Chapter 25

Our bags were packed. Bernie and Matt had left for York. Rose was having breakfast with Elizabeth in the dowager countess’s rooms. My grandmother and I were due to catch a train from Leeds to London in a couple of hours and then the flight to Boston.

Simon and I walked together to the original Thornecroft Castle so I could have one last look. The day was overcast, strong winter winds blowing down from Scotland.

Time to go home.

“Home,” I said. “On one hand, I’m looking forward to home. Sleeping in my own bed. Playing with Éclair. Not living out of a suitcase. On the other hand, home is work. And I never did get to see so many of the things I wanted to see.”

“There will be other opportunities,” Simon said. We held hands and stood close together on the human-made hill looking across what had once been the moat, to the castle ruins and the green hills of Yorkshire.

“I’d like to come back.” I hesitated. Wanting to say more. Afraid to say more. I could come back for a visit another time. Would a yearly visit be enough to keep Simon and me together? Unlikely. Those things rarely worked out.

I was committed, at least in the short term, to my grandmother and her B & B, not to mention my own tearoom. Simon had his job here, at Garfield Hall, which he seemed to like very much.

He cleared his throat. “I had a word with Rose last night.”

I looked at him. He was staring into the distance. “About what?”

“I asked how the gardens at Victoria-on-Sea are doing. A total and complete mess, she said. It’s been a wet fall, and the weeds are out of control. The young fellow she hired to cut the grass and do some minor weeding is doing his best, but he’s not a professional. He decimated the hosta bed near the garden shed, thinking they were weeds. She had to order him to have nothing to do with the roses, after she asked him to prune them and he cut a couple back almost to the ground.” He cleared his throat. “I told her my contract at Garfield Hall is only for the winter. Their regular head gardener took six months off to study landscape architecture in Italy, and he plans to come back.”

“Did you know that when you took the job?” I asked. For some unknown reason, my heart was pounding in my chest and my palms were so sweaty, I feared Simon would let go of my hand and reach for a towel.

“Yeah, I did. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.” He took a deep breath and turned to face me. He took me by the shoulders and turned me, so I was facing him. “Rose said she’d like me to come back in the spring. I told her that would be up to you, Lily.”

“Do you—want to come back?” I asked.

“I want to come back. And for far more than to whip the gardens at Victoria-on-Sea back into shape. I want to be with you, Lily. If you want me.”

I couldn’t find the words. Which didn’t really matter, as the kiss I gave him said all I wanted to say.