Destiny’s Bond

by Christy

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.

I could never forget the first time I really saw her, standing with all the poise and grace of a real lady in her own foyer. She was the one who belonged there, the one who built her life brick by brick with HIM. Holding the brandy soaked cash, hundreds of dollars my so-called brothers had offered me to get out of their lives, and the fruit I had stolen from the table in the parlor, I was on my out of her life. I planned to leave and never come back. Stopping in front of her, the light of the candles shimmering around her, I listened to her, really listened and heard once again the music of a mother’s voice.

“If you were my son,” she started. I looked upon Victoria Barkley’s indomitable face and saw what my father had, saw a strength I used to see in my own mama. She spoke of pride and honor of the birthright that was rightfully mine, and the heritage that I was seeking. Admiration for this tiny woman seemed to sneak inside me. Her gray eyes blazed with her intent. She had a message to get across and she was doing it.

“That’s what I would say to you,” She finished, her voice cracking in a way that told you how much she felt, a way that tugged at a man’s heart. “If you were my son.” Her eyes met mine with a dare. It was as if she were saying show me you are who you claim to be. Show me some of the husband I loved and lost, the man who you say fathered you. I quickly left, stomping out of the house, unable to reply, my voice silent as it so often had been since I was a boy in the mines. I wasn’t one for speaking much. What was the point? Others said enough for me usually. The door slammed behind me…and I walked out into the night, certain I would never come back to her, even though she was the epitome of the very life I had craved, perhaps since the day my poor mother gave birth to me. I was walking away from my destiny and I didn’t even know it.

* * * * * * * *

The hotel and the streets of Stockton were noisy that night, filled with wild cattlemen and maybe even some of the railroad gun hands. I figured no one slept. I know I didn’t. I laid awake, trying to douse the anger and the shame that had followed me all my life, except when I was with my mama. Mama never let me be ashamed. She walked down the streets of Strawberry with pride, pride in the man she had loved enough to have a child out of wedlock with, and pride in the son she was raising. No matter how difficult a day might have been, Mama always took time to read me a story before bed. Then she would sit on the side of the narrow bed, and hold my hand.

“Who loves you, Heath?” she would ask, her blue eyes bright with her care, bright wither her maternal love. I would squeeze her hand and grin at her, giving her a wink.

“You love me, Mama,” I would shout.

“How much do I love you?”

“To the moon and back again.”

“That’s right my brave son. I love you to the moon and back again, many times over. Oh, Heath, I wish I could make it easier for you.” Almost every night ended that way with both of us apologizing for hurting each other. Mama cried herself to sleep I knew, but I never did. I saved my anger for HIM! My loathing grew through the years until this very night. I might never have told Nick Barkley who I was if he hadn’t forced it out of me. I just wanted to see how THEY lived. But I was glad they knew now, knew that the almighty Tom Barkley wasn’t the great man they all said he was. He’d had himself a bastard. He’d run off leaving my mama to live with the shame. I knew I’d never forgive him.

“No one, but no one can take away your birthright.” HER words rang in my ears through the long night burning through my desire to just take my Modoc pony and ride away from the Barkley family forever. But it wasn’t that simple. Something about her words represented a challenge I found extremely difficult to refuse. When she looked at me, she knew I wasn’t lying. She knew I told the truth the way I saw it, and Boy Howdy, she was one woman I would have liked to have as a friend. I wondered where that respect came from. Maybe it was how she acted, or maybe it was that she was willing to give me a chance where her precious sons wouldn’t. I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe I didn’t have enough learnin to really straighten it out in my head, but as the sun rose, I had made up my mind. I got up, shaved like I did every day and wearing the same clothes I had the day before left the hotel room with everything I had in my bedroll and saddle bags and set out for Semple’s farm.

I was late, I could see as I rode hell bent down the road. The sides were already chosen, the men from the railroad facing the simple two story board farm house and the ranchers, including my three brothers, Jarrod, Eugene and Nick standing either on the porch or in front of the house. Bursting through the group of railroad men who I learned later, were each paid a $50 gold piece to put their life on the line to dispossess Semple of his land, I flew off my horse and hoped she’d be safe as I joined Nick on the porch. He gave me bewildered look mixed with contempt that I didn’t miss. He was a pistol all right, I conceded…just as the shooting broke out.

