Daisy
Book Four in the Suitors of Seattle
By Kirsten Osbourne
Copyright 2013 Kirsten Osbourne
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Raised with advantage and privilege, Daisy must now find a husband. Because of her overwhelming shyness, she chooses to let her aunt, Harriett Farmer, find her a husband.
Aunt Harriett’s suggestions are not what she expected. Setting her up to be a Mail Order Bride, she sends her to Montana to meet Eli King. What she finds is a life vastly different than what she's used to. Can she possibly find love and contentment, or is she doomed to a life of regret?
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Chapter One
Eli sat down at his table and rested his face in his hands. He’d finally been able to hire four new men to work the extra cattle. He had never thought he’d get to the point where he wouldn’t have to do all the work himself, but the fall sale had been in his favor. He sighed, looking around his filthy house. He needed to hire someone to take care of the house, too. He’d neglected so much in the past six years while he’d built up his ranch.
His eyes caught a stray piece of paper tucked into his Bible. He walked across the room and pulled it out, his eyes scanning the words. How had he forgotten?
Six years before, he’d sent off a letter to an agency that matched mail order brides with Western men. Before a woman could be placed with him, he’d had an offer from a neighbor to buy his spread. He couldn’t resist for what the man was asking, but it had wiped him out financially. He’d worked sixteen hour days for six years. Knowing the work he had ahead of him, he’d sent off a second letter saying he had a change of fortune, and he’d send a letter when he was ready to marry.
He was in the black for the first time in six years. Eli was as ready as he’d ever be. He took paper and a pen and quickly wrote a letter before he lost his nerve. “Dear Elizabeth Miller, Thank you for giving me extra time to be ready to find myself a bride. I’m not sure if you remember the letter I sent you more than six years ago. My name is Eli King, and I’m a rancher in Montana, not far outside of Billings. I would like a bride. I’m not picky about how she looks, but I’d like someone who is reasonably intelligent and loves others more than she loves herself. Do you have anyone like that you could send me? Sincerely, Eli King.”
He threw the letter to a corner of the table, knowing he’d take it to town when he went for supplies the following day. There. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a housekeeper. A bride was just as good. Right?
*****
Elizabeth frowned down at the letter in her hand. She’d never gotten one asking for specific character attributes in all the years she’d been a matchmaker. It was so much easier to find a bride with blond hair and blue eyes than one who thought of others before herself. She wasn’t sure how to handle him.
She sat down at her writing desk and did the only thing she knew to do. “Dear Harriett, Enclosed you will find a letter from a Montana rancher seeking a wife. I placed a bride with a friend of his years ago, and I’m not certain how to proceed here with his requests for specific character traits. Do you have any suggestions on how I can go about discovering these things beyond the initial interview? Yours, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth hated admitting she still needed help after all these years, but sometimes Harriett was just able to figure things out easier than she was, and she called on her whenever she needed to. She hoped Harriett would have some ideas.
*****
Harriett opened the letter that was lying on her desk when she got home from her walk with the children in the park. Four children in six years had kept her busy, but she still missed her business. Maybe Elizabeth would have a question only she could answer. She let out a half laugh. Elizabeth had been doing the job longer than she had ever done it at this point. She rarely wrote for advice. These days she wrote just to keep her up on how everything was going back in Beckham.
Harriett smiled when she read the letter. A difficult one. She read the man’s letter and thought carefully. Her niece, Daisy, had come to her just the day before asking to be matched to someone. She had no prospects, because she was so shy, and she wanted to get her mother off her back about marriage.
Daisy would be the perfect woman for Eli. She sat back in her chair for a moment, thinking about how her sister-in-law would react if she sent her baby off to Montana. She scrawled a note to Daisy to come see her. If Mary didn’t like it, then she’d find out soon enough. She wanted her daughters happily married, didn’t she?
*****
Daisy walked along the peaceful streets of Seattle to her Aunt Harriett’s house. She knew the summons was probably about her request to be placed somewhere as a bride, so she wouldn’t have to deal with finding her own husband. She was in no hurry to marry, but she had to do something to get her mother to leave her alone. She definitely wasn’t opposed to marriage, and realized it was probably time for her, but she had never met a man who made her feel like her sisters felt about their husbands. Her aunt had said it would take a week before she’d have someone for Daisy, but obviously she’d worked faster than expected.
Daisy knocked on the door and waited for one of the maids to open it for her. Her aunt Harriett was in her parlor waiting for her, as usual. Daisy hurried to the parlor to find her aunt sitting at her desk writing a letter. She was rubbing her leg in that absent way that told everyone else that her old injury was bothering her again.
As Daisy sat in the chair opposite her, Harriett looked up to notice she was there for the first time. “Daisy! Thanks for coming.” There was genuine pleasure to see her on her aunt’s face.
Daisy nodded. “Did you go to the park this morning?” Daisy knew her aunt did her best to take advantage of every pretty day and go to the park if at all possible.
