Chapter 10 Daisy Ann

As she waited for Wade Ashford to arrive, Daisy Ann absently fingered the necklace she wore. The design was her mother's, the first piece she'd fashioned and created over twenty-five years ago, after years of art and metal classes. The piece was a simple and elegant mixture of metals entwined and interwoven, and Daisy Ann, just ten years old at the time, had thought it one of the most beautiful necklaces she'd ever seen. Daisy Ann would sit on the bench in her mother's workroom, watching with fascination as her mother's hammer and tools manipulated metal to coil around precious and semiprecious stones or curl and bend to her blueprint. Sitting at her mother's side, she learned about the different metals like indium, rhenium, and ruthenium, a metal strong and beautiful like platinum, but at $72 an ounce, a much more affordable one than the $1,460 an ounce for platinum, the most expensive metal of all and more costly than gold. Marylou gifted many of the rings, bracelets, and necklaces she made to friends and family, but the collection still remained extensive upon her death.

On a pleasant Dallas evening a few years after her mother died, Daisy Ann, in a backless red gown and one of her mother's necklaces with a dazzling jade center, stood talking with a group of friends at the fundraising ball for the Dallas Museum of Art. As the group disbanded, she began making her way into one of the galleries when she felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned.

The tall man with a silver ponytail was debonair-looking and a stranger to her. "Pardon my forwardness," he said, bowing slightly. "My name is Rory Delacorte. I'm a silversmith. Your necklace is very beautiful. May I ask who designed it?"

Daisy Ann moved her hand to the necklace. "My mother."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Your mother is a jewelry designer? Are her pieces sold somewhere?"

It had all begun with that chance meeting. Together they created a website showcasing Marylou's creations, all of which sold out almost immediately. Daisy Ann hired Rory to begin fabricating more handmade jewelry from the many drawings her mother left and to head the operation they named White Orchid Designs, after her mother's favorite flower. At the beginning, Daisy Ann had continued to work with her father's oil company. But three years ago, when Jake died, Daisy Ann left her father's company, leaving her husband in charge, and dedicated herself to White Orchid. The company now included designers, a marketing team, and sales staff, and to Daisy Ann's delight, it continued to grow. Their business office was in a converted feed store in uptown Dallas, and Daisy Ann loved spending time there. For her, it was not only a labor of love but also a tribute to the mother she'd lost so early. There were times she felt as if Marylou's spirit was right alongside her as she worked.

Her assistant buzzed, and she picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Ashford's here."

"Thank you. Please send him in."

The door opened and Wade entered, his six-foot-four frame making her office suddenly seem smaller. He took his hat off, threw it on the love seat behind him, and took a seat in the chair in front of her desk.

"Well, Daisy Ann, you're harder to pin down than a feather in the wind."

She gave him her sweetest smile. "I'm here now, Wade. You know how busy things have been."

"I've been patient, but my investment in your company is not paying the dividends I expect."

They stared at each other for a moment, both silent, and she'd be damned if she'd look away first. Finally, he broke contact and then she spoke.

"I've told you before, this is temporary. We've had a tough eighteen months. So has everyone else. The pandemic took a bite out of our sales, but I'm confident we're going to make up for the shortfall in sales in no time. I wouldn't have made a personal loan to the company if I didn't believe that."

"That's all well and good, but materials have gone up, labor, et cetera. If we want to be profitable again, something's gotta give. No one is going to notice if you save some money by automating labor or using cheaper materials. People have no clue."

"You may have no clue. But our customers do, and I won't compromise on the quality of our goods just to save a buck."

He shook his head. "It's mighty fine to have your high standards, missy. But standards don't pay the bills. I want to see my investment yield returns again. I'm not much for charity, you know."

Now she was pissed. "Give it time. You know as well as I do that there are ups and downs in business. Don't you dare act like what you've done is charity. This has been a very profitable business until recently. You came to me, remember? Said you were looking to diversify. Your initial investment has already netted you four times what you put in. Now you're whining because one rough patch has stalled profits? Please. That's what you signed up for. It's all in our agreement."

"True. But I don't want this small leak in profits to become a flood." He shifted in the seat. "Now lookie here, Valene Mart made you a generous purchase offer, an offer you dismissed out of hand. You need to think on that again."

"Absolutely not," Daisy Ann said, slamming her fist on the desk. "They'll turn this company into a cheap imitation, taking our one-of-a-kind pieces and mass-producing them using inferior materials."

"They'll sell a helluva lot more pieces that way. And you'd be gettin' a portion of those profits."

"You know my position on this. This company is not just about money. And I don't appreciate all the texts and trying to corner me at family functions."

"Sorry. I'm used to doing business at any function."

She stood up. "Well, that's the difference between you and me. I like to keep my business separate from my family and I'd appreciate if you'd respect that from now on."

He rose and took his hat from the cushion and bowed to her while holding it out.

"Whatever you say, little lady. Understood. My apologies. Here's hoping we're back in the black soon."

After he left, Daisy Ann pulled up the latest QuickBooks summary on her computer. She hadn't been completely honest when she said the shortfall was almost made up for. Their material costs had almost doubled, and while sales were up, they were still far below where they'd been prepandemic. If things didn't improve soon, she'd have to put more money in, and that felt like a defeat to her. But the last thing she would do is sell to Valene Mart. That would feel like losing her mother all over again.