“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She looked at him in surprise. “For what?”
“It’ll be better for you next time.”
She sighed against his shoulder. “It wasn’t bad this time. It was supposed to hurt my first time.” She had no idea what he was talking about. Her mother and sister had both told her that it was going to hurt, so why was he apologizing?
He nodded. He hadn’t been referring to the pain she’d felt but to the fact that he hadn’t been able to wait a little longer for her. She kissed his shoulder, trying to placate him.
He sighed, stroking her back. If he didn’t think it would bother her, he’d try to make her feel the pleasure he’d felt, but she was already settling down and closing her eyes. He promised himself the next time would be better for her.
*****
She woke before he did in the morning and decided not to change into her dress in case he happened to wake up. Instead she put on her dressing gown before padding out into the kitchen to start a fire and fix breakfast. She was in the cellar when he came out of the bedroom, dressed to go milk the cow. “Daisy?” he called.
“Down here! I’ll be up in a minute!” She felt her face flame at the thought of seeing him after what they’d shared the night before. She waited until she heard the door to the outside close before she hurried up the stairs and put the bacon on to fry.
There was no bread, and nothing to make bread with. She’d have to get those things in town. Her only option for breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon. She looked forward to getting some supplies when they went to town.
By the time he came in from milking the cows, she had two cups of coffee on the table with eggs in a large bowl and bacon on a plate. He took the spot opposite her, and they prayed before eating. While they ate, he said, “I have a couple of hours I can work before we need to go to town. I’ll be back here to take you around nine. Will that work?”
She nodded, pleased that he hadn’t commented on how red her face was. Hopefully he would assume it was the heat from the stove and not realize how embarrassed she was. After he finished eating, he hurried around the table to kiss her before plopping his hat onto his head and heading out to the range.
She did the dishes in silence before hurrying to clean the bedroom floor and windows the way she had the kitchen and parlor the day before. Then she sat down and made a list of the things she’d need so she could cook for them. She wasn’t about to let him go without decent meals just because he hadn’t had the foresight to have food around when she got there.
He was back right at nine, and they rushed out to the wagon. He helped her to the seat and drove toward town. “Are you happy you’ll get to see your mother again before she goes back to Seattle?” he asked.
She nodded. “I am. I know she seems overbearing to you, but she’s my mother and I love her.” She was still going to be embarrassed to see her, but she didn’t tell him that.
“And Jasmine?”
She made a face. “No one ever wants to see Jasmine. The girl is demented.”
He laughed. “She really is your least favorite sister, isn’t she?”
Daisy nodded. “She is. Amaryllis and I tried to talk Aunt Harriett into making her a mail order bride, but she wouldn’t agree to it.”
“So you became one instead?”
“It got me away from Jasmine,” she said with a grin. Of course, she’d never intended for her life to go this way, but it had happened. She wasn’t complaining at all.
When they pulled up in front of the hotel, her mother and sister were waiting out front for them. Daisy jumped down and hugged them both. Eli helped her mother onto the seat in the front beside them, and Jasmine climbed into the back without being told. There was no other place for her.
“We have to get some supplies before we head out,” Daisy told her mother.
“That’s fine. I enjoy looking around stores.” Mary’s head was erect, and she was obviously annoyed with her new son-in-law, but she wanted to see what supplies her daughter would have available to her.
They did their shopping quickly. Daisy wished they could have waited to go to the mercantile until after they’d dropped her mother and Jasmine off for the day, but she knew she needed to have food to fix for lunch. She’d boiled a chicken down that morning that they’d use for chicken and dumplings for lunch, but she needed to get bread baked that day as well. And there was not enough flour to even make the dumplings.
Daisy sat in the middle, and they chatted on the way out to the ranch. “We had breakfast at the hotel this morning, but it wasn’t as good as it was yesterday,” Mary complained.
