Discovering Daisy

the short distance to the coast path and go home along the low cliffs.
She was halfway to the rocks when she saw someone coming towards her. He had a dog with him, Trigger, who lumbered up to meet her with delighted barks. Daisy stood still. If she could have run away she would have done so, despite the happy beating of her heart at the sight of the vast figure coming so rapidly towards her. But there was nowhere to run…
He had reached her before she had her breathing under control. She said, inanely, ‘It’s a lovely day.’
He smiled slowly. ‘The loveliest day of my life.’
‘How funny that we’ve met again here on the beach.’
She bent to pat Trigger, trying

whirlwind,’ said Mr der Huizma calmly. ‘Most interesting. But come along now.’He had Trigger on his lead and a vast arm round Daisy.
They settled with their backs to the rock which encircled them and Daisy asked, ‘Will it last long, the whirlwind?’
‘No. A bit noisy and rough, but we’re secure here. I’m sorry; I should have seen it earlier.’
Daisy, feeling his arm around her, was glad that he hadn’t.
It grew darker and noisier, and all at once the whirlwind was upon them—and gone again before Daisy had the time to feel frightened. But it was followed by great peals of thunder and flashes of lightning. She had always been frightened of storms; now she buried her face in his shoulder and kept her eyes tight shut.
She muttered into his Burberry, ‘I’m terrified of storms. So sorry.’
She was surprised to hear his rumble of laughter, but all he said was, ‘It will soon pass. We’re quite safe here.’
Positively cosy, reflected Daisy, her head on his shoulder, Trigger’s doggy warmth pressed up against her legs… She swallowed down her fright and thought how happy she was, sitting here hidden from the storm and Jules’s arm holding her close. There was a great deal of him, and he was very solid. This, she thought, was a moment to remember for the rest of her life.
The whirlwind had passed, the

They had reached the rocks, and she would have liked nothing better than to climb round them and go on walking, but it would soon be midday and she was to take over the shop that afternoon. She said urgently, ‘I must go back…’
‘The morning is quickly over,’ he said easily. They didn’t say much on their way back, and at the corner of the lane he bade her goodbye. She longed to know if he would meet her again, but, Daisy being Daisy, she didn’t say anything, just bade him goodbye in her turn and ran to the shop and went inside without looking back.
Helping her mother lay the table for their lunch, she reflected that it was a good thing they wouldn’t meet again. Perhaps it would have been better if they hadn’t met this morning, upsetting all her efforts to put him out of her mind…
‘Did Mr der Huizma find you?’ asked her father as they sat at table. Daisy, caught unawares, went a bright pink although she sounded composed.
‘Yes, Father, it was pleasant seeing him again. He’s here for a day or two…’
And her mother said, ‘He was so kind to you while you were in Holland…’
Daisy didn’t want him to be kind; she wanted him to love her…
She thought about him during the afternoon, waiting patiently while a customer dithered

A whirlwind,’ said Mr der Huizma calmly. ‘Most interesting. But come along now.’He had Trigger on his lead and a vast arm round Daisy.
They settled with their backs to the rock which encircled them and Daisy asked, ‘Will it last long, the whirlwind?’
‘No. A bit noisy and rough, but we’re secure here. I’m sorry; I should have seen it earlier.’
Daisy, feeling his arm around her, was glad that he hadn’t.
It grew darker and noisier, and all at once the whirlwind was upon them—and gone again before Daisy had the time to feel frightened. But it was followed by great peals of thunder and flashes of lightning. She had always been frightened of storms; now she buried her face in his shoulder and kept her eyes tight shut.
She muttered into his Burberry, ‘I’m terrified of storms. So sorry.’
She was surprised to hear his rumble of laughter, but all he said was, ‘It will soon pass. We’re quite safe here.’
Positively cosy, reflected Daisy, her head on his shoulder, Trigger’s doggy warmth pressed up against her legs… She swallowed down her fright and thought how happy she was, sitting here hidden from the storm and Jules’s arm holding her close. There was a great deal of him, and he was very solid. This, she thought, was a moment to remember for the rest of her life.
The whirlwind had passed, the storm was blowing itself out, and the thunder was a rumble in the distance. Jules took his arm away and stood up. It was raining, but there was a clear sky out to sea where the last of the clouds were hurtling away.
He hauled her to her feet, took her arm and walked her briskly back along the beach, Trigger walking soberly beside them. It was raining still, and the sea was boisterous, but Daisy, happy in her own particular heaven, didn’t notice. Mr der Huizma, looking down at her blissful face, sighed and wished for a miracle. To break his promise to marry Helene wasn’t a thing he would contemplate, but surely there was some way in which

They had reached the rocks, and she would have liked nothing better than to climb round them and go on walking, but it would soon be midday and she was to take over the shop that afternoon. She said urgently, ‘I must go back…’
‘The morning is quickly over,’ he said easily. They didn’t say much on their way back, and at the corner of the lane he bade her goodbye. She longed to know if he would meet her again, but, Daisy being Daisy, she didn’t say anything, just bade him goodbye in her turn and ran to the shop and went inside without looking back.
Helping her mother lay the table for their lunch, she reflected that it was a good thing they wouldn’t meet again. Perhaps it would have been better if they hadn’t met this morning, upsetting all her efforts to put him out of her mind…
‘Did Mr der Huizma find you?’ asked her father as they sat at table. Daisy, caught unawares, went a bright pink although she sounded composed.
‘Yes, Father, it was pleasant seeing him again. He’s here for a day or two…’
And her mother said, ‘He was so kind to you while you were in Holland…’
Daisy didn’t want him to be kind; she wanted him to love her…
She thought about him during the afternoon, waiting patiently while a customer dithered between

one of the big firms dealing in antiques so that she might learn even more? She thought that perhaps she had been rather abrupt and added, ‘Of course it would mean father would have to get an assistant.’
A fragmented and misleading remark which left Mr der Huizma no better informed than he had been. But he was a man of infinite patience and he was here for another two days. He began to talk about nothing in particular in his friendly way, and Daisy, blissfully happy for the moment, threw sticks for Trigger, her face rosy from the wind, uncaring of the tendrils of hair escaping from her scarf. Somehow it didn’t matter how she looked when she was with Jules. And anyway, he wasn’t really looking at her—a quick glance from time to time, that was

be curtailed, even stopped for the height of the tourist season. She had a little colour in her cheeks now, but she had grown thinner and there were violet shadows under her eyes. But although she was quiet she was unendingly cheerful. That she longed to see Jules was something she kept to herself. She

talked readily enough about her stay in Holland but Jules she never mentioned, something her mother had noticed with a troubled heart.
It was a bright, blustery

arrange their future exactly as she wanted it.
It was a shock when he told her one evening that he would be going to England in a few days’ time.
‘To one of the hospitals?’
‘I have two hospitals to visit, yes. I am going to see Daisy.’
She managed to keep her face composed. ‘Give her my love. I dare say she is getting ready for her wedding. Perhaps you could find time to get her a present from us?’
‘I doubt that.’ He began to talk of something else then.

Daisy, now that summer was here, made the most of her daily walks. In another few weeks her father would need her more often in the shop, and her outings would have to

But although she was quiet she was unendingly cheerful.