Narrator's POV:

The next three days proved to be hectic, what with Mrs. Medlock searching every inch of the house to find the key to the Secret Garden, Martha walking up in Johnathan's arms once again, Mary and Dickon waking up in a small cave needing to get back to the Misselthwaite Manor, and Lord Craven and Lord Colin on their way back from their business trip.

"Martha! Where is that girl! Never where I need her. You, get the washing done until Martha returns then let me know immediately." Mrs. Medlock snapped at the next closest maid to her as she continued running around to try and think where Mary and Dickon would have hidden the key.

Meanwhile, Martha felt something stir under her.

"Hmm." She slowly began to open her eyes and began blinking as she saw Johnathan sleeping soundly. She attempted to get up, but his grip was tight on her as she began giggling.

"Johnathan, I have to get to work, and so do you."

"Hmm, just a few more minutes." He grumbled as she sighed.

"Fine, just a few more minutes then." Martha closed her eyes again as she snuggled against him.

"Father, Father, wake up. We're home." Sir Colin shook Lord Craven as he cracked his eyes open; eager to crawl into bed and sleep for a fortnight.

"So we are. Hmm yes, well since our business trip went so well; I suppose we can finally get a good night's rest." Lord Craven said so eagerly as Sir Colin simply nodded, having mixed feelings after his last conversation with Mary. The carriage stopped in front of the manner as the two men got off, Sir Colin determined to find Mary first and apologize.

"Lord Craven, Sir Colin; welcome home." Mrs. Medlock was the first to greet the two gentleman; which was normal, however, she seemed a bit more frazzled than usual.

"Yes thank you Mrs. Medlock. Are- are you feeling alright?" Lord Craven asked out of pure concern, though she somewhat flinched as she tried to straighten out her hair.

"Oh yes, everything is fine, thank you for your concern." Mrs. Medlock nodded.

"Of course. Well, I'll be heading to bed, I need to get my rest. I'll take my tea in two hours, be sure to wake me then Mrs. Medlock." Lord Craven walked past her and up towards his bedroom.

"Yes Lord Craven." Mrs. Medlock began to follow him.

"Mrs. Medlock, have, have you seen Mary?" Sir Colin asked as Mrs. Medlock froze, slowly turning towards him.

"Well as a matter of fact, there is some news as far as Mary's whereabouts." Mrs. Medlock started her sentence slowly; thinking of the best way to tell him.

"Yes." Sir Colin stepped closer to Mrs. Medlock, clearly eager to hear her answer.

"Mary currently is no longer living at Misselthwaite Manor." Mrs. Medlock stated flatly as Sir Colin felt his heart stop.

"What do you mean she is no longer living here!?" Sir Colin felt his temper vastly rise as Mrs. Medlock kept calm.

"She has decided to attend Lady Elisa's Boarding School for Girls in a quaint little town. It's quite a distance from here but she was adamant about doing so and wanted to start her education as soon as possible. Thus I delivered her several days ago." Mrs. Medlock stood there quietly, trying to look a tad bit despondent to see Mary go.

"And Dickon allowed this? And Martha?" Sir Colin was in complete disarray.

"Martha accompanied me as well as Mary; ask her yourself, as for Mr. Sowerby, he went to look for a second job since the Sowerby family has had financial troubles as of late." Mrs. Medlock was managing to maneuver herself around every question without causing any form of suspicion.

"I see, well then I'm going to find Martha, then I'm going to speak to my father about all this." Sir Colin tried calming himself, seeing Mrs. Medlock was not going to provide any further information.

"Of course Sir Colin, but I do recommend allowing Lord Craven some time to rest. You should do the same, it seems you're quite exhausted from your trip and as the successor to Lord Craven's trade, you must be sure to be in excellent health."

"I'm a grown man Mrs. Medlock, I shall rest when I decide to do so. Thank you for your concern, you may go about your business." Sir Colin was short with her as he glared at Mrs. Medlock and went in the direction of his study.

"Yes Sir Colin, thank you." Mrs. Medlock bowed her head and went back to searching for the key.

"I can't believe I'm so late!" Martha ran toward the kitchen, expecting to hear Mrs. Medlock's threats, but was surprised to find her nowhere to be found.

"Strange." Martha heard Lord Craven's bedchamber bell ring as she immediately began making afternoon tea.

