Little Flower

by Jeanie P Johnson

  “I don’t think father will allow me to return,” Daisy said truthfully. “And it is not like I wish to marry Madison. It is just that father wants me to marry someone and Madison suggested it might as well be him.”

  “That’s because he likes you. He likes you too much. I was supposed to be the one taking over the hotel for father when I grew up; now you and Madison will be doing it!”

  “That is not so! You will have half interest in the hotel, once father dies. It is part of your inheritance. Besides, I don’t even want the hotel. If it weren’t for Madison, I wouldn’t even know what to do with it.”

  “Your husband would, though, whether you marry Madison or not. I will always be second!”

  “Because you were born second,” Daisy snapped. “You are far too spoiled thinking you would always be first. If I had my way, I would have remained with the Sioux, only something happened and I had to agree to come home. Now I too have to learn a new way of living, the same way you will have to learn your new position in our family. I will have to marry Madison whether I wish to or not, and you will have to remain second whether you wish to or not.”

  “It is not fair. I should have been born first!”

  “That would have suited me fine, but perhaps it would have been you who got lost and ended up living with the Sioux. Have you ever thought of that?”

  Davy gave his sister a sheepish grin and shrugged. “If I did, I suppose I would want to remain like an Indian brave myself,” he half laughed. “I think it is interesting that you have a wolf as a pet, even though he does look a little frightening as he gets older.”

  “I think you would enjoy being an Indian,” Daisy said, letting a smile trip across her face as she looked at her younger brother. “You would probably have made a good brave, considering how adventurous you are, but Indians do not allow their sons to rebel. They have to learn to cooperate with their family and the tribe in order to survive. If any young Indian boy acted like you do, the whole tribe would refuse to talk to him or acknowledge him until he learned better manners. You are lucky you are not an Indian!”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. Get on your horse; we are wasting time since the farm is a couple hours ride from here. We need to get back in time for dinner.”

  “Very well,” Daisy mumbled as she swung up on Starfire’s back. “Come on, lucky,” she called to her pup who was excitedly dancing around the horses, anxious to go for a run.

  “Well, it looks like Daisy and Davy are starting to get along,” Blake mentioned to his wife as he looked out the window at the two riding together down the drive.

  “Really,” Rebeca said as she came to stand beside him. “Madison was supposed to come and go riding with Daisy this morning. He left a note postponing the event until a little later in the day. I told Davy to give Daisy the note.”

  “Maybe they merely plan to go on a short ride before Madison gets here. I am sure it is a good thing, though. They need to learn to get along, and Davy needs to accept that he has an older sister, even if she has been gone his entire life. I’m glad she has consented to marry Madison, I have always been proud of how he has managed the hotel. It will make me worry less about the future of my legacy once he marries Daisy.

  “I am happy we found Daisy, but she is not like our daughter,” Rebeca said puckering her forehead. “She has a wild look in her eyes, and she seems to resent being here. She refuses to wear a corset and even though Madison is schooling her in proper manners she looks disgruntled when she is expected to use them”

  “It will take time for her to get used to a new way of life. After all, she has been allowed to run wild all her life, doing as she pleases. I am sure Madison can handle her well enough.”

  “I suppose you are right, and it is a good thing Davy is making an effort to become her friend.”

  The two turned away from the window, and Blake went out to his buggy to return to the hotel since Madison apparently had other business to attend to and then would be out riding with Daisy. As he guided the buggy down the street towards the hotel, Blake noticed Madison coming out of a jewelry shop and slowed his horse.

  “What are you up to?” Blake called out to him.

  Madison stopped and looked up. “Oh,” he said in surprise. “I was going to go riding with Daisy this morning, but I wanted to stop and pick up her engagement ring first. I had it made special and the jeweler just informed me this morning that it was finished. I wish to surprise her while we are out riding today.”

  “I saw Davy and her riding out together, earlier,” Blake told him.

  “Didn’t anyone get the note I sent, saying I would be late?”

  “Yes, my wife said she got it and sent Davy out to give Daisy the note. I suppose they decided to go out on a short ride before you arrived, since the horses were already saddled and ready to use.”

  “I am glad to hear that Davy and Daisy are getting along better,” Madison smiled. “I told Davy he needed to be kinder to his sister, since she will soon become my wife.”

  “Then you are heading up to the house?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, hopefully Daisy will be back by the time I get there. I hope she knows I will be there at eleven instead of ten, like I had planned to be.”

  “Since Rebeca gave Davy the note to give to Daisy, I trust she will make sure she is back before you get there.”

  “I will have her back before dinnertime,” Madison informed Blake.

  “I hope you will join us for dinner,” Blake offered.

  “I will look forward to it. I am anxious to discover how Daisy likes the ring I had made for her, and I am sure she will want to show it off to the rest of the family, and possibly some of the servants.”

  Blake turned his lips up into a smile. “I am sure she will adore it and happily show it off. I am so pleased she accepted your proposal. I couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law.”

