The O'Neal Girls Chapter 17

Danni confesses why she ran away and Belle and Lillian finally have a heart-to-heart in this chapter!

Chapter 17

After noon, when Danielle woke up from her nap, Lillian drew Danielle aside into her and Paul’s bedroom. She sat down on the bed and patted the place next to her. Danielle sat down beside her silently.  Paul stood at the foot of the bed, watching the two women.

“Danni, this morning when you returned, we were so happy for your return that I decided not to ask questions until later,” Paul began.  

Danielle squirmed nervously, “Is later now?”  

“Yes.”

“Why on earth would you pull such a stunt?!” Lillian blurted.

Paul placed a steady hand on Lillian’s shoulder. “Lil’,” he cautioned.    

Lillian rushed on, “You hurt Belle and Cassandra; they were concerned for you. Paul rode out in a flurry to find you. I was worried sick all night.” Lillian looked at Danielle with a stern face. “You better have a good explanation, young lady.” 

“I…” Danielle fumbled for the right words.

            “Well?” Lillian waited impatiently.

            “I’m responsible for Mr. Corie’s death,” Danielle whispered in a rush. 

“What do you mean?” Paul looked puzzled. 

“William and I were walking in the woods when we saw Mr. Corie shooting a gun around. Well, I tried to stop him but he hit me with his gun—” 

A surprised gasp escaped from Lillian as she gently brushed her fingers against Danielle’s bandaged cheek. “He gave you this?” 

Paul straightened and crossed his arms across his chest. “Titus should be glad he’s dead because if he wasn’t, I would—”

Lillian sent Paul a sharp look, “Calm down! You’re here to keep me calm, not get upset yourself.”

Paul blew his cheeks full of air and then let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

“Mr. Corie kept carrying on like we weren’t there. William tried to stop him but then Titus shot his gun again…he fell over and I saw blood…I saw his face…I heard him scream…” a faraway look came over Danielle as she relived that moment.  

Lillian watched with a sad expression. She knew that must have been a horrific experience for Danielle. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” She took Danielle’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. 

Danielle sighed, “It scared me so I ran home as fast as I could. When I got home, I forgot about Mr. Corie and didn’t think to tell anyone about him. And now he is dead...it’s my fault! If I had told someone he would still be alive.”  

Lillian shook her head, “No, dear, it wasn’t your fault.”  

“Yes it was! I should’ve told someone!” Danielle was getting more upset. 

“No, Titus was drunk!” 

“If I would’ve told someone he could be alive!” Danielle continued rambling on.  

“Danni!” Paul knelt in front of Danielle and seized her shoulders. “He brought it on himself! He was drunk!”

Danielle stopped suddenly. “He...he what?”  

“He was drunk. He shot himself by accident while he was drunk. The wound was so bad that there was nothing anyone could do. Sure, you should’ve told us but he would’ve died either way. There was no hope for him.”

“Is that why you ran away?” Lillian inquired. 

Danielle felt embarrassed, “I was scared…I thought I could escape from the fear and guilt.”  

“You should’ve come to us,” Lillian responded. 

Danielle shrugged miserably. “I know...”  

Paul sighed, “Just promise you’ll never do anything like that again.”  

“I promise. I’ll never ever do that again.”  

~~~ 

Paul came home from town late the next day. It was supper time and the rest of the family was seated at the table.  

“Lillian! Girls! Everyone outside!”  

Lillian and the girls hurriedly left the house and went outside and into the barn. Paul was waiting for them with a great big grin on his face.  

“Look what I bought in town today!”  He pointed at the nearest stall.  

The girls crowded around the stall. With eager eyes, they peered into the stall. A fat, pink pig stared back at them. His eyes were squished under layers of wrinkles and his tail curled around his hindquarters.  

“Oh, Paul!” Lillian said with a smile. 

“Piggy!” Nadia, Lynn, and Megan cried.  

“Bacon!” Danielle cheered.  

Belle rolled her eyes at Danielle. Danielle grinned sheepishly.  

“What’s his name?” Nadia asked.  

“I don’t think we should name him,” Paul replied slowly. 

“I wanna call him Timmy,” Nadia decided, ignoring Paul.  

“Oh no,” Belle said quietly.  

“That’s a good name,” Elsie told her youngest sister.  

“Can we pet him?” Lynn asked Paul.  

“Not now; maybe later on,” Paul replied. He ushered his family back inside. “Let’s go back inside and eat.”  

Everyone stole another glance at Timmy before they trekked back inside and sat down at the table to eat supper. 

