Switched Hearts: A Western Historical Romance Novel

by Ava Winters

  Chapter 6

  Luisa gave a small sigh as she leaned her head against the back of the stagecoach. She sat up straighter when one of the wheels rolled over a large bump, jarring her head against hard wood.

  She hated it when Amanda came up with these types of schemes. Even though she always felt like she needed to help Amanda out whenever she could, she didn’t like being put in a position where she would have to lie to other people.

  She understood that Amanda didn’t feel ready to get married. She felt frustration with Mr. Wright for putting his daughter in this position. It was almost as if he was more concerned about joining two Thoroughbred horse ranches together than the happiness of Amanda.

  It was obvious that Ian’s father felt the same way.

  This was one of those times where she was glad that she hadn't been born into money. She didn’t always have the options that Amanda had, but she was content to live her simple life.

  She had all of her needs met, and she cherished her close relationship with her father, something that she knew Amanda did not have with her own father. One thing that she had learned through the years of being best friends with Amanda was that money seemed to change people, and it wasn’t always for the good.

  Although she had to admit that her friend did her best to not let money become more important than people.

  But as the stagecoach moved along, she began to think of what it would be like to pretend that she was Amanda. What would it be like to have access to all the clothing, all the money to buy whatever she needed, and wanted, as Amanda had? The more she thought of Amanda’s plan, the more it intrigued her.

  What would it hurt to agree? She could pretend to be Amanda and find out what it was like to have her every need met, the choice of multiple beautiful dresses to wear every day.

  She would only need to act as Amanda for a few weeks. She was sure that their visit would most likely end early. It would be her chance to see exactly what it was like to live Amanda’s life. It was true that they both looked similar.

  She knew that Amanda was probably right. Once the arrived in Wilbourne, if they introduced themselves as each other, the McAdams wouldn’t know the difference and would be none the wiser.

  She took a deep breath and turned her attention to Amanda. A stir of excitement spread throughout her belly. She was going to be spontaneous, just like Amanda was.

  “Okay, I’ll switch places with you,” Luisa said.

  Amanda’s face lit up and she reached out to give Luisa a tight hug. “Thank you so much. You won’t regret it.”

  Luisa didn’t say anything, suddenly not sure that she really agreed with Amanda that she wouldn’t regret it. She immediately pushed her thoughts deep inside. She was going to see what it was like to live Amanda’s life and she wasn’t going to let herself regret it.

  “We should start calling each other by our new names now,” Luisa suggested. “We need to get used to it, so we don’t accidentally slip and use the wrong names.”

  “I agree,” Amanda replied with great enthusiasm.

  Luisa knew that Amanda was relieved that she had agreed to her plan. She wondered what it would be like to find out that her father was planning to basically marry her off to the highest bidder. She knew that she wouldn’t have taken the news well, either.

  Over the next few minutes, they began to make some plans about how to act like each other. Luisa reminded Amanda that she would need to act quieter.

  She would need to pause before she talked and do her best to think through what she wanted to say before she spoke. She would also need to at least sometimes keep a book with her even though she wouldn’t necessarily read it.

  On the other hand, Luisa needed to act more exuberant and excited about everything around her. She needed to not be afraid to take risks and to speak her mind. She knew that she would need to let Ian know as soon as she could that she, acting as Amanda, had no intention of settling down anytime soon.

  They promised each other that they would try to meet together at least once a day to make sure their plan was working as it should be and talk about anything that needed to be discussed.

  Just then the stagecoach gave a big lurch as it rolled over what seemed to be a very high bump. Luisa flew across her bench and almost ended up on Amanda’s lap. Then the stagecoach suddenly stopped.

  Luisa pushed herself back to her side of the bench and then noticed that one side of the stagecoach floor had fallen a good six inches lower than the other side. She could hear the driver as he jumped down from the top of the stagecoach and rapped his knuckles on the door before opening it up.

  “Are you two ladies all right?” he asked with concern as he poked his head inside and looked them over.

  “Yes, we are. What happened?” Amanda asked as she tried to look beyond the driver to see what had happened. “Why are we stopped?”

  “The stagecoach broke a wheel. I’m going to need to fix it.”

  “How long is that going to take?” Amanda questioned.

  “However long it takes,” the driver said with a shrug. “You may leave the stagecoach and walked around while I fix it. Just don’t walk off too far. The moment I get the wheel fixed, I want to be on our way.”

  Luisa and Amanda exchanged glances. “I guess that will be all right,” Amanda agreed as she held out her hand to the driver.

