Aloysius Smith was a cantankerous old Montana cowboy. He once courted a good woman, but she would not leave her life in the big city, and it broke his heart. He vowed never to love again. Years later, fate would change his mind.
It was late fall and time for Aloysius to bring his small herd of Red Angus down out of the high country to winter in the fenced-off field around his hay-filled barn. Al saddled up.
When Al heard a gunshot echo across the valley, he spurred his horse and investigated it. Poachers and ignorant hunters have been known to shoot beef cows. When he found a blood trail, he cursed and followed it. He heard a moan in the tall grass ahead and saw the poacher's target. He gasped. "Oh, my God, the legend is true!"
With her last breath, the mother murmured words in an unfamiliar language and handed Al her baby girl.
Al raised her and came to love this unique child. Life became good again for the old rancher. They lived contently until a nosy social worker got wind of an old man raising a 15-year-old girl with no record of her ever having attended any of the local schools. His situation raised a few red flags and the bureaucracy bull began charging the old cowboy.