Moonflower

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Miles, while not a complete gremlin, was much more of one than his little sister. There were some complications back at boarding school, Dani knew, and the troublesome behavior seemed to have followed him all the way back to Bly.

The most recent example being his early morning flower picking. An activity not considered naughty in theory, but when the planter of the flowers was Jamie, things could easily get blown out of proportion.

"Hey, calm down." Dani sighed.

"How can I calm down when the little rascal ripped my life's work straight outta the ground?"

"He's just a kid, and it's only a few roses-"

"Roses that weren't ready to be cut!" Jamie cried, eyes wild, petals falling from the bushel of severed flowers in her hand. A bird from the tree next to the rose bush flew away in fright. She took a step back, seemingly realizing how ridiculous she looked, towering over Dani like a raging maniac, "Look, I'm sorry. I just - I've got a way of doing things and I don't like it when... I'm sorry."

Dani held back a smile, "Hey, it's all good. We're even now. You calmed me down from a tantrum, and now I've done the same."

Jamie laughed, embarrassed, kicking a stone with her shoe, "I liked it better when you were the crazy one."

Dani smiled, turning her attention to the massive rose bush, rustling majestically in the midmorning breeze, "These are beautiful. The ones still here, anyway."

"You want to see beautiful? This ain't nothin'."

"It's not?"

"Nah," Said the gardener, turning down a grass-trodden path, "Come on, Poppins, keep up!"

Dani followed.

The Greenhouse was... picturesque to say the least. A little house of glass filled to the brim with a rainbow of colors.

Jamie maneuvered around the potted plants scattering the floor like they weren't obstacles at all. It took the au pair several minutes to reach the point where the other woman had stopped.

"What's this?"

Jamie stood proudly in front of a section of the wall - one of the few not covered in planting tools - gesturing to the tentacles of vines clinging to the glass, "Now this. This is more beautiful than any stinkin' roses."

Dani crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head to try and see what the gardener saw, "I don't know, roses are so much more colorful. These are just green."

"And white - look," Said Jamie, pulling out a sprout of a few delicate, white flowers from the tangle of vines, "Moonflowers, they're called. Prettiest flower ever grown."

"But they look just like those-" Dani protested, gesturing to a pot of similar white flowers nearby.

"Ahh, but looks can be deceiving, now can't they?" Said the gardener wisely, "These little buggers are special. Only bloom two months a year. And each bud only for a day. These flowers will be dead by morning."

Dani stepped forward and felt a petal between her fingertips, "Really?"

"Really. And it's bloody hard to get 'em to grow around here. Took me ages to figure it out."

"Why do you bother? If it's just going to die anyway?"

She laughed softly through her nose, "That's the beauty of this flower, I think. It's mortality. If you have something all the time, it'll never seem as special as something that disappears once and awhile. That only comes out when it wants to. Everything seems more beautiful than it actually was once you loose it."
Dani stared at the gardener, who didn't stare back, "That's sad."
"That's life Poppins. Life is sad. But every so often... once in a blue goddamn moon, I guess..." she sighed, picking one of her precious flowers from the vine and tucking it gently behind Dani's ear, "Something comes along that's worth the effort. Even if it might end."

Dani smiled softly, "Now that's better. Not so sad."

The gardener smiled too, "No. Not sad at all."

So obviously not the same situation, but I had to throw the moonflower bit in there :)

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