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.