November 25th, 1891 - Padmore Park

The wedding continued to approach — (perhaps this ought not be a surprise, as time was passing) — and Noble was stressed about the budget, but there was nothing to do except try to get Ford to stand up to their mother and to Verity, and he knew that could only get them so far. (It was really a terrible time for him to be thinking about —)

But the wedding was coming, and he didn't know how they were going to afford it, and there was still nothing wrong with Mr. Everett Swann. The first two factors were making the house feel almost oppressively hectic, and so Noble decided to go for a walk in the middle of the afternoon — he was hardly relevant to the wedding planning, so it wasn't like anyone ought to miss him.

He'd done half a lap of Padmore Park by the time he saw her, Daffodil, for the first time since she'd called him to her home.

She looked terrible. There was bruising around her face, and her arm was in a sling, and shouldn't she be resting? It was as if Noble's brain was a sputtering gas lamp, and there was nothing he could do except stop and stare at her.

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Elsie Kirke @"Daffodil Potts"

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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set by Bee

With everyone who was well enough to be preparing for the gallery opening and Daffy had been unceremoniously ousted from the house because she wouldn't stop trying to be involved. The worst of it was over, she supposed. She no longer looked like she'd gotten in a bar fight, as her brother-in-law had so hilariously put it. The black eye had faded to yellow, though the split lip had yet to really heal. She kept biting it which was certainly wasn't helping.

The fracture in her collar bone had healed, but between that, the dislocation of her shoulder and the broken ribs, she was still uncomfortable and in a sling, but the cold air of the park helped. She was supposed to be looking for her father at the lake, but wasn't giving it much effort. Daff knew exactly where he was and she was taking the long, long way around. The house was stuffy anyway, too warm and though she loved her family dearly, they were smothering her. With Calla back and school and Dahlia much further on the mend, Daff was the target of all of the overbearing worry.

Her cloak hid her sling, though she held the front with her gloved hand to keep the awkward gap it created closed. Despite the chill in the late November air, Daff found the solitude refreshing, even if she was disappointed by being ousted from her own project. She had so badly wanted to see how everything unfolded.

With her head down, she was far from the house how and she felt like she could breath a little easier— even if breathing still hurt a little bit. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she looked out across the lake again. Her movement was slow, but she wasn't numb with cold yet. Turning her attention back to the path before her, it was there her breath caught in her throat as she found Noble standing there staring at her. "H-hello," She managed, transfixed to the spot she'd stopped at.

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   Noble Greengrass

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It was worse, now, that she was stopped and staring back at him. Worse still was that she was speaking to him. Noble felt stuck, and — furious. Why had that man done this to her, to the flower shop? It was random mayhem, it didn't make any sense, someone could have died — Daffodil could have died. She was lucky she hadn't died. Noble was lucky that she hadn't died, leaving him here, the last time they'd spoken would have been that night in the Potts home when she sobbed into his shirt. Was this how she'd felt when he confessed to sometimes poisoning himself?

He had to say something; she'd said hello. He felt immobilized. And he couldn't say anything that he actually wanted to when they were here, in semi-public, and even still he could not manage it when his tongue felt caught by the way she looked.

"Miss Potts," Noble managed.

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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set by Bee

Standing here, staring at one another in the cold air of the park made her heart ache in addition to everything else. It never really went away, but it was somehow sharper when it was staring her in the face.

"Thank you," She managed, unable to come up with anything else, unsure of what to really say. Anything she could think of could not be said in public, not in the middle of the park, even if there wasn't anyone else in earshot. "For the letters." As baffling as their arrival had been, Daffy had felt comforted by them. She hadn't any idea why he would send her a letter, there wasn't anything but heartbreak between them anymore, but the gesture had been appreciated.

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   Noble Greengrass

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Noble had no idea what she was thanking him for until she explicitly named the letters; they had felt like the literal least he could do, because he could not actually talk to her. "Of course," he said, tone a little stiff. He'd written her because they'd been attached for so long, and because reading the article in the Prophet felt like he was getting punched in the gut. "Thank you for writing back."

She would have been well within her rights to ignore him.

