The Best Short Stories 2022 by Valeria Luiselli

The Best Short Stories 2022 by Valeria Luiselli

A brutal killing shackles Cayo Bradley more than his captivity by Apaches until his salvation-falling obsessively in love with Darby McPhee.

Can a deathbed promise ever be broken? This dilemma confronts Darby McPhee, an untutored farm girl caught in a tedious routine of caring for her father, brothers, and working in a mercantile since her mother's death. Darby falls in love with Cayo Bradley, a high-spirited cowboy from a nearby ranch, struggling to settle back into White Society after his captivity by the Jicarilla Apache in northeastern New Mexico.

Darby is torn between her love for Cayo and the vow at her mother's side to seek an education. This choice stands in the way of her heart's desire to belong to the untamed ranch hand. If she maintains her promise it will cleave apart her world, despite knowing she's Cayo's redemption.

In this haunting tale of stunning love and loss, Darby learns regardless of what transpires she'll always be THE GIRL WHO LOVED CAYO BRADLEY . . .

Romano's story sizzles with the tension of lovers-one struggling to blend Apache ways and White, the other torn between East and West-searching for a way to join two lives traversing in opposite directions. -Ruth Hull Chatlien, author of Blood Moon, and The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte

The Girl Who Loved Cayo Bradley, a superbly crafted American Western Romance, is a deftly spun saga of ill-starred sweethearts-an expertly woven story with clever dialogue, a fast-paced plot, and enchanting, elegant prose -Michelle Cox, author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series