Eli nodded. “They don’t do a lot of breakfast business from what I hear. They’re more of a lunch and supper type of place. Most folks around here make their own breakfasts.”
“Well, I couldn’t in my hotel room, now could I?” Mary asked in a rude voice.
Daisy looked at her mother with surprise. “Be nice, Mama.” The woman who had always lectured her and her sisters about being polite at all times couldn’t have just been so rude to Eli.
Mary sighed. “I just hate that today’s the last day I’ll get to see you before I go home.” She glared at Eli. “He could have let us stay for a few days.”
“There’s a lot of work to be done at the house. I need to dig in and do it. Having you and Jasmine here would just distract me.”
Mary didn’t respond to that, but she seemed to understand. When they arrived at the ranch, Daisy was all but wringing her hands together as her mother looked around the outside. “This looks like a big operation,” she said.
Eli nodded. “Yes, ma’am. One of the biggest in the area.” He tipped his hat. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get to work. I’ll be back in an hour for lunch.” He kissed Daisy. “That give you enough time?”
“Plenty,” Daisy responded. “I’ll have it ready when you get here.” She had left the pot of chicken on the corner of the stove to keep it warm.
Daisy quickly made the dumplings and dropped them into the water with the chicken. She then showed her mother and sister around the downstairs. “I haven’t even been up yet,” she told them. “I’m sure it needs a good cleaning, but I’ll take care of that after you’re gone.”
Mary looked around the simple home, biting her lip. She hated that she was leaving her daughter in this place so far away. “What can we do to help before we go?”
Daisy smiled and shook her head. “There’s really nothing. I’m planning on making a table cloth and curtains, but I won’t start that today. You don’t mind if I mix up the bread dough while you’re here? That will give it time to rise while we take you to town.”
“Of course not.” Mary was surprised by how well Daisy knew her way around the kitchen. She’d never seen her work in a kitchen before because they had servants at home. Obviously Mildred Higgins was a good teacher, because Daisy did everything flawlessly. Mary had been an average cook, but she hated being in the kitchen. She was surprised to see how well Daisy had taken to it.
They had a good lunch with Eli, and after lunch they piled into the wagon to take them both back to Billings. Daisy was sorry to see them go but glad at the same time. She needed them to leave so she could start her marriage with her new husband. They were keeping her from her responsibilities to him.
She hugged her mother tightly. “I promise I’ll write every week.”
Mary sighed. “If you don’t, I’ll be right back out here insisting to see you. Don’t miss even a week.”
Daisy sighed. “I’ll be fine, Mama. He’s a good man.”
Jasmine hugged Daisy. “I’m going to miss you. But I’m taking over your room as soon as I get home.” The room Daisy had before she moved had been reserved for the oldest child at home. Each of them had used it before moving out to marry.
Daisy rolled her eyes. “You do that.” She stepped back to Eli and leaned against him as he slipped his arm around her. “You have tickets for tomorrow?” she asked.
M
ary nodded. “And I’ve already arranged to have our trunks taken to the train station. We’ll be fine.”
“Goodbye. I love you! Hug the others for me and tell Papa I love him.” Daisy felt the tears falling down her cheeks, and Eli squeezed her tightly. Now that the time was at hand, she realized just how much she was going to miss her family.
“We will. Remember, you have a home in Seattle if things don’t go well here.”
Daisy nodded. “I won’t forget.” Eli helped her into the wagon and she turned around and waved until she could no longer see them. “I’m going to miss my family.” She sniffled daintily and pulled a handkerchief from her purse which she used to wipe her eyes and her nose.
He looked at her thoughtfully. “Do you regret coming here to marry me?” Now that he’d met her, he didn’t want to think about what life without her would be like. He couldn’t stand the thought of her moving back to Seattle.
She shook her head. “Oh no, of course not! I’ll just miss them. That’s all. They’ve been my whole life for eighteen years.”
“I know.” He patted her arm gently while she rested her head on his shoulder.
