An Unexpected Love (Triple Range Ranch Western Romance Book 4)

by Emily Woods

  An Unexpected Love

  A Triple Range Ranch Western Romance

  Emily Woods

  Fairfield Publishing

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Thank You

  Copyright © 2017 Emily Woods

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.

  This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  The sun shone out of a sky so blue, one had to squint to look up. Carl Bowman adjusted his wide brimmed hat and did just that, savoring the warmth on his cheeks. There was a nip in the air, letting him know that summer was pretty nearly over and that autumn was on its way. There was even a chance of a few flakes, despite the fact it was only early September. Montana weather could be like that.

  “Day like this makes you feel good to be alive, doesn't it?” he asked his traveling companion and friend.

  “I'd say,” Thomas Wells replied, a look of contentment on his face. Recently married to a woman who had essentially hunted him down, Thomas had the air of a man who was more than satisfied with life. Despite their initial problems, the two now lived on a corner of the Triple Range Ranch property in a modest, but very pleasant, home.

  “How's Valerie doing?” Carl asked, a grin tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Worried about spending another long winter indoors with you, I'll bet.” He loved to rib his best friend.

  Thomas took no offense and said, “She didn't like being cooped up in that house all winter long last year, that's for sure, even if she did have me for company.”

  “That's why she didn't like it,” Carl joked, pleased at himself for coming up with the retort so quickly. Quick wit was not his strength, and the bark of laughter Thomas issued filled his chest with pleasure. He'd never had such a strong friendship in his whole life, and he was glad to see that marriage hadn't changed anything between them.

  “Surprised they wanted us to go on our own,” Thomas commented after the laughter subsided, referring to the owners of Triple Range and their request to have the two young men pick up the much-needed supplies from town. “Usually, everyone's aching to take a trip before the weather gets too cold.”

  Carl shrugged. “Guess they trust us to get it right. Besides, everything's mucky from the last storm. I suspect the women don't want to walk around in that.”

  They arrived in the growing town of Great Falls shortly after ten in the morning. Some people were milling about on the wooden sidewalks, while others leaned against posts and chatted with friends. The streets were mucky, that was true, but Carl didn’t care. The scene reminded him of his hometown.

  “This is just like Saint Cloud,” he commented, referring to the town he came from in Minnesota. “I like coming here, but it makes me a little homesick.”

  “Still?” Thomas asked in surprise, then shook his head. “I've never once been homesick for New York, but then again, my memories aren't as fond as yours.”

  Carl's eyes stung the tiniest bit as an image of his family rose in his mind. He was close to his mother and had never wanted to leave, but their poverty had made it a necessity. He'd had to find his own way, and after hitching a ride with a man heading west, he'd found himself in Great Falls, penniless, homeless and hopeless.

  Sitting on the steps of a saloon, Carl had wondered what kind of life he would be able to make for himself in this town when an older man had approached him and asked if he wanted a job. He'd been so startled that he'd said yes without even asking what it was. That was how he found himself working at Triple Range.

  Over the past two and a half years, Carl had come to love the open range, riding horses, and even enjoyed the hard work that being a ranch-hand required. Thankfully, the cattle drives weren't too long, so he even looked forward to those. Back home, his shy nature had prevented him from having any real friends, but the close living quarters of the bunkhouse he shared with several other men had made it easier to form strong bonds.

  “I'm not really homesick anymore, not much anyway. I just wish I could see my ma and little brothers.” He had three younger brothers still at home, although one would have to leave home soon as Carl had done. Jacob was turning eighteen in a month and had written that he'd like to come out west. If there was a place for him, maybe he could work at Triple Range. The idea of having a family member close by cheered him up enormously.

  “Maybe there'll be a letter for you at the post office,” Thomas commented as they neared the general store. Once the horses were secured, he nodded across the street. “Why don't you go check?”

  “Are you sure? You don't need my help in there?” He looked into the general store, torn between doing his duty and rushing over to the post office to see if there was any correspondence from his family.

  “I think I can hand over the list all by myself,” Thomas replied with a grin. “Go on. It'll only take you a few minutes and then you can come back and keep me company.”

  He didn't need any further encouragement. After making sure no one was charging down the muddy street, Carl jogged across with hopeful expectation. It’d been more than a month since he’d last heard from his mother, and although he'd come to enjoy the camaraderie of life on the ranch, receiving a letter from home was still a highlight in his life.

  “Morning, Mister Bowman,” the clerk said respectfully, even though he was many years Carl's senior. “Got a real thick one for you today.”

  Curious, Carl received the letter gratefully. “Thank you,” he muttered, turning the envelope over and over, wondering about its contents. Every so often, his ma insisted that each brother write him a note, but he’d never gotten a letter like this. What could she have possibly sent him?

