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‘For goodness’ sake.’ Theo snatched his hand off Daisy’s knee and took her firmly by the shoulders, and swivelled her around in her seat so that she was looking directly at him. ‘Daisy, I want you to remember one thing and one thing only: I love you. I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and no one else, and I’m hoping that you feel the same way.’

‘I do,’ Daisy said, though her heart was beating so fast at the impending disaster of meeting his parents, she was almost breathless.

‘Then that is all that matters. Nothing else matters. I said my parents can be a bit peculiar because they can. They’re the type of people who still think everyone else should know the difference between a smoking jacket and a dinner jacket.’

‘What the hell is a smoking jacket? Is that even a thing?’ Daisy said, the panic surging once again. ‘Should I have one? Are they something women wear too?’

‘Daisy, listen!’ Theo’s sharp voice brought her back to the moment. ‘I moved hundreds of miles to be away from my family and I moved hundreds of miles to be back close to you. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?’

‘You’ve moved a lot around the country?’ Daisy said, almost sure that wasn’t the right answer.

‘No,’ Theo replied. ‘It means that their lifestyle, and the way they sometimes act, isn’t what I want to be around. You are. You are it for me, Daisy. I want you to meet them because they are my family, the people who raised me. They are the ones who shaped so much of who I am. And you? You are going to be the person I spend the rest of my life with. Who will shape my future and the person I will become. It makes sense that you should meet. But at the end of the day, this weekend could go perfectly or be a complete and utter disaster, and it wouldn’t change how I feel about you, okay? You are the one I love. The one I intend to live with until I’m old and grey. Got it?’

The loud sigh which followed indicted that Theo had come to the end of his speech, though he looked at her as if he were expecting an answer, but Daisy still wasn’t sure what she was meant to reply. All she had really got from the conversation was that there was a very good chance Theo’s parents weren’t going to like her, and she just had to suck it up until they could get back to Wildflower Lock, and it would just be the two of them again.

‘I guess so?’ she said, not sure what else to say.

With a smile and a look of relief on his face, Theo kissed her lightly on the cheek before turning his attention back to the car.

‘Great. Then it’s time we got this show on the road.’

14

Daisy wasn’t sure where she had expected Theo’s parents to live, other than the Lake District. In her imagination, everyone who resided in the Lake District lived in an idyllic cottage, on the top of a rolling hill, with a view out over acres and acres of lush green fields that stretched into vibrant blue lakes. And she had got some parts correct. The housewason top of a hill, and it was probably idyllic, although it was currently difficult to tell. Despite having driven in through the large gate over a minute beforehand, they were still trundling down a tree-lined driveway with no hint of a house in sight.

‘Are they the only people who live down here?’ Daisy asked, looking around for any sign of life. ‘Or are there lots of houses down here?’

‘It’s just their place,’ Theo said. ‘Although they might have a lodger. They sometimes do that when they get fed up with each other’s company. Or when one of Mum’s friends decides she’s leaving her husband again. She’s had a few of those camp out for a month or so before. Actually, I think Dad has too. But I don’t think there’s anyone staying with them at the moment.’

Lodgers and people staying with them for over a month? Daisy loved having Bex and Claire stay. She’d had Amelia over at times too, but even though theSeptember Rosewas a spacious, wide beam canal boat, squeezing them all in for two nights was as much as Daisy could cope with. It was the same when she’d had the flat. Bex would often stay on her sofa, but after two nights, they would feel on top of one another. She struggled to imagine how big Theo’s parents’ place would have to be for that not to be an issue, though it didn’t take her long to find out.

‘This can’t be where you grew up,’ Daisy said breathlessly as the house finally came into view.

The long driveway opened up into a large gravel space, upon which stood a single white house. Well, Daisy assumed it was a single house, given the conversation they had just had, but it was easily four times the size of the one Daisy grew up in. The roof was covered in dark slate tiles, and with just a quick glance, she counted five chimneys. How was it possible, she thought, that a house needed so many chimneys? With the air in her lungs feeling decidedly thin, she continued to take in the building. A series of steps led up to the front door, around which the spindly branches of a wisteria draped, the last of its purple blooms fading. Two of the windows were made of stained glass and depicted hills and lakes. There was something about the composition and colour that led Daisy to believe they were real places.

‘You grew up here?’ Daisy said, transfixed not only by the house but by the land that stretched around it. Manicured lawns with perfectly pruned rose hedges and bushes, interspersed with ornate flower beds. Three cars were parked out front, one of which was a sports car and another a 4x4.

‘I did,’ Theo said. ‘And believe me, no matter how big it looks, it can get pretty claustrophobic inside.’

Daisy considered the remark slightly odd but paid it little mind as she stepped out of the car and onto the driveway. Despite it being later in the day, it was far chillier up here than it had been when they left Wildflower Lock.

‘I should grab my cardigan from the back,’ she said, moving towards the boot of the car, but Theo caught her.

‘Don’t worry, we can get everything in afterwards in a moment. It’s probably better if we get straight into the house. Dad has a thing about people standing outside and dawdling.’

Daisy didn’t think that getting a cardigan to ensure she wasn’t freezing counted as dawdling, but she was already worried about making a less-than-ideal impression, and so she took Theo’s advice and walked towards the door.

‘Are you shaking because you’re cold or because you’re nervous?’ he said as he took her hand, then wrapped an arm around her to rub her shoulder.

‘A bit of both,’ Daisy replied truthfully.

‘Well, don’t be nervous, honestly. We’re just here for one night. I’ve got an exciting night planned for us tomorrow elsewhere.’

Daisy looked at Theo in surprise, the current situation momentarily forgotten.

‘We’re not staying here tomorrow?’

‘I thought perhaps we deserved something a bit romantic for the weekend after our engagement, don’t you? Unless, of course, you want to stay here?’