Page 17 of Raelynn's Little Repeat Day
Raelynn found herself listening intently, as if it were a bedtime story.
“In eighteen-ninety-two, two boys were brought down in an orphan train and offered jobs working at, what was at the time, a horse ranch owned by two twin brothers. Those brothers were Master Derek’s ancestors. It was later discovered the boys brought down to work were, in fact, women, disguised as boys.”
Raelynn gasped in shock, and asked, “What happened to them?”
“The two women explained to the twins what happened, and why they did what they did. You see, back then, there were only two options for women who were displaced or had no family.”
Daddy’s face became sad, and Raelynn wasn’t sure she wanted to know if it made Daddy sad, but before she could stop the question, she’d asked, “What options?”
“They could work in the factories, which at the time were brutal on their workers, or they could be sent to a brothel.”
“Oh, that’s not good at all.”
“The twins didn’t think so either. They let the women stay and made it their mission to offer shelter and education to as many displaced women as they could.”
By the time he said that, they’d come to a building with a sign that saidGift Shop and Exploration Zone. Daddy stopped and gestured up. When she lifted her head, she saw they were at the base of a mountain.
“This isGem Mountain.”
“Wow, it’s so big!”
Raelynn felt so tiny standing next to the mountain. Looking up, all she could see was a wall of rock. There was no end to it from where she stood. She couldn’t see the top or anything beyond it.
“That it is, little one,” Daddy said, a hint of wistfulness in his voice, “it’s also what made the Ranch what it is today. The discovery of the sapphires in this mountain allowed the twins to build a large state-of-the-art building. It made it possible for them to house and educate more girls. They taught them etiquette, provided schooling, everything a young lady of the time should know. Before long, men discovered the mission of Rawhide Ranch, and they began to come to the Ranch in search of suitable women for brides. Ones that hadn’t been corrupted by the harsh conditions of the time.” Daddy began walking toward the doors of the gift shop but didn’t stop telling his story, “As time went on, the women the Ranch housed became different, but the mission remains the same.”
It was an incredible story and Raelynn fell more in love with the Ranch for having heard it. It was her mission to help women too and she couldn’t help but admire what Master Derek had done here.
When they were inside the shop, Raelynn looked around to see souvenirs of all sorts, toy pickaxes, rough sapphires, andcandy with rock and gem themes like rock candy on sticks and ring pops. She saw shirts with sayings like “I mined sapphires in Gem Mountain” and “Nothing says love like sapphires”. They were cute and she’d love to look around, but she was more interested in actually mining some of the gems themselves.
Daddy led her through a brightly colored entrance that saidExploration Zone. Inside was a large area scattered with pillars and several areas for both kids and adults to try their own hands at mining. There were several buckets of different colors filled with rocks and sand and multiple tables, each with a switch like a light switch next to them.
A display filled one wall with several different sapphires lined up for visitors to see. Raelynn’s love of gems led her directly to that wall to peruse the display. She marveled at the different sizes, the different shades of blue. Some were smooth and some were jagged. Some even still had rocks in and on them from where they were mined. It was beautiful. As if it showed the different stages of a sapphire from its mining until it was ready to go into a ring. She found it gorgeous.
“Ready to find some sapphires of your own?” Daddy asked as he flipped the switch next to one of the tables and it came to life.
CHAPTER 14
Les
Les observedas Raelynn laughed while watching the sand shift out, leaving only rocks. Over and over, he shoveled in a new scoop, but they hadn’t found any sapphires yet. It didn’t seem to bother the Little girl in front of him, though, she seemed more than happy just trying. The process fascinated her, how the table worked sifting away the sand and seeing what might be hiding inside.
Les was bending for a new scoop of sand and rocks when he saw Raelynn’s feet leave the ground. At the same time, she yelled, “look!”
As Rae-Rae continued to bounce and point, Les looked where she was pointing and saw a glimmer of blue shining as it shifted on the table, catching light at new angles with each pass. Les had seen multiple shards of sapphires be found; he’d even come and done this from time to time when he wanted to feel close to Raelynn. He must have become used to it because watching her excitement was contagious.
“You found one, baby! Look at you go!” Les lifted Rae-Rae and swung her around in a triumphant hug as she laughed and kissed his cheek. When he set her on her feet again, Les couldn’t help just staring as excitement lit up her eyes. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
It wasn’t until Rae-Rae asked, “How do we get it out,” that Les shook himself from his reverie and flipped the switch to turn the table off. He then grabbed one of the containers meant to transport shards and a pair of tweezers to extract it from the rocks surrounding it. He hadn’t even finished his task when Rae-Rae was ready to find another.
They ended up spending three hours sifting. They found eight shards in that time. As they walked back to the main building, Rae-Rae held her shards like they were a pirate’s treasure anyone would be likely to steal. He smiled fondly at the thought.
“Arrrg, what have ye there, missy?” he asked in his best pirate imitation.
“None of your business, you treasure-stealing fiend!”
Rae-Rae took off running, Les hot on her heels as he pretended to steal her treasure. She was giggling and laughing outright as she dodged and weaved to avoid him. Les saw it coming before she did, and sped up even as his bum leg protested, so when Rae-Rae tripped over a tree-root, he was right there to catch her.
She was breathing heavily from the chase and when she looked up at him, there was so much trust and caring in her eyes, he felt like he’d won the lottery, but when desire mixed in with the caring and trust, he knew he’d not only won the lottery, he’d hit the fucking jackpot.
