The Lost Rancher’s Native Bride (Preview)

Chapter One

Ironwood Ridge, Montana – Granger Ranch

His mother was dying, and he was helpless to do anything about it.

Levi Granger was more than capable. He was a formidable man, one who’d survived more than a few brushes with death. He was broad-shouldered and sharp-featured and good with his hands. His determination was legendary, having broken more than his fair share of stubborn broncos and having brought the Denby Gang to justice. 

Though most people knew him for killing a mountain lion, which had threatened his livestock, with nothing more than a knife. It had nearly cost him his life, but he had done it. 

And even with all that, he wasn’t ready. But then no one was when their mother was dying. 

Levi had been through a lot in his twenty-eight years. His life hadn’t been easy. He had been shot twice, stabbed, and almost lost his arm in a mining explosion. But this was by far the hardest thing he had ever gone through.

His father’s passing had been difficult, but this saddled him with a weight he hadn’t anticipated. Perhaps it was facing an uncertain future alone against the world that was daunting.

He knew this day had been coming, but he foolishly thought something would change, that Doc Ruffner would come up with something to save her. 

His mind was normally filled with lists of chores to do on the ranch as the predawn light crept across the land. There were always fences to repair, livestock to tend, and stables to muck. 

But none of that was going to happen today. 

Today, everything had stopped. Everything had been paused to mark the passing of someone impossibly dear to him.

Aggie, the housekeeper, had been the first to notice his mom having difficulty. She had been a pillar for the family for his entire life. At first, Levi had dismissed her notion as nonsense. His mom was the strongest person he knew; surely she couldn’t be sick.

But it didn’t take long to realize Aggie had been right. The sickness worked through his mother quickly, so quickly that treatment wasn’t possible. 

His heart ached like it never had before, his head was throbbing, and his body was tense. It felt like he had just come off a three-day ride through mountain country. Levi was usually stoic, keeping his emotions close to the vest, but this was something that had worked its way beneath his arm, touching his soul.

The only mother he had ever known was lying in the bed behind him, dying. He kept tracing the lines of the drops slipping down the rain-streaked window. Levi was trying to avoid the inevitable. He wanted to be anywhere but here, yet he knew this was where he should be.

“Levi?” His mother’s distinctive rasp had grown weaker in recent weeks. 

“Yes?”

“There ain’t no reason to be sad, so you just stop that nonsense,” she said, struggling to sit up.

He went to her, helping to prop her up on her pillows. 

“Thank you, dear.” 

“No need for thanks, Ma.”

She reached out, her hand trembling, caressing his cheek. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she shook her head. “Now, don’t you sass me. I need to thank you for the gift you’ve given me and, God rest his soul, your father.”

“Ma…”

“It’s true. Now, shush so I can say what I got to say. I have something I gotta  tell you.”

“Now, don’t go and strain yourself. Save your energy,” Levi said, taking her hand in his. Her skin felt like tissue paper, delicate and fragile. 

“No need to save anything. I think we both know that’s a silly idea. I ain’t got much time left.”

“That’s not true. Doc Ruffner is—” Levi started to say, swallowing the lump in his throat as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“A very kind man, but he ain’t very realistic.”

Levi opened his mouth again, but his mom held up her hand.

“The time for talking is over, son. Please, I don’t got much energy, and I have to get this off my chest so I can rest easy.”

Levi nodded, handing her the glass of water on the nightstand. She nodded and took a sip, handing it back to him.

“Thank you. Will you do one more thing for me?”

“Of course. Anything.” He shifted his position on the bed.

“Can you open the wardrobe and get the small wooden box in the back?”

The rain picked up, a dreary musical accompaniment, as he opened the wardrobe. It smelled like his mom, which made his lower lip tremble with emotion. The clothes had a slight floral scent, like a hillside covered in wildflowers. He noticed the light blue dress he’d bought her last spring, a fleeting smile dancing across his lips. She had been so happy that day, the sunlight in her hair, a smile on her face as she served pie at the church picnic.

Today was so far from that one, it made his heart ache.

Brushing the clothes aside, he noticed a box wedged against the side of the wardrobe. The surface was scarred, the workmanship crude. This was not a box made by an artisan’s hand. This was a box made of necessity. Somehow that made it all the more powerful.

Taking the box from the wardrobe, he brought it to his mother, her hands shaking as she took it. Her fingers traced the lines of the box, a smile flickering. 

“This here is my memory box.”

“I never knew you had this.”

His mom chuckled and smiled. “There ain’t never been any need. Besides, these here are my memories, not yours.” 

She stayed quiet for a moment, perhaps pondering what she had just said and the gravity the words held. 