The fight didn’t last long. God knew a $50 gold piece wasn’t worth dying for. The guns sounded like firecrackers going off, but they weren’t. Deadly bullets flew through the air piercing their targets in the blink of an eye. I was too intent on shooting riders on horses and men shooting at me to think of how terrified I was. Before it began it seemed to be over. The railroad men gathered their injured and fled while Mrs. Semple came running out of the house and ran to her dead husband lying in a pool of blood on the ground. Feeling shaky, my legs wobbling beneath me, I walked over to a fence and sat down. Suddenly it hit me how much danger I had put my self in, not because of a fight that was mine, hell, not even for $50, but because I was too stupid to turn down a challenge made by a woman I did not even know. Boy Howdy, I thought to myself. It wasn’t like I expected anything to come of what I had done. I only expected to enjoy the satisfaction of having met a dare flung on me by my father’s wife, a woman I grudgingly respected. It didn’t make sense that I had done it. Still, I was proud I had even though I was still shaking. I had helped to keep the big guy from gobbling up the little guy and that very fact gave me considerable satisfaction. To calm my frayed nerves, I tried to make a cigarette. Tobacco was expensive. I couldn’t afford to waste it, but still the tobacco fell to the ground, the paper sitting in my hand till a cigar appeared in front of me. Confusion sifting through my brain, I looked up into the blue eyes of the man called Jarrod. He was handing me a cigar. I took it and bit off the end.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“My pleasure,” the man replied. He had a more quiet voice than his loud brother. He was a lot older than me too, maybe ten years I figured. I’d heard he was a lawyer. I got up, figuring to get on Gal, my Modoc and high tail it out of there. I’d met the challenge. Now it was time to go. Jarrod’s hand on my shoulder stopped me.

“Just a minute, Heath,” he said with some kindness. I brushed him off, still angry about last night. He held his own as I glared at him.

“I wondered if you might come up to the house with my brothers and me. My mother mentioned you might be here. She said if you were to bring you home.”

“She did huh?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Well, tell her I’m right sorry to disappoint her, but I got places to go and I got no time for gallivanting in fancy houses.”

“Heath, you don’t know my mother. This wasn’t an invitation. She would like to see you, and if I were you, I would come. What can it hurt?” I looked over at Nick and Eugene, the other two sons who had come to stand behind Jarrod. Their faces barely hid their own disdain for me, especially Nick. He looked like he wanted to jump me again. Still, something inside made me think twice. My destiny was pulling at me I guess. I couldn’t just ignore the lawyer’s words.

“Please,” Jarrod asked again. I didn’t figure anyone had ever said please to me in my whole life, against except for my mama and Rachel and Hannah, the women who helped raise me. It was a word I didn’t often refuse.

“Fine, but don’t expect much from me.” Jarrod nodded. Nick started to say something which Jarrod squelched immediately. Iffin I hadn’t been so nervous all of a sudden I would have laughed at the man’s quick come uppence.

“Nick, I don’t want to hear a word,” Jarrod told him. “Mother said to bring him home. You want to argue with anyone, do it with her.” Nick rolled his eyes. I could tell Jarrod was right. Their mother wasn’t a woman you wanted to argue with. I whistled for Gal to Nick’s surprise. I saw his hazel eyes light up for just a second with admiration as the Modoc came to my side, and I lit on her with barely a movement. I loved horses, and if the dark brooding man realized it, good for him. The Barkley brothers got on their own horses with Nick and Eugene taking off together. Jarrod nodded to me and I nodded back to him. We took a slower pace, mostly for his arm than anything else. I realized when he mounted that he had been shot in the arm, but it looked like a flesh wound. His mother would make short work of it, I bet. We picked up the pace quickly and arrived at the ranch not far behind Nick and Eugene who were getting off their horses as I reined Gal to a halt. Jarrod was off his horse quickly. I followed, wondering if I had made a huge mistake when I saw how Mrs. Barkley and her daughter greeted the men with laughter and happy relief.

“Nick, Eugene, Jarrod,” Mrs Barkley cried running out the front door of the huge house. “Oh Thank God you’re home.” She hugged each son with her daughter following suit. She stopped at Jarrod noting the ripped shirt and the blood.

“Jarrod! Oh God, you’re hurt.”

