Change in the Wind

 by Lizzy T. 

Photo Prompt #7 Mystery Ranch Hand

Memory Creek Ranch, July 1905

             The sun was starting to set behind the large Sierra mountains on one surprisingly cool night in July. My fifteen-year-old twin sister Lilly sits on the porch snapping peas with me right beside her. We are both enjoying the nice weather, but I don’t think it will last long.

            “I bet a storm is coming in,” Lilly says, glancing at the sky as if expecting to see dark clouds brewing. “Why else would it be this cool in the middle of July?”

            “Maybe the Lord has decided to change the weather to always be pleasantly cool for the rest of the year, so we can ride every day without smothering,” I tease.

            “Ha! You wish,” she tugs a piece of my long, dark hair, which is identical to hers as she laughs.

            “Hey, you would enjoy it too!”

            “I would, but we both know that will never happen.” We both sigh and look at the sky again.

            “Excuse me.”

            “What for?” I ask.

            “I’m not the one that said that,” Lilly says, giving me a confused look.

            We both look around, and there, to our left, stands a man with his hat in one hand and a saddle in the other. I try to get a look at his face, but it is too dark out. 

            “Can I help you?” Lilly asks.

            “Yes, ma’am. I was hoping I could talk to your folks.” He steps closer to the porch, and the light from inside illuminates his face. My jaw drops and Lilly gasps. He is the finest-looking man I have ever seen! His dark wavy hair curtains his face, and his piercing brown eyes seem to look right through me.

            Lilly immediately stands and elbows me. “Lottie, why don’t you go find Papa while I, um… entertain our gest while we wait.” The little sneak. I saw what she did, making me go inside while she gets to stay with the handsome man. 

            “Fine, but I’ll be right back.” I quickly slip inside and head to the kitchen. “Papa. Papa! There is someone here to see you!” 

            My father stands up from the kitchen table from where he was reading the paper and crosses the floor to meet me. “I wonder who it could be this late at night.”

            “I don’t know” I reply, “but I have never seen him before.” I certainly would have remembered if I had. 

            “Why don’t you and your sister head upstairs to bed while I have a chat with the young man.”

            “But-”

            “No buts, Lottie,” my mother scolds from the kitchen table. “Do as you are told and head up to bed.”

            I sigh. “Alright…” As I head to the room my sister and I share, I can’t help but wonder why a strange but dashing young man would show up on our front step. Maybe he is looking for a lady to court. I giggle at the thought of it. Only in my dreams.

 

***

 

            From the moment I wake up in the morning, I am out of bed and moving. I hurriedly throw some clothes on and quickly brush my hair, then I am downstairs and sitting at the kitchen table with a plate stacked high with eggs, ham, and biscuits. My older brother Jared enters a few minutes later with Lilly following behind. 

            “Now that we are all here,” Papa begins, “I would like to explain about the young man that showed up last nigh.” I lean in closer. “His name Marcus Antonio Caprabario, and he is here looking for work.”

            Work? Why would he need work? I wonder. Jared must have been thinking the same thing because he asked Papa that too. 

            “Well,” Papa took a sip of coffee and then continued, “he said that the foreman at ranch he was previously working at let all the ranch hands go because he was getting old and decided to retire from the livestock world. Now young Marcus is looking for more work.”

            “Oh, Papa!” Lilly interjects. “You’ll let him stay, won’t you?”

            “I was thinking that he just might be of help after all, so I asked him if he would be willing to work for food and a place to stay, and he agreed.”

            “What!?” Jared jumps to his feet and slams his coffee cup onto the table. “You decided this without me? I don’t think he is trustworthy at all!”

            “It was not your decision to make, Jared.”

            “Fine! But don’t blame me when all our livestock starts to disappear! He is not trustworthy, and nothin’ good will come out of having him here! Trust me.”

 

***

 

            “Where do you think they could have gone?”

            A week has passed since Marcus Antonio Caprabario started working here. Jared has been avoiding him like the plague, Lilly can’t seem to get away from him, and I… Well, I am staring at a surprisingly empty pasture where there are supposed to be five mares but are shockingly none. 

