Courting Will (Escape To The West Book 8)

by Nerys Leigh

  “I… um…” He licked his lips and looked at the top of Nicky’s head resting against his chest. “Why are you asking that?”

  Nicky shrugged a little and yawned again.

  Will moved his eyes back to Daisy to gauge her reaction to her son’s question, but her expression was unreadable.

  Had she said something to Nicky?

  What was he supposed to do?

  He decided to take the easiest option available to him and hope Nicky would forget he’d asked. “How about I come upstairs to tuck you into bed. Would you like that?”

  To his relief, Nicky simply nodded.

  Daisy put aside her sewing and rose to take her son to the privy out the back.

  When they were gone from the room, Will rubbed both hands down his face. Marry his ma? Where had Nicky got that idea? And how would Will deal with it if he didn’t forget?

  When they returned, Will picked Nicky up and spun him around, to his giggles, then carried him upstairs with Daisy following.

  Daisy got her son into his nightclothes and she and Will knelt either side of him at the bedside as Nicky prayed.

  “Dear God, please bless Ma and Will and Grandpa and Grandma Moran and Grandpa and Grandma Monroe and Paul and…” There followed a lengthy list of most of the people Nicky knew, and then finally, “Amen.”

  “Amen,” Will and Daisy echoed.

  Nicky climbed into his bed. Will pulled the covers up around him and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

  “Will?” Nicky said, blinking up at him sleepily.

  “Hmm?”

  “Are you going to marry Ma?”

  Will stifled a groan. Why did children have to be so persistent?

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he considered how to answer. Perhaps just being honest would be the best thing, and hopefully it would head off any future ideas Nicky might have.

  “No, I’m not going to marry your ma.”

  Nicky frowned. “Why not?”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d been asked that, although it was the first time it came from someone he wasn’t related to. “Because your ma and I are friends. When you marry someone, it’s different than just being friends.”

  “How?”

  He’d walked right into that one. Will glanced at Daisy for help, but by the way she raised her eyebrows, she didn’t seem inclined to give him any. “Well, it’s… it’s… just different. It’s hard to explain. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

  You’ll understand when you’re older? As a child, he’d always hated it when adults told him that. It seemed he was turning into his parents.

  Fortunately, Nicky’s eyes were closed and he was yawning again.

  Daisy walked up to the bed and leaned down to kiss her son. “Goodnight, sweetie. Have good dreams.”

  Nicky snuggled onto his side under the covers. Within seconds his breathing slowed as he fell asleep.

  Will and Daisy tiptoed from the room and headed downstairs.

  “What brought that on?” Will said when they reached the living room. He lowered onto one end of the settee.

  Daisy sat at the other end. “Brought what on?”

  He shifted to the side so he could see her better, relaxing back into the corner and resting one arm along the back of the settee. “That talk of getting married. Nicky’s never said that before.”

  Instead of resuming her work on the dress, she opened the basket and took out a small blue shirt, or what would be a shirt when it was completed. “He overheard Mrs. Vernon in the store today asking me when you and I were going to get married.”

  He groaned, rubbing one hand down his face. “Why does everyone keep asking that?”

  She paused in threading a needle to raise her eyebrows at him. “Everyone?”

  “All right, not everyone, but Sara and Dan keep dropping unsubtle hints. I keep telling them that we’re just friends, but they won’t listen.” He frowned. “And it’s none of Mrs. Vernon’s business anyway.” If she was talking about it then the whole town probably was. The gossip grapevine grew strong in Green Hill Creek, with Mrs. Vernon perched right at the very top.

  Daisy returned her attention to the needle and thread. “Is there anything in the town that isn’t her business?”

  He snorted a laugh. “Not in her eyes.”

  There was half a minute of silence while he watched her fingers deftly send the needle in and out of the fabric. She’d sewn him a shirt the previous year, for his birthday. It was his favorite, made from green cotton. She’d told him green looked good on him.

  “Would it really be so bad?”

  Her question startled him from his reverie. “What?”

  Her eyes stayed on the shirt as she sewed. “Marrying me. Would it be all that terrible?”

  The air turned to ice in his lungs. “I… uh… no, I…”

  “Never mind. Clearly it would.” She stabbed the needle through the fabric and yelped. “Ouch!”

  Dropping the shirt onto her lap, she studied the drop of blood oozing from the tip of her finger and then stuck it into her mouth.

  “Are you all right?”

  “It’s only a prick,” she replied around her finger.

  His mouth was dry. Talk of getting married from Nicky was one thing; from Daisy it took on a whole new level of horror. “W-why are you asking me about marriage all of a sudden?”

  Looking away from him, she pulled the finger from her lips with a pop. “It doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything.”

  If only he could. “I didn’t mean that marrying you would be terrible. You just caught me off guard.”

  Sighing, she turned to face him. “It’s just, you’ve been coming here for nigh on a year. You come for dinner, you play with Nicky, we go on picnics, you do things for me around the house, and I’ve never asked you to do any of it.”

  A terrible thought came to him. “Don’t you want me here?” Had he been thinking she enjoyed his company when all the while she was simply too polite to tell him to go away? That didn’t sound like Daisy, but maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought.