“No, Mother. It’s just a nick. I’m all right.”

“Jarrod,” she sighed, the sadness in her voice evident. “You could have been killed.”

“But I wasn’t. None of us were, Mother.” He kissed her on the forehead as Audra approached Nick.

“Nick, you’re all dusty,” the girl teased. “Did you run them off?”

“Audra,” Mrs. Barkley scolded.

“Well, Mother, that’s what they were trying to do weren’t they?” came the innocent question. The brothers exchanged glances. I felt like a fifth wheel, and was ready to bolt when Mrs. Barkley came over to me.

“Heath, Thank you for coming. We have so much to talk to you about.” I stared again into those gray eyes, now so warm and friendly in the daylight. She wore a pale mauve dress with lacy frills on her sleeves and a soft texture that bespoke of quality material. Her complexion was flawless, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. It was her complete acceptance of me, of the bastard son her husband left behind. What did she see, I wondered, and why was she so kind?

“Come inside. I’m sure you’d like a bath and to get cleaned up. Then we can spend the afternoon getting to know you. Audra, will you ride into town and get Dr. Merar for Jarrod?”

“Mother I just told you I was fine.”

“Jarrod, I won’t have that wound getting infected. Come inside now. Audra?”

“I’ll go Mother,” Eugene said. “It might be safer. We don’t know if the railroad men are still out there.”

“I’m not afraid,” Audra cried with proper indignation.

“You both go,” Victoria decreed. “Eugene you’re right. Forgive me for not thinking of that. It’ll do you both good to get out anyway. Nick, go upstairs, take a bath and change your clothes. Heath, there’s a bedroom at the head of the stairs. It’s our guestroom. When Nick is done with his bath, you can take one as well. He’ll show you how, won’t you Nicholas?” Nick Barkley growled silently but nodded his head. He looked at me with that same contempt. Resisting the urge to run, I followed the man into the fancy house, feeling it close in on me right away. It was a scary feeling being in a place like this, but HE didn’t understand that. HE didn’t understand anything. He had possessed his birthright from the day he was born. Mine was still eluding me, no matter what Mrs. Barkley said. Drawing on my mama’s courage, I followed Nick Barkley up the gold carpeted staircase. Nick opened the door to the guestroom. I stepped inside.

“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll take my bath and then draw yours. You ever used an indoor bathroom?”

“Reckon not.”

“You sure ain't much of a one for talking are you?” I simply shut the door in the stranger’s face. I could feel my shoulders shaking in amusement. I knew that arrogant man would be insulted by my action, but he didn’t dare fight me now, not with his mother downstairs. I heard him stomp off down the hall. Turning around, I found myself in a la de da room that my mama would have been very comfortable in. Each piece of furniture probably cost more than my mother had seen in a year or perhaps a decade of years. We lived on so little. I let my hand press on the cold brass frame of the bed. My mama had wanted a brass bed all her life. It was one of the few things she ever talked about wanting that she couldn’t have. I could hear her voice telling me her dream as her arms were wrapped protectively around me.

“Ah, Heath. Someday, when you are all grown, we’ll find a way to leave Strawberry,” she told me when I was a little boy, exhausted from working in the mines. “And the first thing we’ll buy with the money we earn out there will be a brass bed with a feather bed mattress and huge thick pillows. You’ll see. It will be the most comfortable thing you ever did feel.” She was right. It was the most comfortable bed I’d ever laid on. I believed her when I was little, but the truth was, the best place to be, was cuddled in her arms, where I was safe at least when I was little. Now what wouldn’t I have given for her advice, and an encouraging thoughts?

Nick Barkley showed me how to use the bath. I went downstairs and got my saddle bags. I only had one change of clothes. I could hear the family talking in the living room, but it wasn’t my habit to eaves drop. I went back upstairs and took the bath. I don’t know if I really felt it. I’d have to admit that I liked the tub and the fact the water that came into the tub was hot. How did they do that, I wondered. On the other hand, I was so anxious suddenly, that I didn’t dawdle in the tub, just enough to get the dust of the road and the smell of blood from this morning’s horrible action out of my mind. I could still hear those firecrackers as I got out and dressed. Pulling a comb through my hair, I took my things back to the guest room, and packed everything up. I was ready to go after I talked with Mrs. Barkley. I had no intention of staying where I knew I wasn’t welcome. That was for sure.

