Coming to Terms, Part 4

Two Weeks

by doreliz

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.

Saturday – Sacramento

Gene’s mysterious visit to Sacramento was to keep a promise made on impulse some weeks before, to escort his friend Charlie Mitchell’s shy stepsister Flossie Barnes to a social event. He liked the girl and had felt sorry for her, but he was not in love, and he did not want to be interrogated by his mother and Jarrod, or teased by Nick and Audra, as if he were.

Over a late breakfast Saturday morning Charlie said, “Why rush back to Stockton? Stay till Monday. We can take the girls boating tomorrow.” At another time it would have been a welcome invitation.

“Thank you, but I really ought to go home today.”

“Do stay. You’re always welcome here, Eugene,” Mrs. Mitchell assured him, so warmly he suspected her of hoping that his friendship with her daughter would develop into something more. It was not an idea he wanted to encourage.

“You’re very kind, ma’am, but I’m afraid I can’t stay, not this time.”

Ed Mitchell, a well-informed merchant, asked, “Is there likely to be more trouble with the railroad?”

“There might be, I suppose, but I haven’t heard of anything since the fight Tuesday.” He had already explained that affair on his arrival. “The fact is, you might as well know – ” he looked around the table and saw various children listening – “something of -- of another kind happened, that makes me want to be home while I can. I’ll tell you about it after breakfast, if I may.”

The senior Mitchells took the hint and changed the subject. When they had finished eating and the children had scattered, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell and Charlie accompanied Gene into the library.

“Your folks are all well, I hope?” Ed Mitchell had done some business with the Barkleys over the years, though Gene was the first to come in social contact with his family.

“Oh, yes, quite well.” He reminded himself that Jarrod had done this in Stockton. “What happened, our half-brother turned up – one we never knew we had.” He blushed at Mrs. Mitchell’s look of inquiry. “My father’s natural son. His name’s Heath. He’s going to live with us now.”

They asked the questions he had known they would ask, and he answered as he supposed Jarrod had done. No, they hadn’t known, they presumed their father hadn’t known but they couldn’t be sure of that, they still didn’t know just what had happened all those years ago. Heath was between Nick and himself in age, a cowboy who had worked here and there, and his mother was dead. His own mother was determined Heath should stay, so that they could begin to make up for the wrong done to him.

“No use saying I’m surprised, because you must’ve been surprised yourselves. From what I remember of your father, it doesn’t sound like him – but who knows? I had some adventures myself, when I was young, though you wouldn’t think so to look at me now.” Ed Mitchell winked at his wife.

She was twenty years younger than he, the youngest of their three joint children was about four, and she had six by two previous marriages. She spoke from her own experience. “It’s never easy to make one family out of children – or young people – who grew up apart. Your mother will find that. Tell her from me, if you like, that she’ll have to be patient while you all learn to rub on together.”

“Yes, ma’am, I see what you mean – Heath will have to change to get on with us, but we’ll have to change too, to adapt to him.”

“Will it make a difference to your own prospects?”

“It might, sir. My brother Nick has been saying he needs me to help him run the ranch, but now if he has Heath to do that – if it works out that way – he won’t. I might study medicine. – But that’s not decided yet, of course.”

Charlie saved his questions until they were up in his room again. “How did your brothers take it? Don’t tell me they put out the welcome mat!”

“Well, not at first. They accused him of being a fraud, and worse. Tried to buy him off so Mother wouldn’t have to hear about it – they should’ve known that wouldn’t work. But Jarrod started to think there was something in it, and then Mother put her foot down. Nick wasn’t happy, but he can’t stand up to Mother, and now he’s coming around.”

“Your mother sounds like a – a formidable character.”

“She is.”

“But what convinced her he was telling the truth?”

“She says as soon as she had a good look at him. Of course she knew Father when he was young, she’d see a resemblance easier than the rest of us. Now I’ve seen it, he’s more like Father than any of us, unless it’s Audra.”

“I thought you told me you look like your father.”

“Well, I do – at least, more than like Mother. But not as much as Heath does. – Father was a big man, too, and Heath’s nearly as big. I’ll never be that.”

Charlie laughed. “Poor little runt! You’re a good two inches taller than me!”

“Well, you are a runt!”

“Come on, then. See if you can beat me at tennis!”

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Saturday – at the ranch

Victoria left Audra and Silas doing the Saturday work and walked out past the corrals, letting herself through the gate and going on to the little house where they had lived before the big house was built. Where they had lived when Tom went to Strawberry.

She had brought the key to the front door, but before she opened it she walked all the way around the house, remembering. There had been her garden; there Tom had made the bench under the oak tree; there Jarrod and Nick had mounted their ponies. There had been the old stable, long ago torn down, where she and two Mexican cowboys had taken care of the livestock while Tom was away. Memories crowded on her as she looked around.

She unlocked the door and went in. There was some furniture, plain beds and tables furnished to a married foreman some years ago and left behind when he departed. That family’s traces were all over the house, but she could see past them to her own time there, even to the time before that when Tom had built the house with the help of a couple of neighbors.

After Tom’s death she had come here in her grief, and found some comfort, as if he were closer to her there. But now she found nothing that helped much. He had gone away from here, and come back after she had all but given him up, and he had not told her the truth about what had kept him so long.

She gave way to tears for a few minutes, here where she would not be disturbed. When she went back to the big house she was once again calm and in control.

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Saturday – Stockton

On Saturday Jarrod was in court until late afternoon. Remembering that Gene was due back on the 8:45 that night, he decided to have dinner at the hotel, perhaps play some poker at his favorite saloon, and meet the train. A little relaxation among his own friends, that was what he wanted, a diversion from concentration on family affairs.

Jim Scanlon, who would have been his first choice as a companion, was a happily married man who always went home as early as he could. Phil Archer, who was a stimulating companion if not often a friendly one, was out of town. However, Dick Walters and Isaiah Tillman, lawyers who had been representing the other side in the civil case, were happy to join him for dinner. It turned out that they were no less curious about Barkley family business than the rest of the town, and not shy about offering free advice.

“So it seems your father wasn’t the perfect husband after all,” Isaiah Tillman began as soon as they had given their orders, attempting to pass off as a joke what might have been on offensive remark.

“Did anyone ever say he was? He was a good man, but he wasn’t any more perfect than the rest of us.” Jarrod spoke lightly in his turn, though he sighed inwardly; he was tired of saying the same things over and over.

“So he was involved with a woman in a mining camp – ?”

“We don’t know exactly what happened. We do know Heath is here now.”

“A stranger who rides in and claims to be your brother? And where has he been all this time?”

“You’d have to ask him.” He hoped they would not. He tried to talk of other things.

“I’d hire Pinkertons if I were you, Jarrod,” Dick Walters declared over the soup. “They’d get to the bottom of it soon enough!”

“The bottom of what, exactly?”

“Where this Heath came from, what he’s done, if he has any record as a criminal – ”

“For all you know,” added Isaiah Tillman, “he could be a cold-blooded killer.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“Pinkertons could tell you for certain.”

“Much as I respect the capabilities of Pinkertons, Isaiah, I don’t think I’ll send them on a fishing expedition into my brother’s past life.”

