‘What happened?’ Gabriel asked, resting back in his chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him.
Daisy smiled at the memory. ‘I was hopeless and so shy the last thing I wanted to do was perform in front of anyone. I hated the lessons,’ she thought back to that first time in the class with twenty other children, all of whom seemed to love what they were doing. ‘We had to be ants wading through honey, or something. I didn’t see the point and would have much rather been out with my best friend riding her pony.’
‘I don’t blame you,’ Gabriel laughed. ‘I was always in a swimming pool.’
Lydia turned her attention to her grandson. ‘I remember when your father was certain you had the voice of an angel and should audition for one of those church choirs on the mainland.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘Until Mum told him that if I was going to be an entertainer I should be an actor; it was then that I decided to go into something far removed from their business.’
‘Marine exploration?’ Daisy asked. ‘That’s quite a different route to go down on the career front.’
Lydia got up. ‘He was in the water at every opportunity, this boy.’ She rested a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. ‘I’ll go inside and sort out the food and leave you two here to chat for a few minutes.’
‘Call me when you want me to come and carry out the plates,’ Gabriel said, before turning his attention back to Daisy. ‘Nan doesn’t often talk about her acting, you know. I think she misses it more than she lets on. I also believe it’s why she’s always been so supportive of Mum and Dad by taking over at the hotel and looking after me, so they could take on work.’
Daisy wondered how it must feel to have someone willing to do that whenever you needed them to. She envied Francesca and Rick their freedom. ‘She’s a wonderful lady.’
He looked towards the doorway through which his grandmother had just walked. ‘She is; I’m very lucky to have her.’
‘It must have been wonderful to spend so much time here when you were growing up.’
‘Yes, I always loved it. Nan is very relaxed and great fun to be with. In fact if I’m honest, I used to look forward to my parents going away. They were always happier to be doing something they loved, and Nan was pleased to have me here with her. How about you; what was your childhood like?’
Daisy thought back to lonely days in Devon with her mum working long hours trying to make enough for them to live on, and the occasional visits from her father. She’d learnt from experience that lies hurt. Her mother had been let down by him before she was born and despite him running away then coming back after Daisy’s birth, insisting he wanted to make a go of their relationship, her mother had been so hurt by his initial cowardice that she’d said no. He’d gone off and married another woman within months, and her mother had never got over losing him.
Daisy recalled the humiliation of only being allowed to see her father when his family didn’t expect him to be around. She hated that she was his secret child, despite her mother trying to make her accept that being a ‘love child’ was in some way romantic. It wasn’t. She refused to be anyone’s second best ever again.
When she’d grown into a teenager her dream had been for her art to be good enough to hold her own exhibition, and how that ambition had been on the point of realisation until Aaron had made life so impossible for her that she’d had to leave everything behind at barely a moment’s notice.
‘I lived in a pretty village near the sea,’ she said finally, not wishing him to know the full extent of her story. ‘So I spent most of my time on the beach, or wandering around the cliff paths, finding places to sketch or paint.’
‘Do you still paint?’
‘Sometimes,’ she said not wishing to think about how much she missed those days.
There was a brief silence before Gabe asked, ‘Do you think that’s where you got your travel bug?’
‘Maybe. There were always so many holidaymakers around and I always wondered where they’d come from.’
Gabe stared at her in silence for a bit. ‘How come we spent so much time together in Vietnam and never talked about our pasts? What did we talk about?’
She shook her head, allowing herself to think back to those perfect weeks where she’d been happiest. ‘Probably the places we’d been to and what we’d seen.’ She had spent two years trying not to think too much about those blissful days and nights with him. ‘I should think Jersey and Devon were farthest from our minds when we were so far away.’
He nodded. ‘Yes, you’re probably right. And art, of course.’
Daisy smiled. Gabe had been a keen sketcher in Vietnam and had many conversations about it and about how the light was different there to at home, making colours of the earth and sky seem more vibrant somehow.
She twisted the ring on her finger.