“What about your family? When did you see them last?” He hadn’t mentioned his family to her yet at all. She knew she should have asked the previous night, but she was so busy answering his questions she hadn’t gotten around to it.
He shrugged. “I have no idea. I was sent West on an orphan train that left New York. I was wandering the streets, and the good people of the city didn’t want orphans on their streets anymore.” He kept his voice even as he told her, because he didn’t want her to dwell on his words. He didn’t want his pretty new wife to feel sorry for him as she realized just how different their upbringings had been.
“How old were you?” she asked in shock.
“Oh, I was seven or eight. No one is real sure. I don’t remember anything before living on the streets and begging for food. There were a bunch of us who would sleep in an alley together.”
“So who did you live with when you came out here?”
“I was taken in by a rancher and his family, but they made it real clear I was there to work and nothing else. They let me go to school when someone came around complaining about me not going, but for the most part, I was free labor for them. I left when I was old enough. Worked for a couple of other ranchers in the area, and then I heard there was land available in Montana, so I came out here.”
“Where did the orphan train leave you?” She had heard stories like his, but had never met anyone who had actually lived through that.
“In South Dakota. I lived there from around eight ‘til I was around eighteen. By the time I left, I could do some simple reading and a little math. I’ve kept working at that so I could better myself. I have several books if you ever feel like reading one.” He enjoyed reading, and when he wasn’t too tired at the end of a long day, he spent time in the parlor doing just that.
“Thank you.” She looked at him again in surprise. He was such a gentle man that she was surprised to hear of his difficult upbringing.
They were silent the rest of the way to the ranch. When they got there, he helped her down. “Would you mind just having chicken and dumplings for supper? I can cook something else if you want, but that would be easier, because I need to bake bread today.”
“That would be fine,” he told her. “I liked your chicken and dumplings.” It had been really spicy again, but her mother and sister had obviously enjoyed it, so he knew it was something they were all used to.
He kissed her quickly and started to unhitch the wagon. She rushed into the house to bake the bread. The nice weather was holding out, so she wanted to get all the laundry done up in the next day or two as well.
She had a lot to do to make the ranch a home, and she was determined to do it as quickly as she could. She wanted to make the best life she could for her new husband.
Chapter Four
That evening when he came to bed, Eli moved more slowly than he had the night before. He carefully stripped her out of her nightgown and stroked her body until she felt like she was on fire. She returned each of his kisses and strokes until she was arching up toward his hand, all but begging for him to make love with her.
When he covered her body and moved inside her, she felt no pain but only pleasure. He kept stroking her to be certain she reached her peak before he was finished, and she arched her back, letting out a loud moan as her pleasure overtook her. She curled into his arms afterward, feeling as if all the bones had melted out of her body and sighed contentedly.
He smiled as he stroked his hand down her hair. “I told you it would be better this time.”
She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “And you were right. I could do that every day.”
He laughed. “I’m very glad to hear that, because that sounds good to me.”
She fell asleep that night with a smile on her lips, knowing that her marriage was going to work. She had a good husband, and she could do whatever it took to make him love her.
*****
By the time they went to church on Sunday, she had gotten the house completely in order. The curtains were made and hung at the windows and the tablecloth was spread across the table nicely. She got up and dressed for the day, surprised when he didn’t immediately do the same.
“You don’t go to church?” she asked. She’d never known anyone who didn’t go to church every week. She was certain there were people in Seattle who didn’t go, but she’d never crossed paths with them.
He sighed. “I do sometimes, but not every week.”
“Why not?” She’d gone to church every Sunday of her life except when she was sick.
He shrugged and turned back to the bedroom. “I’ll get dressed for church.” She smiled, pleased. She didn’t want to force him to go, but she wouldn’t feel right if she missed.
When they reached the church, he helped her down and introduced her to the small congregation there. His friends Clara and Albert were there, and they greeted him. Clara clapped her hands together happily. “Elizabeth finally sent a bride! Are you from Beckham?” The blond woman had a glow about her that Daisy was both drawn to and envied all at once.
