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.
[Note about the remainder of the story: At this point I have to take some liberties with the canon. The framing story of Boots with My Father’s Name doesn’t make geographical sense – if Strawberry were close enough to
Stockton that Victoria could drive a horse there and back in part of a day, it
seems likely the Barkleys would have known all along who lived there – but the
main story is a keystone of the series.
I tried to keep the essentials, while rearranging the frame to allow
more time. This Strawberry is meant to
be the place on modern maps..]
------------------------------
On the
Friday after Heath’s return, when everyone was gathered in the living room
before dinner, Victoria cut short the small talk. “I have something to tell you all.”
“What
is it, Mother?” Audra asked anxiously.
“Is it about the Wallaces?”
“The
Wallaces?” Jarrod questioned.
“Sophie
Wallace asked me weeks ago to bring Heath to tea with her. Today we finally got there.”
Nick
had been off the ranch that day and, like Jarrod, had not known of the
visit. “What happened, Heath, you break
one o’ the china teacups?”
“Sure
was scared I would. Never seen so much
lace and gewgaws in one place afore.”
“In
fact Heath made a very good impression.
And I learned something about him I didn’t know before, he’s good with
children – a couple of Sophie’s grandchildren were there, and they seemed to
like Heath very much. – No, what I have to tell you is something Sophie told me
while Heath was out of the room – he hasn’t heard it either.” She had considered telling him privately,
but decided it was better in this instance to treat him like the others.
“Well?”
“Well,
Mayor Wallace and the Town Council have decided that Stockton should honor its
pioneers again, and they want to put up a statue of your father.”
“A
statue!” Audra clapped her hands. “That’s wonderful!”
“Nobody
deserves it more!” added Nick.
“I
remember there was some talk of it once before,” said Jarrod, “but this time
it’s definite?”
“Apparently
the statue is almost ready for shipping, from – wherever it is they make such
things, in the East. We’re to be asked
to unveil it once it’s in place – maybe three weeks or a month. Jarrod, you may do the honors.”
“Shall
I make a long speech?”
“A
short speech will do fine,” Nick told him.
“But Mother, you should cut the ribbon, or whatever it is you do at an
unveiling.”
“We’ll
settle that later, dear.”
“Gene
should be home by the time it’s ready,” Jarrod added. “Maybe we’ll let him make
the speech.”
“But
how could they make a statue that looks like Father?” Audra wondered. “Nobody asked us for a picture.”
“I
didn’t think to ask that. I suppose
someone loaned them a picture – the newspaper office, for instance. – At least,
I hope so. It would be – disconcerting
– to unveil the statue and then see it
looked nothing like him.”
All
this time Heath had said nothing.
Finally Audra was struck by his silence. “Heath, how do you feel about it?”
“Fine,”
he said shortly, and presently excused himself to go outside. They watched him cross the yard toward the
stables.
“Fine
indeed,” said Jarrod, “but not the best-timed gesture.”
“I
think Dave Wallace intended to show that your father’s friends still honor him
in spite of – all this. He meant it
kindly – I couldn’t refuse, not at this late date – but I wish he hadn’t done
it. We’ll just have to make the best of
it now.”
Nick
started up as if to pace, but he could not yet walk without his cane, and he
quickly sat down again, shaking his fist for emphasis. “I for one am tired of bendin’ over
backwards on account o’ Heath’s feelings.
He’s one o’ the family, he should be treated like one, and take his
lumps as they come – he’s proved he can do that, ten times over!”
“All
true,” said Jarrod, “but the past isn’t erased, Nick. We can’t expect him to celebrate this statue – just leave him
alone to make what he can of it.”
They
agreed on their course of action. They
could not foresee what would happen to upset it.
Three
weeks passed before the statue arrived in Stockton ready for erection, and Gene
finished his course. At the ranch
harvesting operations were in progress on the farmland. Jarrod made another trip to San Francisco,
and came home after a week looking well satisfied. Nick hired a new foreman, Dace Edwards, a younger and more
sociable man than McColl had been.
During
the weeks since Nick’s injury Victoria had made up her difference with Rebecca
Mason, who had never wanted to quarrel with her. Amelia Travis was another matter, but Sophie Wallace had used her
influence to make Amelia back down, far enough to shake hands with Heath after
church the first Sunday he was back.
After that Victoria relented enough in turn to compliment Amelia on her
new hat. Friendliness was
reestablished, without real friendship.
Whatever prospect there had been of a closer connection seemed to be
gone: Jarrod’s interest in Meg and hers
in him, once promising, had faded in the harsh light of other concerns.
Audra
was excited for a week about the Harvest Ball being held in Stockton’s largest
hall. She spent hours trying out
different ways of doing her hair, more hours with her favorite dressmaker over
her gala gown. She also made up her
mind that Heath should go, and do her credit.
Somehow she prevailed on him to accept the invitation, then undertook to
teach him the most popular steps, and even persuaded him to buy a black evening
suit and a pair of dancing shoes, though he would not go to San Francisco to
visit Jarrod’s tailor.
The
evening came at last. Only Heath
accompanied the Barkley ladies, as Jarrod and Gene were still away and Nick’s
leg was giving him too much pain to consider dancing or even standing for long.
“Are
you going to dance, Mother?” It had not
occurred to Audra to ask before her mother came downstairs in her own gala
costume, quite splendid though not quite new.
“Oh,
I’ll have to see if anyone asks me!”
“Heath
will, won’t you, Heath?”
Heath
turned red. “Be an honor.”
At the
ball, Audra introduced or re-introduced Heath to several young women, danced
with him once herself to prove to them that he knew how, and then left him to
choose his own partners. Victoria,
watching, saw that he was making friends.
His good looks and gentle ways appealed to several young ladies, while
some of the young men seemed pleasantly surprised by his unpretentious manners
and others evidently respected his prowess – for already there was talk about
what he could do, what he had done. If
some people still wanted nothing to do with him, at least they did not insult
him openly.
