Chapter 17
It took a bit of persuasion to get Gabriel’s mother to agree to leave the hotel earlier than she’d intended and go with him and Daisy to his grandmother’s house, but she’d given in eventually.
‘I don’t know why this couldn’t have been done over the phone,’ she grumbled, giving Daisy an over the shoulder glance as if it was her fault Francesca had to leave her office.
He parked the car at his grandmother’s and walked around to open the passenger door for his mother. ‘I wanted you all here together. Surely that isn’t so dreadful?’
She groaned, holding up a spreadsheet in one hand and a yellow highlighter pen in the other. ‘No, of course not, darling. I’m just busy and I have a lot to do with your father away touring.’
They arrived at the house. Gabriel smiled at Daisy.
‘Come along, then. Let’s find Nan and get this over with.’
As they walked around the side of the house, he spotted Lydia sitting down at the metal garden table reading a magazine. Gabriel poured them all a refreshing glass of homemade lemonade from the jug on the table and sat down.
‘Thanks for the hurried gathering,’ he said, smiling at Daisy. He noticed she looked concerned. He understood how his mother could make people feel a little intimidated, with her booming voice and extrovert personality. She needed to overcome any fear she had of his mother and this was going to be a bit of a baptism of fire, but he wanted Daisy here to witness him telling his mother and grandmother about them being a couple and to see first-hand that she was now part of his family unit.
‘You all know that the funding of my project was rescinded unexpectedly,’ he began.
‘Yes, darling,’ his mother said. ‘I wish your father and I were in a position to help you in some way. We both know how important this is to you and how hard you’ve worked on this.’
‘It’s fine, Mum,’ he said. ‘I want you both to know that earlier today, Fi’s brother, Sebastian Fielding, offered to sponsor the project.’
‘Oh, darling!’ Lydia clapped her hands together. ‘That’s splendid news. I knew his father and uncle when I was younger,’ she said. ‘We mixed in the same circles in the sixties and seventies.’
His mother beamed at him, as he knew she would on hearing this news. ‘I’m delighted for you. You deserve his support. Well done, you.’
‘Thanks, Mum.’ He drank some of the tart lemonade, relishing its coolness. ‘I don’t know if you knew,’ he said, glancing at his mother and grandmother. ‘But on my recent trip to South Africa, Bella joined me and while we were there we got a divorce.’ He heard his grandmother’s sigh of relief and suspected she knew what was coming next.
‘It seems a bit of a drama bothering to go to South Africa to do it.’ Francesca said. ‘Why didn’t you just wait until you could be divorced over here?’
He thought she might react in this way. ‘Neither of us really wanted to stay married, but couldn’t divorce in Jersey until we’d been married three years. We both also needed to go there to check the situation with the project, and as both of us wanted this divorce as much as the other we made a point of sorting it out. We were married there so it wasn’t too difficult.’ He focused his attention solely on his mother.
‘I still think it was a bit unnecessary to rush it like that, Gabriel,’ his mother argued.
‘I did it because I want to be with Daisy.’
‘Daisy?’
His mother scowled at the woman he loved, and not wishing Daisy to feel uncomfortable, he added, ‘Yes. We met in Vietnam when I was travelling. She knew about me coming from Jersey, but not where I lived, or that my family ran a hotel, so it was a coincidence when she ended up working for you.’
His mother didn’t look too convinced. ‘Really?’ she asked, looking doubtfully at Daisy.
Daisy smiled. ‘I’m sure this is all a bit of a shock,’ she said. ‘But I can assure you I had no idea about Gabriel’s connection to the Encore when I applied to work there. I know him as Gabriel Wilson. You and your husband have different last names, so how could I connect him?’
He watched his mother considering this question and then shrugging. ‘I can see how that’s possible,’ she said eventually. ‘But I still don’t see the urgency for a divorce.’ She hesitated and then narrowed her eyes first in Daisy’s direction and then Gabriel’s. ‘Unless, of course, there’s a reason you haven’t shared with us?’
It took a moment for him to register what she meant. Knowing how she wasn’t ready to be a grandmother, he knew that she wasn’t making this assumption with any joy in her heart. He glared at her. ‘There’s only one reason: I’m in love with Daisy and want to be with her.’
