Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property ofBuffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
The First Rosy Year - Chapter 30
The florist looked up as the door to his shop opened one Monday lunch time in December, and he was surprised to see Doctor Ellingham enter. He couldn't remember ever actually seeing him in his shop before, even when he'd been doing the flowers for the Wedding that never took place – and for the Wedding that did take place.
"Good Day Doctor Ellingham. And what can I do for you? Bouquet of flowers for your lovely wife maybe, is it her birthday perhaps?" he suggested.
"Umm… anniversary.…actually. Not sure what to get. Has to have white roses in though. Twelve. Perfumed ones. To be delivered up to my house first thing on Thursday morning."
Martin was feeling rather embarrassed and out of his comfort zone. He'd never bought or ordered flowers before for anyone, but he knew that Louisa loved flowers. They had both worn red roses at their wedding, and she had told him how much she loved them, that they signified passionate love, but what a shame it was that they weren't perfumed as most bought roses don't have any perfume these days.
There was a sharp intake of breath from the florist.
"Ooh, that's a tall order, specially this time of year, perfumed roses have to be specially ordered in, and they're pretty pricey. I'd recommend a large luxury mixed bouquet with a dozen normal white roses for a fraction of the price, I doubt she'd even notice the difference, if you want my opinion," the florist advised, pulling out a folder containing pictures of the different types of bouquets and showing him the one he had in mind.
"No, they have to be perfumed, cost is immaterial. And I'm assuming that you're capable of keeping out of trouble long enough to complete this task without getting yourself arrested again?" Martin demanded to know, looking at his watch impatiently. His first patient of the afternoon was due at the surgery in ten minutes.
"I'll have you know that was a complete misunderstanding, all charges against me were dropped, it was that tosser Penhale completely overreacting," the florist told him indignantly.
"Hmm, whatever. Well can you do it or not? Martin asked impatiently. He supposed that he could be telling the truth, he knew that anything was possible with that idiot Penhale.
"I'll make some phone calls, see what I can do and let you know this afternoon," the florist agreed, always keen to do business with a good profit margin, and the Doc had said the magic words 'cost immaterial'
xXx
Louisa was surprised by a knock on their door early on the morning of their first Wedding Anniversary. As it was now the school holidays for the Christmas break, she was enjoying a lie in and had only just got up. Martin had got up earlier to deal with Luke as he usually did when he was around.
"Louisa, can you get that, I've got my hands full at the moment," Martin called out to her.
"Oh, OK...right, I'm still in my dressing gown, but I suppose I'm decent," Louisa replied, making her way down.
She opened the door to see a huge bouquet of flowers, so big that she couldn't actually see who was holding it.
"Mrs Ellingham?" the florist enquired, knowing full well that it was.
"Yes…good heavens, are they for me? Are you sure that you've got the right address, the right person?" she enquired. It didn't even occur to her that they might be from Martin, he never sent flowers.
"Definitely for you. Check the card. Enjoy," the florist told her, handing the enormous bouquet over.
"Gosh, right. I will. Thanks, they are beautiful,"Louisa said excitedly,closing the door and carrying them into the kitchen.
As she walked in, she buried her nose into the bouquet and then exclaimed,
"Oh wow, they smell divine, the roses are perfumed, they're gorgeous!"
She quickly found the card and opened it, eager to know who had sent her such a wonderful bouquet.
It read:
'White Roses because White Rose Cottage is where things really began for us. Twelve roses, one to celebrate each month of our marriage. Happy Anniversary. Yours always, Martin X'
Louisa gasped and looked up as Martin now entered the kitchen carrying Luke, and looking very bashful.
"They're from you!" Louisa said in astonishment.
"That's correct," Martin confirmed as he fiddled about putting Luke in his high chair.
"But you don't do flowers," she continued, still not quite believing what she was hearing.
"Maybe I didn't but maybe I do now," Martin replied, still embarrassed.
"And you've written beautiful words too, and remembered that I prefer perfumed roses," Louisa looked again at the card and re-read the words. They really touched her, so she went over to Martin and put her arms around his neck to hug and kiss him.
"What happened to the gruff, monosyllabic, and rude Martin that we all know and love?" she tenderly asked him as she touched his cheek.
"Don't forget about 'well meaning' too," he reminded her. "He's still there as far as everyone else is concerned, don't you worry about that," Martin replied, happily kissing her back.
He was very gratified with her reaction. He'd discovered that giving gifts to Louisa gave him a lot of pleasure too. He'd never had anyone before to give such gifts to, someone who would appreciate them the way that Louisa did. He'd also never really had anyone before who'd given him the kind of thoughtful, meaningful presents that she did. His parents certainly never had, Edith had bought him material things with a high worth but little thought, even Auntie Joan was always very practical and down to earth with her gifts. The cuff links that Louisa had designed herself and had then had made were especially touching for him, the way that she'd researched the fact that the forget-me-not flower signified true love, and had then had a tiny one engraved on each cuff link along with their entwined initials. She had worried that he wouldn't like them, that he would think them rather silly, but in fact he now wore them virtually every day rather than keeping them for special occasions only, because he liked them so much.
So he decided that he would try to be as thoughtful for her, which he found quite difficult to begin with. However, with practice, it was getting a bit easier, and he found that he quite enjoyed the challenge of thinking of something.
Louisa now turned to him and said,
"We've never chosen a name for this house, so how about we call it 'White Rose House'? Maybe we could ask Joan's advice about planting a white rose in the front garden somewhere, maybe near the front door. Don't you think that would be nice, as a sort of a continuation?" she suggested.
"I suppose we could, if that's what you want. We'd still have the house number anyhow, so it wouldn't make a lot of difference for practical purposes," Martin said. He turned the idea over in his mind, and rather liked it.
"White Rose House it is then," he agreed.