Little Flower

by Jeanie P Johnson

  Gray Wolf shook his head, but he could see by the gleam in the Apache’s eye, that if he refused to go along with them his life would be taken for dishonoring the request. Since he didn’t want to risk an angry band of Apache’s overtaking them, he decided to pretend to go along, in hopes that he and his companions could escape along the way somehow.

  “It is not our wish to get caught up with renegades,” Gray Wolf muttered, “but I see you may not take no for an answer, so I my friends and I will join you for a spell.”

  “It is a wise choice, you make,” the leader smiled slyly, knowing he had recruited three more members to join his band, even if they came unwillingly.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Don’t look so frightened. It’s not going to be the death of you,” Madison chuckled as he walked across the empty ballroom floor towards Daisy with a stranger at his side. “I brought my friend, Loran Belington to play the piano for us so I could teach you to dance.” Madison winked as his friend took one of Daisy’s hands and lifted it to his lips.

  “At your service, ma’am,” Loran smiled, his blue eyes sparking at her, while his light hair, fell over his forehead, as he bent his head over her hand. “Madison has told me so much about you. I look forward to attending your welcome home celebration.”

  Daisy’s eyes widened at the handsome-looking young man. This must be one of Madison’s choices for her, she thought, but it would do him no good, she resolved. She would never marry, no matter how many suiters, Madison furnished at her welcome home celebration.

  “It is a pleasure meeting you,” Daisy murmured, remembering the manners Madison had been teaching her, as he gave her reading lessons, or showed her around the hotel.

  It had been a couple weeks since she arrived, and she was slowly getting used to what was expected of her, but she still felt out of place, and in two more days, she would be expected to face a group of curious people attending her welcome home celebration. She didn’t know if she was up to it or not?

  Daisy watched, as Loran walked to the corner of the hall, his footsteps echoing throughout the empty room, as he approached the piano and lifted its dust cover. Then he sat down on the bench and started to play a few chords.

  The room was enormous, bigger than the Sun Dance lodge, Daisy thought. However, she was certain that the kind of dancing that would take place there wouldn’t be anything like the Sun Dance. It was the first time she had ventured into the room, and like all the other rooms in her parent’s huge house, it impressed her with its splendor. Three crystal chandeliers from one end of the room to the other, hung above her, promising to shine glittering light overhead when the candles were lit.

  The walls were embraced by tall, arched windows on one side, hung with sheer drapes, bringing in the sunlight, and tall, arched mirrors in gilded frames opposite each window on the other wall to reflect the light of the chandeliers. In between each mirror was a candle sconce, holding three candles to enhance the light of the overhead chandeliers, when lit. The walls were covered in glistening white wallpaper, with raised, gold velvet designs dancing over the surface. Potted plants were tastefully placed about the room, close to the walls, adding a feeling of coolness and contrast against the almost iridescent surroundings. The room actually shimmered, which tended to intimidate Daisy. She felt so small and insignificant, as Madison held his hand out to her.

  “Now don’t be shy, Daisy,” he encouraged, as Loran began playing the piano, filling the room with music. “The beat is very easy to pick up. Can you hear it? One-two-three, one-two-three,” he repeated. “You just have to move your feet to the beat, like this.”

  Madison began dancing circles around Daisy as he showed her the steps, then he came and took her hand and placed it on his shoulder and the other, he grasped firmly in his own hand. “Just follow me,” he whispered in her ear, placing a capable hand on her waist and putting pressure on it, to encourage her steps, as he started to move with her in his arms.

  Daisy stumbled for a few steps and then began to catch on as Madison continued to count the beats while he began to twirl her around the room. Soon she was laughing up into Madison’s face when the steps became easier and excitement rose within her.

  “You are catching on just fine,” Madison laughed, as the music came to an end. “Now I think you need to get used to dancing with another partner, so Loran is going to take over while I play the piano.”