“I suppose you know all the facts about his birth, who his mother was, and so on?”

“Not everything I might like to know, but enough for present purposes. And what we would most like to find out, Pinkertons can’t help us with.” Again he changed the subject.

When they had done some justice to the main course, Tillman asked, “Do you know for a fact this Heath is your father’s son, or are you only going on resemblance and plausibility?”

“What do any of us have to go on but resemblance and plausibility? It’s not something that can be scientifically proved, even in this day and age.” Jarrod had thought about that, what would constitute proof beyond a shadow of a doubt, but there was no answer in the science of the eighteen-seventies.

“You and I have our mothers’ characters to go on.”

It wasn’t quite the situation he had talked about with Nick and Heath in his office; no fists would be engaged here over the tablecloth. Still, it was close enough. He smiled falsely. “As does Heath. I’ll defend his mother’s character too.”

“In short, the answer is no. You don’t know it for a fact.”

“I think it so likely, then, that it’s beyond debate. The more I see of him the more I believe it.”

“Even if it’s true,” said Dick Walters, taking another tack as he pushed his plate aside, “you’re under no obligation to take him in. A bastard has no rights.”

“I’m aware of the legal situation. We, as a family, consider he has moral rights and we have a moral obligation.”

“Oh, well, if you’re going to talk of moral obligations! The law has nothing to say to moral obligations.”

“Then look at it this way, gentlemen – and I hope you would give this advice to someone else in a similar situation. Nothing could be more disastrous for the Barkleys, as a family, than deep disagreement among us over something that goes to the heart of who we are and what we stand for. It’s in our best interest to pursue a course of action that we can all agree on, to do what we think right. That happens to be what we are doing.”

Dessert was served. “You may live to regret it,” said Isaiah Tillman, tucking into his pie.

“Possibly. Or possibly I may live to be very glad of it. Heath impresses me as a good man to have at my back.”

“Well, you’re taking a risk.”

“Life is full of risks. This seems to me a relatively good one.” But while he spoke confidently, he pictured these same men someday reminding him that they had warned him.

He was not sorry when they were interrupted.

Martin Erskine, the newspaperman, came into the dining room alone, waved at someone he evidently meant to join, but took a detour to Jarrod’s table first. After checking some facts about the case they had been involved in that day, he remarked casually, “I see your brothers are in town too, Jarrod.”

Jarrod, distracted, started to object, “Gene won’t be here till the train comes in,” and then remembered and covered himself by finishing, “but Nick and Heath may well be here. Where’d you see them?”

“Harry’s, where else? Wasn’t speakin’ to them, though; was already late for dinner. Have to go now.” He ambled off to join his friends.

Jarrod reconsidered his plans and decided he should join his brothers at Harry’s saloon instead of playing poker with fellow lawyers. Fortunately he had not committed himself beyond dinner.

When he had extricated himself from his unsatisfactory companions, he made his way up and across the street, enjoying his cigar in the open air. The centre of Stockton had already altered from its usual weekday bustle to the dangerous unpredictability of Saturday night, as cowboys with pay in their pockets began to spend it in the saloons and the brothels. In the couple of hours before train time, anything might happen.

He saw a number of Barkley hands on the street, but the sight was not as reassuring as usual. They could generally be counted on to back Nick, and obey Nick, but though no one had said so, Jarrod had an impression that many of them were resentful of Heath.

Raucous noise spilled from Harry’s saloon. Somewhere inside someone was playing the tinny piano, but no one seemed to be listening. Men in working clothes looked askance at Jarrod’s well-cut suit, but most of them knew who he was and left him alone.

Nick and Heath were drinking beer at a table with three other Valley ranchers and a stranger. They looked up in surprise when he joined them.

“This isn’t your normal hangout, lawyer,” shouted Nick over the din.

“Tired of the company I was in,” said Jarrod as he sat down opposite his brothers. “Evening, Mr. Hamilton. Caleb. George. Don’t go on my account, gentlemen. I’m only waiting for the train; Gene’s coming back from Sacramento.” He turned to the fourth man, who had sat down just ahead of him. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Jarrod Barkley.”

“Another Barkley brother? My name is Fredericks.” He looked like a gambler, and proved he was, producing a deck and shuffling professionally. “I was asking these gentlemen if they’d care for a few hands of poker. You have time to join us before the train comes in.”

Jarrod caught Nick’s eye. It was not exactly what they would have chosen for that poker game they had talked of, but it might do. Heath produced a few dollars as the others did, without comment, and looked at his cards as if he knew what they were worth. His face was unreadable, his eyes quietly watchful, his bets prudent. After half an hour Caleb Smith had lost twenty dollars and left the game. Before an hour was up Ebenezer Hamilton departed five dollars ahead. Unlike them, George Roper did not know when to quit; he was soon out of cash and writing an IOU to Nick, who had taken the pot. Fredericks and Heath were both a little ahead, Nick was leading, and Jarrod had lost ten dollars.

George Roper pushed back reluctantly. “Reckon I’m done for tonight.”

Fredericks said, “Long’s your credit’s good with these gentlemen, it’s good with me.”

“The luck’s bound to turn soon, George,” Nick encouraged him.

“Naw. Never gamble on borrowed money, that’s what my pa always told me. Time I was headin’ for home anyways.” But he hung around to watch the next few hands from the sidelines.

After two or three more hands, Jarrod looked at his watch. “I’ll be going after the next one,” he told them. But the next hand turned out to be the most interesting of the game.

Nick saw a chance to win a big stake at some risk, and characteristically took the risk. Jarrod folded, but Fredericks raised and Heath stayed in. At the showdown, Nick showed three of a kind, Fredericks had a flush, but Heath laid down four threes to take the pot, which put him in the lead overall. Jarrod caught Nick’s eye again as he rose to go. “Don’t bet the ranch, boys,” he told them on his way out.

He collected his rig and Gene’s saddle horse from the livery and reached the station just ahead of the train. Gene was not surprised to see him.

“Figured somebody’d be in town tonight.”

“Nick and Heath are here too. Left ’em playing poker at Harry’s.”

“Did you? Why don’t we join them?”

“I’ve already lost fourteen dollars, and I’ve had enough of Harry’s.”

Gene laughed. “And you don’t want to corrupt your little brother, right? How are Heath and Nick doing?”

“When I left, they were doing fine. Heath plays pretty well – there was a professional gambler at the table, and I didn’t think he played any better than Heath. Nick had some good cards, but he’ll likely come home a loser, he doesn’t know when to quit.”

They had to drive the length of the main street again on their way out of town. As they passed Harry’s, a man mounted his horse and came to join them. They recognized Heath.

“Howdy, Gene,” he said, turning to ride alongside.

“Howdy, Heath. Jarrod said you were winning at poker.”

“Won enough.”

“Nick still playing?” asked Jarrod.

“Reckon he got other plans.”

This seemed very likely. Nick often did not come home until Sunday morning, and never explained what he had been doing. Either he had not invited Heath to join him in his wilder amusements, or Heath had seen fit to decline – Jarrod and Gene could only guess which.

