Chapter 1
Bozeman, Paradise Valley, Montana
January 2018
Happy Fucking Birthday to us. AJ Baxter thought grimly to himself. He and Annie had spent their whole life in foster care and an orphanage. They'd been luckier than some; they found a good family when they were five.
An old couple, Bill and Esme Matthews. They grew up on Bill and Esme's small ranch on the outskirts of Lima, Montana. Bill and Esme were the closest thing to the family AJ and Annie had.
They'd been given up to the state. The day they were born. Bill and Esme allowed them to stay even after they'd graduated high school.
They'd had a home till two days ago. Bill suffered a stroke and died a few weeks later. Esme wasn't well. She had the early onset of dementia. Bill was her primary caregiver. With Bill gone, there were only Annie and AJ to care for her.
Annie and AJ already had their hands full keeping the ranch going. The ranch was now for sale. Their home had been ripped out from under them by Bill and Esme's asshole son, Michael. He had no interest in ranching or carrying on his family's legacy.
So AJ and Annie were out on their ear. Bill had made sure they were looked after in his will. They got the horses, his truck, and a trailer. Along with 5,000 dollars each. The five thousand would get them by for a while.
But they'd need a job to keep their heads above water. So they headed North; there surely would be work for Wranglers or Day Workers up around Bozeman. AJ pulled the beat-up old F350 up near a diner on the main street of Bozeman.
"I'll check the horses if you want to go find a table and order, Annie." AJ grabbed his battered old cowboy hat from the dashboard as he got out.
Annie Baxter made her way inside the diner named Tammy's. Annie found a free table next to the window. The dinner looked like it hadn't been updated since 1954. It had a homely feel to it.
"What can I get you, honey?" The waitress named Anna-Lee asked.
"Two cups of coffee, please. One straight black with one sugar. The other black as well with two sugars and milk, please, Ma'am." Annie placed their order for coffee.
"Are you new around here or just passing through?" Anna-Lee made conversation.
"We're looking for work; actually, is there any permanent ranch hand or day work going on at any of the local ranches?" Annie asked.
"Try the Dutton spread Yellowstone; they're always looking for hands. So you're traveling with your fella then.
"No, my brother AJ," Annie answered as AJ made his way over to the booth.
"That must be him. He's a handsome son of a gun. You seem familiar. You're sure you aren't from around these parts," Anna-Lee queried when she returned with two hot cups of coffee.
"Nope, we were from Lima, Ma'am," AJ answered, removing his cowboy hat and setting it on the seat beside him.
"What would you recommend? It's been a while since we last ate," Annie asked.
"Can't go wrong with the Cattlemen's breakfast. You got biscuits, bacon, beans, sausages, steak, fried bread, and eggs with gravy with that if you want."
"Two Cattlemen's Breakfasts then," Annie ordered.
"Sure, two Cattlemen's breakfasts coming right up."
Anna-Lee returned twenty minutes later with two full plates of what looked to be the Cattlemen's Breakfast.
AJ paid their bill as they left Tammy's. "Anna-Lee gave me a lead on some work. A place called the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. They're always looking for wranglers and day workers all the time."
The old Ford rumbled to life as Willie Nelson started singing Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain as AJ put the truck into drive and drove off.
Annie gave her brother directions to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. AJ pulled off the highway; a large Y hung above the gate with Yellowstone Dutton Ranch written underneath the Y.
It was snowing lightly as they drove up the impressive driveway. Cowboys and horses were everywhere, even in winter. Work on a ranch never stopped, no matter what month or season it was.
The Ranchhouse looked more like a castle than a ranch house. There were two other houses close by. The Foremen's house and another sat close together.
Two late-model Ram trucks were parked near the big house along with a dark-colored Dodge SUV.
"Guess this is it, Annie." AJ put the truck in park, cutting the engine.
"Guess so, big brother."
January 10th was a day that both haunted Rip and Beth. 18 years since they had not, by choice, given up Alexander and Annie for adoption.
Beth took it particularly hard. After graduating High School, she went to College out of state. Getting as far away from the Ranch as possible. Getting work first in California.
Through a contact she'd made in college and during her internship. Beth paid to get his identity back. Shortly before Beth moved to Salt Lake City to start her new job with Schwartz & Meyer.
They married in a simple ceremony with Lee present.
John liked to pretend the day was a normal day. But to Rip and Beth, it was anything but normal.
Alexander and Annie would be 18 today. Rip hoped they were happy wherever they were. Last they heard. Alexander and Annie had been adopted by a family with a ranch near Lima, Montana.
