The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street: An absolutely unforgettable Christmas romance

by Emma Davies

  He crossed the room and collected another package from his jacket, handing it to Bea. ‘Open it,’ he said. ‘I think you’ll find it very enlightening.’

  Daisy felt the colour drain from her face. How on earth had Kit got hold of that? ‘I can explain,’ she said quietly.

  Kit was by her side in an instant, a hesitant hand held out in the space between them. ‘No,’ he said gently. ‘Let me. You have nothing to explain, Daisy, and nothing to hide. Not any more.’

  Kit waited until Bea had opened the box and taken out the silver bookmark that Daisy had made and posted days ago. A bookmark on which she had embellished an intricate design of entwined leaves and flowers, leaving a gap at the top where she had cut out the shape of a heart. Suspended within it was the pendant which she had created to nestle against the breast of Nick Carr’s girlfriend.

  Bea’s intake of breath was audible. And then she looked up, straight at Daisy. ‘You made this?’ she asked, quite rightly deducing its creator.

  ‘Yes, she did,’ said Kit firmly. ‘She made it for a customer who asked her to make him a present for his girlfriend and, with the aid of only the briefest of descriptions, Daisy made this. She had no idea it was really for me…’ He gave her the softest of smiles. ‘I even had to go to a friend’s house in Chester to pick it up so that she wouldn’t guess my identity.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say… except that it is utterly beautiful… unique. I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like it before.’ Bea held the bookmark closer, studying the detail, her eyes widening as she spotted the tiny clasp at the top of the heart. ‘This looks as if it comes away…?’

  Daisy’s voice was no more than a whisper. ‘It does. The pendant is a separate piece to the bookmark, and I included the chain so that it can be worn. It should be in the box.’

  Bea looked again, drawing out the finest of threads. ‘Would you?’ she asked. ‘I’m scared I’ll break it.’

  Daisy took it from her with trembling hands and slipped the heart onto its chain before laying it across Bea’s palm. The pendant was embellished with several tiny flowers – a rosebud curled around the bottom, its stem partially forming the point of the heart, while two daisies nestled between its leaves, every petal picked out in perfect relief.

  Bea touched a gentle finger against a detail before looking back at Daisy. ‘How long have you been making these?’ she asked.

  ‘A few years…’

  ‘But you never told us…’

  ‘No, I…’

  Kit’s hand slipped into hers. ‘Daisy didn’t think they were good enough. She thought you would all laugh.’

  Sudden tears sprang into Bea’s eyes. ‘Oh, my darling girl…’ Her hug was fierce, pulling her away from Kit, but he let her go, watching her with a gentle expression on his face as he nodded in affirmation of everything that Daisy was. Everything that she had become.

  Bertie was next, holding out his hand in wonder, a broad grin on his face. ‘I bloody knew it,’ he said. ‘I knew there was something special about you. That day when you skated on the ice, I saw just a glimpse of it, a lightness of spirit, something set free. That’s what this is – imagination set free.’

  ‘So that’s it, is it? Just like that.’ Lawrence’s voice was harsh. ‘We’re just going to throw everything out the window because Daisy can make a bit of jewellery, are we? It’s lovely, but could we possibly get back to the business in hand, and the small matter of who should be running your business, Mother.’

  ‘I rather thought that’s exactly what we were doing,’ Bea replied, archly.

  ‘Well as far as I’m concerned this doesn’t change anything and—’

  Bertie cut across him. ‘For God’s sake, man, can you not see what’s in front of you?’

  ‘No, frankly. What I can see, however, is someone who we thought we could trust, but who all along has been waiting to snatch our customers.’ He looked directly at Kit. ‘And I also see someone else who knew exactly what kind of jewellery Daisy liked. You’re nothing but a cheat, Kit. I don’t know what’s in this for you, but I can guess… In fact they’re probably in this together.’ He looked Daisy up and down.

  ‘Lawrence! That is quite enough.’

