CHAPTER22
Two days later, Daisy walked down the street on her way home after taking lunch to her men. She liked to surprise them at the store. It gave her a chance to get out of the house and she enjoyed walking through the streets of Treasure Falls.
She felt safe here. After being here almost two months, Treasure Falls was beginning to feel like home.
Summer would be coming to an end soon and she knew that once they had children or even when winter arrived, she would not be spending a lot of time outdoors. Traipsing through the snow to the downtown area would not be smart.
The weather was wonderful in Montana. Warm with a slight breeze that cooled the evenings. Oh, how she missed the smell of the ocean, the seagulls, and even the ocean breezes, but this was now home. A home she was quickly growing to love.
While she was at the mercantile, she’d picked up a few items she needed for their evening meal and as she walked along, she swung her basket back and forth and hummed a song.
It was a carefree summer day and she felt happy.
Her life in Treasure Falls was better than she could ever have expected, and though she missed her sisters, she could never see herself returning to the East Coast. Even now, she hoped and prayed she was expecting her first child.
Sometimes she thought she should send Thomas Jones a letter and thank him for destroying her life in Charleston, but quickly she would change her mind. The man deserved whatever happened to him.
Out of her ruination, she’d found a better life with two wonderful men she was falling in love with. She knew that soon they would both claim her and when they did, she would tell them they had given her a life she never expected and captured her heart in the process.
She loved Lee and Ellis more than her next breath. Nothing could or would ever come between them. She would die protecting her two big, burly husbands. Warmth filled her and she picked up her pace eager to get home and prepare their dinner.
As she walked through an alley shortcut, a man stepped along beside her, startling her. She could smell the liquor on him and she gave him her meanest look as he looked her up and down.
“So you’re the whore those two married,” he said with a growl.
A gasp escaped from her lips. She’d never seen this man before and she was shocked at his rudeness.
“Do not call me a whore,” she said, stopping in the middle of the darkened alley, her voice rising. It was the middle of the day in the small residential area and no one appeared to be coming to her rescue. The urge to smack him was strong, but she resisted.
He grabbed her arm. “Look, girlie. Ellis Sanders killed my son and my daughter. Any woman who sleeps with that devil is a whore.”
She was appalled he would dare touch her and confused by what he said about Ellis. She felt him pulling her and she punched him with her free hand.
“Get your hands off me,” she cried. “Let go of me.”
She pushed him, but the old man was stronger than he appeared. He began to drag her behind the buildings and her insides seized with fright.
“You’re going to help me,” he said. “Before I leave this earth, I’m taking Ellis with me.”
Terror threatened to control Daisy and she struggled trying to get loose. “Don’t worry, he’ll kill you when he finds out you touched me.”
The man laughed. “That would bring me peace. At least, then, I would be with my daughter and son and sweet wife. At least, then, I would not be alone.”
Yanking on her arm, she almost fell. Then she reached out and kicked him on the shin.
“Bitch,” he said and backhanded her.
For a moment, she was stunned as pain shot through her. Her face tingled and she knew that would probably get him killed, once Lee and Ellis learned he’d hit her.
“Now, come on, you’re going to cook me one last meal before I die.”
With her free hand, she rubbed her stinging face as she realized the man was serious. He was crazy if he thought she was going to cook for him.
“I’m not going to let you die,” she said, wanting to deny him his last wish. “And you’re not going to kill Ellis.”
The old man rolled his eyes at her.
“I don’t believe you when you say that Ellis killed your children. My husband would never harm someone. Not even you,” she said. “This is a lie.”
The old man spit on the ground.
“Who are you?”
“Henry Cox,” he said. “My daughter was Arianna and my son’s name was William. Don’t ever forget their names.”
Somewhere she remembered hearing those names. Was it from Ellis?
The birds chirped in the trees, and suddenly, she realized how she could leave clues.
As he pulled her onto a small side lane, she resisted. Slowly, she began to drop, one by the one, the items she’d purchased from the store on the path she knew her men took to walk home. Every few feet, she dropped an item until her basket was empty.
Afraid the basket would draw attention to what she was doing, she continued to carry the now-empty basket, certain her men would realize that something had happened. While they walked home, they would see her groceries lying in the street.
They were nearing a house and she kept glancing around, looking for anyone to help her. Henry had a death grip on her wrist and she knew she would be black and blue from his tight rein.
The cottage they neared was small and run down. And she so desperately wanted to find a way to keep from going in with him.
“I’m not going in there,” she said.
He ignored her. “Today, I purchased a steak. I would like to have steak and mashed potatoes. I wish I’d bought the fixings for a pie, but I didn’t think about it until just now.”
The door hung haphazardly on its hinges. Paint was peeling off the outside of the house and it seemed to lean to the right.
“If you’ll let me go, I’ll fix you a pie,” she promised.
Shaking his head, he turned his back on her.
“You’re the bait to get Ellis here. But first I want one last supper. Then before I let him know you’re here, I’ll tie you up. When he walks in the door, he’s a dead man,” he said.
Rage filled her at the thought of him killing the man she loved. She took the basket and started to beat him about the head. “No, you’re not going to kill Ellis. No. Help,” she screamed.
“Stop it,” he said. “Or I’ll kill you right now. Do you understand me?”
He grabbed the basket and took it away from her, not noticing it was empty. The old fool didn’t realize that she had left a trail almost to his door.
Turning the doorknob, he pushed her inside.
The stench of the place almost knocked her down. The house had not been cleaned in a long, long time and he expected her to cook in this house?
“You need a housekeeper,” she said.