CHAPTER 74
It hadn't taken her long to unpack her cases, when she thought about all the clothes she had back at Bramble it made her wonder what to really do about shipping her things or just buying replacements. Some things could never be replaced, she really would need to think hard about what she actually needed here. "One step at a time Bea" she heard herself saying.
Nathan was busy storing the cases in the loft when Minnie and Angela came.
"Come in, come in, I am afraid we are a bit upside down, we have just brought everything over from the saloon, people have been so kind. We are going to sit and open everything later tonight. Now can I get you anything, tea, coffee, lemonade?"
"Thank you Bea but we won't stay long, we will let you get sorted, oh this is the cake that was left, did you even get a full piece?"
"We didn't " she laughed " but will have some later, thank you again for doing that Minnie it was a work of art considering the time you had."
"Now Angela, what would you like first, flowers or dress?"
"That is a hard one, flowers I think, Mama did try to describe them but I just can't picture them."
"Well here" Bea took her hands and lifting the bouquet she placed the handle in them.
"Oh it is so heavy, it must be very big?"
"It is long, a cascading bouquet they call them. Minnie if you take hold of it."
Taking her hands Bea guided them over the shape, then over the individual types of flowers in it, and tried to describe the colours, "mind the thistles they can be a bit prickly" she laughed. "These are the tartan bows I wanted in there and the handle is wrapped in the same ribbon and has tails the same length as the bouquet." She ran the ribbon through Angela's fingers."
"The smell, is that just the roses? I am sure I can smell something else. Can you not smell it Mama?"
"Angela apart from myself you are the only one that has noticed. I love sandalwood, Mr. Henderson the florist had picked up on that the day I went into his shop. Hidden deep within the heart of the flowers are a couple of pieces, that is what you smell."
"Really, I can't smell it," Minnie went to smell the bouquet and pricked her nose on a thistle which both Angela and Bea thought was funny, poor Minnie didn't.
Nathan had caught the tail end of the conversation as he came downstairs, "Minnie, Angela, I did not know that either but I will not make the same mistake you did Minnie, I will take these two words for it." Everyone laughed.
"Right dress, our house is the same as yours so will you be alright on the stairs, if not I can bring it down?"
"I can manage that, 12 stairs to the top."
Bea and Nathan both looked at Minnie and smiled, she just nodded.
The dress was hanging on the wardrobe door, taking it down she asked Angela to hold her arms up then passed the hanger to her. "Oh it is so heavy too, it must hang beautifully."
"It does, that is the number of crystals on it. Here let you Mama hold it and we will do the same as the flowers."
Starting at the straps, Bea guided Angela's hand over the dress, the shape, the material, and then taking a finger she placed it at the top of one of the swirls of crystals, "Try and follow it down the dress." When the swirl disappeared into the waistband Angela just smiled. "These are all crystals, I understand how you said it sparkled now Mama, it is beautiful even to me who can't see."
Bea just looked at Minnie again, their eyes filled with tears. "The crystals then shoot out the bottom of the waistband and run right down to the bottom, like shooting stars."
"Do you remember colours, Angela?"
"I do, well I remember things that were a certain colour and then can picture, like buttercups, that is yellow to me."
"Well do you remember lilac blossoms in the spring, that is the colour of the underdress, very pale though, the top part with all the crystals on..."
Nathan who had been standing at the door watching and listening said: "That is the colour of a silvery moon, when the sunlight caught the crystals as Bea stood in the doorway of the office to me it was like a perfect night sky, silver moon, and twinkling stars."
"Oh Constable Grant I now have the best picture ever, can I hold it one more time?"
Minnie passed the dress to her and looking at both Nathan and Bea she mouthed "Thank you."
The thanks that Bea and Nathan received for such a simple act were so moving.
"What a sweet girl she is, I wonder if there is any help we can get for her, I must try and talk to Minnie. I if anyone knows how hard it can be to be "different", it can be a cruel world sometimes. Yes, that is something I must do. Now I will go and hang my dress in the wardrobe and get that out of the way then I think that is everything unpacked."
"It will be princess, after dinner we can open all these gifts, and then we will be all straight, well apart from your flowers, what shall we do with those, they are far too special to just throw away."
"Back at Bramble I would have taken them to the cemetery, so I don't really know. They won't last long, I will take one of each of the roses out to press and dry with your buttonhole, some of the ribbons too, then maybe just leave them in the garden."
"We will have a think, maybe together we can come up with a perfect place for them. Now, how about coffee and a piece of this wedding cake?"
Bea had gone to sit in the garden and was lost in thought when Nathan came to join her.
"Where were we ?" he asked.
"Right here, counting my blessings."
Having eaten dinner and clearing away they started to open all the gifts carefully making note of who had given them what. Mixed in with the wedding ones were a couple of birthday ones for Nathan.
Given the time people had to find a gift they really had been so lucky. There was an album they would use as a wedding one from Lee and Rosemary, a large silver photo frame from Ned and Florence, their favourite photograph would be placed in there and displayed with love. From Clara and Jesse, there was a hand-embroidered table cloth and from Molly, napkins to match. Bill had bought them the most beautiful crystal vase, from Henry there was a very useful writing set and paper collection. Jed and Mary's present was the largest one and Bea filled up when Nathan opened it, a beautiful patchwork quilt in the same colours as her bouquet, that must have been pure coincidence. From Faith, Fiona and Mike there was crisp white bed linen trimmed with broderie-Anglaise lace. They had candles, dish towels and normal towels, more pillowcases, and linen. Everything was added to the list, Bea would write a thank you note for each and every one of them. There were wedding and birthday cards too, Bea stood them around as best she could, they had to be displayed if only for a couple of days.
Nathan had taken all the wrapping that Bea had not saved out and came in to see her standing in the middle of the room just looking at everything. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "We couldn't have wished for a better place to find each other could we Bea?"
"We couldn't, and all down to an article in a magazine, I would never have found Hope Valley otherwise, we would never have found each other, what an awful thought that is."
Turning in his arms she wrapped her arms around his neck "Thank you Nathan."
"For what, you are the one who took the leap of faith and came all this way Bea, I would never have found you."
"No, but you trusted the voice of a stranger, you listened to a message from beyond, if you hadn't then I would not have found you either, you gave me time to get here and find you."
"Bea however, whatever, brought you here or, gave me the willpower to return here, we will never really know, but what I do know is I will be eternally grateful. I love you more than I can ever express."
"That feeling is shared Nathan, I know how much because I feel exactly the same way, now please try and show me how much."
He didn't need asking twice.