  As much as he wanted to rip it open right there, he worried that the letter contained some kind of bad news, though he couldn't imagine what. Instead, he stuffed it inside the waistband of his pants and buttoned his jacket up tight.

  “Anything?” Thomas asked when he saw him.

  “Yep, but I'll open it later,” he answered, not divulging the strange nature of the missive. “How's the order coming?”

  “It'll be a bit yet. I want to look around for something to give Valerie. Our wedding anniversary is coming up next month.”

  Slightly distracted from the bulging letter pressing against his ribs, Carl tried to focus on what his friend was saying. “Uh, well, what are you thinking about getting her?”

  Thomas shook his head and sighed. “Can't really say. Back home, a man in my circle would buy his wife some nice jewelry or a fur coat, but that wouldn’t be smart here. Better get something practical. I don't know if that's what Valerie wants, but I don't have a lot of choice.” He released a sigh as he looked over the shelves of patterned material, household items, and tools.

  “You could order something, couldn't you? Doesn't Jake have a catalogue of stuff he can get from the bigger cities?”

  Thomas seemed to consider this for a moment, but still hesitated. “Ah, I don’t know. Maybe just a set of towels or something.”

  “I think you should at least look,” he urged him. He was in a hurry to get home and open the
letter, but he wanted to be a good friend to Thomas first, and that meant preventing him from buying towels for his anniversary.

  Together, they looked through the catalogue and finally decided on a brooch that Valerie could wear for special occasions.

  “It'll take a month or so to come in,” Jake, the shopkeeper, warned. “Hope it won't be too late.”

  Thomas shrugged a little. “It'll make it even more of a surprise, I guess.”

  The pair helped load up the supplies onto the back of the wagon, nodding to various acquaintances as they passed. It seemed like an interminable amount of time passed before they were finally on their way back home, the thick envelope sticking against his abdomen like a bur.

  “You made good time,” Kate commented when they arrived. Carl thought she looked a little nervous about something. “Uh, Luke and John will unload if you two will take care of the animals.”

  There was definitely something off about her behavior, but Carl wasn't about to question the wife of his boss, and although Thomas was less of underling that he was, the other man also did as he was instructed without question.

  It was nearly suppertime when they finished up. They were approaching the house and saw Maddie clanging on the dinner bell with all her might. The girl had shot up over the summer months. Now, she was strong and confident in her role as big sister and protector of the younger children in the house. No one would have guessed that just three years before, she had been rendered mute by the terrible fire that had taken her grandparents' lives along with their home. Under the care of Kate's aunt, both mother and daughter had recuperated and Kate had even found love with the foreman at the time, now equal owner of Triple Range, Luke Winston.

  Carl was happy for the couple, just as he was happy for John and Elise, the second ones to marry. Elise had recently given birth to their daughter, Angelina, the darling of the household now for her sweet smile. Most men just called her Angel.

  He glanced at his friend and smiled a little. He was glad for their relationship too. Thomas and Valerie would have never been together if not for Valerie's firm belief that they were meant to be together. She'd traveled across the country to claim him, and although he'd resisted initially, it had taken less than a month for him to relent.

  “Hey there,” John, the current foreman, greeted them. “You guys were pretty quick in town. Didn't stop in at the saloon?”

  “Aw, you know we don't care about that,” Thomas returned with a grin. “Not when we have such good company waiting back here for us.”

  With a slightly mischievous look on his face, John held the door open for them, a rare thing indeed. Carl was just about to ask if he was feeling alright when from inside the front door, a chorus of voices shouted, “Surprise!”

  And surprised he was. In front of him stood all those who lived and worked on the ranch, smiling and clapping for him. He was stunned.

  “How—how? What?” he stammered. “I didn't tell anyone.”

  When he'd woken up this morning, he hadn't felt any different. However, Carl wondered if he was supposed to act different now that he was twenty-one. Over the last two years’ birthdays, no one had celebrated because they didn’t know and he’d never wanted to tell. It had just made him miss home all the more.

  “We have our ways,” Kate said mysteriously. “Come and sit. We made all your favorites.”

  Indeed, the table was teeming with pork ribs smothered in a thick sauce, fried potatoes, green beans and even a side of coleslaw. His eyes watered a little. The last time he'd eaten this particular meal had been years ago around his mother's table. However, a grown man didn't cry about such things, so he forced himself to laugh instead.

  “I can't believe it,” he said over and over again, moving to take his usual spot at the long table. “I just can't believe it.”

  The men took turns slapping him on the back and joking about how he was officially a man now. As the youngest hand on the ranch, he'd take a lot of ribbing from them over the years, but he didn't care. In many ways, he felt like a younger brother to all of them, a feeling he relished since he'd been the oldest at home.

