Chapter Nine
Daisy
‘Sorry I took so long,’ Daisy called out as she pushed through the door to the Butterbury Sewing Box and held it open for a woman clutching one of the embroidered knitting bags they sold as though she’d found treasure with her purchase.
Her mum pushed the till closed and smiled at her youngest daughter. ‘How’s Dad?’
‘Grand, as always.’ She hung up her scarf and had just shovedher coat onto the hook after it refused to hold on at first, when her sister emerged from the back. Ever since that day Ginny had freaked out when she had snatched the photograph that Daisy had taken of her and torn it into little pieces, Daisy had been wary of the sister who up until then had always been the calm one, the one you least expected to go off.
‘Hello, Daisy.’ Ginny came towards herand wrapped her in a hug Daisy wished would last a bit longer than it ever did.
‘Welcome home. What needs doing, Mum?’ Conscious she’d been at the lodge for a long time she flipped straight into work mode.
‘You and your sister chat, I’m fine out here.’
‘I’ve been gone for hours,’ Daisy insisted.
‘I noticed.’
Daisy was trying to think of an excuse not to be thrust into her sister’s companyjust yet, but she didn’t need one because the shop suddenly got busy and before she knew it all three of them were helping customers, taking orders, keeping the shop shipshape right up until closing time.
It suited Daisy just fine. And, she suspected, Ginny might be relieved too.
Back at the house Ginny fixed the dinner – a beef and red wine casserole – as they all talked. And slowly Daisy beganto feel more comfortable around her sister. One down, one to go. And if it was this easy the whole time they wouldn’t have a problem at all.
Ginny told them she’d seen the nativity display on her way here from the station, she complemented the tree in the lounge awaiting its decorations, and she told them about her travels and the wedding.
‘Rhys told me you’d seen Lucas already,’ said Loretta,shifting the atmosphere slightly. ‘I’m allowed to mention his name, aren’t I?’ She grimaced.
‘You can’t get away with much around here,’ Daisy observed, watching her sister squirm.
‘We said hello in the street, that’s it,’ said Ginny. ‘And yes, you can mention his name.’
‘He’s still single,’ Daisy teased, wondering a little too late whether she really should’ve said that at all.
Ginny mether gaze. ‘So is Joshua.’ But she didn’t say it with malice, there was an impish twinkle in her eye at least.
Daisy got up to strain the potatoes ready for mashing while Ginny took the casserole out of the oven, set the lid onto the worktop and stirred the thickening mixture. ‘Mum, you really shouldn’t try to interfere in our love lives.’
‘I was doing no such thing.’ Loretta wiped her glassesafter they steamed up when she leaned in to smell the casserole.
‘You were a bit,’ said Ginny. ‘You wouldn’t like it if any of us did that with your love life, Mum.’ She put the lid back on the casserole while Daisy added butter to the potatoes once they were out of the water and back in the pan.
‘I apologise if that’s what you think I was doing. But it’s only because I care.’ Loretta filledthree glasses with water and set them on the table. ‘And no need to interfere with mine, I’ve had my one true love, I don’t need another.’
Daisy opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind, shut it again and carried on mashing the potatoes. ‘What time is Fern getting here? She’s going to miss dinner at this rate.’
‘There was a mix up with the car,’ Loretta explained. ‘Hers went infor a service and it wasn’t finished until the afternoon rather than the morning. That’s what she said, I’m sure. She’ll be here later on.’ Loretta swished a hand through the air as though the reasons for their sister’s absence didn’t matter. She was on her way, that was the main thing.
After dinner, with the evening stretching out in front of them and with Loretta watching both Daisy and Ginnyas though expecting one or the other of them to say something controversial, Daisy surprised herself by suggesting to Ginny that they escape to the pub. At least that way they weren’t under their mum’s watchful gaze and, who knew, perhaps it would even help them to relax a bit in one another’s company. As long as they didn’t dredge up the past, they’d be fine.
‘Is it me or is Mum really tense?’Ginny asked, fastening the last of her coat buttons as they began the walk from the house down towards Lantern Square.
‘It’s not you. She is tense.’ Daisy pulled her maroon woolly hat down a little further as the wind picked up and it hurt her ears. The weather forecast was cold, some rain on the way, and she hoped that by Christmas and beyond, at least until new year, they’d be blessed withthe bright blue skies and cold days that made winter pretty and pleasant.
‘So what’s the real reason she’s summoned me and Fern home and demanded we all spend Christmas – a prolonged Christmas – under one roof?’
Daisy looked across at her sister. ‘You were hardly summoned. Heavily persuaded might be more Mum’s MO.’
