The mother's frantic search for answers was interrupted by the screams coming from her son's room. In frustration she threw the Book across the kitchen as she stood and went to her son. As she entered the room she saw him sitting up in bed. His face was a mask of horror and hate as he swore at some unseen enemy.

"Is this enough!" The furious mother yelled at God as she pointed to her child trapped in the torments of a nightmare. "Is this enough to pay for my sin." She went quietly to her young son's side and softly talked to him.

Finally her voice registered in his mind and he awoke. She went to put her arms around him, but he pulled away from her touch. He sat on the bed with his knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around them. He rocked himself back and forth as he fought to regain control. He wouldn't look at her. He just stared at the foot of the bed. As she sat watching her emotionally tortured son she thought of the past six months.

Even though her son had healed physically, mentally and emotionally he was still wounded. Ever since his return from the war he was plagued by nightmares. Even during the day she would see him slip back in time as that place of horrors trapped him once again. He never talked about it. Actually he did not talk much at all since his returned. He would answer when spoken to, but his answers were always short and to the point. He never started a conversation and his silence usually ended them.

He would spend his days working at the livery stable. His time with the animals seemed to calm him. On days when he could not go to the stable he was more agitated and the dreams more intense. The woman had even found him curled up in the stall of a horse sleeping on more than one occasion. She got him a puppy, which also seemed to help.

The mother also worried about her blond son's health. He hardly ate and was way too skinny for a boy his age. At meals she would encourage him to eat, which he did, she believe only to please her. If she did not say anything he would just push the food around on his plate.

When Leah looked into her son's dark blue eyes that once shone with life she saw that they were empty, almost dead. Each day she watched her son sink deeper and deeper into himself. She was afraid that she was losing him and she did not know what to do to stop it. If something didn't snap him out of it and soon she was afraid he would die.

"Oh God! Please help your precious child. It wasn't his fault. He should not be punished for what I did. He is in your hands now Lord. What ever be thy will let it be done. Amen." The desperate mother prayed as she surrendered her son's fate completely to God. She sat in a chair by her son and rested her arms on his bed. She buried her face in her arms and wept. She fell asleep in this position and when she awoke he was gone.

Heath sat on the bed fighting the fiery rage that burned deep inside of him. Ever since his release from Carterson He felt as if he was sitting on a powder keg that was about to explode and it terrified him. There were times he wanted to strike out and hurt someone as much as he hurt. There were times he almost did, but he always managed to keep the rage under control. He wondered for how long he would be its master. When would it finally break free and consume him. He feared that when that happened he would hurt those who were around him. He made a vow to himself that when he no longer could control the rage he would destroy it before it hurt anyone else. But today he won the battle and the rage went meekly back into its cage.

Heath looked over to where his mother lay sleeping by his bed. He got up quietly so he would not disturb her, got dressed and went to the kitchen. He was about to exit the house when he noticed his mother's bible lying on the floor where she had threw it. He went over, bent down and picked it up. An envelope fell out of the bible. He scooped down and picked it up. It was addressed to his mother and the return address clearly read Tom Barkley, Stockton. Heath opened the envelope and began reading the letter. In anger he shoved the letter into his shirt pocket and dropped the envelope along with the bible. He walked over to kitchen cupboard and took down the box with some money in it. He then left the house and went to his boss's house. When he arrived at the house he knocked loudly on the door.

"Heath what are you doing here at this time of morning?" The livery owner angrily asked as he answered the door.

"I need to use a horse for a few days." Heath said as he handed his boss the money. "This and the wages you still owe me should cover it.

"Heath, you can use one of my horses if you want. You don't have to pay, but why couldn't you wait until later in the morning to ask?" The sleepy man demanded.

"I have some buisness to take care of, that has already waited too long." Heath answered as he handed the man the money.

"Thanks for your offer, but I don't take charity. When the man took he money Heath headed to livery to saddle up a horse.

The determined young man rode out of Strawberry and headed for Stockton. When the runaway reached Stockton late in the afternoon he went to look for someone who could give him directions to his father's ranch. He decided to try the Saloon.

"You are too young to be in here boy." The bartender said.

"I don't want a drink. I just want directions to the Barkley ranch." Heath replied.

