[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the hidden gardens."
A flower-lover, her ears perked up. "Hidden gardens?"
"Little courtyards. Most of them are in private homes, but we have cousins here who love visitors.
We'll drive by before we leave the city," Gannon told her. "I think you'll be impressed."
"I'm glad we didn't bring Lorraine." Dirk chuckled. "Every time she visits Maude and Katy, she wants
to renovate the beach house."
"Maude and Katy are spinsters," Gannon continued. "Maude married, but her husband is dead, so she
lives with Katy, who never married. They're sisters."
"You'll like the furniture especially, I think," Dirk added. "Most of it is mahogany. It came from the
West Indies, where one of our ancestors made a fortune in shipping."
"Indeed he did," Gannon chuckled. "Raiding British ships. He was a pirate."
"Now I know why Gannon's so hard to get along with," Dana told Dirk with a wicked grin. "It's in his
blood. I wonder how many people that pirate ancestor tossed overboard to feed hungry sharks?"
"Only one, as legends go," Gannon said, his eyes twinkling as they stared straight ahead. "His wife,"
he added on a low chuckle. "Well, the old blackguard!" Dana exclaimed. "He found her in his cabin
with his first mate,"
he whispered, "and tied them together and pushed them from the starboard deck into the ocean." She
shivered.
"What happened to him?" "Nobody's sure," Gannon continued. "But at least one legend says that he
went on to become a provincial governor in the West Indies." "Injustice," Dana grumbled.
"That depends on your definition," Gannon reminded her. "Those were different times; there were
different codes of honor. In those days it was suicide for a woman to be adulterous."
"And these days it's more the 'in' thing than not," Dirk nodded. "How times change."
"Not always for the better," Dana added. Her eyes widened as she saw the platters of seafood being
brought by their waitress. "Food!" she exclaimed.
"I hope your appetite is up to it," Dirk teased.
"If it isn't, I'll go home with my pockets full," she returned, and was pleased to hear Gannon's laughter
mingling with his brother's.
The happy mood lasted and seemed to increase when they reached the Victorian home of the sisters
Van Bloom.
Maude was tall and thin and Katy was short and dumpy, but they shared a love of people that went
beyond their physical attributes.
Dana was amazed at the garden she saw when she walked through the black wrought-iron gate. The
courtyard was floored with brick, and its size was about that of a medium-size living room. It was
filled with flowers and potted shrubs and trees, and there was black wrought-iron furniture set near a
small fountain positioned in front of a vine-covered wall. Dana could understand why Lorraine felt
like redoing the beach house every time she came to the Van Blooms'. It made the most infrequent
gardener's fingers itch to recreate it.
"Lovely, isn't it?" Gannon said from behind her. "I remember it very well."
"You may have appreciated it, my dear," Maude said shortly, "but that woman you brought with you
last time most certainly did not. Did you hear her, muttering about putting in a bar and a hot tub...!"
Dana turned, frowning, and Gannon looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Layn likes modern surroundings, Aunt," Gannon said curtly. "What kinds of flowers do you have in
here?"
Maude hesitated before she let the subject of Gannon's former girlfriend drop. "Azaleas, my dear,"
she. said.
"Roses and sultanas and geraniums in shades of pink and red. I particularly like the red. How about
you, Miss Steele?"
Dana sighed. "Oh, I just love them all," she said with quiet enthusiasm. "I don't think I've ever seen
anything so lovely."
"You might try one of your own; it isn't so difficult," Maude encouraged.
"The nurse's home isn't the best place, I'm afraid," Dana said wryly.
"You're a nurse?" Maude burst out. "Why, so am 1.1 practiced as an R.N. for over fifteen years before
I retired.
Come, my dear, let's sit and discuss the changes over a pot of hot tea."
It was a long time before the two women finished, and then suddenly the others had joined them and it
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]