When they were well out of town, secure from interruption or eavesdroppers, and their way clear in the moonlight, Jarrod asked, “Heath, did you ever make your living playing poker?”

Heath did not answer immediately, Gene muttered a protest, and Jarrod began to think it had been a mistake to ask. “Not that it’s any of my business,” he added smoothly, “but I was impressed. You play very well.”

Heath said at last, “Been times I was down on my luck, winnin’ some money helped out. So you might say I did.”

“But you never took it up as a professional,” Gene surmised.

“No way to live.”

“How did you learn?” asked Jarrod, taking care to keep his tone light.

“Here and there.”

“It’s not so much learning,” Gene argued, “as having the ability to figure the odds.”

Jarrod did not think so. Heath’s skill was not in calculating odds – though he probably could do that as well as most – but in reading men while concealing his own thoughts. But that was a lesson Gene would have to learn for himself.

It was not only over poker that Heath concealed his thoughts. Would he ever become more open with the family?

At home, while Heath looked after the horses, Jarrod and Gene went inside, where they found Victoria and Audra busy with their sewing. They welcomed Gene as if he had been gone much more than a day and a half. Evading Audra’s questions, he said, “Mother, I have a message for you from Mrs. Mitchell.”

“Oh? I don’t believe I’ve met Mrs. Mitchell. What’s the message?”

“Well, I explained about Heath, you see – ”

Jarrod broke in. “Was that necessary? Granted these people are your friends, but they don’t know the rest of us, and if they ever meet Heath they might not even realize his position in the family is, er, unusual – if you hadn’t told them.”

“I was explaining why I didn’t want to stay longer – I thought it wouldn’t do any harm for them to know, and Charlie is just about my best friend.”

“All right. But you needn’t explain about Heath to everyone at Berkeley.”

“I suppose not!”

“But what is the message?” Victoria returned to the main point.

“Oh, yes. You see, Mrs. Mitchell was married twice before Mr. Mitchell, she has children by all three marriages, as well as five stepchildren by Mr. Mitchell’s first marriage.”

“Oh, my.”

“How interesting!” exclaimed Audra.

“So she said, from her own experience, that it’s not easy to make one family out of people who grew up apart, and you’ll have to be patient while we all learn to get along.”

“With a family like that, she should know. Thank you, Eugene, I will think about it.”

She did think about it, when she had gone to bed, and realized that the peculiarity of her own situation had made her overlook all the parallel cases. If the unknown Mrs. Mitchell had coped successfully with three marriages and five stepchildren, surely Victoria Barkley could cope with the arrival of her husband’s son.

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Sunday

Nick returned sometime in the early hours of the morning, so silently that Audra teased him at breakfast. “You can be quiet when you want to, Nick. Why don’t you do it more often?”

Nick grumpily muttered something about not wanting to spoil her beauty sleep.

Jarrod, deducing that the night had not gone well, distracted their sister’s attention by asking who was going to church. Victoria went almost every Sunday, had formerly taught a Sunday School class, and was currently the only woman on the board of stewards. Usually Audra went too, and took turns teaching a class of tiny tots. Jarrod, having been asked to take a class of his own and declined, went about half the time, while Nick and Gene went when they felt like it or could not find an excuse. But today, it turned out, they would all go, to present a solid front around Heath on this occasion at least.

Or, as Gene suggested while he waited with Jarrod and Nick in the foyer, not to miss the fun.

“Fun!” Nick snorted. “Not much fun if you ask me!”

“Well, I missed whatever happened Friday. I’m not going to miss this. – What did happen?”

Jarrod had only begun to tell him when their mother appeared, followed by Audra. “Later.”

Heath came downstairs behind the ladies, in his new brown suit with a white shirt and collar and a slightly crooked tie.

“You look like a cowboy dressed up for his weddin’,” Nick told him unkindly.

“Nonsense, Nick!” said Victoria. “Heath, you look very nice.”

“Did I get the tie on proper?” Heath asked anxiously.

Audra went to his rescue. “It’s decent, but I can fix it better if you like.” Her deft fingers rearranged the tie and the handkerchief in his pocket. “There, you’re just fine.”

He smiled at her, and Jarrod noticed for the first time that he had a rather endearing smile. “You’re mighty fine yourself, little sister.”

Unlike Nick, Jarrod did not comment on the suit, but he wondered privately how soon he would be able to get his new brother to visit his own tailor, and what that visit would be like.

The Stockton Community Church was a modest white building on a quiet side street, not the largest or handsomest church in town, but, on the whole, the one with the richest and most influential supporters. It had been established before the Gold Rush by early Protestant settlers, who had agreed then to sink their denominational differences and form a single congregation. In more recent years newcomers of various denominations had built churches of their own, and often quarreled bitterly with one another over tiny differences, while the Community Church stood for broad-minded charity to all. It was only to be expected that it also had snob appeal that brought to it some who did not share those views.

Tom and Victoria Barkley, who had been raised in different denominations, had found the Community Church a good compromise in which to raise their children. Especially since Tom’s death, Victoria had gone even further in broad-mindedness, making many friends among the Catholic missionaries of the area and supporting their work, like the orphanage with which Audra was so involved – an attitude most Protestants found incomprehensible.

Jeremiah Travis too had been an early settler, though Amelia, his childhood sweetheart, had only come out from Boston to marry him some years after the Gold Rush. Jeremiah was now part owner of a shipping line that plied between Stockton and San Francisco; his partner at the San Francisco end did the greater part of the work, but relied on Jeremiah to keep things running smoothly in Stockton, a job well suited to an elderly man who liked nothing better than to talk to other men. He was a familiar sight on the street or the wharf, a jolly fat man with huge side-whiskers. Whether on purpose or by accident, he had not encountered the Barkley brothers in town on Friday. Amelia would not have liked it.

Today, however, all the Travises appeared at church, filing in after the Barkleys were already seated. Gene whispered in Heath’s ear who they were. Jarrod, at the outside end of the pew, looked up hoping to catch Meg’s eye as they went by, but she was not looking at him. In fact, she sat through the entire service, two rows ahead on the other side, without once looking around. Meg’s younger sisters, Pauline and Violet, were not so restrained, however, and stole a good many peeps at the Barkley pew. They were not the only young ladies who did so, and Audra, keenly aware, thought they liked what they saw.

Mr. Tebbett preached on the theme that all have sinned, all need forgiveness, and forgiveness benefits the forgiver as well as the one forgiven. The application was clear enough to everyone who paid attention. When it became clear to Nick, he very nearly made a scene, but his mother’s fingers gripping his arm kept him quiet. Audra blinked back tears. None of the others reacted visibly – Gene, at the inside end next to Heath, could not decide if Heath had not quite understood or if he was hiding his feelings.

When the service was over, Audra took Heath’s arm and began introducing him to her friends as they made their way out. Some of the young ladies were barely polite, others made a point of welcoming him and hoping he would like Stockton, mostly reflecting the attitudes taken by their parents. The younger Travis girls did not come near, but Meg, a little flushed, pushed ahead of her family to shake Heath’s hand and say she hoped to know him better.