~~~ 

Supper was finished quickly. The three older girls helped their mother with the dishes while everyone else moved into the sitting room for the evening. While the dishes were being washed, Belle took the time to question Lillian.  

“Lillian, what are we going to do about Nadia?”  

Danielle looked over, “What do you mean?”  

“She’s going to get attached to the pig!”  

“You mean Timmy,” Cassandra said with a grin. She and Danielle laughed with each other. 

“This isn’t funny,” Belle told them. “She’s going to be upset when the pig...leaves us.”  

“You’re right,” Lillian nodded. “But I’m not sure how to prevent it.”  

“I’ll take care of it,” Belle said scrubbing the last dish.  

“Are you sure you can?”  

“I’m sure.” Belle handed the dish to Danielle and left to go talk with Nadia.  

Danielle dried the dish and shook her head. “This can’t end well.”  

~~~

The family was relaxing in the sitting room. Lillian was reading a book, Elsie was working on one of her sewing projects, and Cassandra was searching the pages of her Bible. Paul was telling a story of his childhood to Lynn and Megan while Danielle and Faith listened along. A sudden loud shriek brought everyone to a halt.  

“No! You’re lying!”  

A door slam accompanied the shriek and a red-faced Nadia flew out into the sitting room.  

“Nadia!” Belle cried, following Nadia. 

“Ma! Belle said Pa was going to kill Timmy!” Nadia scrambled onto Lillian’s lap and threw her arms around Lillian’s neck. “But he is going to be my friend!”  

Lillian set aside her book and untangled Nadia’s arms from her neck. “Well, Sweetheart, we can’t keep Timmy forever. He will die one day.” Lillian paused; unsure of what to say.  

“You can’t kill him!”

Belle walked over to Nadia. “Nadia, sweetheart, we have to kill him eventually.”

Nadia glared at Belle, “Go away! I don’t like you.”

Belle’s gaze turned cold as she stared at Nadia in surprise and hurt. She suddenly turned and retreated to her bedroom.  

“Nadia, that was unkind,” Lillian said quickly.

Nadia buried her face in Lillian’s shoulder. “I don’t care. It’s unkind for you guys to kill my friend, Timmy.”

“He won’t die for a while yet, honey,” Lillian reassured.

Nadia perked up, “He won’t?”

“No. You’ll be able to stay friends for a while.”

Nadia brightened. “Yay!” she scrambled off her lap and ran to tell Lynn and Megan.

While, everyone else turned back to their previous activities. Danielle and Cassandra swapped glances. 

 “I’ve never seen Belle look that way,” Danielle whispered.  

“Me either,” Cassandra said. “I’m going to go check on her.” She went to stand up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“I better go,” Lillian said looking at Cassandra. “I’m the one who made her upset.”  

Lillian walked over and knocked softly on the door. Belle didn’t answer so Lillian let herself in. Belle was sitting on her bed staring at the wall.  

“Hey...are you okay?” Lillian asked, walking over beside the bed.  

“I’m fine.” Belle replied shortly, trying to avoid the impending conversation.  

“You don’t seem fine,” Lillian said, persisting that she and Belle have this conversation. 

Belle sighed, “I know I didn’t handle that situation the best. I don’t know what I was thinking telling Nadia that, but...Nadia never acted that way toward me before. She was always my little girl...my favorite. She’s never said that to me before.”  

Lillian sat down on the bed beside Belle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.”

“I suppose I was hasty in telling Nadia that…but I’m afraid she hates me now and loves you.”

“She doesn’t hate you! She’ll forget about all of this by morning.”

“No. It’s not just that. All of the girls love you now. I’ve lost them to you. I was so used to taking care of them and being the main recipient of their affection. Now you and Paul are getting more and more of their affection. I feel…useless now.”

“Useless?” Lillian said. “Come now, you can’t mean that.”

“I’m just being jealous,” Belle said. “I hate to admit it but I’m jealous of you. You and Paul have so much more to give the girls than I ever had to give them. I let Mama down. I promised to take care of the girls, but I couldn’t do it. I was too prideful to admit it. I wanted to show Mama I could do it. I love my sisters and I want to take care of them. I knew you and Paul could offer the girls so much more and I felt threatened by that. I just wanted to do what Mama told me. It was her dying wish that I raise the girls. I was afraid to get help because Mama just asked me to raise the girls; not a stranger!”

“Your Mama would’ve wanted you to get help if you needed it! You were the only person she trusted to raise her girls, but she would understand that you needed help.”

“Danielle said that Mama was wrong to ask me to raise the girls…” Belle’s face betrayed the regret and pain she felt.

“I don’t think that’s true. I think your Mama didn’t know who else to trust her daughters to besides you. She trusted you to raise them and do the best you could, which you did.”

“Maybe I should’ve gotten help earlier on. Maybe I should’ve found someone to adopt them. They would’ve had so much more in life if I hadn’t been so selfish and prideful. I wanted to prove to myself and everyone that I could do it. All those years…wasted.”

“Those years were not wasted!” Lillian exclaimed. “Look at the girls. You raised them all by yourself. Look at how wonderful they turned out. Cassandra, Danielle, and the twins are all strong and caring women who know a lot about farming and household work. Lynn, Megan, and Nadia are polite and sweet and…” Lillian paused, “Hannah and Jinger always placed others ahead of themselves. You did well in raising them. You might not have been able to give them luxuries or the childhoods they deserved, but you certainly raised them how your Mama would’ve wanted them raised.”

Belle took a shaky breath and glanced up at Lillian.

Lillian carefully met Belle’s eye, “Your Mama would be so proud of you.”

Belle brushed away the tears that welled up in her eyes.

“I want to help you in any way I can,” Lillian reminded. “I’m here for you.”

“Thank-you…you’ve done so much already. I really appreciate it.

