In the months after the initial invasion by the welcoming committee, Eli and Daisy struck up a deep friendship. Daisy stopped by for coffee whenever she was in town for errands. They lingered after sewing circle meetings to catch up and sat together at any of the town's numerous gatherings, never running out of things to chat about. Eli occasionally rented a buggy to visit the ranch in fair weather but her arthritis limited those visits, especially when it was cold, which, she agreed with Jess, was just too often in Wyoming.
Daisy had indeed been recruited for the church choir. But since Eli couldn't carry a tune in a basket, they'd catch up before or after if there was time.
Eli admired how Daisy would just listen and smile as the other women gossiped about Slim and Jess. Many of the young women were relentless in their efforts to pry information out of her. Daisy would just smile and answer, "you'll just have to ask him!"
Daisy did regale them with the tale of being under siege on the way back from Cheyenne, but the young ladies were more interested in any heroics that Jess might have displayed while he escorted the prisoner back to Laramie on that trip than what happened to Daisy. It honestly got a bit tiresome to Eli, but Daisy just smiled and answered vaguely. They got the same non-committal response when they tried to pump Daisy for information on who either man was courting and how they might improve their chances.
Even with vague answers, Daisy always portrayed her boys as suitable life companions. She wasn't about to spoil their chances if they ever did decide to settle down with one of these women. But, as she'd told Eli once when they were alone, she wasn't about to play matchmaker. That was just more responsibility than she cared for. "I do so want Slim and Jess to marry and settle down with families. I'm not sure what my boys are looking for. They have each spent time with such a variety of women. I wouldn't know who to recommend! I am sure when they find the right one, they'll know it. Though I wonder why Slim and Marcie keep dancing around the obvious attraction between them. Eli, dear, we may have to give that a discreet shove if they don't come around soon!"
Daisy's brows knit slightly, "I do worry about Jess. He jokes that he doesn't want to get married. Says marriage and being left afoot are the only two things he's afraid of. But I think it's more than that."
"You mean like he's too concerned that he can't offer a woman a stable home with his background? Or maybe that he's done something to make him underserving of his own family?" Asked Eli. "I've often gotten that feeling from him when we talked. Like growin' up poor and makin' his way as best he could mean he can't have what everybody else has. He's been so happy being part of the family with Slim, Andy, Jonesy, now you and Mike. He never told me what it was unmoored him back in Texas, but it sure has taken a toll."
"That it has, Eli. I can't tell you the details if Jess hasn't, but that tragedy set him on a path that would have had him in an early grave if he hadn't found a real home here. Anyway, we are all trying to convince him that he is as deserving a good wife and family as anyone. I'm convinced that when he finds the right woman, she'll take him warts and all."
Eli didn't know many details of Jess' life before Laramie, but didn't feel she had any right to pry. Since she'd first met Jess, she'd felt there was more hurt in his life than in most. But as with his pride, she knew he kept his privacy and it wasn't her place to intrude unless invited.
0-0-0-0
When the Sioux left the reservation in search of food and the Army swept in to push them back, Daisy and Mike stayed with Eli for a couple of weeks. By now, their relationship was comfortable and they shared no end of laughs together. They had indeed formed an alliance to defend the Sherman Ranch from all detractors, including the ever-negative Emily Kirkpatrick.
"Daisy," Eli started one night by the fire after Mike had been persuaded to go to sleep, "I don't know how you do it! At my age, I can barely look after myself without getting tuckered out by sundown. I look at you and you are always full of piss and vinegar, always cheerful while lookin' after that ranch, 2 grown men and a small boy who has had me worn out every day since you got here!"
Daisy was a bit taken aback by the language. After all these months in the west, where the use of profane, or at least vulgar, terms was common, hearing Eli say things like "piss and vinegar" still jolted her. She hoped her reaction wasn't visible. She loved Eli like a sister and didn't want to embarrass her for not acting like an eastern lady.
"I don't really know, Eli. I think it's partly feeling needed. After I came home from the war and helping in the field hospital, I had my husband to look after. But it wasn't much of a challenge, you know? Our house was settled, our lives were settled. We had help with the house which was good," she gave a wistful chuckle, "since the house was too big. We had built it early in our marriage expecting a large family. Then, with only our son, we thought we'd fill it with grandchildren. Then we lost him." Though it had been 8 years, Daisy's voice still hitched with sadness at the thought of her son, lost in the battle of Chickamauga.
