Chapter 7
Henry spent an eternity in his daughters’ room. Daisy, tired from her journey, her surprise wedding and motherhood, was ready to go to sleep. She hoped a good night’s sleep would help her deal with her abrupt new life. She attempted to sleep in the bed in the guest room, but found Silas already sound asleep. Zut alors!
Daisy returned to Henry’s bedroom in her nightgown and slipped under the covers. In bed, she thought about what her parents were doing and how Mamie was. A cloud of shame hovered over her. She left without saying goodbye. Her parents would have never let her go otherwise with or without Rhett. Any way she looked at it, Daisy had shamed her parents. She turned over in bed wishing Mamie was there with her to stroke her head and tell her everything would be ok like she’d done so many times when she was a child.
She heard of girls who answered matrimonial ads. These were not her close peers, of course, but they were girls who lost they husbands in the war, orphans, or girls whose families’ fortunes dissolved in wartime. These were girls who were desperate and needy for a man to care for them.
Daisy was not in the same category was she? This was her choice she made out of pride. Au bout du fossé, la culbute. (Pride comes before fall.) The restrictions of a deep-rooted system based on status and money could choke any girl with an unblemished reputation. Daisy was unwilling to stick around to see what would happen to a girl like her who had made mistakes, honest mistakes committed under the guise of love. Nonetheless, Charleston society was a cruel one ready to gobble up gossip and banish another member out of sheer boredom. There was much to squabble and bicker about when an entire tier of society wasn’t engaged in work, but were instead, languidly lazing about leisurely awaiting the next scandal to occupy themselves with.
Daisy made sure to leave Charleston before her story ever became the story to snicker about, but Daisy knew she could not escape the incongruous need to be accepted by this society that throttled her no matter how many miles she traveled. The need to tower above others in a senseless hierarchy reached her even here despite internal protests it meant nothing to her. Daisy fell asleep ruminating the events of the last few months of her life: Rhett, Ms. Beechtree’s, Sally, Henry, the girls.
She stirred awake when Henry crawled into bed next to her. Daisy, now awake, could not wait until morning to talk to him. He was her husband, and as her husband, she now had the legal right to nag him if she wished.
“You didn’t say you had children,” Daisy said to Henry.
Henry sighed and shook his head. The candlelight illuminated his anguished face. “A small detail I omitted,” he said softly.
“You said you were wealthy. ‘Moneyed’ is the word you used.” Daisy sat up and threw her arms about herself. “Is this wealth to you?”
Henry already beaten down from his daughter’s words before bed just shook his head gravely before saying, “The house is a work in progress.” Daisy glared at him. “I’m going to be coming into a whole lot of money soon,” Henry said. “It’s not going to always be like this.”
“Is that so?” Daisy said. “How should I believe anything you say? You tricked me. You wrote me lies.”
Daisy reached under her pillow extracting the letter she once gleefully received in Ms. Beechtree’s boarding house. She flung the letter to him. “Read it! Read what you wrote to me,” she screamed.
Henry turned over in bed. “I’m tired, Daisy. Please.”
Daisy grabbed his shoulder forcing him to face her and shoved the letter in his face. “You tricked me. Have the decency to read this letter and fess up to your lies.”
Henry who successfully bolted up the stress of the last few months finally broke. He choked out his tears making him even more ashamed of the kind of man he was. “I can’t read,” he admitted. “Silas wrote you the letter.”
Daisy said in horror, “You are a liar and illiterate!”
Henry looked at her with sorrow. “Yes. I didn’t grow up in luxury. My parents had me working for a wage as soon as I could. I’ve tried to make the best of what has been given to me. Dinah, the girls’ mother, was fancy and educated just like you, but she’s gone now. I have these girls to raise, and I need someone, a woman of education and propriety, to raise my girls better than I could ever dream to be.”
Henry sobbed now without restraint. Daisy, never seeing a man weep before in her life, softened to him and held him close to her. His tears soaked her nightgown making the cotton fabric cling to her nipples and the slopes of her breasts. In her arms, Daisy stroked Henry’s head and then face.
She brought her lips to his exploring Henry’s pain to help quell it. Their broken hearts sought each other out through their warm skin. Their heartache and pain mingled and then erupted into passion and desire. Daisy lifted her nightgown up letting Henry suck and lick her breasts. Henry hadn’t touched a woman since Dinah. He ran his hands on Daisy’s soft supple skin cupping her round ass.
Daisy’s hands reached for Henry’s hard dick. She stroked it gently while nibbling on his mouth. Henry gently probed Daisy’s little wet box making her utter small gasps with his thick fingers. Her sounds of pleasure made Henry burn with desire. He plunged his dick inside her wet pussy intensely.
Daisy moaned loader with each thrust savoring Henry’s immense pressure inside her. Daisy forgot about Rhett in those moments of passion. Henry’s strong broad body enveloped her and put her into a helpless trance. Henry dipped deeper and deeper inside her until Daisy washed over in bliss. The orgasm was so powerful making Daisy’s entire body shudder.
Henry watched Daisy come; her beautiful face twisting in satisfaction. He came quickly grunting loudly and depositing his hot liquid into her sumptuous little box. The newly married couple fell asleep in each other’s arms. Their worries and heartaches were silenced for one night.