THE COLOUR OF LOVE (Wattpadprize14)Completed

Chapter 41 - The Purple Orchid

When Cherrie went to bed that night she prayed the shadows would reappear so that she could find out what importance they held for her. The fact that the shadows played around in her thoughts made her curious to know who they were and why they had such an effect on her.

A month to the day her father had passed, Cherrie had decided she would place a wreath of flowers on his grave, not only to mourn his passing but to celebrate his life. She had made a mental note of the florist she had unexpectedly walked into the day her father passed away and called them to arrange for a wreath of orchids to be delivered.

Her mother seemed reluctant to go with her and Cherrie did not push her mother, saying there was always next month. Her mother smiled and waved to her as she pulled out of the drive way.

Just as Cherrie was about to place the wreath on her father’s grave, the delivery note caught her eye. It said For the attention of Miss Cherrie Summers??

Cherrie pulled the note off the wreath. Why were there question marks next to her name? She would remember to ask the florist next time she ordered the wreath. Maybe this time she would go in herself, instead of phoning through the order.

The Purple Orchid florist specialised in different varieties of orchids but mainly purple ones in every different shade and size imaginable. While Cherrie browsed through them the assistant came over to ask if she needed help. After discussing the orchids with the assistant she eventually chose two different types to be made into a wreath. The one orchid in particular was a large bloom very similar to the ones in her dreams.

Whilst Cherrie wrote out the check, she suddenly remembered to ask about the question marks next to her name and quickly pulled the delivery note out from the bottom of her bag.  The assistant read the note and told Cherrie she was not the person who wrote it and it looked like her Manageress’s handwriting.

“Could I possibly speak to your Manageress please?” Cherrie asked.

“I’m terribly sorry Miss Summers, but she has taken a month’s leave. Her assistant Manager is here today, maybe he can help.”

The assistant disappeared into the back room and a tall skinny man came forward to greet her.

Cherrie explained about the delivery note and showed it to him. He said he knew nothing about the delivery note or the question marks and maybe she would like to come back in a month’s time when their Manageress was back from holiday.

“Your Manageress’s name is?” Cherrie asked.

“Natalie Steele.” He replied.

Cherrie’s heart skipped a beat. Memories came flooding back from the first time she stepped into the florist and had spoken to a petite pretty woman who recognised the name Cole. She had said his name was Cole Steele, but then all hell broke loose with the bag snatching and then rushing back to the hospital, she had forgotten all about it until now. Could this Natalie be related to Cole Steele? Or was she his wife? Before Cherrie could ask any more questions the phone rang and the bell over the florist door jingled, another customer had walked in at the same time as a postal delivery.

Cherrie realised this was not the time to ask any more questions. She would have to come back another time. Could it be that she was now going to find Cole, only to discover he was already married to a very pretty petite young woman?

On her way out of the florist Cherrie noticed the artificial waterfall she had seen the first time she walked in had been moved to the front of the shop and set up in a beautiful display of a forest scene in the window. The sun caught the spray from the waterfall causing a brilliant rainbow to span the width of the window.

Cherrie stopped and stared, the scene was exactly as she remembered from her dreams.  How could that be? Her mind raced with all sorts of explanations, but the one that hit the headlines in her head was the one explanation she did not want to face.

If Natalie Steele was Cole’s wife then the dream scenes they somehow shared were already ingrained in his memory from his wife’s displays in the florist. But why were they sharing dreams? Why had they fallen in love in their dreams and been intimate? And more importantly why were they connected in this way?

Cherrie left the florist with more questions than answers and her head really hurt. Before she pulled off in her car she looked back at the florist. The sign over the florist The Purple Orchid blinked at her, like a beacon in a storm. Right now her thoughts were storming through her troubled mind. Would the answers to her questions cause her more heartache than she cared to deal with?