Inspiration for Knight on the Texas Plains Guest Post

by Author Linda Broday

I think every book has to be inspired by something or there’d be no reason to write it. That’s certainly true of this book and the inspiration may shock you. The story opens with a drifter named Duel McClain. He’s been a bounty hunter and owns some land but he’s lost his will to live. He drifts aimlessly from town to town not caring where he goes. He was married once to a beauty, but she died in childbirth along with their infant son. After shoveling the last bit of dirt on their grave, Duel climbs onto his horse without a backward look.

Then he rides into the border town of Cat Springs, ties his horse to the hitching rail, and goes into the saloon. The card table beckons and he sits down, half-heartedly playing poker. When the player across from him runs out of money, he reaches down and pulls a child from the floor. He plunks her down in the center of the table and announces that whoever wins the pot gets her too.

When I was a kid, we lived in a very poor part of town. A Hispanic couple and one girl, Juanita, lived next to us. We became playmates. One day she told me that she didn’t belong to them, that the man had won her in a poker game. I couldn’t believe it. Even though I was probably around nine years old, I couldn’t imagine such a thing. I told my mom and after she confronted the Hispanic woman; we learned it was true. Every bit of it.

I can’t remember what my mom did—if I even knew. I never saw cops next door so I don’t think she called them. Things continued as they were. We called the man Old Frank and he was the scariest person I’d ever seen. He was a falling down drunk every single day. He’d holler and throw rocks at us and once he chased Mom around the yard with a long knife, trying to kill her.

I don’t know what if anything was done about that either, but no cops came. Poor people like us were afraid to say much. Besides, my daddy was a bootlegger.

Juanita used to sob and tell me that one day she was going to find her real parents and ask them why they hadn’t loved her. My heart broke for her and I made a vow that one day I’d give her the happy ending that life denied her even if it was in fiction.

So Knight on the Texas Plains was born. This is my attempt to set things right for Juanita. Marley Rose in this book is her.

Duel McClain is barely able to find the energy to take care of himself. He doesn’t need a baby to care for. But when he tries to give Marley Rose back to her rotten father, the man says that he’ll sell her before dark. Unwilling to have that on his conscience, Duel tucks the babe in his arms and starts toward his land. Along the way, a woman covered in blood rides up to his campfire. He strikes a bargain with her. If she’ll help him get the baby home and teach him to care for her, he’ll take her anywhere she wants to go.

And so the story begins. Duel and Jessie love this baby with every fiber of their being. Marley becomes the glue that holds them together and makes them a family.

I never knew what happened to Juanita. One day she simply disappeared but I think she’d be happy to know she got a good life in fiction.

This is Book #1 of my Texas Heroes series. Book #2 – The Cowboy Who Came Calling comes out in Feb. Book #3 will arrive in May. and it’s Marley Rose’s story when she’s all grown up. She learns the family secret that she was won in a poker game. It devastates her and she feels her whole life has been one big lie. I think it’s the most powerful book I’ve ever written. I hope you try it.