Page 50 of Honey Be Mine
“Now, it’s a job.” Leland nodded. “It’s not a marriage proposal, so let’s not get too excited.” But he was still grinning.
Dot didn’t say a word. She was too busy coming up with a plan. If Rosemary was taking Lorna’s job, then she’d be in charge of the senior gardening club. And even though Dot didn’t like gardening all that much, she knew what had to be done. If her memory served, the next meeting was coming up soon. She’d be there. And she’d make certain Everett was the one to chauffeur her there and back.
The more time the two of them spent together, the more likely it was the two of them would figure out what she already knew—those two were meant to be together.
CHAPTER NINE
ITHADBEENa busy Monday morning. After Rosemary had done a varroa-mite check on all the hives in Alice’s Wonderland bee yard, she and Astrid had added the information to their bee ledger and compared numbers for the last few months. By then, Tansy showed up with the new queen for the queenless hive. After confirming the hive was still queenless, Rosemary put the cage-like queen clip in the hive and watched as the small wooden-and-mesh box was surrounded by the hive’s bees. It’d take a few days for the bees to chew through the sugar stopper holding the new queen inside the small cage. By then, the hive would have become accustomed to the queen’s scent and welcomed her home.
“We’ll go back on Thursday to check on them,” Tansy said once they reached the house, holding the kitchen door open.
Rosemary stepped into the kitchen. “Unless you hear something before then, Astrid. A distress call—that sort of thing.”
“I’ll keep my ears open.” Astrid nodded.
“This is amazing, Rosemary.” Shelby looked up from the thick sketch pages covered in Rosemary’s illustrations and lettering: the completed draft ofABC’s with Baby Bee. “And you painted all these?”
Rosemary nodded, relieved to see Shelby’s reaction. She’d been nervous since she’d left the book on the table for Shelby before heading out that morning. “I did.”
Bea clapped her hands and reached for her. “Ro Ro.”
Rosemary scooped her up. “Yes, little Bea.” She leaned forward and gave Bea a bunny-nose rub—earning a gleeful giggle from the toddler. She sat, holding Bea on her lap.
“This is...amazing. I already said that, didn’t I? And how you made the ABC’s bee-focused.” Shelby laughed. “I had no idea you were so talented. I mean...wow.”
“That’s our Rose.” Astrid sat across from her.
“Astrid, would you like some peppermint tea?” Aunt Mags asked. “It’s supposed to soothe upset stomachs.”
“Yes, please.” Astrid smiled at her aunt, then turned to Shelby. “Rosemary’s an artist. She was always getting in trouble in school for her art.”
“She did.” Tansy reached for a slice of honey spice bread. “I’d forgotten about that. Because she’d doodle on all her homework.”
“Not trouble so much as...a talking-to.” Aunt Mags handed out napkins. “I think it was frustrating for her teachers. Here she was, this little thing, creating works of art along the edges of her schoolwork, getting her work done in a third of the time of the rest of the class,andmaking high-enough grades to test out of several grade levels.”
“She’s also a genius.” Astrid said this to Roman.
Roman stood, feeding oyster crackers to Lord Byron. “So I hear.”
“So I hear. So I hear.” Lord Byron bobbed on his perch.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Aunt Mags muttered to the parrot. “You might choke, and wouldn’t Camellia be sad to come home and find you stuffed and mounted on your perch?”
Lord Byron squawked loudly at Magnolia.
“He knows what you’re saying.” Roman chuckled at Aunt Mags’s dismissive snort.
“If he did, he’d be scared of me enough to stop stealing my jewelry or leaving birdie droppings in my shoes.” Aunt Mags scowled at the bird.
Roman snorted with laughter before saying, “You could publish that book, Rosemary. It’s a lovely story, and the pictures are rich and vivid.”
“Thank you.” Rosemary was touched by his kind words. “But honestly, it was meant for the Hill babies. Little Bea.” She glanced at Astrid. “And the baby-on-the-way.”
“Nova has started calling the baby Nuc.” Astrid laughed.
“She’s so clever.” Tansy laughed, too.
“Before long, she’ll be just as in love with the bees as she is with the stars.” Rosemary took the plate of honey spice cake from Aunt Mags and put it on the table close to Astrid. “It has cinnamon in it.”
