Secret to life

Turning off the lights to the barn after that evenings chores, Bella was exhausted but satisfied in tonight’s training progress. This new colt had come in 30 days ago with a whole year off of riding and she finally felt like she had consistency with his behavior. He was settling in, making friends and learning to trust her.

Bella headed for the cabin on the property, she could have driven home but it was getting late and she always had her uncles permission to crash in the old bunk house if she ever needed to.

Bella woke with a start in the middle of the night. Without an idea of what woke her she got up to check and make sure everything was alright. As she fumbled toward the light switch on the wall she bumped into an old antique side table and heard something unlatch.

When she found the light she examined the table closer to investigate the sound. She must have knocked lose a compartment drawer on the underside of the table. Inside the drawer she found a very old dust covered black journal.

It was odd to have such a thing hidden away in an old table. But maybe it belonged to her uncle or maybe it was even older then that. Bella pulled a chair up to the light and gently cleaned off the little journal. Their was a name etched in black ink on the first page.

Meredith Wellings.

Forgetting all about sleeping, Bella began to decode the pages of a journal that would change her future.

Meredith Wellings was a young bright woman of the 1920’s with a passion for poetry and animals. Meredith was friends with the Coopers son who later was found to be Bella’s great great great Grandfather.

Meredith would visit young William Coopers family farm when they were younger. She loved to the help with the calves and ponies , and one day she swore she would marry that Cooper boy.

William Cooper a strapping young lad raised in a farming family and bright future also took a shine to young Meredith. He would always find a way to include her even if it was more of a mans chore working the farm.

Merediths family were not farming folk. Her father was a wealthy business man from Chicago and did not agree with all the time Meredith spent over at the Coopers farm. He couldn’t stop her, trust me he tried but it was no useless. That’s where her heart belonged.

Meredith was supposed to go off to school in the fall, a very nice private facility set up by her father. However this meant she would have to leave town and move to the city to attend. She came up with a plan to never have to leave Will or the farm.

Meredith agreed to her father that she would attend the private school. But instead of actually going she took the tuition proceeds and hid out on the Coopers farm. Her father soon learned of her lie and went looking for where she was hiding.

The Coopers declined any knowledge of her being around and played into the lie to keep her from having to return to that awful hoity-toity school. Meredith now living on the farm was given the bunk house as her own space to use end enjoy. Meredith would keep a little black journal that she would note down life’s goings ons and beautiful poetry she had created.

Afraid her father would come looking for the tuition money she hid it away in her journal and stashed it in an old table where it would be kept for 70 years.

Will and Meredith grew into blossoming young adults and decided it was time to come out with it and Merediths father would have to accept that the farm life was truly her way of choice.

Her father was very upset when he found out she had been staying at the Coopers for this time and demanded she give back the money for school tuition that she had stashed away. Of course, she lied and said she had spent it trying to make it while she was out on her own.

Eventually things settled down for Merediths father and they came to terms with her choice of life. William and Meredith eventually got married and took over the running of the family farm. Meredith always knew about the secret money that she had stashed away and one day she planned to use it if the family ever fell on hard times. The family farm operation was a profitable and major success however. They never fell on hard times and only Meredith knew about the money.

Years past as they grew older and had kids of their own. When Meredith fell abruptly ill in her 60s, she never had the chance to tell anyone about the money. Meredith passed away with the secret. William and their children continue to run the farm until William was too old to continue as well.

There was grandkids and generations coming to help continue the family farm tradition.

It had been almost 100 years since Meredith stashed away that money. And now Bella held it in her hands tucked safely away in the folds of the old yellow pages. Her hands were slightly shaking and she counted out the old beautiful bills. She could hardly believe that $20,000 was in her hands, more money than she had ever made or ever had.

She knew it was wrong to try to keep it without bringing this to her uncle. Bella, a bright beautiful child but not financially stable new what this money could do for her and for her family. As she turn to read the final page of Meredith’s journal. “When you my dear child find this, you hold my secret, never give up on your dreams, as I never did on mine”

Bella tucked the money back into the fold of the black journal and decided to keep it hidden with her and one day her secret too would help her live her dreams.