Pure breeds and wild mustangs
Madison Williams x Alfred Jones
Every morning Madison woke up before the first crack of sunlight flashed over the hill at the north edge of the Williams' family ranch. It was very quiet just like she was. Only her father, mother and the general store owner were usually awake when she got up. Her far-too-big for her pale pink night gown fell all the way to the wood floor of the hallway.
The whole house was still close to pitch black as none of the lights were on.
Patting down the hall she held her slightly off white teddy bear close to her under developed chest. She finally reached the end of the hallway and the every big window there. With a glance over her shoulder she unlocked it before slowly pushing it open. Then she began to crawl out onto the roof. It wasn't very steep but, just the height alone scared Madison. But, it was the only place nobody would think to look for her so she hided there and over time it became one of her favorite spots to be especially when the sun was just starting to rise over the eastern sky.
She inhaled the fresh morning air as she stepped out. Closing her violet colored she felt the light breeze on her bare arms. It was summer already. Soon her father would stop making her take her lessons. Of course she was almost old enough to stop them all together. Not that she wanted them to end but, the three month break would certainly be enjoyed.
Maddie perched herself right beside the window and gazed up into the lightening pink sky. It was beautiful. The most beautiful time of day.
She tucked a thick strand of her dark blond hair behind her ear before lowering her eyes slowly over the land. In the far off distance stood the Black Ridge Mountain that her father always called 'tiny' but it still seemed huge to her. Just a bit closer was the forest which ran down from near the top of Black Ridge to the fence behind the Williams' house. Maddie smiled. That was also one of her favorite places on the ranch, especially the tree just beside the creak that flowed through the thicker part of the forest where she loved to read.
Hugging the teddy bear she was still holding she relaxed against the cool roof. Inhaling once more, she stretched her thin arms up over her head as her eyes lids slowly began to drift shut. She muttered to herself something about 'best get dressed' before yawning 'I can't fall asleep' just before her eyes closed.
It was the high pitched whistle of the morning train that awoke Maddie just an hour later. She sat up so fast that not only did she nearly fall off the roof but her head felt as though it was spinning. She grunted softly and glanced around. Below her in the back yard she could see her father adjusting the saddle of his Buckskin horse "Abelle."
Quickly Madison crawled through the still wide open bay window from which she had crawled early that morning. It wasn't until she was fully inside till she noticed her teddy bear was missing. She leaned out of the window and looked all around for the bear. It wasn't on the roof. She must have dropped it down into the yard.
"Maddie?"
Madison turned around to see her mother standing just a few steps away, a basket full of dirty clothes in her hands. It was Saturday, wash day of course.
"Maddie, dear why aren't you dressed yet? I heard you get up over an hour ago."
"Why um…" The young girl mumbled letting her voice die off without finishing her sentence. She had no answer. Her parents knew she liked to sit up on the roof and had both warned her about it and scolded her for doing so even after their warnings. However the Williams never did honestly punish her for it or anything for that matter. She never did do anything terrible dangerous partly out of respect for their wishes and partly out of her own fears.
Mrs. Williams shook her head, her light blond hair did not fall down into her face because she had it tied back with a red and white ribbon the way she usually worn it "Go get dressed."
"Okay," Maddie nearly whispered as she hurried back to her bedroom and shut the door behind herself. She had to get dressed and then go get her bear. Tugging her oak amour open she thought back to something her father had told her not to long ago. It was Monday night and he had come to tell her goodnight. She was of course holding her bear then as she always slept with it especially in the summer when it got really dark really early. He had chuckled before saying "That bear's not going to last to much longer you know."
"What, papa?"
"Your bear, it's about worn out."
"Well mama taught me how to sow so I can fix him."
He sighed.
"What?" She had asked as she slipped underneath her plain white summertime blanket.
He walked over and kissed her forehead "You know I wish you could stay this way for ever."
"This way?"
"Yeah."
"Well why can't I?"
"Cause you're growing up, I mean you're nearly six-teen."
"Yeah, so?"
"So soon you'll probably find a young gentleman caller."
"Gentleman caller?"
"Yes," he said with another sigh "and then you'll get married and have babies to hold instead of that toy."