Harriett grinned. “The weather was too fine not to. In another year Simon will be off to school, and there won’t be a lot of park days any longer.” She sighed, obviously not liking the idea of her children heading off to school.
Daisy smiled. “I think Mother rejoiced each time one of us started school and the house got just a little bit quieter.”
Harriett laughed. “Well, your mother had eight, and I only have four.” Harriett’s face grew serious as she pulled a letter from her desk. “Read this.”
Daisy frowned as she opened the letter. Why didn’t her aunt just tell her what was going on? As she read, her eyes grew wide. “Are you suggesting that I marry this man?”
Harriett nodded. “I think you’d be perfect for Eli. You’re a good cook, thanks to your years volunteering at the battered women’s house. You know how to sew and clean. You’re extremely intelligent and always think of others before yourself. What do you think?”
Daisy shook her head slowly, not disagreeing, but disbelieving. “Mama would kill me if I moved away from Seattle.”
Harriett laughed. “She can’t keep all her daughters as close as she’s kept the first three. I’ll send Higgins out to investigate, of course, but I think you should respond.” She pushed a piece of paper and a pen at Daisy.
Daisy grinned. “I think I will.” She dipped the pen into the inkwell sitting in front of her and qu
ickly wrote out a letter. She had no idea what would happen, but she needed adventure. She needed to get out of Seattle and begin her own life. What better way than to marry a rancher she’d never met?
*****
Daisy didn’t say anything to her mother in the weeks that passed. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she got a response, but she liked the idea of going somewhere and starting anew. Somewhere she wouldn’t be just one of the “banker’s flower kids.” She loved her name, and her sisters…well most of them, but she hated that she was never anyone in her own right. She’d meet someone and they’d laugh and say, “So which flower are you?” She never got to be just Daisy Sullivan.
It was three weeks to the day later when she got another summons from Aunt Harriett. She read the note sent over with one of her aunt’s maids quickly. “Daisy—I have some information for you. Please come over for tea this afternoon. Around one. Aunt Harriett.”
Daisy grinned. Finally an answer. She went into the parlor where her mother was sitting darning socks. “Iris goes through socks like other women go through hair bows. How does she ruin them all?” Mary had a look on her face that made it obvious that her youngest daughter drove her mad at times.
Daisy shrugged. “I have no idea. It may be that she keeps running outside with no shoes on, but doesn’t take her socks off?”
Mary shook her head. “Why does she do that?”
“I don’t know! Because she’s Iris?”
“I suppose that’s as logical as any other reason.” Mary sighed heavily. “She’s not going to go through as many socks when she has to darn them herself.” Mary spotted the note in Daisy’s hand. “What’s that?”
Daisy held it up. “Oh, it’s just a note from Aunt Harriett inviting me to tea. She wants me there in an hour, and I thought I’d start walking now. Maybe find a couple of new ribbons to match my new dress.”
Mary nodded. “That’s fine. Have a good time.”
Daisy waved and pulled on her jacket. It was a chilly day, but thankfully there was no rain. The worst thing about Seattle was all the rain! She wondered what Montana would be like.
She stopped at the general store and bought the ribbons like she’d told her mother she would. She hated to lie, even if it was something so little, so she made sure that what she did matched what she’d said she’d do.
Daisy made the short walk through town happily, stopping to look at her sister Amaryllis’s house. She’d have stopped to say hello, but she knew Rilly would be at the library working. The house looked pretty, though, and made Daisy feel closer to her sister.
She rushed on past and finally reached Aunt Harriett’s door. She knew she was early, but she couldn’t wait to find out what her aunt had to say.
When she took her seat across from Harriett, her aunt’s eyes were lit up with excitement. “Higgins just got back to town.”
“And?”
Harriett smiled, her face almost glowing. “He’s perfect for you. He’s known to be a loving gentle man. No one had a word to say against him. He’s polite and kind. A good employer. A hard worker. I think we’ve found you a husband.”
Daisy sat up straight and squealed. She’d been certain Higgins would find something wrong with the man. “Seriously? Did we get a response to my letter?”
“Just got it yesterday. I didn’t want you to read it until I was sure he was a good man, though.” Harriett pushed the letter across her desk to Daisy. “I didn’t read it, of course.”
Daisy unfolded the single sheet and read through the letter. “Dear Daisy, You sound like the bride I’m looking for. Ticket is enclosed. I’ll pick you up in Billings on the fifth of January. Thought you might want to spend Christmas with your family before making the trip. I can’t wait to meet you. We’ll marry before we leave town. Yours, Eli.”
“Three weeks. I’ll meet my husband in three weeks!” Daisy jumped up from her chair and hugged Harriett. “How am I going to tell Mama?” she asked, frowning when she knew she should be happy.
Harriett sighed. “I’ll help you. She can be angry with us both. And Higgins. I’ll make him come along too.” Harriet grinned evilly.
Daisy giggled. “When will we tell her?”