They both took a moment to allow Daisy to compose herself.
Daisy continued with renewed strength and passion in her voice, "Don't get me wrong, my two boys, as I think of them, help a lot around the house. Jess bakes a great loaf of bread. I can talk Slim into making a baked chicken. He learned to cook that from one of the ladies he was seeing during what I call their bachelor year. And they can both manage mulligan, whatever that is! I can persuade them to help with the cleaning and laundry with the right encouragement – even paint! And when one of them gets hurt and needs tending, the other always picks up the slack. We work well as a team, even Mike helps as long as we remember to tell him what to do. Mike is very eager to grow up and show he can help around the ranch. Maybe too eager. I suppose it's that way with many orphans. I'm just glad that as determined as Mike is to take on responsibility, Slim and Jess are to let him have a childhood."
She paused, the look in her eye getting dreamy, "No, I can't imagine a better situation. When I showed up at the Ranch with nothing but a worthless deed to a non-existent store in a non-existent town, I was sure my life was over. I didn't even have stage fare to get back to live with a sister. I didn't know what would become of me." Daisy sighed, "And here, I found a life and a purpose with two of the kindest, sweetest men you can imagine and, yes, the most energetic boy I have ever met. I don't know if God works on details like that, but I do thank him every day for where I am and what I have found in my new home. What's not to be cheerful about?" At this, she laughed and Eli with her.
"I'm happy for you, Daisy, and that I've had the chance to meet you, too." Eli reached out and placed her hand on Daisy's. Then a lighter-hearted look came over her face. "But I do need to ask… Doesn't living with those 2 fine examples of manhood remind you of certain…. urges? How do you cope with that?"
Daisy's laugh this time was louder, "Oh, Eli, you do talk about the most inappropriate things!"
"I'm almost serious, Daisy. I am not sure I could stand being in the same house with those two for any length of time. I thought these things were supposed to go away with age. Now that I am that age, I know better."
Daisy's face turned winsome again as she thought about the question. She hadn't talked with another female about things like this since her sisters back when they were all courting. Of course, back then, before they were married, they didn't know what they were talking about. It was all about feelings and urnings and hopes and desires.
Well, Eli was like a sister to her, "It's not always easy. Of course, they are both completely modest and appropriate around me. But I hadn't missed my husband so much in months." She looked over at Eli. Daisy knew Eli had never married, but some instinct told her Eli knew what she was talking about. Nevertheless, Daisy found she was blushing. "Some days, they remind me so much of my husband back when we were first married, I do start feeling ….. something." Daisy blushed as she waved a hand in the air.
But now that she'd started, she couldn't help but go on, heat rising in her cheeks, "When either of them has been hurt, it's not a problem at first when I have had to pull out a bullet or stitch up a wound. But then after, when everything has calmed down, they are out of danger and I need to change the bandage… Eli, I have to have them take off their shirt! I'm afraid they can see right through me. It can get so uncomfortable. Somehow in the field hospital, it was less personal. I didn't know those young men and never had to share a table with them afterwards." She raised her eyes to the ceiling. "I just try to keep busy and avoid them for a few days." She chuckled.
"Well, just wait until they catch a bullet in the thigh!" laughed Eli, as much to relieve the tension as anything. But Daisy bandaging the naked thigh of either of those muscular men was an image that made Eli's needle pause in mid-stitch. She laughed again.
"Oh, Eli, what ever will I do? How can I stop thinking like this? Those boys are practically my own sons!"
"But they're not your sons, Daisy. And we're not dead yet. It is natural to feel what we feel. You need to enjoy it, at least within the limits society imposes….." With that, a smiling Eli proceeded to share some secrets with Daisy that did not diminish the blushes. Daisy wasn't at all sure they would help her the next time Slim or Jess had to have bandages changed. "I suppose we're just lucky that they'd never imagine us capable of thinking of these things."
"It's getting late." Daisy finally said firmly. "I am going to bed before the embarrassment killed me. Good night, dearest Eli. I'll see you in the morning!" Eli just returned the good night with an amused smile.
Author's note: Do I hear you saying "enough of the background"? Stand by, there may be some action in coming chapters.