The Secret No One Knew

 by Brooklyn

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon on the Circle C Ranch. Andi Carter was in her room reading one of Mitch’s dime novels. After Sunday Services Andi Carter had jumped out of the buggy and headed for her room and one of Mitch’s dime novels.

Lusia had given her a plate of sugar cookies and a glass of lemonade. She finished the dime novel just as she ate the last sugar cookie and drank the last of her lemonade. Bored, she decided to go to the attic and see what she could find.

Andi was not the type of girl that liked to play dress up and have tea parties with dolls. She loved to be outdoors, riding her mare, Taffy. But today, it was too wet to go for a ride. So, She placed the dime novel on her shelf and headed up to the attic with a lantern.

It was dark and gloomy in the attic. And the rain pouring down out of the black sky only made it darker. There were lots of old trunks and boxes sitting in the attic. Andi went over to one of the trunks and opened the creaky lid.

As the lid squeaked back it reveled hat boxes and old dresses. Andi opened one of the hat boxes and there was a dusty, but elegant hat with frills, and feathers. She closed the hat box and sat it back in the trunk and closed the lid.

And as she looked around the attic, something caught her eye. It was covered with a cloth behind some boxes. Andi made her way over there and moved the boxes out of the way. Then, She pulled the cloth off and what it reveled surprised her.

There in the gloomy, dusty attic, was a cradle with a name wrote on it, but it was a name that She never heard her family mention. It was a tiny cradle tucked beside a trunk. Andi was puzzled.

Suddenly, she didn’t want to search the attic anymore, She wanted to find out who it belonged to. She came down the attic stairs and went to find Mother. Andi found her in the kitchen helping Nila and Lusia prepare Supper.

When She saw Andi at the door she smiled, and said, Did you finish that dime novel already, Andrea?

Andi smiled and said, Yes ma’am, I did. Then she blurted out, whose crib is in the attic?

Mother looked suprised for a moment then said, show me what cradle you are talking about, Sweetheart. Andi climbed climbed back up the attic stairs with her mother behind her. She walked over and pulled it out from where it was tucked between the trunk and the wall. Elizabeth Gasped as she saw the name painted on it.

Andi looked at her mother and said, Mother, are you okay?

She nodded, yes Andrea, I just haven’t seen this in years. It belonged to your youngest sister, Emily. Andi gasped and said, I have younger sister? I thought that I was the youngest. Mother sighed, you were only two years old when I had her. But, shortly after she was born, she got a very bad case of scarlet fever.

And she was only about three weeks old when she died. The cradle was put in the attic and covered up. Andi Stood there for a moment, stunned. Elizibeth wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her. The she took Andi’s hand and said, let’s go and eat Supper Sweetheart. She said, leading her out of the attic and down the stairs.

My . . . WHAT!

 by Abigail H. 

Fresno California,

April 21, 1882

“Justin Thomas Carter!” Fourteen-year-old Andrea Carter stormed into her brother’s law office, screaming his name with all of her might.

Seated in the seat across the desk from Andi’s tall older brother sat Lucinda Hawkins. A beautiful woman with soft brown eyes and delightful light brown hair. She’d been Justin’s girl ever since he had gotten enough courage to ask Lucy to court him with the intent of marriage a few short months ago.

The sweet woman turned, “Good morning, Andi!” She smiled. “It looks like you have a bee under your bonnet that needs to be freed, so I will leave you alone and let Justin take care of it.”

“Lucy, you don’t need to go,” Justin turned a frustrated gaze at Andi, and gave her the look. “You are nearly family. Whatever Andi is going to say, I’m sure it is fine.”

Andi stood, shifting her weight from one foot to the other in clear impatience. In all the things she was good at, patience never even made it to the top a hundred. Can’t they stop chatting and let me talk! Andi thought.

“If you are sure, Justin,” Lucy started. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“You aren’t intruding, I-”

“Justin, who in Heaven’s name is Michal Thomas?” Andi could not take their politeness any longer. She needed to know.

Justin looked stunned. He blinked his vivid blue eyes in pure shock. A tear welled up in his eye and slid down his tanned cheek, he brushed it away. Justin looked at Lucy. The secret he had not talked about for ten years was about to come out.

“He’s my son.” Justin’s voice was thick with pent up emotions. “Your nephew.”

This was a punch to Andi’s gut. She tried to breathe. First a sister she had no idea existed popped up over two years ago, now another family secret?

“My…. what!”

********

Earlier

“Justin, why are you so gloomy?” Andi asked at the breakfast table. “I’ve never known you to be gloomy just because there are rain clouds in the sky.”

All the people around the table froze. Melinda choked on her pancake, and quickly grabbed her glass of milk. Mother cleared her throat, but said nothing.