"What's so strange." There was a deep sultry voice along with strong arms around her waist as Martha blushed.
"Johnathan, not now. You already made me late and now I'm behind on my work." She gingerly elbowed him as he sighed.

"Fine, but next time don't squeeze me so tightly when you sleep, otherwise I'll never let go." He kissed her quickly and ran out of the kitchen before she threw a plate at him out of embarrassment.

"Oh!" She groaned as the bell rang again, only this time it was from Sir Colin's study.

"I'll never get anything done." Martha sighed as she went to find another maid to attend to Lord Craven as she went to Sir Colin's study.

"You rang Sir Colin?" Martha gave a small curtsy as Sir Colin turned from the window to look at her.

"Yes. I was told by Mrs. Medlock that Mary went to attend some boarding school and Dickon went to get a second job, is this true?" Sir Colin was clearly flustered and hadn't seemed to have slept much. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pasty white.

"Well what Mrs. Medlock said wasn't entirely false, but also not entirely true." Martha stated the former in a rather timid tone, until she recalled what Johnathan had told her.

"I'm not quite sure what it is you're trying to hide, but I beg of you to enlighten me. Did Mary want to attend an elite boarding school and did Dickon need to get another job?" Sir Colin was pleading with Martha.

"No sir, Mary did not want to attend Lady Elisa's Boarding School for Girls and Dickon didn't go out to look for another job; he went after Mary."

"So Mrs. Medlock forced Mary out of Misselthwaite Manor and she doesn't know Dickon went after Mary?"

"Yes sir, I told Dickon what happened. I assume she told you Dickon went to get another job as to affirm that Mary was no longer here. Sir, that Mrs. Medlock, she's been awfully deceiving as of late. And this afternoon, I'm ashamed to say, I was late upon arrival and didn't find Mrs. Medlock present in the kitchen as she usually is at tea time. I was expecting a fierce lashing for being late for work, but she was nowhere to be found."

"Hmm, we must alert my father at once and go find Mary and Dickon." Sir Colin seemed to have regained some color as Martha nodded, the two of them rushing to Lord Craven's bedchamber. All three were headed toward the stable in order to get a horse; Martha waved them off as Johnathan approached her, asking what was going on.

"They're going to find Mary and Dickon, they've been gone for nearly over a week now and it's going to rain soon. I'm terribly worried that they may have gotten lost."

"Well let's hope they find them quickly." Johnathan held her as Martha closed her eyes and prayed that time was on their side.

"Father, you should go easy, your health may be at stake." Sir Colin hollered at Lord Craven; whom he tried to convince to stay behind.

"Nonsense, I refuse to allow you to go alone. Tis nearly twilight, and the rain is nearly upon us." Lord Craven pushed his horse forward as Sir Colin yelled at his father to stop, the two stood still as Sir Colin pointed towards the Moors.

"It's Mary, and Dickon!" Martha exclaimed as she jumped for joy.

"Dickon, I do believe that is my uncle and cousin." Mary leaned back as Dickon kissed her brow.

"Seems like it." He felt completely exhausted; riding for hours on end in order to make it back before the rain.

"I'm so tired." Mary yawned as Dickon nodded.

"Me too love; soon we'll rest, but first I must take care of something." A glimmer of determination ignited as Mary simply sighed.

"I know what you mean."

"Mary! Dickon!" Sir Colin waved as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Colin!" Mary smiled and waved at him as their horses approached one another.

"Thank God you're alright! What happened? Martha said Mrs. Medlock sent you off to some prestigious boarding school." Sir Colin raised an eyebrow as the rode the horses to the stables.

"Yes, well I was under the impression that we were going shopping, until Mrs. Medlock left me at the mercy of Lady Elisa." Mary said so in a downtrodden tone as Dickon helped her down and took the horse to have a drink and something to eat.

"Hmm, well that explains how she managed to get you away from Misselthwaite Manor and your Secret Garden." Sir Colin dismounted and put his horse back in his stall, food and water waiting for him. Lord Craven had finally made it to the stalls where he too put his horse back up as he ran to Mary and embraced her, along with thanking Dickon.

"Dickon, if there is anyway I can repay you." Lord Craven shook Dickon's hand as he blushed.

"Well sir, there is one thing." Dickon took Mary's hand; they gazed into each other's eyes and Lord Craven smiled.

