Free Lawless by Jessie Keane

her golden-blonde hair was tucked up neatly in its French pleat.
    ‘Oh good mawning ,’ said Tessa Barclay in an affectedly ‘posh’ voice, nudging her friend Julie as they stood beside the big row of lockers where the staff put all their belongings during shop hours.
    Daisy hurried from the locker room, their laughter ringing in her ears.
    Just two weeks in, and she was learning the ropes at least. She checked the shelves she was responsible for and then went to the stockroom, gathering up what she needed. Then she went back, put the stock out on display and did a return trip, edged past Tessa and Julie who did their best to stand in her way while she puffed past them, arms laden with stock items. Ignoring them, she cleaned up, tidied everything. She kept thinking about her little boys, her twins, and she ached for them, missed them so much. But she’d wanted this. And now she’d got it. Truth was, though, she hated it.
    ‘I suppose these early mawnings are a bit of a strain on your ladyship, are they?’ asked Tessa, flicking a look at Julie, who smirked.
    Daisy felt her mouth go dry. They were still doing this. Mocking her whenever they got the chance, whispering to everyone else on the shop floor that she was Ruby Darke’s daughter and only in here to spy on everyone and to pretend that she was working like any other ordinary person. They ignored her in the canteen, moving away from where she was sitting. Of course she could join Mum for lunch, but that would endorse everything they already thought about her: that she was Mummy’s little rich girl, unable to take the heat. That nepotism was alive and well, right here at Darkes.
    ‘Not really,’ she said, keeping her eyes on the neat lines of the stock she was putting out on display. ‘I’m up early with the twins anyway.’
    ‘Oh! Surely not! Don’t the nanny do all that for you?’ asked Tessa.
    ‘No,’ said Daisy. ‘She doesn’t. I like to help her get them up and dressed, give them breakfast.’
    ‘Then nanny takes over and you come and ponce around in Mummy’s store,’ said Tessa.
    Daisy straightened and looked her tormentor in the eye. ‘I work here. The same as you do.’
    ‘Oh, she works heah ,’ said Julie in that horrible mockery of Daisy’s voice, and Tessa giggled. ‘Gawd alive.’
    Daisy gritted her teeth. ‘Look . . .’ she started. She wanted to hit Tessa. And then Julie. This couple of utter bitches had set out to make her life a misery, and why? Because her mother owned the store? How was that in any way fair?
    Doris, her section leader, came over. ‘We’re short-staffed on the tills, Daisy, will you cover? Store’s open in ten.’
    Relieved, Daisy nodded. Aware of Tessa and Julie sniggering behind her, she went across to the tills, feeling herself shaking with temper.
    This is a waste of time, she thought in a sudden moment of clarity. I’m not like Mum. I hate store work. I can’t do this.
    But she’d wanted this, she reminded herself. Being a stay-at-home mother wasn’t for her. Trouble was, she didn’t know what was for her. The thought of her babies, little Matthew and Luke, kept her sane even if their father – her ex-husband Simon – drove her crazy with his stupid accusations and demands. And then there was Rob . . .
    Her heart leapt when she thought of Rob, her mother’s minder and chauffeur. Daisy had been exchanging looks with him for months, she knew he was interested. Now she had only to give him the slightest encouragement. And she couldn’t wait. Marriage to Simon had been miserable, but she felt she could be happy with Rob. Their relationship was no relationship at all, not yet. It was at that tingling, exciting pre-courtship stage, when the other person is just a tantalizing mystery, when anything seems possible and the world – whatever its difficulties – seems like a fantastic place to be.
    She took up her position on the till and fixed a smile on her face, teeth gritted, as the doors of Darkes