The Daddy List

Chapter Four

Daisy stepped aside as her brothers-in-law carried the Parkers’ baggage inside the house without bothering to knock or offer a greeting.

All three claimed the broad shoulders and considerable height of the Trumbo clan, but the doors of this house had been built to accommodate the comings and goings of Viking-sized kin. The only real differences in the three sandy-bearded men’s appearance were the angle of their broken noses and the length of their tied-back hair. From the looks of things, one of them had enjoyed a recent fight. She supposed she’d hear about it in church tomorrow.

Maddox, the oldest and tallest of the trio, shifted his gray eyes upstairs then glared at her looking like a wolf studying its next supper. “Doc says these belong to a couple’a boarders you took in. Figured we’d save you a trip and bring out these and the supplies you left. Where do you want ’em?”

“Just set the baggage by the coatrack, please. I’ll carry them up later. And thanks for being so thoughtful. I was just about to head into town and pick up everything.” Daisy’s pulse did double time as she maneuvered her body to block the Trumbos from heading upstairs. What else had they learned about today’s events?

“Myrtle will want the supplies in the root cellar and salt shed like usual.”

Maddox nodded at his brothers. “Y’all drop what you got and I’ll do the rest in here. See that you make Myrtle happy with the storing then find out where Ollie ran off to and fetch her inside. Meet me upstairs after you’re done.”

They dropped their load and the door shut abruptly behind them.

Daisy stepped backward and stood on the first stair, blocking the way, trying to appear calm and in control. It wouldn’t be fair to subject her patient to Maddox’s fury until he was stronger.

The fact that Maddox wanted Ollie present didn’t bode well, and Daisy wasn’t all that sure why she felt so compelled to protect Bass. She ought to just turn him over to her in-laws, but keeping her word had to be honored. “I’m sure Doc Thomas told you what happened. My guest is hurt and needs some rest. I can deliver their belongings to them later.”

“We heard one was a man. I’m going to look him over some. Make sure I don’t need to run him off now.” Maddox moved up and stood there waiting for her to let him pass with the baggage under each arm. “Got any reason why I shouldn’t?”

Maddox would go up whether she liked it or not. A sigh of resignation escaped Daisy as she finally relented and stepped aside, allowing him to take the stairs two at a time. All she could do was pray that he would control himself in dealing with Bass Parker. He was already injured enough.

* * *

Any thought of dozing fled from Bass as a giant of a man barreled into the bedroom and dropped baggage on the floor without ceremony. If the stranger meant him any harm all he’d have to do was pull off the covers. Bass would have died of pure embarrassment being caught in a pair of pantaloons to defend himself. The giant didn’t need to offer any introduction. Clearly this must be one of Knox’s brothers. The resemblance to Knox was jarring.

“You Parker?” A scowl hardened his features into stoned angles as he towered over the side of the bed.

Bass tried to clear his head from the tea-laced medicine he’d drunk to make him sleep. Though at a disadvantage since he was unable to stand in Trumbo’s presence, Bass leaned forward, offered a hand and answered the question. “I am and you must be one of the Trumbos.”

To his surprise, the man accepted and returned the handshake. Not knowing how the brothers felt toward him and his role in Knox’s conscription, he half expected to be flipped out of the bed and his skull crushed.

“Maddox,” the giant introduced himself. “Oldest. Grissom and Jonas will be up here in a minute.”

“I see the resemblance.” Knox’s facial features had served him long whereas this brother’s had obviously been adjusted occasionally, yet there was no denying the kinship. Bass could sense someone standing behind Maddox and noticed the black hem of Daisy’s skirt, but the breadth of her in-law consumed the space and didn’t allow a better view of her.

“Heard what you done for Ollie and Daisy. Much obliged for that but don’t much care for you staying here. We want you gone once the crowd clears.”

Silence ticked by as Bass studied Maddox’s fixed gaze and knew the man would tolerate no compromise on the subject.

Bass nodded. “I hear you. I’ll get a room elsewhere as soon as one opens up. And so that you know, my sister and I will be no burden while we’re here. I’ll pay our board and keep.”