“But I reckon it’s time for me to share them with you.”

“Mom, we don’t have to—”

“Please, Levi. You and I both know it’s time. Besides, I need to tell you the truth about your childhood.”

Those words hit him like a cold glass of water to the face. He had no memory of his childhood, nothing before his ninth birthday. His ma and pa had always told him he had had an accident, a head injury, blocking those memories. He had simply accepted what they had told him. 

Why wouldn’t he?

“I know you got questions about when you were younger, about your past.”

A chill danced through his heart.

“It’s all right, Ma.”

“No, it ain’t, but it will be soon.” She opened the box and took out a pendant: a beautiful tribal-styled piece attached to a length of braided rawhide. It was an arrowhead, brown and white, encased in a colorful beaded enclosure. 

She handed it to him. 

“This is beautiful.”

“It’s yours.”

He frowned. Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t think so. I would have remembered something like this.”

“You ain’t got no memory of it because it’s from before.”

“Before?”

“Yes.” She paused again, wiping her eyes. “You know, that day your pa and I found you was just about the luckiest day of our lives.”

“You found me?” Levi frowned. Had he been lost? What was she talking about?

“Ain’t you wondered why you don’t look much like your father or me? The way your skin tans so, while my pale Irish skin burns so bad it peels?”

His frown deepened.

“How you ain’t got the red hair like we did?”

His hair was almost black, and his skin was darker than either of his parents’. He was also much taller than either of them. He had been teased while growing up, kids commenting on his hair or how tall he was. 

His mother had taught him to ignore those comments, but when that didn’t work, his fists did just fine. After a few dust-ups, the kids left him alone, at least most of the time. The parents were another matter, their gossip making the rounds periodically. He knew people liked to talk and just dismissed it as nosy parkers trying to start trouble.

He had never truly questioned where he had come from before today. 

He looked at the pendant.

“We didn’t know your parents.”

“Ma, what are you getting on about?”

“Just listen, please. We come across you injured and knocked out in the woods. We had been checking our traps. You was wearing that pendant and buckskin clothing. You had a deep cut to the back of your head and scrapes and scratches all over. We guessed you’d been running from something, but really had no idea where you came from or where you was going.”

“I-I don’t understand.” Levi’s mind was reeling. His heartbeat danced much too quickly, his eyes moving between the pendant and his mother.

“We thought you was from one of them local tribes, but we was just guessing. Between your clothing, your appearance, and that pendant, it made sense. But we had no idea which one.”

Clearing his throat, Levi looked to the window again, the landscape wavy beyond the drops racing down the pane. It was how he felt. His entire world had just been forever altered by what his mom had just told him. 

“Why now? Why wait all this time?”

His question prompted the tears, his ma bringing her hand to her mouth. “I don’t know. At first, we was sure someone would come looking for you. Surely someone had to be missing you. We kept expecting someone from one of the tribes to come riding through in a hunting party to get you.”

Dabbing at her tears, she said, “But that didn’t happen. Your head injury, though deep, wasn’t as severe as we’d originally thought. We kept it clean, and over the course of a week, it closed up completely. It took you nearly two weeks before you regained consciousness enough to communicate with us.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed again, his posture stiff. 

“What did I say?”

“Well, at first, you didn’t say a single word. We wondered if the head injury kept you from talking. You couldn’t understand English, but we didn’t know that. You were very bright and picked it up quick. Over the weeks and months that followed, you started to speak very well, but you still had no answers for any of our questions. You didn’t even know your name.”

Levi isn’t even my name. 

That thought echoed in his head, seeming to grow louder with each pounding thud of his heartbeat, threatening to swarm over his resolve.

“I’m ashamed of what we done and I hope the dear Lord forgives me when I get to the pearly gates. We shoulda tried harder to find your true home. I know we should have. But we took it as a sign that no one came looking for you.”

Ice pounded through his veins. His entire life had been a lie. He wasn’t the man he thought he was. He was a stranger to himself.

“You got to understand something. We were never able to have children.”

“So you stole one? Why would you keep this from me?” His voice was much too loud for the tiny bedroom, his anger surprising. He immediately regretted reacting that way, his mom recoiling from him.

“It wasn’t like that, sweetheart. If someone had come to look for you, we would’ve given you back. It would’ve broken our hearts, but we would’ve done the right thing. It just never happened.”

He crossed his arms, not sure what to do with his anger. 

“No one came looking. We was nervous someone would, always on high alert for anyone approaching, always careful when going into town.”

She struggled a moment to catch her breath, and a jolt moved through him. “Ma, please, you’re straining yourself.”

