Chapter 12
Daisy was looking through the book Clay had given her the week before, staring at the symbol he’d shown her the day he gave it to her. She’d finally found it, and her heart pounded as she stared at it.
It was the symbol for, I love you.
Her smile widened so big, her lips ached. Clay had told her he loved her. He’d not said the words, but he’d told her in a language she could see.
The past week had been pure bliss. They had spent every evening cuddled up on the sofa, touching and kissing.
They’d not had a repeat of the night they’d bathed, and she was too afraid to ask him why.
She assumed he was trying to be a gentleman about it all, and truth be known, she was glad for it.
Being so familiar, while euphoric, was something she knew should wait.
Their relationship was so new that it would be a mistake to take it from one to a hundred in mere days.
Besides, they’d grown closer, his kisses softer, and looking at the page in the book, seeing the hand sign for I love you, she knew his feelings for her were real. He loved her.
She blinked the wetness from her eyes and looked up when the light in the room shifted. The front door was opening, but it wasn’t Clay who walked through it. It was Graham.
The moment he saw her, he smiled and said, “Hey, cutie. Miss me?”
“Graham!” She slammed the book closed and jumped from her chair in an instant. He met her halfway across the room, his arms circling her waist when she threw herself at him.
As much as she enjoyed being here with Clay, playing house as if they owned it, seeing her family made the tears she’d been holding back come. Graham stroked the back of her head, no doubt telling her to stop crying. He hated it when Rose did, and she imagined he hated her doing it too.
She looked up and wiped her face. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“Really? It doesn’t seem that way.”
She laughed and said, “They’re happy tears, I promise.”
He looked her over from head to toe. “Are you all right? The telegram the sheriff sent said bandits attacked the stagecoach.”
“It was. Clay got us away, but it took us two days of wandering through the forest the find Butte.”
She told him about the old couple Clay believed were eating people and about their hunger.
When she mentioned the injured Indian they’d helped heal and that had shared his food and water with them, Graham laughed until he was red in the face and said she was making it all up.
Thinking back on it, it sound too ridiculous to be true.
Graham opened his mouth to say something, but looked over her head toward Liam’s bedroom instead. He raised an eyebrow before looking down at her. “Someone is saying your name.”
“Oh! That’s Liam. This is his house.” She turned and headed for his room, letting herself in when she reached it. Liam was sitting up in bed, his head cocked to one side as if he’d been trying to hear what was going on out in the living room.
Graham followed her in. “Liam, this is my brother-in-law, Graham Hart.” She told him before turning to Graham. “And this is Liam. He owns the livery stable Clay is working at.”
Graham nodded at Liam. “It’s nice to meet you, Liam. And I’d like to thank you for looking after Daisy and Clay.”
“Oh, they’ve been taking more care of me than I of them.” He tapped his broken leg. “I’d be in an awful place if it weren’t for those two.”
Liam glanced at her and smiled before saying, “I suppose you’re here to take them home?”
“I am,” Graham said. “We were worried when Clay never came back home. My wife and her sister pestered the devil out of me until I rode to Elkin and sent a telegram. We added Josiah’s name to it so it would be sent right away.
Josiah is the marshal in Silver Falls.” He glanced at Daisy.
“Seems to have worked. We got word the next day that she was here.”
“Well, I hate to see you go, Daisy. It’s been a genuine pleasure having you here.” He gave her an odd look before saying, “Unless Clay has convinced you to stay with him.”
“Stay with him?” The back-and-forth conversation and having to turn her head so much had made her dizzy. Surely he didn’t just say Clay was going to stay in Butte.
He nodded. “I offered him a partnership in my livery stable.” The words struck her like lightning.
He continued to speak, saying, “I’m getting too old to do the things I used to, and I have no other family to help out or leave the place to when I'm dead. Clay is a good man. Works hard, so it was a simple choice to make. Even offered him my old partner’s home to go with it. ”
Daisy caught little of what Liam said after that as she was still trying to process what he’d told her. Clay had said nothing to her about staying in Butte. Not once had he mentioned it, and they’d been living with Liam for over two weeks now. Why had he not said anything?
By the time Clay came back home, she’d convinced herself that he didn’t love her at all. How could he if he was planning on staying without her?
Clay started talking to Graham the moment he saw him, and she ignored them both as she cooked. She’d been told they’d leave first thing in the morning, and she was equally excited to leave and dreading it all the same.
Clay touched her arm to get her attention. “What’s wrong? You’ve been awfully quiet.” Instead of answering, she glanced at Graham.
Her brother-in-law grinned and said, “I’m going to go walk the town. I’ve never been to Butte.”
Without another word, he left the house. Clay was still watching her when she looked at him. “Why did you not tell me you were staying in Butte?”
