Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
You’re going to be mine, Tamsin. All mine for the rest of our lives and you’re not going to regret a single moment we’re together.
Mason realized in that moment, when he was balls-deep inside his wife, that he had fallen in love with her.
Chapter Eleven
“It looks like you certainly love that basil,” David said.
Tamsin looked up at her friend and gardener and smiled. “Is it that obvious?”
“Well, whenever you’re near it, you run your hands through it, sniff it, and then when we leave, you occasionally sniff your hands. I know it’s a beautiful smell.”
Lifting the tips of her fingers to her nose, she took a sniff; it was herbal and sweet at the same time. She always wanted a large bowl of pasta after handling the basil. She loved picking the leaves and whenever the kitchen needed some, she was the first volunteer. Not that any of the staff asked her to get anything.
David was the one to receive the orders, she merely helped in providing them. She loved the basil plant almost as much as she loved the tomato plant. Admittedly, she wouldn’t eat the tomato plant itself seeing as it was part of the deadly nightshade, or at least she was sure that’s what David said. She would gladly munch on the tomato fruits, though.
“Did you always love gardening?” Tamsin asked. She wanted to distract herself as Mason had no choice but to leave for something regarding work. It was so urgent he hadn’t been able to tell her what it was. All she wanted to do was come and spend some time in the garden, and it was a relief to know David was here. He was a brilliant distraction.
“No, I didn’t.”
This did surprise her. “You didn’t?”
“Not when I was a young lad. In fact, I hated my father for always taking me out in the garden. I hated it. I was much more into going and playing soccer with my friends, or hanging out. I didn’t want to know about gardening.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
“My father, though, I think he must have known I had a natural talent here. I always got plants to grow, always knew how to nurture them.”
“What made you change your mind?” Tamsin asked. “To start gardening?”
David sighed. “One day, I should have been helping my father at work. He tended to a lot of gardens, and it was a job he loved. No matter the weather, he was there. Some of his customers were wonderful, others were a piece of work. Anyway, on this one day, he needed my help, but we got into a big fight. I told him no matter what, I didn’t want to end up like him. I thought he was a loser and I was going to be someone different.”
He stopped and Tamsin looked over to see that he was hurting from the words he had said to his father. She had no idea what to do. Going and hugging him might not be wanted.
David shook it off. “So, I went with my friends, and we hung out at the mall, and it was boring. I remember sitting there while they were whistling at girls, and being upset that I had hurt my dad by being there rather than hanging out with him. It was like an epiphany. I suddenly realized I didn’t want to be hanging out with my friends. During this, my father … had a heart attack.”
“What? Oh, no…” Tamsin said, frowning, and then she went to him, hugging him.
He rubbed her back and pulled away.
She didn’t know if she wanted to hear any more but she didn’t stop David when he continued.
“I remember sitting in that hospital room, watching my father hooked up to all those tubes. My mom was told he might not make it, and as I sat there with my father’s life hanging in the balance, I knew I wasn’t going to waste my life at all.” David patted her hand. “I got up and went to the chapel—the ones they have in the hospital. My parents went to church regularly, but as I got older, I stopped going. It didn’t seem important to me, and I thought I knew best. I didn’t. Anyway, I begged God, told him I would do anything. I wouldn’t turn my back on him, nor would I leave my father again. I would learn to be a good son and I’d be a good man.”
Tamsin looked at David, and she noticed the cross around his neck. She’d noticed it a few times over the past couple of years, but hadn’t figured it was anything important. Now she saw it was.
“My father lived. It meant a lifestyle change. Less sausage and beef and more salad, but from that moment on, I worked with my father and never turned my back on him again.”