Little Flower

by Jeanie P Johnson

  “I cannot believe you would do such a thing to your sister, and then lie to us telling us that she was trying to return to the Sioux! Go to your room, young man, and you will be locked in there until we have retrieved your sister and made sure she is safe. Then I will tend to you later!”

  Blake handed him over to one of the servants and ordered him to lock Davy in his room.

  “The farmhouse is only about a two hour’s ride from here. We can bring some lanterns with us. Daisy is probably frightened to death, having been locked up there for two days,” he said in a voice shaking with anger.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  It had been no use! Daisy found no tools, and even when she broke the window with a chair, she could not pry the boards loose. Glass was all over the floor, and it made her feel guilty. She found a broom and dust pan she remembered seeing in a closet in the kitchen when she was hunting for tools, and busied herself cleaning it up. The sound of glass landing in the dust bin was a sad reminder that she had no way out of the house. Finally, she allowed herself to eat, but the food tasted like past in her mouth. The sandwiches had dried up some, but she managed to push a little meat under the crack of the front door for Lucky because she didn’t want him to leave her to look for food. Only eventually, even if Lucky found food, she would end up starving unless she could find something in the house to eat and the only thing that had been left in the house, that she could tell, was a bag of dried beans she had found in the cupboard, with no water or means to cook them.

  There was an odd-looking spout over the sink with a long handle, but she didn’t know what it was for or how it worked. She tried the handle a couple of times, but nothing seemed to happen. Davy had packed a flask of water in the bag of food but she was trying to conserve it, since she knew while she could survive a long time without food, she could not survive as long without water

  She found herself pacing back and forth chanting an Indian song she made up as she went along. When the room went dark for the second time, she mounted the stairs again and crawled into bed. She would waste away in this house if Davy did not come back for her, or tell someone where she was, she feared.

  She had barely fallen asleep when she was awoken by Lucky howling and yapping. It was not a mournful howl like he had been doing for the last two days. It was an excited howl and he was even growling under his breath, between yapping in excitement. There must be something out there, Daisy thought, and went to the window to peer into the darkness through the cracks between the slats nailed over the window. She hoped it was not a wild animal threatening her horse and wolf.

  At first, all she could see was darkness and a few twinkling stars in the sky. Then she noticed bobbing lights in the distance. She was trying to figure out where the lights were coming from, but as they got closer, they began illuminating riders on horseback holding the lights. They were lanterns, she suddenly realized and she knew someone was coming to find her.

  Even though it was dark, she managed to feel her way down the stairs. Lucky was making such a clatter on the front porch jumping and yelping, it was the only sound that filled her ears. Then she heard Madison calling out her name. He must have gotten Davy to tell him the truth. He was coming to save her! Her heart leaped in excitement and relief. She had seen more than one rider from the bedroom window, and she assumed he had brought her father and probably some of the servants with him.

  “I’m in here!” Daisy cried, banging on the door.

  The door suddenly swung open and Daisy found herself falling into someone’s arms. When she looked up, she gasped.

  “Gray Wolf?” her voice trembled. “Is this another dream? Are you actually here?”

  Gray wolf was too consumed with emotions to speak. He could feel tears of joy streaming from his eyes, and landing in Little Flower’s hair.

  “I thought Indians didn’t cry,” she breathed as she felt the warm drops touch her cheek.

  “Only when they feel happy,” Gray Wolf managed to mumble as he clung to her, not wanting to ever release her again.

  “How did you get here? Why did you come?” she inquired, not believing he was real as she remembered the feel of him touching her cheek and then disappearing on that day Davy had locked her in the outhouse. Did she want to be rescued so badly that she was dreaming this and none of it was real?

  “I came to discover if you are happy here,” Gray Wolf mumbled in her hair in his own language as he hugged her tighter. “Only the real reason I came was to answer your question you asked me before I left on the hunt.

  “My question?” Daisy breathed.

  “You wanted to know if I still loved you. I have always loved you, Little Flower, from the first moment I found you among the flowers. I never stopped loving you. I am sorry I did not tell you of it before I left on the hunt. I was stupid and full of pride. Only I cannot live without you being by my side. If you want to stay in your white man’s world, though, I will understand. If you truly want to return to our village, I still wish you to become my wife.”

  “But Talking Dog…” her voice dwindled.

  “I know about Talking Dog. I wished to kill him and would have if Merry Morning had not stopped me. He is no longer alive to me as far as I am concerned. You are the only one I want in my life. All I want is to make you happy, Little Flower. That is all I have ever wanted for you.” They were still speaking in the Sioux language as the others watched on.

  “There is time enough for you to talk later,” Blake said gruffly, as he stepped forward. “We need to get Daisy home. It is freezing in this house!”

  Gray Wolf swooped Little Flower into his arms, as Madison watched on, feeling a great sense of loss seeing the light Daisy had in her eyes for Gray Wolf. Maybe she was meant to be Little Flower, after all, he thought sadly to himself.