  “Thank you,” Madison nodded, thinking how disappointed Blake would be if his daughter ended up marrying an Indian Brave, the way she wished she could.

  Blake snapped the reins against the horse’s rump and continued on down the street, while Madison headed back to his house to saddle his horse.

  “There it is,” Davy said, pointing to a large farmhouse in the distance. “We had to board up the windows and lock it, so no one would break into it and try to squat there,” he informed his sister. “I don’t remember a lot about actually living here, but I have come here a lot with Madison and by myself. There is something about the place I like. Father won’t sell the place because he says it is a good investment. San Francisco is growing so fast, he says in a few years the land will be ripe for redevelopment and will be worth much more than it is right now.”

  “I suppose father has a good business sense like his father had,” Daisy mumbled.

  She didn’t quite understand about money and worth of things. It was only recently that the Indians took money from the white people, for land or ransom. They always traded goods for the things they wanted, but lately they had discovered that money could be used at the trading posts just as well as goods and it was easier to transport. She doubted even they actually understood what their land was worth, or how much money to charge for ransom. Millions of acres had been sold to the whites already for a penny an acre, and the way Davy talked, she figured her father’s plot of land with a house on it, was worth much more than just a penny. It was just another way that white people took advantage of the Indians, she decided. No wonder there were renegades that would not bow down to the white man’s ways.

  As they approached the yard, Davy got down from his horse. “What do you think?” he asked, grinning up at her, as he tied his horse to the porch railing. “I know where the key is hidden if you want to look inside.”

  “It does not look as nice as the house you live in now,” Daisy appraised.

  “No. It was just a place to live while our house was being built. It took over three years to build our house and we had to have some place to liv
e while we waited. I was actually born in this house. Maybe that is why I like it so much.”

  “I like it better out here, than in town. Maybe Madison would be willing to move out here if we end up having to marry,” Daisy suggested wistfully.

  “He liked it when we used to camp out here,” Davy offered. “I suppose having lived in the wilderness with the Indians, a place like this, out in the middle of nowhere, would suit you more.”

  Daisy smiled brightly, thinking it wouldn’t be as bad being married to Madison if she could live out here away from the city, even though she did like riding on the beach. “I think I would like to see the inside of the house,” she agreed, as she swung down from her horse.

  “Aren’t you going to tie your horse up?” Davy asked, noticing her dropping the reins to the ground, instead of winding them around the porch railing like he had.

  “I don’t need to tie her. She is trained to ground-tie. If I drop the reins to the ground, she will stand in that spot until I lift them again. That way if braves have to leave their horses during a raid, it is easy to jump on their backs and ride away in a hurry, if need be, without having to worry about untying them,” she explained.

  “Wow,” is all Davy said. Then his face straightened. He looked at his sister, then at her horse, and glanced over his shoulder at Lucky. “Does your dog do the same thing?” he asked. “I mean, stay in one spot if you leave him, until you come to get him?”

  “Lucky is very loyal, as most wolves are to their pack or their partner. You know they mate for life. It would be difficult to make him leave my side. You heard how he howled when he was shut up in the barn when I first got here. He is used to it now, but if he goes someplace with me, I doubt he would leave until I left too.”

  “What if he got hungry?” Davy asked. “Would he go out to try and find food?”

  “Probably not for a very long time, but I would never leave him alone that long, waiting for me to feed him,” she pointed out.

  “What if your horse got hungry while she was ground-tied? Maybe something could happen to you while she was tied to the ground and you couldn’t get back to her. Would she eventually leave the spot so she could eat grass?”

  “I know she would eat what grass was near her while she waited, but I have never left her ground-tied long enough for her to get so hungry that she would wander off. If we are going to be gone for a long period of time without our horses, we hobble them so they can still eat but not run away while we are gone or are camping nearby,” she explained.

  “Oh,” Davy said, giving her a sideways glance. “Are you ready to see the inside of the house? There is still some furniture inside. We could have our lunch there. I’ll get the key, and you can go inside to explore while I bring the lunch in,” he suggested.

  Daisy watched as Davy climbed up on the porch railing and started feeling along the beam that held the porch roof up along the edge of the porch. “There it is,” he said brightly, as he produced the key. “It makes it easier to keep the key here if we are ever out here and want to check on the place,” he explained as he jumped down from the railing and headed for the front door.

  Davy pushed the long key into the lock and turned it. Daisy was not used to things like locks, since the Sioux did not have doors or the need to lock anything closed. Nothing in a Sioux village ever got stolen, unless there was a raid from an enemy tribe, and even then they never took personal possessions. It was usually horses, sacred white buffalo hides, or reclaiming scalps that had been taken and hung on the teepee of the person who took the scalps. Sometimes women were taken as captives, if they could get away with it, but many times a raid was made mostly to steal horses, and get away without getting caught so they could count coup, for entering an enemy village and escaping with their scalps still intact.

