Chapter 41
‘Daisy!’
I groaned as something woke me up and I snuggled in closer to Blake to try to escape it. I hoped I was dreaming. Blake pulled me tighter, asleep beside me. He felt so warm and strong. I kept my eyes shut and willed sleep to come back to me.
‘Daisy!’ Someone banged hard on the door. I groaned again. Maybe this wasn’t a dream after all.
Then the door opened with a thud against the frame.
‘Huh?’ I opened my eyes and saw Willow standing by the bed, hands on her hips. ‘What’s up?’ I mumbled, as Blake jolted awake beside me.
‘Please get up, you two; we have visitors. They have turned up with an entourage and I don’t know what to do. Are they here for you?’ Willow was speaking in a rush, confusing me. She walked over to my window and yanked the curtains open, flooding my bedroom with light.
‘The hell, Willow?’ I said, clutching the duvet so my nakedness was hidden from her.
‘Get up, I need you to help me with this! I’ll go out and see what’s going on but only because I love you guys,’ she replied before turning and marching out of the door, closing it behind her. ‘But get up now!’ she added as she left.
‘What was that all about?’ Blake asked.
‘I better look and see what’s going on,’ I said with a sigh, wondering what had my cousin so het up. She was ruining my morning afterglow.
‘Wait.’ Blake leaned down to give me a kiss and a dreamy smile. ‘Morning, gorgeous.’
I smiled back. ‘Morning, handsome.’ I gave him another quick kiss. ‘Hopefully, she’s being all dramatic for no reason.’ I climbed reluctantly out of the cosy bed, away from Blake’s arms, and stepped over to the window. I peered carefully outside, shielding my naked body from anyone looking up.
‘Nice view,’ Blake commented behind me.
I chuckled but then my eyes widened. ‘Oh, shit,’ I said as I noticed the cars parked in the driveway and the group of people talking down there, two of whom I unfortunately knew very well. I could also see a photographer and some more family members, and Dylan and my uncle were there too.
Then my eyes fell on Willow and who she was talking to. She was shaking her head, arms gesturing, but I knew the look on that man’s face: he was determined to succeed at whatever he was trying to do. My heart sank. This felt… bad.
‘You won’t believe this.’ I turned to face Blake, who was now sat up in bed, his delicious chest on display, but I couldn’t enjoy my view like he had been enjoying mine. ‘Sarah and Henry are here.’
‘Are you joking?’
‘Nope, come and see.’
Blake jumped out of bed and came over to the window, putting a hand on the small of my back as he leaned out to look. He swore under his breath. ‘That’s Sarah’s parents,’ he said, frowning.
‘That’s Henry’s dad and he looks like he’s giving Willow a tough time.’ I watched as he shoved a brown envelope at her. ‘What’s he giving her?’
Willow looked shocked as she took hold of the envelope. Then the group started walking past her. She was shouting after them but they ignored her and headed for the Strawberry Fields Trail.
I frowned at Blake. ‘What’s going on?’
Blake sighed. ‘We better go and found out, I guess.’
We dressed as fast as we could in yesterday’s clothes, running combs through our hair and splashing water on our faces, quickly brushing our teeth.
Somewhat presentable, we hurried down and out of the farmhouse, walking the trail, looking for where everyone was.
Blake didn’t take hold of my hand and I was unsure whether to take his or not.
We hadn’t had a second to talk about our night together.
I was stunned as to why either of our exes were back on the farm, let alone here together. Along with their parents. And a photographer. I really hoped whatever was going on wouldn’t derail what was blossoming between me and Blake.
We approached the strawberry fields to find everyone had assembled close to my flower arch.
Sarah appeared to be directing people to stand in various spots near to it.
She wore a stunning white dress with pretty, light-blue flowers, heels, and her hair and make-up were flawless.
I looked around for Henry. He was with his parents and was wearing a crisp, white shirt and navy trousers.
A photographer was setting up near to the arch.
‘There you are.’ Willow hurried over to us.
‘Henry’s father is so rude! He just kept demanding I let them go over to the flower arch.
I kept saying I didn’t want them on the farm, that I needed to speak to you two.
Then he said he’d give me all this cash…
’ She showed me the envelope stuffed full of money.
‘He shoved it at me then they all just walked out here. What should I do?’ She looked at me worriedly.
Before I could answer, Henry strode over, full of confidence, with a dazzling smile on his face as though he was thrilled to see me. ‘Daisy. I’m glad you’re still here. I wasn’t sure if you would be.’