Rip had their names tattooed on his right arm. His mama's and brother's names were tattooed beside them.
A beat-up old black F350 caught Rip's attention. The old Ford had seen better days. The paint was faded in some places, there was a little rust, and there were many dents and scratches in the paintwork.
"Can I help you?" Rip asked the two people standing near the truck.
"Yes sir, would you be the ranch foreman? We're looking for work. I'm Alexander Baxter; everyone calls me AJ. That's my twin sister, Annie. The young man AJ introduced himself.
"Rip. I'm the foreman, Rip Wheeler." Rip finally found his voice; it wasn't possible that these two were Rip's son and daughter. The very same Beth and he had given up for adoption 18 years ago today.
"Mr. Wheeler. Have you got any day work going or anything permanent? We're at a loose end. We'll do whatever work needs doing. If that's mending fences or shoveling shit, we'll do it." AJ shook the ranch foreman's hand.
"You worked on a ranch before."
"Yes, sir. We grew up on a ranch with our foster parents. Just out of Lima. About two, two and a half hours south from here." Annie answered the foreman. By God, did the girl look a lot like Beth?
". We put some calves in the chute and see what you got," Rip answered, chewing on his toothpick.
"Thank you, Sir."
"Go pull your truck down near the barn there. I'll organize the calves." AJ and Annie hopped into their truck and drove down towards the main barn and arena.
"Who was that Rip?" Rip's brother-in-law Lee, suddenly appeared out of thin air. John was in Helena on business for the next few days. So the running of the Ranch fell to Lee and Rip. Jaime was who knows where. Kayce hadn't set foot on the place in almost a decade and Beth was in Salt Lake City.
"A couple of kids from Lima looking for work," Rip answered.
"They worked a ranch before"
"Grew up on a ranch just out of Lima, so they say. The boy looks like he can handle himself; his sister too." Rip glanced at Lee briefly.
"Well, let's see what they got then." Lee and Rip made their way down the arena.
"Colby, Ryan, load up some claves in the chute. I got a couple of hands trying out," Lee called to Colby Richards and Ryan Montgomery.
Xander saddled up his horse, Cash; Annie was tightening the girth on her horse, Remi's, saddle.
"Huh, you reckon that guy's her boyfriend?": Ryan whispered to Colby as they checked out Annie.
"Don't know, man. But I don't want to find out. Have you seen the size of him?" AJ was not a small man; standing 6'4, he looked to be 210 or 220 pounds.
AJ and Annie strapped their chaps on before mounting up and riding into the arena.
"I'll head, you'er heeling," AJ spoke. Nash snorted and bobbed his head. A brief nod of the head. The calf was released from the chute.
Xander threw his loop, belling up on his saddle horn, and Annie roped the calf around the heels, bellying as well.
"Ride the hair of a horse, that's for damn sure. Both of them," Lloyd observed as he joined Rip and Lee by the arena fence.
"That they can. Hire 'em, Rip."
"Where do you want to bunk them down, Lee? They can't exactly bunk down in the bunkhouse with those bunch of yahoos. Especially the girl," Rip glanced over his shoulder to Ryan, whose eyes were drawn to Annie.
"I think she can handle it just fine, Rip. Just lay down the rules of the ranch," Lee slapped his brother-in-law on the shoulder.
"She'll be fine, Rip. She got some fire in her."
"Little girl, that's cute, you ginger-haired cunt bag. The only way you get a woman is by paying her." Annie started down the ugly, red-haired, bald fucker they called Fred.
"You need a lesson in manners, little girl."
"Word advice, friend. I wouldn't mess with my sister. Nor me. You want trouble, you'll get it." AJ was protective of his baby sister, though Annie could look after herself not just with her razor-sharp tongue but she could also throw a mean left hook. Aaron Young worked that out the hard way after he groped her ass when they were waiting in the Lunch Line one day. Annie warned the fucker to lay off and leave her alone. But Aaron didn't heed her warning. Till she kneed him in the balls and broke his nose with a nasty left hook.
"Fred, what's the first rule of the Ranch: no fighting? Xander and Annie, you better learn this rule real quick. There is no fighting on this ranch. If you want to fight someone? You come fight me. Go put your shit in the bunkhouse. Fred, you and Jake go fix that fence in Pasture Seven. Get going," Rip intervened before fists started flying.
"She's a little spitfire, that one. Reminds me of someone. Him too. Do you reckon those two are the twins you gave up for adoption?" Lloyd made conversation.
