A Cattle Drive Towards Love

By Doreen Milstead

A Cattle Drive Towards Love -- A solitary man who thinks himself long past marrying age, and who has difficulty in meeting and interacting with people, joins a cattle drive, learns a lot more about life and people and maybe, just maybe, starts to fall in love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Feb 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463445242

Book preview

A Cattle Drive Towards Love

By

Doreen Milstead

Copyright 2020 Susan Hart

Synopsis: A Cattle Drive Towards Love -- A solitary man who thinks himself long past marrying age, and who has difficulty in meeting and interacting with people, joins a cattle drive, learns a lot more about life and people and maybe, just maybe, starts to fall in love.

Steam billowed from a thick-rimmed coffee mug made from old metal; he leaned down and breathed it in slowly. He kicked one leg over the other and pushed off the ground. He loved that old rocking chair, passed down from his pop when he passed three years prior.

Self admittedly, he’d felt a little lost since that time. His mother had gotten sick with consumption when he was only a boy. He barely remembered her, but his father was very different than that. William Thomas Horner, Josiah’s father, had worked the land for all of his life. Some years were good and others were lacking. But he never regretted the choices he made. He owned them with conviction.

They had worked shoulder to shoulder since Josiah was a young man. He was expected to pull his weight and he did for the sake of his family. They needed him and he stepped up in his responsibilities. Unfortunately, the long days of hard work and the short nights didn’t leave him any time to court a lady.

Even though he was well past the marrying age, he still had no prospects to speak of. The soft sunlight warmed his face as he rocked at his leisure; his eyelids had gotten heavy. His morning had an early start and he was nothing short of tuckered out.

As he breathed heavy his head sagged to one side, he drifted off to sleep. There was a memory from he was very young that he was really trying to remember. The deeper he fell into slumber the clearer it was becoming. He remembered being about four years old, dressed in his Sunday best. The family was getting ready for the church service when he couldn’t find his belt.

His momma had told him to go get it, to hold his loose britches up or she’d take him outside and switch him. And by the look in her eye, he knew she was serious. He was convinced that his father was as tough as they came, until he saw his sweet mother get mad about something.

After watching her go, he was clear on two things in life. The first was that his father was no match, in anger, to his mother when she was upset. And second he realized that more importantly than being the toughest in the household, he was smart enough to know when to back down. So, that was it. His mom was tough and his father had become much smarter and for whatever reason it worked for them.

He had looked everywhere for his dark leather belt, but to no avail. It was nowhere to be found, with the increasing intensity reaching its peak, he knew that he had to. Before he knew it, he stood behind her as she wiped the counter. He put his hands on his hips with his feet spread apart saying,

Momma!

Her eyes cut upward quickly, recognizing the contempt in his little weak voice. She tapped her forefinger on her bottom lip waiting for what