Renegade Father

Story already covered so these are my comments on -----Joe Redhawk - Native American - seems like a dreamboat but only gets a daughter? And she has problems. Still she is a good girl.Charlie Redhawk - corrupt, abusive - he gets a son! Delightful boy and a credit to his mother.Annie Redhawk -- puts up with a lot -- Don't remember her offering Joe the ranch. Can't have any more children? realistic but not very romantic. Leaves me very dissatisfied for the characters.This is not a put down, just how the story left me feeling! Too much angst! Excellent supporting characters! Still worth reading -- Very, very good --M

Renegade Father is about a girl, Annie, whose father owned and ran the Double C, a farm ranch. She grew up with Colt and Joe who were her best friends even though they were four years older than her. Her father died when she was 18 years old, leaving her alone to run the land herself. On the day of her fathers funeral, Annie and Joe were intimate with each other for the one and only time of their young lives. After that day, Joe left town without so much as a goodbye to Annie. She was left heartbroken and confused. When he finally came back, three months later, Joe was sent to jail for the murder of his father on the day that he was planning on going to see Annie. He later learned that she had married his brother, Charlie, and was pregnant with a daughter, Leah. He refused to let Annie visit him while he was in jail and hated the fact that she had married Charlie. When he got out jail, he went to work on Colt's ranch which was next door to the Double D. He hardly talked to Annie. Charlie abused Annie but she still stayed with him. She had a son by Charlie, C.J. Finally, Annie had decided that enough was enough and left Charlie. Joe couldn’t stand by and watch the woman he loved being abused by his brother. He warned him that if he ever laid another hand on her he would kill him. Joe came to work for Annie and became the best foreman she had ever had and their friendship was re-established although Joe swore to himself that he would never love Annie again. He avoided touching her when it was at all possible. Joe decides to take a job in Wyoming in two months because he wants to start a new life where people don’t look at him like he is a murderer and he thinks that Annie has finally become emotionally strong enough to deal with the ranch without him. The news devastates Annie, Leah, C.J., Colt, and the other ranch hands. Leah’s grades and attitude start to go downhill and C.J. refuse to talk to Joe. Annie accepts that he is leaving even though she loves him and wishes he would stay. Luke, a young worker on the ranch, who has a crush on Annie, applies for the foreman opening but Annie turns him down. Things start going wrong on the ranch after that. First, Annie finds a picture of herself taken while she was doing paperwork in her house. Later, Dolly, her favorite dog, is poisoned. Fences are falling down allowing cows to wander off of her property. A calf falls through the ice of a pond and Annie, trying to convince herself that she can do things without Joe, almost drowns to death trying to save it while Luke stands by not knowing what to do. Joe comes to her rescue and falls in with them. Luke saved them. They go to a shack close by to warm up until help can get there. They end up getting intimate together, much to Joe's dismay. He regrets it immediately. Charlie, who Annie had thought she was free of, appeared at her house, demanding more money from her than he had received in the divorce. She was terrified of h