  She gave him a look. “Of course I want you here. I’d have told you not to come if I didn’t.”

  He had to smile at that. “Then what’s the problem? Why are you suddenly asking me about getting married?”

  “Because I don’t know how to take it all. I need to know what to expect from you. I’m a widow in a town full of unattached men and not one of them is making any attempt to court me, and for my own peace of mind I’m assuming that’s because you’re always around. Everyone thinks we’re courting.”

  “But we’re not.”

  She threw her hands into the air. “That’s just it! Why aren’t we?”

  Will’s stomach dropped to his feet. Was Sara right? “Are you saying you want me to court you?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not when the mere mention of it has you looking as panicked as you do now.”

  “I… I don’t…” How had this conversation started? And more importantly, how could he get it to stop?

  “If you’re not attracted to me, just say so.”

  “It’s not that I’m not… I mean, that you’re not…” Where was a convenient earthquake when he needed one?

  She folded her arms and stared at him. “Yes?”

  He licked his lips. How was he supposed to answer? “Daisy, you know about my past. I’m the last man who should be a husband and father.”

  “And?”

  “What do you mean, and?”

  “I have yet to hear that you’re not attracted to me.”

  “I… I…” Could he just get up and leave? Was that a viable option?

  Unfolding her arms, she put the shirt she’d been sewing aside and slid along the settee towards him.

  His eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

  He almost jumped out of his skin when she placed her hand on his knee and leaned towards him.

  “Are you attracted to me?” she asked in
a low voice.

  He swallowed as her hand slid up his thigh.

  “Are… you…”

  “All right!” he yelped, squeezing his eyes shut. “Yes, I’m attracted to you! I think you’re beautiful and funny and smart and wonderful, and if I was going to marry anyone, I would want it to be you.”

  His eyes sprang open in horror. Why in the world had he said all that?

  She sat back, taking her hand from his leg with a smirk. “There, was that so hard to admit?”

  After he got out of there he was going to need to throw himself in the cold creek. “But I can’t marry you.”

  “Why not? You like me, I like you, we get along well, Nicky loves you. What’s the problem?”

  She liked him?

  That shouldn’t have made him want to smile as much as it did.

  “I told you, I’m not the right man for you, or anyone. You need someone you can trust and rely on. That’s not me.”

  “I disagree. We’ve known each other almost since we were born. I know you, Will. I know you’re a good man. You’ve always been a good man.”

  “You’re wrong, I’m not. Anyway, what about Gareth?”

  At his mention of her late husband, she frowned and picked up the needle and shirt again. “What about him?”

  “It hasn’t been very long since he passed.”

  She resumed her sewing, although it seemed to Will that she was using it as a distraction now. “It’s been a year and a half.”

  “But you still love him. He was my friend too, you know.” The truth was, he’d always felt guilty about being attracted to Daisy. If he married her, which he wouldn’t, he’d likely never get over the notion that he was betraying his friend.

  The movement of her fingers ceased. “Of course I still love him. I always will.” She raised her eyes to his. “And I know you miss him too. But Gareth is gone. I’ve made my peace with that. For my sake and Nicky’s, I have to look to the future.”

  The lamplight played across her features, sparkling in her blue eyes. At times like this, his wish that things were different came close to overwhelming him. “I’m not your future.”

  Her smirk returning, she resumed her sewing. “We’ll see about that.”

  Something about the way she said it scared him more than Daniel’s bees.

  Chapter 3

  Daisy drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

  It would be fine. Abigail and Simeon Raine liked her. She’d known them since she was born.

  It wasn’t like she was asking them to force Will to marry her. She just wanted some advice from Abigail.

  Once Daisy explained, Will’s mother would be happy to help convince her son to see sense.

  Wouldn’t she?

  Daisy had made a decision the previous evening when Will admitted his attraction to her. She was going to marry him. It made sense. He clearly liked her as more than a friend, and she now realized that she felt the same way.

  If they married, the future would be secure for her and Nicky. She could stop relying on her and Gareth’s parents to help her when her sewing didn’t bring in quite enough money. Even though they never made her feel as if she was a burden, she didn’t like going to them.

  And instead of living in self-imposed penance in the bunkhouse on Daniel’s farm, Will would have the comfort and pleasures of a wife and a home. All men wanted that, even if some of them didn’t know it.

  She and Will could even fall in love. That certainly wasn’t unlikely.

  It all made perfect sense.

  She just needed to work out how to convince Will of that.

  She watched the back of Indiana’s head bobbing gently in front of her as they walked along the road towards Mr. and Mrs. Raine’s house, hoping the movement would soothe her. It didn’t. She was too on edge.

  Leaning forward, she rubbed the side of her horse’s neck. “What do you say to going faster, Indy?”

  Indiana glanced back at her, her ears pricking with interest.

  Smiling, Daisy urged her into a canter, then rising up a little, she leaned forward and squeezed her knees gently together. Indiana joyfully leapt forward. She loved to gallop.

  The gentle breeze became a wind that whipped Daisy’s hair about her face and would have taken her hat off if it hadn’t been tied beneath her chin. She leaned forward as Indiana’s long strides ate up the remaining distance to the Raine’s farm, giving the horse her freedom and thrilling at the feeling of power and speed.

