Montana reunion, p.1
MONTANA REUNION, page 1
Montana Reunion
Also by Caroline Fyffe
McCutcheon Family Series
Montana Dawn
Texas Twilight
Mail-Order Brides of the West: Evie
Mail-Order Brides of the West: Heather
Moon Over Montana
Mail-Order Brides of the West: Kathryn
Montana Snowfall
Texas Lonesome
Montana Courage
Montana Promise
Montana Reunion
~~~*~~~
Prairie Hearts Series
Where The Wind Blows
Before The Larkspur Blooms
West Winds of Wyoming
Under a Falling Star
Whispers on the Wind
Where Wind Meets Wave
Winter Winds of Wyoming
~~~*~~~
Colorado Hearts Series
Heart of Eden
True Heart’s Desire
Heart of Mine
An American Duchess (Spin-off title)
Heart of Dreams
~~~*~~~
Stand Alone Western Historical
Sourdough Creek
~~~*~~~
Stand Alone Contemporary Women’s Fiction
Three And A Half Minutes
Montana Reunion
A McCutcheon Family Novel
Book Eleven
Caroline Fyffe
Montana Reunion
Copyright © 2022 by Caroline Fyffe
All rights reserved by the author.
www.carolinefyffe.com
Montana Promise is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is wholly coincidental.
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recording, by information storage and retrieval or photocopied, without permission in writing from Caroline Fyffe.
Cover design by Kelli Ann Morgan
Interior book design by Bob Houston eBook Formatting
Proudly Published in the United States of America
ISBN# 978-1-944617-15-8
Table of Contents
Also by Caroline Fyffe
List of Characters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Books by Caroline Fyffe
Acknowledgements
About The Author
Excerpt from Heart of Eden
For families and family reunions, and the love
and connection we find there.
List of Characters
Montana McCutcheons
Flood & Claire
Matthew & Rachel
Mark & Amy
Luke (Half Cheyenne) & Faith
John & Lily (Live in Rio Wells, Texas)
Charity (McCutcheon) & Brandon Crawford (Sheriff of Y Knot)
Texas McCutcheons
Winston & Winnie
Dustin & Sidney
Chaim
Madeline
Becky
*Wendy Knutson (Friend from Rio Wells)
Mail Order Brides
Chance & Evie Holcomb
Hayden & Heather Klinkner
Tobit & Kathryn Preece
Chapter One
Arizona, May 1888
Gusts of gritty wind whipped off the Arizona horizon and peppered Chaim McCutcheon in the face as he squinted into the sun. His cheeks, dry and darkened from too many hours in the harsh climate, felt like old boot leather. Any vestiges of humor remaining inside his soul after Emmeline’s betrayal was gone, left behind in Rio Wells the night of Dustin and Sidney’s wedding—when he’d ridden away and hadn’t looked back. Chaim remembered the conversation with clarity, as if it had transpired yesterday, not eighteen long months ago.
“I’m not going for good. Just need to get out of town for a while. Maybe I’ll head up to Montana. See Y Knot for myself.”
“Don’t do this, Chaim!” Dustin begged.
“I lost her, Dustin,” he’d whispered. “Tell me you’d sit around doing business as usual if Sidney went back to Santa Fe. Somehow, I don’t see that happening.”
“What was her reasoning?”
“Does it matter?”
Dustin shook his head. “Guess not. But I’ll go with you. Sidney and I both will.”
Chaim forced a smile for his brother’s sake. “Your destiny is here.” Chaim stared Dustin in the eye. “Making Ma and Pa happy with all the little ones you and Sidney will have. They’ve waited a mighty long time for grandbabies. You can’t follow me over hill and dale.”
“Have you told ’em yet?”
“Nope. Didn’t want to spoil their time.” Without warning, Dustin pulled him into a strong embrace, making Chaim’s throat squeeze closed.
“You be careful,” Dustin choked out. “Don’t get yourself hurt, or worse.”
A dust devil swirled effortlessly along the sunbaked ochre horizon. The small twister tossed small rocks and twigs as it zigzagged this way and that. Emmeline’s duplicity—her departure a month before their wedding all those months ago, never to return, write, or contact him in any way—had left him a man adrift. Chaim had set out immediately to ease his troubled heart. Once he’d found Arizona, the perfect place to scourge his soul, he’d sent Brick Paulson, his traveling companion and ranch hand, back to Rio Wells. With no demons of his own to exorcise, Brick had no reason to remain.
