Page 16

22

The minute she was out of the drawing room, Daisy picked up the pace, running at a near sprint through the rest of the house as she headed to the front door. She didn’t want to be in this house any longer. She didn’t want to be surrounded by the antiquated furniture and the fancy side plates. What she needed was air. Lots and lots of it.

With her breath staggered, she pushed open the door and ran out into the driveway.

‘Daisy, wait.’ Her feet had barely crunched on the gravel when Theo was outside too and a second later, he had his hand on her shoulder. ‘Please, Daisy, wait.’

It was more through disbelief than anything else that she stopped in her tracks, with her heart pounding. Even when Theo dropped his hand, she didn’t move.

With her hands clenched at her side, Daisy could feel Theo’s presence right behind her. It almost felt as if she could see the expression on his face too. The pained concern with which he was viewing her, but Daisy didn’t turn and face him. She couldn’t. Angry tears were pricking her eyes. Angry tears shewanted to swallow back down. Either that, or spit them back at Theo. A moment later, that was the option she chose.

‘Is it true?’ she said, swivelling around so she could look him in the eye. ‘Is it true, you proposed to Heather with the same ring as you gave me? Crap, I don’t even know what I’m more upset about – the fact you gave me the same freaking ring, or the fact that you didn’t even tell me you and Heather got engaged.’

‘We didn’t get engaged,’ Theo said, stressing his words, though if they were meant to bring Daisy any relief, they didn’t. Instead, they only caused a bitter cough to escape from her throat.

‘No, sorry, I forgot that part. She turned you down when you proposed with this ring. I guess that’s one way to save money. Just use the hand-me-down on the next fool who’s stupid enough to say yes to you.’

As she stopped, she looked up at Theo, although she had barely met his gaze when he lowered it to the ground.

‘You don’t mean that, do you?’ he said. ‘You don’t think you’re a fool for wanting to marry me? Or that I just gave you that ring because I had it hanging around and wasn’t sure what else to do with it?’

Daisy didn’t know how to reply. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she had thought she was going to marry the man of her dreams. Now she wasn’t even sure if that man existed.

‘I don’t understand, Theo. I don’t…’ Her words were strained, tight from the tears that clogged her throat.

‘I know. I know you don’t. Please, can you just let me explain? Just let me tell you what happened?’

Daisy felt a sharp sting inside her mouth and only then did she realise she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, while her hands were still clenched so tightly, her nails dug into her palms. Still trying to control her shuddering breaths, she lifted her head and looked up towards the house.

‘I’m not going back in there,’ she said. ‘I can’t. I don’t ever want to look at your mother again. You know she enjoyed that?’

‘I get it. I do. But we can talk out here. In the garden. Or in the car? Why don’t we sit in the car and talk?’

Daisy wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk. She wasn’t even sure if she could. But then she wasn’t the one who had to. It was Theo who needed to talk. Who needed to explain why he had just caused her more humiliation and hurt than any single person had ever done. She just needed to decide if she wanted to listen.

Daisy glanced down at the ring on her hand that only moments ago had felt like such a symbol of love and loyalty. Now, though, it felt like a symbol of betrayal.

‘Fine,’ she said, dipping her chin to offer him the tiniest of nods. ‘We can talk in the car.’

23

Daisy took the driver’s seat. She wasn’t sure why it mattered, really. Yes, it was her car, but Theo had driven all the way up here and used it almost as often as she did now. But it was where she needed to sit. Perhaps so that she could switch on the engine and make a run for it if she didn’t like what he had to say.

Given how keen Theo had been to speak, silence enveloped them as they sat there. Still Daisy waited, yet every time he opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, he closed it again. Soon, she couldn’t take it any longer.

‘So, you did propose to Heather with the ring then,’ Daisy said, seeing no point in beating around the bush. ‘You proposed, she said no, then you moved on to me. That’s right, isn’t it?’

‘No.’ Theo shook his head. ‘And you know it’s not. You know I chose you. Even when Heather came back to me asking for another try, I told her it was you. I told her you were the only person I wanted to be with. Even though you were stringing me along at the time, you might remember?’

Daisy refused to respond. There was no way she was going to be made out as the villain in this. She had owned up to her mistakes at the beginning of the relationship and thought theywere past them. And Theo had assured her he was, although now he seemed to be using any reason to detract attention from him.

A pause stretched out between them and Daisy was about to tell him she didn’t want to hear any more, when Theo suddenly started speaking.

‘We’d been together for about two years. I had taken the job on the lock and she had got this big promotion in London. One that involved loads of travelling, meaning I would go weeks at a time without seeing her. I got paranoid. Worried she was going to discover this whole new life, probably with one of her swanky male colleagues she used to talk about. Men who sounded like they had a lot more to offer to her than some guy working on the canals. So I did what I thought was right – I proposed to her. It felt like a way to keep her close. You have to remember, I was young and paranoid, and she was the only girl I had ever loved.’

‘So you gave Heather the ring, and then what?’ Daisy had a hard time believing this was where the story ended and she wasn’t even going to think about how to respond until she knew everything.

‘She just said no and told me I was being ridiculous. That we were far too young to get married and that if a relationship was strong enough, it wouldn’t matter. She was right. Everything she said was right.’