The Letter by Mary Crawford

Author:Mary Crawford [Crawford, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945637179
Published: 2018-09-16T16:00:00+00:00

When I walk into Mallory’s hospital room, she is looking much better. Her eyes are flashing with anger and her color is much better. She is flipping through the television stations with a frustrated expression on her face. I hand her a bouquet of lavender roses as I ask, “What’s wrong?”

After Mallory lays the flowers on the bedside table, she flops back against the pillows, and scrubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I’m just frustrated. I can’t find any decent news on TV and I’m not in any position to write any of my own.”

I rummage through the cupboards and take out a spare water pitcher and fill it with water before placing the bouquet of roses in it. “Not a fan of purple, I see?” I remark with a raised eyebrow. “I tried to find cherry blossoms, but the florist was out.”

Mallory gasps and covers her face with her hands. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I was so rude. They’re beautiful. I love them.”

“Gwendolyn tells me there is a special code to the flowers,” I say as I set the flowers down.

Mallory giggles in a free and easy way I haven’t heard in several weeks. “Oh trust me. I know all about that secret code. A couple of years ago we had a gung-ho intern who was all about becoming the next Barbara Walters. She was assigned to our entertainment and arts reporter. It was around Valentine’s Day and everyone was hassling Winston about being single. He finally assigned it to Candi Sweets — yes, that was her real name. She showed us her driver’s license. Anyway, she made it her mission to do the most thorough story ever on the meaning of giving flowers as a romantic gesture. I’ll never forget her horror when she found out some flowers have a darker intent.”

“That’s funny.”

“Yeah, it was funny until her poor unsuspecting boyfriend sent her a bouquet of flowers for her birthday which contained yellow carnations and orange lilies. She almost broke up with him for his gaffe.”

“I guess those flowers don’t mean anything positive?”

Mallory shakes her head. “Nope, according to Candi, they spelled out hate in no uncertain terms.”

“Wow! I wonder how many unintentional messages I’ve sent to people over the years.”

Mallory looks at me skeptically over the top of her roses. “Really? Send a lot of flowers do ya?” she teases.

I feel my face heat as I admit, “Mostly to my mom and my grandma. I hate to burst your bubble, but I’m not much of a Casanova.”

“Says the guy who won the kissing contest,” she quips.

I grin. Inside, I’m practically throwing down cartwheels. The fact that Mallory can joke with me tells me she’s made a complete turnaround from yesterday.

I clear my throat as I try to change the subject. “So, do you approve of the message I sent with my flowers?”

She struggles to lean forward to get the vase off the bedside table. I lift them for her and let her smell them.

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