‘Do leave the boy alone, Francesca,’ Lydia said. She turned her attention back to Gabriel and Daisy. ‘I’m very happy for you both.’ She smiled at Daisy. ‘We’ve become quite close since you began working at the Encore and I’m delighted that my grandson has found someone as perfect as you to be with. I hope you’ll both be very happy together.’
‘Well, so do I,’ his mother relented. ‘I was merely being curious.’
Before his mother and grandmother could descend into an argument, he held up his hand to get their attention.
‘Would you two mind if Daisy and I went for a walk on the beach?’ He hoped Daisy didn’t mind him taking her away from the table, but wanted to give his mother a chance to speak privately with Lydia. They could discuss his relationship with Daisy without her having to witness any nastiness from his mother, and he knew Lydia would defend Daisy in any way necessary. He also wanted to spend some time alone with Daisy while she wasn’t working and they had a chance to be alone.
‘Good idea,’ his mother said. ‘You two go and spend some time together.’
If her tone hadn’t been so gentle, Gabriel would have worried that his mother had an agenda, but although she was a talented actress, he knew her too well for her to fool him. Aware that his grandmother wouldn’t mind him leaving them alone to muse over his recent announcement, he stood up.
‘Shall we?’ he asked.
‘That would be lovely,’ Daisy said, giving him a smile.
They walked hand in hand across the manicured lawn, past the long rose bed towards the steps where jasmine grew entwined with passionflower up over the granite wall. The delicate scent filled the air and he wondered if he could ever feel this happy again.
Daisy breathed in deeply. ‘For some reason this place reminds me of that hostel in H?i An that we stayed in briefly,’ she said. ‘I think it’s the pungent smell of these flowers.’
‘I had that feeling too,’ he admitted. The scents might be different, but being with Daisy again, on a warm evening and in love, took him back to those precious times where nothing else mattered.
He waited for her to go ahead of him down the steps and onto the soft sand. They kicked off their shoes and Gabriel placed them down on the sand. As they walked each stared out at the almost glass-like sea.
‘Poor Lydia.’ Daisy sighed. The sound was so heartfelt, so filled with emotion.
‘What’s the matter?’ It was extraordinary to see someone care so much for his grandmother. Usually it was only he who noticed how special she was.
‘Don’t you wonder about Lydia and Lorenzo wasting a lifetime of love by their falling out in the fifties? It’s tragic.’
He thought so too. ‘Who knows what they went through, or why neither of them tried to reconcile years ago. Maybe the hurt was too deep for her ever to forgive him properly.’ He stopped walking and held her from carrying on any further along the beach.
She turned to him, a frown on her pretty face. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘I think that if nothing else you and I need to learn from Nan and Lorenzo. Nan has had a happy life, but it’s been filled with making others happy. I want us to live our lives. I don’t want to spend a second longer than I have to without you next to me.’
She smiled up at him, making words unnecessary. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled his head down towards her and kissed him.
Gabriel held her tightly, losing himself in the sensation of her mouth on his. He wanted her so badly, but needed to take things slowly. He’d let her down and now he had to work hard to ensure she never had a reason to leave him again.
Something wet and cold brushed passed his leg, but he ignored it until Daisy shrieked and jumped back. He looked down to see a black Labrador shaking the sandy seawater from its coat.
‘Carson, come here!’ shouted an angry voice. Gabriel and Daisy looked at the red-faced man carrying a tennis ball. ‘Sorry about that,’ he called to them. ‘Didn’t mean to disturb you.’
Gabriel bent down and patted the dog. ‘No problem,’ he said, wanting to reassure the man.
Daisy slipped her arm around Gabriel’s waist. ‘Lovely dog,’ she said. ‘Wet, though.’
The man laughed. ‘We’ll leave you to get on,’ he said, throwing the tennis ball in the opposite direction to distract the dog, who immediately bounded off across the beach in hot pursuit.
‘It seems we’re never going to get any privacy,’ Daisy said. ‘There’s always someone around.’
He was relieved to hear a need in her voice that matched his own. ‘Stay with me tonight,’ he said, before remembering that he was going to take things slowly. ‘We don’t have to do anything, I just want to sleep with you next to me again. I’ve missed the nights in Vietnam when we shared a bed.’
