Say it with flowers

Set in the 1860s

WITHIN half an hour of putting to sea, I was sorry for being so rash. I knew it was hot-headed, running away just to spite Maggie.

Our cross words had been over something so trivial.

Standing on the deck, watching the coast recede into the distance, along with everyone and everything I’d ever known and loved, I came to my senses too late.

I swear, if we’d been near enough for me to swim back to shore, I would have dived overboard right then.

I was seventeen and had been working as a gardener at the big house, West Towan.

Maggie was sixteen and spent her time helping her mother in the home.

In the evening she’d wait on the cliff path to meet me on my way from work.

I was deeply in love with Maggie and believed she felt the same about me.

As a token, each evening I brought her a flower from the Squire’s gardens. It had to be a windfall or one past its prime, because the best flowers were needed for the house.

The evening before, I had brought a chrysanthemum.

Thinking back, it’s clear that Maggie was tired and in a low mood that evening.

She stared miserably at the flower.

“Is this all I’m worth, Tobias? A bloom with half its petals withered?”

“It ain’t that bad, surely?” I said with a laugh, but taking a closer look I could see she was right.

It had been my fault for leaving the flower out in the sunshine whilst putting away the tools.

A simple apology would have settled the matter, but I dug in my heels.

I wish I’d stopped to realise I was more annoyed with myself than with her.

Yet after a long day trimming high hedges, I was exhausted and felt I’d done well to remember a flower at all.

“Many a girl would be pleased to have her man present her with a bloom every day, but not you, Maggie!”

“I can’t think of one girl I know who’d see this ragged flower as a compliment!” she snapped.

A full-blown argument ensued.

Did she want me to lose my job, I asked her. Didn’t she realise how much trouble I’d be in if I took one of the Squire’s blooms?

In the end, she stormed off one way and I the other.

The poor chrysanthemum was left lying abandoned on the dusty path.

After spending the night tossing and turning, I rose, having made the decision to head down to the quay with my bundle of belongings and see which ships were hiring men.

That would show Maggie, I thought to myself.

My parents tried their best to stop me.

Kissing them farewell, I promised to return safely, even though this was something I couldn’t promise at all.

My brother Cornelius accompanied me to the quay, so he could tell them which ship I ha