Page 113 of Kiwi Sin
The pie, of course, was magical, full of dark brown gravy and tender chunks of meat, with carrots and onions embedded throughout and a flaky pastry on top. I wasn’t sure how she did that, but I wanted her to keep doing it for me.
Daisy said, when she’d finished her slice, and the rocket and pear salad that Oriana had fixed to go with it, “That was delicious. Thanks. I’m going to skip pudding and go take a nap before my night shift.”
She’d already half stood up when Oriana said, “Could you wait a minute, please? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
Daisy lowered herself again, but the expression on her face was cautious. All she said, though, was, “Go ahead.”
I thought,Same thing I talked about with Dad. She’s clearing the air.And got ready for it.
What Oriana said, though, was, “Laila needs a full-time photography assistant again, and I’d like to do it.”
Daisy looked at Gray. He raised his eyebrows at her and said nothing. She said, “You’re in school, though.”
“Yes,” Oriana said. “I am. I’m taking classes to prepare me for my business, which is what you’re meant to do, but they’re not preparing me fast enough. I’m wasting time that I could spenddoingmy business, and learning what I want to learn in the evenings, or from Laila, about photography and business and making a website. I’ve made my own set of books for the knitwear already. I have questions still, but I have Gray to answer them. He’s answered heaps of them already.”
“I have,” Gray said. “And glad to do it. You’re a good businesswoman with a fine sense of how to product-test and where to allocate your resources. I can teach heaps of things, but I can’t teach judgment, and I can’t teach drive.”
Daisy said, “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours,” he said. “And your sisters’. Oriana has a gift. So do you. They just aren’t the same gift.”
“I’ve got a website set up, too,” Oriana said. “It’s not perfect yet, either, but it will be, because I can ask Laila. And if I ring her up and say yes, I think I’ll have a job. A full-time job.”
Priya said, “I can’t believe you’d do this.”
Oriana said, “What? Stop school? I’m nearly eighteen. I’m not going to university. I’m going to keep working with Iris and learning more, and working with Laila and learning more, and working for myself and learning more. I don’t have to get permission to stop school, but I want Daisy to understand why.”
“And this doesn’t have anything to do with Gabriel,” Daisy said.
“It has heaps to do with Gabriel,” Oriana said. “I want to marry him and live with him. I have nearly eleven thousand dollars in the bank now.”
“And I have over twenty thousand,” I said. “And a ute.” I pulled a piece of paper out of my back pocket. No, not the sexual positions one. That, I’d already memorized. This was a printout of my bank balance, and now, I unfolded it and slid it across the table to Daisy.
“Twenty thousand,” Gray said, without expression.
“My flat’s cheap,” I said. “And I haven’t bought much of anything. I’ve saved, and Oriana’s saved, and this is what we’ve been saving for. To have each other. If leaving Mount Zion has taught me anything, it’s that life is … it’s too precious not to do the things that are right for you. I spent nearly twenty-five years having somebody else dictate my every move, and try to dictate my every thought. I’m not spending another year that way.”
“So you want to …” Daisy said.
“To take the job,” Oriana said. “And to marry Gabriel.”
“You’d need a judge’s permission.” That was Gray again.
“I know,” Oriana said. “I looked it up. I printed out the forms and filled them in, but I need to wait until I’m sure Laila’s going to give me the job, so I have the right thing to put on the “Occupation” line. Full time will look better. Then I file them with the court, and they have a hearing for me, and maybe Gabriel. They may ask you to say something, Daisy, and I hope you’ll give your approval, but even if you don’t, I’m asking. I don’t think the judge will say no. I don’t see why he would.”
“Neither do I,” Gray said. “Daisy?”
She raised her hands, palm up, then let them fall. “It’s not what I would have wanted, but it’s what you want, and honestly? I don’t see how you’d have a better husband than Gabriel.”
Oriana said, “Really?” Her face was naked with joy, and in that minute, shedidlook seventeen.
Daisy smiled. “Really.”
Oriana let out a cry and jumped up so fast, she nearly knocked the chair over. She threw her arms around Daisy, who laughed and cuddled her back, and then she cuddled Gray and Priya, too. Finally, she looked at me. “I guess I should have told you first,” she said.
I was laughing, too. “Nah,” I said, “you should have counted on me, and you did.”
After that? I stood up and kissed her, and then I picked her up and swung her around and kissed her again. “I don’t have a ring, though,” I said, when I’d finally put her down. “They do a special ring, Outside.”