  Luisa had to chuckle as the driver looked at her hand as if he wasn’t sure what she wanted him to do with it.

  After a few seconds, it must have dawned on him that Amanda wanted help out of the stagecoach, for he took her hand and practically yanked her out. Luisa decided it would be best if she got out herself and shook her head when he also offered his hand to her.

  For a few minutes, the two of them watched as the driver pushed a rock under the stagecoach to steady it.

  “What is your name?” Luisa asked the driver.

  “Jimmy,” he mumbled, his mind obviously on the broken wheel.

  “Well, Jimmy, we are going to walk around for a bit and stretch our legs,” Amanda announced.

  Jimmy only nodded distractedly as he continued to study the wheel.

  Luisa followed her friend as they headed towards a clump of desert- willow trees. Rocks, larger than she was, lay strewn in the dappled shade. A small stream flowed nearby, and she wondered if they had enough time to wade in the water and cool down. It was becoming a typically hot Texas day.

  Amanda ducked behind one of the large rocks, grasping Luisa’s hand and pulling her beside her.

  Let’s change our dresses now,” Amanda suggested, her eyes dancing with delight at the idea.

  “Why now?” Luisa asked as she looked around. From what she could tell, no one would be able to see them if they switched dresses, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

  “I think it would be a good idea if we start acting like we are each other now. We can practice on Jimmy. But our way of dress is obviously different. He’d pick up on it immediately if we began to act like each other, but still wore the same clothing. Even when we arrived in Wilbourne, I’m sure that they will notice if your dress isn’t … appropriate.”

  Luisa understood what Amanda was trying not to say. Even though they were good friends, they were from different social classes, and people would be bound to notice if she presented herself as Amanda Wright but wore her simple cotton dress.

  She wondered what Amanda was going to do when she realized that she was going to have to wear all of her plain dresses while they were at Thunder Valley Ranch. Would she change her mind?

  “You’re right. I think that’s a good idea,” Luisa replied.

  Amanda presented her back to Luisa and she proceeded to unbutton the dress. Luisa’s dress was easier to take off since her buttons were in the front. They quickly switched dresses as well as their petticoats.

  Once all the buttons were done up and she was properly fashioned, they also switched their hats. When Amanda handed her hat to Luisa, Luisa tried not to cringe.
She never liked the style of hats that Amanda wore. They were large and bulky, although very pretty.

  This particular hat was the same color as her blue dress. It had feathers and imitation flowers sewn into the brim.

  Amanda willingly put on the hat Luisa had worn. It was much smaller than Amanda’s hat, but in Luisa’s mind, much more tasteful. Luisa had few hats, so she tended to purchase brown ones that would match most of her dresses. This was no exception. It was light brown had only a few yellow and orange flowers sewn onto it.

  Luisa ran a hand over the soft fine fabric of Amanda’s light-weight blue dress. She loved the feel of the fabric and immediately decided that she was going to let herself enjoy wearing Amanda’s nice dresses.

  When Amanda put on her cotton dress, Luisa watched her face for any disdain, but she didn’t see any. All Luisa saw was excitement and determination that their plan was going to work, no matter what the cost would be. She silently breathed a sigh of relief.

  They couldn’t switch shoes since Luisa’s feet were a bit bigger than Amanda’s, but they agreed that it shouldn’t matter.

  “I can’t imagine anyone looking at our shoes and then determining that they aren’t our own,” Amanda said. Luisa was glad that she didn’t have to wear Amanda’s shoes for they always looked very uncomfortable.

  Once they were dressed in each other’s dresses and hats, they walked back to the stagecoach. Luisa was glad to see that the driver was still trying to fix the wheel and hadn’t been waiting for them.

  And he looked to be only about half done. He was wrapping strong strips of leather around two broken pieces of the wheel. She wasn’t sure if that was going to work and she could only hope that the driver knew what he was doing.

  She wasn’t sure that she wanted to get back in the stagecoach if it was just going to break again. She had heard many stories of stagecoaches with broken wheels and people getting injured or even killed.

  When Jimmy finished wrapping the leather around the wheel, he grabbed a hold of it and gave it a good shake. When it seemed sturdy, he turned and grinned at them.

  “Looks like I got it fixed, at least until we get into Wilbourne,” he said.

  Luisa decided to speak up, her first attempt at being Amanda. “I sure hope that holds. I know that if something happened to us, the McAdams would not be happy.”

  The driver looked at her in surprise when she spoke the well-known name.

