Page 70 of New Beginnings at Lullbury Bay

‘Shewas always playingSibelius,’Rickmurmured.

Daisytightened her hold on his shoulder, feeling him vibrate with grief.Hereached up and put his hand over hers.

Keithnodded. ‘Welooked it all through andIsaid, in the unlikely event of her going first,Iwould put flowers on her grave every week just asI’dbought them every week when we were first married.Ipromised her.’Hepaused for a second, emotion overcoming him, then cleared his throat and continued, laughing gruffly. ‘Susan, in typicalSusanstyle said what a load of nonsense as she wouldn’t be around to enjoy them!Sowe compromised.Iinsisted on a bouquet every month for the first six months and she said she’d pick the type of flowers she wanted.Shewanted very particular ones.Insistedon them.’

‘Becausethey tell a story!’Miaexclaimed.

Keithnodded again. ‘Indeed.Clevergirl!’

Therewas a pause whileJanpassed him a fresh cup of tea. ‘Sowhere did you two meet?’ she asked.

‘Yes,I’minterested in this,’Ricksaid. ‘Idon’t thinkIknow where you andMummet.’

Keithsipped his tea and pursed his lips. ‘Notthat exciting really,Isuppose.Wemet at work like a lot of folk do or did.’Keithcast an amused glance atMia. ‘Iunderstand you young people all meet online these days.’

Marionhuffed and nibbled a corner of her cake.

Miablushed. ‘Notalways.MeandBenmet at work too.’ShegaveBena loving look and he smiled back.

Keithpatted her hand again. ‘Wonderful!Well,SusanandIbumped into one another at work, even though we were in completely different departments.Iwas more often found on the shop floor overseeing the manufacturing andSusanwas in the offices.Secretaryto the big man, she was, up to when we married.Ispotted her across the canteen floor.’Hechuckled. ‘Notthe most romantic of settings but as soon asIsaw herIknew she was the one for me.Notvery tall but curves like a queen and a head of thick glossy dark hair.’HeruffledRick’s. ‘You’veinherited it, son, and her brown eyes.Icould have drowned inSusan’seyes.’Heshook his head, tutting fondly at the memory, his own rheumy eyes growing misty. ‘Prettylittle thing she was.Andsharp as a pin.Couldn’tget anything past mySusan.Iknow becauseItried.Trieda few lines on her in the canteen and she wasn’t having any of them.’Hechuckled.

‘Sowhat did you do?’Miaasked.

‘WhatdidIdo?Askedher to the work’s social, that’s whatIdid.Swepther off her feet with my foxtrot.Westarted courting and, well, one thing led to another.’

‘SoMay’sflowers are all about that time?’Miasaid. ‘Youhad lilac.Itmeans love’s first emotions.’

‘That’sright.Wegot serious, were properly walking out,’Keithadded.

‘June’sflowers.Tulips.Love’spassion.’Miasighed at the romance of it all. ‘Totesemosh.’

‘Ihad no idea flowers meant things like this,’Bensaid. ‘I’mgoing to have to be careful whenIgive you any,Mia.’

Miagrinned at him. ‘Youhave no idea!’Shetwisted back toKeithand frowned up at him. ‘Sosomething must have gone wrong because forJulyyou chose red geraniums and they mean an apology.’

Keithrubbed his temple.

‘Areyou getting tired,Dad?’Rickasked. ‘Wecan always finish this another day.’

‘No.No.It’snot that.I’mjust thinking what a foolIwas.’Keithsighed deeply. ‘Iwasted so much time whenIcould have been with mySusan.’Attheir expectant hush he carried on. ‘Ihad the chance to work inCanada, you see.’

‘Inever knew that,’Rickexclaimed.

‘Yes, went over there for eighteen months.Thelongest your mother andIwere ever apart.’

‘Shedidn’t go with you?’

‘No, son.That’swhat we argued about.Iwanted to get married and take her with me.Shethought it was all too soon; we’d only been walking out about six months by then.Didn’twant to uproot herself or leave her parents.AllIcould see was a brand-new country, a new exciting start.Agood promotion for me an’ all.’

‘Soyou went?’Rickprompted gently.

‘SoIwent.Andleft the love of my life back here.Ofcourse, we could only manage the odd phone call and write letters.’Keithput a finger to his eye and flicked a tear away. ‘Theletters got fewer and further between.Iwas convinced she’d found another beau soIcut the contract short and came home.Knewby then that, even thoughIlovedCanadaand the lifeIhad there,IlovedSusanmore.’

‘August’sflowers,’Miainterrupted. ‘Sunflowers!Loyaltyand pride.’

Keithwas obviously tiring but he smiled at her. ‘Indeed.Tooka while to persuade her to go out with me again, to get engaged but, asIkept saying,I’vecome halfway around the world just for you, what else canIdo to convince you?’Hegave a wan smile. ‘Sothen she gave in and we got wed.’

‘September’sflowers,’Daisywhispered. ‘We’vejust put them onSusan’sgrave.Carnations.’

---