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He skidded to a halt at the side of the house, narrowly missing the back of her freezer van.
They got out and he ran round the back before she could stop him. It’d be too dark round there to see the key hole, whereas at least she had the moon to help her get in the front door. She quickly let herself in and ran past Bernard who was snoring loudly on the sofa. She pushed through the co
‘Daisy, it’s me, open the door.’
There was a second’s hesitation and then she heard the drawers being dragged back away from the door. The door was flung open and in the limited light from the moon she saw a glint of blonde hair before Daisy’s body slammed into hers hard. Daisy wrapped her arms round her and Pe
‘You’re OK, we’re here now.’
‘I’m so sorry, I’m such a tit. I should have grown out of being scared of the dark a long time ago.’
Pe
‘Hey, it’s not silly to be scared of the dark. Trust me, if I was here in the house alone and the lights went out, I’d be shitting myself too. Don’t tell your dad I swore.’
Daisy giggled against her.
‘Too late, I already heard,’ Henry said, wrapping them both in a huge bear hug and squashing Daisy between them.
Oh god. It was beyond silly to attach anything to that hug but Pe
‘I can’t breathe,’ Daisy protested from somewhere between them and after a few moments Henry reluctantly let them go.
Henry held Daisy at arm’s length as if checking her for injuries and Pe
‘Why don’t we all go into my lounge and we can light a fire and some candles? I have some marshmallows we could toast too.’
Henry nodded and led the way down the stairs, holding Daisy’s hand. Daisy reached back and held Pe
‘Henry, why don’t you build a fire and I’ll grab some candles?’ Pe
Henry set about throwing in logs and twigs and Pe
The fire was burning quite well by this point and coupled with the candles it sent a warm, golden glow around the room.
Henry sat down on the sofa and pulled Daisy into his arms, just as he had done with Pe
‘All that bloody talk of axe murderers scared the crap out of me,’ Henry muttered, kissing Daisy’s head and linking hands with Pe
‘It made me laugh,’ Daisy said, pressed against his chest, completely unaware of the staring competition going on over her head.
‘That was the general idea,’ Pe
Henry smiled slightly at her then returned his attention to his daughter, though he kept his hand entwined with Pe
Henry woke up later with a crick in his neck and his two favourite girls in his arms. Pe
It was ridiculous to react that way over a power cut, but knowing how scared Daisy had been had scared the crap out of him too. He’d always reacted badly whenever Daisy got hurt. He remembered when she had fallen off her bike as a kid and badly scraped her knee and he’d rushed her off to hospital. He’d nearly punched the dentist once when Henry had mistakenly taken Daisy’s scream of terror for one of pain and the dentist had barely even touched her. When it came to Daisy he knew he was completely over-protective and irrational and there was nothing he could do about it.
He looked down at Pe
He ran his fingers through Pe
‘I’m going to take Daisy to bed,’ Henry whispered.
Pe
With some difficulty, he managed to extricate himself from Daisy, stood up and then he scooped her up. Pe
‘What are you doing?’ she mumbled.
‘Taking you to bed.’
‘Oh.’ She snuggled into his neck as he walked up the stairs. ‘I’m not really awake enough for that.’
He felt her breathing immediately becoming heavy again.
‘I can’t stay, not tonight. I don’t want Daisy waking up and finding me gone.’
‘K,’ Pe
He laid her down on her bed and she snuggled into her pillow, her eyes closed as she drifted off.
‘I fell in love with you a little bit tonight. Although maybe I should say I fell in love with you a little more. The way you handled Daisy was brilliant, even I wouldn’t have handled it like that. Well I didn’t, you saw what a mess I was over something as ridiculous as a power cut. But you… you just kept talking to her, making her laugh, made her see sense. You were wonderful. I love how you are with her, but not just with her, I just love how you are. I’m not really making a lot of sense, am I?’
There was no answer from Pe
He bent over and kissed her on the head and left her to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-one
Pe