by Etta Foster
Leaning back, his older brother nodded. “A year, Jacob. You’re looking… tired.”
He started to scoff but forced himself to stop. Then he nodded. “I suppose. Had to run the ranch on my own, after all.”
“I know.” Richard drummed his hands on top of the desk for a minute. “I’m sorry about that. Thank you for taking on that responsibility.”
Jacob jerked his head back up to meet his brother’s gaze. There was an apology and gratitude all at the same time. He hesitated, wondering if this was a trick.
“I mean it.” Richard said it sternly. “I do.”
Swallowing, Jacob slowly nodded. “Right. Yeah, I mean, it’s the least I could do. I just wanted to make sure I really did apologize for all that I said before-”
Richard cut him off. “You did. I just didn’t accept it. So I wanted to let you know I have since accepted it and I’m grateful. There’s been a lot of time on my hands to think about… well, everything.
“Like our parents. They meant well, I think. But everything doesn’t belong to me.” Richard scooted a piece of paper across the desk. “That ranch is as much yours as it is mine. Maybe more so right now, but we can worry about that later.
“For now, I want to sign over half of it to you. Then it would be yours by right.”
Jacob met his brother’s gaze in disbelief, but his older brother wasn’t done talking.
“I forgive you, Jacob. And I’m sorry for everything.”
Slowly stepping forward, Jacob took a glance at the paper on the desk. His eyes skimmed the words as he saw his name, his brother’s name, and details about the ranch.
“You mean this?” he asked.
But already the relief was spreading through his shoulders. It ran down to his fingertips and down his thighs to his toes. Looking up, he noticed the pen that Richard held up.
“I do,” Richard nodded. Then he put his hands on the table and carefully leveraged himself up.
Jacob took a step back. They hadn’t discussed his health and Richard had only written in his letters that things were moving along. Only in that first letter had it been stated that Richard would need a year to heal.
It hadn’t been a full year yet. But that didn’t stop Richard from inhaling sharply as he slowly and purposefully walked around the desk to offer Jacob his hand.
The last time they had seen each other, Richard hadn’t felt anything beyond his hips and couldn’t move a toe. Now he was walking.
Jacob stared in amazement as he slowly managed to put out a hand of his own.
They shook on it.
From the doorframe, there was a squeal and clapping. “It’s a Christmas miracle!” Louise announced. She clasped her hands below her chin and beamed at them
The pretty young lady had a point.
After that, Jacob found himself caught up in a whirlwind of activity.
There were final wedding preparations to finish and a suit to be properly outfitted. The wedding was the next day on Christmas Eve, but Mrs. Moreau assured him that it would be finished by then.
He found himself following Louise or Richard around without knowing what else to do. Louise knew the house inside and out, helping everyone along as they went. Her eyes only grew brighter and her smile grew wider as they went around.
Though Richard was still using his crutches, there were a few occasions where he found the strength to take a few steps unassisted. The support helped, he explained, and he wanted to save his energy to enjoy a first dance with his wife.
Pretty faces flew in and out with laughter and joy. Luanne disappeared on several errands. Jacob was told of another sister, Lorelei, but only caught flashes of a short girl with pretty hair who had plenty to do on her own.
And before he knew it, Jacob was in the courtyard of the Moreau estate wearing a flower pinned to his new brown suit.
His brother stood before him as they watched Louise all dressed up walk down the aisle with her father.
Jacob had never attended a wedding before, he realized, and could tell why. It required a lot of effort for just a couple of minutes. But seeing how happy it made Richard and Louise, he supposed it was worthwhile enough for them.
He smiled as well, relieved with how everything had come together. The resentment that he’d built up towards Richard for so many years had faded away to leave hope for the future. It was a sunny day and there was so much potential before them.
Especially for Louise and Richard. As much as he didn’t want to, he listened to them talk about everything and nothing during the wedding.
The two of them were so in love that it was almost annoying. But he decided to give them a couple of days before telling them to behave themselves.
His eyes roamed the hall where everyone gathered to enjoy the wedding festivities after the ceremony. He didn’t know anyone but a few faces.
After picking up some strange food, Jacob grudgingly went to stand by Luanne.
She glanced up as she clapped to one of the dances. “Oh, you again.”
“Me again,” he agreed before glancing around the room. “I guess this is it, then, isn’t it?”
Luanne flipped her hair over her shoulder and flashed him her charming smile. “It is. I’ll never have to see you again.
