roses garden Page 6

  I was struck with a sudden idea. “I used to do book-keeping you know, maybe I could do it for you?”

  His eyes lit up. “Really?”

  “Well I’m a bit rusty, but I should easily pick it up again. I still have my old text books to refresh my memory.” I grinned happily. It would be the perfect solution. I needed a job and he needed a bookkeeper!

  “Will I have to pay you?” he asked slyly.

  “That depends,” I grinned. “If you’re nice to me I won’t charge too much.”

  “What’s your definition of ‘nice’?”

  “Come over here and I’ll show you!”

  * * * *

  Tom turned up out of the blue. There was a knock at the door and when I opened it my beautiful son was stood there with a huge grin on his face.

  “Hi, Mum!” he said, enveloping me in a huge bear hug. “Any chance of a cuppa? I haven’t been home yet.”

  “Come in,” I beamed in delighted surprise. “I’ll put the kettle on.”

  He followed me into the tiny kitchen, chattering away about work and his stay in Germany. Apparently the company wanted him to relocate out there permanently and he was currently considering it.

  “But that’s not important Mum,” he said gravely. “What’s going on with you and Dad?”

  I sat down on the rickety chair and faced him. “I had had enough Tom. I know he’s your father, but he was no angel and he had been seeing someone else.” I knew this distasteful news wouldn’t be a shock to him - Lucy would have told him already. I just hoped he understood why I had left.

  “So that’s it then?”

  “Yep, the divorce is nearly finalised.” I sipped my tea soberly.

  “Well, as long as you’re happy Mum, I’m okay with it. I’ll call by and see Dad tomorrow. I tried to ring him the other night, but he wasn’t in.” He smiled reassuringly at me and I felt relieved that he was not too upset about it all.

  The front door opened and I glanced in surprise at the clock - Ryan must be home. I tensed up immediately as I realised that Tom was about to meet the man in my life, whether I liked it or not. I cared what Tom thought and I hoped like hell they got along.

  Ryan strode into the kitchen humming a tune and stopped abruptly when he saw my son sitting at the table. For a long moment none of us moved then Ryan held his hand out politely and said, “Hello, you must be Tom? I’m Ryan, pleased to meet you.”

  Tom shook his hand and smiled politely in return. It was hard to know what either of them was thinking and I jumped up to flick the kettle back on again.

  “Are you staying for something to eat?” I asked Tom.

  “Yeah, I could do - Lucy invited me round later, but I would rather give it a miss for now. Mark is such a dickhead and I know I’ll end up insulting him again.” He grinned ruefully and I laughed. I knew exactly what he meant. My daughter’s husband was in many ways like Phil; she just couldn’t see it yet.

  “Great, I’ll pop down to the shops soon and pick up some extra bits.”

  The three of us sat politely making conversation and gradually the atmosphere warmed up a little. I knew damned well Lucy had been stirring things and no doubt she had told Tom all sorts of rubbish about Ryan - despite the fact she hadn’t bothered to come round and meet him yet.

  At some point, she was going to have to stop being so stubborn and get used to the idea of him being in my life. The way I saw it, I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it anymore. I suddenly realised just how important he had become to me; it was scary.

  I drank my tea down and stood up quickly. “Just off to the shop, I’ll be back soon.”

  Both men looked at me and nodded. “Okay,” Ryan said. “Shall I make a start on dinner?”

  “Yes, if you can peel the potatoes for me please?” I asked as I dashed out of the door.

  By the time I returned half an hour later, they were sitting in front of the TV watching a football match and discussing their teams in an animated fashion. I relaxed when I saw that they had found common ground and were getting along like a house on fire.

  Dinner was a huge success and I was overjoyed to know that the two men in my life liked each other. I had worried about nothing as per usual.

  Tom went to leave about nine o’clock. He was tired, he said, but as he hugged me goodbye he added quietly, “I like him Mum; he’s a good bloke.”