‘You kept it then?’
She frowned, unsure what he meant. Then following his line of vision realised he was referring to the interlaced triple rings he’d bought her at a tiny jewellery shop they’d come across during the last week of their time together. The ring, with its yellow, gold, and white bands. ‘Oh, yes, I wear it all the time.’ She didn’t add that it comforted her when she was feeling especially vulnerable. The thought made her glance down the garden towards the beach. She was being silly. She was safe here. No one knew her, so who could let him know where to find her?
‘I’m pleased,’ Gabe said bringing her back to the present. He frowned. ‘You OK?’
She forced a smile. ‘Yes, I was just thinking.’
‘You looked troubled for a moment,’ he said. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing bothering you?’
‘Nothing,’ she lied. Aaron had ruined far too much of her life already; she was determined to overcome her fear of him, somehow.
She really must learn to hide her feelings if she didn’t want anyone to start questioning her about her past, she decided. If she was going to make a new life for herself then she needed to push aside her memories of Aaron and what he’d done to her. He’d ruined her life in Devon but she had a chance to make a life for herself here in Jersey. She placed her hand on the table, letting the sun glint on her ring. ‘I didn’t think there was a reason to take it off,’ she said, awkwardly bringing the subject back to happier memories. ‘It’s a beautiful ring.’
‘I’m glad you liked it; I wasn’t sure if you were just being polite when I bought it for you, but when you told me you had to leave it seemed the perfect sentiment.’
She stared at the three intertwined bands. ‘They met, they fell in love, they parted,’ she said thinking how sad they’d both been when she discovered she had to cut her trip short.
He raised his glass. ‘Come on, let’s not think about the past. Nan will go mad if she thinks I’ve ruined your evening. We’re here to enjoy her food.’ He laughed. ‘I hope.’
Relieved he’d lightened the mood, Daisy joined him. She was enjoying herself, not only because of seeing him again, but also for the chance to get to know Lydia a bit better and spend an evening away from the hotel and the constant noise that went with living onsite.
‘Gabriel, can you come and help me please?’ Lydia shouted from inside the house.
He gave Daisy a smile and got up. ‘It’s good to have you here,’ he said simply, before walking off to help his grandmother.
Daisy breathed in the rose-scented air in the pretty garden. She didn’t think she’d ever spent time in any private garden as beautiful as this one. She looked at the herb border and longed to smell a sprig of the abundant rosemary growing along the back. She would love to paint it sometime.
‘Here we are,’ Gabriel said, placing a plate of penne pasta in front of her and another on his grandmother’s place. He took the plate his grandmother was holding for himself. ‘I’ll go and fetch the salad and bread.’
‘It’s arrabbiata,’ Lydia said. ‘I hope you like it.’
Daisy did. In fact she thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening with one old friend a
nd another newer one. Lydia asked Gabriel more about his latest project and Daisy could see how proud Lydia was of her grandson from the sparkle in her eyes.
‘I love it, but it’s very intense, which is why I can’t afford to be here for too long,’ he said between mouthfuls. ‘I need to get back to the others and do my bit as soon as possible. We’re hoping for approval from a new sponsor to keep the project going.’
‘Where is it?’ Daisy asked, ‘and what does the project involve?’
‘It’s in South Africa. Down the south coast from Durban, just outside Umkomaas,’ he added. ‘We’re looking at newly discovered marine life and why it’s chosen that habitat to breed in.’
‘When will you find out if you’ve been successful?’ she asked.
‘Any day now,’ he said. ‘It’s taken months to get this far with it. We had enough to start the process and to take part in initial tests, which have come back with interesting results, so we’re hoping they don’t back out. They’ve assured us everything is almost in place, but I’ll believe it when the money’s in our account.’
‘I hope you get the funding you need,’ she said, acutely aware that for him to obtain the funding would also mean he’d be leaving again.
‘Thanks. We’ve all worked very hard for this, so it would be a shame for it to fall through at this stage.’