  ‘No, it’s okay, Mum. I’m happy to explain.’ Kit glared at his brother. ‘I think Lawrence has just shown his true colours, so perhaps I should remind you of Daisy’s. Right at the beginning of this competition it was actually you who suggested that we each take Daisy out for the day. And may I remind you that it was Daisy who insisted that none of the details of said excursions should be discussed with anyone else. A stipulation that you agreed to. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d lay money on the fact that you asked Daisy for some insider information on your day out, but she said no…’ Lawrence had the grace to look a little sheepish. ‘In fact, I bet every one of us tried it on.’

  Bertie shrugged. ‘He’s right, Lawrence. I know I did, and sorry, but after I told them I was pulling out of the competition, I outright asked Daisy to cheat, but she wouldn’t. Got pretty angry about it actually.’

  Kit continued. ‘But the truth is, obviously, I did know about Daisy’s jewellery. I found out purely by chance when a friend of mine let slip that Daisy was making a gift for him to give to his partner. He didn’t know it was a secret and so the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. And that would have been fine if Daisy hadn’t found out that I knew.’

  ‘So, at that point you just cooked this whole thing up between you—’

  ‘No!’ Kit gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Look Lawrence, will you just let me finish? I entered this competition to win, just as you did, but my intention was always to then pass over the reins to Daisy. All I’ve done now is simply cut myself out of the equation, because I’m not what’s important here. When I found out about Daisy’s jewellery-making I knew I had to keep my knowledge a secret so that I didn’t compromise the integrity and loyalty she fought so hard to keep. She would have accused me of cheating, and I couldn’t run the risk that she would tell Mother and the whole competition would be called off. The other point is that had she realised I knew exactly what her designs were like and how I found out, she would never have made the heart that you’re looking at now. And I almost blew it… The other night I let slip I knew and she did just what I knew she would – accused me of trying to wheedle information out of her in order to win the competition and—’

  ‘So you let me think badly of you instead,’ said Daisy, her nose beginning to prickle. ‘You could have explained how you knew, but you didn’t… to protect me…’ Her eyes found Kit’s. ‘You did that for me?’

  He nodded gently. ‘To protect you so that I could bring your jewellery here today, for everyone to see. This is not something that should be hidden away, and neither should you be, Daisy. You have a rare talent and an imagination that deserves to be given wings. It’s time for you to shine.’

  And he smiled, a smile that went straight to Daisy’s heart, that came from somewhere very deep inside of him and met something very deep inside of her. There were tears in her eyes as she saw Bertie nod.

  ‘And Buchanans is the perfect place for you to do it,’ he said, coming forward. ‘I agree with you, Kit. Daisy is the only one who deserves to run the business.’

  He opened his arms to give her a hug and although she could feel the warmth of his embrace, his stubbly chin scratching against her hair, all she could see was the look in Kit’s eyes as the enormity of what he had done for her began to sink in. He was watching her now, an expression on his face that she thought she would never tire of seeing.

  ‘So what do you think, Mother? It’s time to announce the winner.’

  Bea came forward as if taking centre stage and Daisy had a strange feeling that this was what she had planned all along. She daren’t look at Lawrence but, as Kit came to stand beside her, his hand slipping back into hers as if it had never been away, she found she no longer cared what Lawrence thought of her. Just as she no longer cared
if he did end up running Buchanans. Daisy was already the biggest winner of them all, for Kit had just given her the best present she could ever have wished for. His love.

  ‘Well…’ Bea clasped her hands together in delight, her face shining with excitement. ‘I had hoped that something like this would happen, but I’ll confess this has surpassed all my expectations.’

  Daisy stared at her. She’d been right all along – she’d known Bea was up to something.

