Chapter Text
CH1
Simon’s POV
He turned down the dirt road and the sun glinted across his windshield. In the distance he could see the greenhouse.
Finally.
Simon had begun to despair he'd ever find it, after taking three wrong turns and finding himself behind a farmhouse, a junkyard and a lake, consecutively.
He shouldn’t be too sore about it, though. He was lucky to have found this greenhouse at all. Roses were so hard to grow to begin with, the odds of finding someone who’d managed to successfully cultivate this many different types, were low.
But Karl loved roses.
And Simon loved him.
So he had made it his mission to find all the different types of roses he could grow around the manor. So that Karl could look out of any window and see them.
Karl was full of bluster and loved to act like he was completely back to normal. But being shot and being in a coma for three years would shake anyone. So a little “flower therapy” couldn’t hurt.
Simon parked and got out of the car, looking around, and then at his phone. He knew the name of the lady who owned this place. She was expecting him. He was 3 feet from the door when it opened and a dirt-smeared face peeked out, smiled and ushered him in with a glove-clad hand.
She quickly led Simon through rows of shrubs and columns of tall plants Simon wanted to ask about. When she slid the door open to the flower section, Simon forgot all his driving aggravation immediately. There, in front of him, was the motherlode of roses: the same variety he had grown at the manor but twice as big; roses in darker and lighter tones, from the deepest of purples to the slightest of pinks.
“I’m working on some other colours too, yellow, blue, whatever I can. Think I’d have to splice the roses with tulips for that but God knows what I’d get. Flowers can be so temperamental…” she said, as she gestured around. Botanists. They could be obsessive. But only a mad-scientist botanist could get Simon what he wanted.
“This is great. How much for ten of the oversize and five of the multicoloured?” he asked. The sooner he could get them back to the manor, the better.
She raised an eyebrow, “Whoa, whoa, that’s a huge order for flowers so high maintenance. Are you sure you want that many to start off with?”
Simon smiled. He’d told her that he wanted the flowers for his boyfriend and that they lived in the country with plenty of space. He didn’t think he needed to mention that said boyfriend was a duke with enough staff to work this entire greenhouse if necessary.
“Definitely.”
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Karl’s POV
Karl took in the rose-scented air on his walk through the gardens.
It was 4:30 pm and Simon still wasn’t back yet. Not that Simon had a curfew or anything. It just wasn’t like him to be gone so long without telling Karl where he went.
Not that they were joined at the hip or anything.
Karl was happy to have Simon at his side helping him recover from the coma but he knew that Simon would have had his own life while Karl was out.
Simon was committed to him and Karl knew that, but a small part of him wondered if Simon had found “comfort” elsewhere while Karl was unconscious. He couldn’t fault Simon for his physical needs…right?
But no.
Karl wouldn’t ask because it was not important. What mattered is that Simon waited for him to wake up and came back to him.
Zzzzzz.
Karl looked at his phone.
“On the way back, naughty cat. Let me know if you want me to grab you something on the way.”
Karl grinned. After years of working in a manor where every and anything was available immediately or upon request, Simon still acted like he needed to stop at the shops. It was adorable.
They were good.
Simon was good.
Karl wasn’t.
He knew that.
He loved his angel enough to help him fly. But he wasn’t above clipping his wings if necessary.
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Simon’s POV
Before she left, the physical therapist let Simon know that Karl had finished a full session AND taken a walk in the gardens unassisted. He really was progressing in leaps and bounds. Simon wasn’t surprised. Karl was tenacious and unyielding when he wanted something. If Karl decided he wanted to be back at full strength in half the normal time, he would be.
As a reward, Simon let Karl feed him some rich people bird (was this one pheasant?). Simon’s palate was much more low maintenance but this was the way Karl grew up and Simon knew Karl loved involving him. He licked the extra sauce off Karl’s fingers. Not bad.
“What did you get up to today? You were gone for a while,” Karl asked, wiping grease off the corner of Simon’s lip with his thumb.
Simon knew that Karl was not one to tolerate a non-answer.
“I went for a drive and ended up looking at some flowers I thought would be good in the gardens. Lost track of time.”
The best lies had a kernel of truth. Karl could find out the specifics later.
“Simon, you aren’t the gardener anymore. You don’t need to-”
“Is the butler not responsible for the running of the household and grounds? Besides, it was nice.”
“Nice, eh? Maybe next time, I should come with you on one of your little “nice drives,” muttered Karl, leaning in for a kiss.
Simon smiled as Karl’s lips met his.
He couldn’t say how happy the thought of them just taking a drive made him, grocery shopping, maybe seeing a show together. He had waited three years for this man and he was beside himself to make a life with him.
Zzzzzz.