Harriett thought about it for a moment. “Let’s tell her after dinner on Christmas day. We’re all going to your house this year.”
Daisy knew that the “all” meant her aunt Harriett and her family, as well as her sisters and their families, and Higgins and his wife. “Sounds good. Mama’s going to kill us all.”
Harriett smiled. “It’s going to be fine. She’ll just be pleased that Eli has Higgins’s approval. Everyone trusts Higgins.”
Daisy went home and immediately started going through her clothes, trying to decide what she wanted to take with her. Everything wouldn’t be suitable. She would need to leave the “town dresses” for her younger sisters to grow into.
Later in the day she made a quick trip to the dressmaker, asking her to make some plain “work dresses” for her. At the older woman’s frown, she simply shrugged. “I need to have some simple dresses just like every other woman, don’t I?” Her order was for six work dresses. That should be enough for her. She had her church dresses that she would take with her for Sundays.
Daisy rushed to prepare in the days leading up to Christmas, not letting her mother know what she was doing. She didn’t tell anyone, not even Amaryllis, though she knew she would before it was time for her to leave.
After Christmas dinner, her aunt gave her several looks that meant, “It’s time to tell your parents,” but she ignored them all. Finally Harriett stood. “Fred and Mary, Daisy and I need to talk to you in your study. Higgins? Would you mind joining us?”
Higgins had been Harriett’s butler and father figure for years. His step-son had married Amaryllis. He spent every holiday with the Sullivan family, and Daisy felt he was as much of an uncle as her Uncle Max was.
She stood and followed Harriett into the study, taking a seat on the couch. She didn’t want to have to be the one to tell her parents what she was planning. She hoped Aunt Harriett planned on doing all the talking for her.
Fred sat in the chair behind his desk, and Mary sat across from him. Higgins took an arm chair perpendicular to the blue sofa that Daisy had sat on, and Harriett sat beside Daisy.
Mary looked between Harriett and Daisy warily. “Please tell me you didn’t actually go to your aunt and ask her to just choose a man for you to marry. You know that’s not what I wanted.”
Daisy hid her smile as she looked down at her hands. She didn’t say anything, using her shyness as a cover. She did not want to have to be the one to break the news to her mother that she was about to move to Montana.
Harriett looked over at Daisy, and seeing her head bowed, put her hand over hers to try to give her confidence. She wasn’t sure how to help Daisy face her mother, but she knew she needed to. “Daisy did come to me to find her a husband, and I think I’ve found just the man for her. Higgins has investigated him, and we’ve only heard good things about him.”
Mary sighed. “Please tell me you haven’t agreed to marry him. Invite him over for supper and let us get to know him first.”
Harriett looked at Daisy, who was still staring down at her hands, and she realized that Daisy was planning to let her do all the talking. She sighed. If it had been any of her nieces but Daisy, she wouldn’t have done it. “That’s not possible, I’m afraid. Eli lives in Montana.”
“Montana?” Mary’s voice was shrill and panicked. “You’re sending my daughter off to Montana to marry a total stranger? She was not raised to be a mail order bride!”
Daisy looked up for the first time and saw the utter panic in her mother’s eyes. “Mama, I’ve thought long and hard about this. There’s no man I’m interested in here in Seattle. My whole life I’ve felt like just another of the ‘flower girls.’ In Montana, I’ll be a person in my own right.”
Fred watched his daughter carefully. “I think she should go.” His
words were soft, but they were spoken with a finality that had Daisy smiling. Her mother never argued with him when he used that tone.
Mary stared at him in shock. “What do you mean, you think she should go?”
Fred shrugged, slightly afraid now that his wife’s attentions were on him. “Daisy doesn’t thrive here like our other girls do. She really does live in their shadows. I want her to be happy, and I can see that she won’t be if she stays here. Higgins checked the man out, so he must be a good man, and she knows that if anything happens she can catch the first train home.” He looked at Daisy. “I wish you every happiness.”
Daisy stared at her father in surprise. In her experience, he never stood up to her mother. He made the money, but her mother was the one who made all the decisions regarding her and her sisters. She jumped up, ran around the desk, and threw herself into her father’s arms. “Thank you, Papa!”
Fred patted her back awkwardly. “You just make sure you come home if he doesn’t treat you like the princess you are.”
Daisy nodded, tears in her eyes. “I will.”
Mary looked at her husband cradling their eighteen year old daughter on his lap and shook her head. She turned back to Harriett. “Tell us about this Eli person.”
“He’s a rancher in Montana. He first sent off for a bride six years ago, but he was able to buy some more land and wanted to wait until he had the resources that he wouldn’t have to work sixteen hour days before he married, so he sent another letter saying to wait. He’s doing well enough that he wants a bride now.”
“He wanted a bride six years ago? Just how old is he?” Mary asked, her voice filled with fear.
Harriett smiled, having expected that question. “He’s twenty-six. He was only twenty when he first sent for a bride.”
Daisy (Suitors of Seattle) Page 1