  I felt tears pricking my eyes and I wished Lucy could let go of all the reservations she had.

  “I’m glad you like him,” I said. “It’s important to me that you do. He means a lot to me and I want you to get along. Please try and convince Lucy that Ryan isn’t out to fleece me? She seems to be under the impression I am stupid enough to let that happen.”

  Tom rolled his eyes wearily. “Oh come on Mum!” he laughed. “You know how money obsessed she is, it’s only natural that she thinks the rest of us are obsessed too! Don’t worry; I’ll have a word with her tomorrow.”

  He kissed me affectionately on the cheek and left. I felt a thousand times happier knowing I had his approval now.

  * * * *

  Ryan climbed into bed with me and we cuddled up in the dark. I could hear cats yowling at each other in the garden and knew Henry was probably fighting over his territory again. He had a rival at the moment - a huge ginger tom from down the street. Fortunately, Henry was a cunning feline and had not relinquished any ground so far. There had been a fair few superficial injuries, but I knew my cat would come out on top.

  “He’s a nice lad,” Ryan commented as he stroked the skin of my hip beneath the duvet.

  I smiled proudly. “Yes, I couldn’t wish for a better son. He likes you too, he told me.”

  “Oh, so I’ve been given the seal of approval, have I?” he joked. “And what would have happened if Tom had hated me??”

  “Well, you would have been out on the doorstep by now.”

  Ryan grabbed my bottom and squeezed hard. “Oh yeah, and how would you manage without this missus?”

  “I’m sure I could give some other bloke a ring,” I teased. “But you’ll do for now!”

  He pushed me onto my back and pinned me down with his thigh. Within seconds he had me moaning uncontrollably as he stroked the fires of passion to an inferno. I writhed beneath his hand and gasped out his name when he entered me, his cock hard as stone.

  I wanted only him and he knew it. We were made for each other and I just wished I had found him years ago. But I fully intended to make up for this now. Ryan was the man I loved and he made me incredibly happy.

  We came together, skin slick with sweat and hearts racing in tandem. Soft, gentle kisses in the moonlight followed and we both fell asleep, entwined in each other’s arms.

  Outside, Henry fought a battle of attrition and eventually won the war. The ginger tom slunk off, bruised and defeated; his tail firmly between his legs. He wasn’t seen in our garden again and Henry continued to patrol his patch, keeping a close eye out for further pretenders to his throne.

  EPILOGUE

  Six months later.

  My divorce was finalised and life was good. The money had finally come through from Phil and I had heard via Lucy that he had a new woman friend. I was pleased for him, although I had to feel sorry for her - I could only hope she stood up to him more than I had.

  Lucy had finally come to terms with her mother having a toy boy lover. She had met Ryan and although things had been a little frosty initially, she had eventually warmed up. Louise had fallen in love with her Uncle Ryan immediately. It helped that Ryan thought lunch at MacDonald’s was a winner. This annoyed Lucy immensely as she hated ‘junk food.’ She managed to keep her mouth shut though and Louise was happy.

  Apparently Margaret had left Phil’s firm under a black cloud after she had been caught giving one of the senior managers a blowjob in the boardroom. Clearly, she was very generous with her sexual favours; I just hoped her husband was not a jealous man.

  Ryan and I finished the garden project and I had a
new kitchen and bathroom installed at the cottage. Everything was perfect and we were blissfully happy. So why couldn’t I stop waiting for the bubble to burst?

  When he came back from work one day and announced the job offer, I thought that moment had arrived.

  “This guy has a huge country estate in Scotland,” he beamed enthusiastically. “I did some work for him last year and he was really happy with it. He rang me this afternoon and offered me the post of Head Grounds Man. I would be in charge of all the landscaping he has planned, and then I would stay to maintain it as needed. It’s going be a huge challenge!”

  Ryan was so excited my heart almost broke. I should have known things couldn’t last.

  When he calmed down a little, he finally saw the expression of dismay on my face. I turned away quickly, busying myself with the dishes in the sink.