He
came to her after she had been sitting among the chaperones for nearly an hour,
to ask her properly for a dance. She saw
the other ladies exchange glances. She
stood up. “Why, it will be a pleasure,
Mr. Barkley!”
No, it
was not like that first time she had danced with Tom, much less like all the
other times when they had known each other’s steps and touches so familiarly. But she enjoyed being in his strong arms,
and he did not step on her feet.
Victoria
realized, afterwards, that she should not even have thought about having Tom’s
dress boots worn by one of his sons.
When they didn’t fit Jarrod, and didn’t fit Nick, she should at least
have been discreet about asking Eugene.
She had certainly not intended to ask Heath. If she had known Heath would come into the house just as Eugene
too had not been able to get them on – if she had known Eugene would be so
tactless as to propose Heath try them – and yet her youngest son was only
trying, as they all had, to treat Heath as if he had always been there.
If
only Heath’s feet had been as big as his brothers’! But the boots had slipped on as if they were made for him – and
he had taken them off again with a stumbled apology, and gone upstairs, leaving
them all embarrassed, angry, sorry.
Confused. Her sons had followed
Heath upstairs, one after another, and whatever happened up there had left them
all subdued for the rest of the day.
The
day after that trifling incident, Heath began to talk to her, privately, about
his feelings, and about the past.
Jarrod
had stayed overnight in Stockton preparing for a trial that began at nine o’clock
Tuesday morning. It was past four when
the case wound up, and nearly six when he reached home ready for a good dinner
and a quiet evening.
Audra
met him at the door. “Oh, Jarrod, thank
goodness you’re here! Mother’s gone!”
His
heart sank. “Gone where?”
“This
note was on her dressing table.” She
held out a piece of scented stationery.
Victoria
had written, “My dears, I am going to Strawberry to see some people there. I expect to be back sometime Friday or
Saturday. Don’t worry about me. Love, Mother.”
“Strawberry?” They had talked, soon after Heath’s arrival,
about going to Strawberry, but it had not seemed useful or urgent to do
so. What had changed to make it so
important? And why had she set off
without telling anyone? “When did she
leave?”
“Silas
says, soon after eight. Nick drove over
to the Watson place right after breakfast, and then he had other places to go –
he’s not home yet – and Heath and Gene went out riding fences. I stayed at the Stullmans’ last night – I
was helping Lucy with her wedding dress – and we finished early, so I came home
right after lunch. When Silas told me,
I looked in her room and found the note, and then I rode out to find Gene and
Heath, and Heath said he’d go after her, but he could hardly catch up to her
before she gets to Strawberry.”
“What
time was it when he left?”
“A
little before four – he came back here first for gear and two fresh horses.”
“So
she had seven or eight hours start on him, and he has two hours start on me if
I wanted to follow. And of course he
knows the way to Strawberry better than any of us, not to mention what to
expect there. – Where’s Gene?”
“Still
riding fences. He’ll be in soon, but I
don’t know when to expect Nick – I’m glad you came home first – you won’t let
Nick do anything foolish.”
Jarrod
went to talk to Silas, and then to Ciego, but he learned little more than Audra
had. His mother had evidently planned
her expedition and chosen her time to avoid watchdogs.
Silas
was remorseful. “I oughta known
somethin’ wrong when she go off like that all sudden. I oughta sent fo’ Mr. Heath right off.”
“No,
Silas,” Audra soothed. “Mother often
goes off suddenly, and she certainly doesn’t have to explain herself to
anyone. If she hadn’t left the note,
though, we would’ve been wondering by this time.”
Jarrod
said, “You did the right thing,
little sister. Heath is the best person
to go after her.”
Nick,
when he came home a little later, was not so sure. “Who’s in Strawberry he don’t want her to meet? Why’d he think he has to go after her
anyway?”
“You’re
suggesting that he followed her, not to protect her but to prevent her from
finding what she was looking for?”
“We
don’t really know him, do we? Could be somethin’ fishy.”
Gene
said, “That’s what Jarrod and I were saying when we found out you were hurt at
Bakersfield – maybe Heath was behind it.
But it turned out different, he saved our, ah, beef, and I’m betting
it’ll be the same this time. If Mother
needs saving, he’ll do it.”
“Of
course he will!” declared Audra warmly.
Jarrod
considered. “Remember that Heath
doesn’t really know us either, yet. In
particular, he doesn’t know just how capable Mother is of dealing with
difficulties of all sorts. In all
probability, when he catches up to her she’ll be just fine, and she won’t let
him stop her from seeing whoever is there to see.”
“I’ve
got half a mind to go after him,” said Nick.
“Is
your leg fit for riding? You were
driving today.”
“Haven’t
tried it yet. Might be all right.”
“You
would’ve tried it if you weren’t still in pain. After two days in the saddle you’d be useless.”
He
must have been right, because Nick did not argue. “You could go, then. Or
Gene. – Gene, you should’ve gone with him.”
“I did
offer,” said Gene defensively. “He said
I’d slow him down. – He was likely right about that.”
“As
for me, I’m not embarking on any wild goose chases tonight. No, I say we trust Heath.”
Over
dinner Gene came up with a question no one had thought of before. “Has Heath sent any letters, or received
any, since he’s been here?”
“A
letter came for him a day or two before the cattle drive started,” Audra
recalled. “I picked up the mail that
day and gave it to him. That’s the only
one I’ve seen.”
“Remember
anything about it?”
“I
couldn’t make out the postmark – it might
have been Strawberry. A woman’s
handwriting. He said thanks, it was
from a friend of his mother’s. I didn’t
think much about it.”
“So he
might’ve written to somebody in Strawberry soon after he came.”
“Come
to think of it, he likely did,” said Nick abruptly. “That first Saturday night when we went into town, he fell behind
us and I saw he’d stopped at the post office.
Didn’t think any more about it then.”
“Stands
to reason he would write to say he’s here, if there’s anybody still there he cares
about,” Gene argued.
Jarrod
weighed the evidence. “All right. If he did, and got an answer, it doesn’t
prove anything.”
Nick
frowned. “He could’ve set something
up.”