  Starfire had remained, even though she had wandered about the front yard eating grass. Gray Wolf did not put Little Flower on her back though. Instead, he brought her up on his horse in front of him, reminding Little Flower of the first time she had ridden with Gray Wolf as a child, his arms firmly around her to keep her from falling off of his horse. She placed her cheek against Gray Wolf’s strong chest, breathing in the familiar smell of him, remembering when he had thrown the woman’s medicine at her, and how he had kissed her down by the river when they had been at the trading post.

  All of that melted into the past. Gray Wolf was here, and he claimed he had always loved her. She clung to that thought as she felt herself falling asleep, giving up to exhaustion and having eaten so little in order to conserve the food Davy had left her. She didn’t open her eyes until they had arrived at the house and Gray Wolf was gently pulling her down from Wind Rider’s back and into his arms again.

  “Take her up to her room,” Blake said to him. “Mazy will show you the way. You should stay, Madison. It has been a long couple of days.”

  Madison shook his head. “No, I should go home.” He thought of the ring, still in his pocket. A ring Daisy would never lay her eyes on now. “I am sure Daisy is in capable hands, only I believe she is going to become Little Flower from now on,” he half chuckled.

  “Yes,” Blake whispered. “I can see how much they love each other. I fear I am going to lose my daughter to the Indians once again.”

  He watched as Gray Wolf carried Daisy up the stairs then turned to one of the footmen. “Show these two Indians to a room and give them anything they ask for,” he said, then turned to go to his own room to join his wife. So many things were changing, he thought. He wasn’t sure how he was going to respond to it all.

  Mazy opened the door to Daisy’s room and Gray Wolf stepped boldly into it with the only woman he could ever love in his arms. He nodded at Mazy, indicating he wished her to leave them and she complied. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the strange looking man, dressed in fringe buckskin, his long hair falling over his strong-looking shoulders. She had never seen such a sight before and was eager to tell all her friends about wild Indians spending the night at
the Radford house.

  When the door closed, Gray Wolf lowered Little Flower to the bed and stood looking down at her, taking in all the familiar curves of her face, he had missed so much.

  “Are you really here?” Little Flower breathed. “I still can’t believe it.”

  “I will never leave your side again. You must promise to become my wife as soon as we reach our village.”

  “I have wanted nothing more than that,” Little Flower admitted. “Only I don’t know if my father will allow me to leave, not to mention marry a Sioux.”

  “Then I will secret you away if I have to, unless he allows me to marry you. You must return with me to the village and become my wife like you were meant to be. I wish you to allow me to stay with you always.”

  “I could not bear to leave you again,” Little Flower choked. “The only reason I was willing to go with my father in the first place was because I had lost my virginity and was no longer worthy to become your wife.”

  “That is on Talking Dog’s head, not yours! You will always be worthy to become my wife. I am not worthy to become your husband because I did not reassure you of my love the way I should have. I hope you will forgive me.”

  “Of course, I forgive you. Only, there is nothing to forgive. It was my own insecurities that made me doubt you.”

  “Then believe me now when I tell you that you are my world and the only reason I have to live. I love you, Little Flower, beyond imagination,” he said softly, and then he was kneeling down beside the bed and placing his mouth over hers.

  Little Flower clung to his neck, never wanting to release it, but he slowly pulled away. “I will leave you to rest,” he said softly. “In the morning I will speak to your father about wanting you to become my wife. I will offer him every horse I own, and have them delivered to him, if he allows you to return to the village with me.”

  She watched him rise and walk to the door, looking over his shoulder at her, his eyes holding hers, caressing her with his loving gaze. Then he disappeared through the door, and Little Flower took in a deep breath. She had her Sioux brave back again, and this time, she would never leave him, no matter what.

  Daisy wanted to savor her joy and happiness the moment she realized Gray Wolf had come to her. Only worries about what her mother would say, or her father would demand kept finding their way into her thoughts. She was sure Davy would find a way to disrupt everything and perhaps make matters worse. She thought of Madison and his plans to have her as his wife, only she knew as fond as she was of Madison, it did not compare to the feelings she held for Gray Wolf.

  However, she was so tired, she found herself drifting off to sleep, allowing her worries to fall away, and her hopes to hover in a world that was yet to be discovered. When she woke, the next morning, it was late. No one had woken her for breakfast, but she saw a tray with a covered dish on her nightstand, when she opened her eyes.

  Daisy leaned over and lifted the silver dome which released the aroma of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast, to greet her, causing her mouth to water. Just as she placed the tray on her lap, there was a tap on the door and Mazy put her head in.

  “When you are through eating, your father wishes to talk to you in his study,” she told Daisy.

  Daisy nodded. She was certain it had to do with her Indian friends, and maybe being engaged to Madison, which Loran had told her would be difficult to get out of if she changed her mind about marrying him. He explained how embarrassing it would be for Madison, and would shame him if Daisy backed out of her promise. Daisy did not want to hurt Madison’s feelings, but she knew she could never love him the way she loved Gray Wolf.

  After Mazy had helped Daisy get cleaned up and dressed, she trudged her way to her father’s study, feeling reluctant, but somewhat anxious to get it all over with. When she tapped on the door, her father’s voice, muffled by the thick door, invited her in.