Justin put on a fake smile, which was enough for Andi, who smiled back. Though Andi was old enough to figure out that there was something wrong, she was too focused on her day’s agenda, to pay any mind to the tension. Or her brother’s fake smile.

********

Justin pulled his rig out of the yard on his way to his law office. Today was Saturday, so Andi didn’t go with him to school. Andi just stood waving at him as he rode down the lane.

A glance at the darkened sky told her that a ride on Taffy would be out of the question. Maybe she could play with Shasta and Sunny. They always brightened her day.

“Andi, I want you to go look for another quilt in the attic.” Mother’s voice called from the kitchen. “I think the blue log-cabin quilt is in the large trunk with the brass handles.”

Well, that idea was blown away. A morning in the attic wouldn’t be that bad. There were always new things to explore, and new, old forgotten things too.

Andi trudged up the two flights of stairs to the large spacious attic. It took her a few minutes to find the trunk in the mass of things. When she found it, she quickly grabbed the quilt and went to turn back to head downstairs when a small, painted cradle tucked beside the trunk caught her eye.

She thought for a second- just a second- and decided that Mother could wait an extra few moments for the blanket, so she kneeled down and pulled the cradle out. She was curious to find out whose cradle it was.

She looked at the cradle and admired the handpainted blue swirls and flowers, then her eyes stopped on a name written on the headboard. A name that she had never heard before. Michal Thomas Carter.

Quilt forgotten she raced out of the attic and downstairs. She flew out of the house and out to the barn for a horse. Justin would know who that boy is. Justin would help her.

In record time, Andi saddled Taffy and mounted. Dirt trailing in the air behind them, she raced toward town. On J Street, she pulled the Palomino to a halt. Breathing hard she ran into Justin’s law office.

********

Present.

“You better sit down, Andi.” Justin said, able to keep his tears at bay. “Lucy, I want you to hear this as well.”

Andi and Lucy, both flustered and thinking all sorts of horrible things, sat. And waited.

“This story starts when I went to college at Harvard twelve years ago. I met a wonderful woman there named Jane.” Justin looked at Lucy. She sat stiff, a look of horror on her face.

“Long story short, we fell in love and got married eight months later on her birthday, April 21. Eleven years ago today.”

“That’s why you were so sad today at breakfast.” Andi breathed.

“Yes, some years it is harder than others to cope on that day. When Jane came into the family way, I was thrilled. Yes, I still had almost two years left of college, but I was happy. To save you the details, Jane died giving birth to Michal. And Michal died three short weeks later.”

Justin looked devastated. “I finished my degree, and then came home, hoping to push past everything and move on.” He looked with anguish at Lucy. “I am so sorry for not telling you earlier.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” She stood up and grasped his hand. “I will love you no matter what history you spring on me. Although I hope there is no more!”

They all laughed, and to Andi, the world was right side up 

All the Gold

 by Levi Christian

Eight-year-old Jerimiah put his summer clothes on. He was ready to go to the pond.

"Mama!" Jem called. "May I go to the pond, please."

"What are you going to do there?" his Mama asked.

Jem shrugged. "I don't know. Pan for gold, maybe?

"Fine," Mama agreed. "But be back by lunch."

"I will!" Jem called back.

"Mama?" Jem's little sister asked. "May I go too? I'd like to catch Bullfrogs!"

"No." her Mama quickly replied.

"Why not." Ellie wailed.

"You're too young."

"Okay." Ellie sighed.

     ⭐

"Hey, Jem" William said in a pesky voice. "I can stay underwater longer than anybody."

"I Certainly doubt it." Jem yelled. "Why won't you stop pestering me?"

"It's fun to pester people." William replied.

"You get me so annoyed! I could stay under longer."

"Prove it," William demanded.

"Nope. I'm panning for gold."

"C'mon, Jerimiah."

When Jem heard his full first name, he shouted at Will. "That does it! I'll prove I can stay underwater longer than you."

Jem dived into the water with Will following behind him. Will took the lead and Jem followed him until they got to something. Will pointed at a chest. They both smiled in excitement.

Maybe it's filled with gold, Jem thought. He yanked it open and his eyes widened. In the chest he saw a pile of gold nuggets. He would finally be rich. Will handed Jem a nugget. Jem was confused. Will has never been this nice, he thought to himself as he took the nugget. He wanted to say thanks. Jem swam to the top of the water and ran to his tent.

"Pa! Mama!" Jem called, full of happiness. "William showed me a chest full of gold underwater. Then he gave me a giant gold nugget as big as a full-grown parrot. We're rich! Look at this gold nugget! It's huge! Will has never been so nice."