“Not for long, I’m afraid.” She offered a teary smile. “I’m telling you this because I think it’s important for you to find your parents, find your tribe. You deserve to know your history. Your real history. I’m hopeful they can answer your questions and make you whole. That’s my one regret, not being able to give you that piece of yourself.”

She drew another shuddering breath, leaning back against the headboard.

“Ma, should I get—”

“Don’t waste time with that nonsense, now. You been the biggest joy of my life, Levi. And I’m sorry I didn’t share this with you sooner.”

Their eyes met, and the anger that filled his heart crumbled. She didn’t deserve his anger, at least not all of it. No, she needed him right now.

She winced, struggling to take another breath. 

“I love you, Levi.” Her voice was filled with emotion.

“I love you, too.”

“Promise me, you’ll look for them, look for your family.”

“You are my family,” Levi said, scooting forward, her hand caressing his cheek once more. Dawn poked amber light into the room, bathing the plank floor.

Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. Sitting back, her head slumped forward, chin on her chest.

Just like that, like someone blowing out a candle, she was gone. 

***

This couldn’t be the end, could it?

Was that really all there was? One second you’re here and the next you’re not?

His thoughts had remained troubled all night. Doc Ruffner had stopped by with Reverend Jeffers to give the last rites. She would be buried on the family plot out back sometime later in the day. 

With his broad shoulders slumped and his hair mussed, he was nothing like the man who had once jumped from his galloping horse to stop the Wells Fargo stagecoach from careening out of control after the driver had had a heart attack. 

He stood by the window, staring out into the unknowing world. Occasionally, he looked toward the bed. The funeral shroud was drawn over her features, and yet he still expected her to speak to him. The thin fabric muted the outline of her face, making it difficult to tell that it was her beneath.

But he knew it was her.

She was gone, her energy, her spirit no longer filling the house the way she had for his entire life.

Levi had talked to her throughout the night and into the morning. It was comforting, though he was certain Aggie thought he was insane for doing so. She had checked on him, ever the watchful housekeeper, ever the good friend.

As the morning light crested the trees, he closed his eyes and let the warmth caress him through the bedroom window. The storms had passed, as if taking his mother had quelled the thunder’s hunger.

He sighed, folding his arms over his chest.

His mother’s words still taunted him. He had never questioned who he was or where he belonged until now. And now he questioned everything. His mother and father were good people and had done what they thought was the right thing at the time, but was it? How different would his life have been had he grown up in his rightful tribe? 

He enjoyed bow hunting and how nature seemed to call to him. Was that because he was part of a tribe? Were his ancestors whispering to him through the ages?

The idea of being an imposter didn’t sit well with him. 

The knock on the door was light, almost nonexistent.

“Yes?” Levi asked.

“Gabe’s come by to see you. You coming down, and should I send him up?” It was Aggie; her kindness knew no bounds. She’d started off working for the family and had turned into a family friend. She had cared for him since he was a young boy.

He walked to the door and opened it. Aggie’s face was lined with sadness and concern, though her hair had been brushed and put into a tight updo. The black dress was more than appropriate. Her thin frame didn’t hold the same energy it usually did. Instead, her movements seemed almost painful. 

“I’ll come down.” He tried a smile, but it felt uncomfortable.

“Very well.” She took his hand and squeezed it, her blue eyes looking into his. “I’m not sure what I should do with myself. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

“Thank you.” 

They turned to head to the stairs when something occurred to him.

“Aggie? Did you know the truth about me?”

She raised her eyebrows, looking at him. “What do you mean?”

“About where I come from? Ma done told me she and Pa found me in the forest. I was injured, and they thought I was from a local tribe.”

“Oh, that. Sure, I knew.” Aggie walked the stairs ahead of him, her voice not at all like her own. It sounded nervous, strained.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Levi, it wasn’t my place. Wouldn’t been proper. I was asked to keep their secret, and keep it I did. I had my reservations, but I knew they loved you very much. They tried for years to conceive, but the good Lord didn’t see fit to give them a child. There were many tear-filled nights until the day you arrived. And while I know it was unconventional, how the Lord saw fit to deliver you to us, he did send you. I’m sure of it in my bones.”

A smile flickered at the edge of his mouth, emotions tumbling inside his heart.

“They done raised you as their own, loved you, and provided for you. They knew how special you were and what a precious gift you were. They did their best to protect you from the hatred so many have toward the surrounding tribes. Your parents knew who they had to be wary of while you were growing up. They were no fools. Do you remember hiding in the root cellar a few times?”