Jarrod was beside his mother as she faced her community, brushing off shows of sympathy and evading intrusive questions. Nevertheless he saw Meg’s gesture and was glad; it seemed to justify his good opinion of her. A few minutes later, when the congregation spread into the churchyard and Victoria took Gene’s arm instead of his, he had a chance to say, “Thanks for welcoming Heath.”

Meg’s dark eyes did not quite meet his. “I wasn’t going to. Mother won’t. But it – it isn’t his fault, is it? He must have suffered enough.”

“Will your mother be angry?”

“It doesn’t matter. – Oh, Jarrod, what a dreadful thing to have happened! It must be agony for your poor mother!”

“It was a shock, of course, but it may turn out well enough in the end.”

“I don’t see how you can be so calm about it – such a disgrace, everyone talking! – Excuse me, there’s Father with the buggy; I must be going.”

He watched her go. She had not quite disappointed him, but she had not quite measured up to his hopes either. “Disgrace,” she had said. Maybe it was hard to find the right word, but he was sure “disgrace” was not it, not nearly strong enough, even missing the main point. As if being found out were what troubled them!

Victoria steered Gene over to some of the friends she really valued, Mayor Wallace and his wife, a woman as tiny as he was massive – Victoria sometimes joked that one reason she liked Sophie Wallace was that Sophie made her feel so tall – who had been a leader of Stockton society since the town was founded. Two of her grandsons were among Audra’s numerous beaus.

“So is this the Heath I’ve been hearing about?” asked Sophie, peering up at Gene. She refused to wear glasses in public.

“This is Eugene,” Victoria answered, speaking distinctly, for Sophie’s hearing was not too good either. “You haven’t seen him since last winter, I think.”

“Oh, yes, the youngest boy. You behaving yourself at college, Eugene?”

“As best I can, Mrs. Wallace.”

“But I know you. It’s Heath I want to meet. Where is he?”

“Eugene, find Heath and bring him here. He’s likely with Audra. – Audra’s taken him under her wing, Sophie. I believe they’ve become good friends already.”

“Take care, Victoria! Take care where that could lead!”

Victoria noted that her friend’s mind was still as sharp as ever. “I know, Sophie. Nothing could be worse. But I think it’s all right.”

Sophie’s gloved hand touched her arm. “Are you all right, dear? Can I help?”

“Thank you. I will be all right.”

“Jarrod told Dave, you’re sure.”

“Yes. I’ve been sure since I first saw him clearly.”

Sophie’s husband had drifted away a little while the women talked in low voices, but he came back when Gene, Heath, and Audra approached, and held out his hand to Heath. “Met you at the hotel the other day, Heath – Dave Wallace. My wife wants to meet you.”

“Howdy, Mrs. Wallace.” No doubt forewarned of her deafness, Heath spoke a little louder than usual.

“Bend down, young man. Let me see you without cricking my neck.”

Heath went down on one knee to bring his eyes level with the old lady’s. “That better?”

She looked at him until he blushed red. “A Barkley, sure enough,” she pronounced at last. “Get up, get up. So you’ll be the third son now, and Eugene will be the fourth. Do I have that right, Victoria?”

“That’s right,” Victoria confirmed the count, but her thoughts were in a whirl. She had not begun to think of Heath as her own son, only as Tom’s, but suddenly Sophie’s words made it seem possible.

Sophie turned back to Heath. “I have a word of advice for you, young man. Give as good as you get, good or bad – that’s the only way.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Be off with you now, meet some more of the pretty girls.” When he had gone, with Gene and Audra disputing over which of their friends to approach next, Sophie winked at Victoria. “He’s worth some trouble, dear, or I miss my guess. Make him your own, you’ll never be sorry.”

“I’ll try. Yes, I will try.”

“Another thing, I hear Amelia Travis doesn’t approve of you taking him in.”

“Oh, my. I’m afraid I wasn’t very nice to Amelia the other day, so she has some reason to be angry. I’m not quite ready to make up with her, either, though Mr. Tebbett would say I should.”

“I expect you had provocation. You leave Amelia to me, dear. I’ll bring her around. – Victoria, get that boy to bring you to tea someday.”

“I will – I don’t know when, though. The plan is, he’ll go with Nick week after next when they drive cattle to San Diego – they’ll be gone about five weeks. I doubt it will be before that.”

“How is Nick taking this?”

“Not easily, but I think he’s beginning to see how much help Heath will be to him.”

“Hm! – I won’t keep you any longer, dear, but I wish you well.”

They kissed cheeks and parted.

“Sure enough, Pauline didn’t ask me to her birthday party – in fact, I wasn’t speaking to Pauline at all – but Rosie Parker invited me to help plan the fall social, and that’s much better. And the Stullmans are giving a private dance on Friday, they have some cousins visiting from Denver, and they not only asked me to bring all the brothers I can, they asked Heath specially and he accepted. You know what nice folks they are. So that’s a start….”

Victoria had given Audra the reins to drive home, and replied only vaguely to her chatter. She was busy with her thoughts. It seemed to her that she had been in pain ever since she had seen Heath, that she had been functioning only because she needed to do her duty, to make things right for him, while her own heart was aching sorely. And now, thanks to Sophie, or perhaps simply to the passing of time, she believed she would love Heath and he would love her.

She remembered how she had felt when Tom Barkley first came into her life. They had met in midwinter, at a house party in the country. She had been the new schoolteacher, he had been working some miles away. They had danced to fiddle music on the crowded floor, she had perched on one end of a table while he bent over her talking, they had arranged to meet again. In the big sleigh going back to her boarding-house under the winter stars, while her companions sang away the miles, she had been silent, but her silence had masked exhilaration as she made new plans for her life, plans that included a tall fair man and a home in the faraway West.

It was not the same, of course it was not the same. Heath could never be more to her than a son – but she had found so much joy in her sons, the chance to have another was a joy in itself. It was odd, that she found herself thinking of how to woo and win a son.

Oh, she would have her times yet, of jealousy and anger. She was not reconciled to the situation. But she could begin to think of Heath as Tom’s last gift to her.

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On Sundays Silas always went to his own church, a tiny building some miles beyond Stockton, setting off shortly after breakfast with the buggy that was Jarrod’s on weekdays and a quiet old horse, and returning late in the afternoon. As soon as Victoria reached home, she left it to her sons to put away her own carriage and went to the kitchen, putting a big apron over her Sunday dress. With some help from Audra, she quickly prepared a plentiful and appetizing cold lunch.

Jarrod and Gene sat down in the suits they had worn to church, but Nick and Heath had lost no time in changing to their working clothes. Victoria eyed them sternly. “I hope you two aren’t planning to do ranch work this afternoon.”

The Barkleys were not strict Sabbath-keepers on principle, but it was the ranchhands’ day off and except in emergencies they usually did only the necessary chores. It was a day for visiting, for quiet amusements, or for catching up on lost sleep.

“Thought we might ride up to the high pasture. Heath hasn’t seen it yet, and we gotta drive cattle down from there next week.”

“Nicholas, you know very well it’s a two hour ride each way, just to get there and back, and it’s past one o’clock now. Go on a day when you can leave early in the morning.”

“Well, we might have a look at the water holes over on the south side.”