“If Knox hadn’t took money to stand in for you, you’d be six feet under by now for getting him killed,” Maddox assured him, “but fighting’s in our blood and he always wore restless boots. He was headed to war anyway. Just happened to be your thousand dollars that got him there.”

“I’d like to offer more than that if Daisy or you and your brothers would let me.”

Quickly explaining his purpose for being in High Plains, Bass hoped Maddox might see reason where Daisy had not concerning the memorial.

“Just how much money we talking about?” Maddox swung around to eye his sister-in-law before turning back to Bass.

When Bass told him, Maddox shot around quickly, his voice thundering across the room at Daisy. “You mean you had that kinda money all this time and done nothing but plant a few flowers around my brother’s grave? Taken up all that fancy footracing and shoemaking to prove you can feed my niece a decent meal? Let her run around in clothes not fit to use for tote sacks? Done all that so people won’t know how much you don’t need Knox and probably never did? He deserves to be remembered, Daisy, no matter his failings, and Ollie needs more.”

Regret filled Bass. He hadn’t meant to break open an old wound between Daisy and her brother-in-law.

Though her face paled, Daisy’s gaze dared to lift to Maddox’s as she defended herself. “I see to it Ollie and her clothes, which she loves to wear, by the way, are clean and warm. That she’s fed before any of us eat. I don’t give her everything she wants, but she gets all she needs. No, I’ve never touched a penny of Mr. Parker’s money. If it’s still in the bank then he kept it there, not me. I’ve never even seen it. Check with Sam Cardwell if you don’t believe me.”

“Plan to first thing tomorrow if he’s up to it.”

“But if you think that I didn’t accept or use it because I wanted to dishonor Knox in any way,” Daisy responded, anger darkening her eyes to burnished gold, “you’re sadly mistaken. I wish every day since he died that he could be here to watch Ollie grow up. That I could have been enough to keep him settled in one place. I’ll go to my grave making sure Knox is held in honor by this town, but I’m not going to take anyone’s blood money to do it with.”

Knox may have been the one who’d gone to war, but Daisy Trumbo apparently had waged her own here. Bass decided she could be a formidable opponent and he definitely needed to tread cautiously about his plans to honor Knox or help her any other way.

She took a deep breath and continued, “And, if there’s any way I can stop that money from being used, Maddox, neither will you or your brothers.”

Her anger focused on Bass, including him into her vow. “What you all don’t understand is that this is Ollie’s and my right, not yours, to see that he’s remembered well. Until Ollie is old enough to truly understand the sacrifice her father gave, it’s going to be our decision when and how we honor him. Can I make that any clearer?”

Bass knew he’d been sorely put in his place, but silence claimed the Trumbos as if battle lines were being drawn again. The two headstrong people had challenged each other’s will before. He remembered Daisy had feared openly that her in-laws might take Ollie from her upon their arrival, but here she was standing her ground with the giant of a man.

Admiration for her grew and Bass sensed that she was holding herself together as best she could on what she felt was right.

She needed a friend. Someone to support her decision. Maybe she would accept his friendship and that, in turn, would eventually help her accept the money. He’d already separated Ollie from her father. Bass didn’t want to cause a rift among the in-laws.

“How about if I just leave the funds in Ollie’s name and she does with it what she wants when she reaches the point you think best?” Bass suggested, trying to ease the tension and let her know he was on her side.

“The money is not the real issue here, Mr. Parker,” Daisy insisted. “My brother-in-law doesn’t think I’m capable of caring for my own child. I’ve done just fine without anyone else’s help and I’ll continue to do that until I have no further breath in my body.”

An undercurrent of words were being spoken and Bass realized Maddox resented that Daisy had proven herself worthy so far of being both mother and father to Ollie. What lay behind such resentment?

“She’s a handful, that’s for certain,” Bass defended Daisy again, feeling that the scamp would be a challenge for anyone to handle. A whole room of men and women had failed miserably earlier this morning.

“Hey, Uncle Maddox! Uncle Jonas said you want to see me.” Ollie came running into the room and skidded to a halt, interrupting the adults’ serious discussion.

