saddlebag dispatches 69 She sighed. “Fine, those durn boys are going to learn how to run that ranch. When do we get married?” “When do you want to?” he asked. “You tell me.” “No, getting married a woman has to set that date. My mother taught me that.” “Two weeks. But I want to have you between now and then. You won’t be baggage to go around with me and I won’t be in your way.” “I can do that. McCall and his cook are fixing breakfast for us tomorrow morning.” “Why is that?” “Six months ago, I told him I wanted to get involved with you. He bet me ten to a hundred I couldn’t ever get to you. He’ll buy your wedding dress.” “How much time did you get?” “A year. And six months comes soon.” “Oh, Drew... I’m the happiest woman in the world right now. It feels so—so unreal.” He smiled in the darkness. “I know how you feel. I can’t tell you how happy I am, too.” They fell back in each other’s arms, gazing up at the vast night sky and the carpet of twinkling stars above. Why had it taken so long for him to find someone? In the end he decided that the old adage must be true—the best things happen when you’re not looking for them. It was a lesson he was happy to learn now.
a
dusty richards
D
usty Richards grew up riding horses and watching his western heroes on the big screen. He even wrote book reports for his classmates, making up westerns since English teachers didn’t read that kind of book. But his mother didn’t want him to be a cowboy, so he went to college, then worked for Tyson Foods, announced rodeos, and auctioned cattle across the country when he wasn’t working as a radio announcer or television morning news anchor. But his lifelong dream was to write the novels he loved. He sat on the stoop of Zane Grey’s cabin and promised that he’d get published. In 1992, his first book, Noble’s Way, hit the shelves. He’s published 153 since, including the nine books of his bestselling Byrnes Family Ranch Series from Kensington Publishing, and The Mustanger and the Lady, the first of his novels to be optioned for adaptation to the silver screen. Dusty had another long-held dream, however— creating a publication dedicated to returning the West in all its glory (good and bad) back to the forefront of the modern American mindset. In 2014, he co-founded Saddlebag Dispatches, a magazine committed to doing just what he’d hoped. The proof of that dream you now hold in your hands. If he can steal some time, he also likes to fish for trout on the White River.