Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,94
was spun out and twirled back and she clung to Henry feeling dizzy and giddy with it all. Finally the song ended and something much slower came on, which didn’t seem appropriate to dance to with Daisy in the room, so Henry released her awkwardly.
Penny looked through the boxes of decorations and the ones that were slowly filling the tree. There was a colourful mix of decorations, some that Daisy had clearly made as a child with tiny handprint Christmas trees, covered in glitter, snowmen made from lots of cotton wool, and toilet roll tube Santas. There were some rather eccentric shop-bought decorations ranging from neon-coloured candy canes, ceramic Santa-clad teddy bears and angels dressed in leather biker gear. There were also some beautiful wooden ones that had clearly been handcarved by Henry and Daisy. This tree was a huge cacophony of colour celebrating their rich vibrant history together. Penny loved every single piece of it, even the mooning Santa that Daisy hung pride of place right in the middle of the tree. But it did make her a bit sad that there wasn’t a part of her on this tree.
‘Why don’t you get some of your decorations down?’ Henry said softly, clearly reading her mind as he had a knack for doing.
She shook her head. Her tree decorations were boring round baubles that held no special meaning or significance to her and it would seem odd to dilute their decorations with her dull ones. She would be a part of the tree by helping to decorate it.
She picked up a gold-painted fir cone covered in glitter with a scarlet ribbon tied at the top and hung it from one of the branches, feeling the smile grow on her face as slowly every branch began to sparkle with colour and glitter. Daisy moved upstairs to lean over the bannister and decorate the top branches as Henry started wrapping lights around every part of the tree.
All too soon the tree was finished and Daisy raced downstairs for the big lights switch on.
‘Five, four, three, two, one,’ Daisy yelled and flicked the switch.
The tree was suddenly lit up with over a thousand lights, all in different colours. Some twinkled discreetly, where some flashed on and off to the beat of an unheard tune.
Penny stepped back to admire their handiwork. It was garish and messy and fanciful and silly and the best Christmas tree she had ever seen.
* * *
Daisy had long since gone to bed, though Penny suspected it was to give them some time alone. For someone who had been so against them getting together at the beginning, she seemed to be pushing them together now. The music had changed from that of Slade and The Pogues to sweeter, softer Christmas songs and she was dancing slowly in the arms of the most wonderful man she had ever met.
She rested her head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. She had tried to hold back, to not fall so deeply in order to guard her heart, but she had failed at every single turn.
She looked up at him, his beautiful face illuminated in the glow of a thousand fairy lights and he bent his head and kissed her softly.
She was in love with him, she couldn’t deny it any more. Completely and utterly in love with him.
He pulled back ever so slightly so that, when he spoke, his mouth was still touching her lips.
‘I really want to make love to you right now, can you be quiet?’
She smiled. ‘Can you?’
‘Let’s see.’ He took her hand and led her upstairs.
She wasn’t scared any more, this was where she was supposed to be. Everything was perfect. And Anna or Daisy or Clara wouldn’t change that. She loved him and she was pretty sure he felt the same way.
Chapter Nineteen
‘Tell me again why I agreed to this,’ Henry said as he pulled the car into a space behind the marquee the next day.
The car park was already filling up nicely, the annual festivities obviously attracting a lot of attention. It was a good thing because, like a lot of the events leading up to the ball, it was raising a lot of money for charity. Though Penny could understand Henry’s reticence. While she had been to watch the Giant Gingerbread House Race many times over the years, she had never been on one of the teams before.
‘Because Edward asked you to do it and you didn’t want your boss to