“But
he couldn’t possibly have known Mother would head up there today. Could he?”
“He
and Mother had a long private talk Sunday,” Gene recalled. “He might’ve told her something that
prompted her to go.”
“Earlier,
you said we should trust him. Make up
your mind, Gene. I never know which
side of the fence you’re on.”
Gene
flushed. “I do trust him. I can’t help
thinking, that’s all.”
“I
still say, we should do something!” Nick’s suspicions grew with every doubtful
point.
“All
right, Nick. It’s almost dark now,
there’s no moon, we can’t do anything tonight.
You and I will start early in the morning and drive to Sonora – that’s
where she’ll likely stay tonight – and if we find out she’s gone on from there,
we’ll head toward Strawberry. Most
likely we’ll meet her coming back, but just in case we’ll be no more than a day
behind her.”
Nick
agreed that was the best they could do.
“Heath’ll gain on her – he might not be vary far behind her when she
gets there. I just hope – I hope he’s
as fond of her as he seems to be!”
“We
agreed nearly three months ago, Nick, and I haven’t seen any reason to change
my mind: he’s not an actor. – By the way,” Jarrod turned to Audra, “do you know
if he took any money?”
“He
didn’t say anything about it – I didn’t think of it either. Will he need money?”
“Most
likely he’ll camp out tonight – he did take camping gear – so he might
not. He probably has a few dollars in
his pockets.”
Nick
had been working on the accounts during his convalescence. “He was paid before we started on the drive,
like everybody else, and again at the end. – Well, at the end he was doin’ the
payin’, down south there, but he did pay himself. I checked. And he generally wins when he plays poker. So he’d likely have a few dollars, yeah. Far’s I know he hasn’t taken out any of what
we put in the bank for him.”
“I
know he hadn’t up to yesterday.” That
had come out in a chat Jarrod had had with Luther Kirby at the bank. “One would expect, if he had any deep-laid
plans, he’d plan to be sure of that money at least.”
“S’pose
so.” Nick relaxed slightly.
Jarrod
looked around the table and recognized a fence he had to mend. “Of course you’re leaving Gene in charge
while you’re gone. Probably the two of
you have things to discuss tonight. – Audra, can you tell me what clothes
Mother took with her?”
This
gave him an excuse to go to his mother’s room and look around, but he could see
no clues other than those Audra discovered from inspection of the wardrobe.
“Two
of her usual travelling outfits – not the aprons she took to Bakersfield for
nursing, nothing for a dress-up occasion – just ordinary clothes and
shoes. Her grey coat. I can’t tell about underwear.”
“Mm. Audra, now Nick and Gene aren’t listening,
can you recall exactly what Heath
said when you told him Mother was gone?”
“Gene
was there too, remember. When I rode up
they were stopped, fastening a loose wire back in place. I said ‘Mother’s gone to Strawberry’ – I
suppose I sounded pretty dramatic. Gene
asked why, and Heath didn’t say anything, but he read her note and he thought
for a minute while I was talking to Gene, and then he said ‘I better go after
her.’ Gene said, ‘She’ll be all right’,
and Heath said he was going anyway. And
then he looked at the horse he had out there and said he needed a fresh one,
he’d ride back with me. And I suggested
on the way back that he take a spare. – He didn’t say what he was afraid might
happen, but he didn’t like her going there.”
“Mm. Might not be anything particular, even. He might just be worried about an elderly
lady driving alone on a mountain road.”
“‘Elderly’? Would you call Mother elderly?”
“Not
to her face, and don’t you dare tell
her I said it. But she’s not young any
more.”
“Would
you feel better if it was me?”
“No, I
wouldn’t! If she might be getting a little too old for such adventures, you are certainly much too young.”
“I
hate being protected!”
“Audra!
– You are young, inexperienced, and very beautiful – yes, you are, I don’t mind
saying so – and rich besides. There are
any number of men who would like a chance to take advantage of you. That’s why we want to protect you.”
She
turned away from him. “Heath’s mother
wasn’t rich, of course! Nobody
protected her!”
“Do
you suppose that hasn’t troubled me too?
When Father was there, she was a year or two older than you, I believe,
and he was some years older than I am.
It’s hard not to think he took advantage. – Maybe Mother will find out
for sure.”
“I
hope so. No matter how bad it is, I’d
rather know. – Jarrod, do you think she was a – a bad woman? I don’t want to think that, for Heath’s
sake, but I can’t see how else – unless Father – ”
“I
promised Heath, some time ago, that I wouldn’t let anyone say that. I prefer to think it was, let’s say,
imprudent passion on both sides.”
“Oh. –
Jarrod, did you ever take advantage
of someone’s imprudent passion?”
“I
hope not! – There’s another side to every story, of course, and sometimes it’s
full of surprises. But I hope not. –
Now I’d better go and look up a map.”
He escaped before she could ask more embarrassing questions.
-----------------------
Jarrod
and Nick set out almost as soon as it was light enough to travel, driving
Jarrod’s weekday buggy with a spare horse tied on behind. Jarrod was grumpy enough to complain more
than once about Nick’s fast driving, and Nick answered angrily. They repeated the same arguments over and
over, until they dropped them from sheer weariness. As they got out of the area they knew well into less familiar
country, both became more interested in where they were, and apart from another
dispute when they took a wrong turn, they were getting along like loving
brothers when they reached Sonora a little after one. After arranging for a fresh horse at the livery, they ate dinner
at the hotel and then started asking questions.
Yes, a
grey-haired lady had stayed there the night before. She had left about eight o’clock, heading into the
mountains. Oh yes, another young man had asked about her earlier,
mid-morning sometime. Was he – ?”
Jarrod
put down a generous tip and led the way out without attempting to satisfy the
clerk’s curiosity. “Well, we’ve gained
on her, and so has he. Keep going?”
Nick
did not bother to answer. “Reckon the
livery’s the best place to ask about the road.”
Jarrod
stopped, looking at the county courthouse.
“If Heath’s birth was registered, that’s where the record ought to
be. Mind if I inquire?”