“Strange, isn’t it? Louise already talked about us coming out to visit someday. But I might have had my fill of the west. Lorelei, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier.”
“The other sister?” he asked for clarification.
The young woman nodded before gesturing out to the dance floor. “The graceful one. For her size, anyways. Oh dear, Mr. Turner tripped again. Well, I know I won’t be dancing with him tonight.” She paused and glanced at him. “You can’t dance, can you?”
Jacob grinned at her, relieved that not everything would change. “No, and I’m not going to ask you to dance.”
She gave him a smile in return. “Good,” she stuck her nose in the air teasingly. “I wouldn’t accept if you had.
“Don’t forget to try the chocolate while you’re here. Mother had it specially imported. I, on the other hand, have duties to attend to. Farewell, Jacob.”
And then she was gone.
Jacob watched her disappear into the crowd before glancing around the room again. He was a stranger in a strange place. But slowly the apprehension faded as he found himself enjoying the music.
Though he decided against dancing, Jacob cheered on Richard and Louise when they danced once more for the evening, and found himself enjoying his short stay in Gramercy, Louisiana.
As for his return home with his brother, his brother’s bride, and Mrs. Pennyworth, Jacob decided not to worry. They still had a few days.
Something told him that everything would turn out all right no matter what happened.
The Extended Epilogue
I am so happy you finished reading A Christmas Miracle for the Hopeless Rancher, till the end!
Are you aching to know what happens to our lovely couple?
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Book 11- A Preview
Chapter 1
1893
Montana
Slapping his hat on his head, Charles Thomas shut the oaken door of his ranch house. Whistling a low tune, he stood at the porch, garbed in blue dungarees and brown boots as he stared at the stables, which were a few meters away.
The sky rumbled from afar, making the rancher change the direction of his gaze. From the horizon, the clouds formed a dark ball, casting a shadow upon the land as it threatened to release its moisture. A toad strangler was abrewin’.
Charles surmised that he could put in a few hours of work before the sky started weeping. In any case, he could work at the stables, repairing torn harnesses.
Still whistling a low tune, the man picked up his cane by
the side of the door and walked down the porch steps on to the dusty ground that provided a trail to the stables. As his limping gait took him closer to his destination, a forlorn feeling engulfed him.
It was a lost cause wishing he could walk normally again, but he couldn’t help doing so sometimes, mainly when he wanted to climb a horse.
A difficult task it had been at first, but he eventually got the hang of it. His movements were sometimes sluggish and painful. However, he was grateful for life.
A dark scowl spanned his face as he recalled how many times his condition had been made fun of when he was in prison. Henry, his brother, had tried his best to shield him from all the jabs to no avail.
“Half man.”
“Cripple.”
“Wobbler.”
He could still hear the harsh names. Sometimes, he woke up from the nightmares of their poking, sweating profusely with his heart racing as if it would jump out of his chest.
At such times, he would find it difficult to return to sleep. Casting aside the sheets and reaching for his cane, he would limp his way to the living room, where he would partake heartily of some whisky.
Gulping down spirits became his remedy for such nights. So much so that he was almost turning into a drunkard. Most mornings, he was so foxed, it took him a while to get his bearings.
Eventually, he had to stop and look for another solution in dealing with his demons. Not an easy task, but he was able to overcome it. He’d like to think so.
Charles reached the stables and went straight to the stall of his favorite horse, Juniper. The brown horse, with its silky mane, brought out its large head from the stall in acknowledgement of her owner’s arrival.
“Howdy, girl,” Charles fondly said as he stroked the horse’s head. He threw open the door and led her out. The other horses snorted, and Charles laughed.
“Jamie will be here soon to take care of y’all,” he told them, referring to the stable lad he employed to take care of the horses.
Juniper walked majestically behind him as he directed the way out of the stables after he placed his specially-made saddle on her back.
Holding his cane tautly, the rancher placed his good leg on the stirrup and hauled himself on the horse. Ensuring that he was comfortable, he slotted the cane in the saddle and nudged the horse to begin her movement.
Charles directed the horse in the direction of the fields, in the opposite route of the range where his cattle were grazing and his ranch hands tending to them.
First, he would take a look at how his crops were doing, and if his farmhands were taking proper care of them as they ought to. The rains were here, which meant the land had to be weeded intermittently so the crops could grow well.
The farmhands were hard at work when he reached the expanse of land where he produced various vegetables and grains. They were used to feed himself, his workers, and his animals.
