Chapter 88

The next two days passed quickly. The first morning, Mari rose with the sun, labored in the stifling, hot outdoor kitchen to make breakfast for the ranch hands, and then spent what remained of the morning cleaning up after them. When she was done cleaning up their breakfast mess, she was back in the now roasting hot outdoor kitchen preparing lunch. The cycle of cooking and cleaning continued into the evening when she finally threw down her apron, wiped her trembling hand over her weary, sweat dripping brow, and collapsed on the porch bench. She sipped a glass of water and listened to the conversations of the men around her; men who were scared, men who were trying to make a living for their family, and men who were attempting to start a new life in the West. No matter what story she heard, the outcomes would all be the same if La Rosa Negra succeeded in their violent land grab.