“How
long’s it gonna take?”
“Ten
minutes, if we’re lucky.”
“Worth
a try.”
They
were not lucky. Finding the right clerk
and getting him to search the records for the right year took much too long for
Nick’s patience, and when the result was negative he very nearly yelled at the
man. He did complain bitterly to Jarrod
when they were on the road again.
“An
hour wasted! All we found out was
there’s no record for him – you said yourself, that don’t prove anything! Half the kids born up there in the
mountains, likely, don’t get registered.”
“Now
we know. – I wonder if there’s a baptismal certificate, and where it might be.”
“What
for?”
“Just
in case. The time might come when
having legal proof of anything could
be valuable. And the time to collect
documents is as soon as possible.”
“Only
a lawyer would care.”
“You
can afford to say that, Nick, because you have me to look after your
interests. I’m trying to look after
Heath’s interests in the same way, but it’s not easy without documents.”
Nick
chewed on that for a few minutes while negotiating a difficult bit of
road. Finally he said, “What if Heath
and me were on opposite sides? You
couldn’t look after us both.”
“Certainly
not past the point where you were both willing to trust me. – If not you, maybe
Gene someday, or Audra’s husband, or one of our children: some member of the
family might decide they’d rather have Heath cut out. I’d like to make that impossible.”
“You’re
that sure.”
“You
see, if I do it, I know how to undo
it, if I ever change my mind.”
“Is
that a joke?”
“I’ll
tell you this time tomorrow.”
“So
you’re not sure.”
“At
this moment, I’m not as sure as I’d like to be, I confess.”
“I’m
inclinin’ the other way. No business of
ours if there’s folks in Strawberry he don’t want us to meet. We oughta be satisfied, he acts like one of
us in our affairs, not go pokin’ our
noses into his.”
“Do we
want to be here at all?”
“Yeah. We do.
This ain’t some herd, this is Mother.”
Once
they got into the mountains, the road became considerably worse, and they were
forced to a walking pace most of the
time. There was little sign of traffic,
except occasional droppings or tracks that proved other horses had traveled in
the same direction earlier in the day.
Two
hours before dark a thunderstorm forced them to take shelter under the buggy,
and when it was over they had no choice but to camp for the night in the first
well-drained spot and wait for the torrents in every hollow to go down. They found little dry firewood, and no dry
ground.
“Hope
Mother’s safe and warm in a nice dry hotel in Strawberry,” said Nick.
They
had been on the road for nearly three hours in the morning, struggling with mud
and fallen branches, when they rounded a bend and met their mother’s buggy
coming from the other direction. Heath
was sitting beside Victoria, one of the two horses he had taken with him tied
behind. Both parties stopped. Nick and Jarrod got out and squelched
through the mud.
“What
are you two doing here?” Victoria demanded.
She had some scrapes and scratches on her face and hands, and her
clothing was less immaculate than usual, but she did not appear to have been
seriously injured.
“We
thought – er – ”
“We
were a little concerned.”
“Why? You knew Heath was following me already.”
Neither
of them attempted to answer.
Heath
asked, “You got room to turn around there, or does one of us have to back up?”
They
managed, with some difficulty, to turn their buggy and head back downhill. Heath and Victoria stayed far enough behind
them to avoid their splashing and, when they got out of the storm’s path, their
dust.
Such
settlements as they passed were dismal little places promising little
hospitality. At one of them, past noon,
Nick stopped by the side of the road and waited for the others.
“Wanna
see if anybody serves meals here?”
“Fried
beans and rotgut coffee,” said Heath.
“Better place about three miles on.
Mind if we go ahead?”
“Where’s
the other horse?”
“Livery
at Sonora. Figured you would’ve seen
him there.” He drove on.
“Would’ve,
too, if we hadn’t wasted an hour in the courthouse,” Nick muttered.
Jarrod
sighed. His head and his back ached, he
was hungry, and his feet had been wet for a long time now. He felt both foolish and guilty. “All right, it’s my fault. This whole expedition is my fault.”
“I
wanted to come as bad as you did – or worse.
You wouldn’t’ve come without me.”
“We’ll
share the blame, then. And next time
we’ll trust Heath. Won’t we?”
“Reckon
so. – That don’t mean I don’t wanna hear what happened.”
Heath
stopped at a log cabin half-hidden in the woods, where hens scratched under the
trees and a half-grown pig lay in the mud.
A stout woman in men’s pants and a dirty apron opened the door and
welcomed him with a shouted, “Heath, boy!
Good to see you!”
“Howdy,
Mrs. Nichols! Can you feed four hungry
travelers this afternoon?”
“Ham
and eggs do you?”
“Just
fine!” Jumping out of the buggy, he
lifted Victoria carefully over the wheels and set her on the rickety
porch. Mrs. Nichols invited her in
while the men looked after the horses.
“Friend
of yours, is she, Heath?”
“Known
her a while.”
Jarrod
said, “Ham and eggs sound good. We were
caught in the rain last night, were you?”
“Didn’t
rain higher up.”
“You
go all the way to Strawberry?” Nick
continued his inquisition.
“Yep.”
“You
know the road. How far off were we when
you met us?”
“Couple
of hours.”
“So
you spent the night there.”
“Yep.”
“Mother
get there ahead of you, yesterday?”
“Yep.”
“She
glad to see you?”
“Better
ask her.”
Inside,
Mrs. Nichols waved them to a dingy washbasin.
Victoria came out of the bedroom to join them at the bare table for ham
and eggs. The meal was rather greasy,
but they were all hungry enough to overlook such details.
Mrs.
Nichols poured coffee. “Who’s your
friends, Heath?”
Heath
took a moment to consider before he said, “My family.”
“How’s
that? I thought you – ”
“My
Mama died up at Strawberry, ‘bout four months back. Like I told you then.
Didn’t tell you, ‘fore she died she told me who was my father. Tom Barkley.”
Mrs.
Nichols looked at Victoria, who smiled.
“I’m Victoria Barkley, Mrs. Nichols, and these are my sons Jarrod and
Nick. Heath is one of us now.”