I frowned, finding that hard to believe. ‘What’s going on, Henry?’ I asked, really hoping he wasn’t here to try to get me back again.
‘And why did your father shove money at me and then act like he owns the place?!’ Willow cried, exasperated.
‘He just wanted to thank you for letting us do this,’ Henry replied smoothly.
‘I didn’t let him!’ Willow cried, throwing her arms up in the air.
I knew how she felt. Henry’s dad steamrolled over people. ‘Henry, what are you all doing here?’ I asked him sharply, my patience evaporating.
Henry ignored my question and glanced at Blake, who was standing a couple of feet from me, keeping a careful distance, as if he didn’t want anyone to know we’d spent the night with each other, and he shrugged.
‘I know you lied that you two didn’t know each other,’ he said, turning to me.
‘You’re here together still. You must think I’m an idiot. ’
‘We’ve been through this…’ I began, wishing we’d never fake dated. Henry would never accept that I didn’t want to be with him, Blake or no Blake, now.
‘It’s fine,’ he said to me. ‘I don’t care any more.
You can do whatever you want. Sarah and I have moved on.
We spent a fair bit of time together while we were here and when I got back to the city, I asked her out for a drink.
We were going to console each other about what happened but to be honest, we both found we didn’t need consoling.
’ He shrugged, still smiling his charming smile, as if he wasn’t dropping a dig at both me and Blake. ‘We actually fell hopelessly in love.’
My mouth dropped open. I glanced over at Blake, who was looking away at Sarah. She was fluffing her hair up as the photographer took some snaps of her in front of my flower arch. ‘You and Sarah?’ I checked as Willow snorted under her breath beside me.
I felt relieved Henry wasn’t here to win me back but I had no idea how to feel about him being with Sarah now. That was a plot twist I hadn’t bargained for.
‘Yes. Sarah and I are more real than you and me ever were.’ He turned to Blake. ‘And far more real than you two ever were, mate,’ Henry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm on the word.
Blake finally turned from Sarah to look at Henry. I was getting worried as to why he wasn’t looking at me or standing beside me. How did he feel about our exes being together? ‘I’m not, and never have been, your mate.’
‘They’re ready,’ Henry’s mum called out then. She was all smiles and she gave me a little wave, but before I had time to wave back – not that I was going to – she’d turned around like I’d already been forgotten.
‘Ready for what? We don’t want you here!’ Willow cried, shaking her head.
‘You owe us,’ Henry said coldly. ‘All of you. You were cheating on us the whole time, I bet. And you were all in cahoots,’ he added, glaring at Willow.
‘My father has given you plenty of money. We won’t be here long.
We don’t want to be around any of you longer than we have to but this is important to us. This is where we met; it’s special.’
‘We weren’t cheating on you!’ I cried. ‘I never met Blake before I came here the day of our wedding!’
‘You two deserve each other,’ Henry said, ignoring me, and hurried over to Sarah.
‘What can we do?’ Willow asked us. ‘Can we call the police? Or you and Dylan could kick them out?’ she demanded of Blake. ‘I’m not an advocate for violence usually but…’
‘I understand your feeling, believe me,’ I told her.
‘It’s too late to do any of that,’ Blake said then, pointing. Willow and I turned around to see Henry joining Sarah at the flower arch. They faced one another.
The photographer crouched down by them and told them he was ready.
We all stared as Henry got down on one knee and pulled out a small jewellery box. Sarah gasped and put her hands over her mouth, looking shocked, although from the fact that their parents and a photographer were here, she can’t have been surprised at all.
‘Are they actually…?’ Willow whispered beside me.
I nodded because it looked like they were. I glanced at Blake, who was shaking his head at the spectacle. I turned back to Henry and watched as he pulled out a diamond ring and asked Sarah to marry him.
She gasped out, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ and he slid the ring on her finger before jumping up and kissing her. Then he picked her up, twirling her while pictures were furiously snapped.
‘The audacity to do this here,’ Willow said, shaking her head.
‘I assume they are trying to prove that they are over us.’ I was kind of amused now.
Did Henry think I cared about this show he was putting on for me?
‘It feels fake, don’t you think?’ I turned to Blake but he had stridden off.
My stomach sunk. Was he upset about this? I hurried after him to find out.
‘Don’t leave me with them!’ Willow cried after us. She swore under her breath. I felt bad for the invasion of her farm but I was worried about what was going through Blake’s mind.
Blake finally stopped by the chicken pen and leaned on the fence.