If she heard me, she didn't think that my suggestion was worth a reply besides her goddamn crying, and that was okay.
I was getting used to it, which meant that things were going to be brighter than I thought they could have been after all.
It enhanced my spirits.
Daisy was the perfect flower I had been looking for after all, and once we got her crying under control, she could stay on the farm with me.
She could be Scout's best friend too once she got over her fear of his outward appearance because he always had been more bark than bite, and since he hadn't been capable of either in the past few years, she'd love him as much as I always have.
Maybe we wouldn't be perfect, but I knew that it would be possible to get close to her, and I was willing to try.
Chapter Thirteen
She was sitting at the other end of the table with her hands folded in her lap. I told her that she had earned the responsibility of being the woman of the house, and with that, came the head of the table across from me.
She hadn't thanked me or even blinked when I gave her the good news. I knew that it had to be shocking to her to go from being so goddamn useless to someone that I found myself admiring, but since she had earned Scout's trust, she earned mine too.
Posy was always afraid of my moods since they were continually changing, but Daisy hadn't reacted since being made the secondary head of the house, so I figured that we'd be okay.
"Isn't it crazy?" I happily asked as I dug into my baked potato and scooped out a forkful.
When she didn't respond, I pressed on,
"How things can change so quickly, I mean. Like when I saw you last night at the corral, I wasn't sure what to think. Roger pointed you out to me—he did the same thing with Posy in a roundabout way, and so far, he hasn't let me down with his picks for me. I think it's great that he knows me so well since not many people do. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that last night you looked like an equal, then this morning you looked like a spoiled brat, then a pain in the fucking ass, and now you're almost an equal again."
The cheerful disposition I found myself in didn't seem to shake anything loose in her, but I found that it bothered me less than it had a few hours ago.
She was finally beginning to understand that once I allowed someone onto Cahill Farms, they wouldn't be able to leave unless I allowed it.
Which I hadn't done yet with the exception of Posy.
If she left, that is.
Fuck, what the hell happened that day?
From time to time, I found myself wondering that, and I hadn't been able to come up with an answer no matter how hard I tried to remember.
"Are you okay?"
The timid voice at the end of the table caught my attention and drew me out of the miserable place I went to from every now and again looking for a resolution I was so sure would never have been mine to know or understand.
"Yeah, sorry," I replied with a laugh, "that happens sometimes. Just ignore it, okay?"
Daisy nodded and lowered her eyes to her untouched plate of food.
"Do you want me to make you something else?" I asked curiously.
She shook her head as she sniffled, then looked away.
"Daisy?"
When she looked up at me again, I leaned forward in my chair as she finally started to fall firmly into focus.
Long, dark hair, blue-green eyes, and … and …
"Who were you looking for?" I asked her, my voice catching in my throat.
Pursing her lips, she shook her head, but this time I wanted answers because the more she fell into focus, the more she reminded me of someone.
"I'm not going to ask you again," I warned her in a soft tone. "You can tell me, or I can get it out of you another way."
"My sister," she confessed, her tone barely above a whisper.
"Why at the corral?" I pressed as my voice became harsher.
"That's the last place anyone can remember seeing her," she replied with a shrug.
My head began to throb at her words. I hadn't experienced one of these headaches in so long, but shit was finally starting to make sense. Why she was so goddamn defiant, why the scent of her kept me intoxicated—even if I hadn't noticed it until now—why she started at the corral instead of anywhere else in Temple.
"What's her name? Your sister?" I asked, even though I damn well knew the answer more than I wanted to admit.
"Posy."
Chapter Fourteen
Dinner was over the moment she said Posy's name. I couldn't stand the fact that the girl who sat across from me harbored the same blood in her veins as the one that caused me so much grief.
I wouldn't let her go, though.
That would be much too easy, and she had sins to atone for that she didn't even know had been laid at her feet because of her confession.
"I was eight when she left," she continued, utterly oblivious to the fact that I had been done with this conversation already. "Last I heard, she was heading to Oklahoma. I don't know why because we don't have family here, but I asked around, and that Roger guy that pointed me out to you? He told me that he remembered Posy and that you might be able to help me."
Fucking traitor, I thought as I gritted my teeth. All this time, I had assumed that Roger had been a friend of mine, but that old bastard always did favor pussy over friendship.
I just never thought he'd do it to me too.
"So, Mr. Cahill," she continued as she sat up and pushed her plate out of the way. "That's the reason I came back to your farm with you. Granted, I'll be a little shallow right now and admit that what you look like may have played a part in it, but I normally don't accept rides from strangers. Just the ones that might know where my sister is."
I ran a hand over my mouth to try and get the dry feeling out of it. I kept my eyes on Daisy as the smug smile began to spread across her lips slowly.
So, she had been playing possum this entire time after all, but that didn't explain why she let me destroy her pistil, though that point was moot by now.
I looked away for a moment before I took a deep breath, then looked into her eyes and did my best to stay calm.
"Do the women in your family make it a habit to spread their legs for strangers?" I asked venomously, but she simply smiled and shrugged in return.
"I always wanted what Posy had, and I'm pretty sure she had you, so I wasn't doing anything I wouldn't have done with anyone else if you want me to be honest."
"Scout's the way he is now because of her," I said after a calculated moment of silence. "And since she isn't here to answer for that, I guess you'll have to do."
Daisy went from smug to shaken almost instantly as I got to my feet and smiled. I walked down the length of the table, gripped her by the arm, and pulled her out of the chair.
"Of course, since you were at the corral last night and you belong to me now, I'm assuming you want to look a lot more like your sister did after I purchased her."
She began to struggle against me as I dragged her outside toward the barn.
"Cut the shit," I snapped at her after I shoved her inside of the building. "Even your sister had some fucking decency to take everything that came at her."