Dragonwell Dead

suddenly caught Drayton’s eye.

“Do you see what I see?” asked Drayton.

Theodosia let down her guard a bit as she continued to glance about tiredly. “No snakes in sight,” she told him. “But I do see mud, tupelo trees, slimy water, more slimy water, and, if I’m not mistaken, maybe a modicum of quick-sand to top things off and make us really feel welcome.”

“No,” said Drayton, his voice suddenly trembling with excitement. “Over there. Look!”

Theodosia’s eyes followed Drayton’s finger as he pointed toward a stand of straggly willow saplings. And there, growing out of a little copse of green was a pure-white flower.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

Drayton nodded tightly. The rare Platanthera integrilabia. The monkey-face orchid.”

“Well, I’ll be,” said Theodosia.

“Pass me the collecting basket, quick,” said Drayton. “I’ve got to hurry,” he mumbled as he stumbled rapidly toward it.

“It’s not going to walk away,” laughed Theodosia.

“It better not, after all we’ve been through,” said Drayton. “Do we still have a few balls of that moss to help hold the moisture in?”

“Talk about a lucky save,” said Theodosia. She watched as Drayton gently freed the little orchid, then placed it in a basket and packed moss around it.

Fifteen minutes later the sketchy trail they’d been following turned into a bona fide path.

“Look,” exclaimed Drayton, putting a hand up to his brow, “if my old eyes don’t deceive me, that’s the farmyard we started from.”

“And there’s my Jeep,” said Theodosia, spotting her little red vehicle hunkered down next to the stream where she’d left it. She was glad to see nothing had happened to it.

“And there’s Mr. Avery Walker,” added Drayton. “Think we should mention something to him about the gunshots? Or stop and make a report to the police or sheriff?”

“I’m not sure exactly what we’d report,” said Theodosia. “We never actually saw anyone, so it would be tough to give any sort of meaningful description.”

They walked up to Mr. Walker, who peered at them curiously from under a battered straw hat.

“We have returned,” Drayton announced tiredly but cheerily. “And with a rather fine orchid at that.”

Avery Walker slid his straw hat off his head and gaped at them with pale blue eyes that conveyed shocked surprise.

“My lordy,” he said. “You poor folks look like you’ve been lost in these woods for a week!”

19

“Must have been a fun outing,” said Haley when Theodosia walked in the back door of the Indigo Tea Shop mid-afternoon. “Because you look really good.”

“I do?” said a surprised Theodosia. After she dropped Drayton at his home, she’d hustled herself upstairs, jumped in the shower, washed her hair, changed clothes, and tried her best to undo some of the damage that had been done earlier. It hadn’t been easy.

“Your complexion is glowing and you kind of look like you came from a spa,” said Haley.

“A whirlpool treatment maybe?” asked Theodosia, a little smile playing about her mouth. “And a mud scrub?”

“Yeah,” said Haley, still studying her. “Something like that. Anyway, it looks like spending time outdoors agrees with you. Maybe you and Drayton should go orchid collecting more often.”

“Maybe so,” said Theodosia, knowing she probably wouldn’t be venturing into that part of South Carolina again. At least not without a band of Eagle Scouts and an armed guard at her side.

“So where is Drayton?” asked Haley. “You did bring him back, didn’t you?”

“He’ll be along shortly,” said Theodosia, grabbing for an apron. “He’s taking care of the plants he collected.”

Haley’s eyebrows shot up. “Did he find the one? The mysterious elusive orchid?”

Theodosia nodded. “Amazingly, yes. And a really lovely specimen at that. But tell me, how did things go here? How are things going?”

“Oof,” said Haley, scrunching up her face. “Lunch was a real crush. Practically standing room only. Thank goodness Charlie and Miss Dimple were here to help out. Charlie handled the tea brewing like an old pro and we had Miss Dimple scurrying around like crazy. Now things have finally settled down to a dull roar with the usual gang of Friday afternoon tourists out front. Most of them have been tromping around the historic district since early morning, doing the sightseeing thing, so they’re ready for a little tea shop pick-me-up.”

“Do we have enough food left?” asked Theodosia.

“Barely,” said Haley. “Which is why I have batches of blue-berry scones and banana-walnut muffins in the oven now.”

“I’ll dash out front and see what I can do to help,” said Theodosia, glancing in the small mirror by the door, thinking to herself that she did look rather fresh and alive. It was amazing what a twenty-foot drop and a soak in the river could do for one’s complexion.

“Oh, and Delaine and Bobby Wayne are out there, too,” added Haley as she darted back into her kitchen.

“I’ll go say hi,” said Theodosia, pushing her way through the green velvet curtain.

But with every table filled to capacity, Theodosia had to plunge right into the fray. She delivered refills of Assam and Nilgiri tea, as well as the last of the cream scones and cran-apple muffins. And she placated waiting customers with news that more fresh-baked goodies were on the way.

When the rest of Haley’s baked goods finally came out of the oven, when everything seemed under control, when every customer was sipping tea, Theodosia made it over to the table where Delaine and Bobby Wayne were seated.

“Where have you been?” was the first question that popped out of Delaine’s mouth. “You’re usually not such an absentee owner. Especially on Friday.”

Theodosia brushed off her friend’s question. “Drayton and I had some business to attend to.”

“Bobby Wayne and I have been frantically busy ourselves,” said Delaine. She reached down and picked up a shiny black tote bag. “See this? We’ve been running around, collecting last minute donations for tomorrow night’s silent auction.” She set the bag back down, sighed mightily. “Celerie Stuart was supposed to take care of all this, but she ran into trouble with the decorations, so she begged me to finish up.” Delaine smiled sweetly at Bobby Wayne, who was busy buttering a scone. “I tried to handle everything myself, but I was going absolutely bonkers, so I finally picked up the phone and asked Bobby Wayne here to lend a hand. Which he did, dear gentleman that he is.”

“No problem, my sweet,” Bobby Wayne told her, even though his mouth was full.

Haley came scurrying over with a plate of banana-walnut muffins. “Here are those muffins you asked for, Bobby Wayne.”

“Thanks, honey,” he said.

Haley lingered at their table. “Did you guys collect a lot of good stuff for the silent auction?”

That was all the prompting Delaine needed. She reached into one of her tote bags and hauled out what she deemed the “special” pieces. Which, in Delaine-speak, meant jewelry.

“Brooke over at Heart’s Desire donated one of her hand-tooled silver bracelets. See?” Delaine dangled a shiny charm bracelet from her fingers. “Strung with her Charleston charms—tiny trolley, palmetto leaf, an oyster shell. And see, she added some new ones. A little wrought-iron gate and a magnolia.”

“I just adore her charm bracelets,” said Haley.