Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay)

by Martin, Holly

  ‘Are you OK about moving here? I know you’ll miss your friends but…’

  ‘It’s fine. I will miss them, of course I will, but I’ve always wanted to live near the sea and this place is beautiful. Besides, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to work for a company like White Cliff Bay Furniture Company. It means more money, regular hours. Plus we can be here to help Anna with the baby when she needs it too. I really think we did the right thing in coming here.’

  Henry smiled. Through her endless, almost innocent, enthusiasm for everything, especially Christmas, there was a very wise young lady underneath her childlike exterior.

  ‘I really like it here in Lilac Cottage. Can we stay? I know you wanted to move into the town and you wanted somewhere a bit bigger for us but… this feels like home. I know that’s a weird thing to say after being here for such a short time but we’ve moved around so much over the last few years and this is the first place that I’ve really wanted to stay. I don’t know if it’s that incredible view from my bedroom window or having Penny and Bernard next door, but it feels good here.’

  ‘I like it here too.’

  ‘Penny is good company, I like her. She might be the only friend I make down here so…’ she trailed off, awkwardly.

  Henry felt a kick to the stomach, hating that Daisy felt that way. ‘You’re going to make a ton of friends, you’re bright, funny, sweet, kind. What’s not to like?’

  Daisy shrugged and looked away and Henry wondered if the fear of making friends and settling in was at the root of the nightmare.

  ‘What were you doing in Penny’s house last night? She came to get me because you were having a nightmare on her sofa.’

  Although it was inappropriate for Daisy to go in Penny’s house, it was the nightmare that troubled him more than anything. Daisy only normally had nightmares when something was bothering her.

  ‘Oh god, I’m sorry. I was in our lounge and the door was open and I thought I’d just go and see Bernard for a while. I must have fallen asleep.’

  ‘And the nightmare?’

  Daisy shrugged. ‘No idea.’

  ‘I was concerned something might be worrying you. Is it starting at a new school or… about Penny?’

  She looked confused. ‘Why would I be worried about Penny? She’s absolutely lovely.’

  ‘That I’m sort of going on a date with her on Tuesday. It’s not a proper date, I can cancel if you want.’

  ‘Dad, I want you to go out on dates. It’s high time you got yourself a nice woman to look after you. I’m certainly tired of doing it.’ She grinned mischievously. ‘Just pick someone lovely, not anyone like that bitch Emily.’

  ‘Watch your language.’

  ‘It’s true though, she was.’

  ‘I know she was, but I still don’t want you to use words like that.’

  ‘Give me one word to describe your ex-girlfriend that isn’t a swear word.’

  Henry couldn’t. ‘OK, no one like Emily, I promise.’

  ‘But I don’t think you should go out with Penny either, not properly,’ Daisy said and Henry couldn’t help the huge wave of disappointment that crashed through him at those words.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘She’s… vulnerable. She’s like those puppies you see in the advert for the dogs’ homes, those ones that have been beaten or neglected.’

  Jeez, the kid was astute.

  ‘I know there have been other women beyond the ones that you have dated seriously, the ones that never get brought back to the house, that you meet up with occasionally and…’ Daisy waved her hand vaguely. Henry blushed. Shit, he thought he had been discreet. ‘Penny is an all-or-nothing kind of girl. Don’t use her and then cast her aside for the next. Either give her everything or don’t go out with her at all.’

  ‘Wise words for someone so young.’

  Daisy smiled and carried on with her unpacking.

  Could he give Penny everything? She was wonderful and warm and funny and sexy as hell, but despite Daisy’s magnanimous attitude towards him dating, it wouldn’t be that easy to change their cosy two to a three. Everything was great with Daisy again now and he didn’t want to do anything to upset their happy little equilibrium again. Penny couldn’t be a casual thing either, he knew that, he wouldn’t hurt her like that. So it looked like she was out of bounds.

  Chapter Six

  Penny was busy carving a giant angel for the forthcoming competition the next night, which had been taking a back seat for all the Christmas orders. This one was quite tricky with all the folds in the angel’s dress, the long flowing hair, and the feathers on the wings, but she loved the challenge. She was listening to her beloved Westlife album, singing – or probably wailing – as she chipped away the detail on the angel’s face. A movement caught her eye and she whirled around to see Henry and Daisy watching her from the doorway.

