The Cowboy Who Lost His Ranch to a Size 20 City Girl novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Shoebox

I sat on the floor of the little office and read every paper in the shoebox.

There were forty-one of them.

Every one was a loan, a lien or a late notice with Dale Ransom's name on it.

Every one was stamped PAID IN FULL, with the same date in the same month nine years ago.

A cashier's check receipt was stapled to the top.

The amount was just over six hundred thousand dollars.

The name on the check was Charlotte Haddad.

Under the receipt was a deed.

It was a short deed, one page, signed by Lottie and a banker, and it gave her half of Ransom Fork Ranch in exchange for the debts.

On the lid of the shoebox she had written in black marker, in square capital letters, DON'T TELL THE BOY UNTIL HE'S DONE BEING PROUD.

I laughed out loud and then I started to cry.

He had told me about the pony, and he had left out this part, because he never knew it.

He thought the bank took his half.

He thought Lottie bought a half from strangers for the cheap price of a dead man's mistakes.

She'd paid for his whole childhood and said nothing.

I wiped my face.

I put the papers back in order, carried the box out to the porch, and called him on the radio.

"Jace," I said. "Come to the house. Please."

He was there in ten minutes.

He came up the steps two at a time with his hat in his hand, a question already in his face.

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