Discovering Daisy (5 page)

“How old are you, Daisy?” he asked and she almost laughed at the fact that he was asking after they were married.

“Twenty-one,” she replied honestly hoping that he wouldn’t care that she was a little old to be a new bride. She just hadn’t found anyone that interested her before and her father had indulged her.

“I’m twenty-eight,” he said without her asking. She didn’t know what to say so she just nodded.

“Where did you live before you came west?” he asked.

She smiled remembering how it had been growing up back east. “
Virginia
,” she said. “My dad was a banker there and we lived in a big house that my mom spent most of her time cleaning. Even though we had staff she had to have her hands in everything. My dad used to laugh at her when he would come home.”

She hadn’t thought about her parents in a while and it was a bittersweet to look back.

“Did they move out here with you?” he asked as he took the bowl from her and moved it aside.

“No,” she whispered as that day came back to her with clarity as if it had only been yesterday. “They were killed when the wheel came off of their carriage. It flipped and Momma was thrown from it. My dad was pinned beneath it and died that same night.”

“So what happened then?” he queried as she grew quiet.

“My sister was already seeing Clancy, though my father made it known that he didn’t like him,” Daisy replied. “So they married and Clancy took over everything.”

“No brothers or uncles to look out for you?” Jacob asked wondering how a man that was not yet family had been able to step in and take control.

“Both of my parents were only children,” she said.

“So what made Clancy decide to come west?”

“Adventure and the possibility of building something bigger and better than what we had in town,” she sighed as she really thought about what was going on then. “Plus I think my dad’s business partner was planning on making things difficult for Clancy. So he wanted to leave.”

“And you had to go with them?” Jacob wanted to know why a woman who was obviously of age had been forced to go with her new brother-in-law.

“No,” she admitted. “I had plenty of offers from friends of my parents to stay and live with them. But Amelia was all I had left and I wanted to be with her.”

So she had come west to remain with her sister. He understood that. “So when did things start going bad?” Because he had no doubt that there was a reason why her dad and others hadn’t liked or trusted Clancy.

“I guess looking back he must have started hitting her and stuff while we travelled, but he never did it around me. I would hear noises and stuff and when I asked he would just say that when I got a man of my own I’d find out.” She shook her head in confusion. What she and Jacob had shared hadn’t made her cry out in pain as she had heard her sister. Would that change?

Jacob seemed to read her thoughts. “I will never hurt you physically,” he swore. “My father and mother raised us better than that.” Somehow she sensed he was being honest.

“When he bought the homestead we all moved out to the house and tried to make a go of it,” she stated. “But it wasn’t as easy as Clancy had thought and he began to leave for long periods of time. And then he started coming back with other men, hard men.”

“What do you mean, hard men?” Jacob asked.

“They wore guns. It was the way they spoke, the way they walked,” she shook her head in aggravation. “I don’t know how to explain it. They just were hard.”

He nodded his head. “So what happened?”

“My sister would send me away while they were there and I would stay gone until I saw the sign from her that it was okay to come back,” she whispered. “She would light a big fire in the yard and I would know that it was time to head back.”

“And?” he queried as she faltered again.

“I noticed that she was getting quieter and quieter with each visit,” she said and a lone tear tracked down her cheek. “I noticed bruises and the fact that she would have trouble moving and lifting or carrying anything for weeks after they left. She denied anything was wrong, but I knew. I knew, and still I left when she told me to. I left her to what they did to her.”

He reached out and pulled her to him holding her in his arms as she cried. Not the harsh sobs of last time but softer sobs that seemed to come straight from her soul.

“You did what she told you to,” he whispered. “And you can’t know that your being there would have made a difference. It could have made it worse for her and for you.” In fact he knew it would have and he might have lost her before he ever found her.

“So tell me about that night,” he urged as she quieted in his arms.

She shook her head. “I have to tell you something else first, about someone else.” He tensed as he watched her face soften at the mention of this other person. Was it possible that his wife was in love with another man?

“I stayed close one night,” she said. “I was determined to find out what they were doing and stop them from hurting her. I heard her scream and saw her being grabbed by two of his friends.” Her breath caught as she relived that moment. “They were hurting her, raping her, and he just sat there and drank and ate. He didn’t care. I wanted to get to her, to help her, to protect her but someone grabbed me from behind before I could move.”

She shuddered and he ran his hand up and down her spine in slow soothing strokes. “I will kill any man who dares to try and touch you,” he swore and she shuddered again this time in relief. “Who had you?” He needed to know.

“He took me to a cabin that I hadn’t realised was even there,” she said. “When he let me go I turned around and almost died of fright.” She looked him straight in the eyes before continuing. “He was an Indian. An older man and I had heard all the horror stories about what they were capable of.”

He swore under his breath. “But he didn’t hurt you?”

“No,” she said and smiled for the first time since she had first spoken of her parents. “He saved me and he taught me how to survive. He was my friend, the only one I had.”

“So he taught you what?” Jacob wanted to know.

“He taught me how to live off the land. How to cook, how to trap, how to fight.” She looked Jacob in the eyes. “He taught me how to defend myself.”

“And?” He wanted to know about that night, about the bodies and what she had lived through.

“And there came a time when they came back and I didn’t leave. My sister was pregnant and I didn’t trust them to leave her alone. So I stayed.”

“What happened, Daisy? What did they do?”

