Page 95 of Flowerheart

“Yes,” declared Dalia, sweeping up my hand in hers. “That’s why we’ve decided we are going to come visit you all the time.”

“Yes!” echoed Inés.

Leonor squeezed her brother’s arm. “Can I help at the shop, too? Please?”

Xavier laughed, gesturing to me. “I believe you’ll have to ask my employer.”

I beamed at the title. “Well, the shop opens first thing tomorrow, so I suppose we could use all the help we can get!”

“Excellent! Then for my first task as your second assistant, I came here—we all came here—to make a very specialdelivery!” Leonor approached her mother and accepted the bundle of cloth from her. “Inés checked the magic cupboard earlier and foundtheseinside.”

“And we knew they weren’t for any of us,” Inés added.

Dalia let out a prolonged sigh. “The dress was too big for me, anyway.”

My brow furrowed. “Dress?”

“Here,” said Leonor. The bundle she carried, it seemed, was actually several garments neatly folded. The first was white and glowing like moonlight, and she handed it to me.

I carefully lifted up the strange cloth, and suddenly it cascaded down into a stunning, pure white gown with little crystal beads sewn in it and embroidered with white flowers and vines. It was a dream. The most beautiful gown I’d ever seen. The perfect gown for an initiate.

“This—this can’t be for me,” I whispered.

“I believe itismeant for you, Clara,” said Madam Morwyn with a little laugh. “That cupboard always knows what we need, just when we need it. And it came up with something for Xavier, too.”

Like a well-oiled machine, the girls unfolded the rest of the clothing, slipping a jacket onto Xavier, and draping a black bow tie around his neck. He blushed and stammered and said, “Thank you, girls, but Miss Lucas is taking her father to the ball—”

“AndIam takingyou,young man,” said his mother. Shesmoothed his collar and brushed the hair out of his eyes. “You deserve to have a beautiful night, too, after all the sorrow we have endured.”

The front door opened, and Papa stuck his head out. “Oh!” he said. “I thought I heard company.” He stepped onto the lawn, bowing to the Morwyns. “Good evening, ladies.”

“Hello, Mr. Lucas,” said Madam Morwyn warmly. “So sorry to disturb you.”

“No, no—please, won’t you come in? I baked some scones earlier, if you’d like to try them.”

“Yes!” cried Leonor, barreling into the house.

“I want to see your room, Clara,” announced Inés before she tugged Dalia indoors.

“I’ll be right there,” said Xavier. “If I may, I’d like just one moment with Miss Lucas.”

His mother and my father exchanged an unreadable look, then Madam Morwyn smirked and delicately lifted the gown out of my hold. “When you’re ready, we’ll help you with this,” she told me. She lightly pressed a kiss to my cheek. Softly, she whispered, “Thank you for loving my son.”

And with that, she and Papa slipped back into the house.

Xavier held my hands in his.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?” I asked, unable to tamp down my eager smile.

“Firstly,” he said, about to give one of his famous lectures, I was certain, “you look absolutely breathtaking.”

The reverence in his voice startled me. I glanced down at myself, at my green dress. “Really? You haven’t even seen me in that other gown—”

He interrupted me with a kiss to my forehead. His finger caressed my chin. “You are beautiful every single day.”

I wanted to speak; I wanted to joke, to brush aside his compliment. But he meant it. Xavier looked at me the way people looked at the most extraordinary, most beautiful bouquets.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

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