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“I didn’t say …” He paused and stared. He huffed out a breath, “Well, it makes sense to me that it’s someone you’re just recently met and that comes with me.”
Chuckling, she patted his arm and added, “Don’t take on guilt you don’t need. The police will find out what’s going on soon enough.”
Mary excitedly changed the subject. “Jamie has a girlfriend. Did he say anything to you, Gray? He’s tight-lipped about her, and I’m dying to know who she is, and well, everything about her.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “No, he only said he met someone, and they were taking things slow. I asked if we could have dinner together—just the four of us. He said maybe later; he wasn’t ready yet.”
“Hmm, well love is in the air. First you and Sam and now Jamie. I hope she treats him well.”
“He won’t stick with anyone who won’t treat him right, Mom,” Gray said. “Are you ready to show Sam your special flowers?”
Mary beamed. “Right now?”
Gray smiled. “Right now. I just said I didn’t want to put our lives on hold.”
Sam looked at one then the other. She didn’t know what the unspoken message was but figured she’d find out soon enough. Mary and Harry shared a look and grinned. They stood and walked to the back door. Gray took Sam’s hand and followed. They walked through the flower gardens.
My goodness, they were so beautiful! She had never seen so many beautiful varieties of flowers. Winding paths through the colorful, fragrant gardens stimulated her; she’d been cooped up too long. The paths lead them in different directions; one ended with a bench tucked away at the end so you could sit among the flowers and relax. Some of the paths had little overhangs where you could escape the sun. Another path had a little wrought iron table and two chairs.
Mary pointed. “That’s where Harry and I sometimes sit and have lunch when it isn’t too hot outside.”
She led them on a path alongside a Koi pond. The croaking of frogs followed by the ripples in the water from their movement and the water flowing from the small fountain was serene. The colorful fuchsia and purple water flowers floating along the top was a sight to behold.
They walked along yet another pathway, and there were beautiful flowers in colors she had never seen before.
“These are wandflowers that Harry and I blended for Dani’s family.” Mary beamed.
They were the most unusual deep shade of orange. “Dani’s favorite color,” Mary said as she smiled proudly. “These are Nick’s flowers. The rugged globe thistle seems to fit him. I liked this shade of purple, which blends well with the orange of Dani’s flowers.” The older woman proudly gestured with her hands as she pointed out the color variations and differences. ”These are also wandflowers, germinated to produce the deep red with a burgundy center for Sean and a light pink with a deep red center for Leila. Zach’s wandflowers are a cross between gold and yellow.”
She continued along another path, and beautiful daylilies in a myriad of colors appeared.
“This is Jamie’s family.” She radiated pride.
“The deep burgundy is Jamie’s. The lighter pinks were for Kathy, Jamie’s wife.” She longingly gazed at the soft pink flowers. “When she passed away, we cut the daylilies right from this garden and laid them on her casket.” Swallowing, she smiled and allowed the grief she still held to float away. “The deep purple is for Shae, and her husband, Brian’s, is the lavender. Mori’s color is the orange.”
Toward the end of the last path was an old barn door leaning against a wrought iron arbor with gorgeous flowers climbing the arbor and along the door. Colorful pots with a variety of succulents graced the ground alongside. Beautiful decorations were situated around and in some of the pots. Little glass jars and decorative birds were located here and there catching the light, chrome wings spinning in the slight breeze. A wooden bench sat in front of the barn door topped with a cushion in varying shades of purple, ivory, and grays. Mary took her hand and led her to beautiful rose beds nestled alongside the bench.
“These are Gray’s family. Gray loved roses from the time he was very little. He would walk out in these gardens with me and gravitate to the roses. His interest is what first encouraged me to try and blend different colors and varieties for my family.
“Gray’s are the deep purple roses. He was mesmerized by that color as a child, drawing his pictures of buildings and houses, always with purple in the picture somewhere. I remember asking him if he would like it if I could make a rose that color. He was so excited, I worked and worked until I got it right.” She smiled and looked at her son. The soft smile he bestowed on his mom was deeply moving. “Jax’s roses are the bright blue ones, actually a shade of the purple but in the flower world, they’re considered blue. The bright pink roses for Sarah and the burgundy for Cole. Dusty pink for Lily. Lincoln’s are the lighter blues. Finally, the bright red roses are for Ethan. We’ve been working on a color for Eva.”
Sam looked around at the beauty of the garden spread out before her. It could be the Green Bay Botanical Gardens; it was so perfect.
“Didn’t you make a color for Suzanne?” Sam had to ask.
Mary, Harry, and Gray laughed. “We grew a red rose bush for Suzanne just because we felt like we should. It was full of thorns and not very pretty. It was our little joke. As soon as we realized what kind of person she was and Gray told us Suzanne had cheated, we dug them all up. My garden has never been prettier than it is now, though.” Mary turned them around.
On the other side of Gray’s purple roses were the most beautiful champagne colored roses Sam had ever seen. They were long-stemmed roses with perfect petals, and the color was one she had never seen in a rose or any flower before. They were perfect.
“Oh, my word, these are amazing. I hope you plan to show these off somewhere, Mary. I’ve never seen a more perfect rose in my life. The color is so beautiful.”
Mary smiled at her. “We’ve been playing with flowers for years. We’ve been blending flowers and coming up with new varieties for the past thirty years or more. Sometimes we show them, sometimes we’re stingy with them, and we keep them to ourselves. I didn’t have the time to blend these, but I found them with a grower I occasionally use out on the West Coast. As soon as Gray told me about how much he loved that color on you, I started looking for them.”
She couldn’t stop looking at them. Then what Mary had said sunk in and Sam turned to look at Gray. “You liked that color on me?”
Gray stepped forward. He took her hand and walked her over to the bench and motioned for her to sit down. He kneeled in front of her and took both of her hands in his.
“Sam, I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you. You took my breath away, and I’m still trying to catch it. The night of the Downtown Harmony Lake event, even though I would change how that night ended a thousand times over when you walked into the living room in that champagne colored dress, I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world—I still do. I saw my bride. I told my mom how beautiful I thought you looked in that color. It was perfect on you. I told Mom and Dad that weekend, I was going to fix what I had done, and I was going to marry you, and I wanted you to wear that color when I did. That was weeks ago. Last week Mom told me what she had been able to do with the roses and I came out and saw them on my lunch hour. I wanted to bring you here today to show you these roses. Mom and Dad have planted these roses for you, Sam.”