Daisy shook her head. “I’m not. I’m from Seattle. My aunt was the matchmaker before Elizabeth, and somehow she ended up with his letter. She sent me out to marry him.”
Clara looked stunned for a moment before she laughed. “Trust Eli to do things backwards. He’s the only man in the world to get a mail order bride from the west!”
Daisy smiled, liking the other woman immediately. After the service Clara made a beeline for Daisy. “Would you two like to come over for Sunday dinner? I’d love to get to know you better, and our husbands are close friends.”
Daisy looked over at Eli questioningly. He nodded. “We’d love to.” She had a pot of beans soaking at home, but she could easily cook them for supper instead. She liked the idea of getting to know Eli’s friends.
Clara had a beautiful young daughter named Natalie, who looked right around Daisy’s age. She wondered why Eli hadn’t married her until Natalie called Eli “Uncle Eli,” and then she understood perfectly. While she was of an age to marry him, she’d been raised to think of him as an uncle.
While the three of them fixed lunch together, leaving Gertrude to mind the small children, Clara talked about how she’d come to Montana as a mail order bride herself. “I love it here. I can’t imagine going back to Beckham.”
“My aunt still talks about Beckham occasionally. She says it was a good place for her.” Daisy felt like she had a connection to this woman, simply because her aunt had lived in the town Clara had lived in before moving to Montana.
“I never knew your aunt, but I knew the girl who took her place, and she spoke highly of her.”
Daisy smiled at Natalie. “How old are you?” She gauged the girl to be close to her own age, but sometimes it was hard to tell.
“I’m sixteen.” The girl’s eyes shin
ed with excitement. Daisy wondered about that, but didn’t ask.
Clara sighed. “Now that she’s sixteen, she’s allowed to go on sleigh rides or buggy rides with boys as long as we approve of them, and someone asked her to go for a buggy ride this afternoon at church. She’s not going to marry for another two years at least, but she can go for a buggy ride.”
The emphasis on two years was obviously for Natalie’s sake, and she wrinkled her nose at the words. “Charles is coming to take me for a ride after we have lunch today. He said he’d be here around three.”
Daisy grinned. She remembered how much fun Rose had with all her suitors, but she’d never really experienced that herself. “I hope you have fun. My parents wouldn’t even let us court until we were eighteen, so I never got to go on any buggy rides.”
Natalie’s jaw fell open. “Eighteen? Before you can court? I thought my parents were old-fashioned.”
“My oldest sister didn’t have a lot of rules, and she had twenty suitors. They pretty much took over our house, until our parents instituted that rule.”
Clara chuckled. “Natalie? If you have twenty suitors at one time, I’m going to make you wait until you’re eighteen to court as well.”
Natalie wrinkled her nose, which was just like her mother’s. “Why would I need more than one suitor when I have Charles? He’s the man I’ll marry someday.”
Daisy choked back a laugh. She liked the girl, who was a very hard worker. “How old is Charles?” She wanted to call him Sir Charles, but she didn’t want to offend anyone.
Clara sighed. “He’s nineteen. A little older than I would like right now, but he’ll be a good age for her when she’s eighteen and he’s twenty-one.” She turned away from Natalie. “How many sisters do you have? You mentioned your oldest, so I assume there are at least two or three?”
“I have seven sisters and no brothers.”
“Seven sisters. Oh my.”
“Yes, seven. And we all have flower names. Rose, Lily, Amaryllis, Daisy, Jasmine, Hyacinth, Violet, and Iris. If I’d stayed in Seattle, I’d always have been known as one of ‘the flowers.’” She sighed. She was so happy to be away from all of her sisters and the nicknames that came with having the same names. She’d been asked more times than she could count if she liked living in a garden. She hated not being an individual.
Daisy (Suitors of Seattle) Page 5