‘Let’s not discuss that now,’ Lydia said. ‘I’ve only just got you back here. Let’s eat this delicious meal and talk about something else.’
After they’d finished, Daisy asked if she could go to the bathroom and Lydia showed her into the house. They stepped into the kitchen, the scent of tea roses and jasmine wafting in with them as they passed the huge tubs on either side of open sliding doors. As they walked through the house Daisy noticed that the back of the building curved around a stone tower. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, intrigued.
‘That’s a Martello tower,’ Lydia said. ‘They were built here in the early nineteenth century to guard the island against an invasion from France. That was in Napoleon’s time, you see.’
Daisy had seen a few dotted along the coast of the island but had never been sure what they were. ‘You own it?’
‘I do,’ Lydia said. ‘Some are owned by the States of Jersey, I believe, or Jersey Heritage, but some are privately owned. That’s where Gabriel lives when he’s in the island: he has a bedroom and a bathroom and kitchen in there.’
Daisy couldn’t imagine what it must be like to live in a tower. ‘It’s amazing.’
‘I’m sure he’ll show you around after dinner, if you’d like him to. Although you’ll probably have to step over a few surfboards and things. Gabriel has a lot of stuff and there’s never enough storage in these places.’
Daisy wouldn’t know, but she nodded. ‘I’d like that very much,’ she said. The Gabriel she’d spent time with in Vietnam had had nothing more than a rucksack with a few changes of clothes inside, along with his sketchpad and pencils. It was strange to try to associate this clean-cut man who was obviously used to living in luxury with long-haired, bearded one who’d shared cheap hostels with her.
She re-joined them at the table. He did look happy to see her back. The thought pleased her.
Lydia placed a plate with a cheesecake and a few small red berries in front of Daisy. ‘Leave what you don’t want,’ she said. ‘This is lighter than it looks. Anna made it for us.’
‘It’s New York cheesecake with raspberry sauce running through it,’ Gabriel said. ‘It’s her speciality and she always makes it when I come home.’
Daisy pushed her small cake fork into the white and pink cake and tasted it. ‘It’s delicious,’ she said licking her lips to clean off the dusting of icing sugar delicately coating the top of the dessert.
‘Have you been painting much since you got to Jersey?’ Gabe asked.
‘Painting?’ Lydia placed her knife and fork down on the sides of her plate, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. ‘Tell me a bit more about your painting, Daisy. And your time in Vietnam. Gabriel didn’t tell us much about it really.’
‘Do you want to tell her?’ Gabe asked.
Daisy shook her head. ‘No, you go ahead,’ she said wanting to know how he’d describe their time away to his grandmother.
‘Daisy and I met up on my first day in Ho Chi Minh City. We bumped into each other at a bar, got chatting and then discovered we were staying in hostels very near to each other. I spotted her in the street a couple of days later, so I shouted out and she was so surprised to hear someone calling her name that she dropped her artists’ pad on the floor.’ He looked over at her. ‘Do you remember, Daisy?’
She forced a smile on her face. She remembered only too well. She had never expected to hear anyone calling out for her so far away from her home. ‘I do,’ she said, still a little embarrassed.
‘Anyway, we went for something to eat after that.’
Daisy listened to his deep voice, tinged with a slight American accent. They hadn’t spoken much about their lives when they’d met previously but she did recall him telling her that he’d spent most of his childhood living in California with his mother and father, but now she realised it must have been while they pursued their careers in the entertainment world.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And you told me all about the wonderful holidays you’d spent staying with your grandmother whose house was next to the beach in Jersey. I can’t believe I’m there now.’
‘I’m glad you are,’ he said.
She closed her eyes and he did sound just like the Gabe she recalled from her halcyon days in Vietnam, when anything seemed possible and she felt more in control of her life than ever before. Lydia was asking her something. She opened her eyes. ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
Lydia smiled at her sweetly and Daisy could see that she had picked up that there was more to her story than she was letting on.