Maddox’s palm shot out and ruffled Ollie’s hair setting the braids to bouncing. He swept her up into his arms and let her straddle his right shoulder. “You being good?”

Ollie seemed to weigh her answer carefully. “Uh, good as I get most times.”

Maddox chuckled and Bass was grateful the child’s words cooled the tempers that had been simmering moments ago.

“You got plenty to eat?” Maddox’s gaze swept over her as if examining her for good measure.

“Yep. Too much sometimes. Mama always says to clean my plate and not waste stuff, but I get Butler to help me if I can’t.”

“Butler?” Maddox frowned. “You still keeping that goat in the house?”

“Not since he ate Myrtle’s darnin’. She made me turn him loose in the barn a couple of days back. Says he needs to butt heads with somebody else but her. All he does is knock himself silly.”

“Is your mama doing right by you?” Maddox faced her mother.

Ollie didn’t hesitate, not looking threatened at all by Daisy’s intense expression. “She’s huggin’ on me a lot and I don’t like it much, but she could’ve taken a switch to me this mornin’ and she didn’t. Old Miz Jenkins will prob’ly pray about me tomorrow for sure.” Ollie proceeded to tell him about holding the men hostage.

Maddox chuckled as he set her down and bent on one knee to search her eyes. “Ya little wildcat. Guess ya can’t help yourself. Ya got your daddy’s fire in ya, don’tcha? You’d tell me if ya ever wanted to come live with me and your uncles instead, wouldn’t ya?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Y’all snore a bunch.”

Maddox snorted, wrinkling his nose into a twisted angle. She giggled. “See what I mean? Mama don’t snore like that. She snuggles me up when the lightnin’ comes. You uncles just snore it all away. I’m gonna stay with Mama, if that’s okay with you and God.”

Maddox tucked a thumb up under Ollie’s chin and raised it. “What’s God got to do with this, Little Britches?”

“He didn’t let Daddy stay with Mama. I’m just hopin’ He’ll hurry up and let me find her someone to hug on in case He don’t let me stay with her, too.”

* * *

Daisy’s heart tightened as if someone had struck her with a mallet. She never dreamed that the reason Ollie wanted to find a new daddy was because she feared leaving her mama alone. She’d assumed Ollie was tired of being smothered with affection and wanted it focused on someone else. At first, her interviewing and list-making seemed endearingly funny and sometimes frustrating, but now Daisy felt only selfish and unworthy of her daughter’s true concern. Ollie had lost a father and feared losing her as well to her uncles’ decisions.

“You’re not going anywhere, Ollie.” Daisy crossed the room to stand beside her. “So there’s no need to worry about that, is there, Uncle Maddox?”

Daisy stared at Maddox, hoping that her voice sounded more certain than she felt, praying it held no hint of begging. Surely he could see that Ollie needed the security of all she’d known, of a mother’s love, of living with someone who would never let her father’s name be dishonored. Even by the truth.

“I’ll chew on it for a while. No need to pick more bone for now.”

“What does ’zat mean?” Ollie looked puzzled.

Bass Parker chimed in. “That means he needs some time to make up his mind. Right, Mr. Trumbo?”

“If you’re gonna sleep under my brother’s roof you might as well call me Maddox.” Maddox rose to his six feet five inches of height. “And you’re right. I’ll hold off ’til you move to town. By then I’ll know more what I’m going to do about you and why you’re here. Ain’t decided if I’m gonna tolerate it yet. Can’t speak for the boys. They’ll decide for themselves.”

He held out his bear-paw-sized palm. “It’s been a waste of good boar-hunting weather meeting you, Parker. I can see by your knuckles you got more than good manners in ya and you can see by my nose I ain’t squeamish about shifting bones. So I hope we get through this without having to trade blows. We’ll be checking in on ya and making sure you’re healing good. People’ll get to gossiping and such if ya take too much time mending, being you’re under Daisy’s roof, ya know what I mean?”

Bass started to speak but Daisy interrupted him. “He’s hurt in the shoulder, Maddox. His ears are just fine. And don’t be threatening him if you want him out of here as soon as possible. The more he’s hurt, the longer he’ll have to stay.”

