Page 11 of The Granddaughter's Irish Secret
‘Very kind of you,’ Rose retorted. ‘But I can read, you know, so that’s not really necessary.’
‘Stop this childish teasing,’ Sylvia ordered. ‘You’re both old enough to behave at dinner.’
Henri sat down on Lily’s other side and helped himself from the platter. ‘Well, Rose is certainly old enough,’ he said.
Rose ignored him and turned to Lily. ‘What was that plan for the garden centre you mentioned? Do you want to talk about it now?’ she asked.
Lily nodded and picked up her knife and fork. ‘Yes, I was going to talk to Granny and Arnaud about it too, and now is a good opportunity.’
‘Yes,’ Sylvia said. ‘Now that we’re all together, and Rose has officially started in her role, we can discuss any kind of idea you have to draw visitors to the gardens. So go ahead, Lily.’
‘It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while,’ Lily started. ‘I saw in the plans I found among the old drawings of the house that there was a walled garden here once. I think it was laid out in the early eighteen hundreds, just after the manor was built. I thought we might restore the walls that are still there, along with the little pavilion. There could be herbaceous borders and fruit trees and also a vegetable garden. It would be like a Regency garden, like something out of Jane Austen. Marlay Park in Dublin has one just like it and it’s gorgeous.’
‘And then there’s Swiss Cottage in Cahir,’ Rose cut in, suddenly excited. This would be a perfect link to what she was going to propose. But she’d hold on for a bit, until she could see where Lily’s plan was going.
Lily shot Rose a warm smile. ‘Oh yes, that’s very popular and draws a lot of visitors.’
Sylvia stopped eating and looked thoughtfully at Lily. ‘That sounds like a good plan.’
‘But expensive,’ Henri cut in. ‘We would need a detailed financial report and quotes from several garden landscaping firms before we decide if we’re going ahead.’
‘I think it’s a wonderful idea,’ Sylvia said with a stern look at Henri. ‘We will take it up at the next board meeting, of course.’She looked at Lily and Rose. ‘Any other ideas you want to put forward?’
Rose nodded. ‘Yes, but I’ll wait until I have drawn up a cost sheet. Then I’ll send it to all the board members for consideration.’
‘Why don’t you share it with us now?’ Henri asked. ‘I’d love to hear it.’
‘I’m not ready to tell anyone,’ Rose replied. ‘But I might have a chat about it privately, Granny. Just to see what you think. You still own most of this property and this is about something to do with family history, you see.’
‘Good idea,’ Sylvia said, looking at Rose with approval. ‘We don’t want to be impulsive, and we have to throw out ideas that might be impractical. We’ll discuss this later in private, Rose.’ She sipped from her glass. ‘Wonderful wine, Arnaud. Worth every penny.’
‘I thought we’d celebrate being back and having all the family around the table,’ Arnaud replied.
‘That is something to celebrate,’ Sylvia agreed.
They finished their meal chatting animatedly. As they all rose to have coffee on the terrace, Sylvia led Rose into her small office just off the new hall. ‘Let’s chat in here,’ she said and closed the door behind them. ‘I felt you had something to tell me that you didn’t want the others to hear.’
‘Lovely office,’ Rose said, looking around at the small room with its sage green carpet and wallpaper with tiny pink rosebuds. The windows had light pink silk curtains. There was an antique desk and chair, which had a seat cushion the same colour as the curtains.
‘A bit girly, but Arnaud did the design,’ Sylvia said with a fond smile. ‘He said I needed a soft and feminine space to kick ass in.’
Rose laughed. ‘I know what he means. He knows that your soft and feminine shell hides a will of steel, and that you take no prisoners.’
‘Well, what would I do with them?’ Sylvia joked. ‘Prisoners are such a nuisance. Better to cut off their heads at once. But sit down on that chair over there and tell me what’s on your mind.’
Rose sat down on the chair by the window while Sylvia settled by the desk. ‘I had this idea when I got an invitation to the opening of a vintage shop in Dingle… And also when I gave the topaz necklace to the jewellers in Killarney to be cleaned.’ Rose paused. ‘That we could go through all the items that are piled in the storeroom and see if we could sell them to the vintage shop. I could do some repairs to whatever is ripped or torn. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff that they’d love.’
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ Sylvia said, looking thoughtfully at Rose. ‘You’re very good at sewing and embroidery too, so I know you could mend and stich anything that needs to be repaired.’
‘So you’ll let me sort through those things?’ Rose asked, feeling excited at the thought.
‘I need to think about this,’ Sylvia said. ‘I’m not sure I could sell anything without asking Lily. And I have to check with Noel if it would be legal.’
‘Yes, but I could at least start doing some sorting and research,’ Rose suggested.
Sylvia nodded. ‘So much to think about. It’s overwhelming, actually. You and Lily have such energy in you. It’s hard for me to keep up sometimes.’ She patted Rose’s arm. ‘I will consider all this and talk to Arnaud about it. Let’s leave it for now.’
‘Oh, but…’ Rose started. ‘I’d love to start looking into all that stuff in the attic. In any case, they’ll be starting the building work up there soon for the new apartments.’