  Hesitantly, she turned the handle and pushed on the heavy door. At first, she paused. She hadn’t expected to see Davy there. She expected him to have a smug grin on his face, but he actually looked a little frightened.

  “Come in, Daisy,” Blake encouraged, when he saw her hesitate. Daisy obeyed and pushed the door closed behind her. “Davy, I think you owe your sister an apology,” he said, gruffly to his son.

  Davy hung his head, not looking at Daisy in the eyes. “I’m sorry I locked you in the farmhouse, and in the outhouse. I didn’t want to hurt you, I just wanted to… I don’t know. I wished you had remained with the Indians and thought you would decide to go back. I wasn’t going to leave you there forever. I was planning to come back and check to see if you got out. If you were still there, I planned to let you out and then you could go back to the people you really wish to be with.”

  “You didn’t care how frightened I would feel,” Daisy said stiffly. “You didn’t care how frightened I had been when you locked me in the outhouse, either, and still you did not learn your lesson.”

  “You were changing everything,” Davy insisted.

  “Everything for me was changed too, just by bringing me here,” Daisy pointed out.

  “We are not going to argue about this, Davy,” Blake broke into the conversation. “It doesn’t matter what your reasons were, it was not the right thing to do. Something terrible could have happened to Daisy. She could have hurt herself trying to get out of the house. Her horse or dog could have run off. So, in order to show you how Daisy must have felt, your punishment is to be locked in your room for as long as Daisy was locked in the farmhouse, and you shall only eat what was left over from the lunch you left with Daisy. She ate very little of it, because she didn’t know how long she was going to be stuck there.”

  “But there was food in the basement, and she had water at the kitchen pump!” Davy complained.

  “It was dark in the basement. I was afraid to go down there,” Daisy told him. “I didn’t know how the pump worked or that it even was a pump.”

  “You had matches and candles you could have lit, to see in the basement,” Davy informed her.

  “What are matches?” Daisy asked.

  “Haven’t you ever watched the servants light the candles?”

  “I have seen them light one candle with another, but never knew where they got the fire for the first candle,” Daisy told him. “I thought they had lit the first candle at the kitchen stove or fireplace.”

  “You forget that Daisy has lived with the Indians most of her life. They do things differently than we do. Of course she wouldn’t know that she had to keep pumping the handle on the pump to prime it, before water would come out. The Indians start their fires with flint and steel, and I don’t believe Daisy had any of that with her,” Blake schooled Davy. “Your punishment still stands, and maybe next time you will be more empathetic before being cruel to others. You may go to your room and stay there until I come up.”

  Davy turned and dragged his feet to the door, looking over his shoulder at Daisy. “I hope you will go back with your Indian friends,” he said, and then left the room.

  “Speaking of your Indian friends,” Blake mentioned as he turned to study Daisy. “Gray Wolf has offered me several horses for permission to have you as his wife. Madison sent a note this morning, informing me that he released you from his engagement, after he had seen the way you looked at Gray Wolf last night. He said you had told him how much you loved Gray Wolf, but never dreamed he would come here to claim you. I am just wondering if you truly want to marry a Sioux Indian. Not that I really need that many horses,” he chuckled, “but it was nice of him to offer them.”

  “Would you actually allow me to marry him?” Daisy asked feeling bewildered.

  “I have a feeling if I didn’t you would mope around for the rest of your life refusing to marry anyone I choose for you. However, I don’t believe he would know how to run a hotel.”

  “I don’t think he would like running a hotel,” Daisy laughed.

  “You are probably right. I am sure Davy would be happy
to inherit that job, but you will still inherit your share of my wealth when I die, and part of it when you turn twenty-one. The question is are you wanting to remain here or got back to the Indian village?”

  “Gray Wolf would feel out of place here, just as I have been feeling,” Daisy mumbled. “I know he would be willing to stay if I asked him too, and I know how much you and mother have missed me, but it would probably work best if we went back to the Sioux.”

  “You know the days of the Indians are winding down. The government is placing many of the tribes on reservations. Eventually it will be more difficult for them to survive the way they have been used to, as their allotted land keeps getting smaller and smaller. If you ever wish to return here, you are always welcome.”

  “Does this mean you will let me marry him?” Daisy asked, having a hard time believing her father would allow it.

  “On one condition,” her father said, gazing into her eyes. “You will have to get married here in a church, so your mother will accept it is a recognized marriage. She will not be happy if she can’t plan your wedding and invite all her friends to see you get married, even if it is to an Indian. That way, in the future, you will have certain rights that all legally married couples have. After all, you will be inheriting some of my wealth, eventually, and we don’t want any accusations about your children being born out of wedlock.”

  “I have never even been in a church,” Daisy exclaimed.

  “There is always a first time,” her father smiled. “I am sure your mother will insist on being able to plan the wedding and we will be the talk of the town when our friends discover you are marrying a Sioux brave, whether they approve of it or not. I assume Gray Wolf’s friends, whom he brought here, will be in attendance, to make it all the more enticing,” he winked.