Her defense filled Bass with gratitude and more than a measure of surprise.

Ollie leaned over the side of the bed and took a good look at his knuckles. Her eyes softened as she studied him. “I better pray good and hard for ya tomorrow at church, Bass. Nobody, but nobody’s ever whupped Uncle Maddox. It would be the best fight ever, though, but you’d get hurt for sure.”

Maddox roared with laughter just as his brothers came running up the stairs and entered the already crowded room.

Jonas, the youngest of the three brothers, closest to Daisy’s age of twenty-four, ripped a bandanna from around his neck and handed it to Maddox. “What’s got ya gushing?”

Grabbing the bandanna and wiping his eyes, he also blew his crooked nose before handing the bandanna back to Jonas. Daisy almost withered with embarrassment right there on her planked flooring.

Maddox told his brothers what Ollie had said to set him to laughing so hard he’d cried.

Grissom, whose nose had fresh purple-and-yellowish hues that now wound into a second curve, looked down his odd-shaped snout. “I thought we came up here to kick him into the hereafter.”

Despite the fact that Bass looked as if he was struggling to stay awake, he spoke up and informed the newly arrived brothers what all had been said, discussed and judgment passed on concerning his reason for being here. He focused the conversation on himself, targeting the possible threats only at him and not at her custody of Ollie.

Daisy really took in the sight of her dark-haired patient. Though weak and obviously tiring more each moment that passed, his blue eyes were full of kindness and unspoken defense of her. A wounded knight in tarnished armor. Yet he guarded her. Though reluctant to admit it to herself, she appreciated him doing so and finally accepted something from Bass Parker gratefully.

“Maddox here said he’d give me time to heal my shoulder before he decides whether or not to adjust my nose,” Bass finished. “I hope you two gentlemen will do the same.”

“Maddox? All that true?” Grissom exhaled a long breath that revealed he had been holding in a readiness to add his fists to a fight.

“True as boogers on bandannas,” Ollie announced before Maddox could reply.

Male laughter erupted in the room.

“Lord help us, child.” Daisy tried to keep a straight face. She didn’t know whether to laugh or be exasperated yet again. She wasn’t even sure if she meant keeping her in-laws at bay or getting her daughter raised. “Are any of us up to this challenge?”

Ollie pointed to their houseguest and leaned in to whisper to Daisy only. “Don’t worry, Mama. I’ll keep my eye on everybody. And I won’t let them hurt Bass, ’least ’til I make sure he ain’t the daddy I been askin’ God to send me.”

Chapter Five

Bass woke Sunday morning sore but feeling better. The house was quiet and he wasn’t sure if anyone else was awake. He liked this time of day when he could review the previous day and set a goal for making this one work well for him.

But yesterday had been eventful. Of all the things that occurred, the one conclusion that came from it was to focus on getting to know Daisy Trumbo better so she’d let him fulfill his obligation. Let him make up for his role in Knox not coming home. What little she’d shared of herself so far intrigued him, and he had to admit he was grateful to have met the real woman to whom he owed the obligation.

He knew the Trumbo brothers were a huge challenge, and she faced them with great courage. He admired her bravery and liked that she stood her ground with them concerning her rights to keep and raise Ollie. Bass envied having a parent who was able to love that much. Negative thoughts concerning his own mother and father threatened to seep inside his musings, but he pushed them away. That was troubled water already crossed and no amount of wading through the memories would do anything but drown him in sorrow.

Focusing again on what he’d discovered about Daisy, he smiled at her stubborn spunk, her readiness to defend even him and the kindness of her heart. She’d been able to put aside what she disliked about him and was still willing to help him recover. Daisy was fair and just. It had been such a long time since he’d met anyone like her.

He even found her oddly striking in appearance and that surprised him most. Tall, slim, hair the color of harvest wheat, eyes the color of what? He wasn’t sure he had ever seen anything worth their comparison. He’d have to think about it awhile. For now, maybe he’d settle on the amber of the crystal chandelier that graced one of the mansions he’d visited in Biloxi on Plantation Row.

