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They were all used to this kind of sudden eruption from him, but Violet was upset and embarrassed that it was happening in front of Ethan, breaking into tears and throwing them a helpless look of despair at her inability to control her autistic son. Her husband, Barry, rushed to her side, swooped on Joshua, lifted him up to his shoulder and carried him out of the room.
‘I’m sorry…sorry,’ Violet cried, covering her face with her hands.
Her mother enveloped her in a hug, patting her back and speaking soothingly, ‘Don’t take on so, dear. We all understand.’
‘It’s spoiled the day for Daisy,’ she wailed.
‘No, it hasn’t,’ Daisy insisted, going to her sister to add her comfort. If Ethan was put off by a child with a condition that sometimes defied control, then so be it. No family was perfect, but it was a poor family that didn’t give each other support when it was needed.
To her astonishment, Ethan joined her, appealing to her sister in a gentle voice. ‘Would you mind if I tried something that might interest Joshua, Violet, calm him down?’
‘Oh, dear God, what?’ she cried.
He whipped what looked like a slim black notebook from his shirt pocket. ‘Look! It’s a Nintendo braintrainer. Daisy told me Joshua was fascinated by numbers. I can bring up a program that might catch his attention. How about you take me to him and we can give it a go?’
Violet shook her head at him in wonderment. Daisy, too, was amazed at his initiative. Her mother took charge. ‘Go on, Violet. Give Ethan a chance of focussing Joshua’s interest on something.’
‘All right,’ she answered dazedly, and led him off to the bedroom wing.
Daisy and her mother started clearing the table, needing to do something. The rest of the adults left their chairs to help.
‘You’ve got a good guy there, Daisy,’ Ken commented approvingly.
‘He was great with the other kids, too,’ Kevin remarked.
She flushed with pleasure in their liking of Ethan, though she felt constrained to warn them it might not be a serious relationship. ‘We haven’t been together long,’ she started.
‘You don’t have to be to know you’ve found someone special,’ her mother slid in with an arch look.
‘Yes, I wouldn’t be letting him go in a hurry, Daisy,’ Keith’s wife tagged on.
‘Rope him in and nail him down,’ Keith advised with a grin.
They all laughed, though Daisy couldn’t help thinking they were missing the point. There was no question that Ethan was special. The problem was whether she was special enough for him. He was certainly making an extraordinary effort to draw her family onside with him. If he managed to pull Joshua into a state of contentment again, he’d be the hero of the day.
Her mother had opened Ethan’s gift box of chocolates and put it on the table for everyone to help themselves and they were just sitting down again to relax over cups of coffee when the three missing adults returned with smiles on their faces.
‘I can’t believe it!’ Violet crowed happily. ‘Ethan showed Joshua how to do Sudoku puzzles on that Nintendo gadget and he’s enthralled with it.’
‘Problem is, he won’t want to give it back, Ethan,’ Barry said ruefully. ‘If you tell me how much it cost, I’ll pay you for it.’
‘No, please…I’m happy for him to keep it.’
Barry shook his head. ‘Can’t let you do that.’
‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t buy it for me. I bought it for him, Barry.’
There was a moment of stunned silence.
Ethan shot Daisy an ironic grimace, then explained how he’d come to do it. ‘I’d already made the purchase before Daisy said I wasn’t to bring gifts for the children. She’d told me about Joshua’s fascination with numbers and it struck a chord with me because numbers have always played a big part in my life. Anyhow, I slipped it into my pocket, just in case the opportunity came up to share a game with him. I honestly have no use for it, myself.’
More silence that sent prickles all the way down Daisy’s spine.
This was the kind of buying-power thing she’d wanted to avoid—obvious evidence of how easily Ethan could acquire anything, cost no object.
The expensive gift could hurt Barry’s paternal pride.
It could instantly undermine the liking Ethan had earned earlier, making her family see him as the bigshot financier, intent on buying himself into their midst, so wealthy himself he was beyond empathising with the difficulties they’d faced and were still facing though their situations had improved. Partly because of him.
