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It did alleviate a little of her inner stress when he showed a particular interest in Joshua, Violet’s autistic son. She explained that he didn’t seem to relate to people at all. It was as though he was locked into a world of his own and he was obsessed with numbers, always counting everything. It was important to simply accept this, not treat him as odd, and Ethan assured her he understood.
But he didn’t understand what he was walking into. She had to stop him from buying a huge basket of chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs for the children. Their parents, who couldn’t afford such expensive luxuries, might resent such largesse, although she couldn’t bring herself to tell him so, saying only she’d be taking a bag of little Easter eggs to be hidden in the garden for the treasure hunt, and too much was too much. It would be enough if he gave her mother a box of chocolates as a thank-you gift.
The family day loomed as a nightmare.
She had no happy dreams about it at all.
In fact, she was fairly certain it would end the dream she had been nursing.
She and Ethan came from different worlds which were too far apart to bridge the gap. Common sense had told her that this was an ill-fated attraction, leading only to bed while lust was running hot. She should have stayed in the closet for the rest of this year—deal done and free to run. That wouldn’t have raised any family problems and she wouldn’t be feeling so horribly torn, wanting the impossible.
Ethan was acutely aware of Daisy’s tension over this coming visit with her family. He gradually came to realise she didn’t believe he could fit into her world. Proving to her that she could fit into his only resolved half the problem that had made her keep him at a distance until he’d forced her into a relationship with him.
She hadn’t come into it feeling it was right for her. She’d done it for her family. That close-knit unit meant more to her than anything else and Ethan was beginning to sense he had to win acceptance and liking from every one of them to free Daisy of her misgivings about their connection.
This was a completely foreign situation to him. He’d been more or less detached from his parents since boyhood. While he was quite fond of both of them, they played absolutely no part in his relationships with other people. That was his personal business, nothing to do with them. He didn’t seek their approval. They never showed disapproval. The decisions were his. He was the one who had to live with them. That had been drummed into him for as long as he could remember.
This definitely was not the case with Daisy. How he reacted to her family and how they responded to him was obviously a huge issue in her mind. He’d met her father and liked him, but money had been the only agenda at those meetings, not his daughter.
All he knew for certain was he had another battle on his hands.
And Daisy was worth fighting for.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘MY BROTHERS always wear jeans,’ Daisy told Ethan before he dressed on Sunday morning.
He obligingly took the hint and dressed in jeans.
‘It’s better if we go in my car,’ she said as they were about to leave.
The green eyes turned hard and resolute. ‘There’s no hiding who I am, Daisy.’
True, but he didn’t have to rub their noses in his wealth with a flash BMW. She returned a challenging look. ‘This is a first meeting. Do you want my family to see you or your car?’
It was a major test, and to Daisy’s intense relief, Ethan acknowledged her point. ‘Okay, we’ll go in yours.’ His mouth quirked in wry appeal. ‘Will that help you relax?’
She heaved a sigh to loosen up the tightness in her chest and managed a wobbly smile. ‘I can’t help feeling a bit anxious. I want them to like you.’
He smiled back, taking her hand and squeezing it. ‘I want that, too.’
It lifted some of the burden from her heart. As she drove them both to Ryde, she kept telling herself Ethan had shown himself master of any situation and he would handle this one as well as he’d handled the barbecue with the tradesmen. However, that wasn’t really the problem. If their relationship was to have any chance of a long future, this visit would be the first of many, not a single occasion that could be easily negotiated. The big question was whether he would want to repeat the experience or prefer to back off from it.
She parked her car in the street adjacent to the one where her parents lived. ‘Which house?’ Ethan asked, eyeing the nearby residences.
They were all ordinary brick houses, as was her parents’, their architecture very basic. Nevertheless, it was a good, friendly neighbourhood, neat, tidy, gardens well tended, and Daisy was not about to apologise for its lack of class. This was where she came from and where she would come back to if Ethan couldn’t accept it.
