Fruition: Blooming Series, #6

By Ruby Loren

Is turning over a new leaf the key to a happy ending? 

After receiving an unexpected windfall, Lydia and Scott decide to take a break from the drama of gardening. They soon discover that setting down the spade isn’t as easy as they’d thought. After a successful landscaping job in rural France, they begin to toy with the idea of settling there for good. Unfortunately, fate and a neurotic local have other ideas…

Will Scott’s darkest secret continue to haunt his future? 

What will Lydia do when Scott wakes up one morning with a mysterious wedding ring on his finger and no idea how it got there?

Lydia may finally be about to solve the biggest mystery of all, but is turning over a new leaf really the key to a happy ending?

Please note, this book is written in British English and contains British spellings.

Genres: Drama, coming of age, British humour and satire, cozy mystery. 
Romance: Clean romance. 
Language: No bad language.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruby Loren
• Release date: Jul 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386434375

Book preview

Fruition

Ruby Loren

Copyright © 2016 Ruby Loren

Please note, this book is written in British English and contains British spellings. 

Grab your FREE copy of Snowed In With Death!

Simply click on the link and let me know where to send it:

http://rubyloren.com/snowed-death-free-book/

Books in the series:

Blooming

Abscission

Frost-Bitten

Blossoming

Flowering

Fruition

CHAPTER ONE

The Lucky Break

The June breeze held a dry heat you never felt in England. It told of a long summer and carried the scent of lavender and dry grass to Lydia’s nose. She tilted her head a little and savoured it, feeling a stab of homesickness for the gardens, which had become her livelihood.

Roquecor is the perfect little French village, Lydia reflected, as she looked around the town square at the small grocery shop, and next to that a soap and candle shop. Fate had finally handed them something good in the form of this holiday destination.

When their last employment had come to an end, due to a murder mystery involving a racehorse, Scott being drugged by an ex-employer, and their wealthy employer, Zain Miah, proposing to Lydia; they’d decided they needed a break. After Lydia had sold the presents that Zain had bought her and discovered they were worth some serious money, they’d had the freedom to go anywhere. It had been time to explore the world a little.

Lydia and Scott had driven to the airport with their bags already packed from vacating the gardeners’ cottage. When they’d got there, they’d asked for tickets on the next available flight. Scott had grumbled all along that they’d probably end up with flights to Manchester or something, but when the next flight had flashed up on screen, the destination had been Toulouse. Scott had said something about it not exactly being exotic, but Lydia had secretly been pleased. French was the only other language she knew a little of. Sure, she’d only got to GCSE level, but she’d tried to keep her French up to scratch over the years and now they could well need it.

They’d arrived in Toulouse airport in the late afternoon and after stopping to hire a car, they’d hit the road without having a clue where they were going. That was how they’d ended up driving into Roquecor.

When their car had turned into the small village square, surrounded by views of rolling countryside and nearly devoid of vehicles, Lydia had looked at Scott and seen her own thoughtful expression reflected back at her. The sun had started to dip in the sky and they’d needed to find somewhere to stay for the night, so they’d stopped off at the café in the square to ask around. That was how they’d ended up with a one month lease for a property called Maison Lavande, a little way up the road.

Lydia looked up and smiled when Scott handed her a coke, still dripping with condensation. He sat down next to her and they sat in silence for a moment, appreciating the mid-morning sun and the quietness of their surroundings – populated only by locals.

It’s great to be able to take a holiday, isn’t it? Finally getting a stress free moment, Scott said, breaking the silence.

Lydia looked up at the green leaves of the overhanging chestnut tree and tried to ignore the pang of annoyance she’d been fighting for the past couple of days.

It was no use.

I’ve turned into my mother after all, she muttered. Scott raised an enquiring eyebrow and Lydia sighed. It’s just… she always wanted me to get a job as an accountant’s secretary, or date a doctor, all so I would have money to live on. I always told her I was going to make my living in gardening and I was doing pretty well at it… She glanced at Scott, remembering the rocky road they’d taken together. Well, I was doing well enough. Then Zain gave me those silly presents and we sold them and now there’s money, but it’s not really mine. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. Perhaps my mother would be proud, but I’m not. I wanted to succeed by myself, without help. She slumped down in her white plastic chair.

Lydia… no one gets anywhere without some kind of help. Scott was looking at her like she’d said something really silly.

You know what I mean! I hadn’t done anything to deserve the money we got…

Scott ran a hand lightly through Lydia’s dark hair, still smiling that annoying smile. Sure you did! You rode an unrideable racehorse that is probably going to go on to be a star and make him millions. In my mind, you’ve probably been underpaid.