Since then, Chaim had called Arizona home. The magic of the desert challenged him. The hardness, too. He’d needed the pain the harsh climate inflicted. At times, he’d been close to insanity with grief. The scorching heat, giant saguaro, spiky prickly pear, and abundance of rattlesnakes was his medicine. To teach him a lesson he’d never forget. And it had—in spades. “Almost a year and a half since I’ve seen Texas,” he whispered to the landscape. “I wonder what’s changed. Did they build the new barn? Has Rio Wells hired a new sheriff?”
Dustin came to Arizona, intending to bring Chaim home but failed. His brother used every tactic to guilt him back to Texas, the ranch, their parents, and sisters. When nothing worked, Dustin’s patience gave way to anger. Back when they were boys, Dustin could strike the fear of God in Chaim, but not anymore. When a man had nothing to lose, nothing much frightened him.
The dust devil now gone, Chaim raked his arm across his sweaty brow, feeling the ever-present sand that seemed to appear out of nowhere and coat everything. When Dustin’s anger hadn’t worked, his brother had begged. Something Chaim had never seen before. Chaim didn’t want to cause strife to his family. He just wanted to be left alone.
Shaking off his thoughts, he took in the broken-down ranchero he’d purchased for pennies. His small herd grazing the sparse pasture were a far cry from the beefy, well-fed steers produced at the Rim Rock. Tired of his musings, he gathered his hammer and shovel and started for the barn.
Scottsdale, or so the area had been recently dubbed, possessed potential. New folks looking for a dry, healthful climate arrived daily. And where people congregated, there were mouths to feed. Where mouths needed feeding, beef was a prime commodity. Chaim’s knowledge of the cattle industry had already been an asset to the growing stockyard in town.
Stripping off his sweaty shirt, Chaim trudged toward the house. The place must have been something special in its time, but now it just looked old and tired. He stopped at the lopsided rain barrel, ladled out a dipper of water, and poured it over his head. As if on cue—lest I forget—grit again peppered his body. The sting felt good. Grounding. Escaping the granite rigidity of this land wasn’t possible.
Emmaline’s face wavered before him. Her silky-soft skin, made even more attractive by her dark, alluring eyes, mesmerized. Her kissable lips were drawn down in a seductive little pout.
Always the same!
Pain gave way to resentment. How long before her ghost left him? He’d vowed months ago he was done. Over her. Her memory would inflict no more pain...
I have a life. The one here and another back in Texas, if I decide to go home.
Angrily, he stomped into the structure he now called home. He went to the dilapidated pie cabinet and withdrew a handful of letters, mostly from Dustin. Taking the top envelope, he extracted the missive he’d already read and looked it over again. His extended family was planning a surprise birthday party for Uncle Flood up in Y Knot.
Last year, on his uncle’s fiftieth birthday, the party was postponed following the hellacious winter which took cattle and people alike, or so the invitation stated. But this year, they were proceeding. Aunt Claire and his cousins planned a historic gathering of the two McCutcheon families and wanted him to come.
Everyone in Texas planned to go. His cousin, John, who moved to Texas after medical school and was now the doctor in Rio Wells, would make his first trip home, bringing his wife, Lily, and their new daughter.
He turned the letter over in his hands. It had arrived last month. He’d telegraphed Dustin he wasn’t going, then stuck the correspondence in the drawer and hadn’t bothered since.
But now…
Am I prolonging my pain by staying here and mooning over Emmeline? Didn’t I swear I was finished with that part of my life? Don’t I need to begin to live again? Put my declarations to work?
Chaim set the letter on the table and paced to the window. Far off, a deep brown line wavered on the horizon. A dust storm headed their way. He needed to get the steers into the shelter of the barn.
Shouldering back into his sticky shirt, he returned his gaze to the invitation, thinking of the young rancher who owned the spread next door. He’d approached Chaim a month ago about buying the place. The fella had a wife and son not yet four years old and couldn’t afford to pay much. And that’s about how much this ranch was worth. The fact cattle could survive on such barren lands still amazed him. Arizona was not Texas.
Was he ready to go home? Or, at least, to Montana? After the reunion, he could make the final decision about Texas. If he departed in a few days, and made good time, he’d arrive in Montana around the same time as Dustin and the rest of the family. Perhaps a change would finally vanquish Emmeline from his heart and soul. For the first time in many long months, the corners of his mouth pulled up. He’d go. The time had come. Yanking open the door, he ran toward the lowing cattle, plans tumbling around in his head.
Chapter Two
Y Knot, Montana Territory
Charity McCutcheon Crawford galloped into the ranch yard of the Heart of the Mountains, where she’d grown up, and slid to a stop, dispersing a plethora of hens amid loud squawks and cackles.