  She quickly pulled out her headphones. ‘How long have you two being standing there?’

  ‘Long enough to hear your beautiful voice,’ Henry smirked.

  ‘And long enough to see your wonderful dancing,’ Daisy said, trying to hold back a giggle.

  Penny blushed, knowing her dancing had consisted of a lot of bum wiggling.

  ‘I’m just checking it’s OK for Daisy to hang out with you for a few hours?’ Henry said, wrapping an affectionate arm around his daughter.

  ‘Of course you can,’ Penny smiled at Daisy.

  ‘Just tell her to clear out if she starts to annoy you, she won’t be offended.’

  Daisy laughed.

  ‘There’s an old jacket of mine next door in the cloakroom. It’s thin and lightweight but will keep you warm. There’s also an old pair of steel-capped boots and some gloves, go and put them on and then I’ll show you a few things.’

  Daisy disappeared into the cloakroom, leaving Henry standing there staring at her.

  After a long while he finally spoke. ‘Thank you for doing this, you’re very kind. She has a huge passion for art, especially sculpture. She took a wood carving course over the summer so she loves stuff like this. But, seriously, if she gets in your way just tell her to get out.’

  ‘She won’t be in my way.’

  Henry continued to stare at her. He ran his hand over the stubble on his head awkwardly. ‘Listen, about our date on Tuesday…’

  ‘I’m ready,’ Daisy announced, coming to stand in the freezer with her hands on her hips, looking like some kind of superhero.

  Penny laughed. ‘Well, come in then.’

  Daisy walked in and looked at the sculpture in awe and Penny wondered what it looked like through her eyes.

  ‘Can I touch it?’

  ‘Yes of course,’ Penny said at the same time as Henry said, ‘No.’

  ‘It’s fine, you can’t harm it, it’s perfectly dry too. It hasn’t been out of the freezer long enough for it to start to melt yet.’

  Daisy tentatively reached out to touch it. Penny looked over towards Henry, wondering what he had been going to say before Daisy came in.

  ‘I’ll leave you ladies to it,’ Henry smiled at her sadly and then left, closing the door behind him, leaving Penny guessing that he had wanted to cancel their date. She tried to ignore the disappointment that twisted in her gut before turning back to Daisy.

  ‘So I thought you might want to have a go yourself, if I show you the basic skills.’

  Daisy turned to her with wonder and excitement in her eyes. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, it’s quite easy to learn the basics and your dad says that you’ve already learned some wood carving so the skills are completely transferable. I’ve cut up a block into two smaller blocks for you to have a play with, create whatever you want. Now normally I put a template on the side of the ice and go over the lines lightly with this chisel, but you can just draw your own design with it.’ Penny hammered the chisel into a large block of ice that stood on the table. She quickly marked out a basic star outline. ‘Once you’ve done that you can go over the lines with a die g
rinder, which makes the outline a bit deeper, like this.’ She fired up the die grinder and very carefully used the short drill bit to go over one of the lines. She saw Daisy watching her intently the whole time, watching the angle at which she held the power tool, how much pressure was used, taking it all in. ‘I can then use the chainsaw to cut out the bits you don’t want.’

  ‘Can I use the chainsaw?’ Daisy said, keenly.

  Penny smiled at her enthusiasm. ‘Not today. It’s very powerful and one slip and your whole hand would come off. I don’t think your dad will thank me for that. But I will show you how to use the other tools, safely. Once I’ve used the chainsaw, you can use this v-shaped chisel to scrape away the bits you don’t want. Once you’ve done that, I can show you which tools to use depending on what effect you want or what design you are making. There’s different techniques to create feathers or clothes or fur so I can show you those, depending on what you’re making. I’d go for something simple first like a bell or a Christmas tree or…’

  ‘An angel,’ Daisy said, staring at Penny’s piece in awe.

  ‘Yes, if you want to, but that’s quite a tricky piece to do, especially on a small scale. But go for it, if that’s what you want.’ Penny handed her a pair of goggles.

