ Abby said, changing the subject. ‘I shall just sit over here and keep out of your way.’

Chapter 6

The doorbell jangled and Lara’s assistant Becky stepped into the shop. She was a girl in her late teens with short-cropped dark hair, although currently only a few tufts of it were visible from under her black knitted hat. She closed the door quickly to keep out the cold and started to unwind her scarf and pull off her gloves. These were black too, as indeed was everything that Becky ever wore. Lara was not sure whether this was because she really liked the colour or if it was simply expedient when getting dressed in the morning. Lara would have liked to ask her and secretly thought colours like red, turquoise and bronze would look amazing on her. But as they were not that close, and it would have been just the sort of thing her mother would have said, she kept these thoughts to herself. Lara was also conscious that these days she was the last person to be giving anyone fashion advice.

‘You must have been in early,’ Becky remarked, taking in the tables already filled with flowers and the wooden crates brimming with plants.

Lara made an indistinct reply, her head in the bottom of a flower box.

‘What would you like me to do first?’ Becky asked, tying a sage-green apron around her with the words ‘Miss McGregor’s Garden’ embroidered across the front. Lara pulled out her list and went through the morning’s orders with Becky, trying to make her directions as clear and precise as possible. Lara was aware she wanted things done a certain way and she thought it best to be explicit so there was no misunderstanding. She also knew that Becky was shy and did not seem to like to ask her questions, so Lara had started to try to cover all bases in her instructions.

Becky listened to the extensive and at times convoluted commands in silence. ‘Got it,’ she said eventually and started to gather stems of blush coloured roses and smoky hydrangeas together for her first arrangement.

Abby found she loved watching Becky work. She moved swiftly around the shop, plucking up different stems, spinning around to find another colour and then swooping in on a piece of foliage that turned out to be the perfect fit for the posy that was growing in her hand. After she had finished poring over lists and prices, Lara joined in. It occurred to Abby, from her vantage point on a high stool by the workbench, that it was like watching two dancers on a stage. The two florists moved around each other with the harmony that comes from people who are used to sharing a small space. However it struck Abby that this was no duet. Each florist was in her own isolated little world. She was also surprised by how quiet the shop was. She had not known Lara for long, but she had not found her reticent when it came to expressing herself. Quite the opposite, she thought, remembering their conversation from the previous night. She decided to intervene. ‘Why don’t you talk to Becky as you work?’ she asked out loud.

‘I’m sorry?’ Lara said, startled.

‘Not a problem,’ came the quiet and slightly puzzled reply from Becky who was at the sink filling vases.

Lara glared at Abby, shaking her head. ‘Did you have a good evening last night?’ Lara asked Becky, while at the same time frowning furiously at Abby.

Becky caught the look and replied hesitantly, ‘It was all right, just Netflix… you know…’ her voice petered out.

Lara turned towards Abby, with her palms outstretched, and mouthed silently, ‘You see!’