Page 29 of The Granddaughter's Irish Secret
‘Of course,’ Sylvia said. ‘Lily, why don’t you tell everyone what you told me about that walled garden and the café and the rest?’
Lily nodded. ‘Right, well, this is what I thought we could do,’ she said, unfolding a large sheet of paper with the outline of a garden. ‘As you know, Dominic, my husband, is a structural engineer, and he drew up this plan for you all to see.’ She went on to explain how she thought the Regency garden could look. ‘And here,’ she said, pointing at the plan, ‘I thought we could put the café in the old orangery… It’s already there so it won’t involve a huge amount of construction. This was Rose’s idea and I think it’s brilliant.’
‘The orangery is a complete wreck,’ Henri interrupted. ‘It would be very expensive to restore. And that garden… Even more money to start planting.’
‘We can do a lot of the work ourselves,’ Lily cut in. ‘Dominic said he’d be willing to do some of the work for free, and Rose and I are going to do a lot of the planting.’
‘We are?’ Rose blurted out. ‘Oh, of course. That’s what we’ll do,’ she added after exchanging a look with Lily.
‘I’d like to see that,’ Henri said with a sarcastic twist to his mouth. ‘Rose digging and planting and getting her hands dirty? Hmm.’
Rose glared at him. ‘I’m able and willing to work hard for this. So I’d be grateful if you didn’t jump to conclusions, Henri.’
‘But I do think he’s right about the money aspect,’ Mrs Moore piped up, looking at Henri with a conspiratorial little smile. Inher early sixties, with curly grey hair and a round face, she had obviously taken a shine to Henri. She was all smiles and dimples as she looked at him.
‘I agree,’ Linda Moriarty said as she flicked back her auburn hair. ‘It seems too expensive, and our funds are already dwindling as it is.’
‘I’d hardly call nearly a quarter of a million euros “dwindling”,’ Sylvia interrupted. ‘But we could try to raise more money, all the same.’
‘Exactly.’ Rose jumped up and waved her piece of paper in the air. ‘I have here a proposal for a fantastic event that would raise a lot of money for the Regency garden.’
‘What kind of event?’ Mrs Moore asked. ‘Not a fair, I hope.’
‘No,’ Rose said. ‘A fashion show.’
‘What?’ Henri exclaimed. ‘I don’t think?—’
‘If you could listen for a few minutes, I’ll explain it all to you,’ Rose interrupted, feeling she wanted to tell Henri to just shut up. But that would not be quite correct at a board meeting.
He leaned back and looked at her with an insolent air. ‘Okay. Let’s hear this brilliant idea.’
Rose stood there for a minute, gathering her thoughts. ‘So,’ she started. ‘As I just said, I had this idea to do a fashion show here in the gardens if the weather is nice. If not, we could do it in the ballroom, which is nearly finished. The clothes would be from local shops and boutiques, which will be great exposure for all their brands. But not only that, we would also do a vintage event with clothes, both from our own collection and the new vintage shop in town that’s just about to open. We would build a catwalk, which is not hard to do, and also put up long benches, or hire chairs. Then we could sell tickets at around twenty euros each and have raffles with prizes donated by the boutiques in the area and?—’
‘What about the models?’ Linda Moriarty asked. ‘Won’t they charge an arm and a leg to model the clothes? Those girls don’t get out of bed for less than ten thousand, I read somewhere.’
‘Ah but they will,’ Rose said, smiling at Linda. ‘Because the models will be –you.’ She made a sweeping gesture around the table. ‘All of you could model the clothes if you want. Wouldn’t it be nice to see normal women of all ages and sizes model clothes for everyone?’ Rose drew breath and looked around the table for a reaction to her announcement.
‘Oh,’ Linda said, looking stunned. ‘That makes a difference.’
‘You bet it does,’ Rose said. ‘You’ll all be amazing models.’ She sat down, glancing at Henri, trying to gauge his reaction. ‘What do you say to that, Henri?’
He smiled and shook his head. ‘I’m not sure what I think at the moment. A different idea, I’ll give you that. And not a bad one if you manage to do it. But I don’t think you’ll be able to pull it off.’
‘Of course we will,’ Rose said. ‘I think the women all around Dingle will be happy to take part. Just for the craic and the dolling up and a chance to strut their stuff.’
‘Will the clothes shop agree to this kind of marketing?’ Henri asked. ‘You can’t be sure they will.’
‘I think they’ll jump at the chance of showcasing their collections,’ Rose countered. ‘There are so many small local businesses and handmade clothes shops, like the little boutique at the top of Green Street that sells printed silk scarves and dresses, and the shop with the crocheted hats and cardigans. Then we have Paquita, where they have those gorgeous T-shirts and skirts imported from Spain. I’d say the owners would love a chance for some extra exposure. It won’t cost them anything.’
‘But it will take a long time to put it all into practice,’ Sylvia argued. ‘I mean, to get the shops to agree, and get the clothes together, the models and the makeup and the sponsors?—’
‘Not at all,’ Lily piped up. ‘It’s only early May, we can organise everything and have the show in six weeks, I’d say.’
‘Really?’ Henri looked doubtfully at Lily.
‘Absolutely,’ Rose said, feeling slightly wobbly about the short time span. ‘No problem at all. I’ve done this before in college,’ she added. ‘I did a course in dress-making and fashion, thinking I’d get into that field, but then went into real estate instead.’ She sounded very sure of herself, despite feeling doubtful deep down. Would they really have everything ready in six weeks? There was so much to organise, and then there were all the other things she was managing to do with the renovation. One thing she did know was that it was the perfect excuse to get her close to uncovering the mystery of the necklace and Iseult Fleury. She could continue to go through the attic to find pieces for the show.
But how was she going to fit all that in? Maybe she had been too hasty in agreeing that the fashion show could be done in six weeks. But they had to, she realised. Otherwise the whole summer would be lost, and they wouldn’t be able to start working on the garden and the orangery before the winter storms. She would have to try and remember how she organised that charity fashion show in college. It was more than a few years ago, but it had been a very successful event. She looked at Henri with what she hoped was confidence but, deep down, she didn’t feel very positive at all.