Dismounting from his horse as the head of the workers approached him, Charles bestowed him with a warm smile. It had taken time, but with the help of Henry, he had learned to smile again.
“I bid ye good morn, Massa Charles,” the short bearded man who was missing a few teeth hailed him.
“Good morning, Larson,” Charles returned. His gaze went over to the workers. He waved at them as they raised their hands in greeting.
The rancher spoke at length with the farmer concerning the crops, harvesting, and selling them when the time was right. Satisfied that work was going on as it should, Charles mounted his horse and headed for the range.
As Juniper trudged through the plains of her name and pine, Charles couldn’t help thinking how far he had come since he was released from prison two years ago.
With the help of his sister’s husband, Winston—also a rancher—he had set up the ranch with his brother a few months after leaving prison.
It had taken almost a year to complete setting up the ranch and another year before it started yielding proceeds. Winston had connected them to sellers of wild steers after they had bought breeding cattle from him for crossbreeding.
When the ranch started making money, he and Henry had decided to build a fitting abode that could house their sister and her family whenever they came visiting.
Together, they had succeeded in building a large stone house consisting of six rooms, a large living room, and a spacious kitchen as well.
Things were going pretty well for the brothers until Henry had shocked his younger brother one morning by announcing that he was returning to his mining business.
“I thought ranching was what I wanted,” he had told his stunned brother, “but after two years here, my heart yearns for the mines.”
Disappointed though he was that his brother was leaving him to handle the ranch alone, Charles had nodded. He understood that a man needed to do what he was passionate about. And so, a few months ago, Henry had left to go back to his mining business in California.
He missed Henry terribly. All his life, it had always been the two of them. They had even gone to prison together, served the same sentence and spent the same number of years locked up. This was the first time they were parted, and it left a considerable hole in Charles’s life.
It was during the dark and cold nights alone that the idea began to form in his mind. Loneliness had pushed him into taking measures he had otherwise frowned on.
At first, he had been contented with coming back to the lonely house, preparing dinner and eating all by himself. Then the eerie silence had gotten to him, and he had found himself going into town more often and coming back home half drunk.
When he had been attacked by some petty thieves after a few coins, he had concluded that it wasn’t safe for him to be out late in the night. So, he had decided to stay at home and drink himself into a stupor.
That hadn’t helped the lonesomeness either when he woke up in the middle of the night to stare at the ceiling. The sounds of the nocturnal animals always seemed to be mocking his solitude, nearly driving him crazy.
The idea had taken form in his mind one morning by accident. A ranch hand was late resuming his work; something Charles didn’t take lightly. The man had apologized profusely. He claimed he had to go and get his brother’s mail-order bride from town as his brother was bedridden after his horse threw him.
Charles had accepted his explanation and sent him off to join the other ranch hands. From his position where he was branding his cows, he had heard the ranch hand tell the others about his errand. The mail-order bride had come from Philadelphia to marry his brother.
One of the ranch hands mentioned that his brother had tried to get a wife through that means. When his brother sent money to the woman to come over, she suddenly stopped writing to him. Another ranch hand stated that he had heard that one woman came alright, but when the man was hard at work, she stole his money and belongings and ran away. Someone claimed it wasn’t all bad. His former boss was married to such a woman from the East, and they had two lovely children.
Charles had heard all about the mail-order bride business but had never really given it any thought. As he listened to the pros and cons of engaging in such a venture, he became interested.
Maybe it was time to get married and start a family, he had thought. Perhaps a woman would help ease his loneliness. That night, he had pondered the thought, losing precious sleep.
By dawn, he decided he would give it a try. There were very few women in these parts, and most of them had already been taken. The ones who were single were either too young to be married or were ladies of the night.
And so, he had gone into town to make enquiries. There in the Matrimonial Times office, he had placed a simple ad for a wife.
A rancher in Montana needs a wife and a companion.
The man who was to place the ad in the paper had told him to add something more endearing. Charles had thought long and hard but came up with nothing.
“It will do,” he had simply told the man.
And then he had waited and waited
, biting his nails to see if anyone would be interested in his bland post. Shockingly, one of his ranch hands who had gone into town for supplies had come back with letters for him.
Astonishingly, two widows and a spinster had written to him! One of the widows had two little children while the other was pregnant and desperate for a father for her child. Flattered that women had even considered his simple ad enough to write to him, he had replied to their letters.
Apologizing copiously to the widows, he had stated why he wasn’t a perfect match for them. He had issues he was dealing with and bringing children into it wouldn’t be wise.
