Father Unknown Read Online Free PDF Page A

out into the hall and up the stairs. ‘She stabbed me, she stabbed me,’ she screamed at the top of her voice. ‘Dad, come quickly, Daisy’s freaked out.’
    Daisy grabbed a wad of kitchen paper to try to stop the blood flowing from her nose all over her and on to the floor. Then she heard Dad and Tom clattering down the stairs, demanding to know what was going on. The bottom of the stairway wasn’t visible from the kitchen as the hallway was L-shaped, so as Daisy held the kitchen roll to her nose, she couldn’t see her father and Tom with Lucy who was hysterical, shrieking as if she’d been the victim of an entirely unprovoked attack. Daisy was just about to make her way out there and say her piece when she suddenly felt faint and slumped down on to a kitchen chair.
    ‘Stop screaming and sit down,’ Dad said to Lucy, but his voice grew fainter as he led Lucy into the sitting-room to examine her arm.
    Tom came out into the kitchen. He stopped short when he saw Daisy with blood all over her. ‘What’s been going on?’ he asked.
    ‘She punched me for nothing,’ Daisy said weakly. ‘Have I really stabbed her? I didn’t mean to, I only picked up the knife because she was going to hit me again. She grabbed me by the hair as I walked past her.’
    ‘Dad’s looking at it now,’ he said. ‘What’s the matter with you two? Isn’t it enough that Mum’s dead without this?’
    It was unusual for Tom to be critical, normally everything washed over him. He was a calm person, who liked to take a back seat.
    ‘She started it,’ Daisy insisted. ‘If she walked into the knife then it serves her right, she told me to fuck off and shack up with Joel, she said you all despise me.’
    ‘I’m going to have to take Lucy to the hospital to get this wound looked at,’ Dad shouted from the hall. ‘I’ll talk to you when I get back, Daisy,’ he added ominously, and the front door slammed as he left.
    ‘I didn’t mean to hurt her.’ Daisy looked up at Tom, pleading to be believed. ‘She’s such a bitch, Tom. I bet she’s telling Dad a whole load of lies right now.’
    It wasn’t clear if Tom believed her or not, but he got some ice from the fridge and held it against Daisy’s nose until the bleeding stopped.
    As Daisy sat there she told him exactly what had happened and why, but Tom still seemed to think she was mainly to blame. ‘Why didn’t you just refuse to get into an argument?’ he said, his normally sunny face contorted with anxiety. ‘You know what she can be like.’
    ‘I can’t take insults like that and say nothing,’ Daisy said wearily. ‘Nobody could. Can’t you imagine how hurtful it is to be told I’m a cuckoo in the nest here? Am I, Tom? Is it true what she said, that you and Dad despise me?’
    ‘Of course not,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Lucy was just jealous because you were in the limelight today, everyone admiring the cakes and flans you made, saying how nice you’d kept the house and what a comfort it must have been to Mum to have you looking after her. She was hurt that she didn’t get any compliments.’
    ‘Well, she didn’t do anything to get them,’ Daisy retorted. ‘It wasn’t that I wanted to do it all alone. She wouldn’t help me, if you remember. I’m every bit as upset as anyone else at losing Mum, but I couldn’t stay moping in my room, someone had to prepare things.’
    Tom gave her the same despairing look she’d often seen on her father’s face. Dad was a person who didn’t like confrontation, or being asked to take sides. ‘Your nose is badly swollen,’ he said, and it sounded like a pretext to get off the subject of his sister. ‘I’ll get you some brandy, and maybe you’d better go to bed.’
    There was nothing Daisy wanted more than to sleep. She’d been up since six that morning preparing the food and she was totally drained now. ‘Okay, but will you explain my side of it to Dad when they get back?’ she asked.
    He nodded.
    ‘Perhaps it