Dahlia Gardener

When Dahlia was born to Peter and Sarah May, she was one of four girls. Her older sisters were Violet, Holly, and Primrose and her father...well, Dahlia is pretty sure he used up all of his love for his older sisters. Dahlia was just different, it seemed. While she tried to conform to the roles her father gave her, tried to do as he asked, there was just always something wrong about her. She didn't behave well enough, she was caught out for having too much sass, her mere existence seemed to be something he hated. Her older sister Holly always told her she was lucky, that she got to be who she wanted to be and live free, but to Dahlia, she would have much rather been a part of the family. She didn't want to be a burden, she wanted to be loved, she wanted to be called a good daughter. She just wanted to matter, but it seemed like the only one who really cared about her was Primrose, who was immediately older than her, and then later on, her younger sister Magnolia. Dahlia just kept work at being a good daughter, even when she knew that no matter what she did she was never going to be welcomed in. If she kept her head down, surely that would make things better? Dahlia was essentially a punching bag – an acceptable one, it seemed. Their town was small and there were rumors that Dahlia wasn't actually her father, that her mother had cheated on him; didn't everyone see it with a name like 'Dahlia'? The people Dahlia interacted with had preconceptions about her, not really forgiving how awful her dad was but usually telling her she just needed to weather it. Her father's friends always told him how much they would have done if they found out their wives were cheating on them.

She just carried on, it was all she could do. When she was at home, she kept quiet and mostly to herself, just doing what she was told and putting up with the abuse. Unlike the other girls, she was allowed to get a job. Her sisters were pretty locked in to their father's way of thinking – a woman's "job" was to be a wife and mother. They were expected to cook and clean and make it so as soon as the husband got home, they were able to relax and have all their needs met. If a woman were to go working, it would have to be a woman's work – a daycare teacher, a elementary school teacher, a secretary, or if they were really desperate, maybe a housekeeper. And heaven forbid if the woman wanted to make a career out of any of those things. That was the problem with the world, Dahlia's father would always say, things had gotten so confusing over the years, people were all jumbled up and didn't know what to do with themselves. Back in his day, things worked very smoothly with everyone understanding their roles. Kids were raised right, money was understood, things were just better. Peter May had his daughters under a tight control where they were more or less just getting ready for their husbands and off they went. Dahlia didn't get that; she was "hopeless", so he wasn't even sure a husband would help. He was looking at his options, but she got mostly free reign. So she went to get a job as a waitress. It wasn't a lot of hours, it wasn't a lot of pay, but it got her out of the house, gave her money that was her own, and she began to grow a little bit. She was still mousy and timid, but she was finding enough of her voice to have conversations with her customers and form friendships with her coworkers.

The rest of Dahlia's story is explored in To The Moon, Through the Stars story, Nights of Rain and Stars.

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