‘I was asking if you had any paintings that you could show to me?’
She shook her head. ‘I haven’t painted since I left Vietnam,’ she admitted quietly.
Gabe frowned. ‘Why not?’ he asked leaning slightly closer to her, his concern obvious.
She shrugged. Now wasn’t the time to confide her private family matters. ‘Too much going on,’ she said forcing a laugh. It wasn’t exactly a lie.
‘If you’ve got talent you should make the most of it,’ Lydia said, taking a sip of her wine. ‘I’d love to see what you can do. I used to paint, but unlike you, I was hopeless.’
Gabe laughed. ‘It didn’t stop you though, did it?’
‘Of course not,’ she said, a determined twinkle in her blue eyes. She looked at Daisy. ‘You can come here and paint any time you want to make the most of these views, if it’s landscapes you like, that is. You’ll be left in peace.’ She smiled at Gabe. ‘Won’t she, Gabriel?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, of course. If that’s what you want.’
She saw Lydia raise an eyebrow at him and had to struggle not to let them see how amused she was. If there was one person in the world Daisy wouldn’t mind disturbing her it was Gabe.
‘I’m so pleased you two know each other,’ Lydia said smiling. ‘Why haven’t I heard anything about Daisy before?’
‘Because I don’t report back to you on my private life, Nan,’ Gabriel teased.
Daisy could see an unmistakeable glimpse of pain in his eyes, and had to look away, but then felt his hand brush hers as he took it. ‘We spent a couple of months together and travelled around a bit, but then Daisy had to return home.’
Did she hear an accusatory tone in his voice, Daisy wondered. Determined to keep the mood light, she ignored her suspicions. ‘Yes, my mum was unwell.’
Daisy pulled her hand slowly from his. He released his hold on her but kept up the eye contact.
Lydia looked from Daisy to Gabriel and back to her again. ‘You didn’t keep in touch?’ she asked. Daisy shook her head. ‘Oh. I hope I haven’t made things difficult for you inviting you to dinner here with Gabr
iel tonight. I can be rather impulsive, but I thought it would be nice if we all had a catch up.’
Daisy shook her head. ‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘I think it’s a bit of a shock for both of us to see each other again after nearly two years.’
‘I’d say it was more of a surprise,’ Gabe said. ‘It was fantastic to find Daisy at The Encore this afternoon.’
Daisy couldn’t help relaxing in his company. ‘Thanks, Gabe,’ she said. ‘It was great to see you again too.’
Lydia straightened her place mat. ‘Sorry to harp on, but I’m intrigued. You both say you’re happy to see each other here and it sounds to me as if you had a splendid time in Vietnam together, so why haven’t you kept in contact?’
Daisy was astounded by Lydia’s directness, and when she glanced at Gabe she saw he too was struggling to answer. ‘I’d really wanted to continue travelling,’ she said, ‘but I heard from back home that my mum had had a stroke, and I had, um, a few issues that needed to be faced. I ended up having to make an emergency trip back home. It cost me the rest of my travel funds.’
Gabe’s dark eyebrows lowered. ‘What issues? Why didn’t you tell me about those?’
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to try and explain her dramas with Aaron. She didn’t want to have to think about his nastiness on this perfect evening. ‘Mum has always been intensely private, so I wasn’t used to sharing any information about her, or our life. I suppose it never occurred to me to say anything,’ she said. ‘She had another stroke before I arrived home and from then on needed constant care.’
He took hold of Daisy’s hand. ‘I would have come back to help you, if I’d known.’
She believed him, but couldn’t tell him how mortified she’d have been for him to come to their home and be turned away by her highly defensive mum. She placed her hand on the top of his. He was still the same Gabe, caring and adorable. ‘I know you would and that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. You’d only just begun your adventures. I couldn’t expect you to give everything up and come and to Devon.’
‘Yes you could.’
She shook her head. ‘Thank you; that’s really sweet.’ It wasn’t something worth debating, not now.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 91