~~~ 

Elsie sat down at the table Saturday morning. Belle, Cassandra, and Faith were doing the dishes, Danielle was taking the younger girls on a horseback ride, and Paul had business in Fairburn. Lillian sat down at the table beside Elsie.  

“How is the dress coming along?”  

“Okay, I think...how does it look?” Elsie slid the dress over near Lillian.  

Elsie wanted to make her own dress so Lillian and Elsie bought some material and Belle and Lillian spent their free time helping Elsie with the dress. Elsie was throwing herself full force into making the dress.  

Lillian fingered the fabric. “It looks really good! You’re doing a great job.”  

Elsie smiled and pulled her project back over. She threaded her needle and started on the next section of the dress.  

~~~ 

Danielle seized the back of Nadia’s dress collar and dragged her back up onto Esther. Nadia giggled and pointed at her other two sisters who were galloping along the path on Ruth.  

“Nadia! How many times have I told you to hold onto the saddle horn?” Danielle sighed. 

“My hands are cold!” Nadia whined. 

“Put your gloves on.”  

“I forgot them.”  

Danielle groaned inwardly and tugged off her own gloves. “Here,” she shoved the gloves onto Nadia’s small hands.  

“Thanks, Danni.”  

Danielle urged Esther into a trot and threesome headed after Lynn and Megan.  

“Slow down guys! There is a lot of snow on the ground. Be careful.”  

“You’re no fun,” Megan shot back.  

“It won’t be fun when you break your neck!” Danielle shouted after them.  

Megan and Lynn slowed to a trot and meekly hung their heads.  

“Now we’re going to have a fun day enjoying the snow and God’s creation, right?”  

“Yes!” the little girls cheered.  

Danielle softened a little and allowed them to canter for a short stretch. The South Dakota winters were always filled with plenty of snow. The girls were always enjoying fun rides in the woods when it wasn’t too cold.  

“Look! Deer!” Lynn’s excited voice called out.  

The quartet stopped and looked at the group of five deer ahead of them. A buck, three doe, and a younger doe were searching for food underneath the white blanket of snow.  

Nadia fell silent for the first time that day. With eager eyes she watched the wildlife walking a few yards before them. “That’s God’s creation, right?”  

“Yes,” Danielle whispered back. 

“Do we have God’s creation back home?”  

“Sure. We have the animals.”  

“So all the animals are God’s creation?” Nadia swiveled around and turned her blue eyes up at Danielle’s blue eyes.  

“You bet.” Danielle smiled at her sister.  

Nadia didn’t smile back. “Then why are you going to kill Timmy if he’s God’s creation?”  

Danielle sighed; she had hoped Nadia would’ve forgotten about the real reason Paul bought Timmy. “He isn’t a pet. He’s...like that deer. Remember when Albert used to go hunting and bring home deer for us to eat?”  

“Timmy is a pig not a deer,” Nadia replied blankly.  

Danielle rolled her eyes. Nadia was never going to understand. “We need to get home,” she called to the other girls. 

Megan turned Ruth around and headed back on the path for home. Danielle and Nadia followed close behind.  

The girls returned and stabled the horses and hurried inside to warm up. The three rushed in together and raced to their room. Lillian and Elsie were sitting in the sitting room working on the dress. Belle was making bread in the kitchen and Cassandra was putting new sheets on the bed up in the loft with Faith helping her.  

“How was the trip?” Lillian called after them.  

“Good!” the threesome called over their shoulders. 

Danielle walked in last and shut the door. She began pulling off her coat.  

“How was the ride?” Lillian asked Danielle.  

Danielle shot her a look that said “don’t ask”. 