He blew out a long breath. “Graham said Liam told you about the offer he gave me. And I didn’t say anything because I hadn’t given him an answer yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have other things to consider besides myself.”
What sort of things? Was he talking about her? Her heart rate spiked. She was about to ask him what else he had to consider when he turned his head toward Liam’s bedroom door.
“Liam is calling for me.”
Of course he was. She nodded and turned back to the stove. By the time Graham returned, the food was done.
Liam had thanked her for the plate when she carried it in to him, but said nothing more.
Clay had been in with him for a long while and had yet to say what they spoke about.
He and Graham conversed the entire way through their supper.
They were both trying to include her, but she was too preoccupied to pay much attention to the conversation.
Not that it mattered anyway. Graham already said they’d be leaving at first light.
And she now knew Clay wasn’t coming with her.
Daisy was upset with him. Had barely spoken an entire sentence since he’d come home the night before, and it was all his fault.
Graham telling him Liam had told her of his offer had been poor timing.
He’d wanted to tell her himself. Show her the house when he had that ring and ask her to marry him in what he hoped would be their future home.
That plan was all shot to hell now. Graham was taking her back to Silver Falls, and he couldn’t go with her.
The sled Graham had borrowed from the livery stable in Elkin had two bench seats.
It was roomy enough that Daisy could lie down in the back if she got tired, and he was sure she would.
It was a long way home with all the snow that was on the roads.
He wasn’t even sure how long it would take to get there in that thing.
There was a pile of blankets on the seat, and since Daisy had no belongings other than the book he’d given her, they were ready to go as the sun came up.
The livery stable was always cold when he got there, but this morning, it felt frigid. Daisy’s mood was the cause, and he wasn’t sure how to fix it.
You can ask her to marry you.
He wasn’t so sure she would say yes, though. The news that he might stay in Butte had upset her more than he thought it would. She must not like it here as much as he did.
When Graham said they’d leave this morning, she’d been eager to get going. She’d been the first one up this morning, breakfast already done by the time he woke.
Clay shut the barn door after Graham guided the horses and sleigh out. He turned to peer down the street at the town. Very few people were up and about at this time of morning, but the ones who were did throw their hands up in greeting when they saw them.
Daisy was by the sleigh when he turned back around, arms crossed under her breasts, and he wasn’t sure how Graham would react if he pulled her to him and kissed her the way he wanted.
He wasn’t sure how she’d react either. Did she still want his kisses?
Or had him keeping Liam’s offer from her taint her blooming affection for him?
“We need to go,” Graham said. “I’ll give the two of you a minute.” He grinned and walked into the barn out of the cold air.
He approached Daisy, tipping her chin up with his finger when she refused to look at him. “Why are you so upset?” She didn’t answer, but she didn’t look away either. “I can’t leave with Liam still laid up. It’ll be at least three more weeks before he can stand on that leg.”
Her eyes brightened. “Does that mean you’re not going to take his offer?”
“I didn’t say that.” Her frown was back. “It’s a lot to pass up, Daisy. I’ve never owned anything in my life, and I never will, doing odd jobs here and there. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I have to give it more thought.”
She blew out a breath and nodded her head. “I know. And I don’t mean to be so whiny about it.”
He grinned. “It just means you care for me.” Her smile was genuine, and he glanced at the barn before taking a step closer to her. “Can I kiss you?”
She gave a short huff of a laugh. “You know you don’t have to ask.”
He nodded toward the stable with his head. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me to with Graham here to see it.”
She shrugged. “I don’t see Graham at the moment.”
He took that as a yes and pulled her into his arms, kissing her like he’d wanted to do since the day before. The way she kissed him back told him more than her words ever could. She cared about him. He wasn’t sure if it was love or not, but it was something.
Someone clearing their throat made him break the kiss. Graham was at the stable door, looking at anything but them. Daisy blushed so bright red, he wasn’t sure the color would ever come off, and he chuckled before taking a step away from her.
“She’s ready to go,” he said, looking over at Graham. He helped her into the sleigh as Graham crossed the distance between them, and when she was settled with several blankets piled on her lap, he leaned down and gave her another soft kiss.
Graham gave the rein a shake before clicking his tongue, and they were off before he could say another word.
He watched them go, the sleigh gliding easily over the frozen snow on the street, and before they reached the corner, Daisy turned, getting up onto her knees on the seat to look back at him.
She threw her arm up. He thought she was going to wave, but her arm never moved.
That’s when he noticed her hand. She was giving him the hand sign for, I love you.
He grinned and stood there for long minutes after they rounded the corner, too stunned to move yet.
She loved him. A man who owned nothing but a sack of clothes.
Looking at the livery stable, he wondered if that was even true now.
He could own a piece of Butte, Montana. All he had to do was decide if he was going to take it and hope Daisy came back if he did.