by Katlynn
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.
Monday, March 30, 1874
Nick Barkley was intentionally early when he rode into
Stockton on Monday afternoon to meet the train that was bringing his brother
home. He figured he deserved a cold
beer simply for having survived his brother’s absence and his early arrival
would give him the time for that. Heath
had been gone for almost two weeks and the extra work that had fallen on Nick’s
shoulders had left him tired to the point that he hadn’t even seen the inside
of a saloon since Heath had left. So he
figured he deserved not only that first beer but a second one, as well, when
Heath’s train came in and they could have one together. He’d missed his little brother – and not
because of the added workload that was his while the blond cowboy was
gone. He’d missed him simply for the
presence that had become so important to him.
In less than two weeks it would be a year since Heath rode into Stockton
claiming to be Tom Barkley’s son and Nick Barkley’s brother. It was a year in which Nick had first
rejected him and then reluctantly acknowledged the validity of his claim. A year in which that acknowledgement had
turned to tolerance, then acceptance, and finally a wholehearted embrace of
their relationship.
There were times when Nick would have sworn that Heath had
been there all his life. Times when
Heath was one step ahead of Nick as though he knew what Nick was going to do
before he did it. It wasn’t as though
he thought that Heath was reading his thoughts. It was just that they seemed to have the same instincts and if
Heath WASN’T doing something just before Nick, then Nick was doing something just
before Heath. Nick found it strangely
comforting to have someone by his side with that sort of instinctive
response. It was a presence he’d come
to rely on and one that he’d sorely missed while Heath had traveled throughout
the southern part of the state in search of new blood to add to the Barkley
line of horses.
He tied Coco and Charger to the railing outside the saloon
and pushed his way through the swinging doors.
A hint of smoke from a cheap cigar greeted him as he paused to survey
the room, looking for a familiar face.
There were three men on the far side of the room playing cards, two men
in business suits at a nearby table in the midst of a heated discussion, and
two tables occupied by men alone with their drinks and thoughts. No one Nick wanted to share a beer with, he
decided as he crossed to the bar and ordered his drink with nothing more than a
gesture to Harry, the bartender.
“Whatcha doin’ in here in the middle of a Monday
afternoon?” Harry asked as he first wiped the bar clean in front of Nick then
placed the beer mug before him and caught the coin Nick flipped in his
direction. “Ya’ lettin’ that ranch take
care of itself?”
Nick took a long drink, wiped his mouth with his sleeve,
and told the barrel-chested man, “Haven’t been doing nothing but take care of
that ranch for the past two weeks. My
little brother is coming in on the 3:30 train.
I came in to pick him up so he can start doing his share. You might wanna have two cold ones ready
‘cause riding a train always gives him a powerful thirst.”
“You just jingle your spurs extra loud when you’re headin’
back this way and I’ll have ‘em sittin’ and waitin’ for ya’,” Harry laughed.
Once upon a time, Harry wouldn’t have laughed so easily at
the thought of both Nick and Heath Barkley in his saloon at the same time. It was in the not-too-distant past –
certainly less than a year ago, he figured – that an argument between the
brothers had led to a furniture-breaking, window-shattering brawl. One of them had thrown a punch at the other
– he still didn’t know who’d taken the first swing – and someone had landed on
top of a table at which four cowboys were playing poker. The table had ended up in pieces on the
floor and the scramble for the money that had flown in all directions had erupted
into a fight that few escaped unscathed.
Barkley money had refurnished the saloon and replaced the
windows. It had more than compensated
Harry for the business he lost due to the lack of tables and chairs for a
time. In the end he’d chosen not to
press charges but had warned the brothers not to come back until they were
ready to act like brothers. “In fact,”
he’d told them, “the first drink is on the house when ya’ can walk into my
place and lay claim to bein’ friends as well as brothers.”
It had taken a few months but they’d shown up one day for
that free beer. The way they were
laughing as they walked through the door that day and the arm Nick threw over
Heath’s shoulders at the comment that was meant only for his brother, had Harry
placing two beers on the bar even before they were ordered.
