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‘Justsaying.’Shehanded the bottle toDaisy. ‘Useit or lose it,Ialways say.’
Thiswas too much. ‘Maz,Ido not want to discuss my mother’s sex life.Ido not even want to think about my motherhavinga sex life.’Toshut her upDaisyadded, ‘Nowlet’s start celebrating.’Sheopened the bottle with a satisfyingly loud pop causing raucous laughter and cheers.
Thecelebrations were so noisy they didn’t hear the shop door being rattled asRicktried it, putting up a hand to shade his eyes and peer in to see if anyone was around.Receivingno answer, he turned and, with defeated shoulders, walked away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Theday ofJagoandHonor’swedding dawned cool and clear with the sort of watery turquoise sky that would deepen to a hotAugustblue later.
Itwas all hands to the deck.JanandMarionhad headed over to sort last-minute details in the marquee atCheneyHouseandDaisyandMiahad let themselves into a serenely quiet church to arrange the flowers.Withthe hot weather and the shortage of cool storage space, a lot of the hard work had necessarily had to be last minute.Thepew-end posies, of white freesias, lavender and silvery eucalyptus had been made at five that morning.
‘Tiethem at the end of each pew like this, with a loop of pink ribbon,’Daisyexplained. ‘Makesure you use enough to create an impressive bow.’
‘Thefreesias scent everything.They’regorgeous.’Miagazed around the ancient space with its stout walls and glowing stained-glass windows.They’dput the lights on but it didn’t quite reach into the furthermost corners where shadows and memories lingered. ‘It’ssuch an atmospheric place,’ she whispered, as if not daring to disturb the ghosts.
Daisystraightened from where she’d been tying on a bouquet.Thelast time she’d been in here withMiawas forGretel’smemorial service.Aweird but surprisingly poignant affair.Itwas where they’d held her father’s funeral service too but that seemed a long time ago now.Fora second, the picture of her mother sitting on the front pew flanked byLukeandDrew, uncomfortable in their unfamiliar formal suits, flashed into her mind.Ithadn’t beenVeritywho had conducted the service andDaisywished it had been.Shewould have done a far better job than the vicar who led it.Verity’spredecessor had been going through the motions for a long time before he retired.
Witha pangDaisyrealised she was missing her father.Maybeit was because it was the seventeenth anniversary coming up or maybe it wasJan’srevelation that she had a new relationship.Daisywasn’t particularly religious, except for attending theLullburyBayChristmasservice, which was a town fixture and kicked off the festive season every year, but she sensed something or someone in the atmosphere here today.Shesent up a little prayer to her dad, added a request that all would go well today – for everyone involved – and prayed that thisColinbloke would treat her mum well. ‘Somany important rituals, weddings, christenings, funerals.Someof the high emotion must soak into the fabric of the building,’ she replied, eventually.
‘Ithink it does.’Miawas wide-eyed. ‘I’mnot sure ifIbelieve in anything but at times like theseIdefinitely feel something’s with us.Doyou believe,Daisy?’
‘I’ma scientist.Ineed proof something exists.’Evenas she said it,Daisyfelt something shift behind her.Thehint of a dry chuckle.Turningquickly, she didn’t know whether she was relieved or unnerved to find no one there.Thesooner the church filled up with people the better.Itwas seriously creeping her out.
‘Ben’saChristian.I’mnot sure howIfeel about that.’
Shetuned back into whatMiawas saying. ‘Isit getting serious between you two?’
‘Idon’t know.Toosoon to tell but he’s olderthan me.’Miafrowned, making her nose ring glint in the early morning light streaming through the leaded windows. ‘We’reat different stages of life.He’swell established in his career,Ihaven’t even begun mine.I’mnot sure we’re on the same page.Youknow?’
Daisythought about what her mother had said aboutColin. ‘Ishe nice?Andis he nice to you?’
Miasmiled, happiness shining through.Itlit up her face. ‘Heis.He’slovely.’Shegave a short laugh. ‘Afew years agoIwould have got all cool and snotty about describing a boy as nice and liking him for it.NowI’molderIcan see how, well,niceit is.’
‘Thewisdom of great age,’Daisyteased gently. ‘Mumsaid the same thing aboutColin.That’sthis bloke she’s just started seeing.Saidhow nice he is.Saidthe word and the quality is underrated.IfBen’snice to youIthink you can probably work through the rest of your issues.’
‘IworryI’mnot good enough for him though.He’sreally clever and,’Miascrewed up her face again, ‘turns out he’s actually quite posh.Hismum and dad have this stonking great pile overSomersetway.I’mfrom a single-parent family who lives in social housing.’
Daisyput the bouquet down that she was holding.Thelong-forgotten teacher in her yearned to care for the pastoral needs of her pupil.GoingtoMia, she took the girl’s hands. ‘Lookat me.’Miastared at her trustingly. ‘Youare bright, clever, hard-working, kind and thoughtful.IfIhad a son and he brought you home to meet me,Iwould be over the moon.’
‘Evenwith purple hair and a nose ring?’
‘Evenwith multicoloured hair and three hundred nose rings!’Shepulled her in for a hug. ‘Anymother would be proud you were going out with her son.’Thenputting her at arm’s length she added, ‘Anddon’t you go changing.Neverchange for a man.’Sheglanced atMia’shair. ‘Keepthe hair dye, don’t take out the nose ring and be yourself.Anyman who can’t accept you for who you are isn’t worth having.’
Mia’seyes shone with unshed tears. ‘Awthanks,Daisy.Thatmeans a lot coming from you.’Shesniffed hard. ‘Bendoesn’t want me to change, he likes me just the wayIam.It’sjustI’mnot sureIdo.’
‘Then, at the risk of channelling lifestyle guruAggie’sblog, work on liking yourself.Becausethere’s a lot to like.’Shegave the girl another quick hug.Asshe was doing so the thought occurred that she ought to do the same.Likeherself more.Itwould make life much easier if she accepted herself for who and what she was.Asthe emotion was teetering out of control, she moved away fromMiaand asked briskly, ‘Now, tell me, what do freesias symbolise?’Sheknew perfectly well but wanted to get the conversation back on an even keel.
Miarolled her eyes. ‘Don’tyou know?Theystand for innocence, purity and trust.Perfectwedding flowers.’
Daisylaughed. ‘Iknew there was a reasonIuse them in wedding arrangements so often.Andthe white ones?’
‘Fidelity.’Miasighed with the rightness of it all.
Thescent of the freesias misted up and filled the church.
‘Whatcould be better?’Daisybeamed at her. ‘Toldyou.Sucha clever girl.Now, come on, we’d better get cracking, or the guests will start arriving with the place half dressed.’
Theushers and one or two extremely early guests arrived, along with a pink-facedVerity.Miaslid off to talk toBenwith the excuse of helping him sort the piles of service sheets.Aftera final tweak to the two huge flower arrangements placed either side of the altar,Daisymade her way to the back of the church.Shewaved toPete, looking immaculately smart in his morning suit, and said a quick hello toVerity.She’dwanted to pump her for information about who ‘Walter’ might be but the vicar mouthed back, ‘Sosorry.Runninglate,’ and promptly ran into the vestry.AsDaisywasdressed in herVaVaBloom!work uniform and felt out of place, she found a pew right at the back, somewhere inconspicuous.