“Find something else to do, dear. I’m going to have a talk with Heath.” Heath looked at her, startled, and she gave him a friendly smile. “Yes, Heath. You’ve been here almost a week, and we haven’t had a chance to talk privately.”

After lunch Audra and Gene did the dishes, Jarrod retired to the library, and Nick went riding alone, he did not say where. Victoria took Heath out to the garden swing, where two people could sit opposite each other in comfort and sway gently back and forth with only a little effort, under the shade of a large tree.

“Mighty nice spot,” he offered when he had taken it in.

“Your father built this swing, about ten years ago. He liked to sit where you’re sitting, on warm days like this. And twenty years ago he planted the tree.”

Heath said nothing. After a short hesitation, he went on pushing the swing steadily.

“Does it bother you when we talk about him that way?”

“Can’t ‘spect you not to. Don’t ‘spect me to answer, is all.”

“We understand, you’ll never be able to feel about him as we do who knew him. I hope that in time you’ll find it in your heart to forgive him – I can’t ask for more than that.”

“Like the Reverend said in church.”

“Yes. – I have to forgive him too, and so do his other children – and we will, in our different ways, because we loved him. It’s you, and your mother, who have – who had – the most to forgive. It’s you who had no reason – no chance – to love him.”

She had hoped he might tell her something about his mother in response, but he did not. After a pause she continued, “Heath, I can’t take your mother’s place in your life, but I would like you to think of me as a second mother. I would like to think of you as one of my sons.”

“Dunno why you should.”

“‘Should’ hasn’t much to do with feelings. That is how I feel – that I want you to be one of my family.” He was silent again, and she realized she was pushing too hard. “We have time, Heath. Only a few days now, before you and Nick leave on the drive to San Diego, but after you come back, as much time as we need. I’m not asking you for anything today, but I want you to know how I feel.”

“Thanks.” He did not sound very grateful, and she began to wonder if she had frightened him off. If he chose not to come back from San Diego, what would she do? She cast around for something else to say.

“How is it going between you and Nick?”

“All right.”

At least, she knew, they had worked together for four days without coming to blows. Nick was still torn between devotion to his father’s memory and growing respect for Heath, and their relationship was still full of rocks and pitfalls, but it was improving.

“And the hands?” She had been aware that all was not well there, but no one had told her details.

He shrugged. “Not too bad.”

She needed to have him trust her, and he was still far from doing that. Or was it only the way men had of not bringing women into differences among themselves? She had tried to train her own sons out of it, but with little success.

“Some of the men have been with us a long time, we know them well, and trust them. Others – they come and go.” She named some of the old-timers. “Sam Williams has been here for seventeen or eighteen years – he’s not fit now for a long trail drive, so he’ll be in charge of the four men I have left when you all go away…. John McColl – ‘Mac’, they call him – came as foreman two years ago, from near Sacramento. He’s reliable in details, and he knows his work, but I can’t say how he will act in a crisis. The men obey Nick, and in Nick’s absence they obey McColl, but I don’t know how loyal they are to him – their loyalty is to Nick. That’s something you should keep in mind – don’t rely on. McColl too far.”

“Mm.”

She smiled. “Now what does that mean?”

He took his time finding words. “You’re talkin’ to me like I was one o’ the family.”

“Heath, you are one of the family.”

“Mm.”

“Don’t the others talk to you as if you are?”

“Some. Reckon it takes time.”

“Of course it does. Part of being a family is shared experience – the things we’ve done together, the things we remember, the jokes, the arguments, the tears. It will take time for you to share enough experiences with us, or we with you. In the meantime, we’ll share stories with you. – And we’ll listen to any stories you feel like sharing with us.”

“Mm.”

“And of course we’ll never be able to share all the stories. There’ll always be things you and Nick, say, don’t know about each other, that you would know if you’d grown up together. But – if I ever have daughters-in-law, or a son-in-law, they would start off as strangers, and grow into the family. So I know you can too.”

He nodded as if he understood that analogy, and a wry little smile appeared on his face – the first smile he had offered her. “It is sorta like gettin’ married. Movin’ in with folks that was brought up different.”

“But without some of the nicer parts of getting married.”

That actually made him laugh, and prompted him to tell a little story about a cowboy acquaintance of his who had got married and been quite shocked to find he had to change his bachelor habits. “Ward, he never changed his socks more’n once a month, and Nora, she made him change twice a week at least. – Real nice woman – too good for him.”

“What became of them?” She wondered if he had been in love with the woman he called Nora.

“Dunno. Been a while.”

No, he had not been in love with Nora. “Did you ever think of getting married yourself? – That’s quite a personal question, you don’t have to answer if you’d rather not.”

“Thought of it,” he admitted. “Never worked out right.”

“There’s no one right now, you want to marry?”

“If there was,” he said simply, “I wouldn’t’ve come here.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision for you – to come here.”

“Never meant to tell none o’you – just wanted to have a look, see what sort o’folks you was. This ain’t what I planned at all. Only Nick got me so riled, that night – ”

“Heath, I’m glad we found out. And even if you hadn’t said a word, I would have – asked questions, at least, if I ever saw you clearly. Though I suppose you couldn’t know that.”

He said nothing, only rocked the swing a little harder. She saw that she had been pressing him too hard again, and moved on to easier topics, talking about the orchards that were her special interest – some of the trees she had planted with her own hands – and the promising dairy operation she sponsored on some land nearer town. When the sun came around to cut into their shade, they went indoors for chilled lemonade, and then she let him go and went up to her room to lie on the bed and think it all over again.

Jarrod looked up from his book when Heath entered the library. “You and Mother have a good talk?”

Heath nodded without speaking and took up Natural Wealth of California. Jarrod had already noted that his bookmark was some fifty pages in, so he must have done more reading than had appeared. “How are you finding the book?”

“All right. – Some o’ the places, I been there, and it’s nice to read about ‘em.”

“And easier to remember than the ones you never heard of before.”

“Yeah.”

“You skipping over some of it?”

“Some.”

They both read for a while. Jarrod, observing covertly, saw Heath’s lips moving as he read, saw him flip back a couple of pages and read them over again, saw him actually move forward three or four pages at a stretch without apparent skipping, saw him take out a well-worn notebook and a pencil stub to make a note of something. Evidently his half-brother was literate and capable of absorbing information from a book, but was not a fluent reader – most likely long words and complex sentences gave him trouble. Looking for a tactful way to help, he noticed in his own book a word he was not sure about, and got up to consult the big dictionary.

“Ah. – I’m glad we have the dictionary here, I sometimes run across a word I don’t know.”

“Didn’t see that afore. I got some words to look for too.” He looked for five or six words, fumbling a little in finding them, but evidently succeeding. Jarrod was pleased with himself.

-------------

After finishing the dishes, Audra and Gene had seen that Heath was still with their mother. “We shouldn’t get in the way,” Audra decided. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“Where to?”

“I haven’t been to Father’s grave since the day I met Heath there. I should go – see to the flowers.”

“I haven’t been there since I got home. All right. Let’s get changed.”

When they were on their way, Audra said, “I’ve been so angry at Father. I didn’t want to do anything for him. But Mother would want me to.”

