Page 83 of Teacakes & Tangos
‘This room is the sunniest in the house, which is why – after a lot of on-line research – I decided it should be Luther’s permanent home.’
‘Luther?’ I stared at him. Then I looked at the windowsill and started to laugh.
‘Latin name,Lutheria splendens.’ He waved his hand with a flourish at the plant I’d bought for him. ‘Luther for short. Or – interestingly – ‘Flaming Sword’, known as that because of its vibrant red and orange flower spike that looks very like a –’
‘Flaming sword!’ I stared at it in disbelief. It didn’t look like the same plant. ‘You’ve brought it back from the dead. I wouldn’thave thought it was possible. Especially with you being a well-known plant murderer.’
He grinned. ‘Well, at first I thought it was a lost cause. I tried it on just about every windowsill in the flat and I even made a weird little mini greenhouse out of plastic sheeting for it to shelter in, thinking that because it was a tropical plant, it might need extra heat.’
‘A mini greenhouse?’
‘I know. I feel a bit ridiculous now. Especially since it’s thriving perfectly well now on that windowsill.’ He gave a sheepish shrug. ‘I thought you didn’t want to see me again. But the plant was a gift from you and I wasn’t going to give up on it.’
Feeling more than a little emotional, I moved closer to him. ‘I thought you’d invited some bloke called Luther to crash our date. I’m very glad it’s just us.’ I smiled. ‘AndLutheria splendid, of course.’
‘Splendens,’ he corrected me gently, before slipping his arms around me and pulling me close.
‘Interestingly,’ he murmured, nuzzling my neck, ‘it happens to be a member of the Bromeliaceae family and native to Trinidad and Tobago, as well as large parts of the –’
‘Xander?’ I muttered, as his lips scorched my skin, filling me with longing for him. ‘Be quiet, please, and just kiss me?’
So he did.
And I kissed him back for a very long time.
‘You haven’t shown me the bedroom,’ I gasped, breaking away at last.
‘I was just thinking the same,’ he murmured, taking my hand and leading me out, closing the study door behind us.
‘See you later,Lutheria splendens!’I called.
He chuckled softly. ‘Well remembered.’
‘I know. My Latin’s coming on in leaps and bounds.’
I landed on Xander’s bed with a shriek and then he was on top of me and I was slipping my hands under his shirt and pulling him hard against me.
And after that, all thoughts of weird tropical plants went right out of my head...
Anika
EPILOGUE
Xander had just pulled up outside in his car to collect me. It was my last chance to persuade Dad to come with us, but he was adamant he wasn’t going.
‘I can’t, love,’ he said, seeing the question on my face. ‘People will hate me for what I did. I was involved in arobbery, for heaven’s sake.’ He shook his head wearily.
I sighed. ‘You made a stupid mistake, Dad. No question about that. But the police have decided you won’t be charged with anything, so that must make you feel better? More importantly, you risked your own life to save someone else, and people won’t forget that. Yes, there’ll be some people who might judge you harshly, but –’
‘And I’d deserve that.’
‘Well, maybe. Maybe not. But you can’t hide away from the community forever, Dad. An awful lot of people are going to think as I do, that you’re a man with a good heart who’s now back volunteering at the charity shop and who’s having counselling sessions in order to help with his anxiety and bereavement issues.’
He smiled. ‘You paint me in a good light and I suppose all those things are true. But you need to just give me some time, love, okay? Let me hide away for a little while longer and have a few more counselling sessions – and then we’ll see if I’m up to attending things like engagement parties?’
‘Okay, Dad. I’ll let you off this time. But Clara and Rory will be sorry not to see you there. They know all about what happened and Clara especially is of the firm opinion that you need to gather your friends and family around you for support and get out there... get back to a ‘normal’ life as soon as you can.’
‘She’s probably right, but you know that’s easier said than done.’
