“Montana, Mine”, addresses a young man’s inner struggles with his sexuality and also his denouncement of his family’s empire, as well as his courage to allow himself to love by following his heart.

EXCERPT:
This past year on the ranch and away from the family business was a welcome change from the mundane life of prep school. Brandon had never felt so free. He lived among the ranch hands, many nights sleeping outside under a star studded clear blue sky. Unlike his life back east, he had plenty of free time to experience new adventures and meet new people, people who were happy with their lives on the ranch, the simple way of life, people to whom prestige and money were not required to validate their existence. It was during this year that he had met Dylan.
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To be sure, Brandon’s life lay before him just as the great Ashcot empire lay before him, as he awaited the limousine that would transport him to what had been determined by years of tradition the beginning of his adult life. “Well, here goes,” Brandon said to himself as the driver loaded the last of his bags into the car. As the limo pulled out of the driveway Brandon could hear the sounds of the grand Ashcot estate grounds coming to life, the workers talking and laughing as they began their daily routines. There were too many now to even begin to know their first names as Brandon had so many years ago. Brandon longed to be one of them right now, so unfettered, they, doing as they wished with their lives, no premeditated destiny for them. To Brandon that was freedom. Unlike them, however, Brandon was being driven straight to a life which was destined to be meaningless and lonely if it were to be anything like those who had gone before him, as he knew it would be. Solace would be found in a bottle of Jack Daniels or in the arms of a woman other than his wife. Looking out the window of the limo, Brandon recognized the familiar landmarks which he had seen many times before while visiting his father’s and grandfather’s alma mater.
******
Although Dylan was thirty-four and Brandon only eighteen, the two of them had formed a bond which both knew would not be easily broken. Dylan’s life had not always been an easy one, as his parents had died just a few years earlier in a plane crash while on their way to visit Dylan’s sister and their very first grandchild in California. Dylan’s family was his fellow ranchers as well as the ranch itself. Life here symbolized stability to Dylan, a stability a part of which was lost at the burial of his parents. Brandon listened intently as Dylan recounted the events of his life, feeling a bit intimidated as he was so much younger than Dylan and wasn’t sure he had the resilience Dylan seemingly had. These conversations lasted longer and longer as the summer heat gave way to the crispness of the fall, sometimes lasting long after the sun had disappeared into the horizon.
******
Brandon was still a little intimidated by Dylan’s physical stature. He was so much bigger than Brandon. His hand covered Brandon’s like an umbrella, his chest was much broader than Brandon’s, his legs the size of tree trunks, and everything else was a lot larger too. But he also felt safe and protected when he was with Dylan because of his large size. Brandon leaned against him and Dylan placed his arm around him which was also large, and placed his free hand over Brandon’s.
******
Dylan seemed a million miles away, and Brandon asked again if anything was wrong or if he had done or said something to upset him. Dylan loved how sensitive Brandon was, so was quick to assure him. “Absolutely not, buddy,” he said as reassuringly as he could. He put his arm around Brandon as they walked the rest of the way. Keeping anything from Brandon was not what Dylan wanted to do, and keeping something as important as this from him was going to be extremely difficult. Brandon knew his father had cheated people in the past, but stealing from Dylan’s family the land that he too had come to love would devastate him. Adding to that the fact that his father had forced Dylan’s family to pay rent on what they rightfully owned as well as work as hard as they had to do so, Dylan didn’t know what this would do to Brandon. He could not let him find out about this. He would share this information with his sister as soon as she returned, however, and ask her if she knew anything about this which he was certain she did not as she blamed Preston Ashcot for the death of her parents.