stranger and brought the friend back to her, with all his warmth and wit and love. ‘So you’ll come?’ he asked, reaching out and touching her cheek with the back of his hand.
‘I’ll come,’ she replied.
He pulled her into his arms and pressed his face into her neck. ‘You frightened me, Daisy.’ He squeezed her tightly. ‘Please don’t frighten me like that again.’
Daisy hurried home, anxious to share her news. She needed to tell her mother first. It was important not to overwhelm her and to break it to her gently that she was going to live abroad again. She didn’t look forward to telling her that bit.
Dennis and Nan were still at the kitchen table. Marigold was yet to join them.
‘Someone’s happy!’ commented Nan when she saw Daisy’s flushed face. ‘Was it the crocodile tears that did it?’
Dennis raised his eyebrows. ‘All’s well, I see,’ he said.
‘I’m going to live with Taran in Toronto!’ she exclaimed.
Nan looked surprised. ‘In my day people got married before they moved in together.’
‘This isn’t your day,’ said Dennis, getting up to embrace his daughter. ‘This is your day, love,’ he said to Daisy, and planted a kiss on her forehead. ‘It’s wonderful news.’
Nan shook her head at the disappointing lowering of standards these days, but put out her hand to beckon Daisy to her. ‘I’m happy for you both,’ she said, shrugging off her disapproval and cheering up at the thought of the possibility of Lady Sherwood eventually joining her family. A Sherwood tying the knot with a Fane, she mused with something close to excitement. That wouldn’t have happened in her day. ‘When you finally do get married, you’ll do it in white, won’t you, pet? I’m sure Taran is a young man who likes to do things correctly. He’ll come and ask for your hand, won’t he, in a suit and tie?’
‘I’m moving in with him, Nan. One step at a time,’ said Daisy, but she couldn’t see Taran in a suit and tie.
When Marigold came downstairs at last, Dennis got up to make her a cup of tea. He kissed her cheek. ‘Morning, Goldie,’ he said. ‘Daisy’s got some good news.’
Marigold looked at Daisy and smiled. She wondered whether Luca had asked her to marry him at last.
‘I’m moving in with Taran,’ said Daisy. She braced herself for her mother’s response.
There was a long pause while Marigold tried to remember who Taran was. She was certain he was called Luca. ‘How lovely, dear,’ she said and went to sit down.
‘They’re going to live in Toronto,’ said Nan.
‘But we’re going to come and go,’ added Daisy quickly, desperate to avoid upsetting her mother, who was looking puzzled. ‘It’s only an eight-hour flight so we’ll come back every few months at least. Taran will want to see his mother too.’
Marigold’s smile did not falter, although she was sure Daisy’s boyfriend lived in Italy. ‘Toronto is a lovely city,’ she said evenly, taking the chair at the head of the table, next to Nan.
‘And he told me he’ll move back here one day, so it’s not for ever,’ Daisy reassured her.
‘Toronto’s a dreadful city!’ Nan exclaimed. ‘Noisy, dirty, too many people and the buildings are too high.’
Daisy frowned. ‘Have you ever been to Toronto, Nan?’
‘I don’t need to go to Toronto to know what a dreadful city it is.’
Daisy gazed at her mother searchingly. She wasn’t sure Marigold had understood what she’d said. ‘You see, Mum, Taran works in Toronto. He’s an architect. A good architect. He has his own business and designs the most beautiful buildings. When I went out there, I realized that he couldn’t leave his business to come and live here. At least not yet.’
‘You don’t have to explain, Daisy,’ said Dennis gently, putting Marigold’s cup of tea in front of her. ‘You’ll have fun in Toronto. You’re young. It’ll be good for you to have fun in an exciting city like Toronto.’ He sat down on Marigold’s right.
Marigold understood that Daisy would be leaving her, but she focused on the part where she said she’d be coming back. As long as she came back, Marigold didn’t mind her going.
‘Maybe Suze will step into the breach,’ said Dennis hopefully. ‘She’s grown up a lot in the last year and she’s a respectable married woman now.’
‘It’ll be nice to see more of her,’ said Nan. ‘Suze is the sort of girl who’ll jump only as high as she has to. Let’s raise the bar and see what happens.’