Page 99 of The Secret Holiday Kiss

Jason and Simon turned up looking like black-tie pros, though Simon’s suit was blue shot satin, and the lapels of Jason’s black jacket glittered like diamonds along with his bow tie. They had brought mini cones of fish and chips, their appearance sending a wave of guests towards them, keen to have the delicious morsels while they were still hot. The rest of Avery’s team arrived, looking very like the Rat Pack and causing a ripple of interest, but Avery wasn’t with them. In-between announcements, Terry set off the snowflake cannon, eliciting “ooohs” and “aaahs” whenever it popped and confetti snowflakes drifted through the air.

‘Hey,’ a quiet voice said from behind her, and Daisy smiled and wished the Devlins, who ran Penny For Them, a good night. Their children looked like mini versions of Mum and Dad, and the little girl, Rose, seemed awed by the draped fabric hanging along the walls.

Daisy turned and found May, wearing a simple pale blue sheath dress, her long dark hair decorated with bejewelled flower clips.

‘May! You look gorgeous. I didn’t hear your announcement.’

‘I snuck in ten minutes ago,’ she admitted, ‘behind Terry’s back. This looks wonderful. It’s really worked – I feel like I’m in an episode of Bridgerton.’

‘It’s not too much?’ Daisy wrinkled her nose, then laughed. ‘It’s not, is it?’

‘It is completely over the top and it works so well. It’s so … opulent. And your dress is beautiful.’

Daisy gestured at the swathes of dark pink fabric she had chosen from Vea’s shop. ‘I picked it so that if I get overwhelmed, I can stand against that and disappear.’

May narrowed her eyes. ‘You are so far from overwhelmed. You’re great at this. Great at hosting, at holding space.’

‘Oh.’ Daisy swallowed. ‘That’s kind. For what it’s worth, you are an amazingly steadying influence. It seems like nothing fazes you.’ Apart from finding out Avery’s secret, she thought, but she didn’t want to bring that dark event into tonight, or for May to think she was fishing for news about her brother.

‘I’m not sure that’s true,’ May confessed. ‘But being in Mistingham has helped me feel more settled. Especially now I have my own cottage.’

‘You didn’t enjoy sharing Sophie and Harry’s love nest?’ Daisy said with a grin.

May laughed. ‘There’s so much space in this place, it wasn’t ever a problem. But, after all Harry’s kindness, I wanted to stand on my own two feet. Just because they have the room, doesn’t mean they should put up all the waifs and strays.’

‘No.’ Daisy’s smile faltered, because what would she be doing for the next few months?

‘You’re not a stray.’ May squeezed her arm. ‘You’re family.’

‘I have been a stranger for a long time, though. And it was what I wanted, before the whole leak thing.’

May turned to the table and swiped the last two fish and chip cones. ‘Here.’ She handed Daisy one. ‘Is that leak turning out to be a blessing in disguise?’ She smiled, the shimmering room reflecting in her dark eyes, which were so knowing that Daisy sometimes felt slightly unsettled, especially when she thought of what Avery had said about there being a lot more to his sister than she let on.

‘How do you know—?’ she started, but then the gentle, soothing carols that the string quartet had been playing were replaced, abruptly, by the loud swoop of the cello, a tune that was a lot more up-tempo. Daisy’s brain tried to place it, to turn it into Michael Bublé or Mariah Carey, but she couldn’t. This wasn’t a Christmas song.

It was Jimmy Nail’s ‘Ain’t No Doubt’. And, OK, the song’s sentiment was the opposite of romantic, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that music connected you to a memory, to a moment in time, and while that song had been a favourite since she was a teenager, now it unwaveringly, explicitly, made her think of Avery.

Daisy turned towards the door, her fish cone still in her hand, as the musicians made Jimmy Nail’s fun, funky song into something sweeping and beautiful, and the chatter faded to a hush as everyone realized that something was happening. Then, through the crowds, she saw messy brown hair, as if he was a homing beacon and she would always be able to find him, whatever the circumstances.

‘Hosts of the Mistingham Manor Christmas ball welcome Avery Hudson,’ Terry boomed. May squeezed her arm and melted into the crowd, and Daisy watched as Avery walked towards her, as people stepped back so she could see him properly, dressed in a midnight blue suit, a crisp white shirt, his tie a dark, dusky pink with a vertical line of sequins running down it. Dressed up for a ball, he was devastating, and her heart pounded in her throat.

‘Hey,’ she said, as he stopped in front of her. ‘Hello.’ Two greetings. Amazing. Could she have been any smoother?

‘Daisy,’ he said, and she watched him take her in, his eyes caressing her as if it was his fingers, his lips slightly parted.

‘Avery.’ They stared at each other, and a distant part of her brain worried that this interaction wasn’t interesting enough for all the people watching it. But that wasn’t her concern. ‘You came.’

‘Of course I came.’

‘You made me a village.’

He shrugged. ‘You wanted something magical. I knew this would be magical for you, because—’

‘Because of the loft. And the paint, because—’

‘—of the book.’

‘Because it’s Christmas.’ She repeated his words from the other day, after Lars’s visit. ‘Because you go all out at Christmas.’