“He did wrong,” Gene agreed, “but he was our father all the same – and we had nothing to complain of.”

“Gene, will you tell me the truth about something?”

“Maybe.”

“You said, he did wrong. What do you think he did wrong, exactly?”

Gene was flustered by the question. “He – er—he shouldn’t – he should – Well, at any rate, he should’ve checked, he should’ve found out about Heath, and taken care of him.”

“And that’s your answer? Is that all?”

“Obviously he shouldn’t have – have gone with her in the first place! But if he hadn’t, there wouldn’t be any Heath at all. Is that what you want?”

“Not – not in hindsight, no. But you don’t have hindsight when things happen. You can only think of what’s right at the time. Who knows what the consequences of any act might be in twenty years? – If you, or Jarrod, or Nick – if you fathered a child out of wedlock, we might be glad later, but it would still be wrong at the time. So – I wish Father hadn’t done wrong, for his sake, even though if wishes came true, I wouldn’t wish that now, for Heath’s sake. Did that make sense?”

Gene was impressed; he was not used to his sister thinking so seriously. “It made a lot of sense. And I, for one, will take it to heart.” Whatever that meant.

“As for the other part, I do wish he’d taken care of Heath. I wish Heath had always been here.”

“Who knows what that would have led to?”

When they came in sight of the trees near the grave, they were surprised to see a saddled horse grazing nearby, and then they recognized Coco. “Nick’s here,” they told each other at the same moment.

Nick was sitting under a tree with his hat tipped over his eyes, chewing on a stem of grass and looking almost asleep, though it was a safe guess that he had known exactly who was coming before they saw him. Without moving he drawled, “Don’t let me get in your way.”

“I came to see to the flowers,” said Audra sweetly, and went to work. The flowers that had bloomed so well only a week ago were now suffering from the hot dry weather, more than from her neglect. There was no convenient source of water close enough to use in the dry season.

Gene removed his hat and stood for a minute or two in an attitude of respect, but it did him no good. He put his hat back on and went to join Nick. Presently he said, too softly for Audra to hear, “Wonder what he would’ve told us if he’d been alive when Heath came.”

Nick took a minute before he answered. “Whatever it was, it’d have to be good. He’d have a lotta explainin’ to do.”

“So you believe it? That Heath’s our brother? You didn’t, at first.”

“Can’t see any way round it. God knows I’ve tried.”

“Then you have to make the best of it, don’t you? He’ll be a help to you on the ranch – more than I would ever be.”

“Most likely, yeah. Not sure yet – he’s made some mistakes you’d never make. – Why, what’re you gonna do instead?”

“Go into medicine, maybe. Be a doctor.”

“I hope I never have to be your patient!”

“We can agree on that, big brother! I’ve seen what sort of a patient you are!”

Nick’s lips twitched, a shadow of a laugh, but he spoke soberly. “About Heath. He’s a good worker, as good a cowhand as I ever hired, and he knows horses as well as I do – maybe better. He don’t know much about the farmin’ side, but like Jarrod says, he might know more about minin’ than any of us.”

“I don’t see a problem with that.”

“He’s not doin’ so well with the men.”

“Has he ever been in charge of men before? Won’t he have to learn that, same as I still have to learn the right way to swing a rope?”

“Could be. But I don’t know how to teach him. – Hell, I don’t know how to talk to him!”

“And some of the men are – resentful, you might say. They don’t like it that he’s put over them.”

“It’s none of their business to like it or not like it! I say who gives the orders on this ranch!”

“You, Nick. You give the orders.”

“You’re damn right I do!”

“And you give orders to Heath. You don’t act like you respect him.”

“Don’t you start tellin’ me how to do my job, little brother!” Nick got up and whistled to Coco.

When he had ridden away, Gene went back to Audra, who had almost finished her plant-tending.

“Why did Nick go away in a huff?” she asked.

“He thought I was trying to criticize the way he does things. Well, I was. But I wish once in a while he’d listen to me!”

“Talk to Jarrod. Or Mother. He listens to them -- sometimes.”

“Wonder if he’ll ever learn to listen to Heath?”

“Heath doesn’t say much, but what he does say is worth hearing, I think.” Audra looked around. “That’s all I can do now. Let’s go.” They started toward their horses, and then she turned back again. Gene looked around in time to see her press her hands to her mouth, and heard a sob.

“Audra – ?”

She gave way, clutching at him. “Oh, Gene!”

“Now, now.” He held her, patted her back. “There, there.”

Presently she became a little calmer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to – Oh, Gene, it was as if I’d lost him all over again!”

“Because he wasn’t all you thought he was. I know.”

They sat down together under the tree where Nick had sat. “Don’t you feel that way?”

“Maybe I was more prepared for it. Audra, it’s a lot to ask of anyone, to be perfect.”

“Perfect? – I knew he was – loud, sometimes, and rough – like Nick – and I knew he had a temper if things didn’t go his way. I didn’t think he was perfect! But I never thought he’d – ”

“I know. I know.”

“Heath must have thought he was so wicked!”

“Heath never had a chance to know how much he cared about things. He would’ve cared about this – nobody would’ve cared more, if he’d known. He couldn’t have known.”

“No. He couldn’t have known.” Drying her eyes, she went back to the grave and knelt long enough to whisper a prayer.

-------------

When Gene and Audra rode back into the yard they saw that visitors had just arrived. Wally and Jenny Miles had been neighbours and friends of the Barkleys from the earliest days, and it was not really surprising that they had come, shortly before Sunday dinner and confident of their welcome, to inspect the newcomer.

“Oh, dear!” Audra exclaimed, knowing that Mrs. Miles would be shocked to see her in trousers. “Wait here, let them get inside.” When the coast was clear she slipped in the back door and upstairs to change. Gene went on into the living room in time to find introductions in progress.

Wally Miles looked sideways at Jarrod as if to check on his attitude first, then shook hands with Heath, and said, “Well, you are like Tom when he was young, no mistake there.”

“So they tell me.” They all sat down except Heath, who stood leaning on the mantelpiece.

“Hear you was born at Strawberry.”

“That’s right. You been there?”

“Just passed through a few times, never had no dealings there. Wouldn’t know nobody.”

When she saw he had no more to add, Victoria asked, “Wally, did you know anything of this? Tom would’ve been as likely to tell you as anyone.”

Wally shook his head. “He never told me a word nor a hint, Victoria, I swear. I had no idea there’d been another woman since you were married. Before that, well, I remember him talkin’ once about a girl he nearly married back East.”

“The one who married the blacksmith instead?”

“Oh, you know ‘bout that.”

“She was his first love. He told me she – ” Her voice caught, and she started again. “He said she was the only other woman he ever cared for. But that was soon after we were married. I don’t remember him saying the same thing later on, now I think of it. Not after – ”

Jarrod could not remember that he had ever heard the story of his father’s first love. “When did he tell you about her, Mr. Miles?”

“Oh, lemme see, can’t say exactly. When we used to run our herds together takin’ ‘em to market in Sacramento, sometimes we camped together. More’n twenty years ago, that’s all I can say for sure, before Evan was born – that’s our son, Heath, he’s away at school. – Well, it just shows, no matter how well you think you know a man – ! – Sorry, Victoria, I got no business sayin’ that.”

