Here's chapter three. Hope you like it.

Chapter 3 - Addy in the Flowerbed

Addy bit her lip the entire way home. The lady in the seat next to her kept asking if she was going to Disney World, and if maybe she was a Disney Star, and would she like to sign an autograph for her niece.

Addy couldn't have been more glad when the plane set down again in Florida and she was able to get off. She looked around, hoping to see her mom, or even Papa, but couldn't see them. She headed to the baggage claim, and after reclaiming Izzy's suitcases, heard Izzy's name called out. She spotted a man, tall and gangly, wearing a pink tee shirt and black pants. She immediately recognized him as Henri, her mother's assistant.

"Henri," Addy said approaching him. "What a surprise."

"Your mother really wished she could be here right now, but the flowers for the O'Neil wedding aren't in full bloom, so she had to work a little late," Henri said. "She'll be home by the time we get there, so don't worry."

"I'm not," Addy said. "But let's get home so as not to keep Mother waiting." It felt weird to Addy to say that. She had been practicing all summer to refer to her mom as Mother.

"You, Isabelle Gardner, are one smart girl," Henri said, tapping Addy on the nose. "You are absolutely correct. Need me to help with your bag?"

"Nah, I got it," Addy said, lifting the suitcase that belonged to Izzy. It wasn't as easy to carry as her own duffle, but wasn't so bad. However, she noticed Henri lift an eyebrow.

"If you insist, Isabelle," Henri said.

Addy walked just behind him, wondering if everyone was going to call her Isabelle, of if that was something only Henri did.

"By the way, Isabelle, your new hair did not go unnoticed," Henri said.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Addy said. "Do you like?"

"Very much," Henri said, smiling at her. "Though, the green?"

"It was a camp thing," Addy quickly said. "Everyone got a streak of color in their hair the color of their cabin."

"Did they?" Henri asked.

Addy nodded vigorously. "Apparently it's a camp tradition as the end of the term," she added. "And, at least it looks good on me. This one friend I had named Annie who has red hair... ugh." Addy shook as if to indicate how bad it looked. It quickly occurred to Addy that she was acting nothing like Izzy. "I'm sorry, but I swear that everyone else there was a Cali-valley girl, and they must have rubbed off on me." She would have said they were like children of Aphrodite, but realized that she hadn't asked Izzy if Henri knew about that.

The ride from the airport to Izzy's home was shorter than Addy had expected. She personally had been on a train for hours when she had traveled from her home in Oregon to the camp with her uncle. She felt a little bad that Izzy would have to take the return ride alone.

When she walked in after being dropped off by Henri, Addy took a moment to take it all in. Izzy had tried to explain to Addy what she would be expecting, but it was grander than she had expected. The wood floors had to be made of mahogany, which complemented the eggshell walls. A dark table stood just next to the door with a set of keys in a ceramic bowl.

Addy put Izzy's suitcase down and went to examine a shuffling she heard from the cracked door, which she had been told would lead to Papa's office. She pushed the door and spotted tall man, maybe in his mid fifties. She couldn't be sure, but she suspected it was the man from Izzy's picture.

"P-" her voice caught in her throat for a moment. He seemed to have heard her anyway and turned to face her. He definitely was the man from Izzy's picture.

"My my, Izzy, you are home," he said, a wide smile spreading across his face. He opened his arms to approach her, but had barely taken more than a step before Addy ran forward and flung herself into his arms, wrapping her own arms tightly around his waist. She clung tightly to the man, and took a deep breath, smelling the aromas of several flowers.

"You've been to Mother's shop, haven't you," Addy said once they finally released one another and took a step back.

He smiled and stooped a little to her level to look into her blue-green eyes with his own green ones. Addy knew immediately where the green in her eyes came from, because they certainly weren't from her father.

"Now, how did you figure that out?" he asked, smiling at her still.

"I can smell it on you, Papa," Addy said. She smiled at him, seeing his greying black hair and a few wrinkles forming on his face. He didn't look like a man who would normally be a grandfather, at least no someone her age. She knew that her own parents had been young, just nineteen, but he must have been fairly young as well. Not necessarily as young, but nothing past his mid-twenties.

He lifted his shirt and then nodded. "Glad to see six weeks in the california wilderness hasn't dulled your ability to smell the roses." He reached up and fingered her hair. "Get a little scissor happy at camp?" he asked.

"I decided to go for a new look," Addy said.

"Well, your mother will certainly be surprised," Papa said.

"Where is Mother?" Addy asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"She's probably in her office right now, Izzy," Papa said.

Addy's shoulders sagged a bit. "Oh, you mean she hasn't come home yet?" she asked.

"I suspect that she is in her home office, upstairs," Papa said. "She couldn't wait for you to come home. You ought to go see her before all the flowers wilt again."