Hickory hurried from the barn.
“Good morning, Hickory.” Charity dismounted and handed the boy the reins of her palomino mare.
A cinnamon hue rose to Hickory’s cheeks. His shaggy, sun-colored hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her brother, Luke, had brought the orphan home from the neighboring town of Waterloo about two and a half years ago. Since then, he’d grown a good five inches on the plentiful food of the bunkhouse. Now nine years old, he was polite and did his best to work as hard as any grown man.
“You want her unsaddled, Miss Charity?”
“No, thanks. Don’t think I’ll be here for long. Just loosen her cinch and give her a handful of oats as a treat for the early morning gallop.” Charity glanced around the yard. The bunkhouse was quiet. “Have you seen my father this morning?”
His face brightened. “Sure have. Was talking with Lucky about an hour ago. I think him and a couple of hands rode over to Luke’s place. I believe they was going to the upper pastures.”
Charity didn’t correct his English. The foundling had taken to reading and numbers since coming to the Heart of the Mountains but was still somewhat behind. On school days, he rode in with the other children and attended school where Ashley Wells, the ranch hand Francis’s wife-to-be, was the new teacher. Charity loved this little fellow and couldn’t imagine the ranch without him. “Why the upper pasture? Do you know?”
Hickory shook his head. “Naw. Sorry.”
Charity debated making a quick stop in the bunkhouse before going inside to speak with her mother but changed her mind. Spring had arrived, and with the season came a sign of normalcy. After the huge snow of eighty-seven, the world seemed a little righter this year, especially with plans for the big surprise for her father. This reunion was just what they all needed—as well as the town. “Thanks for the information, Hickory. I think I’ll run inside and speak with Mother.”
“Miss Sally’s inside with the baby. She and Roady came for a visit last night and decided to stay over.”
“Perfect! I haven’t seen little Gillian for days.” Charity hurried for the door, her mind swirling. Mr. Tracy’s telegram was burning a hole in her pocket.
When the door opened and closed, Claire looked up. The baby sleeping in her arms stirred and made a few mewing noises. Now eleven months old, Gillian had stayed as petite and pretty as the day she was born. “Good morning, Charity,” Claire said softly, as not to wake Gillian.
Charity tiptoed up and kissed the top of her mother’s head.
Claire was so thankful her only daughter finally married and settled down. Charity and Brandon were a perfect match, and most of their back-and-forth sparring before marriage disappeared once they’d said their I do’s. That wasn’t to say they didn’t have their differences, because they did and were only too happy to disagree, sputter, and spark, only to make up within moments and kiss. They did so much kissing and making up, Claire was a little surprised Charity hadn’t conceived. But that blessing was in God’s hands, and she’d not worry one little bit—yet. Everything in its season.
“Good morning, Mother,” Charity whispered, peeking down into Gillian’s sleeping face and then up at the stairway. “Where’s Sally?”
“I sent her back to bed for a few hours of peace and quiet. This little angel has been waking up every night for the past week. And when she’s up and pacing, Roady is, too. He’s not one to allow his wife to do all the work.”
Charity fingered the golden curls atop the infant’s head. “Aww, the poor little thing.”
Gillian’s cheeks were chapped and ruddy from all her crying. As if she could feel she was the topic of conversation, the child breathed out a deep sigh and snuggled farther into Claire’s lap.
Charity pulled up the ottoman and sat by their side. “Is Roady out with Father? Hickory said he and some men rode out early.”
“No, he was up at one o’clock this morning, walking the halls with Sally, trying to get Gillian to settle down. She’s teething and can’t seem to rest once darkness falls.” She glanced down at the eleven-month-old cuddled on her lap. “Flood told Roady he didn’t want to see him until noon.”
Charity laughed softly, somewhat surprised. “I can’t believe Roady complied. In the old days, nothing kept him from what needed doing. He puts his family first now. As it should be.”
“Flood insisted. And he didn’t even argue. Just took Sally’s hand and disappeared upstairs. I’ve had this little angel ever since.” She motioned toward the empty child’s bowl on the coffee table. “She ate and finally fell asleep.”
Charity’s eyes dimmed just the tiniest bit.
Claire needed to choose her words carefully. Charity never mentioned anything about not conceiving, especially since both her brothers’ wives had relatively new babes under their roofs. The ranch had no lack of toddlers to hold and play with. But Charity might be doing a good job of hiding her feelings. Claire silently admonished her insensitivity. She laid a hand on Charity’s arm. “I’m delighted to see you. What brings you out so early? Let’s have some coffee and pastry. I’m famished. Esperanza is busy in the kitchen now.”