Cassandra walked down from the loft. She caught Danielle’s look, “That bad?”  

Danielle needed no further encouraging, “It was awful! They wouldn’t listen, Nadia almost fell off five times, Megan and Lynn kept riding away...that is the last time I do anything nice to them! And, Nadia will not stop talking about that stupid—” 

“Danielle. Bedroom.” Lillian’s voice cut into Danielle’s rant.  

Danielle snapped her mouth shut with a loud clack and looked at Lillian in surprise.

“Now.”

Danielle hung her coat up and silently walked into Lillian’s bedroom.  

Lillian sent an apologizing smile Elsie’s way and stood up. She turned to Faith. “Faith, dear, please collect Lynn, Megan, and Nadia’s wet clothing and help Cassandra hang it up.”  

“Yes ma’am,” Faith answered.  

“Thank-you, Rose,” Lillian said using Faith’s nickname. She walked across the floor and into her bedroom. Oakley was up from his nap. Lillian sent him out in the sitting room. “Elsie, please watch Oakley.”  

“Okay!” Elsie called. “Come here, Oakley. Let’s go see Belle in the kitchen.”  

Lillian shut the door so she could talk in private with Danielle. Danielle hung her head as Lillian stood in front of her.  

“Look at me.”  

Danielle reluctantly lifted her head to look at Lillian. “I’m sorry; I knew I shouldn’t have said those things. I was frustrated. The girls weren’t listening and I was losing patience fast. When you asked what happened, I just...went off.”  

Lillian nodded, “I know the little ones can get on your nerves. It’s difficult, but you need to learn to have patience and be kinder. How many times do you think you got on your mother’s nerves?”  

“Well...a lot I guess...” Danielle stammered.  Lillian never brought Alice into their conversations before. 

Lillian looked earnestly at Danielle. “Just remember that you were their age once. They love the rides you take them on. I know you’re not perfect and I don’t expect you to be. I just don’t appreciate you ranting like that.”  

Danielle didn’t answer right away. She hated being wrong and she hated it worse when she has to admit it. 

Lillian leaned forward and hugged Danielle. She whispered in her ear. “I love you, Darling. I just want you to be the best woman you can be.”  

Danielle still didn’t answer. She was feeling really guilty now.  

“Alright?”  

Danielle nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better.”  

“Thank-you,” Lillian said backing up. “Go ahead and change into a dry dress.”  

Danielle exited and headed for the loft. Lillian went into the sitting room and saw Elsie playing with Oakley. Oakley noticed his mother and smiled brightly at her.  

“Hello, Oakley,” Lillian said, picking him up and kissing the top of his head.  

Oakley babbled something as Lillian smiled at him. Every time she looked at him she was reminded of her answered prayer and the blessing God gave her.  

“Alright, about this dress,” Lillian said sitting down beside Elsie on the couch.  

Elsie pointed to a place in the fabric. “We were working on this sleeve.”  

“That’s right. Just sew it like this,” Lillian set Oakley down and picked up the needle and threaded it. She sewed a few stitches in the sleeve and handed it back to Elsie. “Just like that.”  

“Okay,” Elsie took the project back and started on the sleeve. 

Lillian watched her with experienced eyes. “Yes...that’s it...perfect.”  

Faith and Cassandra finished hanging up the wet clothes in front of the fireplace.  

“You two are free to enjoy yourselves,” Lillian called to them.  

“Thanks!” they said with smiles. Cassandra went upstairs to get ready for her evening with Joe. Faith curled up in one of the chairs near the front window. She had a book in hand and soon she was lost in her imagination.