“You
all go up to Strawberry to settle things up?”
“You
could say that. – Mrs. Nichols, did you know Rachel Caulfield is dead too?”
“Never
heard that. Don’t get up there much
myself any more – just see them as goes up and down, which ain’t many these
days.”
Jarrod
and Nick looked at each other, confirming that neither of them had ever heard
of Rachel Caulfield. But this was not
the place to ask questions.
When
they had finished, Heath quietly took money out of his pocket and laid it on
the mantle. “That’s too much!” Mrs. Nichols
protested.
“Makin’
up for some o’ the times you fed me when I couldn’t hardly give you a dime.”
“Well,
you chopped wood for me, s’I recollect.
You got lotsa money now?”
Heath
grinned and whispered in her ear, just loud enough for the others to hear,
“More’n I know what to do with.”
“Will
I see you again, Heath?”
“Hannah’s
still up there. Reckon I’ll go check on
her now and then. ‘Fore winter,
likely.”
“So
where you livin’ now?”
“Stockton.”
“Long
trip. You oughta get Hannah to move
down there.”
“Tried. She says no.”
It was
past three when they were ready to go again.
“You figure on stayin’ at Sonora tonight?” asked Nick.
“Yep. Gotta see the sheriff there anyway.”
“See
the sheriff? Why?”
Victoria
said, “We’ll tell you later.”
“She’s
punishin’ us!” Nick complained when they were back on the road.
“There
was a gleam in her eye that suggested that.
But it could be she’s got Heath talking and she wants to keep him
going.”
“Heath? Talking?
If I ever met a man that never says two words when one’ll do, it’s him.”
“He
isn’t comfortable yet, talking to you and me.
I hope he will be soon. – This is the first time he’s introduced us to
any of his friends.”
“Mighty
peculiar friend, that Mrs. Nichols.”
“If we
ever have another occasion to go to Strawberry, we might be glad of her
hospitality. I looked around; I hope I
could find the place again.”
“Who’s
the Hannah he mentioned, still lives at Strawberry?”
“I
know no more than you, Nick.”
--------------------
When
they were all sitting around a table in the hotel dining room in Sonora,
waiting for dinner to come, Victoria began telling Jarrod and Nick what had
happened.
“Heath
told me about four people I might find in Strawberry, who might be able to
answer some of the questions I’ve had.
Two were his uncle and aunt, Leah’s half brother and his wife, Matt and
Martha Simmons. From what Heath told
me, I gathered they weren’t much help when he was growing up. And the other two were Leah’s closest
friends, Rachel Caulfield and Hannah James.”
Jarrod
noted that his mother now spoke of Leah Thomson without her surname, as if of
someone she had known personally. “You
said before, Rachel Caulfield is dead.”
“Yes. I was told that as soon as I got to
Strawberry, yesterday afternoon, and asked for directions to her house. I was very sorry, not only because she
seemed the likeliest of the four to help me, but because she was Heath’s good friend too. She died about six weeks ago – if I’d only
made up my mind to go sooner!”
“I
oughter told you ‘bout her first off,” said Heath, his voice thick with guilt
and regret. “She deserved better – I
oughter gone to see her, not just wrote.”
“But
you did write to her? Heath, you
couldn’t know what would happen.”
“Oughter
known.”
“How? I don’t understand – was she ill when you
were there before?”
“She’ll
tell you.” He indicated Victoria.
“One
thing at a time, Jarrod. I’m telling
the story as I found things out, I can’t tell you everything at once.” Victoria gave Heath a chance to recover his
self-control. “Next I asked about
Hannah, and found her at the little house where Heath lived as a boy. – Were
you actually born there, dear?”
“Yep.”
“It’s
a nicer house than Mrs. Nichols’ cabin, for instance, but it could use a coat
of paint, and maybe some new shingles.
Next time you go to see Hannah, Heath, you might want to see about it. –
Hannah is a colored woman, she told me she can’t read, but I can see she’s
worked very hard to keep decent in that place.”
“She
tell you anythin’ else?”
“Some of
what she told me, I’m going to save until we’re at home, so Eugene and Audra
can hear it at the same time. Right now
– well, I wasn’t satisfied with what she said at first.”
Heath
added, “Hannah’s old, she gets mixed up sometimes.”
“So I
went to see Mr. and Mrs. Simmons – they own the hotel. They told me a story I didn’t quite believe,
and it was plain they wanted money – they said, to pay them back for all the
help they gave Leah when Heath was small, which didn’t agree with what Heath
had told me.”
“Did
you give them any?”
“No. I played the silly little woman, said I’d
have to consult my son the lawyer. – I was almost ready to give up, but then
Hannah asked me back to her house again.
Then she told me, among other things, that Rachel Caulfield was killed
falling down a mine shaft, and it was plain she thought Mr. or Mrs. Simmons, or
both, had something to do with it.
Hannah was frightened for her own safety.”
Jarrod
looked at Heath to see how he felt about his uncle’s possibly having killed his
mother’s friend. Grim, angry, but not
surprised, he thought. So that was why
he thought he should have foreseen some disaster, and blamed himself for not
preventing it.
“I
began to be a little frightened on my own account by that time,” Victoria went
on. “I had planned to stay overnight at
the hotel, but I decided then, I didn’t want to do that. There is a hotel of sorts in Pinecrest, a
few miles this side of Strawberry – not a very promising place, I’d thought on
my way up, but I decided to take a chance on it. I went back to the Simmons’ hotel because I’d left my rig there,
and it was gone. Then Mr. and Mrs.
Simmons began threatening me – and then Heath came along. – Heath and I got the
rig from where they had hidden it, and went back to Hannah’s, and stayed the
night in her house.”
“Now
we know why you wanna see the sheriff.”
“One
reason. I’m not finished.” But their meal arrived, and they were all
ready to give it the attention it deserved.
When their plates were empty, Victoria continued her story. “We agreed we’d come to Sonora and talk to
the sheriff here.” Her eyes met
Jarrod’s across the table, and he understood Heath had wanted to take the
matter into his own hands and she had dissuaded him.