  “You play the piano?” Daisy gasped.

  “I am a man of many talents,” he smiled. “If you like, I could teach you to play the piano as well.”

  “Oh, I would love that!” Daisy cheered, clapping her hands.

  “Good, but it will mean a lot of practicing, and between teaching you to read, and how to become a proper lady, our time together will increase.”

  “I wouldn’t mind that,” Daisy smiled. “I like your company.”

  “As I enjoy yours,” Madison smiled, giving her a special look Daisy couldn’t quite understand.

  Then Madison, straightened his features as he handed her over to Loran, who came up to them, waiting his turn to dance with Daisy.

  Daisy gave a happy giggle as Loran took her hand and pulled her into the dance. By now, she was feeling more sure of herself as the notes of the piano floated about the room and Loran led her across the floor.

  “You are a very lovely dancer,” Loran murmured. “I find you very enchanting. It is hard to believe that you were raised with heathens, and according to Madison, was accosted by one in a very savage way.”

  “What,” Daisy gulped. “Madison told you about Talking Dog?” she shuddered, starting to feel embarrassed.

  “Was that his name?” Loran asked. “It must have been a horrible experience! Those red devils think nothing of ravaging women, or forcing them to become their wives when they capture them. I have heard many stories about women captured by the Indians and how horribly they were treated.”

  “Why would Madison tell you that?” Daisy asked feeling dumbfounded. When she had admitted the abuse to Madison, it had merely been to inform him of her reasons for never marrying or even being a worthy wife to anyone, including Gray Wolf. She hadn’t expected him to repeat the story, especially to someone who didn’t even know her.

  “I think he told me to discourage me from asking for you hand. It seems Madison has his own sights on you, and why wouldn’t he? If he married you, he would become half owner in your father’s hotel, not to mention having a beautiful wife. Only I plan to give him a run for his money. I too, wouldn’t mind having a beautiful heiress as my wife. I hope I can convince you to give me at least a fighting chance to show you my intentions, and how much I am attracted to you.”

  “Is that so?” Daisy hissed, as she stopped dancing. “And whatever makes you think I would want you or Madison as a husband? I told him I would never marry, regardless of what my father demands of me!”

  “I am sure you could be persuaded otherwise,” Loran muttered when he saw the anger in Daisy’s eyes as she glared at him.

  “Madison had no right telling you anything about me,” Daisy cried, as she turned from him and walked over to where Madison was still playing the piano, unaware that they had stopped dancing.

  “How could you?” Daisy bellowed at Madison when she reached him. He looked up at her in surprise, the piano going silent.

  “How could I what?” he asked in puzzlement.

  “Tell your friend, who doesn’t even know me, about Talking Dog?”

  Before Madison could respond, Daisy’s hand smacked him across the face. He could see the tears begin to build in her eyes and realized the mistake he had made, as his hand went to her small, red, hand print on his cheek. He never dreamed that Loran would be stupid enough to bring the subject up with her. He merely wanted to warn Loran of her predicament, hoping it would discourage Loran from considering her as a possible wife. He felt it was better if he informed Loran that Daisy had been mistreated and did not trust men, thinking to save her the embarrassment o
f telling him herself, if he approached her with a proposal.

  Now her stormy glare shot through him like an arrow, and he realized in one heart-wrenching discovery that he had lost her trust in him. She was already vulnerable, and now, no telling how long it would take for him to gain her trust back. He watched in pain, as she turned with a rustle of her skirts, and her small feet ringing against the floor as she ran from the room, pulling against the heavy doors and then escaping through them.

  “Sorry,” Loran mumbled. “It just slipped out. I didn’t mean…”

  “Never mind,” Madison shrugged. “She’ll never accept either of us as her husband, not to mention anyone else who asks her. She has vowed to never marry because she is supposedly in love with an Indian brave, lucky guy. Only it’s a sure thing he will never show up at her door, and her father may force her to marry whether she wishes to or not.”