  “And your favorite cake is waiting in the pantry,” Elise added with a soft smile. Her accent had faded over the past two years, but he was glad it hadn't disappeared altogether. It made her unique.

  The thought of chocolate cake after dinner stretched his already wide grin even further. He looked around the room and thanked God for each person. His heart was so full of affection for them that he'd forgotten the letter in his waistband until it crackled when he sat.

  Valerie looked at him curiously. “Got something there, Carl? A love letter that you're hiding perhaps?”

  Red-faced, Carl shook his head vigorously. “Just something from my ma,” he mumbled. “It'll keep.”

  They were all used to his rushing off to the bunkhouse immediately after receiving a letter, presumably to read away from prying eyes, but to their great surprise, he removed the letter and set it on the table.

  “I'm kind of worried it's bad news,” he confessed. “So I think I'll wait 'til later to open it. I don't want anything to ruin this dinner.”

  The others nodded their understanding.

  “Alright then,” Luke said as they all sat. “Let's not spoil this food by waiting too long to eat.” He said a quick grace and then everyone dug in. Carl likewise ate with great relish, not wanting to seem ungrateful for what the women had done for him, but the contents of letter, sitting there beside his plate, wouldn't let him enjoy it to the fullest.

  Chapter 2

  As soon as he could leave without seeming rude, he slid the letter off the table and tucked it into his waistband once more. Back in the bunkhouse, he ripped it open and started to read by candlelight. At first, he couldn't get the gist of what his mother was saying. She was using some big words that he couldn’t make out. Clearly, she’d forgotten about his limited reading ability, but then his eyes focused on a particular line about her uncle.

  “He wasn't in pain when he died,” she wrote. “And he left you everything. I don't know if you want to sell or move to Texas, but the lawyer will wait to hear from you.”

  The letter fell from his hand and his eyes glazed over. His Great Uncle Henry had died? The man was old for sure, but the last time Carl had seen him, he’d had seemed in perfect health. What had killed him?

  Retrieving the letter from the floor, Carl quickly scanned it to find that his great uncle had died of a heart attack. He felt saddened by the news, but astounded that he'd left him his small fortune. With no immediate heirs, his uncle had given everything to him. How could that be? Well, he would make sure that his brothers received an equal share, along with his parents. He refused to be the only one whose life would improve.

  The next line of the letter nearly made his heart stop. His mother was telling him that the money would only be his if he kept it all. Her uncle was a strange man to say the least, but what purpose could he have for making such a condition?

  “Don't worry, dear boy,” she continued. “We can go on as we always have. God will take care of us.”

  As the weight of the news settled on his shoulders, Carl couldn't be happy. The gift seemed more like a burden than anything else. How could he enjoy such wealth when he knew his family was still living in poverty? Despite the pittance he sent home each month, he knew there still wasn't much to go around, as evidenced by Jacob's request to come out.

  The more he thought about, the more determined he was to refuse the fortune. It would sour his stomach to live a life of luxury all the while knowing how his loved ones were barely getting enough to eat.

  “So, what's the news?” Thomas’s question startled him out of his reverie. “Bad, I guess?”

  “What are you doing here?” Carl asked. Thomas didn’t usually come in here now that he and Valerie had their own house.

  “Just wanted to check up on you, my friend. What was in the letter?”

  Carl knew his countenance was som
ber. Wordlessly, he lifted the letter up for his friend's inspection. Quickly, Thomas scanned the missive, frowning all the while.

  “But this is great!” he enthused. “With this money, you can buy any ranch you want, or even move back home. You can buy your parents a nice house and see that your brothers go to school.”

  “Read the last paragraph,” he said quietly. Thomas frowned and turned his eyes back to the paper.

  “Oh,” was all he said. “But maybe there's a way...”

  “No, there won't be. My uncle was rich enough to hire the best lawyers around. I won't be able to break it. If I do, I'll be required to return all the money plus interest.”

  Thomas was concerned for his friend. “So, what are you going to do?” he asked softly, taking a seat beside him on the low bunk and putting a comforting had on his shoulder.

  “Refuse it,” he declared, his voice wavering a little. “I don't want it if I can't share it.”

  With a nod, his friend handed him back the letter. “I understand, but wait a bit. God has a plan for this money. I’m sure of it. Although you can't give it away, you might be able to do something for your parents anyway. Don't reply right away. Let's pray about it.”

  The two bowed their heads and quietly, Thomas prayed, asking for wisdom about the matter. He ended with, “We know everything comes from Your hand, God, and whatever this money is meant for, You mean it for good. Help Carl to know what that is. In the name of Jesus, amen.”

  The corner of Carl's mouth quirked a little as the prayer ended and Thomas caught sight of it.

  “What?” he demanded. “Did I say something funny?”