  ‘Close your mouth, Lawrence, dear, and don’t look so surprised. Even you, when you think about it, will begin to understand why I’m doing this.’ She took a deep breath. ‘As you know, in a little over a week, I will be sixty, and Charles and I will start our new lives together. I’ve waited a long time for this, but I always knew that the question of what happened to Buchanans would be one that was not so easily resolved. My three darling boys…’

  She broke off to look at each of them in turn. ‘But how to choose between you? Especially when I knew that the business wasn’t right for any of you. You’ve all served it well over the years, in different ways, but all showing your loyalty, both to me and to your late father’s wish that Buchanans should continue long into the future. And perhaps it has simply been that my own change in circumstance has allowed me to see that it was time, not only to set myself free, but to set you all free too.’

  She beamed directly at Daisy before continuing. ‘I always knew who I wanted to run this place, just as I knew that if I simply announced it, you three would fight me every inch of the way, so I had to show a little cunning… I had to find a way to let you reach that conclusion for yourselves. And by and large that’s exactly what has happened…’ She changed the direction of her gaze.

  ‘Bertie… I knew that you could never stand to be confined to this place day in day out, your wonderful people skills never quite being given the space they needed to grow. I also knew of course that Luka had asked you to go into business with him, and that all it would take for you to make that decision was a drop of courage and a little bird to point out to you what was important in life.’

  Bertie nodded and smiled, shaking his head in amusement.

  ‘And Lawrence… You haven’t quite got there yet, but you will, soon. You see, out of you three I always knew that you would fight the hardest, not because you really wanted to run Buchanans, but because you wanted to win, and that is quite a different thing altogether.’

  She sighed. ‘You’ve always been that way, and I’m afraid that’s my fault, placing so much responsibility onto your shoulders from such an early age, always making you the one in charge… But, now, I hope you will see that your talents too lie elsewhere. You’ve had some remarkable ideas for Buchanans over the years, but they’ve never quite hit the spot – but only because you’ve picked the wrong spot. Go to London, Lawrence. Test out your ideas where there are big budgets and the sky’s the limit, that’s where you’ll find your feet.’

  Daisy smiled at him, taking in the stunned expression on his face, but one that showed he was, finally, beginning to understand. He nodded in reply, a small nod, but it was there.

  ‘And finally, Kit… out of you all, the one who knew what he believed in right from an early age and quietly and determinedly set out to live it. You’ve always known where your strengths lie, and it never has been here… Curious then that you chose to work on the shop floor, day in day out, even when you had other far more pressing things to do. Or rather, not that curious at all, when one of the things you believed in was a young woman. Someone within whom you could see, just as I did, a spark of something very special indeed. It’s no wonder you fell in love with her.’

  She laughed. ‘Of course I knew, Kit, I’ve known for ages. Trust me, a mother knows these things. What I wasn’t quite so sure about was where exactly your feelings were going to take us, but I’m extraordinarily pleased with where they have.’

  She paused and looked at them in turn. ‘And so, here we are at the end. Or perhaps the beginning… I hope so, because I’m absolutely certain that this is the right thing to do, for all of you. Daisy has more than proved herself the successor of Buchanans. She could have colluded with any of you, at any point, but she didn’t. She remained loyal to me and to the spirit of the competition, without even knowing why, and I don’t have to tell you how rare it is to find someone with that degree of integrity these days. The fact that she is an extremely talented jeweller has come as the most wonderful surprise and makes what I’m about to do even more special.

  ‘You see, Daisy, I am off to start a new life with everything I could possibly want. But it’s also time for us all to take responsibility for our lives, to stand on our own two feet, without Buchanans. And so, I don’t just want you to run this place for me…’ She looked around her one more time, her hands clasped together. ‘I want you to have more than that. I want you to have the very thing that you have never believed you should want but in fact have always needed, and so I’m giving it to you, Daisy. Buchanans is yours…’

  26

  Christmas Day

  Daisy groaned. ‘I have eaten so much,’ she said. ‘Now I know what all the fuss is about. Even the Brussel sprouts…’

  They were snuggled on Kit’s sofa, far away from the outside world, warm and cosy inside his log cabin among the trees. She laid her head against his shoulder and stretched out her toes towards the fire.