Lydia opened her mouth and then closed it. Well, when you thought about it like that… I just wanted to earn it, you know?

Scott sat back and slid his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose. Is money ever really earned? He said, trying out a philosophical tone.

Lydia rolled her eyes. Shut up… want to finish up and go back for a swim?

Scott continued to look pensive for a moment and then nodded. Sure, as long as you’re willing to let the whole ‘I’m turning into my mother’ thing go. Anyway… A grin crept back onto his face. What’s wrong with being your mother? She’s pretty good for her age… Scott tried to keep his face straight but Lydia soon corrected that by smacking him on the nose with the laminated table menu.

Remember she doesn’t approve of you.

And that makes her all the more attractive… so hard to get! Scott said with a mock lovelorn sigh. Lydia decided to ignore this one and set off for their rented house instead, leaving Scott to down his coke a little too fast and stride after her.

Do you feel relaxed? Lydia asked Scott a while later when she floated by him on a lilo.

Scott stopped the splashy front crawl and trod water for a bit.

Yeah, I guess. It’s a holiday. That’s what it’s about right? Relaxing…

Lydia smiled behind her sunglasses. He was just as bored as she was. She let another few seconds pass. Want to go and see a garden? There was a leaflet in the…

Yes, Scott interrupted, his face instantly brighter.

Lydia laughed and they swam to the edge of the pool. She thought their holiday would improve from here on in.

***

The warm breeze shook the heads of the purple alliums. Lydia and Scott paused to admire the bed for a while.

Wow, I’d love to try out a border like that! Lydia said, pulling out a notebook and scribbling a quick sketch.

Scott walked on a little further and bent down to examine a piece of piping. Their watering system is fully automated and stretches around the entire garden, he said under his breath. I wonder how they did it?

Lydia watched him trace the pathway of all the water pipes and realised this was exactly what they’d been missing. For most people, sitting around in the sun with a good book was all they wanted from a holiday, but they weren’t most people. She and Scott were happier in a garden.

After all, that was how they’d met and fallen in love. Why would they be happier anywhere else? Now Lydia thought about it, it made her wonder if they’d been wise to take this holiday. But then, it hadn’t been the gardening they’d sought to take a break from. It had been the bad luck which had plagued them since the very start.

It’s not that easy to run from something like that, Lydia thought, and wondered if by briefly switching country they had finally managed to shift the cloud that had followed them around. She supposed that only time would tell. You may as well enjoy your time here, she resolved and continued to walk the sandy garden path.

Maybe someday I’ll have a garden of my own like this, she thought, but filed that dream for later. Even with the money she’d got from selling the jewellery gifts, there was nowhere near enough to buy a property with a decent garden in south east England, and no one was going to give two unemployed gardeners a mortgage.

There’s always the future though.

CHAPTER TWO

Thin Walls

It was only as June faded into July and their month’s rent was almost up that they finally seriously talked about what came next. While they’d been touring gardens of note and troglodyte caves around the region, they’d also been avoiding that subject. It had been nice to switch off their worries about an uncertain future for a while, but unfortunately the time had nearly come to return to the real world. They had to be ready for it.

So… we’ve still got a fair amount of that money left. I don’t think we’ve even dipped into it at all for this holiday, Scott said. They were both sipping cokes again down at the village café. Lydia was privately thinking she probably needed something a little stronger than a coke if this was the conversation they were going to be having.

Yes, well, we had some saved up from working at Green Acres. After all, Zain was pretty generous and all we had to pay for was groceries.

Scott stiffened when she said Zain’s name and Lydia quickly pushed the conversation on. So, let’s say we have £250,000 in the bank still and all the opportunities that affords us. What do you think we should do, Scott? She had her own ideas of course; after all, you didn’t lounge around by the pool without having a few light bulbs flash in your head. She just wanted Scott to make his play first.

Scott took another sip, like he was really thinking about it for the first time. We could go back and see what jobs there are. Maybe there are more places like Green Acres… except without all the stuff, he added, referring to the unfortunate death and all of the other incidents. ‘Stuff’ was a tame way of saying it. We could work and when we’ve got reliable incomes perhaps we could use the 250K to put down a deposit on somewhere really nice. We could actually own a real home. He tilted his head, testing the idea out.

Lydia was also doing some inward testing of that idea. They’d rented a place together before, but this was sounding much more permanent. Did this also mean that Scott might be thinking about fixing