  By the time they reached the house and slowed, Daisy’s nerves had vanished in the thrill of the ride. Until she spotted a familiar chestnut mare grazing in the fenced field to the side of the house.

  “Ginger.”

  If Will’s horse was there, that meant Will was there. This wasn’t good.

  Daisy almost turned Indiana around to go back home, before she remembered it was his fault she was here in the first place, and if he would just let go of the idea that he wouldn’t make a good husband, she wouldn’t have to resort to asking his parents for help.

  Pushing her shoulders back, she lifted her chin and urged Indiana on. If Will was here, he was here. She could still do this. Now she’d decided that she wanted to marry him, nothing was going to stop her.

  And then an idea came to her.

  It was a ludicrous idea. It would never work.

  Although it might.

  But it was just too ridiculous. She couldn’t.

  Could she?

  She left Indy tethered to the fence and talking to Ginger, and walked up the porch steps to the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

  Abigail Raine answered. She was still beautiful in her fifties, with silver-speckled dark hair and bright, hazel eyes. There was no mistaking she was Will’s mother. “Daisy, what a lovely surprise. Will’s here. Did you come to find him?”

  “Actually, I came to speak to you and Mr. Raine.”

  Abigail’s eyebrows rose. “That sounds intriguing. Come on in.”

  Daisy followed her into the kitchen where Will sat at the table. He smiled at her. She wondered if he’d still be smiling when he heard what she had to say.

  Abigail went to the back door and leaned out. “Honey, Daisy’s here. She’d like to speak to us both.”

  Daisy glanced at Will. His smile had changed to bewilderment, and he lifted his hands in a what’s going on? gesture.

  She shook her head in reply. He’d find out soon enough.

  Mr. Raine walked into the kitchen, wiping grease from his hands onto a rag. “Afternoon, Daisy. How are you and Nicky?”

  Simeon Raine stood as tall as Will and was still fit and slim. The Raine boys had got their looks from both parents.

  “We’re both well, thank you,” Daisy replied, attempting to keep her voice from shaking.

  She was doing this. She was really doing this.

  Mr. Raine picked up a cup of water from beside the sink and took a sip. “So what can we do for you?”

  Daisy glanced at Will watching her from his place at the table and almost lost her nerve. But then she remembered how it was all his fault and she wouldn’t need to be doing this if he just had more sense.

  Squaring her shoulders, she drew herself up and looked Mr. and Mrs. Raine in the eye. “I’ve come to ask for your permission to court your son.”

  There were a few seconds of stunned silence.

  Will was the first to recover enough to speak. “You’ve come to what?”

  Abigail covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes twinkling.

  Mr. Raine didn’t bother to hide his smile. “You...” He glanced at Will. “You want to court Will?”

  Daisy nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “As in, uh, court him?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You mean… court?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He seemed to consider it for a few moments. “Well, I wasn’t anticipating ever having this conversation, seeing as I have three sons and no daughters, but I thin
k I remember how this goes. I guess my first question should be what are your intentions towards our son?”

  “Pa!”

  All three of them ignored Will’s exclamation, although Abigail appeared on the verge of bursting into laughter.

  “Well,” Daisy said, “my ultimate intention would, of course, be to make him my husband.”

  Mr. Raine nodded, his face a study in forced seriousness. “I’m glad to hear that. Abigail and I would certainly approve of turning him into an honest man, wouldn’t we, dear?”

  Abigail nodded vigorously. “Oh yes, definitely.”

  Will groaned, dropping his head onto his hands on the table.

  “And, um, how do you plan on keeping him in the manner to which he’s accustomed?” Mr. Raine went on.

  Daisy thought quickly, wishing she’d prepared herself better. “Well, obviously he’d still be working for Daniel, and I would continue to take in work as a seamstress, so money wouldn’t be an issue. And in addition, I have kept my own house for five years and I know how to foster a successful marriage. I would see to his needs and provide him with a safe, secure, comfortable home.”

  “Please stop,” Will moaned.

  “Well,” Abigail said, “I’m convinced. How about you, Simeon?”

  “Don’t I get a say?” Will asked.

  Everyone ignored him.

  “I can’t think of a better wife for Will.” Mr. Raine smiled. “Daisy, you have our permission to court our son.”

  “Stop encouraging her!” Will exclaimed.

  Evidently unable to restrain herself any longer, Abigail erupted into laughter.

  “This is not funny!”

  “Thank you for your confidence in me, Mr. Raine,” Daisy said. Despite her previous nervousness, she had to press her lips together to stop herself from giggling along with Abigail. Will’s parents were happy for her to marry him. That was one hurdle down.

  Will pushed back from the table. “I’m leaving.”

  “Before dinner?” Abigail asked. “It’s sausages and mashed potato, with onion gravy.”

  He paused in the act of rising, hovered over the chair for a few moments, then sat back down. “I’ll stay for dinner. But then I’m leaving. I might even storm out.”

  Abigail turned her smile on Daisy. “Would you like to stay for dinner? We should get to know our future daughter-in-law.”