  The door made an eerie creaking sound, as Davy pulled it open, and for one brief moment, Daisy felt uneasy about coming there.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Davy said, seeing the worried look on her face. “I thought Indians were brave? It is kind of dark inside because the windows are boarded up, but it is rather pleasant, and Mother brings maids out here once a year to clean away cobwebs and dust. Some of the beds still have blankets on them,” he informed her. “When we camp here, we often use the beds to sleep in.”

  “Does father come camping here with you?” Daisy wanted to know.

  “He did a couple of times when I was younger, but it has mostly been Madison and me. Madison has been working for father for the last five years. When he was hired, father let him take me places, and watch me at the hotel when father brought me there and was too busy to keep an eye on me. Then Madison started showing me things about running the hotel and father thought it was a good idea, so we spent a lot more time together. Now he hardly brings me to the hotel because he is teaching you how it is run. I don’t see why it is so important since if he marries you, he will be the one involved in the business, not you.”

  “I suppose it is good to know how things are run if I am going to inherit it, eventually.”

  “Along with your husband,” Davy pointed out. “I think it was just an excuse to get you to trust him so you would agree to marry him,” Davy frowned.

  “Madison is very nice. Even though I do not wish to get married, if I have to marry someone, I think Madison will make a good husband.”

  “Why don’t you go upstairs and look around,” Davy said abruptly. He seemed a little nervous. “I’ll go out and bring the food in.”

  “Lucky,” Daisy called, seeing Lucky standing at the front door peering into the room. Only Lucky refused to step into the house. He is not used to coming inside, Daisy thought, remembering how he had been scolded when he broke away from the stables and tried to come into the house to look for Daisy. Now he seemed frightened to follow her in, even though she was trying to encourage him. Daisy frowned and shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she mumbled as she headed upstairs.

  Daisy enjoyed exploring the large farmhouse, even though the rooms were in shadow, with only streams of light shining between the slats of wood that boarded the windows. Particles of dust floated in the streams of light, which almost mesmerized Daisy as she peered at them. She tried to imagine herself living there with Madison, and then Lucky could come in the house any time he wanted to, she thought with a smile. She could hear Davy in the room below, as he brought in what food he had packed for their lunch, and she was starting to feel glad that he had brought her here and was willing to make friends with her. It was hard enough trying to get used to her family, with Davy acting so rebellious towards her. Maybe now, things would be easier, she hoped.

  Daisy continued opening up doors to rooms and peering inside. She entered one room and looked out between the slats to the yard below. She could see Starfire standing patiently where she had left him, with Lucky sniffing around nearby. Then she paused. She couldn’t see Davy’s horse he had tied to the railing, and wondered why Davy had moved his horse to another place. It was then she realized it was strangely quite downstairs, where she had previously heard Davy moving around.

  Daisy turned and hurried down the stairs. “Davy, where are you?” she called as she came into the dining room to discover the food on the table, but no sign of Davy in the room. She went to the front room where the door they had come through was located. It seemed darker in that room now because the front door had been closed.

  “Davy!” Daisy called again, as she went to the front door to look out.

  When she tried to turn the knob, the door did not pull open as she had expected. The knob turned easily enough, but the door itself did not budge.

  “Davy, come open the door,” she called, thinking there was something she did not know about opening the door, since she was not familiar with the place and maybe she was doing it wrong. She went to the window, to look through the slits between the wood, and saw Davy standing at the bottom of the front porch steps, the reins of his horse in his hand.

  “Don’t worry, Daisy. You h
ave plenty of food to last for a few days if you don’t eat it all up at once. After that, you will just have to discover a way to escape and go back to your Indian tribe. No one wants you here. Mother doesn’t even like you. I begged father to take you back, but he refused. It’s his pride, you know. You don’t deserve to marry Madison or have the hotel. You haven’t even been a part of our family since we moved here. No one will really miss you. Now you can find out if your horse will really stay ground-tied if she gets hungry, or if Lucky will stay faithfully outside waiting for you to come out.”

  “Davy! Don’t leave me here,” Daisy screamed. “You know you will be punished when father discovers me gone.”

  “I will tell them you hated it here and went back to the Indians. I don’t think they will bother looking for you when they think you don’t wish to live with them any longer.”

  “How could you be so cruel?” she yelped. “I thought you wanted to become my friend?”

  “I just said that to get you to trust me and come here with me. I will never want to be your friend.”

  “How can I get out? The place is all boarded up?” Daisy cried, as panic rose within her.

  “I am sure you will figure something out!” Davy insisted. “And when you do, I hope never to see you again, or your scary looking dog and stupid horse!”

  Then Daisy watched in horror as Davy swung up on his horse and rode away, while Daisy continued to scream for him to come back.

  Lucky came to the door and began to whine, as he scratched at the door, trying to encourage her to join him outside. Starfire did not seem disturbed as she stood obediently ground-tied. Daisy’s heart thudded against her chest in a frantic beat as she pounded on the door, screaming for Davy to come back. Why had she ever trusted him? She should have known better. If she ever did get out of the house, she thought, she would ride away and join her tribe again, only she wasn’t sure she could even find her way back to them.