16. Daisy
Chapter 16
Daisy
L amplight glowed from the nightstands, the room bathed in cozy light.
“I’ve never stayed here,” I said, walking to the window. A ring of golden light surrounded the property, but beyond it was only darkness, the forest and river unseen in the night. I turned to find Wolf leaning against the wall and staring at me. “Do you mind if I crack a window?”
“Make yourself at home, doll,” Otis said, walking to the bags.
Soon it would be too cold to leave the windows open at night, but I loved falling asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees, loved waking up to birds chirping, so close it felt like they were in the room.
I opened the window and breathed in the burst of crisp air, then exhaled as the sound of the river wound its way into the room. It was hard to imagine all those years at my dad’s house, locked up in the climate-controlled environment dictated by the heating and cooling system.
Being at the house at the top of the falls had changed me forever. It wasn’t like camping or anything, but it made me feel part of the landscape. I noticed the seasons now, noticed the way the earth smelled moist and peaty in the spring, the scent of sun-warmed wood in the summer air. The land was on the verge of another change now, the rustle of dried leaves different from the sound of them in the summer when everything was green, the bite of the wind a promise of what was to come during winter.
I turned around to look at Wolf and Otis. Wolf was still leaning against the wall but Otis was sitting on the bed, holding a package wrapped in brown paper. “Thank you for bringing me here,” I said. “It was a good idea.”
“We want to make you happy,” Otis said.
It was so typically Otis. Simple and to the point.
I smiled. “I want to make you happy too. Is it time for presents?”
“It’s time for presents,” Wolf said.
I went to my bag and removed the two packages I’d bought that morning. Then we all piled on the king-size bed.
I gave them their gifts first. I watched as they opened the packages, wishing I’d had more time to choose presents but hoping they’d like the things I’d chosen in town.
Otis got his open first and I watched as he pulled out the leather mechanic's bag I’d bought at one of the newer specialty shops in town.
“Whoa,” he said, rubbing his hand over the mustard-colored leather. “This is amazing.” He opened it and looked inside. “It’s perfect for my tools. Where did you get it?”
“That little shop in town,” I said. “The one with the neon Harley sign in the window. Turns out one of the guys makes these by hand.”
“Thanks, doll.” He leaned over to kiss me. “I love it.”
Wolf had unwrapped his more slowly to reveal a small box. He lifted the lid and removed the handmade guitar pick I’d found at Blackwell Emporium, a gift store filled with locally made items.
“Wow,” he said, turning over the wafer-thin piece of wood. “This is… this is beautiful.”
“It’s made out of local cherry wood,” I said.
He held it closer to his face to study the grain, then rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, meeting my gaze. “It’s incredible. Thank you.”
“Happy birthday,” I said. “And…” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry I missed it.” I looked at Otis. “That I missed both of them.”
“Not a big deal, sunshine.”
“Your turn,” Otis said, picking up the small package on the bed. He thrust it into my hands. “I hope you like it.”
It was a rectangular box about six inches long and four inches deep, meticulously wrapped in brown craft paper and tied with twine.
I laughed. “I think you’re a better gift wrapper than I am.”
“I had to make the box,” Otis said when I peeled the paper off a little at a time to reveal a beautiful wooden box. I recognized the grain of the cherry wood, polished to a warm glow.
“You… you made this?”
He shrugged. “What’s inside is fragile. I didn’t want to wrap it in cardboard.”
Of course he didn’t. My heart swelled with love for him. If the box alone had been the present, I would have been more than happy.
I lifted the lid on the wooden box and gasped when I saw what was inside.
“This is…” I couldn’t even get out the words as I withdrew the small gilded cage, a tiny mechanical bird sitting inside on a slender piece of polished wood. “This is unbelievable.”
“Turn it over,” Otis said.
I cradled the cage in my hand and lifted it to my face, afraid to break it by turning it upside down. There was a small gold key on the underside, the kind that wound a music box. “It plays music?”
“Wind it and see,” Otis said.
“I don’t want to break it.”
“You’re not going to break it, doll. It wasn’t working when I got my hands on it, but it’s good as new now.”
“Wait… you got this working?” I asked.
He shrugged. “They’re hard to find in working condition. I know it’s not brand new, but it seemed like something you’d like.”
I met his eyes and a powerful tide of emotion moved between us. “It’s something I like.”
“You haven’t even wound it up yet.”
I laughed and turned the little key, then held it right side up in my hand.
The little bird flapped tiny metal wings as the music started to play, something familiar and haunting, something that spoke of old houses and dusty books, of lilacs and open windows and antique furniture polished with lemon oil.
The title of the music was on the tip of my tongue. “Is that…?”
“'Moonlight Sonata.’”
I nodded and watched the bird move until the music stopped playing. It was pure magic, made even more meaningful because he’d brought it back to life with his own hands. I could almost see his blond head bent to the delicate machinery inside the base of the gilded gage, his fingers deftly replacing part after part until the bird sang again.
I set the cage down on the table and slipped onto Otis’ lap. “Thank you.”
I slid my hands around his neck and kissed him, felt the press of his cock against my ass as our tongues met, his arms tight around my waist.
I was wet when I pulled away, more than ready to be naked with them both.
“Ready for your next present, sunshine?” Wolf asked. “Unless you want to skip right to the kiss, in which case I’m more than happy to oblige.”
“I definitely want the kiss, but I’ll take the present first.”
“You got it.” He stood and took his guitar out of its case, then sat on the bed.
He hesitated, then started to strum, his long fingers working the strings, a melancholy melody echoing through the room.
I closed my eyes and listened as he moved through the chords, the notes winding through my body like the ivy that crept up the house.
I was surprised when he started to sing. “Found a daisy in a field afar, looking a lot like a great lone star. The light’ll come when you can’t see. That’s when I knew that Daisy found me.”
He kept playing, kept singing, and I felt like my heart was being mended by the healing thread of his words, the music echoing through the room. My cheeks were wet with tears by the time the last note echoed through the room. The silence that followed felt almost deafening in the absence of the music, like something had been lost.
I tried to speak but couldn’t, so I shook my head and swallowed the lump that had lodged in my throat. “You wrote that for me?”
His nod was slow, his gaze glued to mine. “I guess you could say that.”
“What do you mean?”
He considered his words. “It doesn’t seem fair to say I wrote it. It’s what I hear when I look at you. It just took me a while to get the notes down, to hear the words.”
He set the guitar aside and stood, then reached for my hands to pull me to my feet. For a long moment, he just looked down at me, his eyes burning like molten sapphires.
“No one’s ever written a song for me before,” I finally said.
“I could write a symphony for you, Daisy.”
His use of my name — not the nickname I’d grown to love but my actual name — felt like a promise and a prayer.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest, felt his arms tighten around me. I could hear the beating of his heart.
Steady. Reassuring.
Jace was gone, but these two men, they were still here. I needed to remember that.
“I love you,” I said. “I love both of you.”
He stroked my hair. “We love you too.”
“I love the love,” Otis said from the bed. “But can we fuck now? I really want to fuck now.”
I laughed as Wolf squeezed me tighter.