"You are in luck kid, I work for them. Just came into town for some supplies and decided on a wet one before heading back. I could give you a lift." A tall red headed cowboy offered when he heard that the kid was looking for his boss.

"I have a horse, but I be obliged to follow you." Heath said.

"Names Duke McCall." Duke said as he extended his hand to the young boy before him, who briefly took the offered hand then pulled away.

"Heath." The kid told Duke his name. He had not been able to tolerate being touched since the end of the war, but he knew that it was impolite not to shake some ones hand, so he made the gesture as quick as possible.

"Okay Heath. Let's go." Duke down the rest of his drink, headed for the door and out to the waiting wagon. Heath mounted his horse and followed Duke as they headed to the ranch.

"Do you need help unloading the wagon?" Heath asked when they reached the ranch. He wanting to repay the man for his kindness.

"No that won't be necessary. You will probably find Mister Barkley up at the house since it is almost supper time." Duke said as he pointed to the big white mansion.

Heath walked up to the door of the mansion and knocked. A tall skinny black man with graying hair answered the door.

"May I help you?" The servant asked.

"I am looking for Tom Barkley." Heath replied.

"Come this way." The man said as he led Heath into a big room. The family was sitting talking and enjoying each other's company while they waited for supper to be ready.

"Mr. Barkley, there is a young man here to see you." The black servant announced Heath's presence to a tall blond man. Heath studied the tall man standing before him, so this was his father. All his life he had dreamt of this day and what he would say to this man, but now nothing came. He stood nervously watching the man who was his father.

Tom turned and looked at the tall skinny man standing behind Silas. This was no man, but a boy. He studied the nervous boy and thought that there was something familiar about him, but could not place it.

"What can I do for you kid?" Tom asked. His words infuriated the son he did not know. How dare this man call him a Kid?

"Don't call me kid. I haven't been a kid since the first day I started crawling around in the mines of Strawberry at the age of six to help my mother make ends meet because of you. You son-of -a bitch." Heath yelled as he hauled back and punched Tom in the face with a force of years of built up anger.

Nick saw the little punk punch his father and lunged at the kid. The two boys wrestled on the floor until Jarrod and Tom pulled the dark haired boy off the scrawny kid. The father went to help the blond boy up, but the kid violently pulled away from him.

"I don't need your help. I haven't needed your help for fifteen years I don't need it now." Heath hissed as he got to his feet.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Tom asked losing his patience with this kid that interrupted a quiet family time.

"I am your BASTARD SON!" Heath yelled at his father.

"You filthy liar." Nick screamed and tackled the boy before Jarrod or Tom could stop him. The force of the attack caused the blond to lose consciousness as his head hit the floor.

Tom and his eldest son once again pulled Nick off the unconscious boy. Tom knelt down beside the stranger and wondered if what the boy said was true. Was this his son?

Tom checked the boy over to make sure he was still breathing and had a pulse.

"Nick go get a doctor." Tom ordered his second son. "Jarrod help me get him upstairs."

"You heard the lies he told. We should just throw him out." Nick spat.

"Nicholas do as you father asks. This boy is injured and needs a doctor." Victoria ordered.

Nick reluctantly did as his father instructed and went to get the doctor. Jarrod and Tom carried the unconscious boy to a room on the second floor and laid him on the bed.

"Is what he said true." Jarrod asked his father.

"I don't know, but it could be." Tom admitted.

"So you had an affair with another woman. Does mother know?" Jarrod demanded. He could not believe what he was hearing.

"No. I never told her." Tom answered his eldest son as he looked at the boy lying on the bed. Could this boy be Leah and his son?

Jarrod approached the bed; sat down as he reached out and touched the boy's forehead. "So he could be my little brother? How could you have not known it was a possibility?"

Tom did not answer his son's accusation.

Tom's wife watched her husband and eldest son carry the boy from the room. She also wondered if what the boy said was true, but if it was then that meant that her husband did have an affair. After he returned from Strawberry she suspected that it was so. She had two choices; she could take her children and leave him, or she could stay and fight for their love. She was determined to save her marriage so silently forgave him, but never confronted him about it. She had even convinced herself that it wasn't true, but was this boy the proof.

"Mommy, I think that boy dropped this." Audra said as she pulled on her mother's skirt.

