Mail’s here!

by Barkley Lady

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.

This story is a sequel to "Read all about it!" which can also be found in The Holding Pen.

Nick and Heath rode slowly up towards the house. They had been gone for all most two weeks and were happy that they would arrive home just in time for Thanksgiving. The cattle drive had gone much better than they had hoped for and the two brothers were now planning what should be their next project. Instead of going straight home they had passed the new piece of land that they had bought just before they left and while being there they had made the decision that some of it should be used to harvest rye for the animals but also that some of it should be used to try out something new. The two brothers were still deep into their discussion when they dismounted and a couple of hands took their horses from them. With a nod to McCall, their foreman, the men started the walk to the house.

Just as they were going to enter the house the family buggy drove up and Audra jumped out of it before Jarrod had pulled it to a stop. She threw her arms around her brother’s necks wishing them welcome home. The girl was bubbling with news of what was happening in Stockton with the upcoming festivities and it took some time before Jarrod could greet them too. Smiling they all went inside. Victoria came out of the parlour to give each child a kiss.

“Nice to be home again, Mother.” Nick put his hat on its hook and started to take his gloves off while Heath unbuttoned his jacket.

“It’s nice to have you both home. Why don’t you get cleaned up and I shall see to it that dinner will be ready when you both are done?”

“Thanks Mother.” Heath started to climb the stairs in twos to get up to the hot tub before his older brother. Nick stayed behind and handed some papers to Jarrod.

“Please take care of this Counsellor. I think it needs some paper work.” He turned to his sister. “Audra would you please get me some coffee while I wait for Heath to finish. I really long for some decent made coffee.”

“I will, shall I bring it up to your room?”

“If it’s not too much of a trouble I would appreciate that.” His sister smiled and hurried off to the kitchen as Nick started to work his way up to his room. Tired, he opened his door hoping to get a few minutes rest before peeling of the dirt. In horror he stopped in the doorway and looked into the room.

“MOTHER!!!” Victoria looked at Jarrod and both realized what was the reason for Nick’s call but she walked slowly to the staircase just as Nick reached it too. “Mother what is ….” Nick pointed towards his room.

“Are you meaning the mail bags, love?”

“Mail bags?”

“Yes, the letters were so many that the post office and Harpers Bazaar found it easier to just deliver the bags.”

“Mail bags?”

“Yes Nick. Mail bags. Apparently the article about you got the young ladies around our country to write to you. Audra and I started to sort out the parcels and the letters from postal stamps but we haven’t opened any since they are directed to you. Mr Levengood, the editor of the magazine wrote a letter too that followed with the mailbags and I’m afraid I did open that, after consulting our lawyer first of course.” Jarrod stood behind his mother.

“Nick if you do need any help I’m sure the whole family will help you.”

“Help with what?”

“Read the letters, answer them.” Nick’s face turned red.

“READ AND ANSWER. Over my dead body. They are going into the fire and that right away.” He turned and hurried back to his room. Victoria and Jarrod hurried up the stairs and into his room.

“Nick, you can’t just burn them. At least have a look at them first.”

“I’m looking at them. Can I burn them now?” He growled. Heath popped his head into the room on the way to the bathroom.

“Boy Howdy Big Brother. What did you do? Put an ad out while we were gone?” He ducked just as Nick’s boot came flying through the air.

“Nicholas! That’s enough. Audra and I will help you tomorrow with the mailbags. You shall look at the gifts that have been sent to you and at least write a suitable thank you note to those young ladies that took their time to send you a gift. Until tomorrow morning you do not do anything with these letters, understood!” She stood in front of him pointing a long finger at his chest. “And you two” she turned to Jarrod and Heath “shall not tease your brother for this. It is not his fault that Mrs Riley took a liking to him. As it looked from the article it could have been any of you. As it is she first laid her eyes on Nick.”

A unison “Yes Mother” was heard from the boys and Heath hurried to the hot warm bath while Victoria gently pushed Jarrod in front of her and left the room leaving Nick to study the pile of bags and the boxes that the Barkley females had unpacked. He walked over to the table and picked up a small parcel.

Hours later Nick once again entered his bedroom. He wasn’t happy about what he was going to find but the few boxes he had looked at had only been pleasant with a little candy. He felt weary about the kind of woman that would send a totally unknown man presents and wondered if their family knew. He took one of the bags with him and went over to the armchair by the hearth. He had promised not to put them in the fire but he hadn’t said anything about reading them. Out of the bag he pulled 20 envelopes and he placed them in order by their size with the smallest closest to him.

“Nick, I heard you are our new celebrity.” Mr Smith who helped Nick get his order together was greeted with a glare and growl and therefore left the subject as quickly as he had brought it up. His curiosity however wasn’t damped and he continued to watch the dark rancher while he loaded the wagon. A small group of girls stopped on the sidewalk and studied the two brothers, oh-ing and ah-ing every time Nick did something. Nick did his best to ignore them, feeling the irritation grow in him but the manners his parents had taught him stopped him from bursting out on the girls. His brother wasn’t any help either, having fun at his expense and encouraging the girls. Nick decided that he would get even when they were alone and he kept himself busy planning the revenge he had in mind for his younger brother. When they finally had finished loading and seated themselves the postman can running up to them with a few more bags of mail and a telegram from San Francisco. Nick took the things with out a word and stared at his brother who now couldn’t stop himself from chuckling. With a jerk he pulled the reins from Heath and got the horses going.