  ‘I have to confess I wasn’t sure if you would eat it,’ replied Kit. ‘But I could hardly serve you cheese sandwiches and carrot sticks for Christmas dinner, now could I?’

  She smiled sleepily, full, contented and happy as he rested his lips against the top of her hair.

  ‘It seems like a lifetime ago that I invited you to spend Christmas Day with me… and yet here you are…’

  She twisted slightly so that she could turn and look up at him. ‘Yes, here I am. I’m still not sure this isn’t all a dream. Or a fairy tale. I feel like a rescued damsel in distress. Actually, that’s the second time you’ve rescued me. I could quite get used to it.’

  Kit grinned. ‘Well, much as I’d like to continue rescuing you for a very long time to come, I’m afraid that won’t be at all necessary. You’d rescued yourself long before I got there.’

  ‘But all I did was start to make some jewellery, Kit, the rest has been down to you. I have a future now I never even dreamed of.’ Her eyes sparkled as a huge smile split her face. ‘I have a shop! Imagine that…’

  ‘You do. And have you any thoughts yet about what to do with it? You heard what Mum said, no strings attached. You can make it anything you want it to be.’

  The time since yesterday afternoon had flown by in a mad whirl and Daisy really hadn’t had the chance to take it all in. She did know one thing, however. She pulled a face.

  ‘Not Buchanans… I mean, I might have to keep the name, but not the shop, not like it is now… But I’ll sell my jewellery, obviously, and maybe others too, from individual craftspeople like me. I could sell Flora’s prints as well… especially now that I can go ahead and make the jewellery to go on them… Oh, and things for The Castle…’ She broke off. ‘There is so much to think about, so many things I could do.’

  ‘And you can take your time over all of them,’ said Kit. ‘Work out what it is you really want.’

  ‘I do know one thing,’ she replied. ‘And that’s whatever I do, I will stay true to the things I believe in… the things we believe in. And I very much want you to be a part of it all. Will you? Stand by my side?’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Does that mean you’ll be my boss though?’ Kit grinned.

  ‘No, it means we’ll take it in turns to make the tea.’

  ‘Then you’ve got yourself a deal, Daisy Buchanan.’

  She sat up straight. ‘What did you call me?’

  He grinned. ‘Daisy Buchanan… That is your name, isn’t it? Well, it is on Instagram anyway. How else do you think I found your jewellery?’

  She rolled he
r eyes. ‘I kept meaning to ask you about that. It was the one thing I couldn’t work out.’

  ‘It was pretty easy really. I heard you once talking to a customer about romantic fiction and the subject of The Great Gatsby came up… One of your favourite books, you said, a love story, but yet at the same time, not, its beauty corrupted by wealth and power… A book which has at its heart one Daisy Buchanan… So, let me see – your name is Daisy and you work in Buchanans – it really didn’t take much to put two and two together and find your account.’

  She laughed. ‘No, I guess not.’ And then she stared at him, a look of dawning realisation crossing her face. ‘Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t spot it – the name you used to order the jewellery – NickCarr1 – Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s friend from the book.’ She tutted. ‘I’m such an idiot!’

  Kit gave a slight bow. ‘At your service. I couldn’t use the full name of course, that would have given the game away far too easily, but Nick Carr…’

  Daisy smiled up at him. ‘You really did go to extraordinary lengths for me, Kit, and I’m still not sure why.’

  ‘No?’ He leaned closer. ‘Well, that’s really very simple. You see, you make me feel more alive than anyone I’ve ever known, and in certain lights your skin looks like alabaster. It’s so pale that when you arch your neck it makes me want to lay my fingers against your skin to feel your heart beating…’

  He gently caught the end of her chin and turned it towards him, his fingers sliding down the curve of her neck to rest lightly on her skin. ‘You’re the first thing I think about every morning when I wake up, and the last thing at night, and when you smile at me it’s like there’s no one else in the room.’