Victoria looked down to see what her ten-year-old daughter was talking about. She took the paper her little girl held out to her and read it. "Oh God! It is true." She cried as she dropped to her knees and wept as her compassionate daughter held her.

"Mommy what is wrong." Audra asked.

Victoria did not answer. She just hugged her concerned little girl as she thought of a little blond boy growing up without a father. She thought of Tom's betrayal of their marriage vows and all the old fears and insecurities started to resurface. No she could not think about that now. The child, Tom's son was injured and needed help. She had to pull herself together.

Victoria managed to get herself in control of her emotions by the time the doctor arrived with Nick. She escorted the doctor to the room where his patient was. Nick followed them upstairs and stood at the doorway of the room.

"What happened?" The doctor asked the family as he started to check the boy over.

"I think he hit his head hard on the floor when Nick tackled him." Tom supplied the information.

The doctor undid his young patient's shirt and placed a stereoscope on the boy's chest to listen to his heartbeat. "Tom can you help me remove the boy's shirt so I can examine his ribs a little better." The doctor asked Tom. Tom and Jarrod held the boy in a sitting position as they remove his shirt.

"Bloody Hell!" Tom yelled as he noticed the boy's back covered in scars.

Victoria gasped. "Who would do such a thing to a boy."

The doctor examined the scars closely. "They seem to be fairly recent. I would say they are less than a year old. The boy also looks like he has either been starved or been very sick to be this underweight. Maybe even both." The doctor shook his head in disgust as he continued his examination.

When the doctor finished his examination he turned to face the Barkley's. "Well I would say this boy has been though hell. Not only has he been whipped and starved, he had a broken arm that healed slightly crooked and I would also say his ribs were broken at one time. By the blackness around his eyes I would say he hasn't been sleeping all that well either. To top all that off now he has a slight concussion. Luckily he did not re-break his ribs."

"Will he be okay? The concerned father asked.

"I would say that this boys main problem is exhaustion and malnutrition. He needs rest and food. Lots of both. The blow to the head wasn't serious."

"But he hasn't waken up yet." Jarrod informed the doctor.

"Yeah I know. Until he does wake up he should be watched very carefully. When he awakes make sure he stays in bed and eats something." The doctor said as he pulled out a bottle of pills and handed them to Tom. "Give him a couple of these if he has difficulty sleeping."

After he had left Victoria handed Tom the letter and he recognized it immediately as he took it from her. "He's my son. Oh! Victoria I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. It only happened once. You got to believe me. Can you ever forgive me."

"Tom, I knew when you came back from Strawberry and I forgave you then. That's in the past, but he is here now and he needs you, he needs us." Victoria told the man she loved as she pointed to his son on the bed.

"Us, Victoria? You mean you will accept him." Tom asked.

"I could never hold the sins of the parents against the child, especially one that has suffered so much." She said as she walked over and sat on the edge of he bed. "I'll stay with him."

Tom watched his wife stroke the check of he son he never knew he had and thought how lucky he was to have a wife like Victoria. How could Leah not tell him about their child? Now the boy hated him, how could he make him understand? Tom thought of the scars on the boy's back and how he had been starved. Oh! Leah how could do this?

Nick had watched every thing from the door of the room. When Tom declared the boy his son the dark haired boy raced out of the house. How could his father do this? How could he hurt his mother like this? He ran to the barn.

Jarrod also watched everything that had transpired in the bedroom. But unlike his younger brother stayed and heard his mother forgive his father and accept her husband's illegitimate son. Then he went to find his emotionally crushed brother. He found him in the barn and the two boys talked about all that had just happened.

After awaking to find her son gone, Leah went into the kitchen to see if he was there. She noticed her bible on the floor. As she bent down to pick the Book up. She noticed the envelope on the floor beside the bible, so she picked it up instead. She looked inside and found the letter gone. Oh my God!" She cried as she got up and ran out the door.

She ran to the livery stable and found her son's boss, Bill. "Have you seen Heath?"

"Yeah, He came by my house about four this morning wanting to rent a horse. He said he had some business to attend to. Woke the whole house up. That boy of yours sure has been strange since he came home." Bill complained.

"You gave him a horse? You know he ain't well why did you not stop him?" Leah asked.

