‘We might’ve had fun,’ Daisy protested.
‘That’s as maybe, but no. Loretta has her own life, although she could do with getting out and about a bit more.’
Fern laughed. ‘I dare you to say that to her.’
‘Don’t you worry, I have and I will continue to do so. After your dad died she never dated anyone, and thatis very sad.’
Ginny hadn’t ever thought much about it before. ‘Did you date anyone after Gran?’ she wondered.
‘I didn’t, but I was much older than your mum when I lost Rebecca.’ He sighed. ‘But I suppose I can understand it with Loretta. Like me, she had the love of her life in Harry.’
Ginny smiled, understanding, so did Fern. But when Ginny happened to glance Daisy’s way their younger sisterhad a totally different expression on her face. There was doubt there, suspicion, Ginny wasn’t sure quite how to take it. Had Loretta found someone else, perhaps? Was that what Daisy knew and hadn’t shared?
‘You don’t think she’s happy?’ Fern asked.
‘She’s content, and that’s a good thing. But now and again, try and persuade her to do something different, would you?’ He was looking at each ofthem and they all nodded or murmured their assent. ‘That sewing shop was my own mother’s true love alongside my father, then it became mine and Rebecca’s, but it’s different when Loretta has nobody at her side. It breaks my heart to see her lonely.’
Maggie brought around cups of tea and they settled into more chatter before Daisy announced she’d have to get going back to the shop. Before Daisyleft she shared a hushed conversation with a man who’d passed her in the doorway but when Ginny remembered how Lucas had told her that her younger sister had calmed down a lot, Ginny turned away rather than scrutinising Daisy’s every move. It was time to let Daisy be an adult, to not worry about her without good reason.
After another hour up at the lodge Ginny and Fern left Grandad with Flo forcompany.
‘What do you think is going on with Daisy?’ Ginny asked as Fern shut the little wooden gate at the front of the path to the lodge and they made their way down the hill back into Butterbury and towards Lantern Square. ‘Did you see the way she reacted when Grandad talked about Mum and Dad and how in love they were?’
Fern shook her head. ‘I can’t say I did, no.’
‘You don’t think … youdon’t think Mum has a boyfriend, do you, and that’s why Daisy is acting so weirdly?’
Fern’s coat, long and business-like, flapped until she did the rest of the buttons up. ‘I don’t think so, like Grandad says, Mum is always at the shop. It would be impossible to have a secret lover without us finding out.’
‘Unless he went to ground because we’re here and she’s waiting to tell us.’
Fern seemedto be thinking about it. ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’
A moment passed between them. ‘Actually, I don’t think that’s what it is,’ said Ginny. ‘But we can’t confront Daisy because she’d think we’re ganging up on her.’ There was a fine line between taking an interest and interfering.
‘You’re right.’
‘Where do you think she’s been going when she nips out?’
‘You’ve noticed it too?’
‘I have, and so hasMum, although she seems to have something else on her mind, something that clearly takes priority and isn’t allowing her to question Daisy. There was a time when she would’ve simply asked her outright.’ It was true. Loretta hadn’t tiptoed around the youngest sibling when she had gone through a phase of getting into trouble – drinking stupid amounts, staying out beyond curfew, answering back, skippingschool. After it all came to a climax Loretta had been on top of it. She’d not let her youngest daughter leave the house unless she knew where she was going, who she was with. And after that Daisy hadn’t dared to come home late or do anything that strayed beyond normal behaviour. Dad had died soon after and Daisy, to her credit, had pulled herself together from that moment on, enough to notrepeat her behaviour.
‘We should trust Daisy for once.’ Fern smiled at Ginny’s inability to hide her shock. ‘Well we did agree to try.’
‘We did.’
‘Maybe it’s being a mum that has made me see things a little differently. Motherhood is hard work mentally as much as anything else – trying to second guess hidden meanings, gauge moods, manage children by saying the right thing and knowing when tokeep quiet. Half the time I think I do a terrible job so I can’t criticise Mum for how she is with Daisy, or how she is with anyone for that matter.’
It was rare for Fern to open up let alone admit to anything less than perfection. ‘I doubt you’re doing a crap job.’ But when her sister sighed again Ginny realised how tired she looked, even when she appeared so together on the surface.
‘In orderto keep the peace I think we should stay out of it, at least for now. I know I’ve bossed her around – I bossed you about too, over the years. She’s obviously a grown woman and perfectly capable, so perhaps I need to readjust my thinking and stop assuming she isn’t.’
Two admissions from Fern that she was less than perfect, in under ten minutes? This wasn’t like her at all. ‘We need to forgiveher too.’
Fern didn’t have to ask what for. ‘I have already.’
‘That’s good, but Daisy doesn’t realise we have.’ And neither of them knew what to do about that. ‘We gave her hell back then.’