“Gonna
do that soon as we’re through here,” said Heath.
“So we
started out of town this morning.
Between Strawberry and Pinecrest, there’s an old bridge, or chute, I
don’t know what, above the road.
Someone fired a rifle at us from there – I heard a bullet whiz between
us. We jumped down into the shelter of
the buggy, and Heath fired back. I
didn’t quite realize before, Heath’s a very
good shot – he hit the man with the rifle, killed him, with only a revolver.”
“Was
it – ?” Nick cut off the end of his
question, but no one doubted that he was thinking with some horror of Heath’s
uncle.
“The
hotel wasn’t busy, Strawberry is almost a ghost town now, but there was one man
who seemed to be staying there – I saw him the day before, on the front porch,
polishing his rifle. It was the same
man.”
“Name
o’ Phelps,” Heath added. “Folks I asked
there don’t know much about him, he’d been at the hotel a coupla months,
s’posed to be prospectin’, but the old bartender at the saloon said he never
seemed to do much. Don’t reckon he’ll
be missed much, ‘less by Aunt Martha.
But anyway, gotta see the sheriff about that too.”
“You
just leave him there?”
“Tied
him over his horse and sent it runnin’ back to town.”
“Heath,
you didn’t!”
“Did,
though. Somebody there put him up to tryin’ to kill us – and it wasn’t
Hannah.”
“Are
they likely to try again – come after you in person, or send someone else?”
asked Jarrod carefully.
“Tain’t
likely. Not once we’ve seen the
sheriff.”
“You
think it was your aunt’s doing.”
“Yep. Can’t prove it, though.”
“What
about your uncle?”
“Too
scared. Or too drunk. She’s the mean one.”
Victoria
said, “I expect he’ll leave Strawberry for parts unknown, likely over the state
line. So will she, I imagine, but they
may not go together.”
“I’ll
go along with you to the sheriff, if I may.
With Mother as a witness, it’s not likely he’d call it anything but
self-defense, but it won’t hurt if he sees you have a lawyer on your side.”
“Thanks.”
“And
I’ll see if I can make him take Mrs. Caulfield’s death a little more seriously
than he seems to have done yet. – But, Heath, I need to be sure you won’t go
after them yourself, whatever the sheriff does. I don’t want one of my family involved in private vengeance.”
Heath
looked at Victoria before he answered.
“I won’t.”
Victoria
said, “Nick, you must be worn out. Go
to bed, dear, don’t wait for us.”
If
Nick had been in his usual form, he surely would have insisted on accompanying
them to the sheriff’s office, but now he admitted that his leg was aching
badly, and agreed to remain at the hotel, though he insisted he would wait up
for them.
It was
a couple of hours before they returned.
They found Nick waiting on a chair in the upstairs hall, and followed
him into his own small room, where he lay back gratefully and propped his leg on
a pillow. Victoria perched beside him,
Jarrod sat in the chair, and Heath leaned against the wall.
“The
sheriff agreed that Heath won’t be charged in the death of Phelps,” Jarrod
began. “The man had an unsavory
reputation already, it seems. In fact, the
sheriff was much inclined to blame him for the death of Rachel Caulfield, which
would be a tidy solution from his point of view. However, I think we convinced him that he should make a trip to
Strawberry in the near future and ask Mr. and Mrs. Simmons some hard questions
– if they’re still there, of course, which we think they might not be. We didn’t try to tell the sheriff what
they’re likely to do.”
“So
what’ll come of it?”
“Probably
very little. Unless they’re still
around when the sheriff gets there, and unless he gets some damaging admissions
out of them, or finds some hard evidence, that will likely be the end of
it. If they decamp, he might bother to send out some wanted
posters. – We did mention Hannah, and that we’re interested in her safety; I
don’t know if that will help her much, though.”
“All
we can do.” Nick dismissed the
subject. “Mother, you mind drivin’ with
Jarrod tomorrow? I’ve had enough of his
company. And Heath can drive with me.”
“I’ll
agree to that,” said Jarrod promptly.
“I
suppose I wouldn’t mind too much,” Victoria conceded with a smile. “If it’s all right with you, Heath.”
Heath
did not smile, but the way he said, “All right,” sounded as if he was pleased
to be asked.
-----------------------
At the
ranch, Gene and Audra had wavered between intense anxiety for their mother's
safety, and a conviction that Jarrod and Nick had mounted their rescue
expedition for nothing. Gene had little
time or energy to fret, since the responsibility of running the ranch with its
new foreman had been thrust upon him unprepared, but Audra, with Silas to rely
on, did not find the house kept her busy, and worried a good deal.
Friday
evening Gene was a little late coming in for dinner. “So what have you been doing?” he asked when he had satisfied
most of his hunger.
“I
went into town. But there wasn’t a
telegram.”
“That’s
good, don’t you think? If anything bad
had happened, surely we would’ve heard by now.
In fact, they might arrive any time.”
“Silas
is keeping something back for them, in case they do. I hope – I hope everything will be all right.”
“Want
to tell me what you’re afraid of?”
“Gene,
Mother went to find out something – about father, and her, Leah Thomson. Maybe she’ll find out he wasn’t so guilty –
maybe even Heath will think so – and we’ll all be happy. But what if – what if he did something worse
than we know yet? What if that’s what
Heath doesn’t want her to know? I think
that would be terrible for all of us – and it might mean Heath wouldn’t stay.”
Not knowing
how to answer her first concern, he fastened on the second. “I hope he does stay. I told him that the first day.”
“So
did I, the first day. I said, if he
didn’t we’d always wonder. But now,
we’d miss him. At least I would.”
“You
and Heath get along real well.” He
sounded a little jealous.
“We do
seem to. I’ve missed you, you know,
since you’ve been away at college – Jarrod and Nick are so much older, they
can’t be bothered with a little sister, I’m a decoration. Except when I’m in trouble! – But Heath
likes having a sister, he never had one before. The same as he likes having brothers. – Next year, when you
graduate – ”
“Didn’t
tell you, did I?” He felt guilty. “I’m going to try to get into medical
school. Be a doctor.”
