Eden's Garden by Juliet Greenwood Read Free Book Online Page A

least Tylers have been good about me working away from the office for a couple of months,’ Carys remarked, attempting to regain her optimism. ‘I have to admit, I didn’t think they’d be that reasonable.’
    ‘And risk losing you?’ Poppy, she discovered, was watching her closely. ‘You underestimate your skills, Cari. Where else are they going to find someone as efficient and experienced in dealing with accounts? And I know from Stuart that you’ve a really good reputation for building relationships with clients. I’d have thought letting you do accounts over the internet, rather than you using up your holiday and taking the rest as unpaid leave, was a price worth paying, as far as Tylers are concerned. Pity about your course, though.’
    ‘I know.’ Carys swirled the remains of her tea, gloom threatening to descend once more. ‘Brilliant timing, eh? It would be just when they’re going to be doing so much of the practical stuff. I haven’t said anything to Joe yet, but I can see me having to redo the entire year. We were planning to start looking at smallholdings this summer, but now it looks as if we’re going to have to put it off for another year, at least.’
    ‘Gardening,’ announced Poppy.
    Carys blinked. ‘Gardening?’
    ‘Set yourself up as a gardener while you’re at your mum’s. I know it’s not the same as working on a farm or in the grounds of some grand mansion, but at least you’ll be doing practical stuff, and you’ll be learning.’
    ‘I’m not sure…’ began Carys.
    ‘It can’t take much to set up, surely? We’ve got loads of tools in the shed Stuart and I aren’t going to use for years. Better they get used than rot. That was one of the first things we decided on, when we knew we were having twins: hire a gardener to mow the lawn and cut things back for the duration. It wasn’t easy to find one. A really good one, that is. You can choose your own hours, fit them around Tylers stuff and your mum. At least you’ll know you’re making a start along the way you want to go. Sorted.’
    ‘Oh, it’s not the practical side,’ said Carys. ‘It’s just I’m just not sure they have gardeners in Pont-ar-Eden. It’s not that kind of place.’
    ‘Rubbish. We’re not talking major landscaping here. There’s bound to be someone who wants a lawn mowed or a hedge trimmed. I bet lots would prefer a woman, especially an older woman living on her own. There have to be some posh houses. And didn’t you say there was some big house next to the village. Garden of Eden, or something?’
    ‘Plas Eden,’ said Carys, slowly.
    ‘There you are.’ Poppy was triumphant. ‘Didn’t it have a famous garden? One with a funny name?’
    ‘Blodeuwedd’s Garden,’ provided Carys.
    ‘That’s it. I knew there was a garden there, somewhere. Blod-’ Poppy struggled. ‘Blod- what was it?’
    ‘Blodeuwedd. Blod-ay-weth . The woman made of flowers.’
    ‘Even better.’
    Cary smiled. ‘She’s not a real woman. And there aren’t even many flowers in the garden. At least there weren’t the last time I was there. It’s the story from the Mabinogion.’
    ‘The what?’ said Poppy, who made no bones about the gaps in her education, largely due to a youthful habit of truanting in favour of various unsavoury pastimes. She had more than made up for this lack since, but clearly not as far as Celtic culture was concerned.
    ‘The Mabinogion. It’s a series of really old Welsh myths? They’re supposed to go right back to ancient Celtic gods and goddesses. Blodeuwedd was a woman created out of flowers by a magician, for a man who’d been cursed by his mother never to have a human wife.’
    Poppy snorted, loudly. ‘Yeah, right. Old man makes woman for some geek who’s never been kissed. You can just see what they’d come up with: porno starlet with a permanent Brazilian and no brains. Stepford wives, here we come.’
    ‘Not quite no brains. He was supposed to be un-killable, but she fell in