  “I feel sorry for her,” Loran murmured. “She is so beautiful, and has been mistreated by the people she claims she loved. It must be difficult for her to suddenly be placed here and expected to marry some stranger just because her father wishes it.”

  “It is all about passing things on to the rightful heir, and furnishing future heirs, I suppose,” Madison mumbled. “Guess this lesson is over with, and I doubt Daisy is ever going to allow me to teach her any other lessons either. The Indians called her Little Flower. I think the name suits her. She is like a little displaced flower, just a lonely daisy in a world where she is expected to act like an orchid.”

  Daisy was stumbling out the back door, lifting her skirts as she ran to the stable where Lucky was kept. She knew how much Lucky hated being shut up in the stable, the same way she hated having to act like a ‘proper lady’, she lamented. She threw the door open to let Lucky escape.

  “What are you up to?” Gordon asked her as he came up beside her. “You look upset.”

  “I hate being here!” Daisy admitted. “I don’t belong here! I never should have come.”

  “It can’t be that bad,” Gordon tried to sooth, as he knelt down beside her, where she was hugging Lucky.

  “Too much is expected of me. My father wants me to marry some stranger, and my mother wishes I was someone I can never be! On top of that, my brother hates me. It would have been better if my father had never discovered where I was. Then I could have become Gray Wolf’s wife and…”

  Daisy stopped, realizing that never could have happened either, and the thought made the tears escape down her cheeks. It was the bane of her existence because she could never be like a true Indian and prevent herself from crying. She knew, however, that Indians had been taught from birth never to cry, because if they were hiding from an enemy, the cry of an infant or child could give away their hiding place, causing their death in some instances.

  Now Daisy wished she could die, and then her misery would be over with. She wouldn’t have to face lonely days without Gray Wolf, or the fear of doing something to displease her parents.

  “The last time you were upset, I recall you took off on your horse,” Gordon reminded her. “I tell you what. Go change into your riding habit, and I will go with you for a ride, and we can bring Lucky. How would you like that?”

  “Yes,” Daisy nodded. “I think I need to feel the wind in my face about now.”

  Gordon patted her back, and gave her an encouraging smile. “I’ll saddle our horses, then,” he said, as Daisy turned to go back into the house and change her clothes.

  When she returned, the horses were ready, and the two took off in the direction of the beach, with Lucky trotting behind them to keep up. They kept a steady gait as they rode over the damp sand, so Lucky could keep up with them, and then they slowed their pace. Gordon didn’t speak, thinking that Daisy needed time to calm down, but as they walked the horses side by side, he began to talk to Daisy, to distract her from her own problems.

  “You know, a few years back, there was an earthquake in this area, back in October of ‘68’. It wasn’t right in San Francisco, but close by in Hayward. However, we felt it pretty good here. There was only about 500 people living in Hayward and almost every building in the town was damaged or destroyed. There were 30 people killed. It started close to eight in the morning and there continued to be about twenty-six after-shocks clear until four that afternoon. Everyone was quite alarmed. They say San Francisco might be next to have a bad earthquake, but no one knows when it might hit.”

  “That sounds horrible. Why would anyone want to live in a place where their homes could be destroyed by an earthquake?” Daisy asked in wonder.

  “Simply because it is so beautiful here, you can’t deny that, can you?”

  “I suppose not, but when you live in buildings there is a lot more danger of it falling on top of you during an earthquake, than if you lived in teepees like the Indians do,” she suggested.

  “Perhaps, but it is not like an earthquake happens every day. There may never be another one here, even if some people claim there is the chance of more coming in the future. However, for all we know it may be a hundred years from now, and we will all be dead by then.”

  “Only, whoever is alive then will have to experience it,” Daisy reasoned.

  “I guess we may never know until it happens again,” Gordon shrugged. “Are you feeling better now?” he asked, seeing the smile on her face. “You seemed pretty upset when you came out to the stables.”

