[Farren Abercrombie]

Farren had promised Declan she'd come by his shop Tuesday when she finished work. Hopefully he'd gathered that this was in no way an actual business visit. There were no Rosier jewels that had been hexed and needed to be re-set. That was a ruse to make the whole ordeal seem like it was nothing special since his mother was standing right there.
In the unlikely event someone was in the shop or god forbid his mother was there she'd brought along one of her beautiful heirloom necklaces as a prop in her little show. She'd dressed simply that day, having been stuck at her desk going over layouts most of the day. A blue silk sheath dress that nipped in elegantly at the waist with pretty little buttons up the front and an elegant bow around the neck laying down the front of the dress and a loose chignon hairstyle accessorized only with a simple set of pearls, paired down by her standards.
It was seven minutes until the hour when she arrived, very rude in most cases to go into a shop that was so close to closing. Indeed when she walked in the shop girl was busy locking all the cases with her wand. Greeting her Farren explained that Mr. O'Dwyer would be expecting her for a special appointment. Clearly she was unsure what if anything this woman knew, probably nothing, never the less she fished the necklace box from the hand bag draped over her arm and showed it to the woman explaining the reason for her 'special' appointment.

Perhaps Declan had already told her or perhaps he'd previously instructed the helper that Mrs. Rosier was to be seen immediately if she came in. Who knew. Either way the woman happily waved her towards the back explaining where to find Declan in the small back room he used as an office and that she was on her way out.

Making her way into the back she slipped the necklace box back in her purse. In the front she could hear the shop clerk continuing to close up shop. Of course she remembered the location of his office, how could she forget the vanishing cabinet evening that had reunited them?

Leaning against the door frame she smiled, finding him seemingly deep in thought over a pile of documents. "Knock, knock," she said smoothly. "You don't happen to have time do you Sir? I'm told if anyone can knock a hex out of an old ruby you can." Smirking she stepped into the office and walked towards him. She dropped her purse on his desk as she sidled up to him giving him little time to react before she leaned over to kiss him. "Hello Dear," she said softly leaning in again to place another gentle kiss on his lips.

[Declan O'Dwyer]

There were days when Declan was so busy brewing new fragrances, buying materials and ingredients, arranging displays and making calls that the hours went by in a flurry before he knew it. Today wasn't one of those days. Everything felt slow and his staff seemed to be in constant need of help with just about anything. He wouldn't have minded normally, but he was sure he had explained all of it before, several times.

Any attempt of his to concentrate and focus was swiftly interrupted by his thoughts travelling back to the weekend prior. Farren had finally met his mother and as far as he could tell things had gone well. However, the true test of things was yet to come. His mother had invited Farren round to visit later in the week. Declan felt nervous about it. What if it went poorly? Would that put Farren off? On the one hand he didn't care too much about what his folks had to say, but it would be easier for everyone involved if they didn't end up disliking Farren. He had great ambitions and clearing this first hurdle towards success would be nice.

There was a second, darker subject intruding upon his thoughts as well. His father hadn't looked well at all when he'd seen him yesterday. Fintan O'Dwyer wasn't usually the squeamish or sickly sort, which meant that something was up. Declan didn't really want to speculate, but he had a fair idea what might be going on there and he didn't like it. His old man was clever enough to stay out of trouble, but still, this didn't bode well.

At last, he managed to loose himself in a recent Russian study on the nature of primulaceae. Just as he was getting to the interesting part, one of his sales assistants stepped into his office and informed him that a young lady had arrived asking for him.

"Yes, please, I'm expecting her," he confirmed briefly, feeling no need to tell his staff any more detail. The less they knew about, the better.

He ran his hand through his hair, trying to smooth it out a little and looked up. Ideally, he should have gotten changed, but the turtleneck and suit combination he was wearing was passable.

And there she was looking absolutely stunning. He'd have never said he particularly liked blue, but Farren was a vision. A smile crept into his eyes, but he patiently waited for them to be alone before saying anything.

"Hello, love. You look gorgeous tonight." They exchanged a quick kiss. It still felt a little surreal. What would happen when they made things public? The thought raced back to the forefront of his mind unbidden.

"I see you're well. And I'm glad you came back after meeting my mother. I was worried there for a minute." He tried for humour, but there was a kernel of truth to his statement. He decided that perhaps he was more worried about his parents passing Farren's muster than he was about the reverse. Farren had a sharp tongue and an opinion on everyone who was anyone and there was no denying that what she thought mattered to him. Greatly.

[Farren Abercrombie]

She smirked at his compliment, he seemed rather taken with her slinky silk dress, or perhaps just her in general. It was something he'd kept hidden in their youth or perhaps not realized what it was. Now though she could practically feel him melting a little at the sight of her. She liked it. "You look pretty decent yourself, Sir," she purred in a playful manner. Reaching out towards him she gently stroked his hair letting her finger tips pull tenderly through his locks as she leaned back against his desk next to him. "Very mod," she added raising her eyebrows with a playful look as her fingers trailed over his shoulder and down to tug lightly at his lapel. It was fun to tease him, she wanted to see his feathers a little ruffled when she was close to him.


"Of course I came back," she said softly, "If you think that would scare me off.....you clearly have never met my mother or current mother-in law. Your mum seems like a dream in comparison." It wasn't a lie. If he thought that was bad he had another thing coming when it came time for him to meet Victoria.


"Though.....I am very curious......what did she say about me?" Of course she wanted to see him as often as possible. She loved him, she was planning to spend the rest of her life with him, she was even almost looking forward to moving to Ireland for him, but...she still cared very very very much about what important people thought of her. A lot. "Don't spare me any of the harsh words. I can handle criticism. Additionally, we should strategize my visit in two days. What do I bring? What do I avoid speaking about? Are you going to tell them....the....well that we intend to marry? Are you going to introduce me that way?"