Read Online Daisy (Suitors of Seattle) by Kirsten Osbourne - Free Book Online Page A

a ride after we have lunch today.  He said he’d be here around three.”
    Daisy grinned.  She remembered how much fun Rose had with all her suitors, but she’d never really experienced that herself.  “I hope you have fun.  My parents wouldn’t even let us court until we were eighteen, so I never got to go on any buggy rides.”
    Natalie’s jaw fell open.  “Eighteen?  Before you can court?  I thought my parents were old-fashioned.”
    “My oldest sister didn’t have a lot of rules, and she had twenty suitors.  They pretty much took over our house, until our parents instituted that rule.”
    Clara chuckled.  “Natalie?  If you have twenty suitors at one time, I’m going to make you wait until you’re eighteen to court as well.”
    Natalie wrinkled her nose, which was just like her mother’s.  “Why would I need more than one suitor when I have Charles?  He’s the man I’ll marry someday.”
    Daisy choked back a laugh.  She liked the girl, who was a very hard worker.  “How old is Charles?”  She wanted to call him Sir Charles, but she didn’t want to offend anyone.
    Clara sighed.  “He’s nineteen.  A little older than I would like right now, but he’ll be a good age for her when she’s eighteen and he’s twenty-one.”  She turned away from Natalie.  “How many sisters do you have?  You mentioned your oldest, so I assume there are at least two or three?”
    “I have seven sisters and no brothers.”
    “Seven sisters.  Oh my.”
    “Yes, seven.  And we all have flower names.  Rose, Lily, Amaryllis, Daisy, Jasmine, Hyacinth, Violet, and Iris.  If I’d stayed in Seattle, I’d always have been known as one of ‘the flowers.’”  She sighed.  She was so happy to be away from all of her sisters and the nicknames that came with having the same names.  She’d been asked more times than she could count if she liked living in a garden.  She hated not being an individual.
    “I would hate that.”  Clara shook her head.  “Is that why you decided to be a mail order bride?”
    Daisy shrugged.  “Honestly, I’m very shy, and my mother was on my case all the time about marrying.  I went to my aunt and told her to ‘make me a match’ because she used to be a matchmaker.  She got a letter about Eli from Elizabeth, and she decided to talk to me about it.  I liked the idea of escaping from flower status and being Daisy in my own right, so I agreed.”
    “How did you r parents feel about it?” 
    “Not happy.  My Papa readily agreed, but my mother came out here with me and brought my sister, Jasmine.”  Daisy shook her head, still not believing she’d brought her mother with her to be a mail order bride.
    Clara choked back a laugh.  “Seattle isn’t that far by train.”
    “Not nearly far enough.”
    “I think I can understand why you’d say that.”  Clara put the last dish on the table.  “Natalie, go and call the men for supper.”
    Natalie hurried to the door to do her mother’s bidding , calling in the two men and the two boys who were working with them. 
    Daisy watched her run outside to call them and turned to Clara.  “Are they really working out there?”
    Clara shook her head.  “They’re standing in the barn talking about ‘men things.’  They’ll come in and act like they’ve worked, but when I ask Clarence later, he’ll admit the truth.”
    Daisy grinned.  “It must be nice to have a spy.”
    “Oh it is!  He’s fourteen now, though, and his loyalty is more for Albert than it is for me at this point.”
    “That’s not good.”
    “Oh, Clarence has always dreamed of being a cowboy, and he’s getting to live the life he wanted, and he’s being taught to do it.  He practically worships Albert.”
    “I can see that.” 
    Clara and Albert had seven children.  She had explained that two were hers from her first marriage and after she’d been widowed she’d come West to marry Albert who had two as well.  They’d had three