AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cody, Heath, and Spencer stood off to the side near the rose garden entrance, under the sprawling Lady Banks roses, talking with Ethan Grant, Ben Lawrence, and Quinten Parks. Her three bears were entrancingly handsome in their black tuxedos and she felt like their fairy princess dressed in the ivory lace wedding gown, which was low-cut in the back, with a row of tiny buttons from the waist down. The bodice of the dress had a deep V-neck that revealed her generous cleavage. Her mom had blushed when she’d helped her get dressed and Maizy had commented on how much cleavage the dress revealed. Her mom had giggled and said, “At our wedding your father laid eyes on me in this and could scarcely string two words together.”
It’d had a similar effect on her men when they’d seen her in it for the first time, as she’d been escorted down the rosebush-lined walkway by her father.
Drawing her attention back to the present, Woody nodded to Mr. Ambrose when he approached and said, “Might I have this dance, Mrs. Welsh?”
Hearing her new name made her heart leap with joy and she gladly accepted after looking up at Woody, who nodded and stepped back. Mr. Ambrose was dressed as dapper as ever in his suit and his bow tie which always seemed a little tight.
“Maizy, I’m so pleased you decided to complete the school year with us.”
“I am too, sir. And thank you for understanding about my not wanting to pursue another year with the school district.”
Mr. Ambrose smiled down at her and nodded his head. “Believe me, I do. I wish there was some way I could adequately convey how sorry I am that you were put through that whole experience. I feel I let you down by not protecting you somehow from that threat. Fear, I guess…” He glanced into her eyes and tugged at his collar.
“Fear, sir? Why do you use that term?”
He chuckled dryly and said, “Because that’s what it was. It was a shock, the day those photographs arrived. Mrs. Dumphrey was so outraged. She just dumped them on my desk. I felt like a fraud…”
“A fraud? Why?”
Mr. Ambrose chewed his lip for a moment, looking to the side and then back at her. “See the lovely woman clad in lavender, sitting at the table over there, with the man in the black suit beside her?”
She looked and saw the couple in question. Oddly, they were both looking at her already, and nodded and smiled at her. “Isn’t that your brother, the owner of Divine Print, and his wife?”
Mr. Ambrose smiled as he led her in the dance and murmured, “Yes. My brother and my wife as well.”
He smiled as her eyes popped open wide and she gasped softly. “Mr. Ambrose.”
He nodded and kept his eyes averted. “Now you see why I say I was a fraud. Am a fraud. I didn’t help to protect one of our own like I should’ve. I’ve kept that secret for decades. Decades. And in that time, only a handful of people have ever been privy to that knowledge. I suppose by telling you, I’m trying to convey how deeply sorry I am…but you can count on me in the future.”
She gently squeezed his hand as they danced and said, “The sentiment is mutual, Mr. Ambrose, and I don’t hold anything that has happened against you.”
“I brought something I wanted to give to you, a surprise of sorts. You’ll find it on the gift table.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve recently taken an interest in rose propagation and I’ve grown you an antique rosebush from a cutting. One of my first successes, actually.”
Maizy gasped in delight. “What kind?”
“Zephirine Drouhin. It’s thornless so you won’t have to worry when you work with it. The original bush belonged to my mother and grows out at our family cemetery on our land. I thought you might like it for growing on a trellis or trained on a fence.”
Maizy had to fight tears yet again, as she remembered what she knew of that particular rose. “Lovely lemon-rose scent and coppery new growth. I’ll love it, sir. I already know exactly where I’ll plant it.” Spencer had started a rose bed for her recently, near the outdoor room in their backyard. She could picture it growing on a trellis in the center. “Thank you very much.”
With slightly flushed cheeks, Mr. Ambrose nodded and then greeted the elderly white-haired lady who approached them. “Maizy, I think I’ve monopolized enough of your attention on your wedding day.”