            “Y’know what I think?” Jared replies.

            “No, that’s why I asked!”

            Jared continues as if I hadn’t said anything. “I think it was that Marcus fella. I bet he up and took them in the night! I told ya he was up to no good!”

            “Now why would he do a thing like that?”

            “He could get quite the profit out of selling Memory Creek mares. ‘Specially since a couple of em’ are carrying foals.”

            I ponder that for a minute. I mean, it kinda does make sense: he shows up, and the mares go missing. I just don’t think Marcus is the kind of guy who would do that! 

            “What does Papa think,” I ask. 

            “He agrees with me. Although he said that until we have solid proof, he’s not going to confront him.”

            “Hmmm… Well, I don’t think he did it.” 

            Jared snorts. “Don’t tell me you have fallen for his good looks too!”

            “No!” I say, a little too quickly. He just… Seems like an honest man. Yes, that's it. It has nothing to do with the way his eyes sparkle when he smiles. I know he didn’t steal those horses, but the only way I will be able to prove it is by finding the mares myself. “I gotta go.” Breaking into a run, I head straight to the barn. I know I can’t do this by myself, so I know I will have to ask the only other person who will believe me: my sister.

 

***

 

            Lilly is exactly where I thought she would be. In the barn brushing down her chestnut mare, Cinnamon, and wallowed in sadness because her precious ranch hand has been accused of theft.

            “Hey,” I say as I lean against the stall door.

            “What do you want?” she snaps back, obviously still not happy with me for ignoring her for the past week. 

            “Let me just get straight to the point.”

            “What makes you think I want to listen to what you have to say?”

            “Oh, you will. Trust me.” I know that she is a curious person by nature, so she will want to hear what I have to say, even if she pretends not to. “But, I guess if you don’t want to, I can just leave-”

            “No, wait!” She looks sheepishly at her feet and gives Cinnamon a few quick strokes with the brush. “You are already out here, so I might as well hear what you have to say.”

            “Well, since you asked!” I give her a victorious grin and she rolls her eyes.

            “Just get to the point already!”

            “Ok.” I lean closer and lower my voice. “You know and I know that Marcus is innocent. So, I was thinking… maybe we could go out and find those mares to prove he is not guilty…” I raise an eyebrow at her in question. 

            She stares at me for a minute, her blue eyes wide and pondering my suggestion. Then gasping she mutters, “Why didn’t I think of that!”

            “So, are you in?” The grin she gives me says more than words ever could. “Alrighty then! I’ll go saddle my horse.”

 

***

 

            “Ugh! We have been out here for hours! Why haven’t we found them yet?” Lilly slumps in her saddle, glaring at all the acres of empty grass surrounding us. She’s right though. We have been out here for a long time, and we have seen neither head nor hoof of any of the mares. 

            I sigh. “Maybe we were wrong. Maybe he did steal the mares.”

            Lilly turns her glare to me. “Don’t say that! There is no way he could have done it, we just have to look harder!”

            “I’m just being practical! We have searched the entire ranch, and haven’t even found a trace of the-” I pause mid-sentence. “Did you hear that?”

            “Hear what?”

            “Listen.” There it is again. It almost sounded like… “Horses! This way!” I turn my horse in the direction of the whining and break into a lope, Lilly following close behind. We cross over the hill, and there, directly in front of us are all the mares.

            “Yes!” Lilly cries out. “I told you he didn’t take them!”

            “Shut up or you’ll spook them,” I say as I laugh. I can’t be mad at her though, not when we have just found the proof that Marcus isn’t a thief. 

            Pulling out her lasso, Lilly ropes the first mare. “Come on! If we don’t hurry, we might miss diner.”

 

***

 

            “I owe you an apology, young man.” After we found the mares and brought them back, Papa ushered us all into the parlor where he is giving Marcus a full apology. “I am afraid that some of us in this house assumed you were the thief when the mares disappeared.”