When I came downstairs, I found Nick talking to his sister in the parlor. It had been a couple hours since we had come into the house. The girl had changed her clothes and was now wearing a pretty bright red dress that was as fancy as her mother’s. Before I could interrupt, Mrs. Barkley came down the stairs. Audra stood up. She and Nick hurried to their mother’s side. Again I felt restless, wishing in a way, I guess, that that was my own mama in the fine dress surrounded by her devoted children. But it wasn’t. Standing by the fireplace, I watched the scene unfold in front of me with more and more bewilderment. These Barkley’s were turning out to be a hard group of people to figure out.

“Now Nick, just settle down,” Mrs. Barkley ordered before her son could speak. “Dr. Merar dressed Jarrod’s arm and put it in a sling. He’s already gone home. Jarrod will be down shortly. Audra, Sweetheart, you look so pretty in your dress. Heath, did you get some rest?” She walked over to me, scrutinizing me with a respect and kindness I had missed from my life…almost to that moment.

“Yes, Ma’am, I did,” I lied.

“Well, you look as though you could rest some more and you definitely need some meat on your bones. Jarrod has a tendency to gain weight, but my goodness, you look as if you haven’t eaten enough to get through the day.” She put a hand on my arm. She was such a petite lady with such a calm demeanor, I wondered where her anger was. All I could figure was she was holding more inside which she figured to give me later. No woman could stand to have her husband’s bastard standing in their parlor, not even a dignified woman like this one.

“Lunch is served,” a black man announced from the foyer by the stair case. His glance settled on me for a minute. There was a man I could see at once had no prejudices. He gave me a look of friendly regard that would warm my heart if I would let it. The truth was, I didn’t know what I was feeling, beyond extreme puzzlement as to what I had just gotten myself into.

“Heath, would you please join us?” Mrs. Barkley invited.

“Maybe Heath would like to eat lunch with the men,” Nick announced with an outraged sound.

“Nick!” Audra cried. “You’re being mean. Mother won’t have it and neither will I. Heath, you come and sit next to me. Mother has made a good meal. She knew the boys would be hungry.” The young woman who was perhaps eighteen or nineteen had an angel’s face. She was hard to resist, but I knew I had to.

“If you don’t mind, Miss,” I deferred. “I think I’ll go outside. I’m really not hungry.” I started towards the door. Nick put his hand out to stop me.

“Now Boy, my mother has offered you a meal. No one refuses her.” I pushed him off, the anger seething within me. He was lucky I didn’t haul off and wipe that smug look off his face. It was only out of deference for the women that I held my silence. Without further hesitation I walked out the front door of the mansion. I heard rustling skirts come running after me. On the porch I heard HER call my name.

“Heath!” She shut the door behind her. I turned, barely holding back the tears that threatened to come. Why did this mean so much to me, I wondered.

“Please,” she begged. “I know how hard this is for you, believe me I do.” When I looked down, I allowed myself to see how this mother truly felt. She was right. She was as confused and hurt by my coming as I was. I could see her fighting back tears too. At the same time, I could see she wanted me to be there. There was an intensity there, a mother’s intensity that was already forming an invisible bond between us. I took her little refined hand in my big calloused one and squeezed it.

“Ma’am, I believe you. But HE doesn’t understand. I don’t know why you are doing this, but I’ll tell you now I’m not worth it.” To my shock, the woman put her hands on my face, and let her cover me the mother’s love I needed so desperately, not that I realized it until that minute.

“You are worth it, Heath. You’re a strong brave young man. Nick is only a man like his father. He’s not perfect either. No man is. You must remember that. I can see your mother raised you to be proud and rightly so. People have hurt you. Remember this, Heath Barkley. No matter what your name is, no matter where you’ve been or where you are going, you deserve the best. Never forget that.” I turned to bolt, relieved when she let me go. Talking long quick strides, I managed to get to the barn and saddle Gal. I needed to run. I needed to ride with the wind to cope with the fire of emotion that was consuming me. Gal and I took off riding at as fast a clip as I had done when I was racing the train, wild and impetuously free, the way I liked it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her watching as I fled. I didn’t know at that moment if I would be back or not. I just wanted to be free of the choke hold I felt was around my neck for as long as I could.

