Native American Literature, Family Saga Fiction, Western, Biographical
Fiction, Western
Date Published: 06-01-2025
faint scent of jasmine in the air. This is Indian Territory at the edge of
everything—law and lawlessness, hope and heartbreak, where the lines
between right and wrong blur with every sunset.
Told with vivid detail, this is the story of a man caught between loyalty and
his past, between a brother’s shadow and the light of his own becoming.
A tale of love, betrayal, and the quiet courage it takes to change your fate.
From a stagecoach town in Tennessee to the first railroad towns of the Indian
Territory, we delve into the lives of the charismatic and flawed brothers,
Matt and Robert. Their sibling dynamic shapes the lives of the entire Brown
family, steering them down a road of familial struggles and cultural clashes.
Matt always idolized his oldest brother, Robert – a smooth-talking
charmer who taught him at a young age to live hard and win big. Following
Robert’s footsteps, Matt is drawn into a life of high-stakes games and
deception. Then he meets Milla. Sharp-eyed, brave, and unafraid to speak the
truth, Milla is a woman rooted in her Choctaw heritage, carrying both strength
and sorrow in equal measure. For the first time, Matt imagines a different
future. But the past doesn’t let go easily and buried secrets never stay
buried for long, clawing their way back to the surface when you least expect
it. Now, Matt must choose between what consumes him and the life he wants to
build.
Set against the raw beauty of the Choctaw Nation, this is a powerful story of
blood ties and hard choices, of the people we love and the ones we betray.
Gritty, tender, and unforgettable—this is where redemption begins.
EXCERPT
The girls entered the room, giggling. “Hi there, you handsome young thing,” a tall, yellow-haired lady said to Robert. She ran her long, slim fingers through the hair of his bowed head.
From between the bottles, the boys watched the lady turn her back to Robert and say, “Untie my corset.” She stood with her back straight, holding her hands to her breasts and the corset tight against her chest.
“Okay, breathe out.” Robert untied the bottom laces of the garment. “One more time,” he said, breathing with her. She exhaled as much as she could and held her breath while Robert loosened the top laces.
“Oh, that feels good.” The yellow-haired lady breathed in deep and let the corset fall to the floor. “Thank you,” she said, wiggling her shoulders, letting her breasts move freely.
Another girl moved a chair in front of the crates and sat down. Holding her right foot out, she lifted her skirt. “Robert, will you untie my shoe?”
“I would be delighted.” Robert kneeled in front of her, took her foot in his hand, and lifted it to his knee. Eyes peered from the hiding spot. Robert smiled at the mesmerized eyes and lifted the skirt over her knee, exposing a calf. Holding her leg gently in one hand and untying the pink ribbon of her satin dancing slipper with the other, Robert unwrapped the ribbon and let it hang loose. With flushed cheeks, he unlaced the front of the slipper. From the corner of his eye, spying a hand slowly reaching out toward the lady’s leg, Robert took his cap off and swatted the hand away.
“Pardon,” Robert smiled up at the lady, “a bug.” Quietly, she giggled.
He loosened the slipper and pulled it off her foot. She sighed. “That’s better. Now the other,” she breathed. Lowering her skirt to the floor, and lifting the other side, she placed her left foot on his knee. Robert held her calf and untied the ribbon, this time moving his hand slowly higher until it reached her thigh. Glancing at the peering eyes half-hidden between the slats of the crates, he smiled and pulled her slipper off, placing it beside the other one under her chair. “You’re the best stage boy we’ve had here. Maybe one day we can all take you upstairs to thank you proper.” She blew Robert a kiss as he stood. Pretending to feel it on his cheek, Robert clutched his heart as if having a heart attack, then opened the dressing room door. “Come on girls, into the back room to dress,” he said, holding open the door. “Ya got one more number.” The girls hurried into the dressing room, closing the door behind them.
Picking up the broom, Robert again pretended to sweep the floor. This time, he moved to the center of the room, glancing down the hall every so often. No one was coming. He reached for the side door and opened it wide, then whispered to his brothers, “Okay, you’re clear. Get a move on.”
About the Author
drawn to stories that transcend time. That passion was ignited in 1976 with
the discovery of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, and deepened
with The Feast of All Saints just a few years later. Though historical fiction
wasn’t an immediate calling, a personal journey into genealogy changed
everything.
With no close relatives nearby, R.G. Stanford turned to online resources in
search of extended family. That search became a twenty-year journey through
genealogy websites, Federal Census records, the National Archives, and old
newspapers. Along the way, R.G. Stanford uncovered incredible stories about
her family and the people who once lived in the Choctaw Nation, Indian
Territory.
Compelled to record the truth of her family in the lore, sprinkled with
imagination, R.G. Stanford is a history lover, a research buff, and a
passionate genealogy enthusiast. She is also a mother, a grandmother, and a
teller of stories, now living near Orlando.
https://mybook.to/TheBrothersBrown
