The Enchanted Greenhouse(79)

She studied him for a moment more, then looked again at the dock. Wasn’t he at least curious why so many had come in response to their letter? Or was he relieved and just didn’t know how to handle all that he was feeling? That … seemed likely. Gently, she asked, “What if they were just waiting to be invited?”

Yarrow snorted.

She watched them unload several more pieces of furniture: a narrow desk, a folded-up table, a blanket chest … She had not expected this kind of response. Temporary help, she’d written. Until the crises are averted. They looked very much as if they expected to stay. “I’m going to greet them. Do you want to come?”

“If I must.”

“I’m not your parent. Do whatever you want to do.” She was certainly not going to force him. He knew best how he felt and what he could handle, though she wished she understood why he was reacting this way. If it were her family and she’d been concerned about their safety … Well, it would be awkward, but she’d still be overjoyed to see them. And she’d certainly want to know why they’d all come.

He sighed heavily. “As far as they know, I invited them all.”

“I said we needed a gardener, singular, if anyone could be spared. This … is a surprise. Aren’t you at least a little curious why they all came?”

“Guess you’re a persuasive writer.”

She wasn’t so certain of that. This was something more.

“They didn’t return for the greenhouses,” Yarrow said. “Or for me. If they’d cared about me, they would have replied to the letter first, invaded second.”

“You don’t know that,” she said. “You won’t know anything until you talk to them.”

Starting down the steps, Terlu pasted a smile on her face and waved. Out in the ocean, the waves were dancing beneath the cloud-streaked sky. She looked for the sea dragon, but she didn’t see any hint of its scaly back as she walked toward the dock. Behind her, she heard Yarrow following her, and she was relieved. She wasn’t sure how she’d explain it if he’d just fled. Smiling for real now, she called, “Hello! Welcome to Belde!”

Popping up from below deck, the shrub squeaked, “Terlu! Yarrow! Land ho!”

“Hey, Ree!” Terlu waved. “Looks like you had a full boat. Very full. How did everyone fit?” Now that she compared the number of people and the mountain of furniture, suitcases, and crates to the size of the boat … it didn’t seem logistically feasible. She widened her wave to include all of Yarrow’s family. “Welcome, everyone!”

Marin grinned as she helped another of Yarrow’s relatives disembark—a middle-aged man with a tuft of white hair in the center of his otherwise bald head. “My boat has a few tricks up her sleeve. Or in her hull, more accurately,” she said, with a wink toward Terlu. “Still, it was a squeeze. Some of them are very glad to be on land.”

“Sorry, Marin, ma’am,” the man she’d just helped said. “I’ll clean your boat once, you know, everything isn’t tilting and rolling so much.”

“No, thank you, sir. You just stay on the land. Permanently, please. I didn’t think it was possible for a body to expel that much and still have innards.” She clapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe don’t eat anything for another day or two, hmm?”

“Or a week,” he agreed. But he was smiling—a warm and friendly crinkled-eyes and crooked-teeth smile. He shifted his smile toward Yarrow at the end of the dock as he raised his voice and boomed, “Yarrow! Great to see you! You’re looking well. Remember me? Your uncle Rorick?”

“Yarrow!” One of the older women rushed forward with tears in her eyes. “Oh, how you’ve grown! Look at you!” She had tattoos of flowers on her golden cheeks, and the inked petals framed her tears. “You remember me, don’t you? Aunt Rin? Ah, little Yarrow, not little anymore! Just look at you!”

And that set off the lot: the arrivals flocked off the dock, crowing his name. Terlu caught a glimpse of panic in his eye, and she lunged in front of him. She pasted a great, false smile on her face and said, “Hi! I’m Terlu. Maybe everyone take a step backward so Yarrow can breathe?” She made shooing motions as if they were chickens crowding around their feed.

Behind her, Yarrow laid his hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t sure if it was in warning or in thanks, but she was not going to let him be overwhelmed on his own island.

“It’s very lovely you all came,” Terlu began.

Yarrow murmured in her ear, “Is it?”

“We weren’t expecting so many of you. Are you all gardeners?” She glanced at the toddler who was clinging to a woman’s hand with one of his and had his other hand shoved into his mouth. With their pale green skin and white hair, they didn’t look related to the others. “I’m not sure we have space for everyone to sleep. Marin, do you—”

Marin hefted a final crate onto the dock. “Oh no, can’t stay,” she called over the crowd. “Got another stop to make before sunset. They’re all yours.”

Ree sang, “The sea calls, and we must sail—beyond the horizon, into the bluuuue!”

The second sailor echoed in harmony, “Into the bluuuue!” It was so perfectly pitched that Terlu smiled and thought the other plants could take a few lessons from these two.