Harry moved down the bar away from Nick and towards a man
who’d just come in. As he set the
requested mug of beer in front of him, the man said casually, “I’ve got a
five-dollar gold piece that’s yours if ya’ can give me some information.”
“What kinda information?” Harry asked almost suspiciously.
“I’m lookin’ for someone,” he told him. “Heard he mighta headed this way.”
“Has he got a name that I might know?” Harry wouldn’t have
minded the extra five dollars in the till.
Monday was usually a slow day.
“Thomson,” the man replied and the beer that Nick was
lifting to his mouth stopped just short at the familiar name. “Heath Thomson,” he spit out.
Harry glanced over at Nick as he covered his hesitation by
wiping the bar with his ever-present towel.
He looked up at the man as he said in carefully measured words, “Can’t
say as I know anyone who goes by the name Thomson. What are ya’ lookin’ for this fella for?”
“Well, now … that’s between him and me. Just some unfinished business,” the man said
menacingly. “Maybe he’s goin’ by
another name. He’s a little bit taller
than me. ‘Bout twenty-five years old,
maybe. Blue eyes. Light colored hair. Likes to wear a blue shirt. Fast with a gun. Seen anyone like that around here?”
“Don’t ring any bells,” Harry denied as he could see Nick
sizing up the man.
Neither would have noticed the stranger if he hadn’t asked
for someone they both knew. He looked
like any other cowboy drifting from town-to-town looking for work. But the gun he wore would have distinguished
him from all the others if they’d bothered to notice sooner. It was a Smith & Wesson revolver known
as ‘the American’ that had only been manufactured in the past few years. It wasn’t a gun that the average cowboy
carried around with him and its appearance at the stranger’s side didn’t
necessarily inspire confidence in the man wearing it.
“How ‘bout you?” the man looked over at Nick when he
noticed that the dark-haired cowboy had more than a passing interest in what he
was saying. “Ya’ know this fella
Thomson?”
“I don’t believe I know anybody by that name,” Nick hoped
he sounded casual as he took a long swallow of his beer. “So what did you say you want this guy for?”
“I didn’t,” the stranger replied. “And it’s private," he dropped his hand
down to rest on the butt of his gun.
“Just for him and me to settle.”
“If I DO happen to run into this guy,” Nick decided to try
another route, “I’d be happy to point him in your direction. Always got someone stopping at the ranch
looking for work. If he happens to come
by, who should I say is looking for him?
And where can I tell him to find you?”
“He already knows who’s looking for him,” the man picked
up his beer, turning away from the bar to take it over to a table. “And he don’t need to know where to find
me. I’ll find him. If he’s around here, I’ll find him before I
move on,” he added ominously as he left the men alone.
Nick set his empty mug on the bar as Harry sidled back
towards him. In a voice so low that
Nick wouldn’t have heard him if he hadn’t been just a couple feet away, Harry
said, “Ya’ might wanna wait on that beer with your brother, Nick. In fact, ya’ might do well to get him outta
town and back to the ranch without too much delay. Maybe I’ll suddenly remember that I’ve seen this guy he’s lookin’
for and I recall hearin’ him mention that he was headed to Modesto.”
“Thanks, Harry.
And if he DOESN’T decide to head right down to Modesto, you might also
wanna find out how long he plans to stay around here looking, if you can,” Nick
set a five-dollar gold piece on the bar.
“Keep your money, Nick,” Harry slid it back towards
him. “I like that brother of
yours. Don’t wanna see no harm come to
him.”
Nick thanked him again as he pocketed the rejected
coin. He couldn’t help but notice as he
turned to leave that the stranger had chosen to sit with his back to the
wall. Sitting like he was expecting
trouble. Or like he was hoping to spot
trouble before it spotted him. Harry
was right, Nick thought as he stepped out into the bright afternoon sun. He had to meet Heath and get him out of town
– fast. Maybe – just maybe – the man
would move on before he found someone who would admit to knowing Heath. And, in the meantime, maybe he could keep
Heath out of town and out of harm’s way until the danger was past.
Nick heard the far off whistle of the train as he swung up
onto Coco and leaned over to untie Charger’s reins. Even as he was riding away from the saloon towards the train
depot to the south of town, he was trying to figure out how to get Heath back
through town without riding past the saloon.