  Daisy picked up the chisel and held it in her hand and then started chipping away, very carefully, onto the flat face of one of the smaller ice blocks Penny had laid out for her. Penny watched her for a moment, so she could improve her technique if she needed to, but Daisy was an absolute natural. She was taking her time, each mark she made considered and thoughtful, not going too deep. Penny smiled as what appeared to be an intricate snowflake started to appear. The girl had high hopes, but she liked that about her; Daisy obviously liked a challenge too.

  ‘Give me a shout when you want to use the die grinder and I’ll start you off,’ Penny said, moving back to her angel.

  Daisy chipped away silently for a few minutes. It was nice for Penny to have someone to work alongside for a change. Even though they weren’t talking, it was still good to have the company.

  ‘So do you like my dad?’ Daisy said, without taking her eyes off the block of ice.

  That wasn’t really a conversation Penny was willing to have with anyone, least of all Henry’s daughter.

  ‘All the women like him,’ Daisy went on. ‘I can’t see the attraction myself.’

  ‘Well, you’re not supposed to.’

  ‘Ha. No, I suppose not. But women fall over themselves to be with him. I guess he must be nice to look at.’

  ‘So he has a lot of girlfriends?’ Penny asked, still trying to avoid saying whether she found him attractive.

  ‘Yes. I mean, not girlfriends, just women that he sort of sees on a casual basis, the ones I’m not supposed to know about. They never last long though, a few dates here or there before he moves on to the next. I don’t think he has any interest in anything serious. There’ve only been two semi-serious girlfriends over the years. Rosie was lovely, but the other one was awful. He generally tries to avoid relationships because of me, which I feel really bad about. He thinks he can’t do both – be a dad and a boyfriend – but he can. He’d make someone a wonderful husband one day and I’m sure he’d like more kids, he’s so good with Bea and Oliver.’ Daisy continued to work on her block, making gentle taps here and there.

  Penny bent down to smooth off some of the scratch marks from the angel’s dress. ‘How would you feel if he got married, had another baby?’

  ‘Honestly, I’d love it. He’s been stuck with me ever since he was sixteen, he deserves to be happy.’

  ‘Your dad adores you. I don’t think he would consider raising you as being stuck with you.’

  ‘Oh, I know he loves me, I see that every day, but I’ve obviously put a dent in the life he would have led. I want him to find someone he loves, who loves him. I always try to be understanding about him dating women as he should have a life outside of being a dad, but the last one was a complete bitch. Don’t tell him I said that, he hates hearing me swear. So I want him to choose someone lovely, though I totally get that who I would choose for him and who he would choose for him would probably be two different people. Although I think he likes you, which is a first for us both to like the same woman.’

  Penny felt a tightening in her throat and she tried to clear it before she spoke. ‘Really?’

  Daisy nodded. ‘But he went through a bad break-up with his last girlfriend and it got all messy because of me so he’s not looking for anything serious at the moment. I told him not to mess around with you unless he thinks he can cope with something serious and he really doesn’t do serious.’

  Penny stared at her angel without even seeing it. So that was why he had tried to cancel their date earlier – because Henry didn’t want anything serious with her. Well, if he was only interested in a quick fling, then it was a good job it had stopped before it had started.

  ‘I didn’t say the wrong thing, did I? I just didn’t want to see you getting hurt,’ Daisy said, obviously noticing Penny’s disappointment with this new turn of events.

  Was she that needy and pathetic that even a sixteen-year-old girl had noticed it?

  ‘No, it’s totally fine. I’m happy on my own. I like Henry, but I don’t like him.’

  ‘Well, that’s cool then, you two can be friends. He needs friends in White Cliff Bay and I expect it gets lonely for you up here sometimes. You’ll be good for each other.’

  And that was true. She hadn’t rented out the annexe with the hope of finding a man, she’d done it with the hope of finding a friend and it seemed that she had done that with Henry and even with Daisy. She would be grateful for that.

  ‘You should come ice skating with us tonight.’

  Penny couldn’t think of anything worse than being the pity date, even if the alternative was a night in watching old reruns of Quantum Leap with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s. ‘I can’t really skate.’

  ‘My dad will help you, he’s really good, he used to have lessons when he was younger. That’s how he and my mum met apparently, at the ice rink. She was so impressed with his skills that… well, nine months later I arrived.’