  “How do you know the McAdams?”

  “We have been invited to stay at their horse ranch for the next month,” Luisa stated, still trying to act like Amanda.

  She noticed that Amanda was standing behind her, her hands clasped in front of her as Luisa usually did when she didn’t feel comfortable with her surroundings. She had to stifle a laugh and turned her attention back to Jimmy. “Mr. McAdams is good friends with my father. My companion, Luisa, and I will be visiting them for about a month.” She gestured towards Amanda.

  Jimmy nodded his understanding. “Well, I do hope that you have a good visit. Let’s get you to back inside so we can get on our way. Mr. McAdams isn’t going to be happy that we will be arriving almost an hour late.”

  Luisa turned and began to climb in the stagecoach by herself, but suddenly Jimmy grasped her hand. She almost pulled it away before she realized that he was trying to help her inside, like Amanda would have expected.

  She gave him a smile of thanks before allowing him to help her inside. He turned away as Amanda got in on her own. The door shut, the driver climbed on top, and they were soon on their way.

  The two of them looked at each other and collapsed into giggles. They had totally fooled Jimmy. It looked like their plan was working. Luisa could only hope that their ploy would work just as well with the McAdams.

  Chapter 7

  By the time they arrived in Wilbourne, Amanda was ready to jump out of her skin. She was glad that Luisa had agreed to her plan, but the closer they’d traveled to Wilbourne, the more nervous she’d become.

  What if Mr. McAdams figured out immediately that they had switched places? She tried to tell herself that if he did figure it out, it wouldn’t matter. Most likely he would send them straight back to Albertson.

  But Amanda didn’t want that to happen. She had promised her father that she would give this a chance. She knew that her father wouldn’t be happy if she arrived back home the same day she was supposed to arrive at the Thunder Valley Ranch.

  Especially when he found out that the reason was because she’d had switched places with Luisa.

  Jimmy pulled the stagecoach in front of the station and jumped down. He opened the door and held his hand out to Luisa to help her out.

  Amanda followed on her own and proceeded to look around the moment her feet touched the ground. The stagecoach station looked similar to the one in Albertson, although the building seemed older with more wear and water stains on the wood. She watched as Jimmy lifted the three trunks to the ground.

  “There you are,” Amanda heard someone say, and she turned her attention to an older man walking quickly towards them. She knew immediately that it was Mr. McAdams. Ian also followed close behind. “What took you so long to get here? You were supposed to have arrived an hour ago.” He glared at Luisa as if it was her fault that they were late.

  Amanda studied the two men. She recognized Mr. McAdams immediately.. He was a big man with mostly gray hair and sharp brown eyes. He wore a fancy black suit and looked like he was on his way to church or social event instead of the simple task of picking her and Luisa up at the stagecoach station. Amanda watched as he pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of his vest and mopped his brow with it before tucking it back in its spot. He continued to glare at Luisa through the entire process.

  Amanda opened her mouth to speak, not liking how this pompous man was blaming Luisa for them being late, but then her friend began to talk.

  Amanda bit her lip, realizing that she had almost given the plan away, and they hadn’t even been in Wilbourne for five minutes yet. She was actually glad that she didn’t have Mr. McAdams’ attention on her. It was the first time in her life that she was grateful that she could be silent.

  “The stagecoach had a broken wheel when we were about half-way here,” Luisa answered, her voice shaking. She took a deep breath, as if needing some courage, and then gave both the men a friendly smile. Amanda noticed Luisa’s lip quiver, showing her nervousness about the situation. Luisa then threw her shoulders back and held out her hand.

  “Good afternoon. I’m Amanda Wright, and this is my dear friend and companion, Luisa Lopez.”

  “Welcome to Wilbourne,” Ian said as he took Luisa’s hand and kissed it in welcome.

  Amanda saw a flush stain Luisa’s cheeks at Ian’s greeting. “I am sure that you have figured out that I am Ian McAdams and this is my father, Patrick McAdams.”

  “It’s nice to meet you both again,” Luisa answered demurely.

  Mr. McAdams didn’t respond but turned his attention to the driver. “I am not happy that you needed to drive such a long distance with a broken wheel.”

  He scowled at Jimmy who seemed to cringe under his harsh gaze.

  “It wasn’t my fault that it broke, sir. When I realized that the wheel was broken I stopped immediately. I wasn’t able to fix it permanently, but I was able to wrap that piece of leather around the broken rim. It lasted long enough to arrive safely.”