“Mom’s Sick, So I Came Instead” Widow’s Daughter Rode to Millionaire Cowboy’s Ranch—What He Did Next

Chapter 2

The wind grew sharper as the morning wore on. It stung Abigail’s eyes and made them water, blurring the trail ahead. She pulled the coat tighter, but the cold found its way in through the frayed cuffs and the gaps at the neck.

Buttercup plodded steadily, her gait even but slow. Abigail didn’t push her. The mare was old, and the journey was long. They passed abandoned homesteads, their roofs caved in and their fences sagging. They passed a dry creek bed where a pair of crows picked at something dead.

Abigail’s stomach cramped with hunger. They’d run out of flour three days ago, and she’d given the last of the dried apples to her mother. She tried not to think about it.

Instead, she thought about the job.

Housekeeper at the Vance Ranch. Twenty dollars a month, plus room and board. It was more money than her mother had seen in a year. Enough to pay the bank. Enough to buy medicine. Enough to keep them alive through the winter.

But only if they got it.