A fleeting memory of a cramped space wedged beneath the floorboards of the house came to mind. It had been rich with the scent of moist soil and preserves, keeping him company.

“I do. I had forgotten that until just now.”

“That was your parents protecting you when certain people came around.”

He took a deep breath to steady his emotions as they reached the foot of the stairs, Gabe waiting by the door, nervously kneading his hat. He looked less like the town sheriff in that moment than he did the little boy Levi had met on the steps of the schoolhouse so many years before. Their mothers had been friends and thought they would make out as friends as well. They had been thick as thieves in their younger days. 

“Gabe. Good of you to come,” Levi said and walked toward his friend, greeting him with a fierce hug.

“I’ll leave you to it and head to the kitchen.” Aggie didn’t wait for a response and headed inside.

“I’m so sorry, Levi.”

He could only nod at Gabe as they stepped back from one another, his eyes looking to the floor rather than his friend.

“The service will be later today,” Levi said, trying to stave off his sadness with words.

“I’ll be there. Count on it.”

“Thank you.” Levi shook his head. “I knew she was sick. And even though I hoped it wasn’t true, I knew, on some level, she was dying. But it still caught me by surprise. I still expect to hear her calling my name from the porch.”

“I know how hard it can be. When Joanne and Carter passed, I could barely function. You were there for me and I’ve never forgotten that. Now, it’s my turn.  I’m here for you. Whatever you need. I can handle things on the ranch if you need it. Just say the word.”

Levi nodded. Gabe had lost his wife, Joanne, while giving birth to their son, Carter. It wasn’t but five short years later that Carter passed with scarlet fever. He was near inconsolable. 

“I might at that, but I know you have your hands full with taking care of the town,” Levi said, hearing an approaching horse from beyond the door. “I wonder who that might be?”

Opening the door, he and Gabe walked out onto the porch. His chest tightened at the sight of Mayor Thomas Walker approaching, his dark suit always spotless. Levi had no idea how he managed to do that unless he was in league with the devil. 

Levi didn’t care for the man. He was one of those people who smiled and nodded all the while trying to figure out how to drive the knife into your back. He was all about his own interests, not the town’s. 

Rumors were swirling that he was in bed with the railroads that were looking to connect Ironwood Ridge to the outside world. It was also not a well-kept secret that his influence could be for sale as long as it lined his pockets. 

“Levi, Gabe,” the portly man said, struggling a bit to dismount. He was red-faced when he walked up the steps.

“Mayor,” Gabe said, as Levi nodded to the man. 

“I came to offer my condolences. Mrs. Granger was a heck of a woman. You should be proud of her,” Mayor Walker said, taking off his derby. 

“Thank you.” Levi’s response was curt, but he was in no mood for Walker’s nonsense.

“I realize this is a difficult time, and I don’t want to bring up touchy subjects, but I wanted you to be aware of some developments.”

Levi frowned, Gabe, turning and glancing his way.

“Mr. Mayor, I got a funeral to arrange and ain’t really got time to talk to you. Perhaps I could come by your office later this week.”

Walker chuckled, his hand on his belly. “Oh, I appreciate that, I really do, but this simply can’t wait.”

“Then get on with it,” Levi said, his manners lost, running his hand over his face a few times.

“Certainly. Well, with your mother’s passing—God rest her soul—there is the little matter of the ranch.”

It took Levi a few seconds to register what Walker was implying. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you have no other family in the area. I would be more than willing to take the property off your hands. I would offer a fair price.” He cleared his throat, eyeing Gabe and Levi before continuing. “I rather assumed you would be moving on, perhaps settling somewhere where the memories wouldn’t be so painful.”

Levi scoffed, snorting loudly. “You really got some nerve, Walker. You come here the morning after my ma passes…” He paused a moment. “You come here with your dog-and-pony show to make me an offer? Are you insane?”

“I hardly think this—” Mayor Walker started to say.

“Get off my property.”

“You really should consider—” Walker stumbled moving back down the porch steps, a bit of mud spraying up on his trousers.” 

Levi smirked. He couldn’t help it. His mother would’ve smirked too. 

“I’m considering kicking your behind off my property right now, Walker. That’s the only consideration I have.”

“Sheriff, are you just going to stand there?”

Gabe chuckled. “Well, so far, there’s been no crime committed.”

“But… but…” Walker continued to back up to his horse, his eyes wary, his movements cautious. He mounted his horse, pointing to them both. “I won’t forget this. Either of you. I won’t forget.”

As he headed off, Levi had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Even though he tried to wave it off, he couldn’t. Walker was a powerful man, and he had his sights on the ranch. This wasn’t over by a long shot.