"Oh Leah you know that once that kids made up his mind nothing will stop him. If I didn't give him a horse to use he would have found another way and you know it." The Livery owner defended himself.

"Yeah you are right I am sorry. It's just." Leah started to say but broke down crying. When she got control of herself, she explained what happened and her belief that Heath had went to confront his father. She told him of her desperate need to get to Stockton. He told her she could use one his buggy. He hitched up the buggy for her and she headed out immediately, but how could she reach the Barkley ranch before enraged boy?

When she reached Stockton she only stopped long enough to ask for directions to the ranch. She arrived at the ranch as Jarrod and Nick talked in the barn. She drove the buggy up to the front steps got out and tied the horses to the hitching post. She then walked up to the door of the white mansion and knocked. When the black servant answered she told him she was looking for her son.

Leah followed the tall servant up the stairs to a room. At the door of the room the servant knocked. Tom opened the door. "Yes, Silas."

"The mother of the boy is here." Silas informed his boss as he gestured to where the woman stood.

Leah looked into the room and saw her pale son lying on the bed. She tried to enter the room to go to him, but Tom stopped her.

"We need to talk Leah." Tom hissed.

"I know, but not now my son needs me." Leah answered as she pushed past the boy's father, but he grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her to face him. She gasped as she looked into the steely blue eyes of her ex-lover, so full of anger and contempt for her.

"We need to talk now Leah, but not here." He demanded as he started to drag her from the room.

"Heath needs me." She cried. "Let me go to him." But Tom would not listen to her pleads.

Victoria watched her husband roughly grab Leah and drag her from the room. She could tell her husband was furious with this woman and decided that she should be present during their talk. She asked Silas to keep an eye on the boy as she got up and followed her husband and his ex-mistress.

In as semi-unconscious state Heath heard his mother's frantic voice. His mother was in trouble and needed him. He fought the darkness. "Mother!" He cried as he awoke, sat up and looked around the room in confusion.

"Its good to see you awake." Salis said to the drowsy boy when he turned to find the boy sitting up in the bed.

Heath looked at the black servant and remembered where he was. He was in father's house, but he had heard his mother's voice. "Where is my mother. Is she here." He asked the servant.

"She is down stairs. They needed to talk." Salis answered.

"With him!" Heath screamed as he jumped out of the bed and headed to the door.

"You really need to stay in bed sir." Salis said as he grabbed the boy's arm and tried to stop him. The furious boy punched the servant as hard as he could in the stomach. Salis doubled over in pain as the boy raced from the room.

"Why did you not tell me I had a son. I had a right to know." Tom yelled.

"You had a wife and children. How do you think they would have taken it? I didn't want to hurt them. I thought I was doing the right thing." Leah cried.

"We would have dealt with it. I could have made sure he boy was taken care. He wouldn't have had to work in the mines at such a young age. I could have keep you and that brother of yours from abusing him." Tom seethed.

"I never abused him. I would never hurt him. He' my life." Leah cried shocked by her ex-lovers accusation.

"Well someone sure as hell did." Tom screamed at her. Leah turned away from him and buried her face in her hands. She could not face him. After all wasn't it her fault that their son suffered?

"Who whipped the boy?" Victoria asked Leah.

"He was whipped and abused during his seven month incarceration at Caterson prison at the end of the war." Leah answered.

"CARTERSON!" How the hell could have you allowed a boy his age to join the army." Tom demanded of his ex-lover. Leah turned and looked at Tom as if he had struck her with his fists. No one in the room noticed when the subject of their conversation slip in

"Where the hell were you? Why weren't you there to stop me from joining." Heath demanded of the father he had never known.

Tom reeled around to face the very angry young man standing before him. "I did not know about you." He tried to explain.

"Didn't know or didn't want to know." The hate filled boy seethed.