"Again?" Addy asked.

"Oh, every flower in the house wilted for a week after you left, your mother missed you so much," Papa said. "They were all in full bloom this morning, expecting your arrival, but then she had some emergency at her work. She's home now, though."

Addy nodded and turned around. It was all she could do not to go pounding through the house to her mother's office. Once she was up the stairs, she slowly repeated to herself, "Left is my room and the bathroom, straight is Mother's room, right is her office." Arriving at the left, Addy slowly turned the handle, pushing the door open. Her mother was at a desk.

"Papa, is that you?" Katie asked, not turning around. "I was thinking that we all go to Georgie's tonight for dinner in celebration of Izzy's return. She was typing numbers into her calculator as she spoke. "What do you think?"

Addy could feel her eyes water a bit, hearing her mother's voice for the first time. She had no idea what she had expected. She would have been happy if her mother sounded like a frog. She had never imagined that it would be so beautiful, and immediately Addy loved it even more. The voice was soft and kind and almost musical.

"I'd like that very much," Addy said.

Katie spun in a stunned silence. Before Addy was able to take a step forward, Katie had closed the gap between them and pulled Addy into a tight embrace. "Izzy, my Izzy, you're home. Oh, I have never missed anyone so much in my life. Any longer and I would have called you home early from that camp."

Addy noticed that every flower in the room, which was several, as well as the plants she could see outside the window all bloomed like crazy. Even some morning glories, which she only knew because a few grew at her own home.

"Hello, Mother," Addy said, barely able to speak she was in so much shock. She wrapped her arms around her mom's waist and pulled her close. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, so as not to cry. "I've missed you too, Mother."

Addy's only surprise was that her mother was shorter than she suspected. Papa had been a bit taller of a man, and Addy and Izzy were both sort of tall, for their age at least. But her mother was only average height, and Addy just just about two inches shorter. Still, it didn't bother her because, for the first time ever, at least in Addy's memory, she was being held by her mother.

"What have you done with your hair?" Katie questioned when they released from the embrace a full minute later. "You have green bangs."

"Only one green streak," Addy said. "It was a camp thing."

"And you've lopped off half of it," Katie said.

Addy looked a little disappointed. "You hate it, don't you?"

Katie shook her head. "It's a new look, and you look great," she said. "Did Henri cry at the sight and weep for your long locks?"

"No, I think he waited until after he dropped me off to run off and do that," Addy said. She looked at her mother, and then hugged her once more for good measure.

An hour later had Addy and her mother out side, hanging all of Izzy's clothes, fresh out of the washing machine, to dry outside.

"Now, please, tell me everything about what you did at camp," Katie said. "Did you make a bunch of friends? What kind of plants could you identify? I want to know everything."

"Everything?" Addy asked. "Well, I did meet a bunch of girls, some were nice, and some, well, not so much. We had a scavenger hunt the first night and my cabin won, thanks to yours truly." Addy smiled, and Katie smiled back.

"What else?" Katie asked.

"Well, I spotted some poison oak that another girl thought was just a growth from the tree and stopped her from touching it."

"Oh, I'm so proud of you," Katie said.

Suddenly, Henri entered the yard from a side gate. "Yes, I will tell her right off," he spoke into a cell phone. He covered the mouth piece. "Miss Gardner, Vera Wang is doing a photo shoot and wants to know if you can make four bouquets for them by tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow?" Katie said. "I can do my best." She looked at Addy. "Izzy, darling, how would you like to join me at the shop?"

"Oh, I'd love to," Addy said, even though Izzy had advised her to not go.

Katie smiled, then turned back to Henri. "Tell them to fax me over what they want in each bouquet and Izzy and I will be ready just as soon as we finish hanging these clothes up."

"Certainly, Miss Gardner," Henri said. "I'll go get the car." He turned around and began speaking into the phone again.

Addy took a few deep breaths walking into Katie's Floral Arrangements, the shop that Katie had started from. She marveled at all the different flowers, the colors, their beauty and the aroma.

Katie walked to the back office and returned a minute later with a sheet. "Okay, let's get to work," she said. "Grab a basket, if you could." Addy was glad that Katie had motioned to where the basket's were or she never would have found them. She then followed Katie to the back into the green houses. Addy's amazement grew at he size of the green house, and she knew that there were several more.

Katie and Addy walked through, Katie selecting flowers of all sorts, most Addy could barely name. There were roses, orchids, lilies, sunflowers, tulips, and as they kept going through the green houses, Katie selected more and more until the basket was filled. They then returned to the shop and into Katie's work room. Here, Katie had other things for decorating bouquets, such as feathers, ribbons, and rhinestones.

