Daisy gritted her teeth and thought hard. ‘He probably has family of his own to go to at Easter.’
‘Well, if he has, he has. There’s no harm in extending an invitation.’
‘Okay. I’ll let you know.’ Please, God, let her stop now, Daisy prayed.
She didn’t.
‘You’ll be coming home anyway, won’t you, dear? We haven’t seen you since you took up your new job.’
Her free time was exclusively Ethan’s. That was the deal. But surely he’d understand she had to attend the family get-together at Easter. ‘Yes, I’ll be there,’ she answered unequivocally, not wanting to make some excuse unless she was forced to.
‘It will be such a happy day,’ her mother rattled on. ‘Ken and Kevin are both employed again. Your father has paid off Keith’s business debts, and we can now afford to send Violet’s boy to a special school for autistic children.’
‘That’s great!’
It really was—alleviating a lot of stress in her sister’s life. Money was not the root of all evil, Daisy thought. It could be a huge blessing.
‘Well, I’ll let you go, dear, but do ask Ethan if he’d like to join us for Easter Sunday. He’ll be most welcome. Such a handsome man, too,’ she added in a tone overflowing with benevolence, causing Daisy to fly into a panic.
‘Mum, don’t get ideas. This was a first date, remember. It doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Of course it does, Daisy. It means that he likes you and you like him. Now don’t do anything to spoil it, dear. I thought you looked perfect together. Bye now.’
Daisy fumbled the receiver’s return to its cradle, dropped back down on the pillow and closed her eyes. Tight. To shut out the dreadful embarrassment of knowing Ethan had overheard that conversation and had undoubtedly pieced together her mother’s side of it.
She felt him shift onto his side, prop himself up to examine the expression on her face, felt his eyes probing under her skin. A featherlight finger teased one corner of her mouth. ‘It doesn’t mean anything?’
For some reason his repetition of those words hurt unbearably. She opened her eyes and attacked with defensive ferocity. ‘You know perfectly well why I’m here with you, Ethan. Just because you’ve taken me out of your closet hasn’t changed the deal, has it?’
He frowned. ‘Weren’t you happy with me today?’
‘That’s not the point! My parents saw the presentation of The Golden Slipper on TV, saw us together, and my mother has leapt to the rosy conclusion that we’re a match made in heaven.’
His mouth quirked in amusement. ‘Maybe we are.’
‘Don’t make fun of it!’ she cried, hope giving her heart a painful kick. ‘I have to deal with this now. My family always get together at my parents’ home at Easter. They’ll be full of questions about you and…’ Her eyes pleaded to be let off his hook. ‘I know you demanded all my free time, but I’ll be breaking our family tradition if I’m not there with them.’
‘No problem.’ His eyes glinted with determined purpose. ‘I’ll go with you.’
She stared at him, her stomach curdling at the thought of what he’d be walking into. ‘I’m only asking for one day with my family, Ethan. Not even one full day. Lunch on Easter Sunday will be enough.’
‘Fine!’ he said. ‘We’ll roll up for lunch on Easter Sunday.’
Daisy closed her eyes again as she tried to swallow the sickening surge of panic. There was no moving him. He was bent on having his own way, relentlessly ruthless about getting it.
‘Your mother did invite me, didn’t she?’ he said without any doubt in his voice.
‘Yes,’ she bit out between gritted teeth.
‘Then tell her I accept.’
Daisy summoned up one last effort to change his mind, shooting him a begging look. ‘We’re a big family, Ethan. And because I’ve never brought anyone into it, they’ll pepper you with questions and size you up like you wouldn’t believe.’
She had invited Carl when she’d believed in their love for each other, but he had always found some pressing reason not to be available when she’d wanted him to accompany her. From the arguments preceding their break-up, she’d realised he resented her family and the hold it had on her, taking her away from what he wanted to do. If Ethan also resented their claim on her…
‘It won’t worry me, Daisy,’ he said, obviously not caring about being put in a hot seat. ‘I’m curious about them, too. I’ll enjoy meeting such a close-knit family. I haven’t had one myself.’
She heaved a resigned sigh. He was resolved on accompanying her, no matter what. She could only hope he did enjoy himself and somehow, miraculously, feel he could become a part of her family because there was no long-term future with him if he couldn’t.
The week slipped by all too quickly.
Daisy’s emotions were worn ragged, fretting over how her family would receive Ethan and vice versa.
He peppered her with questions about them, memorising all the names and connecting the children to the right parents, doing his homework before making an entrance. Applying good business practice, Daisy thought, but meeting a diverse group of people whose life experiences were nothing like his was much more complex than sitting down with a bunch of clients with similar interests—namely big money and what to do with it. She remembered how she’d hated him for being what he was—obscenely rich, stunningly handsome and sinfully sexy. Her brothers and sister could feel the same way.
It did alleviate a little of her inner stress when he showed a particular interest in Joshua, Violet’s autistic son. She explained that he didn’t seem to relate to people at all. It was as though he was locked into a world of his own and he was obsessed with numbers, always counting everything. It was important to simply accept this, not treat him as odd, and Ethan assured her he understood.
But he didn’t understand what he was walking into. She had to stop him from buying a huge basket of chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs for the children. Their parents, who couldn’t afford such expensive luxuries, might resent such largesse, although she couldn’t bring herself to tell him so, saying only she’d be taking a bag of little Easter eggs to be hidden in the garden for the treasure hunt, and too much was too much. It would be enough if he gave her mother a box of chocolates as a thank-you gift.