Nick spent the rest of the day in the study sorting the bookkeeping out. He didn’t want to admit it but the time in town and the comments from his hands were getting to him and he felt that he had just had enough so he hoped that a few hours of paper work would calm his nerves so that he could have lunch with Barkley females without snapping at them.

As the grandfather clock struck twelve Heath walked through the door. He threw his hat and gloves on the table and hurried into the dinning room. His brother turned up shortly and sat down without so much as a look at Heath. Victoria studied the two boys and wondered what had happened while they were in town. She knew that Nick had received more mail as it had been carried inside the house by Heath and she knew Nick had spent the morning indoors when he should have been checking the ranch after his absence, the paperwork could have waited until tonight or, she mused to herself, it would normally have done so. Lunch was going fine until Heath asked about the telegram. Three pairs of eyes turned towards Nick as he searched his pockets for it. The sender didn’t say anything to him so he opened it. As he read it his face darkened and after squeezing it into a ball and throwing towards the hearth, he rushed out of the room, slamming the front door hard as he passed it. Audra hurried and managed to get it out of the fire without any damage and she read it out loud.

“Coming to Stockton at noon. Wish to do follow up on Mrs Riley’s article and the mail you have been sent. Mr Stuart Scott” Audra looked in horror at her mother, who sat there with her hand covering her mouth. Heath took the telegram from his sister and read it once more before he burst out in a chuckle.

“Heath, it’s not funny. Go and get Nick for me instead.” Heath placed his napkin by his plate and hurried out. As he left the house the two women could hear him still chuckling.

“Mother, what shall we do? He hasn’t opened the mail and more came today.”

“Audra, we shan’t do anything but talk to the reporter and keep him away from Nick.” She stood up. “Oh, and Dear, please start sorting the mail from this morning.”

Nick was nowhere to be found. Heath looked around the barns and bunkhouses before he returned to the house. Standing by the front door he saw a buggy coming towards the gates and he sighed. He better hurry finding his Big Brother and he went down to the corral to check on the horses again. Nick stood behind the corner watching him leave and then disappear before he, in the cover of the hedges, moved towards the barn where he had Coco.

After hours waiting, the reporter had given up and left for San Francisco. With him he had the story of a hard working rancher who after several weeks absent from the ranch, had quickly done the paperwork so that he could be off for a ride around the grounds, a hard working man. Heath had spent a few hours having to explain the whereabouts of a cattle drive while the Barkley women had told the reporter about the work sorting the mail and boxes. Victoria had assured the reporter that Nick had looked at everything that had come last night but that he hadn’t had time with today’s mail yet.

Nick sat glooming under a tree by the lake. Coco was walking around grazing here and there. Now and then the faithful horse came up to his owner and pushed on him, hoping he would scratch a little on the horse head. Absentminded Nick had done that until Coco found him boring and the horse took another turn to the grass.

It had turned dark when Nick rode in. Heath and McCall had been out looking for him when he hadn’t come in for supper and they and the hands were now getting worried that something had happened. It bothered Heath that Nick had managed to leave without anybody noticing and without a trail. Victoria watched from the parlour how Nick walked straight up to his room without even glancing at them or making an attempt of joining her. Worried she walked out in the foyer to be met by Jarrod and Heath coming from the study.

“Mother, was that Nick?” Jarrod looked up the staircase.

“Yes, Jarrod.” She placed a hand on the railing.

“I’ll go Mother.”

“No, Jarrod. Leave him alone. He will talk to us when he is ready. He is home and that is what matters. Good night boys.”

“Good night Mother.” The two brothers watched the tiny woman walked up to her room before they returned to the pool game.

Nick placed his saddlebags over the mail on the table and sighed before he sat down and got his boots off. After a steadying drink he got himself ready for bed and just as he pulled the blanket aside to creep under it he noticed the envelope by the bedside lamp. Unconscious of it he pulled back, wary of what it could be before he recognised the handwriting and as he picked it up and unfolded it he sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Dearest Nick,

I just want to say how proud I am of having you as my big brother. I know that many are giving you a hard time right now both in town and here at the ranch. I want you to know that I think they don’t have the right to behave towards you as they do. You promised me that you would enter my cucumbers in the competition and, Nick; it takes more than a man to do what you did for me, it takes a gentleman. And Nick, I find that these days they are so rare. I know from what my friends say that you are so unique, that none of their brothers would do such a thing. Well, even Jarrod told me he wouldn’t, he would have asked someone else even Mrs Stullman. So you see Dear brother, I’ll be ever grateful for what you did for me.

Your loving sister,

Audra”

Nick read the note over and over again before he folded it and put it back into the envelope. Slowly he rose and went over to the painting, hiding his private safe. When the letter was safely tucked away he walked over and took a bunch of mail from the table. Yesterday he had been surprised over the friendly tone in the letters and that it seemed that most of the women wished he was their brother or son. Now after reading Audra’s note he started to relax and with the new bunch in his hand he decided that a real man rose above the teasing from other men as it only meant that they were jealous over the attention he was getting and that he should enjoy it.

THE END