Simon got a text. He glanced at his phone. Just an update on the roses delivery. He’d look at it later. Right now, there was more sauce on Karl’s fingers that needed to be dealt with.
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Karl’s POV
Simon was out like a light, head on Karl’s chest, snoring in a way Karl knew he’d deny later.
Karl twirled one of Simon’s curls lightly, thoughts sitting heavier than he’d like.
There was something Simon wasn’t saying. He had been driving and looking at flowers for that many hours? No, there had to be something else. Then that text Simon thought Karl hadn’t noticed. Maybe someone else.
Karl knew his angel would never cheat on him but…if Simon had had a ”companion” in his absence, it would make sense that this person was unwilling to let go of him now. Simon’s way would be to deal with such things himself, to protect Karl from the nastiness of it.
Karl was getting stronger everyday. He had already stepped back into his family business, albeit part time and remotely. He would soon re-assume full leadership of his companies and their household. Their life would return to what it had been like three years ago. Just yesterday to him.
Simon would be his husband. He would give him the best of everything. They’d vacation frequently in private, tropical locations, eating the best foods, having the most exclusive experiences. There was so much Karl wanted to show him. And when they’d made love in all the most beautiful places in the world, they’d come back home and…
Karl shifted. They had never talked about what their family would look like. Randall never let Karl forget that he needed an heir for his dukedom. For a time, Karl decided he would die childless just to spite him.
But then, Simon came back into his life. And fell in love with him. Now Karl had someone in his life he wanted to raise a child with. He wanted to look into a child’s face and see the love of his life reflected. He wanted to chase an infant through the gardens, with Simon yelling at them to be careful from the house.
That was definitely a conversation they needed to have, but not now. They had time.
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Simon’s POV
“So the oversized I think would be good close to the main entrance but I want the multicoloured on either side of the master suite…”
The roses were set to be delivered the next day. It was perfect timing. Karl was out negotiating for the next three days, leaving their bed when the sun rose and falling back into it in the dead of night. The botanist had come to survey the areas for rose planting, but really she was distracted by the other flowers in the gardens.
“Oh my God, how have you managed to get that to grow up here? What fertilizer mix are you using? How often do you mist a day, it must be at least five to get those to grow outside-”
Simon let her ramble. The Glorious family grounds had some of the best gardens in the country. Being given a personal tour here was heaven for a dedicated botanist like her.
The cat was out of the bag. She had to know the master of the house was the boyfriend he’d told her about. She didn’t seem to care as much about that as the dahlias, though.
Truth be told, Simon enjoyed her company. A little geeked out she might be, but smart too. Simon did eventually want to go back to school and finish his degree, so being able to have stimulating conversation with someone outside the manor and his own family was nice.
Time flew by and before he noticed, it was lunch time. The survey hadn’t supposed to have take more than two hours. Having taken so much of her time, he felt it was only right for them to feed her before she left. He had the kitchens fix some warm sandwiches, and send out some juice and ice cream to the arbor.
“This man of yours has gotta be something,” she said, nibbling a crisp.
“Why do you say that?” Simon responded.
“He’s got staff for everything but you drove a 2015 Honda Accord halfway across the country, on dirt roads, to find roses for him to look at from his room. Even now, you’re making sure everything is just so and perfect for him.”
“...he’s been through a lot. He deserves it.”
“And you love him.”
“And I love him.”
A cheeky but knowing smile was her only response.
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Karl’s POV
Karl dragged himself back into the house just before midnight. Jacket slung over his shoulder, he climbed the stairs to Simon’s room as softly as he could. No need to wake him. Karl just wanted to look in on him before he went to bed himself.
A glance through Simon’s halfway open door let him know that Simon had fallen asleep waiting for him. Again. If he went to the kitchens there would undoubtedly be something delicious and easily reheat-able waiting.
These long hours were a necessary evil for right now. Karl had to get the business side in hand from top to bottom. Everyone had to know that he was back and not to be trifled with. Once the precedent was set, he could be more flexible with his schedule, work from home more, have dinner with his… boyfriend?
That word did not do justice for what Simon was to him. ‘Lover’ was more accurate but too melodramatic. He could see Simon rolling his eyes at the sound of it. Karl knew he would re-propose soon. If only so he could call Simon his fiance and put a ring on his finger big enough that everyone knew he was taken.
His thoughts were so loud that he didn’t even hear his head bodyguard come up behind him.
“Sir, you asked us to let you know if Master Simon had any visitors.”
“Yes?”
The bodyguard handed Karl some photos. There was a woman in them, in his arbor, laughing with his Simon.
“Who is this?”
“Master Simon said she was a floral consultant, come to survey the grounds but these were taken after her rounds were done.”
Karl looked closely at each picture.