"I guess I've really got my work cut out, don't I," Katie said, looking at the faxed requests. "Izzy, I'm terribly sorry, but can we go to Georgie's tomorrow?"

"That's certainly fine, Mother," Addy said. She sat down and tried to hand her mother the flowers she requested, when she knew what they were. Then she started separating out the flowers for the other three bouquets, until she ran out of flowers she could actually name. Instead, Katie started looking at all the different bouquets that were already in the refrigerator. And then she began to run her fingers through the feathers, and felt the soft ribbons, and examined the lace.

"As long as you're over there, could you grab me a few white feathers and a bit of tulle?" Katie asked, snapping Addy out of her thoughts.

"Of course," Addy said. She looked at the feathers. "What size feathers?"

"Five to six inches should do it," Katie said.

Katie selected several feathers of the requested size and a small square of tulle. Katie asked Addy to hold it while she cut the ribbon for it. When it was done, Addy was surprised that it was so beautiful.

"I can't believe that you made this," Addy said, holding it like she was a bride. "It's absolutely gorgeous."

"Yes, it is," Katie said. "Now, let's keep it that way and put it into the fridge."

As Katie got to work on the second bouquet, Addy looked over the lists and grabbed more feathers and swatches of fabric for the rest of the bouquets, but that didn't take very long at all. Finally, she spotted the computer in the corner. She signed on and looked up pictures of the flowers she didn't recognize the names of, so she finished sorting them into their appropriate baskets.

"You are all over the place, today, Izzy," Katie said. "And here I thought you might be tired after six weeks of constant activity."

"I can't help it, Mom...Mother," Addy said. "I guess it's all the fresh air that gave me this energy boost mixed with the excitement of finally being home again."

"It is a little distracting," Katie said. "And, though you know I love you more than anything in the world, I do need to concentrate. I could really use this promotion for the shop."

"Right," Addy nodded. "I'll just stay on the computer and read some fanfics."

"Fanfics?" Katie asked, lifting one brown eyebrow.

"Stories," Addy said quickly. "One of my friends at camp was really into them... and I'm reading now." She turned to the computer and began typing a URL until Katie was focusing on the flowers again. She then Googled Georgie's to see what kind of restaurant they were planning on going to. She was relieved that it was like TGIF or Applebee's. She then signed onto her e-mail address to see all that she had missed while at camp. It didn't take her long to delete all the junk and read the few actual letters she had gotten from her friends from school. She replied that she was busy with family things and wouldn't be able to see them until closer to school. And then, she e-mailed Izzy.

I love Mom! Things are going GREAT! You forgot to tell me that Henri always calls you Isabelle. I'm not so sure he likes me. Mom loves my hair, BTW. At her shop right now. Reply soon.

She didn't sign it. She wrote 'Miss You Already!' in the topic line, and then sent it to Izzy, hoping that Izzy would get it soon.

After that, Addy made sure the sound of the computer was off and found a free Bubble Shooter website, which usually occupied her for much longer than most games usually held her attention.

As Katie was beginning the third bouquet, Addy turned back to her mother. "Doesn't making wedding bouquets ever make you want to create a super-duper bouquet for your own wedding?" Addy asked.

"My own wedding?" Katie asked, quite surprised.

"Yeah," Addy went on. "Or do you remember what your bouquet was like when you, say, married my father..."

"You father?" Katie asked. She shook her head. "We had a very simple wedding in front of a judge. I didn't even have a bouquet until I arrived at the restaurant where the reception was, and really it was just the roses from all the tables tied together, and I only made it because the girls all insisted that I toss it to them."

"Speaking of your wedding, do you ever think about him?" Addy asked.

Katie didn't need to ask who she was referring to. She shook her head, then stopped. "Actually, I do," Katie said. "Every time I look into your eyes, except right now they look so green because of that green in your hair. But, when you're wearing blue and your eyes are reflecting that, it's like I'm looking into his eyes."

"So you miss him," Addy said.

This time, when Katie shook her head no, she didn't change her answer. "In reality, he should only have ever had been a summer fling. But I don't regret marrying him. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have you. Now, why do you want to know all this, Izzy?"

"What girl doesn't want to know about her father?" Addy asked, leaning back. "You had to know it was coming. I want to know more."

"Not happening, Izzy, Baby," Katie said. "I'm not going to talk about him when I am making wedding bouquets."

"But they're not even for a wedding," Addy argued. "They're for a photo shoot, Mother." Katie sent Addy a glare for just a moment. "At least tell me his name."

Katie sighed. "You really want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Fine," she said. "His name was Travis."

So, what did you think about it? Do you like Henri and Papa? How about the interaction between Katie and Addy? Next chapter, Izzy arrives at her dad's home.