Daisy (Suitors of Seattle) (5 page)

He frowned.  “I forgot about that.  How long would your mother and sister stay in town if we never showed up?”

She laughed.  “Too long, probably.  Mother would find someone who would drive her out here, and she’d give you a piece of her mind.”

“Guess we’d better go get her tomorrow and hurry her along then.”
  He brushed a brief kiss across her lips, worried about how tired she looked.  “You get that nap while I work.”

She watched him as he hurried from the house, obviously intent on his work and forgetting about her immediately.  She found some spare sheets in his dresser and quickly changed the sheets on the bed.  She hurried down the steps to the cellar and found some beans.  She put them on to soak, knowing that it would take a while for them to cook.  They may have a late supper that first night, but he seemed the type who would understand about that.

She crawled between the clean sheets, and pulled his pillow to her, hugging it.  It seemed strange that the first time she slept in his bed it was without him, but she knew by the way he’d behaved that wouldn’t be a regular thing.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile on her face.  There was no doubt in her mind she’d married a good man.

Chapter Three

After sleeping for two hours, Daisy got up and hurried around the house cleaning as she went.  She put coal in the stove and boiled the beans while sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor.  If only the kitchen and parlor were clean today, she’d be happy.  Her mother and sister didn’t need to see the rest of the house, did they?

She had dinner ready by five in the evening, happy with herself for working so hard.  She’d wanted to make cornbread with the beans, but he didn’t have any cornmeal.  She’d have to make sure to buy that at the store the next day.  When he wasn’t there right at five, she kept cleaning, planning to stop when he arrived.  She had the parlor and kitchen floors swept and mopped, all surfaces scrubbed and dusted, and the windows washed in the main part of the house when he arrived.

He walked into the house and stared in amazement at all she’d done.  His little bride knew how to work.  He hung his hat on the peg at the door before walking to the sink and splashing water on his face. 

She hurried into the room when she heard the water.  “You’re back!”

He turned to her with a smile as he dried his face with a cloth.  “Of course, I’m back.  Did you think I’d gone forever?”

She smiled, embarrassed now that she had been away from him for a while.  “I guess I expected you earlier, but when you weren’t here, I wasn’t sure when you’d come home.”

He walked to her, leaned down and kissed her hello.  “The house looks great, and dinner smells good.  What did you make?”

“I found some beans
, so I made a big pot.”

“Sounds good to me.”  He walked to the table and took his spot while she served them each a bowl. 
He waited until she was sitting before saying a quick prayer for them and picking up his spoon.  His first bite had him sputtering.  “Hot!”  He took a huge drink from the milk she’d put in front of his place. 

“Oh, I guess I should have warned you.  Our cook at home always made spicy dishes.  I like them this way, so I tend to cook spicy.”  She frowned.  “Do you want me to just add the spices to my food, or are you okay?”

He thought about that for a moment.  “It’s got a good taste to it.  Just keep doing it how you did this.  I’ll get used to it quick enough.”  The beans were really good other than the spices, but he found he liked them after the first couple of bites.  She hadn’t lied about being able to cook.

After dinner, she washed the dishes while he watched.  He hadn’t meant to work so late but with as much time as he’d missed while having lunch with her family, he’d felt the need to make up for it.  “Tell me about your family,” he said.  “You said you have seven sisters?  Any brothers?”

She shook her head.  “No, just seven sisters.  I’m the fourth, and Jasmine is the fifth.”

“Tell me about your sisters.”

Daisy sighed.  She’d never really met anyone who didn’t know her entire family, so it was a strange question.  “Rose is the oldest.  She’s perfect.  Well, not really perfect, but she always looks perfect.  She’s married to Dr. Shawn, and they have three children.”  Daisy respected Rose, but she didn’t find her likable.  She had a hard time feeling comfortable with her eldest sister.

“She married a doctor?”

“A dentist actually.  He’s a nice man.”  She put the last of the dishes away and walked around the table to sit opposite from him, smiling as he immediately took her hands in his.  “Lily is next.  She’s a tomboy.  She married Daniel, and he’s a nice man.  We all hoped that Rose would marry Daniel, but he’s really more suited to Lily.”