Maddie's brow furrowed "Soon? Soon I'll be married a-and be having babies?"
"Yes, all too soon."
"Too soon is right," she had mumbled to herself as her father had walked out of her room. He shut the door and she turned off the oil lamp on the desk right next to the head of her bed. She didn't go to sleep as quickly as she normally did that night. Instead she hugged the teddy bear for a while and then pictured a baby in its place.
And there she was nearly a week later, hurrying to get dressed so that she could go get that soon-to-be-left-behind piece of her apparently quickly dissolving childhood. She grabbed a plain light brown dress out and pulled it over her head before running her slim fingers through her shoulder length messy hair. Then she reached down and picked up her favorite most worn in boots and stepped into them, pausing just long enough to tie them loosely.
When she left her room her mother was nowhere to be seen. Taking this as a rare chance to run indoors Maddie jogged down the hallway, down the creaky old stairs, through the parlor, pass her father's study and through the kitchen. A pot of oatmeal sat on the cooktop slowly cooking, whereas three bowels sat on the small table beside the stove. Her mother must have gotten distracted by gathering up the wash.
Shrugging it off as her mama just getting distracted by gathering the wash Maddie bolted out of the backdoor. She slowed to a fast walk as she headed down the steps from the wrap around porch down into the backyard. There he was. Her teddy.
"There you are!" She exclaimed as she reached down to pick up the bear.
"Maddie!"
She turned around toward the fence. Her father was sitting on his horse just outside of the yard.
"Papa?"
"Why aren't you over at the train station with your mother, little missy?"
"W-why, am I suppose to be there?"
"Yeah, you're suppose to meet a new ranch hand we just hired."
"New hand?"
"He just came in and is going to be living in the cabin the Marston fellow was staying in. We're going have a bigger crop this year so we needed some more help."
"Okay. So should I go down there?"
"yes," he answered as he finally caught a glimpse of the teddy bear she was trying to hide from him "but first go take that thing back up to your room and get down there."
"Okay," she blushed and started up the steps as he turned and started to gallop over toward the coral.
After nearly sprinting back to her room she tossed the bear onto her still unmade bed before racing back out of the main house. It was just as she was coming through the front gate when she first met him. She must not have been paying enough attention as she ran smack into the stranger causing her to almost fall on her back side.
"There you are," her mother said as she stood next to the unknown man.
"S-sorry" Maddie muttered and took a step back. Then she got her first good look at him.
He was taller than her like most people especially men. The still early morning sun caused his neatly parted dusty blond hair to shine slightly. The sun light also created a glare on his glasses which were almost exactly like hers only they were a little less round more like squares. Behind his glasses were the deepest, most beautiful baby blue eyes Madison had ever seen.
"Hey," he said suddenly pulling Maddie away from her staring.
"Hello."
"Dear," Mrs. Williams interjected "this is Alfred Jones. He's the new help."
"Nice to meet ya," he smiled down at her as he extended his right black glove clad hand to her. She took it and gently shook his hand while silently taking in the rest of him. His dark, well-worn in and slightly dirty jeans were tucked into his black boots with large white cuffs. He also wore a plain white button down shirt under a dark brown and rather tattered vest.
"N-nice to meet you too," she finally forced herself to stuttered out.
"Well, the pleasure's all mine," she clasped his other hand over her much smaller one and leaned down so that their foreheads almost touched.
Maddie could feel her face turning red from the closeness of his pale pink lips to her own.
"Mr. Jones!" Mr. Williams suddenly appeared beside all three of them on Abelle. He hopped down from the tan horse and Alfred let go of Madison's hand.
"Mr. Williams," the young man said as he shook Maddie's father's hand "nice to meet you sir. And thank you for hiring me."
"Well, we needed an extra hand and you seemed like the best for the job."
"I didn't know you had a daughter, sir."
"Oh yeah," Mr. Williams grinned as he wrapped his arm around Maddie's shoulders "This is Madison."
"But, you can call me Maddie," she interjected.
Mr. Williams chuckled quietly and lead the whole group into the house. Maddie lagged behind the rest, trying her best to hide her shocked expression as to just how cute papa's new help was.