  “I suppose I will get over it, but it seems everyone wants to direct my life. Even the Sioux had a way of making sure everyone lived by their expectations. Had I remained, I would have been miserable there too!”

  “What would make you so miserable?”

  “Having my life changed by an unthinkable act of another. Someone, who was selfish and wanted something from me that I wasn’t willing to give. Now my parents want me to marry and are making sure all the young men in this area will ask me, even though I do not wish to get married. I don’t know how to convince them that I don’t want a husband.”

  “I don’t think it will be easy, because that is what is expected of a daughter or a son. You need to furnish future heirs to take over the wealth your father has created for his family. He wants to make sure his legacy lives on even after he dies.”

  “I don’t see why it is so important for me to get married. Davy can furnish the heirs,” Daisy insisted.

  “A woman needs a husband to provide for her. Even though your father has money, it has to continue to be earned and invested by those who follow in his footsteps. Your husband would expect to support you the same way your father is supporting your mother and his children. It is just the way things work.”

  “I don’t know why it has to work that way,” Daisy frowned, but she had to admit that even in the Sioux village, the women were expected to get married to expand the tribe, and a man was there to provide for his family by being the hunter and protector. Only, just like her own society, they expected to have a wife who was a virgin, something she could no longer claim, so it didn’t matter which society she lived in, she would never be accepted as a suitable wife, she admitted to herself. The only one who would accept her as a wife was Talking Dog because he was the one who had taken her virtue, and she would rather die than become his wife.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter how it works, or what my parents wish for me. I will never agree to marry anyone they produce at my welcome home ceremony. They will just have to get used to the idea.”

  “So you wish to remain a spinster? Don’t you like men?” Gordon questioned.

  Daisy twisted her face in frustration. “It has nothing to do with men. I just don’t wish to be a wife to one.”

  “Is it because you are afraid to become a wife?” Gordon wanted to know. “I mean, having to be with a man intimately?

  “It has nothing to do with fear,” Daisy mumbled. “It has to do with acceptance. I have been raised by the Sioux. I am not worthy to become a wife, not to a white man or an Indian. Even if someone wanted me, I still would not feel
worthy to be their wife. It would not be fair to them and would always stand between us.”

  “Is that what you were talking about, when you mentioned the unthinkable act of someone taking what you were not willing to give?”

  Daisy nodded, looking away. “So you see how hopeless it is. Even the only man I love would not have me now, so how could I hope to be accepted without the thoughts that would go through my husband’s mind every time he looked at me? Beside, every man at my celebration who hoped to marry me merely would want me because I am an heiress. Madison’s friend so much as told me so. He knows what happened to me, and so does Madison, but they both are plotting to win my hand. They don’t want me. They want what I can bring to them because of my father’s wealth. I won’t have any part of it!”

  “I can see your point,” Gordon mumbled. “I guess it would make things difficult for you, not really knowing the reason someone wishes to marry you. However, I believe your father is going to insist that you choose someone.”

  “He doesn’t know what has happened to me. Besides he should know that men will only want to marry me because I am his daughter, not because they truly love me.”

  “I think, if he approves of them, it really doesn’t matter,” Gordon admitted.

  “Which makes it all the worse, it is like I am just his property to give to any man that suits him.”

  “In a sense you are. A father has the say as to what happens to his children, and no man can marry a woman unless they have her father’s permission. Like I said, it is just the way things work in society.”

  “So I suppose there is no hope for me,” Daisy mumbled.

  Gordon shrugged. “Probably not, you will just have to accept your fate, Daisy. So at least pick someone you like a little, even if you can never learn to love him.”

  “I should go back to the Sioux,” Daisy grumbled, knowing as she said it, she could not do that either.

  “Give it a chance,” Gordon suggested. “Perhaps you will meet someone at your party that you will be attracted to, even if you don’t wish to get married.”