“Then why did you hope he’d marry Rose?”  Did all of her sisters have flower names?

“He was the best of her suitors.”  She grinned.  “Rose had a lot of suitors.  A lot.  Every boy in town was in love with Rose…well, except for Alex who was always in love with Amaryllis.”

“Amaryllis?”

“She’s my favorite sister.  She’s the third one.  Lily is married to Daniel and they have twins.  Amaryllis is married to Alex now.  They married a year ago, and Amaryllis is expecting their first.”

“That’s a lot of sisters to try to keep up with.”

She laughed.  “You’ll learn them all.  I promise.  At least you’ve met one, which should make it a little easier.”  She made a face.  “Jasmine is the sister after me.  She’s…well, you met her.  She’s a practical joker and a pain in my backside.”

Eli laughed.  “I can see how she would be.”

Daisy frowned.  “She did remember to bring daisies for my wedding though.  I’m not sure why she did something nice.”  She shook her head.  “After Jasmine comes Hyacinth.  Hyacinth is just as quiet as I am.  I’m super shy, but Hyacinth…I don’t know how to describe her.  Dreamy, I guess?  She lives in her own little world and rarely knows what’s going on around her.”

“She sounds interesting.”

“Oh she is!  Then comes Violet.  She’s an artist.  She’s really good, and not just for her age.”  Daisy jumped up, ran into their bedroom, and got something from her carpet bag.  “She made this.”  She handed him a small piece of wood.

He looked at it in amazement.  There were ten tiny portraits painted, eight of them were accompanied by flowers.  The first two were obviously her parents.  He studied her father, who was painted with a huge grin on his face.  Mary looked just as he’d seen, and so did Jasmine.  Each of the sisters had a flower beside their name.  “Why the flowers?  Did she think you’d forget who was whom?”

She smiled.  “She made this for you.  So when I talked about all of my sisters, you could put a face with each one.”

He was touched.   “This is beautiful.  I’m going to have to write her a letter to thank her.”

“She’d like that.”  She ticked through the names she’d given him in her head.  “Oh, the only sister left is Iris.  She’s convinced she’s going to be a doctor, but I’m sure she’ll end up being a nurse, because whoever heard of a woman doctor?”  Daisy frowned.  She believed very strongly that women could do anything men could, but she knew others didn’t believe it.

“I think a woman would make a good doctor.”
 

She looked at him in surprise.  “Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you think women should have the vote?” she asked enthusiastically.

“Well, I’ve never really thought about it.  What do you think?”

“I think women should be able to do anything a man can do.  I think we’re well past the time when women need to be kept in certain roles.”

He nodded, smiling at her.  “I can agree with that.  Do you think a woman could be a good president?”

She nodded emphatically.  “I do!  And I think that even if our generation doesn’t believe it, future generations will.”

“Hmm…I had no idea I was marrying a suffragette.” His eyes twinkled as he said the name and she knew he meant nothing bad by it.

“I’m proud to call myself a suffragette.  I’m just as capable of picking
who should be president as any man is.”

He stood up with a grin.  “I think you are.”  He nodded toward the door.  “I need to go and milk the cow, and I’ll meet you back here.  I’m about ready for bed.”

She nodded, thankful for the time.  She hurried into their bedroom and changed into a long white nightgown with lace at the collar and cuffs.  It was a lot prettier than the plain gowns she usually wore, but she wanted to look pretty for her wedding night.

She took her hair down and braided it carefully so it wouldn’t tangle during the night and slipped under the covers, putting her arms over the top of the quilt.  It looked like a brand new quilt, and she couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from. 

She heard Eli come into the house a few minutes later.  He removed his hat and boots when he came into the bedroom, and he didn’t bother to douse the lamp as he removed his button up shirt and work pants.  He was wearing a thick white shirt and long underwear.  She watched as he peeled off the shirt, but turned her head when he removed his underwear. 

She saw the room plunge into darkness and felt the mattress dip as he climbed in bed beside her.  She laid there on her back while she waited for him to do something. 

She didn’t have to wait long.  His hand reached out and stroked her cheek lightly.  “I don’t want you to be nervous,” he whispered. 