            “Think nothin’ of it, Mr. Prescott Sir.” Marcus nods his head at Papa and gives a slight grin. “I would have thought the same thing if I was in your shoes. Luckily for me though, I have two guardian angels watching over me.” As he says that, he looks at Lilly and me. Lilly lets out a squeak and turns bright red while I look at my shoes, a smile blossoming on my face. Jared snorts and mutters something I can’t hear. Probably for the better. 

            “Ahem… yes, you are correct.” Papa says. “It was a good thing that my daughters believed in you while the rest of us did not. I understand if you decide you don’t want to work here anymore though. I could give you a good recommendation at another ranch if you do decide to leave.”

            Dread settles in the pit of my stomach as I realize what might happen. I don’t want him to leave! I glance at him expectantly as I listen to what he has to say.

            “Thank you for the offer, Sir, but if you don’t mind, I would like to continue working here.” Relief floods over me, and I can see the same on Lilly’s face as well.

            “Wonderful!” Papa smiles at Marcus as he continues. “Thank you for choosing to stay with us. Since we are all here, I thought I would inform you all that Andi and I will be going to the cattle meeting a week from today. It will be all day, so I expect one of you to prepare the meals for that day.”

            “I can do it, Papa,” Lilly says. It's a good thing too because I couldn’t cook my way out of a wet paper bag.

            “Thank you, Lilly,” Papa says. “That means Lottie, you will need to help Jared and Marcus with the ranch chores.”

            “Alright, Papa.” I already help with chores anyway, so this won’t be much different than any normal day.

            “Since that is settled, lets eat!”

 

***

 

            “How much longer do we have to go, Marcus?” Lilly questions.

            A week has passed since Papa apologized to Marcus, and now Mama and Papa are in town for the cattle meeting. Jared is still at the ranch, while Lilly, Marcus, and I are searching all over our land for the escape mares.

            Of course they decide to escape today, of all days, when we are short on hands.

            “Not much farther, I’m sure, Miss Lilly,” Marcus replies. 

            I look around my surrounding. “I don’t think I have ever been this far out before. Do you think they actually came all the way out here?”

            “Positive.”

            “Nothing looks familiar.” I glance around again. “I’m not sure if I will be able to find my way back.”

            “Well, Miss Lottie, that is precisely the point.”

            What? I don’t understand… 

            “You and Miss Lilly will not be going back any time soon.”

            “What do you mean?”

            Lilly gives a shaky laugh. “Oh course we are going back, right? This is just a joke, right?”

            “I’m afraid not. Ya’ see, I am running short on cash right now, and I am sure your lovely parents will pay quite the pretty penny to get you back.” I open my mouth to protest in anger but before I can, Marcus continues. “And before you go and run off, this gun here says you’ll stay.”

            “You disgust me,” I growl at him through clenched teeth. I can’t believe I ever liked him. I wish Jared was here. He would know what to do-

            Bang!

            Before I even know what is happening, Marcus is slipping from the saddle, blood slowly pooling at his side. Turning around I see Jared, but before I can call out to him, I hear another gun go off. Everything seems to fall into slow motion. Jared leaps from his horse. Lilly screams. I feel excruciating pain, then everything goes black. 

 

***

 

I look up at the sky, the sun slowly setting and painting the clouds with vivid colors. I can’t believe it has been two weeks already since Marcus showed up at our ranch. I glance at the sling my arm rests in, the same spot where Marcus shot me. Luckily, not too much damage was done, and it will heal soon. 

            Once my arm got stitched up, Lilly filled me in on what happened after I blacked out. While Lilly took me home and bandaged up my wound, Jared apprehended Marcus, which wasn’t too hard considering he had blacked out too. He then took him to town and informed our parents of what had happened. Now Marcus sits in a prison cell in town, awaiting trial. I hope he stays in prison for a long, long time.

            I guess I got the adventure I had always craved as a little girl. Just like the ones Mama went on when she was my age, wounds and all. Lilly asked me the other day ago that if I knew I was going to get hurt, would I still go on an adventure? I didn’t even have to think. I knew what my answer would be.

            Absolutely.