Epilogue
Ryan stood in the middle of Nally’s studio, tapping one of the high keys of the piano a few times before sighing and looking at his watch.
It was the middle of the morning and Nally was supposed to meet him so they could talk fashion over coffee.
Nally had a few appearances coming up that he wanted to look his best for, and if he was honest, Ryan needed something to spark his inspiration.
Maybe music would be a good theme for a fall collection?
A wave of anxiety pulsed through him at the thought of his fall collection.
Or rather, at his lack of a fall collection.
It was already into October. He should have had his concept firmly in hand, his designs done, and meetings with seamstresses set up.
If he was still in Milan, none of that would have been an issue.
But he wasn’t in Milan. He wasn’t even on the Continent. He was languishing back at Hawthorne House, back on square one, when his career should have been taking off, like those of his brothers.
The frustration was too much. He checked his watch again, then dropped his arm and headed for the door.
Nally was probably wrapped up in Jude somewhere.
Since the two of them had decided to be a real couple, or at least to acknowledge what everyone else in the family had known for ages, they’d been inseparable.
It was like the two of them had just invented sex and felt like they had to be horizontal all the time.
Ryan couldn’t blame them, really. He would have loved some sort of relationship.
He was more or less the last Hawthorne standing at that point, although they had plenty of cousins who were still single and free.
Ryan wasn’t against being in a relationship in theory, he had just never met a man who he was ready to forsake all other men for.
Since his meeting with Nally wasn’t happening, he headed downstairs, intending to grab his keys and go for a drive to see if he could find inspiration in the English countryside.
Something needed to give his muse the kick up the backside that it needed.
The only way he was going to fight his way back into the center of the fashion world, into the place that he’d worked for and deserved, but that had been yanked out from under him by that bastard, Giorgio Esposito, was if he had some ideas.
He was all the fuck out of ideas, and it was terrifying.
“Oh, Ryan, there you are.” Robert Hawthorne stepped out of the office just as Ryan crossed in front of the door. “Can I have a word?”
“Yeah, anything for you, Dad,” Ryan replied.
Robert grinned and walked over to join Ryan, gesturing for them to continue walking outside into a surprisingly nice day.
“I need your opinion,” Robert said, pointing for them to walk around the corner of the house. “Your mum’s and my thirty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up next year, and I have a massive gift in mind for her.”
“You two have been married that long?” Ryan asked with a smile.
“No, not really,” Robert said with a cheeky wink. “It’s actually only been official for twenty-eight years or so. Turns out that guru who performed our first marriage, when your mum was pregnant with Rhys, was a fraud without a license, but no one really cared.”
Ryan shook his head and laughed. He was never certain whether his dad told the truth about those sorts of things, but knowing him and his mum, there was a good chance he actually was.
“I’ve decided I want to have Hawthorne House’s gardens redesigned and replanted as a wedding present,” Robert went on as they turned a second corner to look out over the vast, overgrown, once magnificent gardens.
“That’s a good idea,” Ryan said. “What did you have in mind?”
“Something spectacular,” Robert said, making a sweeping gesture over the vista in front of them. “Something that will get Hawthorne House featured in all those horrible, posh magazines that people should be wiping their arses with instead of reading.”
Ryan laughed. “You want to be covered in those magazines?”
“For your mum’s sake, yes,” he said. “But as it turns out, it’s much more complicated to find the right garden designer than I thought it would be.”
“Is that what you need my help with?” Ryan asked.
“Yes. I’ve got a list of recommendations, but I was hoping you and I could visit a few gardens in the next few months to see which designs we like best,” Robert said.
Ryan brightened. “I’d like that,” he said. Not only would touring gardens over the fall and winter months give him more time to hang out with his dad, it might inspire him with ideas for a fall collection.
“Excellent,” Robert said, thumping Ryan’s back. “Now help me walk the space to figure out where we want to put things.”
Ryan grinned and followed his dad as he set off into the formerly grand gardens.
Maybe the next few months wouldn’t be as bad as he’d been worried they’d be.
They could just be fantastic. As long as his dad didn’t ask too many questions about why his career as a fashion designer was on the verge of crashing and burning.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Nally and Jude’s story!