Although a gift could be welcomed out of sheer need, the giver could be deeply resented. Daisy was painfully aware of how negatively she had reacted to Ethan until she’d come to know him.
Violet broke the uncomfortable impasse. ‘That’s very thoughtful of you, Ethan. Very kind,’ she said appreciatively.
‘Yes,’ Barry backed her up, grimacing over his own lack of understanding of his son as he added, ‘I’ve always found Joshua’s fixation on numbers weird. I would never have connected it to a game he could play.’ He clapped Ethan on the shoulder. ‘I’m glad you did. It might be a step forward for him.’
They were smoothing over his gaffe in not accepting Barry’s offer to pay.
The iron fist squeezing Daisy’s heart eased its grip.
Ethan gestured an apologetic appeal to the rest of the family. ‘I hope the other children won’t mind him having it.’
‘Not at all, ’Ken replied cheerfully. ‘They’ll be too busy feeding their faces with chocolate. Like us. The three of you had better sit down and indulge yourselves before we polish off this whole decadent box you brought for Mum.’
‘If you’ve scoffed all the ones with caramel fillings, Ken, I’ll scalp you,’ Violet threatened, quickly coming to look.
‘Haven’t got enough hair left to worry about,’ he retorted, grinning evilly at her.
Everyone laughed and Daisy’s pent-up tension was finally expelled. Ethan resumed his seat beside her and she gave his hand a quick squeeze, grateful for what he’d done for Joshua and relieved that no one seemed to be holding his generosity against him, not on the surface anyway. What they thought privately would probably never be discussed in her hearing. She could only hope that his kindness overrode any niggles about the gift.
The party mood was quickly re-established.
Daisy relaxed again.
Keith opened a bottle of champagne and insisted they all have a glass of it because he had things to say and people to toast. Her oldest brother enjoyed making speeches, which were always amusing, so as Keith took his stand, glass in hand, Daisy was smiling in anticipation, not expecting the tenor of this speech to be different today.
‘This past year has been a difficult one for all of us. It’s great to have it behind us with better times to look forward to,’ he started seriously, drawing murmurs of agreement from around the table.
‘The first toast I want to make is to our baby sister. The rest of us were not in a position to help Mum and Dad when they needed it, and Daisy took up the slack like the little champion she is. We all think the world of you for contributing all you did, Daisy, and if there’s anything we can ever do for you, you have only to ask.’
More murmurs of agreement.
Daisy flushed with embarrassed pleasure. While it was lovely to have her resolute support of their parents appreciated, she couldn’t help wondering if her family had gone out of their way to welcome Ethan just to make her happy. It fitted with Violet’s distressed cry about spoiling her day. Was there genuine liking for him or an act put on for her sake?
‘To Daisy,’ Keith went on.
They all toasted her.
‘Next, I want to thank Ethan for taking on Dad’s investments and giving him his expert advice, turning what looked like a black hole into a gold mine.’ He grinned at Ethan. ‘That was a real bonanza, and for us to see the worry lifted from Mum’s and Dad’s faces, to see them enjoying life again…you’ve done us all a power of good, Ethan. We salute you.’
They all raised their glasses again to toast him.
Ethan frowned, shifting uncomfortably, then lifted a hand in protest at the toast. ‘No, I can’t accept that, Keith. What I did…I wasn’t thinking of your parents or this family. I didn’t know you.’ He shot a wry smile at Daisy. ‘It was to hold onto this woman, to win more time with her, because I wanted her in my life and she was walking out of it.’
‘Well, we did think there was a bit of self-interest involved,’ Keith said dryly. ‘But that doesn’t alter the fact that you changed everything around for Mum and Dad and you deserve some acknowledgement for it.’
‘Then let me acknowledge something, too,’ Ethan swiftly put in. ‘Now that I’ve been amongst you, I see more clearly why Daisy is the very special person she is. Being an only child myself, I haven’t had your experience of family, but today I’ve learnt why it means so much to her. You all share something very special. It’s what I’d love to have in my own life, and I’m hoping Daisy…’ he turned to her, his green eyes glittering with