"It is because of you I ran away to join the army. The reason I ended up in that hellhole was because of you not her. I hated going down in those dark cold mines to make a few pennies to help my mother support your BASTARD son. When I heard that the army was offering double what I could earn in the mines I lied about my age so they would take me. I thought it would be easy money." Heath laughed sarcastically as he continued. "Oh! Yeah it was easy money. All I had to do was kill men and watch good friends die. Oh but God seen to it that I was punished for that. I winded up in that sinkhole of a prison camp. With every whip that stung my back, every mouth full of maggoty food I ate, every drink of filthy water I drank, every time someone cried out in agony and every time a man died I cursed you. The only thing that kept me alive was my hate for you. I vowed that someday, somehow I would find out who my father was and make him pay for the day I was born. Then I found out it was you. All this time that my mother and I struggled to survive you sat here in this fancy big house with your real children and your loving wife while servants waited on you hand and foot. You didn't even consider that you might have left my mother to rot in that mining town with your child." Heath spat in his father's face then the angry teenage turn his wrath on Victoria.

"So how does it feel to find out that your high and mighty husband is nothing more than a low down snake who used a innocent woman and left her with child to fend for herself?" He asked.

Leah watched in horror as her only son self-destructed in front of her. She was powerless to stop it. Ever since Heath had come home Leah had noticed the change in her boy. She knew that he had been suppressing all the anger, hate, fear that the war had caused. Now she watched as those entire emotions surface as a fiery rage directed at the boy's father and his family. She watched as Tom reached out to put a hand on her blond son's quaking shoulders. Heath threw off his father's hand.

"Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me." Heath yelled as he grabbed Tom's gun from its holster and aimed it at Tom. Both Leah and Victoria gasped in surprise.

"So how does in feel to have your devil spawn show up to destroy everything you hold dear?" The enraged young boy screamed as he held the gun on his father with the expertise of a killer.

"Son put the gun down." Tom pleaded.

"Don't call me son. You don't have the right to call me son." Heath hissed as he continued to hold the gun on Tom.

"Heath, no. I never told Tom about you. If you have to hate someone hate me." Leah pleaded as she stepped between Tom and the gun her son held.

"Oh, but I do hate you mother. I hate you for never telling about my father. I hate you for what you let him do to you, but more than that I hate myself for being born." Heath ranted. When he looked into his mother's terrified face and saw the gun he was holding on her he realized that his rage was now the master. Then he remembered his vow.

"I was a mistake. A mistake I am going to erase." Heath told her as he lifted the gun to his temples.

When Heath had pulled the gun on him Tom had not been afraid. Even when Leah stepped in front of the gun he wasn't afraid that the boy would use it. Now he was terrified for now he knew the boy would use it. He had to stop this boy; he had to save his son. But could he reach the boy in time.

As Nick and Jarrod entered the house they heard yelling coming form the study so they listened at the door. They heard every angry word the young boy threw at their father. They heard and felt the boy's pain as he described Caterson. As soon as they heard their father beg the boy to put down the gun they quietly slipped into the room. Everyone in the room was so intent on the boy with the gun that no one noticed the two older boys. When Heath put the gun to his head Nick made his move.

As Tom grabbed Leah to push her out of the way Nick came up behind the youth, grabbed his arm with the gun and forced the barrel away from the boy's temple toward the ceiling. The gun went off causing a hole in the ceiling. Hanging onto the arm with one hand Nick grabbed the gun with his other and twisted it out of the boy's grip. Nick released the boy's arm as Jarrod took the gun from him and handed it to their father. Heath lunged for the gun, but Nick tackled him and pinned him to the floor.

"Let me go!" Came Heath's murderous cry as he struggled to free him self from his older brother.

"No! I won't ever let you go. You are my little brother and no one not even yourself is ever going to hurt you again." Nick screamed back as he held the furious boy down.

When Nick first found out about this boy he hated him. Even when Jarrod had told him in the barn that their mother had forgave their father and accepted this blond boy Nick vowed he would never accept him. As Nick listened to the angry boy confront his father he realized that this boy was not to blame for what had happened between Tom and Leah. The minute Heath raised the gun to his head Nick knew that this was his little brother and he had to save him.

Finally when the boy stopped fighting Nick released his grip a little, but it was enough for the young soldier to push away his enemy and bolt for the door. Heath had almost reached the door when Jarrod grabbed one arm and Tom the other. The furious blond kicked and bit like a savage at both men in an attempt to gain his freedom, but they held tight. Nick grabbed the little warrior's legs to stop him from kicking. As the enraged boy screamed and struggled they carried him to a room upstairs. They placed him on the bed where they held him down while he swore and fought against them.

...Continued