‘Not here,’ she answered. ‘Around the corner. Our house is in a cul-de-sac and all the children will be out playing street cricket. I don’t want the car to be in their way. It’s not far to walk.’
‘Street cricket?’ Ethan looked bemused.
‘It’s a family tradition. Every Easter Sunday morning.’ She nodded to her brothers who’d spotted her car and were waving at them. ‘That’s Ken and Kevin standing on the corner, watching out for any incoming traffic and fielding any long balls anyone hits.’
‘Sounds like fun. Can I join in?’
‘If you want to. Though you’ll need to meet everyone first. Mum and Violet and my sisters-in-law will be in the kitchen preparing lunch.’
They alighted from the car and Daisy watched her brothers eyeing Ethan over as they walked up to meet them. They were older than him, in their forties, and they were both grinning as though they were happy to see their baby sister with a man in tow. They made the introductions easy, warmly welcoming Ethan and calling out to the children to say ‘Hi!’ to their aunt Daisy and her friend. The game was briefly interrupted for yelled greetings and clamours for Ethan to play with them after he’d said hello to Nan and Pop.
There was no awkward hitch in any of the introductions. Ethan impressed everyone with already knowing their names and enough about them to strike up a friendly conversation. When her father led him out of the kitchen to join the street game, her mother gave Daisy a big hug, declaring him a lovely man.
‘He is a bit much, though,’ Violet commented with a worried look. ‘What I mean is…he must be used to women falling all over him and getting his own way. Be careful about giving him your heart, Daisy. He might not be good husband material.’
‘That was part of why I was reluctant to become involved with him,’ she confided, understanding precisely what her sister meant. ‘But the more I’ve come to know him, the more I like him, Violet. Not for his wealth or his good looks. They were stumbling blocks to me, too. I don’t know where this relationship is going. I just like being with him. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ She smiled and raised her hand. ‘Fingers crossed that it works out fine for you. Now tell us more about him.’
Daisy carefully chose to give what she thought was sympathetic information, concentrating on Ethan’s family background—parents wrapped up in their academic careers, how he learned to love cooking from his grandmother, being sent to boarding school, his pleasure in games. It seemed to satisfy the general curiosity and gave a more rounded view of the person he was.
Her mother was roasting the traditional leg of pork with all the trimmings. The men had already set up a long trestle table in the family room with the twenty-four chairs needed to seat everyone, and as the women chatted, they did all the settings with colourful Easter motif serviettes and bon-bons. The centrepiece was a large round white chocolate mud-cake with a hole in the middle which was filled in and piled high with brightly wrapped miniature Easter eggs. They mixed a fruit punch for the children and put out wineglasses for the adults. It all looked wonderfully festive and Daisy hoped Ethan would enjoy what was always a rowdy luncheon with her family.
She slipped out to the back garden and hid her Easter eggs for the treasure hunt before the children trooped inside from the street. When everything was done and ready they called everyone in to clean up and sit down, which they did in high good humour. From comments flying around, Ethan had endeared himself to the children by hitting lollipop catches when he was batting, and the easiest to hit balls when he was bowling. Masterly control, Daisy thought, and was pleased he’d applied it to make the game more fun.
She actually started to relax over lunch. Ethan happily joined in the many topics of conversation raised, though he listened more than he talked. He complimented her mother on the pork crackling—the best he’d ever eaten. He laughed at her brothers’ jokes. He really seemed to be having a good time.
After the cake had been served and eaten, the children were allowed to leave the table and go on the treasure hunt. They leapt from their chairs excitedly, eager to add to their hoard of chocolate—all except Joshua, who remained seated, counting and recounting his share of eggs from the cake. Violet left her seat to coax him into joining the others. He ignored her efforts and when she took him by the hand, he lashed out, hitting her arm to leave him alone, then flying into a major tantrum, screaming and throwing a flurry of punches at her.
