Chapter One
He hadnt worn a cowboy hat since hed left Montana twenty years ago, but this one kept his face from burning. It was so much easier to get sunburned at this high altitude than it was in New York City.
It was hot out and yet he could feel the promise of winter hiding at the edge of the fall day. Only the memory of summer remained in the Gallatin River Canyon. Cold nightly temperatures had turned the aspens to glittering shades of gold and orange against the dark green of the pines.
Below him he could hear the rushing water of the Gallatin as the river cut a deep winding course through the canyon. Across the river, sheer granite cliffs rose up to where the sun hung in a faded blue big Montana sky.
As he walked, the scent of crushed dry leaves beneath his soles sent up the remembered smell of other autumns. He knew this land. As hard as hed tried to escape it, this place was branded on him, this life as familiar as his own heartbeateven after all these years.
He thought of all the winters hed spent in this canyon listening to the ice crack on the river, feeling the bite of snow as it blew off a pine bough to sting his face, breathing in a bone-deep cold that made his head ache.
Hed done his time here, he thought as he turned his face up to the last of the days warmth before the sun disappeared behind the cliffs. Soon the aspens would be bare, the limbs dark against a winter-washed pale frosty sky. The water in the horse troughs would begin to freeze and so would the pooling eddies along the edge of the river. The cold air in the shade of the pines was a warning of what was to come, he thought as he reached the wrought-iron cemetery gate.
The gate groaned as he shoved it open. He hesitated. What was he doing here? Nearby the breeze sighed in the tops of the towering pines, drawing his attention to the dense stand. He didnt remember them being so tall. Or so dark and thick. As he watched the boughs sway, he told himself to make this quick. He didnt want to get caught here.
Even though it was a family cemetery, he didnt feel welcome here anymore. His own fault, but still, it could get messy if anyone from his family caught him on the ranch. He didnt plan to stick around long enough to see any of them. It was best that way, he told himself as he stepped through the gate into
the small cemetery.
Hed never liked graveyards. Nor did it give him any comfort to know that more than a dozen remains of their relatives were interred here. He took no satisfaction in the long lineage of the Justice family, let alone the Cardwell one, in this canyonunlike his sister.
Dana found strength in knowing that their ancestors had been mule-headed ranchers whod weathered everything Montana had thrown at them to stay on this ranch. Theyd settled this land along a stretch of the Gallatin, a crystal clear trout stream that ran over a hundred miles from Yellowstone Park to the Missouri River.
The narrow canyon got little sunlight each day. In the winter it was an icebox of frost and snow. Getting up to feed the animals had been pure hell. Hed never understood why any of them had stayed.
But they had, he thought as he surveyed the tombstones. Theyd fought this land to remain here and now they would spend eternity in soil that had given them little in return for their labors.
A gust of wind rattled through the colorful aspen leaves and moaned in the high branches of the pines. Dead foliage floated like gold coins around him, showering the weather-bleached gravestones. He was reminded why hed never liked coming up to this windblown hill. He found no peace among the dead. Nor had he come here today looking for it.
He moved quickly through the gravestones until he found the one stone that was newer than the others, only six years in the ground. The name on the tombstone read Mary Justice Cardwell.
Hello, Mother, he said removing his hat as he felt all the conflicting emotions hed had when she was alive. All the arguments came rushing back, making him sick at the memory. He hadnt been able to change her mind and now she was gone, leaving them all behind to struggle as a family without her.
He could almost hear their last argument whispered on the wind. There is nothing keeping you here, let alone me, hed argued. Why are you fighting so hard to keep this place going? Cant you see that ranching is going to kill you?
He recalled her smile, that gentle gleam in her eyes that infuriated him. This land is what makes me happy, son. Someday you will realize that ranching is in our blood. You can fight it, but this isnt just your home. A part of your heart is here, as well.
Like hell, hed said. Sell the ranch, Mother, before its too late. If not for yourself and the rest of us, then for Dana. Shes too much like you. She will spend her life fighting to keep this place. Dont do that to her.
Shell keep this ranch for the day when you come back to help her run it.
Thats never going to happen, Mother.
Mary Justice Cardwell had smiled that knowing smile of hers. Only time will tell, wont it?