Page 72 of Electric Kiss

“Has Nate proposed?” Freya asked.

“I think he’s already done that,” Heidi said, lifting Daisy’s left hand. “Why are you wearing an engagement ring and a wedding band?”

All three women were staring her down with broad smiles.

“Umm… Oh look, there’s Warren. I want an explanation,” Daisy said and jumped off the tea chest.

“Daisy,” Erica called after her. “Who walked you down the aisle?”

“My mum,” Daisy shouted back, and she heard a collective audible sigh.

Daisy marched over to where Warren was approaching. He was all smiles until he clocked her expression. She hoped it was set to fury.

“Hey Daisy, I’m not late, am I?” he asked, pulling up his coat sleeve to check his watch.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“Lied about what?”

“About seeing my brothers, about seeing Erica in my office. I’ve had to work on a teeny tiny screen in my cottage because you were hogging the large monitor in my office.”

“I can explain…” he said, wincing.

But Warren didn’t say anything.

“I’m waiting.”

“Well, you lied to me,” he huffed. “Why didn’t you say anything about why your brothers weren’t talking to you?”

Daisy was wide-eyed. The man had coached her, trained her and made sure she had all the knowledge she needed to run Edward Hall accounts, but she didn’t answer to him. She certainly didn’t owe him any information about her private life.

“What?” she snapped.

Warren was getting red in the face. He folded his arms across his chest, bent at the waist and leaned in. He didn’t whisper.

He yelled.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in contact with your mother? Why didn’t you tell me you knew where she lived? You should have told me you met with her recently.”

Daisy took a step back. Everything was closing in, andshe couldn’t hear what he was saying or anyone else because the blood rushing around her head was drowning everything out. Another flashback, and this time, it was in full technicolour. She was in the playroom with her toys and the yellow armchair hugging her rabbit toy. Her Aunt Cynthia was towering over her, arms folded and yelling at her.

Are you in contact with your mother? When was the last time you saw her? Do you know where she lives?

She remembered crying and running to the radiator under the window of her playroom and sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees and her face hidden from Cynthia’s gaze.

It was enough to bring her back to the present. Just in time to see Nate punch Warren in the face. Daisy scuttled back to the girls, and they embraced her in a cuddle.

“Are you okay, Daisy?” Erica asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she answered, not taking her eyes off Warren and Nate.

“How did Nate get here?” Daisy asked.

“He has all our numbers, and we have his. He insisted that if you spaced out, even for a minute, we were to send him an SOS. And here he is,” Heidi said.

She sounded utterly delighted with Nate.

“Why did Nate punch him?”

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