As Hilda steered them toward the gym, Daisy slipped away, needing to get her feelings in order. She wandered until she found an empty guest room, then paced until she felt calm. The house swallowed her; she felt small in its magnificence.
“So? What do you think?” Jameson’s voice asked behind her.
Startled, she put a hand over her heart. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He paused. “Hilda took Amelia back out to see the grotto.”
“Okay.”
“So? What do you really think?”
Daisy let out a soft breath. “It’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever been in.”
Jameson’s smile was wide. “Good. I want you to like it.”
“My opinion shouldn’t matter. Do you like it?”
He ignored the rhetorical tilt. “It does matter. I want this to feel like your home, too.”
“I have a home. It’s nothing like this, but it’s my home.”
“I know. But you never know where life will take—”
“Jameson, please.” She cut him off. “I like this place, and Amelia loves it. If you like it, you should get it. Do you?”
He stared at her for a long second and then nodded. “Yes. It’s my favorite.”
“Then it’s settled,” she said, eyes down.
“You don’t seem happy.”
“I’m fine.”
“Daisy…” he urged.
She turned her back, trying to hide the taut emotion. “I’m realizing my daughter will have another room in another home where I’m not living. It’s been just me and her all this time. The idea of sharing her, of her living two lives, is hard.”
Jameson came up behind her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and turned her around. “Nothing will change.”
“How do you know that? We haven’t talked about anything. Do you get her every other weekend? Every week? What about school—”
“Please stop and breathe,” he interrupted. “Nothing needs to be decided today. I don’t even have the house yet. Let’s finish out the school year and then we can figure out what’s best.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“Because I believe it will work itself out. It always does.”
He got the house.
The huge, almost ten of her apartments combined house, became theirs. After the tour, Jameson and Amelia made the decisive call: the mansion in Hillsborough would be their new home.
Amelia leapt into Jameson’s arms, while Hilda clasped her hands, pleased at the sale. Daisy smiled, indistinct, and watched Jameson spin their daughter around. He brought Amelia to her and said, “Bring it in.”
“Group hug,” Amelia suggested.
Daisy hesitated, then stepped into their embrace. If they were happy, she tried to be happy, too. It became a private mantra—if they were happy, she was happy.
As they headed back to her apartment, Jameson said he couldn’t stay as he had a business dinner that night. Daisy welcomed the excuse for time alone with her daughter. These Saturday nights with just the two of them, felt precious. She wanted to hold on while she could.
