Summer and Sagebrush
The devastating loss of her husband and four-month old baby boy in a car accident leaves Kate Webster searching for a way to go on with her life. Her childhood summers, spent with her beloved grandparents on their remote ranch in western Wyoming, had been carefree and happy so the opportunity to visit the ranch, on her way to Jackson to find a job, was a comforting thought.
Kate’s own minor accident on the road to the ranch left her stuck in a ditch filled with snow and she would have frozen to death that night if she hadn’t been rescued by two ranch hands. It was frightening to discover that Jake, the ranch owner, was a man who had humiliated and hurt her badly sixteen years ago but she consoled herself with the thought that she would be away from there the next morning. However, the night’s storm made the road out impassable and Kate was told that they were snowed in and would be for several months.
The final mortification came when Jake set the terms for her living there during the winter; she would cook and clean and she would live in the bunkhouse.