by CamRose
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
Astride his horse Coco, Nick watched in amazement,
bordering on elation as Adam and Davey Howard drove off, bringing the
confrontation to an abrupt end.
Somehow, the young boy’s words had swayed his father against carrying
out his threat to prevent the Barkleys from bringing their herd of
water-deprived cattle through. Nick let
out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding until that moment. He turned
in his saddle to give instructions to Heath, when he heard his name called
softly to his right.
“Nick…”
As he turned in the direction of his oldest brother’s
voice, Nick was met by Jarrod’s fist, the impact of the unexpected right cross
startling Coco as well as tumbling him from his horse. Before he hit the dirt, he caught hold of
Heath’s expression which somehow contained both amusement and concern.
Nick pushed up onto his forearms and watched dazedly as
Heath reached down to gather up Coco’s reins.
As his head cleared, he turned over onto his elbows and felt along his
jaw. He could already feel a bruise
forming and knew with certainty that it would match the one on the face of the
man leaning over him. He squinted up
into the sunlight to meet his oldest brother’s gaze. Their eyes locked and he flinched as understanding passed between
them. Then Jarrod looked away.
“Nick…,” Jarrod’s voice rolled over him like honey, and he
watched as his brother picked his hat up from the ground, turned it over and
brushed the dirt from it. “I appreciate
that you did what you felt you had to do, but I want you to remember two
things….” He handed Nick’s hat to him.
“Never sucker punch me and don’t you EVER try to take away a choice from
me again.” Then Jarrod reached down a
hand to help him up. “Pax?”
Nick looked at the hand that Jarrod offered him. It would be so easy to take it and pull his
big brother over into the dirt as well, but the truth was that his head and jaw
hurt, and he did deserve Jarrod’s wrath, not that Jarrod would stay angry with
him; the well of his brother’s patience with him seemed endless. So he took Jarrod’s hand and let himself be
helped up.
Later, he watched as Jarrod and Heath, working in unison,
pulled out the last fence stake from the sun baked ground, while he rested against
the tree that Jarrod had helped him over to.
He reflected that what his father had told him all those years ago was
true….blood WAS thicker than water.