The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,86

to it.

20

By the Book

Dinner proved to be fun, with good food and interesting conversation, as you’d expect with such a mix of individual characters.

Jacob had returned the ball-bearing clock, now restored to working order, so Elf was appeased. She and Gerald had cooked the dinner between them, which they seemed to enjoy doing. Myfy wandered in late, with a smear of ochre paint on one cheekbone that no one mentioned. It sort of suited her, though after a while, Jacob went out and came back with a rag that smelled rather pleasantly of linseed oil and, without a word, tilted up her face and removed the daub gently, then kissed the place where it had been.

Jacob told Ned that now he’d seen the new waterfall feature in the Grace Garden, he was going to give him a small, kinetic installation that would look very well there.

‘The power of the water will be enough to very slowly open and close small metal flowers among the rocks,’ he said, illustrating what he meant on a Post-it note block he’d removed from one slightly saggy pocket.

‘It’s very kind of you,’ began Ned, looking taken aback, ‘but—’

‘Now, don’t try and tell me you’re restoring the garden to the absolute original, because you know very well that the layout of the main paths is really the only truly original part of it,’ Jacob said.

‘Some of the planting will be original, too, where there are notes,’ Ned said.

‘But you’re keeping some later additions and introducing new ones,’ Myfy said. ‘Even a garden must evolve and change to survive. Your new wetland area can only be enhanced by Jacob’s sculpture.’

‘I think it’s a lovely idea,’ I said. ‘It’ll give a magical quality to that corner and really intrigue the visitors.’

‘When they spot it, because it will be quite subtle, the flowers small and of delicately coloured metal,’ Jacob said dreamily. ‘Trust me, it will look right, as if it’s always been there.’

‘I’d let him do it and then, if you don’t like it, he can take it away again,’ suggested Gerald practically.

‘And sell it – he’s very well known, you know,’ Elf said to me. ‘His works fetch a fortune.’

‘The ones he’ll part with, anyway,’ said Myfanwy with a grin, and then, to me: ‘You must go up and see all the water-powered sculptures around the barn, when you have time – Jacob won’t mind.’

‘If I’m working I won’t even notice,’ he agreed. ‘And that clock has inspired a lot of ideas, so I think I’m going to be very busy for quite some time. I do prefer kinetic sculpture that relies on natural and renewable methods of movement.’

‘I rely on a natural and renewable method of movement too,’ said Ned, then sighed. ‘This will probably be the last relaxing moment I get for a long time. There’s so much to do between now and Friday, when we open.’

‘It’ll get there,’ Elf assured him. ‘And I’m certain Friday will be pure fun! We’ll all come, and our friends, and loads of villagers, and the vicar …’

‘And someone from the local newspaper, who rang me just after you’d been down for a look round the garden this afternoon, Jacob,’ Ned said, his face darkening slightly.

I suppose he was thinking that once the connection was made between him and the Grace Garden, there might be a bit more than local news coverage.

As for me, I’d be staying well out of any publicity, the incognito gardener in the background.

I told Myfy how much I liked her design for the tote bags and souvenirs in the shop and then said perhaps there should be a line of things particularly aimed at children, possibly using a ship logo – the galleon of the buccaneering Nathaniel.

‘Something bold, but not Blue Peter,’ I explained. ‘We could put it on the donations box, too.’

‘Which donations box?’ asked Ned.

‘The one I keep telling you to put on your to-do list,’ I said patiently.

Back at the flat with Caspar, I made a cup of cocoa and read a little more of Elf’s book – the account of that first little girl who’d seen the angel by the waterfall – but waves of sleep kept trying to crash over my head and in the end, I gave up and went to bed.

On the whole it had been a lovely day, with only that brief descent into sadness and regret while I was sorting those photographs, though even that had been cathartic: it showed me how I’d understood the