Part 42 (2/2)
”I know, and I'm not willing to give that up.” They were approaching the Cochrane house. Daisy felt miserable. She wanted to end the conversation. ”I promised Adora I'd be here at half past. I must go.”
”This is your final word?”
”It has been my final word for weeks. You just won't believe me.”
”I kept hoping . . . I guess it doesn't matter what I kept hoping. I hope you enjoy New York. I didn't like it myself, but a lot of people do.”
”Do you ever visit?”
”Sometimes.”
”Look me up. We can--”
”No. I want to be your husband, your lover, your friend and companion. I can't be content to be a casual acquaintance who takes you to the opera or for a yacht ride in the sound.”
Daisy held out her hand. ”Then I guess it's good-bye.”
”It'll never be good-bye between us.” Tyler grabbed her and kissed her with ferocious energy. ”You're going to marry me yet. You're going to find out you can be much more free in my arms than you can alone in New York.”
Tyler had sounded a lot more confident than he felt. Walking back to the hotel he wondered what he could do to convince Daisy she was making the wrong decision.
”You won't do it by forcing yourself on her,” Laurel told him a few minutes later. ”I know you thought it would bring her to her senses, but it hasn't.”
”Then what do you suggest I do?”
”Nothing.”
”Nothing?”
”You used to do it very well,” Hen pointed out. ”Back home you could do it for hours on end.”
”This is different,” Tyler said.
”Then I suggest you come up with a different approach,” Hen said. ”Let her go to New York. Let her decide for herself if that's what she wants.”
”She doesn't,” Tyler said, ”but she's convinced I won't be happy unless I'm wandering the hills dressed in buckskins and wearing a beard. She's also convinced I won't be happy unless I'm the only one giving orders.”
”I never knew a Randolph who could take orders,” Laurel pointed out. ”Monty went all the way to Wyoming to get away from George.”
”He also married Iris, and she gives him orders all the time. What's more, he follows half of them. I love Daisy. I want to marry her. I imagine we'll have some good sc.r.a.ps over what to do, but I'd rather do it her way than not at all. I've told her that, but she doesn't believe me.”
”If you really love her and you're sure she really loves you, trust to love,” Laurel said.
”I can't. Love's a rather stupid creature. Look what a mess it's got me into.”
”I'm so glad you were able to come,” Adora said as she welcomed Daisy into the Cochrane parlor. ”Mama was saying just last night she wondered how you were doing.”
”There seems so much to do, so many decisions to make.”
Adora frowned. ”I haven't forgiven you for not staying with us.”
”It's best I stay at the hotel,” Daisy said, wondering when she would stop feeling guilty about not fulfilling people's expectations. ”I'm near my uncle. And I'm away from Guy. I know he's your brother, but I really can't marry him. He continues to think I will change my mind. I'm of two minds whether to go with him this afternoon.”
”You can't back out now. It'll be his last chance to see you before you go to New York. I know he plagues you, but it's because he still loves you.”
”He just thinks he does. He's gotten used to the idea and finds it comfortable. I know what love is now.”
”It's still Tyler Randolph?”
Daisy nodded.
”Then why don't you marry him. Doesn't he want you to?”
”I've decided not to marry anyone.”
Adora looked startled. Daisy knew Adora couldn't imagine life without a husband. Daisy was beginning to feel pretty much the same way herself.
”But there'll be hundreds of men in New York who will want to marry you.”
”I doubt it, even after my hair grows out. The only man who doesn't look at me like I'm a great gawk is Tyler, and that's because he's so big himself.”
Adora looked at her friend with unwanted perception. ”It seems to me you haven't made up your mind to go to New York as much as you've decided to run away from Tyler.”
”It amounts to the same thing.”
”Not at all. If you run away, you'll never get over him.”
”Do you think I'll get over him by staying here?”
”No.”
”So what's the difference where I'm miserable?”
”Why are you leaving him if it makes you so miserable?”
”I don't know. I just know I can't marry him. I'm afraid.”
”Afraid of what?”
”Of him. Myself. I don't know. I feel like I can't surrender myself all over again.”
<script>