She just didn’t fit the description of any woman he’d ever shown any interest in before. His occasional choice of dinner companion, more often than not, was a dark-haired beauty of shorter stature and quick wit. Not that he’d had all that many social engagements.

From the time he was a boy he’d seen his parents use love as a weapon to turn on each other, so he didn’t want to love like that. Bass told himself if he hardened his heart then no one could hurt him and he would never anchor anyone down who wanted what he couldn’t and didn’t know how to give. He planned to focus solely on doing his duty and raising his sister. He would never allow his heart to love.

A rooster crowed shaking Bass from his reverie. He decided to see how much movement he could endure, hoping his injury would at least allow him to get out of these bloomers and dressed for the day.

Bass threw back the covers and sat up. Someone had redressed his wound last night and he had been too sedated to remember who. He’d have to be sure and thank Myrtle or even if it was the man named Teague.

The thought of the stranger and Petula spending time out in the barn yesterday urged Bass’s feet to shift over the side of the bed.

Too quick a movement. He steadied himself a moment before looking for the baggage that Maddox had dropped near the armoire. His own was still there. Petula must have taken hers sometime after the Trumbo men left.

He wanted to get dressed so he could discuss matters with her, and he’d feel much better doing that downstairs in the parlor. No matter how shaky he seemed, staying abed would never give him back his strength. He might not be able to travel far, but he’d heal quicker upright.

Bass stood, testing the strength in his legs. Though wobbly, he garnered his will to manage a slow walk across the room. An attempt to lift his baggage proved more than a little troublesome. The weight bit into his injured shoulder and forced him to simply take out the garments he needed and leave the rest alone to unpack when he felt more stable.

The walk back to the bed and exchanging the bloomers for trousers tired him. Bass gratefully sat on the edge of the bed again to catch his breath a moment before fastening the buttons on his shirt. His fingers trembled as he began the effort. Too much, too soon, he guessed. The doctor was right. He wouldn’t get far down the road like this.

A knock on the bedroom door surprised him. Someone else was awake. His fingers fumbled with the remaining buttons as he acknowledged, “Yes?”

“Mr. Parker, I heard you milling around. Please don’t overdo it today. We’ll be in town much of the morning, and I’m going to have to count on you to pretty much take care of yourself while we’re gone. Myrtle and I will have your breakfast ready in a few minutes. I hope you like buttered flapjacks.”

Daisy’s voice sounded excited, not at all tired from yesterday’s events. He did enjoy flapjacks and hadn’t eaten homemade ones in a long time. “Sounds wonderful. Thank you.”

“I’ll see to it that your sister’s awake and ready if she wants to go to church with the rest of us. I’m sure she’ll enjoy the gathering for the races. She’ll have an opportunity to meet some of the other young women in town.”

The races were today, he recalled. Something obviously important to the widow. Though he didn’t much care that Pet would be able to meet the young men as well, he knew he must start trusting his sister at some point. If he held her at too tight a rein, she would rebel. He couldn’t blame her for that. He’d done the same with their parents’ expectations of him, hadn’t he?

His mother and father had reminded him constantly that he was the reason they didn’t reach their goals or failed. He didn’t want Pet to end up feeling unworthy of being happy, as their criticism had often made him feel. Bass refused to become that hard-hearted or let Pet become the same.

Perhaps it was time to be a little lenient with Pet.

Time to dust off his own prayers and hope for the best.

Everyone would be gone for quite a while this morning, probably even the afternoon. That would give him plenty of time to properly groom himself without anyone trying to help. Maybe he could even manage to get his own breakfast and save them effort.

“Don’t trouble yourself for my sake,” Bass replied, looking forward to being alone. “I’ll see to my own care, Widow Trumbo. Go on with what you need to do to be on your way.”

“Hey, Bass,” a childlike voice added followed by a second knock. “Can I come in?”

He hurriedly finished the last button on his shirt. What did the little minx want now? “I’m dressed now. You may come in.”

A whispered argument echoed from the other side of the door before they finally opened it and entered.

Ollie stood there all decked out in a calico dress and Mary Jane shoes spit polished to a glossy black shine. Her blond hair had been brushed and tied back with a ribbon the color of bluebonnets in fresh bloom.