* * * * * * * *

Boy Howdy, I thought to myself as Gal took her head and flew across the range, this is an awful purty place. Couldn’t say as I had ever seen prettier, even though I’d been back east and into Montana. I had to hand it to the old man. He sure knew how to pick the spot to build his future. But then he liked pretty things, I reckoned, pretty things and pretty women. Gal slowed a bit. I knew she was getting tired. We pulled up in front of a tree, and I let her graze. Sitting under the tree, I took off my boots trying to relax, if such a thing was possible. The churning thoughts in my mind were threatening to make me sick. What was I thinking I wondered as I sat there. What made me think I could even enter that house with its modern implements and la de da trappings. I didn’t belong there any more than…than my mama did. That was when it hit me, why she never told me about Tom Barkley, when she never admitted who my father was until she could hold the secret back no longer. She thought neither of us would belong. Was she wrong? Was I? I hugged myself close feeling as if the world were crumbling around me, my confusion truly overwhelming me as I cried out to the only one who I thought could help me.

“Oh, Mama, tell me what to do!” But only the wind on the range and the birds in the trees answered me. There was no answer I figured. I fell asleep there under the trees. Then I planned to go back to the house and get my things such as they were. I wouldn’t stay. I couldn’t.

A shadow crossing my face made me jump to my fit so fast I was a little dizzy. Audra’s giggle made me flush a little.

“Good afternoon, Heath,” she greeted with a bright smile. “You looked as though you were having a nice dream.”

“Which you interrupted,” I retorted a little rudely, brushing my tan pants off with my hat. It had gotten warmer since I fell asleep. We stayed under the shade of the tree to talk.

“Mother sent me out for you. It will be dark soon.”

“She sent you out here, alone?”

“Of course. I’ve been riding the ranch all my life. Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to be like Nick and Jarrod, always telling me to watch out so I don’t break. Trust me, the boys get hurt far more than I do out here. They should be as careful as I am.” As the girl talked, I wondered if she ever stopped. When she took a breath I broke in to change the subject.

“How did you find me? I woulda come back on my own. You needn’t a bothered.”

“Mother saw the direction you headed. I followed your trail.” I gave a low whistle.

“Well my brothers might think I’m useless but Father and Mother both taught me to track when they weren’t looking,” Audra admitted, giggling again. “Mother says what the boys don’t know won’t hurt them.” I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. Here was the prettiest girl I had ever seen, her blond hair flying around her perfect cheekbones, her red lips parted in humor, and her slender waist accentuated by the riding skirt and shirt she had changed into, and she could track a man. Funniest of all was that her own brothers probably didn’t know half of what she could do and she was confiding in a complete stranger. I held up my hands in mock surrender.

“I promise, Miss Audra, I’ll never underestimate you,” I laughed again. A strange expression came over my half-sister’s face. There were tears in her eyes. I felt sorry.

“Miss Audra, I didn’t mean to upset you. I should be going. I didn’t know how much this would hurt you or your mother.”

“You have his laugh.” I’d been about to whistle for Gal who was grazing near by when I heard her words. For the first time I felt a kinship with one of my siblings. Tears slipped down her face. No matter what the old man meant to me, it was obvious to any yokel that he meant the world to his daughter. She loved and missed him as much as I loved and missed my Mama. I couldn’t help myself. My big arms went around her slender frame, giving her a warm hug so she could collect herself. In my arms she cried harder until we both collapsed on the ground, half crying, half laughing in our mutual grief for two different people who had apparently meant something to each other in another lifetime before either of us was born.

“You hug like him too,” she admitted her voice softly grieving. Yet there was something there, a hope in her lovely eyes. I hung my head in shame even so.

“I don’t mean to bring you pain,” I insisted. “I guess I never thought how it would affect you all if I came or told the truth.”

“What did you expect,” my sister asked in innocent curiosity.

“I dunno. I was angry, angry at HIM,” I spat out. I expected an angry retort. What I got…was a sister’s response.

“A father can make his children angry,” she said with wisdom beyond her years. “I’m angry with him too.” My head shot up.