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set by Bee

All she could do was pass him a sad sort of smile. What were they doing? It felt like a slow torture every time they ran into one another these days. "I—" She what? What could she possibly say? Daffy still felt the undeniable pull toward him, all these months later, but she also knew it was just going to continue the heartbreak.

"I would very much like to do the flowers for Verity's wedding." She came out with finally. Daff had always envisioned doing so, back when the Greengrass girls were supposed to be her future family and ever since hearing about it, she couldn't get it out of her head.

Not to mention that was much easier to deal with than everything else that stood between them.

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"Verity's wedding," Noble echoed thickly. She wanted to do the flowers for Verity's wedding. Noble wanted almost nothing to do with wedding planning, but he supposed that made sense. "I think I can make that happen." He had no idea what the plan for the wedding flowers was, but surely Ford and Mama and Verity and Mr. Swann wouldn't balk at flowers from The Florist Potts. Especially not if they could just talk to Daff directly.

"You'll have to deal with Verity," he warned. He did not expect this to be easy, and could not begin to fathom why she even wanted to be involved, but the least he could do was enable it. (With Daff looking like that — Noble would have agreed to just about anything, if he thought it would help even a little.)

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set by Bee

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Daffy really couldn't have blamed him for not wanting to her— and maybe he didn't but he still said it could be done. Smiling slowly, she stood a little straighter, or tried to, wincing at the pain it brought shooting through her side.

"Thank you." She managed after a deep breath, which also hurt. The shop would be fixed soon enough, her father was already on it now that the investigation was almost over. Not being able to follow through on the gallery opening was beyond frustrating, so maybe this would make up for her failure somehow. "She can stop by the house any time, I'm not really allowed to go anywhere for a bit." And it was miserable.

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Noble nodded, the gesture a little stiff. "I'll have her stop by," he said. Ford would have to take her, or their mother. Noble couldn't bear to be in that house with Daff and his sister. Verity would figure it out, or his heart would just stop, or it would just feel the way all his conversations with Daffodil did lately — like he was just dragging out their mutual misery.

He watched her, his expression one of unmasked concern. "You should be resting," Noble said; his tone was more plea than admonishment.

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set by Bee

"So I've been told." Over, and over, and over again. Daff sighed again. It was hard to be frustrated with everyone, even though it was incredibly frustrating, she knew everyone just wanted her to get better; it was coming from a place of affection, even if it was entirely obnoxious sometimes. "You know I'm not very good at that." Daff was rarely still unless she was reading or sketching and neither seemed to occupy her for very long these days. She never had ever really been one to sit and relax, and he knew that. The fact that they were no longer close did not erase the better part of the decade they had spent getting to know one another. Even if they wanted to bury it and forget, it was nearly impossible to do, at least for her.

"I'm supposed to be finishing up the arrangements for the opening of the new gallery in London. It was-" She stopped, bit her lip and winced again, tasting the blood on her tongue, she reached around for her handkerchief awkwardly and painfully. That habit was hard to break too. As was telling him about her life, he didn't want to hear this anymore. "Sorry, it's just disappointing." Daff cast a look out over the lake again, dabbing at her lip as she spotted her father in the distance taking notes on something.

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Daff was terrible at sitting still, and Noble couldn't stop the ghost of a smile from appearing on his face. He couldn't imagine anyone worse at bedrest. But she still needed to try — and surely there were activities she could get up to at the Potts home, that would keep her out of Padmore Park?

He twitched towards her, an uncontrollable gesture, as blood bloomed on her lip. Noble straightened and hoped she hadn't noticed.

There was nothing he could do for her. Not for the blood on her lip, not for her other injuries, and not for the gallery. Still, Noble couldn't stop himself from trying on the last count. "There will be other projects," he tried, "Maybe not exactly like the gallery, but — they're unlucky that they missed the chance to see your work, and I'm sure you'll get to put something together for them in the future."

His cheeks flushed a faint pink. That had been far more genuine than he'd intended. But he couldn't resist trying to reassure her, especially when he was so useless where everything else was concerned.

