Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,29
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.’
‘I’m not going to hurt her. I’m not sure what will happen between us. I’d like to be her friend more than anything. Maybe in time that friendship will turn into something more, and maybe not, but I have no intention of ever hurting her.’
Jill nodded seriously and then blushed. ‘My apologies, it was wrong of me to talk to you about her like this, I’m sure she won’t thank me for it. But if you spend any length of time in her company you will see what a truly wonderful person she is. I love her like she was my own daughter and I only want the best for her.’
‘I want that too.’
‘Oh, let’s change the subject, she’ll kill me if she knows I’ve said all this. Do you want tomatoes on your sandwich?’
Henry nodded and watched as Jill busied herself with making the food. The truth was he had already seen what kind of person Penny was and he was having a hard time coming up with reasons why he should stay away. Something serious was not good for Daisy, not so soon after the disaster with Emily, but any kind of relationship with Penny was only ever going to be that.