‘So have I,’ she said, looking up at him, a distinct glint in her blue eyes. ‘Although I hope you don’t have a small bed like those back then.’
‘Does that mean you will?’ he asked, barely daring to believe she’d agreed.
‘Yes,’ she said, pinching his waist lightly.
They walked a little further, each in their own thoughts. Gabriel wanted nothing more than to take her immediately back to his tower, lock the door and the rest of the world outside and lie with her in his arms. They had to return to his family first though and see how things were getting on between his mother and grandmother.
‘Won’t Lydia mind me staying overnight?’ she asked, a pink glow coming to her cheeks.
‘No. She never comes into the tower and has always respected my privacy. I’d have to rent my own place if she didn’t.’
Daisy considered what he’d said and seemed to relax a little. ‘We’d better go and see how they’re getting on,’ Daisy said eventually.
They arrived back at the garden, where they could see Lydia and Francesca still talking quietly. ‘They’re looking pretty civil,’ Gabriel joked, as he pushed his feet into his shoes. ‘Although they’re all actors, so they could be putting on a good show for our benefit.’
‘Don’t be mean,’ Daisy said, putting on her own shoes as she held onto his arm for support.
‘You never did have very good balance, did you?’ he teased. He tickled her waist and she screamed and writhed away from him. ‘Stop it,’ she said, pushing her hand through her dishevelled hair. ‘I’m supposed to be acting like a lady. Your mother’s my boss, don’t forget.’
‘She’s not going to be worried by you having a little fun,’ he said, tickling her again. When she’d stopped laughing, he grabbed her and holding her tightly against him, stepped back behind a tall cluster of palm trees and kissed her.
Eventually, she broke the kiss and pushed him gently away. ‘Come on, we need to go back and join them. I hope they didn’t see you pull me into the bushes.’
He laughed. ‘They’re not bushes, and I doubt they saw anything from where they’re sitting – they’re too involved with their own conversation.’
‘Good.’ She straightened her top and tidied up her hair. She looked up at him, studied him briefly and reached up to smooth down his unruly mop. She took a deep breath. ‘Right, now we can go back and behave like sensible adults.’
‘If you insist,’ he said, raising an eyebrow and making her laugh.
They reached the table and the conversation stopped. Lydia studied them briefly and smiled.
‘Good walk?’ she asked. They nodded. ‘Sit down and we’ll let you know what we’ve been saying.’
‘This sounds serious,’ Gabriel said, concerned. He held out Daisy’s chair for her to sit before taking his own next to her. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘It is, darling,’ his mum said.
Lydia took a sip from her almost empty glass. ‘Stupid pride,’ Lydia said. She turned her attention to Daisy and added, ‘Which is why I was so determined you should give Gabriel a chance to put things right over his marriage to Bella. I couldn’t bear to see two young people making the same mistake Lorenzo and I made. We were headstrong and very foolish and have wasted far too many years by ourselves when we could have enjoyed a life together.’
‘Are you saying you’ve never been happy?’ Francesca asked her mother, leaning forward and resting her chin in her cupped hands.
Lydia smiled. ‘No. I’ve been very happy with my family and friends. I’ve had a delightful life, but not when it came to love. I’ve been lonely a lot of the time, but it was of my own making.’
‘Mum,’ Francesca said, shocked.
‘Just listen and stop arguing, Mum,’ Gabriel said, resting his hand on his mother’s arm to comfort her.
Their meal finished, Francesca stood up. ‘Right, I think it’s time I left. There’s a lot going on at the moment.’ She looked from Gabriel to Daisy. ‘I have a lot to mull over. For now though, I’m tired.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘I’ll give you a lift home,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave Daisy here to chat to you, Nan, if that’s OK?’
His grandmother took Daisy’s hand in both of hers. ‘Of course it is. We have much to discuss.’
Gabriel waited for his mother to kiss Lydia goodnight and the two of them walked across the lawn to his car. He held the door open for his mother to get in and looked up to see Daisy and his grandmother watching them in silence. The evening had gone better than he’d expected. He just wished his father was back from his tour to be able to hear his news.
The last thing he needed to do now that everything seemed to be going so well was to push Daisy away. He’d have to tell her what he’d done, and sooner rather than later.