"I bless this union; though I wish for the two of you to ask for one more blessing." Lord Craven looked to Sir Colin.

"If you excuse me, there is something I need to take care of." Lord Craven bowed his head as he walked back into the manor.

"Colin-" Before Mary could finish, Sir Colin was hugging her and begging her for forgiveness and that of Dickon's.

"Colin, of course we forgive you! We shouldn't have fought for Mary like a trophy, and we both know the only one who will have the final say is Mary, but we should give her a chance to clarify her thoughts." Dickon looked to Mary as she took in a deep breath.

"Colin, I'm so sorry for running off like a child. And I am flattered by your affections for me, but I love Dickon. He, he asked me to marry him and I said yes. I'm so sorry, but we'll always have our childhood together and we'll always have the Secret Garden. We're family Colin, that's what we were born to be, and families love each other through and through. Please understand that I didn't want anyone to get hurt, and I know you'll find a lovely young woman that would be happy to be your wife and inherit Misselthwaite Manor." Mary held Colin's hand as he noticed her ring, but to Mary's surprise, she noticed a ring on his finger.

"Colin, did you, did you get married?" Mary was so surprised and yet felt a small flicker of excitement.

"I did, I met a young lady who owns her own trading company overseas as well as a few shops in town. We began conversing and had a lot in common." Sir Colin was blushing as he smiled.

"That was rather fast." Dickon put his arm around Mary as Sir Colin smiled.

"Sometimes love seems to stumble upon us." Sir Colin laughed upon recalling the first impression of his wife, a callous woman with no head for business.

"Indeed it does." Dickon kissed Mary's forehead as they all laughed.

"Well, if you excuse us, we're quite late for tea and I have a few choice words for Mrs. Medlock." Dickon gritted his teeth as Mary made a stern face. They all went into the house, Mary and Dickon has a glass of water and a tea cake before searching for Mrs. Medlock. Suddenly Martha came rushing in.

"Mary! Dickon!" Martha hugged them both as Mary showed her the ring.

"Oh congratulations! Ah, well Dickon, there are few things we need to talk about-" Martha was cut off suddenly.

"Dickon! Johnathan Smith." Johnathan put a hand out as Dickon shook it.

"So nice to finally put a name to a face." Dickon smiled as he looked at his sister.

"Dickon, we, we're engaged." Martha blurted out as Dickon smiled.

"With your permission of course." Johnathan winked at Dickon as Mary giggled.

"Congratulations Martha." Mary was the first to congratulate her as they all had a short celebration before hearing loud voices coming from the floor above them.

"Something tells me there won't be much more to to about Mrs. Medlock." Sir Colin grinned as Dickon led the way towards the voices echoing down the halls.

"Dismissed! Me dismissed after helping to raise your son, after taking care of your home, after everything we've been through together." Mrs. Medlock slowly approached Lord Craven as he snarled.

"You didn't raise my son, you crippled him, and as for the house you've simply made it a place of sorrow, a destitution of hope, peace and love; you've treated the servants like animals, and you shipped my only niece off to a boarding school without her permission. You must think me insane to keep you here after all the misfortune you've caused me and my family." Lord Craven never looked so terrifying; his eyes ablaze, his face full of color and emotion. This was the first time Mrs. Medlock felt powerless.

"I, I have no place to go." She shrank into herself as Lord Craven sighed.

"You're honestly lucky I didn't relocate you to an asylum at this point. Have your bags packed, you leave at dawn." Lord Craven dismissed her as Mrs. Medlock knew there was no way of talking him out of it. Dickon and the others saw Mrs. Medlock head to her room; Lord Craven requested to speak with Martha and Sir Colin began writing a letter to his wife who was to sail back to England after her next business trip and there were two important weddings to plan.

A month passed quickly as Martha was put in charge of Misselthwaite Manor, along with Johnathan attending to the Secret Garden as well as the rest of the grounds, since Ben had decided to retire and see the world with his life's savings. Sir Colin agreed to go on a business trip with his wife overseas, Lord Craven had decided to give Sir Colin his inheritance early and retire as well, enjoying his tea in the garden as well as taking up gardening as a relaxing hobby. Martha and Johnathan were expecting their firstborn and thus were constantly kept busy. As for Dickon and Mary they were married shortly after Martha and Johnathan and decided to reside in a small cottage on the other side of town near the woods and started a garden of their own.

The End