Will You Love Me Too?

Ira's expression clouded over and he went silent after that. It seemed he had used up all of his willingness to talk for several days because he didn't speak again (unless answering a direct question) until Daisy went into town and took him with her to run some errands.

She needed to pick up some soap and jars to do canning with since she planned to send so much to Leo with her next letter. She would need more jars to put their winter supplies into.

As Daisy looked over some of the glass smith's wares, she was too preoccupied to notice the lecherous stares aimed her way or the protective stance Ira took on beside her. She muttered to herself about which of these jars would work best until the boy broke her concentration.

"Those men are staring at you," he pointed out with a frown.

She sighed when she realized they were. "…they always do that. Ignore them, Ira."

That became much more difficult to do a few minutes later when Gryff, one of the blacksmith apprentices, approached. He was one of the more aggressive of her would-be suitors, though he had never tried anything when Leo was around.

"Hello, Veronica."

"That's Miss May to you," Daisy said coolly. "Do you have any actual business with me?"

"Define 'actual,'" he said with a sly grin.

"I'll take that as a no. Good day, sir."

She turned on her heel to leave but he grabbed her arm. "I didn't say I was done with you!"

"So what? I'm done with you. You can't do whatever you want just because—"

Daisy didn't get the chance to finish what she was going to say because she was interrupted by a howl of pain. Ira had kicked Gryff in the shin with his heavy work boots with all his might. There was a good chance he had actually broken something with the sharp crack she heard.

"Who's this little brat?! Did you pick up another stray and earn their unwavering loyalty? You're such a tramp!" he yelled with watering eyes.

"Don't insult Miss Veronica," Ira said in a low voice as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"It's okay, Ira. Stand down," Daisy urged.

She didn't want a real fight to break out here because she was almost certain the apprentice, who was much bigger, would win. The last thing she wanted was for the kid to get hurt defending her.

"It is not okay! He's only bothering you because Mr. Leo isn't here. That's what you were going to say earlier, isn't it? Well, if he can't protect you right now, I'll do it in his place."

She blinked at him in surprise before grinning and ruffling his hair. This shrimp of a kid was being awfully brave. It seemed she truly had gained another boy's unwavering loyalty without realizing it.

"Thank you. I appreciate that! Why don't we go get that soap now before we go home?"

Ira nodded but not before glaring at Gryff. "Leave her alone if you know what's good for you."

The blacksmith's apprentice looked like he wanted to strangle him but did nothing because they now had a crowd of curious onlookers gawking at them. It seemed they were waiting for a real fight to break out.

He chose to do nothing and muttered mutinously as he limped off, allowing the two of them to buy their soap in peace before heading back toward the farm. The two of them walked in silence for most of the way before Ira said something.

"Miss Veronica, please don't go into town alone again."

Daisy couldn't help but laugh. She was transported back in time to a very similar conversation on her way back from town years earlier.

"I won't, don't worry," she reassured him.

The boy frowned. "Why are you laughing then?"

"Because you reminded me a lot of Leo just now. He said the same thing to me a long time ago. People didn't bother me nearly as much when he was around…that's why I'm glad you offered to help me out."

Ira thought this over for the rest of the walk back without saying a word. Daisy was used to him acting like that by this point so she didn't question it.

Over the next several weeks, he spoke to her slightly more often than before but not much. He helped with the canning too when she, Ginny, and Braedon's wife Latisse showed him how but sat back quietly observing as the three of them chatted.

He continued accompanying her to town whenever she needed to go after that, though she tried to limit her trips to avoid further trouble. One day when they went, she got her next letter from Leo.

It was longer than usual but addressed things that had happened quite some time ago because of the delivery lag. He didn't even know she had hired anyone else on yet since she sent her last letter while she was still looking. She had continued writing on her stack of parchment since sending off the last one though so he would hear all about Elsa, Marie, and Ira soon.

The delay between the letters being sent and delivered was so long that this one included another two gold coins. It seemed he had tried copying her way of doing things but rather than writing several paragraphs to a page a day, he managed a few sentences.

Still, it made Daisy happy. She was hearing more about Leo's life in the capital and that was exactly what she wanted.

Ira watched her read with a thoughtful expression on his little face but he didn't interrupt what she was doing. He said nothing until they were back at home and she added the letter to the drawer where she had begun keeping them.

"You must love Mr. Leo a whole lot, huh?" Ira asked quietly.

A fond smile played on her lips. "Of course I do!"

"Is that why you're marrying him?"

Daisy nearly choked in surprise. She forgot the kid was under the impression that she would be marrying Leo when he came back. That might pose a problem later on but she had been planning on crossing that bridge when she got to it.

A lot of people around here would expect them to get married when he returned. It probably wouldn't be for years…but then what would happen? Would they have to break off the engagement or what? It wouldn't make sense for him to stay here if it was broken since most broken engagements happened when the couple was on bad terms.

This was exactly why she preferred not thinking about things like this. All it did was stress her out unnecessarily.

"Yes," Daisy lied. "You're supposed to marry the person you love most."

Leo was the person she loved most but he was also a child. There were different kinds of love. What she felt for him was familial. Definitely not the sort of love that was supposed to lead to marriage.

Ira frowned. "But what if you don't love anybody?"

"…then you don't get married."

"What if the person you love is in love with someone else?"

"You can't do anything about that either," Daisy pointed out. He was beginning to sound more like an actual child who asked endless questions rather than the soulless husk he had been acting like up to this point.

"Why do you love Mr. Leo?"

This wasn't too difficult to answer. She could let the kid labor under the delusion that it was romantic love while talking about how she truly felt.

"Leo and I understand each other well," she began. "We rely on each other, trust each other, and do nice things for each other. He's very sweet and helpful. There was a time when he brought me flowers every single day after he found out I loved them.

"We have fun together too. We made our work into games to help pass the time and he makes me laugh more than anyone. We weren't always close but over time he became the closest person to me because we had been through so much together."

Ira pondered this a moment. Eventually he looked up and asked, "If I spend enough time with you, will you love me too?"

Daisy nearly choked for the second time in five minutes. "Ira, I'm old enough to be your mother!"

"I know. My mother is gone though and I don't have a home or a family. You're really nice and Mr. Leo makes you happy so he must be nice too. You haven't kicked me out yet and I don't think you're going to because you're different than the others I've stayed with.

"I could do nice things for you and make you laugh. All I want is to keep staying here so I can have a home again. I thought it might be easier to convince you to let me stay if you loved me."

Her heart ached for this kid and every one like him. She had been like that too. For a while, she desperately tried to please her foster parents in the hopes of being adopted but it never happened. She knew exactly what sort of desperation he was feeling right now.

Daisy's eyes filled with tears and she rushed forward to hug him. "You don't have to do any of that. Just be yourself, Ira. That's enough. You can stay here as long as you like."

The boy hugged her back tightly and his voice was a bit muffled as he replied. "Thank you, Miss Veronica."