Married To Claim The Rancher's Heir

He had no reason to lie but did give a quick nod. “We were all saddened by the news of his death, especially my father. They’d been good friends.”

With a shake of her head, she asked, “Anna never mentioned him to you?”

“Not that I recall.”

“Then what did you two talk about?”

He shrugged, not really able to recall that either. “A blizzard hit shortly after Anna arrived at the ranch. I was busy making sure our losses were minimal to do much talking.”

“What losses?”

That winter, that blizzard had changed many things. Not only in his life. Ranchers and settlers all around them were devastated. Max’s deserting him during that time had left a burning pile of anger in his stomach, and it flared again. It wasn’t as hot or raw, but it appeared, and made him draw a breath to combat it. “Cattle. Most of our cattle were on open range for the winter, and when the snow finally stopped falling, it was up to our bellies. The men’s and the cattle’s. The wind blew drifts taller than the buildings. We had a he—a heck of a time just getting from the barns to the house, let alone getting hay out to the pastures.”

“What did you do?”

“We shoveled,” he answered. “Shoveled and shoveled. But we still lost a lot of beef.” Carcasses had littered the ground, and in many ways, he was still recouping from that blizzard. That winter. Max’s desertion. Some of the other ranchers who had been in the area hadn’t been as lucky as he. They’d lost everything, called it quits and moved on. Without even bothering to clean up the mess left behind.

The hand she’d pressed to her chest made her appear genuinely concerned. “Do you get a lot of snow here in the winter?”

“Normally, no. I’d never seen anything like it and hope to never see it again. We grow more hay now and other crops for winter feed and have fenced in the winter grazing pastures so the cattle aren’t so widespread.” Recalling all that had happened, he added, “It wasn’t just the snow, it was cold. Way below freezing. Cattle froze to death right where they stood. It wasn’t just here either. That blizzard swept from Canada to Texas.”

“My heavens. I don’t recall hearing about a blizzard like that.”

“It didn’t reach that far east. Didn’t hit Kansas City. I suspect it would have been reported in the newspapers, but maybe not.” Nodding in the direction ahead of them, where the windmill that filled the water tower for trains was becoming visible, he said, “The train froze to the track.”