She glanced down to the shed where Henry was still rooting around trying to find the right boxes.

‘Daisy.’

Daisy dumped the boxes on the table, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Yep?’

‘Are you seeing Josh?’

‘Yes. Don’t tell Dad.’

Penny’s eyes bulged, wishing she’d never asked. ‘Are you hanging out at the Love Shack?’

Daisy laughed. ‘The what?’

‘The birdwatchers’ hut at the end of the drive. That’s what we called it when we were teenagers. All the kids used to hang out there and kiss and…’ She was not going to talk to her about sex again.

‘Yes, but we just talk and stuff, it’s no big deal. Just don’t tell Dad because he’ll freak out. How are things between you two anyway?’

Penny noted how quickly the tables had turned. She wasn’t going to lie to Daisy, even if she couldn’t be completely honest. ‘Good. I really like him.’

Daisy studied her for a moment and then smiled. ‘He likes you too.’

Penny bit her lip. Did she know something was going on between them? She was a smart girl, she had probably worked it out by now, but was she OK with it?

There was no time to discuss either topic because Henry burst through the back door, juggling five large boxes. Daisy picked up her own boxes and scurried through to the lounge.

By the time Penny came back in with the plates of mince pies, several of the decorations had made it from the box to the tree and Henry and Daisy were jive dancing with each other to ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’.

She watched them with a smile, they were so close and she just hoped that she could fit into that somehow.

She put the plates down and Henry grabbed her for a rock and roll style dance, twirling her round as Daisy laughed at them and resumed her decorating. Penny laughed as she 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 know that you are secretly an anti-social grumpy sod,’ Penny said and Daisy let out a bark of a laugh from the back seat.

‘She’s got your number, hasn’t she, Dad.’

‘More to the point, why am I doing it?’ said Penny. ‘It’s supposed to be families of staff members from White Cliff Bay Furniture Company and I don’t qualify for that.’

Daisy scrabbled out the back of the car and closed the door.

‘You will qualify soon, so stop your whingeing. Consider it practice,’ Henry said, smiling at her.

Her heart soared at the simplicity of that comment, while he clearly had no idea that he had made her entire day.

He hesitated for a moment, staring at Edward at the entrance of the marquee. He was nervous about today and she didn’t know why, but she knew it wasn’t just about doing something silly in front of an audience. Why was he so scared he would lose his job so soon after he had got it? What had happened a few days before that would make him so wary and why hadn’t he talked to her about it? He was trying to put on a brave face for her and for Daisy but Penny would rather he talk to her about his worries. She couldn’t escape the feeling that this had something to do with Clara.

After a moment, he got out and Penny followed him.

Up ahead of them Penny saw Maggie, waddling along with a boy in each hand and Daniel with his arm round her waist. Penny smiled wistfully at the proper little happy family.

She looked over at Henry and Daisy and he smiled at her over Daisy’s head. They weren’t the orthodox family of high school sweethearts like Maggie and Daniel were and they weren’t married and didn’t have children together, but Penny couldn’t be happier to be part of Henry’s family and to have Daisy as her sort of step-daughter. Maybe it was getting too far ahead of herself to imagine that after only knowing Henry for a week, but she couldn’t help it.