He had been pursued by some of the most beautiful women in the world and this one wasn’t even worth a second glance on the street. But there was Simon not only looking at her but laughing, with ice cream on his shirt.
Karl noticed that they were never touching in any of the photos.
“How close did they seem? Did Master Simon hug her before she left, or give her a kiss on the cheek?”
“No, sir. No bodily contact of any kind. That we saw. Would you like us to look into her, sir?”
Karl nodded stiffly and the bodyguard melted back into the shadows of the manor.
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Simon’s POV
Simon weaved amidst the mischievous giggles and consequent admonishments, toward the trucks from the greenhouse.
He had allowed the local school to visit the manor as part of a historical tour on a day he knew Karl would be out. All the sticky fingers would have sent him mad.
What he forgot was that the roses were being delivered and planted the same day.
He quickly told the truck drivers where to go, sending the gardening staff with them. They had their instructions. They knew exactly what to do.
He jogged over to the teachers accompanying the children and apologised for the melee. They waved him off, saying the children would love to see how a beautiful garden like this one came to life.
The kitchens were stocked with cold drinks and snacks with way too much dye and sugar. While the roses were being unloaded, Simon had the children tour the inside of the manor, looped them through the kitchens to grab something and then turned them out onto the pastures where the horses were, so they could run around and burn off the sugar.
But the children were way more enamoured with the horses than he’d expected.
“Mistuhw Simon, can we pwease wide the pony?” Group-think had to be real. How else could all of these children be saying the same thing at the same time?
Immediately, the teachers said no. They were not here to ride the Duke’s horses, they said. The Duke was nice enough to let them see his house, they said.
Simon took one look at those dejected little faces, smeared with chocolate and pop. He knew it was too risky to have all these small children on the horses with no prep.
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Karl’s POV
‘Why are there children running through my house?’
Karl had come home midday to see if this mystery woman would make another appearance. He sat in one of his cars parked out front, the tinted windows meaning no one the wiser.
He watched a school bus unload what looked like 30 knee high gremlins, followed by two trucks that were ushered away by his gardening staff.
The thought of all the germs undoubtedly being tracked through his house made Karl’s head ache. Simon must be mad.
Karl took a few business calls from the car. He had to head back to the office soon. When he looked up, he saw the children queued behind Simon, his old mare Mona being brought toward them by a stablehand.
He watched as Mona was stood there and Simon lifted each child up to look at her, feel her mane and feed her a sugar cube.
It was mundane and repetitive.
But the children were elated. And Simon. He looked so happy with the children, so unbothered by their loud voices and wet appendages.
There was never a world where Karl thought Simon would hate children. But he didn’t know that Simon would look so natural and at ease.
Just then, his phone dinged. The background check on the botanist had come back.
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Simon’s POV
Simon thought he would fall through the bed, he was so tired.
He hadn’t expected to be running around with the children so much today. Luckily, the gardening staff were super efficient so they had the roses installed before the day was done. Simon gave them the once over and then ran inside to help the maids clean.
The manor had to be as spotless as Karl had left it this morning. He was so tired after work, Simon didn’t want him to be stressed by dirt in the house.
Karl would see his new roses in the morning light. Simon smiled to think of it.
As tired as he was, he couldn’t deny there was a certain levity to being around children all day. Their cheeky comments and unrestrained excitement were contagious.
Simon used to think he would marry a woman and eventually have a child or two. Because that’s what everyone did, right? That was the default path. But when he fell in love with Karl, he’d put that to the side. Two guys can’t conceive and Karl had such a messed up childhood, he could understand why he’d never want children.
Simon contented himself with knowing his sister would likely eventually give him a niece or nephew to spoil.
He reached out his hand to open his bedside drawer. He grabbed one of the brochures there and rolled onto his back to read it.
Radiance University.
Simon had given up on finishing his masters when his mother got sick. Even now, he was making decent money in a job that didn’t require one. But it always niggled at him. Unfinished business. Simon had found a groove as butler, a rhythm and routine. And now with Karl up and awake, there was a less urgent need for him to run everything in the manor all the time.
He could find just enough time, and enough money, to do a couple courses at night. It would take a while but he could finish his degree.
He grabbed another brochure.
Crown and Anthem College.
Simon wanted a school that was completely online but his particular program always had one course on-campus. There were nighttime options but if he had to be in-person, he had to tell Karl.
He wanted nothing more than to share this with the man he loved but he knew Karl. Karl would try to pay the university to just give him the degree so that he wouldn’t have to be gone.
Their relationship had started based on money and legal obligation.Simon wanted to do this thing by himself, for himself. And then celebrate with Karl later.
Simon sighed and closed his eyes, dropping the brochures onto his chest. The semester didn’t start for another couple of months. He had time. He would tell Karl.