  “Hey, Rose? What’s wrong?” he asked in concern as hugged me.

  I didn’t answer straight away. I merely stood looking out of the window at the beautiful garden we had worked on for all these months. Every piece of that garden was steeped in memories. How could I bear it if he left now? I would have nothing once again.

  “I’m fine,” I sniffed. “I’ll just miss you.”

  “What do you mean, you’ll miss me?” He sounded faintly surprised. “Don’t you want to come with me?”

  I spun round to face him. “Surely you wouldn’t want me there too?”

  “Rose, after all these months have you no idea how I feel about you?” He cupped my face with his hands and smiled gently. “I love you silly! Of course I want you to come with me, although I realise you might not want to.” He looked worried at the prospect of me refusing to go with him and I felt my heart contract tightly.

  Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. I had loved him since the day he had stood up for me against Phil, but I had never had the courage to admit it. I was too afraid he didn’t feel the same way about me. Well, now I knew that he loved me too. My heart soared with joy and I kissed him passionately. There was no way on earth he was going to Scotland without me!

  Henry sat on the table licking his paw and watching us disdainfully. With a flick of his mangy tail, he waltzed back outside to hunt for his dinner. He had no choice; it looked likely that his mistress was going too preoccupied for quite some time.

  The End

  ABOUT RACHELLE LE MONNIER

  Rachelle Le-Monnier spent her formative years devouring a varied diet of romance and horror novels, whilst dreaming of true love ever after. Then she grew up and realized the happy endings were strictly fictional and hunky heroes were sadly lacking in her corner of the world. Not one to be daunted by cruel twists of fate and disastrous dates a plenty, she writes her own happy endings these days - in between juggling kids, work, fitness training and keeping her psychotic cat happy. When she isn’t running herself ragged, Rachelle enjoys foreign language films, dark chocolate and arguing with her teenage daughter. You can reach her at www.rachellemonnier.com

  If you enjoyed ROSE’S GARDEN, you might also enjoy:

  SHOW ME HEAVEN

  By Rachelle Le Monnier

  Mama might have said there’d be days like this - but weeks, months, years? Sara’s life goes from pitiful to disastrous when her love-life hits rock bottom and her wicked, scheming co-worker Vera and their diabolically hypercritical boss Mr. Simpson seem determined to force her career to an even deeper descent - into the ninth circle of hell, perhaps?

  When a handsome stranger and would-be rescuer shows up to save her from her latest calamity-stranded in a pub car-park-Sara feels an instant attraction to him, but she knows better than to put her eggs into that proverbial basket, no matter how sexy his particular basket might be.

  Sure, Matt is funny and charming and well… damned hot… but Sara remains leery about this seemingly fortuitous change in her luck. While Nan ’s tea-leaf reading predictions only help to confuse matters, Sara’s best friend, Natalie, tries to reassure her, but Sara is just waiting for the other shoe to drop - probably on her head.

  When things get even more complicated, Sara wonders-will she be able to save her job?-while Matt just longs to save Sara from her own version of Dante’s Inferno and maybe even show her the way to a delightful paradise made for two…

  Warning: This title contains graphic language and sex.

  Excerpt From SHOW ME HEAVEN:

  Matt stood in front of her, stalling for time and wondering whether to try for a kiss. He desperately fancied her, but she had suddenly backed off from him. He knew she was waiting for him to say something and he hesitated a moment before deciding, fuck it, he just had to kiss her.

  He stepped close and before Sara had time to panic, he touched her lips gently with his own. They both felt a tingle of electricity shoot through them, sizzling like static on a hot summer night.

  The feel of her soft cushiony breasts pressed against his chest was almost his undoing. He deepened the kiss and pressed his tongue into her warm wet mouth. He could feel her responding and he kissed her harder, wanting more than he knew he could have. It was sweet agony; a promise of endless pleasure and erotic delights…

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  7/31/2008

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  Date:7/31/2008

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