She turned to him in the dark.  “I can’t help it.  I’ve never done this before.”
  How could he expect her to not be nervous when she had given him the right to do what he wanted to her body?

He smiled at her in the dark, his hand stroking her arm.  “If it helps, I haven’t either.”

“You haven’t?” she asked in surprise.  For some reason she expected that men would have experience with this sort of thing, even if women weren’t supposed to.

“Why does that surprise you?  I’ve never been married.”

She shrugged in the dark.  “I don’t know.  I guess I just thought it was normal for men to have relations before marriage.”

“Well, I never have.  I’ve been too busy working my ranch to spend a lot of time with women.”

“You’ve never come close to marrying?” she asked.

He shook his head.  “Well, one of my friends brought a woman out to me and offered her as my bride, but she was too old for me, and I wouldn’t have had her even if she wasn’t.”

“Really?  Why?”  He’d been willing to take a gamble on a mail order bride, but had turned another woman down flat.  That seemed a very odd thing to her.  What was wrong with the woman?

He shook his head.  “I could tell something was up when he brought her out here.  He was obviously trying to get rid of her.  She was a widow
, his former sister-in-law, and his new wife wasn’t real fond of her.”

“Why not?”

He laughed.  “Turns out she was just plain mean and lazy.  She didn’t want to do a lick of work, and she wanted to spend all her time criticizing others.”

“She sounds like a lovely person.”
  Daisy was glad he hadn’t married her.  Not just for herself, but she couldn’t imagine how difficult a woman like that would have made his life.

“On the outside maybe.”  He shrugged.  “She married this man I know, and she’s a good wife to him.  He doesn’t allow for anything less. 
He tells her he’ll toss her out in the snow if she gives him any trouble.”

Daisy bit her lip.  “I don’t know if that’s funny or awful.”

He shook his head.  “I think it’s a little bit of both, but they get along well now and seem happy.  They’ve been married for six years and have two children.”

“Well, I certainly couldn’t be happy that way, but
I guess everyone is different.”

“I would have shot her within a week, I’m afraid,” he said honestly.  He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.  “I much prefer a woman who is willing to work.”

“I wouldn’t have married if I wasn’t willing to work.”  She felt the tingle starting in her belly at the feel of his lips on hers.  They were lying in bed together. He wasn’t wearing anything, and there was just her thin nightgown between them.  She liked his touch, but was more than a little afraid about what was about to happen between them.

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again,
but this time his tongue moved into her mouth to mate with hers.  She stroked his back as she returned his kiss, enjoying the feel of his lips pressed against hers.  His flesh felt warm against her hands, and she sighed happily.  Their room was far enough from the stove that it was cold.  She was glad she had so many quilts on the bed, and that he was there to share body heat with.

His hand moved under the cover and he stroked down her back, touching her through the thin fabric of her nightgown.  He cupped her bottom with one hand and pulled her into him, pressing her against his rampant desire. 

She felt something poking her in the stomach and reached down to push whatever it was out of the way.  She wasn’t sure what could have gotten in the bed since she’d remade it earlier that day.

When she encountered his flesh with her hand, she blushed profusely.  How had she not realized?

Eli felt her hand stroking against him and groaned deeply.  When her hand moved away, he caught it and pressed it back against his manhood.  “That feels so good,” he whispered against her lips.

She left her hand where he’d put it, stroking his flesh.  It felt strange to her, but she didn’t comment on that as she touched it light
ly with her fingers. 

Eli wrongly assumed she was ready for him and cupped her breast in his hand, while pushing her nightgown up with his other hand.  He pressed his fingers between her thighs and stroked her, his finger playing with the nub hidden inside her secret flesh. 

Daisy shuddered in surprise as he touched her there.  It felt good, but strange all at once.  She knew from her mother’s and sister’s words that she needed to let him touch her there, but a lifetime of modesty was hard to combat.  The tingling between her legs grew stronger as his thumb rubbed against her and one finger slid inside her.  She pulled her face away in surprise, gasping.

“But…you’re not supposed to put your finger there,” she told him in surprise.

He chuckled softly.  “I talked to my friend about how to keep from hurting you tonight, and he said my fingers first would make it easier.”  He pressed a kiss to her throat, biting it softly.