“What for? For shaming the Barkley name, well let me tell you, Missy…”

“No, No,” Audra smiled. “No it’s not that at all. As Mother often says about the boys, this family can stand down just about anything if we stick together. That’s not it, Heath. I only wish, if Father could have, he would have brought you to us and let you be raised with Nick and Jarrod and Eugene and me. I think you would be an asset to the family.”

“What, to jeer at, to look down on, to use as a servant,” I demanded, letting my anger get the better of me. I saw the hurt in my sister’s eyes, and then her recovery. She was so good at that, I wondered how she did it.

“You remind me of Nick. You’re so quiet, and he’s so loud, but you both have such a temper. All of us Barkley’s have tempers, but you and Nick. You remind me of Father most of all.”

“I can’t stay,” I told her miserably standing up. She took my hand and squeezed it. Her face was pleading.

“You can’t leave.”

“Why the devil not?”

“Because you belong here. I can feel it and Mother feels it, I know. That’s why she’s so insistent. Heath, please give us a chance.”

“What about HIM?”

“Him? You mean Nick don’t you?” I nodded whistling for Gal. Miss Audra went to get her horse too. When she came back she took a deep breath. For a second I saw her mother in her appearance. Miss Audra Barkley would definitely be a woman to be reckoned with someday. That sure was easy to see.

“You never mind Nick. He never does know what’s best for him. Heath, I don’t know how you feel. If I saw Nick a growling at me the way he does you, I’d probably want to run too. But I wonder…” The girl’s voice trailed off. I waited. When she didn’t go on, I was stumped.

“Wonder what Miss Audra?”

“Well, my brothers and I would do just about anything for each other and for our mother. As for Mother, she’d just as soon face a bullet than let something happen to one of us children. You should see her when she really gets her dander up. I always admire her then. I hope to be just like her when I have my own children.”

“And?”

“Well I know what my mother wants you to do. I wondered what your mother would want you to do.” She peeked at me under hooded eyebrows with a look so much like her mother’s I almost chuckled. She was a smart one this little sister. Hidden behind that angelic face was a brain.

“My mother told me what she wanted when…” I started the sentence but didn’t finish it. Miss Audra simply smiled. She got up on her horse and held the mare close as I made the decision I knew Mama would want me to, the one she asked me to when she told me Tom Barkley was my father. Mounting Gal, I pulled my little Modoc close for a second.

“What are you waiting for?” Miss Audra asked.

“To Thank you,” I answered. She gave me a brilliant smile.

“Don’t thank me yet. You still have to face the boys. I’ll give you a hint. They’re not as tough as they look.”

“Miss Audra?”

“What, Heath?”

“Did your mother really send you?”

“My mother really sent me. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t want to.”

“Why did you come?” I went on, my heart beating rapidly, curious to know what would make my sister accept me before the men folk in the family, before we had talked out what needed to be said, before I faced the demons in that big fancy house. She cocked her head in an understanding manner with a puzzled expression on her face.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t have to. You could have just let me go on my way. Why are you being so kind?” She touched my hand as it rested on the saddle, then put her hand back on the reins.

“That’s easy, Heath. You’re my brother. I believe that, and I hope that we can be friends. If you come home with me, I promise with Mother and me on your side, you have nothing to fear.”

“I’m not afraid,” I objected even though I was. Miss Audra saw right through me. I knew as she spoke I’d never have to question her belief in me. Her blue eyes flashed saucily as she took her mare and started off.

“You’re a liar, Heath Barkley, but that’s okay. No Barkley man ever admits he’s afraid. I’ll race you home.” I took off after her, letting her stay ahead because I knew a woman hated to lose. Her hair flying in the wind, her body leaning forward one with the horse was just the way I rode. She was one with the ranch. She would have made a great brother, I thought. I knew even then as I followed her I had found my destiny. Miss Audra and her mother were formidable women. They would make the sons accept me, make them give me a chance. Only Miss Audra was right. I had to face them, had to show them who I was to claim my birthright. Well, Boy Howdy were they in for a surprise, cause I’d show them plenty. The Barkley family was in for one hell of a ride, and instead of being afraid as I followed my new sister towards that big house, I was looking forward to that ride. It was one fight I didn’t intend to lose cause I was going home…and home was where I belonged…or so I hoped and prayed that day…My destiny was going to be met…or I wasn’t Heath Morgan Thomson Barkley.

THE END