Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,105
then she heard the drawers being dragged back away from the door. The door was flung open and in the limited light from the moon she saw a glint of blonde hair before Daisy’s body slammed into hers hard. Daisy wrapped her arms round her and Penny held her tight.
‘You’re OK, we’re here now.’
‘I’m so sorry, I’m such a tit. I should have grown out of being scared of the dark a long time ago.’
Penny heard a thunder of feet as Henry came rushing up the stairs.
‘Hey, it’s not silly to be scared of the dark. Trust me, if I was here in the house alone and the lights went out, I’d be shitting myself too. Don’t tell your dad I swore.’
Daisy giggled against her.
‘Too late, I already heard,’ Henry said, wrapping them both in a huge bear hug and squashing Daisy between them.
Oh god. It was beyond silly to attach anything to that hug but Penny couldn’t help smiling to herself. This was what it would feel like to be part of their family and it felt wonderful. It wasn’t so much having children that she had always missed, it was this feeling of togetherness and belonging that she had never had before. She released one of her arms and wrapped it round Henry and he shifted her and Daisy tighter against him.
‘I can’t breathe,’ Daisy protested from somewhere between them and after a few moments Henry reluctantly let them go.
Henry held Daisy at arm’s length as if checking her for injuries and Penny found herself smiling at how completely over-protective he was.
‘Why don’t we all go into my lounge and we can light a fire and some candles? I have some marshmallows we could toast too.’
Henry nodded and led the way down the stairs, holding Daisy’s hand. Daisy reached back and held Penny’s hand and they walked down the stairs in a chain and back into her lounge.
‘Henry, why don’t you build a fire and I’ll grab some candles?’ Penny suggested once she had turfed Bernard off the sofa and situated Daisy there.
Henry set about throwing in logs and twigs and Penny returned to the kitchen to grab some matches and candles. She lit all of the ones she had, attaching some of the taper candles to little dishes, and then positioned a few around the kitchen and brought the rest into the front room.
The fire was burning quite well by this point and coupled with the candles it sent a warm, golden glow around the room.
Henry sat down on the sofa and pulled Daisy into his arms, just as he had done with Penny the first night they had kissed. Penny sat down behind Daisy, leaning into her and stroking her back.
‘All that bloody talk of axe murderers scared the crap out of me,’ Henry muttered, kissing Daisy’s head and linking hands with Penny. He stared at her, his eyes filled with emotions Penny couldn’t comprehend.
‘It made me laugh,’ Daisy said, pressed against his chest, completely unaware of the staring competition going on over her head.
‘That was the general idea,’ Penny said, defensively, unsure if Henry was angry with her, although the way he was caressing her hand said otherwise.
Henry smiled slightly at her then returned his attention to his daughter, though he kept his hand entwined with Penny’s.
* * *
Henry woke up later with a crick in his neck and his two favourite girls in his arms. Penny had got up earlier to cook them all some food which they’d eaten in front of the fire and then they’d resumed their positions on the sofa in one big group hug. He knew that Daisy and Penny were mostly trying to reassure him rather than Daisy needing that reassurance. She had been laughing and joking with Penny over dinner whereas his heart refused to calm down.
It was ridiculous to react that way over a power cut, but knowing how scared Daisy had been had scared the crap out of him too. He’d always reacted badly whenever Daisy got hurt. He remembered when she had fallen off her bike as a kid and badly scraped her knee and he’d rushed her off to hospital. He’d nearly punched the dentist once when Henry had mistakenly taken Daisy’s scream of terror for one of pain and the dentist had barely even touched her. When it came to Daisy he knew he was completely over-protective and irrational and there was nothing he could do about it.