Tilly

Tilly sat buttered up in the shade of the old willow. The switches washed painfully over her sunburned shoulders. Her full red cheeks look like they would burst if she pinched them any harder. Joleen gently reprimanded her daughter and told her not to cry, that there were just two days until her cousin came from Lima. By then she would return to a much lovelier shade of pink.

"You don't want your face to freeze like that do you?"

"That's impossible!" Tilly had made it her business to argue at every possible opportunity.

"You're impossible!" Her mother shot back at her.

When they spotted the cloud of dust growing toward them Joleen informed Tilly she had to get inside to fetch sweet tea for her father. Tilly tore out to the barn as fast as the ill-fitting boots would allow. She was waving to him as if he might forget the long dry road around back. Tilly was desperate to see if she might spot something under the wool blanket in the back of the wagon.

Drake saw her eyeing the haul from town. He jumped down beside her and scooped her up in his arms. She never complained once about the kisses on her crimson lips.

"I know what you're trying to do!" she laced her fingers around his neck.

"And what is that my little princess?"

"You're hiding something in there for my birthday, aren't you?"

"Now what makes you think that?" he said pretending to scold her.

"Well, I know it's not a unicorn, anyway." she said impudently.

"You promised that when I turned ten, I would truly become a princess and I would finally get my unicorn."

"And so you will, my girl."

"But, daddy that's impossible." the corners of her lips turned down, "You're just going to tell me it's invisible or something like that!"

"I'll make you a deal," his tawny skin wrinkled across his forehead, "If you don't get a unicorn, I will disappear and never come back."

Unlike most of the residents there the Johnson's owned their land. It meant the entire profit would be theirs if the cattle hadn't strayed too far out in the long grass. For the next two days Tilly, Joleen and Drake were at the creek before the sun came up driving the steer back toward the ranch. Dillion would be more than welcomed when he showed up to help with the strays. For Tilly, seeing Amelia was all she could think of.

The sun dropped low behind the fading clouds before they finally heard the cattle lowing in the pen. Tilly knew what the ruckus was all about. She nearly jumped through the screen door. Her nightgown tied itself around her knees making it impossible to leap from the steps and into the grass. She managed to scream loudly enough to make the cat run under the porch. Tilly and her cousin talked all night long until their voices were hoarse and their eyelids became iron.

In the morning Tilly could smell her birthday cake cooking downstairs. It was the only thing that could get her to leave the warm quilt.

"Now you be quiet, your father never came to bed last night. He and your uncle have, no doubt, been down in the valley by Loomis. I want you to go quietly to the barn and see if they're out there sleeping in the loft."

Amelia clasped her hand in Tilly's and together they skipped outside letting their bare feet pound the sandy path. They climbed the rope ladder finding nothing when they reached the top. They went to the back porch hoping to see the brothers snoring loudly. They told her mother that the pair were nowhere to be found. By lunch time the hot biscuits were set out and the honey was brought from the hive. Every chore, including shaking out the kitchen rug had been done. Tilly was growing impatient eyeing the two layered frosted marvel on the ice box.

When the sun began to lower Tilly could tell her mother was worried. Aunt Lilah sat stiffly in the cane back chair staring out into the distance.

Tilly suddenly burst into tears, "I promise mother," she said laying her head in her mother's lap, "I don't even want a unicorn!"

Her mother stood up quickly throwing her daughter onto her back. "Do you see that?"

Aunt Lilah groped the scarf around her shoulders, crumpling it to her chest, "I do!" she shouted.

Just then, Tilly saw the silhouette of what looked like a unicorn. Only a singular horn was visible until the giant bull turned his head. In seconds the two riders appeared behind him driving him to the gate. Tilly knew it was her father. All evening it had been on her mind, that he might actually disappear. She would never speak of it again or even wear the wooden amulet he made for her, in spite of it being the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She and Amelia clung to each other that night as they lay in the sticky sheets. Tilly swore her cousin to a pact that they would never speak of the incident again. It was as close to true magic as they would ever dare to come.