“It’s very true, Wally.”

“So you’re takin’ Heath into your family. That’s like the generous woman you are.”

Jarrod said, “We’re just recognizing the facts, Mr. Miles.”

“You’re lucky,” Mrs. Miles said abruptly, not speaking to Heath. “You don’t know how lucky you are.” No one responded directly; Mrs. Miles often said inexplicable things. Instead Wally launched into small talk that lasted until Audra came downstairs dressed for dinner, and Nick came in from outside.

-------------

The Second Week

During the following week the Barkley Ranch returned almost to normal. Neighbors visited again, business was done, horses were trained. Jarrod was immersed in a case, and Gene stole all the time he could reading for his course. Audra sewed shirts for Heath, while Victoria resumed her usual activities. Nick and Heath were busy bringing in cattle for the drive south, and if Heath had difficulties with the hands, or anyone else, he did not talk about them. He did not seem much more comfortable with the family than he had at first, but he was beginning to know their ways, and they were getting used to his quiet presence.

Monday morning Victoria went upstairs collecting laundry. The boys were supposed to put theirs into the hamper in the bathroom, but often they forgot. And today there was Heath’s clothing to be identified and washed.

She found Gene in his room, stretched out with a book. “Laundry?” she asked.

“All in the hamper. – Oh, no, there’s what I brought back from Sacramento.” He jumped up to open his valise, which he had not yet unpacked, and removed from it several articles, including a dress shirt.

“You should unpack as soon as you can – look how wrinkled this is,” she scolded. “And what were you doing with a dress shirt in Sacramento?”

“Nothing disreputable. I’m sorry, Mother, but I’d rather not tell you.” He watched her with a mixture of anxiety and defiance.

Victoria looked at him sternly. He had always been the least demanding of her children, and had the least attention as a result. It surprised her a little that he had suddenly made this demand for independence. But perhaps it was time. She made a gesture of surrender. “You’re a man now, Eugene. I have to trust you to regulate your own conduct.”

“I will, Mother. I’ll behave myself, I promise.”

“I know.” She gave him a motherly hug. “You’ll be a good man.”

“Mother, since we’re talking – I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do when I graduate.”

“Do you have some new ideas?”

“I think I’d like to study medicine. With Heath here, Nick won’t need me on the ranch, and I never was really cut out for ranch work anyway. But I like the science I’ve been studying, anatomy and physiology, and I really believe I’d like medicine.”

“It means years of studying hard.”

“I know. I like studying. And it’s a chance to do some good in the world.”

She had some more practical questions, but at last she said, “Then why not? My dear, that’s a fine ambition and I’m very proud of you.”

Afterwards she thought, she ought to have known that of all her children it would be Eugene who would have to leave home in order to become what he was meant to be. There was something satisfying about the symmetry that set him free to go by the arrival of Heath, who wanted and needed a home.

-------------

On Wednesday Jarrod brought home a letter for Victoria from her brother-in-law. After dinner she read it aloud to them all, while Audra sewed buttons on a shirt, Nick polished the stock of his favorite rifle, Jarrod and Gene played chess and Heath watched.

My dear Victoria,

I was very shocked by your letter. I never had any idea Tom ever thought of another woman besides you. But if you’re sure there’s no more to say about it, is there? It’s too bad Tom never knew about this boy, or he would have helped out raising him for sure. I know that much about my big brother.

Ellen has not been too well this last while, so we can’t come for a visit. Tell this boy Heath he’s welcome to come and get to know us when the fall work is done. If he don’t get along with Nick, maybe he’ll get along with me and stay to be the son I never had, if he’s a nice good-tempered boy that will be grateful and do what he’s told and not think he knows better than an old man. You know how I used to fight with Tom sometimes so it was better we didn’t live too close together.

“That’s true enough,” Victoria interrupted herself. “Your father and Uncle Jim loved each other as brothers should, but they fought like brothers too. Uncle Jim came here first when he came out from the East, for a few months, but it didn’t work out; he wanted to be independent.”

“Him and me,” said Nick, “we don’t pull together very well either. I went there for a while one winter when Father was still livin’, to help him out when he was sick, but he didn’t like anything I did. A good man, but not such a good rancher.”

There was more in the letter, family news and remarks on the weather, before it ended,

Thinking of you and praying for your comfort, I remain

Yr loving bro., Jim Barkley

Audra said worriedly, “He says Aunt Ellen hasn’t been well, but he doesn’t say what’s wrong. I hope it’s nothing too serious.”

“I’ll ask when I write back.”

Jarrod said, “I had just the slightest hope that he might know something we didn’t, but apparently not. Well, Heath, you have an invitation.”

“Tell him thanks, I’ll come sometime. When Nick says I should.”

“Maybe I better not,” said Nick. “He might lure you away from us.”

“He ain’t tryin’ real hard. You be sorry if he did?”

Nick frowned as he realized what he had said. “I don’t know. I need to know you better’n I do yet, before I know if I’d be sorry or not.”

Gene said, “That’s a long way from where you were a week ago. Eight days, tonight, since – ”

“It’s only a week, like Gene says. I need more time to know how I feel about you.”

“Goes for me too.”

“Time will help us all,” observed Jarrod smoothly. “This has been an eventful ten days one way and another – I call it ten days, since Heath first rode in, and the railroad business was coming to a head.”

“Speakin’ of which, why haven’t we heard any more from the railroad?”

“Seems they’ve decided to lie low for a while. They have to take into account what their shareholders back East are saying – they don't want stories in the papers about murder and mayhem in California.”

Nick glowered. “Or could be they’re just waitin’ for a good chance to hit the farmers again.”

“Possible. But I think unlikely. – If they do, I will personally write to every newspaper in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, and a few other places, describing what’s happened here.”

“Hmph! Don’t get yourself killed, then. Nobody else on our side can write such good letters.”

“Believe me, Nick, I have no intention of getting myself killed.”

“You’re not even gonna be here while we’re on the drive – didn’t I hear you’re goin’ back to Frisco?”

“For a week or two, yes, and then I’ll be here again. You’ll be gone five weeks at least.”

“Twenty-four days to get there, for the premium in the contract, three days there to rest up – it shouldn’t take more’n a week comin’ back, usin’ the main roads and no cattle to slow us down. Five weeks, if all goes well.”

“Send us a telegram when you get a chance, tell us how it’s going.”

“Don’t figure on bein’ near any towns – gotta stay on public land if we can, not go drivin’ our herd on some other man’s pasture. Send you one from San Diego.”

Victoria said, “It sounds almost like the early days when we first came here. No roads, no towns, no reliable maps.”

“Nick should be as happy as a lark,” put in Audra.

“While you’re sleepin’ in your soft warm bed, little girl, we’ll be lyin’ on the cold hard ground!”

“I’ve slept out. I liked it, and I’ll do it again any time!”

“That was on a family campin’ trip, one or two nights at a time! How’d you like to sleep out with thirty cowhands all around you, five weeks at a stretch?”

“Why, Nick, I didn’t know you’d let me!”

Gene slapped his thigh. “She’s got you there, Nick!”