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set by Bee

"Oh, it's getting done," Daff started before she could really stop herself. It was far too easy to have as conversation with him, even now, after everything that had happened. She wasn't naive enough to think they could go back to being friends, but maybe running into one another socially didn't have to be incredibly painful? Maybe.

"I'm just not allowed to help. Zinnia and Senna are handling it based off my designs." They had been far too into it to back out, even after the shop collapse. The gallery opening had to be completed, it just had to. They were already going to lose business with the shop closed for a while, even if her mother insisted they could run everything from their sitting room if they had to.

Checking her handkerchief, Daff realized she was going to have to apply some more of that diluted dittany on it again. She wasn't supposed to do too much of it, but it really wouldn't stop. "Sorry, I can't seem to get it to stop." It was slowing, certainly, but if she didn't stop biting her lip, it would never heal. Catching herself again, she knew she should stop talking, but it has always been so easy with him, not to mention what she did when she was nervous, something else he probably recognized. Still, she wanted to soak up the moment for as long as she could. Not every conversation had to leave her breathless. "And you, you're well?" Something seemed off, but it was hard for her to tell these days.

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Noble should really extricate himself from this conversation sooner rather than later — it was just small talk, really, but things were rather loaded for them. Of course he didn't, and found himself nodding along to her story about her sisters, the next thing he wanted to say already on his tongue. I know it's not the same, but at least they're still using your designs. There would still be a touch of Daffy there, in the gallery. Maybe he'd go to the opening.

Except then she was apologizing, for her bleeding lip or for talking, and Noble was reminded once again of just how dangerous this was. Talking to Daffodil Potts still felt natural, even when it made him horribly uncomfortable. Noble half-thought it would always feel this way, no matter the time or the distance.

He cleared his throat. "I'm well," he said. Except for Verity's kidnapping and the potion he'd brewed her; except for accidentally killing people at the Sanditon because he was trying to fix things; except for his sudden doubt in his career. Things had really gone off the rails since she'd left him, but Noble wasn't going to tell her that. He was going to have to manage something more than I'm well, though, or she'd see right through him. "Things are busy with Verity's wedding. Her and my mother are going to drive us all a bit mad, I think. But it'll all be normal again soon."

Or at least something approximating normal. He could handle that.

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set by Bee

Daffy had two married sisters, both of whom had rather involved weddings (though Senna's more than Ama's) and so she knew exactly what he was talking about. He knew that though, had listened to her prattle off about both of them in their spare moments; she had wished there had been a reasonable connection for him to come to Senna's wedding last year, but it just hadn't happened. All the nonsense though, had certainly affirmed her desire for a very, very small gathering without much fuss at all. That was a wash now however, obviously, as she really did still struggle to envision marrying anyone but Noble.

This felt like a good escape for the both of them, a natural time to part ways and put a stopper on their shared misery once again. "Well, like I said, I'll be happy to take the flowers off everyone's the to-do list." Daff assured him, because she really did mean it. She was looking forward to it. "I should, ehm, get on to finding Papa, he needs to help deliver the arrangements for the gallery. Please have your mother and sister stop by the house at any time. I'm looking forward to meeting them." Despite where they stood in life, knowing it didn't lead to anything anymore, it would be some solace getting to do this, to meet some more of his family. Daff knew it wouldn't do much, didn't mean they would see one another anymore, and she would be careful, if Verity did choose to use the shop for her flowers, to steer clear of him on the day of.

"Thank you again for the letters, it meant a lot to me." She added truthfully. Even if they had no future together anymore, it was nice to know he still cared in some capacity.

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Merlin, his mother and sister were going to meet Daff. Noble had spent a lot of energy preventing that from happening prematurely, and a lot of thought envisioning how things would go when he was finally ready to tell his family about Daff. It didn't matter now, but it was still surreal to think about.

But he shouldn't hold her back just because he was experiencing a deep wave of nostalgia.

"Goodbye, Miss Potts," Noble said. It still felt weird to call her by her full name, but there was nothing to do about that, either. "I hope you manage to get some rest. I know it's hard."

Hopefully she would get better soon. And Noble should just start leaving her alone.

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set by Bee