Page 26 of Foes, Friends and Lovers
As they emerged into the weak warmth as the sun battled to break through the clouds, he asked, “Where to now?”
She pointed at the high stone wall of the large kitchen garden, the front corner of which lay ahead of them on their left, while the rest of the enclosed garden stretched away north, toward the fields. “The entrance, as you probably know, faces the lawn.”
They rounded the wall’s corner and stepped onto the rectangular section of lawn bound to their left by the front wall of the kitchen garden, ahead by the side wall of the rose garden, and to their right—the south—by the beginning of the rear drive, the side of the stable, and the last section of the drive from the forecourt.
“This is my final stop for the morning.” She brandished her now-empty basket. “I’ve been delegated to bring in the bounty Julia and her helpers will have harvested for Nessie for dinner this evening.”
Caitlin led the way through the arched entrance to the garden. As she walked down the central aisle, keeping her eyes peeled for Julia, she was aware that Cynster was looking about him, but with rather less enthusiasm than he’d demonstrated during their visits to the other businesses.
Eventually, she spotted Julia and her helpers, Fred and Moll. The trio were bent over a bed, inspecting cabbages.
Then Julia straightened, pointed at one cabbage, and Fred wielded a wicked-looking knife and lopped the cabbage off its stalk. He expertly trimmed off the outer leaves, leaving a nice tight ball of pale green.
As Caitlin and Cynster drew near, their feet silent on the grassy path, Fred saw them. He handed the cabbage to Julia for a final inspection and ducked his head. “Miss C. Sir.”
Juggling the cabbage, Julia turned, as did Moll. The younger girl blushed and bobbed a curtsy to Cynster.
Caitlin smiled reassuringly at Moll and Fred and introduced them to the new owner, then looked at Julia.
“Perfect timing,” Julia said. “This cabbage completes Nessie’s order.”
She stepped out of the bed and carefully placed the cabbage in the basket Caitlin set on the ground.
Once her hands were free, Julia scooped up various vegetables left waiting on the path—carrots, potatoes, two varieties of onions, and several bound sheaves of spinach—and neatly stacked them around the cabbage in the basket.
“There!” Julia dusted off her hands. “That should keep Nessie happy.”
Caitlin grinned. “And we all want to keep Nessie happy.”
“Indeed.” Julia grinned back, then turned to Cynster. “Well, Mr. Cynster. What do you think of our garden?”
He glanced around. “Very comprehensive. I can’t say I have many memories to compare with the present, much less that I recognize all you have growing here, even in this season, but I’m certain you’ve improved on what was here before, and it appears remarkably productive.”
Julia took that as an invitation to point out the various beds currently producing, naming the crops in each, and followed with a brief run-down of what plantings would be made over the coming months. “If you do have memories of this space, they’ll be of some scraggly old fruit trees. There was not much else here when I arrived, and as we have the main orchard under the Edgars to supply all our fruit, we pulled out the old, half-dead trees and put in more beds.” Pausing to survey her domain, Julia heaved a contented, self-satisfied sigh. “It’s come along well.”
More briskly, she turned to Caitlin. “My dear, could you add pumpkin and squash seeds to our order? And perhaps some of those new beans I mentioned? I’d like to try them and see whether they’ll perform for us.”
Caitlin nodded. “I’ll put those on the list.” She bent to pick up the loaded basket.
Before she could, Cynster stooped and grasped the handle. “Allow me.”
She drew back. As he raised the basket, easily hoisting the not-inconsiderable weight, she bit her lip. His almost-absentminded tone and the naturalness of the action suggested the intervention was prompted by instinctive good manners—the sort that, for a gentleman like him, stated that no lady should be permitted to lug any heavy weight.
Apparently, she’d already triggered his instincts regarding her true station; she needed to be more careful.
With smiles and an “until later” for Julia, she and Cynster made for the entrance. As they passed through the stone archway, seeking distraction from her awareness of the uncertain ground on which she stood, she focused on him. “I take it you’re not particularly keen on vegetables.”
He grunted. “I never have been.” After a moment, he asked, “What gave me away? Was it my lack of enthusiasm?”
She laughed and admitted it was and let her probably irrational anxiety slip away.
They walked a well-beaten path across the rectangle of lawn, but on reaching the drive, instead of crossing it and following the path onward to the kitchen door—Nessie and her staff would not appreciate the master of the house unexpectedly appearing in their midst while they were in the throes of preparing luncheon—she turned toward the north door of the house, which lay across the drive from the entrance to the rose garden.
Gravel crunched under their feet as they continued along the drive.
She glanced at the rose garden. A smaller walled garden, it was Alice’s domain; beneath and around the rosebushes, she grew a huge range of herbs that she and Millie tended and harvested for their various products. But Alice wouldn’t be there now—not with the day so advanced—and Alice had already given Caitlin her additions to the orders Caitlin would send out over the coming days.
As if following her thoughts, Cynster asked, “So, the purpose of your visits is to get any additions to orders for items that need to be brought in from outside the estate?”