-------------

Heath might have tried to back out of his agreement to attend the Stullmans’ party, but Audra gave him no chance. Gene had readily agreed to go, and even Nick was persuaded.

Privately, Nick told Gene, “Things can get rough, you know that, when men get drinkin’ and carryin’ on. Best you and I are there with him in case anything breaks out.”

“To protect him?” Gene might be flattered by the implication that he would be some use in a brawl, but he could not help sounding skeptical.

“It’s Audra needs protectin’. Can’t have her dependin’ on just him.”

“Oh! Of course we have to protect Audra!”

Victoria chose to stay at home. “It sounds like a young people’s dance, dear. And I’m sure Mrs. Stullman won’t need any more chaperones. Give her my regards, and Silas is making a cake for you to take along.”

Audra sighed. “I would have made it myself, but Silas doesn’t have enough confidence in my cooking. I’ll never hear the last of that disaster when I left out the baking powder!”

“You know your cakes turn out nicely, when you pay attention to what you’re doing. But you still have Heath’s shirts to finish, don’t you?”

“Only two left, and I’ll be done with this lot. He was so pleased when I gave him the first ones – I don’t suppose he’s ever had so many shirts at one time before in his whole life. – I’ll make him some nice white ones while he’s away, too, so he can dress up if he wants.”

“That’s a good idea. – But I wonder if he might start to feel smothered, if we give him too much all at once. He’s not used to having much, as you say.”

“He’ll like what I make for him.” Audra could not really believe that anyone could have too many clothes.

Jarrod too had declined to go to the dance. “Let them dance the night away in a room sixteen feet square,” he said when the others had gone. “I prefer an evening in your company.”

“I expect they’ll dance on the verandah too. I do hope Heath makes some friends.”

“Why wouldn’t he? Granted that he lacks the finer social graces, those aren’t required in the Stullmans’ circles, are they? His manners may be, one might say, rustic, but they aren’t bad.”

“Not at all. He’s considerate and modest – more than I can always say for Nick.”

“Our Nick has his good points, but no, modesty isn’t one of them.”

“He seems to be coming around to accepting Heath, at least.”

“Within reason, yes, I think so. It’s not comfortable yet, for either of them.”

“Maybe during the cattle drive – they’ll depend on each other there.”

“I hope so.” Jarrod did not sound entirely confident. “Changing the subject, Mother, has Gene spoken to you about his future?”

“Studying medicine? Yes, he did. So he talked to you earlier?”

“Last week. What do you think?”

“‘Dr. Barkley’. I like the sound of it. But it will mean years of study yet.”

“I warned him it will be very hard work. He didn’t seem to be afraid of that. – So we’ll see how he does this coming year, if he can study hard enough.”

“I’m proud of him. I’m proud of all my children – and that includes Heath.”

“You really are adopting him as one of your own, aren’t you?”

“If he’ll let me, I will. Oh, I won’t forget, and neither will he, that Leah Thomson was his mother. But I mean to make him my own as far as I can.”

“Are you going to ask him to call you ‘Mother’ instead of ‘ma’am’?”

“Would you mind if I did?”

“Not I.”

“I’ll ask him when I’m fairly sure he’ll agree to it. Not yet.”

Later Silas brought in a fresh pot of coffee, which he knew Victoria liked when she sat up later than usual. Jarrod put his book aside to join her in a cup, and remarked on another matter that had come as a relief, even as an occasion for laughter. “We’ve had one mercy anyway. Doolin chose to devote his yellow rag to the fight with the railway and overlooked our private affairs, all but that one story.”

“Which no one who knows us would believe.”

“Who but Doolin would ever imagine we’d bring in a hired gun and try to pass him off as our brother? Nobody would believe anything so patently ridiculous. – Even Doolin gave up on it after one story.”

“There are likely other spiteful stories going around, of course. Have you heard any?”

“Report has it, Mrs. Travis is saying Nick and I have forced you to accept Heath’s presence because he’s needed on the ranch. To replace Gene, possibly – my informant didn’t say so.”

“Oh, poor little me!” She shook her head in amazement. “I wonder if she would understand the truth if we did try to explain it to her. – But, Jarrod, I do have one reason to be sorry I’ve quarreled with Amelia.”

“Are you thinking of Meg?”

“I know you squired her to that picnic, and a couple of other times. I don’t know how serious you were, but I was beginning to think – ”

“I don’t know myself. I think perhaps not very. Oh, an estimable young lady, handsome and well-mannered, and more intelligent than most – but I think, not quite – ”

“Not good enough for you?”

“What I’m trying to say is, not quite measuring up to the standard you have set, dear lady.”

“An old mother is a poor substitute for a young wife, Jarrod, in the long run.”

“That may be so – in the long run. Though the wrong young wife would be worse than none at all. In the short run, I rather think we have enough going on in the family without introducing another new member anytime very soon.”

“Perhaps. If one of you – Nick, say, or Audra – falls deep in love, all that could change overnight.”

It was nearly midnight when the party-goers returned, all appearing reasonably undamaged. The men went straight up to bed, but Audra came in to where her mother was reading. “Are we terribly late? I’m sorry – when I go with my brothers, why do you wait up for me?”

“Because I’d rather see you come in. How did it go?”

“Oh, pretty well. Heath didn’t dance much, but he met a lot of people – well, there were forty or fifty people there, I suppose he met half of them at least – and they seemed to get along all right. He’s so quiet, you know, he let them do most of the talking, and most folks like that. Nick danced three times with the prettiest of the cousins from Denver, but I don’t think he’ll follow her back there. And Gene danced every dance – he’s much better than I thought he was, he must have been practicing at college. – And guess what? Lucy Stullman is engaged to Ralph Cooper, he’s their foreman, and they’re going to be married as soon as they build a house just across the yard from the ranchhouse. Isn’t that nice? She won’t even be leaving home, not really. – I promised to help her with her wedding dress, once she gets the material.”

“That is nice for Lucy, and her mother too. I hope you said all the proper things.”

Jarrod asked, “Would you like to marry our foreman and live in a house across the yard?”

“I don’t quite think I’d like to marry Mr. McColl – he’s twice my age for one thing! But if you hired a nice one – ”

“Oh, you’ll have to see Nick about that!”

“And, Mother, guess what else I heard? Pauline’s birthday party fell flat – only about six people went to it, and they left early!”

“Oh, really? – And what about you, dear? Did you enjoy the dance tonight?”

“Oh, there were just the local boys there, no one exciting. The only male cousin from Denver is younger than me. I had a good time, but that’s all.”

“That’s as much as you can expect, Audra. Clem and Carl and the other local boys may not be exciting, but they’re decent young men, and you could do much worse than decide to spend your life with one of them. If an ‘exciting’ man comes along, well, we’ll have to see what he’s like.”

“Mother, don’t you remember how you met Father at a dance like the one tonight? I can’t help hoping that the same will happen to me. – Oh, it doesn’t have to be at a dance, but somewhere, sometime, a man will sweep me off my feet as Father did you.”

“Did I say I was swept off my feet? Well, perhaps. But love doesn’t always come that way. – Let’s go to bed, dear.”

Continued…