She seemed lost in the past, in that day. “I went out for water and I heard her scream. I ran back and there were two men pawing at her, ripping her clothes from her and saying that they had never fucked a pregnant woman before.”

It tore him up to hear such a vulgar word escape her lips but she didn’t even seem to realise that she had said it. She seemed trapped in that day, that moment and he just held her to him.

“Clancy grabbed me and pulled me against his body. He said that he was finally going to take me that way he’d wanted to since the first time he’d seen me. He carried me back to the bedroom and shut the door. I could hear her screaming and I couldn’t get to her. I couldn’t get to her.” She shuddered and he held her, just held her trying to soothe her with his touch. “He threw me on the bed and climbed on me. I fought him. I fought him and caught him by surprise. He didn’t think that I would know how to fight. But I fought and fought knowing that I had to get out there and help my sister. Amelia needed me and I had to get to her. I hurt Clancy and he reached for his boot. I knew he was going for something, a knife maybe, and I beat him to it. I remember the feel of the knife in my hand. I remember stabbing him, the look of surprise on his face as he stilled. I remember thinking I should feel something, some remorse as he died. But I didn’t. I killed him and I didn’t feel a thing.”

She seemed shaken and confused by this. “You did what you had to do to survive. No one, man or woman could ever fault you for that. You saved yourself when there was no one else there to protect you.” He tilted her head up to his. “I promise you that you will never be alone again. I promise you that even should I not be there, one of my family will be, and you will never stand alone again.”

She nodded her head and more tears fell. She had cried so much that he wondered that she had any fluids left inside her. “The silence was the first thing that I noticed. Amelia wasn’t screaming anymore. There was no noise at all. I shoved Clancy off and went to open the door. I saw the bodies of two men, the two who had been attacking my sister and then I saw her. She was so still, her eyes open. I could see the bruises forming on her. I ran to her and tried to get her to focus on me, to breathe, to speak. But I was too late. I was too late to save her.”

“You did what you could, Daisy,” Jacob said as he shook her until her eyes focused on the here and now. “You did what you could and your sister would not blame you.”

She nodded knowing in her heart that he was right. Amelia had protected her. The last thing her sister would do is blame Daisy for not being able to protect her.

“So who killed the two men?” Jacob asked already knowing that those two men had killed her pregnant sister.

“Saviour did,” she whispered. “He came to save us. He tried to get me to leave before the sheriff got there but I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t.”

“So you lied to the sheriff about killing all those men.” It made sense to Jacob. She would want to protect the only friend that she had. He understood that.

“I had killed one man,” she sighed. “What difference did it make if he thought I killed all three of them?”

Jacob held her close to him, just held her, taking comfort in the feel of her in his arms. It stunned him to know that he could have lost her. He could have never known the feel of her in his arms, the feel of her body as she took him inside. He could have lost out on discovering the most important person in his life. Daisy. She was strong and brave though perhaps she didn’t realise it yet. She was perfect for him and he had fallen that final bit in love with her as she told him what she had lived through.
 

“You did what you had to,” he whispered to her. “There is no shame in what you did. You are a survivor and I could ask no more of the woman who will be mother to my children.”

She gasped and looked at him. He could see that she hadn’t thought about the fact that all the loving they had been doing could lead to a child. So brave and strong and yet still naïve in so many ways.

“I have killed more men then you can imagine,” he said. In fact he had killed several women as well but wouldn’t tell her of that just yet, though he knew one day he would share all with her as well. “I did what I had to do to protect the lives of those around me. And that is what you did as well. You did what you had to and I am very grateful that you did.”

“You don’t think less of me knowing that I murdered someone?” she asked.

“You are no more murderer than I am,” he vowed. “You are a woman who stood alone and did what she had to do. I admire you. You have strength and courage that sets you apart from others. You are a woman to be proud of, a woman to love.”

She caught her breath. “Does that mean that someday you might love me?”

He wanted to tell her that he already did but she wouldn’t believe him, not yet. So he told her what she could accept. “I am falling in love with you, Daisy,” he said and bent to kiss her softly on the lips. “Everything I learn about you only makes me fall a little more.”

She smiled and reached up to run her fingers over his cheek. “I am with you too,” she said and he felt his heart swell. “You are everything that I prayed for and never knew existed outside of my father.”

“I will never willingly hurt you,” he promised knowing that he might hurt her unknowingly as they went through the journey of life together. “I will protect you to my dying breath and no man shall ever bring fear to your eyes again while I am alive.”

She leaned up to kiss him, the first time she had initiated it on her own. He took her kiss and deepened it, seeking entrance to her mouth and exploring it once more with his tongue. She met him stroke for stroke, no longer shy or timid in their kissing. It fired his blood and he could feel his cock swelling with need once more. This woman would be the death of him. His body would surely give out from all the loving he would have with her.

“I wish that my sister could have found a man like you,” she whispered as she pulled free. “I wish she could have known a better life than the one she had with Clancy.”

“She had the life she chose for whatever reason,” he said. “You can’t go back and change that. You can only move on and honour her by living the life she would have desired for you.”

“Yes,” she said and snuggled closer to him. “I can honour her by finding happiness where it is offered.”

He smiled at her, loving the ease with which she fit against him, the way her body seemed perfectly suited to his.

“When do we head out to meet your family?” she queried as they sat there.

“Sooner than I want,” he said. “My grandfather will know that we are here, on the land. The braves that live on our land will have told him. So I don’t expect for us to be alone much longer.”