GABRIEL
It took a bit of persuasion to get Gabriel’s mother to agree to leave the hotel earlier than she’d intended and go with him and Daisy to his grandmother’s house, but she’d given in eventually.
‘I don’t know why this couldn’t have been done over the phone,’ she grumbled, giving Daisy an over the shoulder glance as if it was her fault Francesca had to leave her office.
He parked the car at his grandmother’s and walked around to open the passenger door for his mother. ‘I wanted you all here together. Surely that isn’t so dreadful?’
She groaned, holding up a spreadsheet in one hand and a yellow highlighter pen in the other. ‘No, of course not, darling. I’m just busy and I have a lot to do with your father away touring.’
They arrived at the house. Gabriel smiled at Daisy.
‘Come along, then. Let’s find Nan and get this over with.’
As they walked around the side of the house, he spotted Lydia sitting down at the metal garden table reading a magazine. Gabriel poured them all a refreshing glass of homemade lemonade from the jug on the table and sat down.
‘Thanks for the hurried gathering,’ he said, smiling at Daisy. He noticed she looked concerned. He understood how his mother could make people feel a little intimidated, with her booming voice and extrovert personality. She needed toovercome any fear she had of his mother and this was going to be a bit of a baptism of fire, but he wanted Daisy here to witness him telling his mother and grandmother about them being a couple and to see first-hand that she was now part of his family unit.
‘You all know that the funding of my project was rescinded unexpectedly,’ he began.
‘Yes, darling,’ his mother said. ‘I wish your father and I were in a position to help you in some way. We both know how important this is to you and how hard you’ve worked on this.’
‘It’s fine, Mum,’ he said. ‘I want you both to know that earlier today, Fi’s brother, Sebastian Fielding, offered to sponsor the project.’
‘Oh, darling!’ Lydia clapped her hands together. ‘That’s splendid news. I knew his father and uncle when I was younger,’ she said. ‘We mixed in the same circles in the sixties and seventies.’
His mother beamed at him, as he knew she would on hearing this news. ‘I’m delighted for you. You deserve his support. Well done, you.’
‘Thanks, Mum.’ He drank some of the tart lemonade, relishing its coolness. ‘I don’t know if you knew,’ he said, glancing at his mother and grandmother. ‘But on my recent trip to South Africa, Bella joined me and while we were there we got a divorce.’ He heard his grandmother’s sigh of relief and suspected she knew what was coming next.
‘It seems a bit of a drama bothering to go to South Africa to do it.’ Francesca said. ‘Why didn’t you just wait until you could be divorced over here?’
He thought she might react in this way. ‘Neither of us really wanted to stay married, but couldn’t divorce in Jersey until we’d been married three years. We both also needed to go there to check the situation with the project, and as both of us wanted this divorce as much as the other we made a point of sorting it out. We were married thereso it wasn’t too difficult.’ He focused his attention solely on his mother.
‘I still think it was a bit unnecessary to rush it like that, Gabriel,’ his mother argued.
‘I did it because I want to be with Daisy.’
‘Daisy?’
His mother scowled at the woman he loved, and not wishing Daisy to feel uncomfortable, he added, ‘Yes. We met in Vietnam when I was travelling. She knew about me coming from Jersey, but not where I lived, or that my family ran a hotel, so it was a coincidence when she ended up working for you.’
His mother didn’t look too convinced. ‘Really?’ she asked, looking doubtfully at Daisy.
Daisy smiled. ‘I’m sure this is all a bit of a shock,’ she said. ‘But I can assure you I had no idea about Gabriel’s connection to the Encore when I applied to work there. I know him as Gabriel Wilson. You and your husband have different last names, so how could I connect him?’
He watched his mother considering this question and then shrugging. ‘I can see how that’s possible,’ she said eventually. ‘But I still don’t see the urgency for a divorce.’ She hesitated and then narrowed her eyes first in Daisy’s direction and then Gabriel’s. ‘Unless, of course, there’s a reason you haven’t shared with us?’
It took a moment for him to register what she meant. Knowing how she wasn’t ready to be a grandmother, he knew that she wasn’t making this assumption with any joy in her heart. He glared at her. ‘There’s only one reason: I’m in love with Daisy and want to be with her.’
‘Do leave the boy alone, Francesca,’ Lydia said. She turned her attention back to Gabriel and Daisy. ‘I’m very happy for you both.’ She smiled at Daisy. ‘We’ve become quite close since you began working at the Encore and I’m delighted that my grandson has found someone as perfect as you to be with. I hope you’ll both be veryhappy together.’
‘Well, so do I,’ his mother relented. ‘I was merely being curious.’
Before his mother and grandmother could descend into an argument, he held up his hand to get their attention.
‘Would you two mind if Daisy and I went for a walk on the beach?’ He hoped Daisy didn’t mind him taking her away from the table, but wanted to give his mother a chance to speak privately with Lydia. They could discuss his relationship with Daisy without her having to witness any nastiness from his mother, and he knew Lydia would defend Daisy in any way necessary. He also wanted to spend some time alone with Daisy while she wasn’t working and they had a chance to be alone.
‘Good idea,’ his mother said. ‘You two go and spend some time together.’