  Penny blinked, surprised at her candour. ‘Do you ever see your mum?’

  ‘No. Thank god. Apparently she’s heavily involved in drink and drugs. Lucky escape for me.’ She gave the ice a hard whack.

  ‘Henry told you that?’

  ‘No, my aunt Caitlyn did, my mum’s sister. I still see her and my grandparents from time to time, though they never see my mum at all. Whenever they come round they always pick holes in the way that my dad raises me, but at least he stuck by me, didn’t run off to Australia as soon as I was born.’

  There was bitterness there and Penny just wanted to hug Daisy but she didn’t know her well enough to be able to do that.

  Daisy stepped back to inspect her work. ‘I think I’m ready to use the die grinder now.’

  Penny picked up the power tool and moved to have a look at what Daisy had created. The sketch of the snowflake was beautiful and very intricate. It would be unlikely that Daisy would be able to carve it successfully but it would be a great design for practising several different skills on. She powered up the die grinder and went over one of the lines that Daisy had made with the chisel.

  ‘Don’t push too hard, just let the grinder do the work for you,’ Penny explained before carefully passing the tool to Daisy’s greedy hands. She watched Daisy push the drill bit carefully into the ice. ‘That’s it, just go really slow and then you shouldn’t stray from the lines.’

  ‘What if I make a mistake?’

  Penny shrugged. ‘Most mistakes can be incorporated into the design. Besides, it’s your first time, you’re going to make mistakes. Just don’t panic if you do.’

  She stepped back to watch Daisy move the die grinder with all the concentration of a Grand Master at a chess match. Satisfied that she was doing it safely she moved back to the angel on the pretence of doing
her own work, though surreptitiously keeping an eye on Daisy at the same time, but Daisy’s focus didn’t waver once.

  She watched her work and felt her heart ache. Daisy’s mum had missed out on this beautiful child growing up into a wonderful, talented, smart young lady. How could she have turned her back on that? Henry had done an incredible job on his own and Daisy was someone he could be very proud of. But it was very clear why he didn’t want a serious relationship. He didn’t want anyone to hurt Daisy like her mum had.

  As disappointing as it was, Penny would accept the friendship and not hope for any more. She ignored the ache in her heart that told her that would be easier said than done.

  * * *

  Henry popped his head around the connecting door later to see if Daisy had emerged from the cool room. He knew Daisy was very easy to get along with but he didn’t want her outstaying her welcome. Jill was cutting into a huge loaf of bread and looked up and smiled when she saw him.

  ‘Hello there,’ she said, resuming her carving. ‘Can I make you some lunch?’

  ‘Oh no. I’m fine. I was just making sure Daisy wasn’t getting on Penny’s nerves.’

  Jill gestured for him to sit down at the table and, recognising that she wasn’t the sort of person that you ever argued with, he did as he was told.

  ‘Penny hasn’t got a bad bone in her body, I think she is physically incapable of thinking bad of someone. Daisy could pitch up in her house every day and I don’t think Penny would ever get annoyed with her, she just hasn’t got it in her.’

  ‘Yes, she’s very sweet.’

  ‘You like her.’

  It wasn’t a question and Jill seemed to command honesty. ‘Yes.’

  ‘She’s not someone you can have a fling with. She is fragile and I never want to see her get hurt again.’

  ‘She told me briefly about Chris and the baby. I bet she was devastated.’

  ‘She was, but Chris was an asshole. You’ll never hear me swear but there is no other word that I can use to describe him. Well, there are plenty of worse words. I think she would have been fine had he stayed with her just for a month or two after the miscarriage. She would have been upset for the baby, of course, but for him to leave her just two days after the miscarriage was the worst thing he could have ever done. She found out later there had been someone else too, which was a double betrayal. But the worst part of it was how he acted afterwards. The people of the town realised what he had done and so many of them were angry with him and to save face he bad-mouthed her to anyone and everyone who would listen, told everyone she was deranged and crazy, said some really horrible things about her. Although most people didn’t believe it and he ended up just making it worse for himself, there were some that did, especially his friends. Her parents protected her from most of it but it was still a tough blow for her when she was dealing with everything else. There has been no one for her since and I know it’s because she doesn’t want to get hurt like that again.’