“Oh,
Gene! A doctor! – Will you come and
practice in Stockton? – Dr. Merar’s getting old, you know. Or will you start up somewhere like that Dr.
Jones in Bakersfield, that Mother liked so much? Or go to a big city?”
“Don’t
know yet. Not likely Stockton, though –
don’t count on that.”
“So
you likely won’t be at home after all!”
“Not
much – maybe never again for very long at a time. – See, that’s why I wanted
Heath to stay, from the start. So Nick
won’t need me.”
“Gene,
don’t you like it here?”
“Didn’t
say I don’t. I want to make something
of my life, that’s all.”
She
thought about that. “Yes, I see. I wish I could! If I had to earn my living I’d try to be a teacher – since I
couldn’t be a rancher, or at least it would be awfully hard for a young woman
to be a rancher – that’s what I’d really like.
– But as it is, I have to be a ‘young lady’ and marry ‘suitably’.”
“The
world would be a dismal place without young ladies and suitable marriages. Your destiny is to make folks happy, little
sister.”
“Make one man happy, if I ever find a man I
like better than my brothers. – And have babies. That’s all you men think women are good for.”
“Audra,
how did we get into this? Have pity on
me, I’m tired out.”
In the
living room, he proved how tired he was by falling asleep over his book. Audra tucked a blanket around him and sat
sewing and listening to the wind. Soon,
she thought, she would wake him up and they would go to bed. Soon it would be too late for anyone to come
tonight.
Then
she heard the sound of horses coming into the yard, and Nick’s voice shouting
for Ciego. Audra jumped up, poked Gene
to wake him, called Silas, and took the lamp out on the verandah in time to see
the second buggy and its weary horse appear out of the darkness. Gene came past her and lifted Victoria down
before Jarrod could do so.
“Oh,
my dears! Have you had an anxious
time?” Victoria hugged Gene and then
Audra, and waited on the verandah for Jarrod to follow them in with a valise in
each hand.
“What
happened, Mother? Where’s Heath?”
Silas
came from the kitchen to ascertain that they had not eaten, and promptly began
laying the table for four.
“Heath’s
with Nick,” said Jarrod. “I suggest we
take a few minutes to freshen up before we eat, Mother, and when everyone’s
ready you can tell us the rest of your story.”
An
hour later they gathered in the living room.
Nick propped his leg on a footstool.
Heath sat next to Audra with a sleepy Gene on her other side, Jarrod a
little apart, leaning his head on his hand.
Victoria took a chair from which she could see all their faces.
“You
boys all look tuckered out,” she teased.
“Maybe I should reserve my story until tomorrow.”
“Not
on my account!” declared Nick. Jarrod
and Gene chimed agreement.
“All
right. Eugene and Audra, naturally
Jarrod and Nick already know some of this story, and Heath knows all of it, but
I’m sure they’ll be patient while I explain to you from the beginning.”
She
told them how Heath had told her about the people in Strawberry, how she had
rashly decided to go there alone, how she had learned of Rachel Caulfield’s
death and how she had gone to see Hannah.
“Hannah
was – a bit mixed up, as Heath said afterwards. When she first saw me she called me Miss Leah. – But when I told
her my name she understood who I am.
She didn’t want to talk to me – that didn’t seem strange, because why
would she? but it didn’t help me much.”
Jarrod
pounced on a detail she had not mentioned before. “I wonder if – Heath, does Mother look anything like your mother? enough to confuse Hannah?”
“Not
to me. Well, maybe, to Hannah, she
don’t see so good.”
“Then
what?” asked Gene.
“I
tried the hotel next. Mr. and Mrs.
Simmons were quite willing to talk. The
story they chose to tell me wasn’t one I wanted to hear – they said, your
father came courting Leah, he loved her very much, but then he left her and her
child because he was afraid of a scandal that would hurt his business
interests, and she brought Heath up with only them to help. Heath had already told me they didn’t help much.
– They were asking for money, too. I
don’t know why they didn’t tell me what they must’ve thought I did want to
hear, unless they were thinking of blackmail.
But I didn’t give them anything.”
“Oh,
Mother, how – !” Audra might have said
more if Heath had not been there.
“Aunt
Martha has a nasty tongue,” said Heath.
“Reckon she wanted to hurt you, even more’n she wanted the money.”
“I was
almost ready to give up and drive away.
It was late in the afternoon, and I thought I’d go back to Pinecrest and
stay in the hotel there overnight, rather than stay in the Simmons’
establishment. – But when I went out, there was Hannah trying to get my
attention. I went back to her house
with her.”
Audra
asked, “Did she tell you something more?”
“She
had remembered that there was a letter, that might answer some of my
questions. She started looking for it,
in an old trunk, and while she was looking she told me more about Leah – how
pretty she was, and how she loved to laugh.
And that she was a good woman. I
couldn’t help but believe that – I believed it already before I went.”
“Of
course. You said that from the first.”
“Hannah
told me, your father didn’t go looking for Leah. He was hurt – I knew that already, that he had a broken
collarbone while he was in Strawberry – and Leah found him lying half dead in
an alley behind a saloon. And took him
home and nursed him, likely saved his life. – Nurse and patient: that can be a
very intimate relationship; I suppose it’s not so surprising that it led to
more intimacy yet.”
Nick,
who had frequently been nursed, muttered something that seemed to be agreement.
“Hannah
said she loved him, but she couldn’t say if he loved her. But then she found the letter.” Victoria took a folded and worn piece of
paper out of her bag, and unfolded it carefully. “It’s in your father’s handwriting – there’s no doubt of
that. I’ll read it to you.”
She
had their full attention as she began:
Dear Leah,
I got home safe and found all well
here. Sold my share of the mine for a good
profit, so I won’t ever need to go back to Strawberry. It’s the best way, like you said.
You’re a wonderful woman, Leah, perhaps the
only woman in the world I could have loved as much as I love my wife, and
someday very soon I hope you’ll meet someone.