The girl Annie reminded him so much of Beth. If AJ and Annie Baxter were his and Beth's twins they gave up for adoption, and the only way to truly prove that they were his and Beth's kids was a DNA test.
Rip didn't want to get Beth's hopes up that AJ and Annie Baxter were the twins they gave up for adoption all those years ago. But there was still a niggling part of him that felt that they were his and Beth's children they'd given up for adoption eighteen years ago today.
The more he thought about it, Annie looked a lot like his mama to some degree, but there was still some Dutton in her; it was her attitude that reminded him so much of Beth.
AJ hell had his mama's hair but Rip's build and no-nonsense attitude. How the fuck was he supposed to say? 'Oh hey, I might be your father who gave you away eighteen years ago.'.
Annie and AJ situated themselves in the bunkhouses. Choosing their bunks and unpacking their gear.
"So what do you reckon, little sister?" AJ asked his sister as they settled into the Bunkhouse on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.
"It's a job. I reckon we landed on our feet here, AJ. We better go see what the Foreman wants us to do." Annie strapped her gun belt into place. A lesson their foster dad, Bill Matthews, never go anywhere unarmed, especially in Bear, Wolf, and Cougar country. The Yellowstone Dutton Ranch was in prime Bear, Cougar, and Bear Country.
Annie checked the loadout on her. 44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk. AJ did the same with his. 44 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk.
Rip was still near the arena with Lloyd when Annie and AJ came from the Bunkhouse.
"Any of you fuckers want to make Annie Oakley get it over with? It isn't anything I haven't heard before.
No one said a word.
"Boss, where do you need us?" AJ asked.
"Got a fence in Pasture Ten that needs new fence posts put in. You'll go with Ryan and Colby. Rip relayed his orders.
"Yes, sir." The two new wranglers answered, making their way to one of the Yellowstone Ram Trucks, already loaded for doing fence repairs.
The sun was starting to sink when they made their way back to the bunkhouse. The workday was done for the day. AJ stopped by the barn to check on his horse.
"Hey boy, what do you think of your new home?" Cash stuck his head over the stall door, sniffing at AJ's pockets for mints or sugar cubes.
"Here you go, boy." AJ gave him a Polo Mint.
Remi Annie's gelding nickered softly for a mint of his own. "Here you go, bud. I won't tell Annie if you won't."
AJ was just leaving the barn when a black Mercedes made its way up the long winding driveway.
Rip had barely walked through the door of the Foreman's Cabin when a car pulled up at the Foreman's Cabin. Gravel crunching underneath tires. It was possible Lee who'd come to tell him something that needed to be done for tomorrow.
While he was on his way into town. Lee was seeing a pretty new doctor who'd moved to Bozeman six months ago on the quiet. Rip grabbed a beer from his refrigerator and cracked the top off.
A shower and hot meal along with a few cold beers before bed would do Rip just fine. Rip set a few more logs in the fire, heating the house up. It was mild for early January in Montana.
Winter had been kinder to them than previous years. A door slammed outside. The porch creaked under lighter footsteps than Lee's heavy footfall. Rip didn't get his hopes up; it was Beth.
The screen door creaked loudly as it and the front door were opened. Rip was still tending to the fire in the fireplace when the footsteps stopped somewhere behind him.
"Hey, Cowboy. You got one of those for me."Rip smiled when he heard his wife's voice in person for the first time in months; talking over the phone was not the same as having Beth here in person.
"You do know it's good manners to call someone back when they call you."
"Yeah, well, my mama never taught me any manners, Baby." Beth returned her husband's smirk.
"No, she didn't. But mine would tan my hide. If I don't feed you. Are you hungry?"
"Could eat a horse figuratively. It's been a long drive from Salt Lake. Thought it would be better to be with you here, baby, rather than drowning my sorrows in Salt Lake. Hard to believe it's been eighteen years since we gave them up. Beth buried her face in Rip's chest.
"Each year that passes doesn't make it any easier." Rip wasn't sure about getting Beth's hopes up that the two new wranglers Rip had hired earlier that day were the twins they gave up for adoption eighteen years ago to the day.
"Maybe we can work up an appetite before dinner." Beth's hands were on Rip's belt buckle.
"Thought you were hungry, darling."
"Not for food, Cowboy, but you, I will gladly nibble on." Rip's belt was thrown somewhere behind them.
Rip only chuckled as he picked up his wife and made his way to their bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them. They had a lot of time to make up for.