It took almost three months for Virgil to get back to International Rescue fitness. He used them wisely.
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was used to receiving gifts from admirers, but the huge white box was one of the biggest she'd ever received. It sat on the table in her dressing room, and she contemplated it.
She removed the top off the box and there, nestled on top of crisp white tissue paper was a card.
'Tomorrow, same time, same place. V.'
The card was hand-written rather than printed, and there was a hand-drawn and painted sprig of wallflowers in a pink-purple colour. Penny smiled. Wallflowers for faithfulness in adversity, and the pair of them had definitely been through that.
The smile became wider as she dived into the paper to unveil a pink dress almost identical to the dress she'd been wearing on that day. The only difference was the buttons. Where her previous dress buttons were gold metal colour out of necessity, these ones were covered with matching material.
She held the dress against herself, catching sight of herself in the mirror and sighed happily. Penny put it carefully on her bed and pulled out a semi-stiff petticoat and underneath that a pair of matching Mary Janes.
Virgil the artist, the engineer and the demolitions expert. He had got everything exactly right, down to the exact shade of pink and the size of the shoes.
The next day Penny got ready. The clothes were a delight to wear they fitted so well. She smoothed down the bodice and couldn't help but twirl for the mirror, smile as wide as yesterday. She spent the rest of the morning getting ready, then Parker drove her to the café bar that had started this all.
She was not surprised to see Virgil waiting. He was dressed in his pale green shirt, dark tan waistcoat and pale chino combination. Penny smiled to herself. One day she'd get him into a suit. There was an ice bucket and two glasses of champagne ready.
Virgil's grin widened as she arrived, and he jumped up to pull her chair out for her, taking her gloved hand and kissing it gently to her secret pleasure. He was thrilled that the dress looked so good on Penny, that he'd got his estimates of sizes right.
Once she was settled he passed her a single yellow rose that had red tips to it from off the remaining chair that Penny accepted with delight, knowing exactly what this colour combination meant.
'Darling Virgil, you shouldn't have!'
'Rubbish, Penny. I absolutely should have.'
'All this and the dress?'
'I take it the dress is ok?'
'It's fabulous, dear.'
'Good. I got the seamstress to add an extra the original dress didn't have.'
'Oh?'
'No more hiding things in seams for you, Penny. This dress has pockets.'
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward dissolved into gentle peals of laughter.
Note: According to Good Housekeeping: 'When yellow roses have red tips, however, they take on an entirely different meaning. These multicolour roses mean "falling in love," so they're perfect for a new relationship — especially if you two were friends first.'