You’ll fall in love as you deserve, and he will love you as you deserve
to be loved, and you’ll be as happy as I am, as proud as I am of my
family. You must marry, Leah, you must
have children You were meant for that.
I can never repay all I owe you, but if
there is ever anything I can do, you have only to ask. Write to me only “Come” and I will come.
Yours most affectionately,
Tom Barkley.
“So he
didn’t know,” said Nick. “I told you,
Jarrod.”
“Evidently
you were right,” Jarrod answered lightly.
It was easy to speak lightly about it with this clear evidence in hand –
evidence that, though his father had not been innocent in the matter, his guilt
had not been so very black. He felt a
burden lifting from his shoulders.
Gene
said, “So he sent her this letter after he got home. It sounds as if she wanted
him not to come back. But she could have – Heath, could she? Could she read and write?”
“Yep. Couldn’t spell too good, though.”
“So
she could have written to him. Wonder
why she didn’t?”
“Hannah
couldn’t tell me that,” said Victoria.
“I got the impression she would have favored doing so, but that Leah
made her own decisions for her own reasons. – I think it shows she was a woman
of great courage and generosity. But
she must have paid a price, and so did Heath.”
Nick
turned his head to look at Heath.
“Reckon it wasn’t easy, growin’ up like that. Can’t help thinkin’ of how we, my friends and me, treated some
kids in Stockton that didn’t have a father – ashamed of it now, but kids don’t know
any better. You must’ve been on the
wrong end of some o’that too, Heath.”
“Some.”
“Though
we know at least some people in the town thought well of your mother,” remarked
Jarrod, remembering Amos Jennings in the saloon.
“Some. Some had other ideas.”
Audra
wiped away tears. “Heath, what did your
mother tell you when you were little, about your father?”
“She
had me believin’ he was mighty fine – what he was, to you, I s’pose. I
kept ‘spectin’ him to come back and make everything right. Reckon I was seven or eight when I figured
out that wasn’t goin’ to happen.”
“Oh,
Heath!”
Jarrod,
listening, experienced a sudden change of perspective. Until now, he had acted toward Heath out of
a sense of justice, a feeling of obligation, and as time passed a growing
respect and liking for the man. In
public he had admitted his father’s fault while he denied that anyone had ever
thought Tom Barkley was perfect and insisted they did not know exactly what had
happened, while in his heart he had been grieving for the memory of the father
he had admired and loved. Now, hearing
and understanding for the first time these details, what Heath had suffered as
a child, he found that compassion for his brother had replaced grief for his
father.
He
said, “Regardless of what she could have done, or wanted to do, he should never have left it up to
her. He should have gone back to make sure she was all right. He should have taken care of you, somehow or
other.”
Nick
declared, “That’s right! You oughta
have grown up here with us.”
“Reckon
Mama would’ve had somethin’ to say ‘bout it.”
“If
Father’d known ‘bout you, he would’ve had you here, no matter what your mother
said!”
“Dunno
‘bout that.”
Gene
said, “It would’ve been a battle of wills, then. Which would’ve been the stronger, we’ll never know.”
Jarrod
added, “Leah Thomson was a strong-willed woman, no doubt of that. But don’t forget there would’ve been a third
party to any such battle. Where would
you have stood, Mother?”
“On principle, I’ve always believed a young
child shouldn’t be taken from its mother, as long as she’s a good mother. I think I would have tried to find a middle
way.”
Audra
asked softly, “Would you have forgiven Father, if you’d known at the time?”
“I
expect so – though perhaps not right away!
If I had known – well, no use talking about that now. There was fault on both sides, and I was at
fault too. I wish now I had asked the
questions I didn’t ask.” Victoria folded the letter and put it away. Someday she would give it to Heath, but not
yet.
She
went on to tell the rest of the story, how Mr. and Mrs. Simmons had threatened
her with Rachel Caulfield’s fate, and Heath had come just in time to save her,
and they had stayed overnight with Hannah.
“I slept in Leah’s bed,” she said softly. “I felt very close to her there.
I feel as if I knew her.”
At
last she came to the shooting on the way home.
Audra’s
eyes widened in horror. “Heath, it
could have been your uncle!”
“No
matter. Had to protect Mother.”
There
was a small silence. Four pairs of eyes
moved from Heath’s suddenly scarlet face to Victoria’s delighted smile.
“That’s
something else we talked about on the way.
Heath agrees. When he says
‘Mama’ he means Leah, and when he says ‘Mother’, from now on, he means me. Does anyone object?”
No one
did. Audra leaned over and kissed
Heath’s cheek. “Much better,” she
said. “It was awkward, my brother not calling my mother ‘Mother’.”
Gene
reached behind her to slap Heath’s shoulder.
“Knew you couldn’t keep up saying ‘ma’am’ forever.”
There
was not much more of the story after that, except Jarrod and Nick’s account of
their own uncomfortable journey. At the
end of it Jarrod turned to Heath.
“Heath,
we went after you because we didn’t trust you completely. I want to apologize for that. It won’t happen again.”
Heath
thought about that before he answered seriously, “I didn’t trust you
neither. Oughter told all o’ you all
that afore.”
“You’re
both right,” said Nick. “Time we all
started trustin’.”
The
Thirteenth Week
A few
days later they all dressed up and went to Stockton for the statue
unveiling. Heath wore his father's
boots and managed not to look too uncomfortable in them. Audra shed a few tears very prettily, Gene
applauded wildly, and Nick looked around the audience as if daring anyone to
criticize, while Jarrod made an appropriate speech, and Victoria performed the
unveiling with grace and dignity.
It was
a life-size statue of a man on horseback, no doubt very similar to thousands of
such statues erected all over the country in honor of founding fathers and
military heroes. This one had a plain
coat and hat rather than a uniform, and looked enough like the existing
pictures of Tom Barkley to pass muster if not too closely examined. Each member of the family found something
admiring to say about it, but not one of them was entirely pleased.
It was
only a statue, after all. Life was much
more interesting.
THE
END