It would be the most logical way to get from the depot out to the ranch
and he knew Heath would wonder why that wasn’t the route they were taking. He had to come up with some excuse to get
his brother to ride back with him another way.
Maybe, he thought, he could tell him they had to stop at the Miller
place and pick up something for Mother.
Mother and Mrs. Miller were always sending things back and forth to each
other, he rationalized. But, no, he
shook that thought off as quickly as it came to him. Once they got to the Miller place, east of town, there’d be
nothing to pick up and they’d have ridden several miles out of their way for
nothing.
Well, he reassured himself, he’d think of something. Maybe it was as simple as just heading Coco
to the outskirts of town rather than through it. Yeah, he decided, that’s what he’d do. He just wouldn’t ride through town; it was that simple! He’d ride around it. And Heath would follow him. Of course he would! Heath would follow his big brother off a
cliff if he asked him to, Nick thought.
Not that he WOULD ask him to, Nick quickly amended his thought. Oh, Heath would probably wonder why he was
taking the long way around but … well, he’d think of something if he had to.
He didn’t dismount when he reached the depot; he just sat
on Coco and waited at the far end of the platform, holding tight to Charger as
one final whistle announced the train’s approach to the station and the bay
stallion skittered sideways at the sound.
He didn’t expect Heath to be the first one off the train. If there was one thing his brother was, it
was unfailingly polite. He’d wait until
all the ladies had preceded him from their seats, Nick knew. So he was content to wait and watch as more
than a dozen people disembarked. He saw
a flash of blue behind a man in a business suit before Heath stepped down from
the rail car and turned to offer his hand to a lady who carefully stepped down
after him.
Heath and the woman both headed for the door of the depot
and Nick let out a whistle before calling his brother’s name to get his
attention. Heath turned and
acknowledged his presence with a wave of his hand but then turned back to speak
to the woman who’d stopped at his side.
It was a short conversation that ended with the woman leaning close and
giving Heath a kiss on the cheek before entering the depot. The slow, casual way that Heath turned and
then walked across the platform towards him and the slight smile Nick could see
on his younger brother’s face, clearly intrigued the dark-haired cowboy.
Nick waited while Heath settled his saddlebags on Charger
and mounted up and, when no explanation was forthcoming, almost exploded,
“WELL, WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!”
“What was what about?” Heath looked over at him with a
smile that hadn’t yet faded.
“The lady! The one
who just kissed ya’! What was that
about?” he demanded.
“It was just a kiss, Nick,” Heath started to turn Charger
away from the platform.
“Now just hold on a minute! What are you doin’ kissin’ a strange lady on the train platform?”
“Well, now … I don’t rightly recall kissin’ her,” Heath
drawled. The smile grew as he said,
“She was kissin’ me. And she ain’t one
bit strange, Nick.”
“Who is she? How
long have ya’ known her?”
“I think she said her name is … Eleanor … or, maybe Ella …
Ellie … somethin’ like that,” Heath didn’t seem too concerned that he hadn’t
quite caught her name.
“And how long have ya’ known her?” Nick persisted.
“Nick, you’re startin’ to sound like a father … and it’s
Jarrod’s job to be askin’ those kinda questions,” Heath teased. “Come on, let’s go have a beer b’fore we
head out to the ranch. Ya’ know how
thirsty I get ridin’ the train.”
“Yeah, I know, but we can’t,” Nick stopped him.
“Why not?”
“Well…” Nick had to think fast, “…Harry’s is closed this
afternoon. He has some repairs to
make. Musta been a fight or somethin’.”
“Harry doesn’t run the only saloon in town, Nick,” Heath
pointed out.
“But … we’re not goin’ back that way. I gotta make a stop…” Nick said, trying to
figure out where that might be. Then it
hit him. “…at the saddlery!” he
finished almost triumphantly.
“Nick, I never knew ya’ could get so excited about lookin’
at new saddles,” Heath laughed. “But I
ain’t got a need for a new saddle. This
one ain’t even a year old yet. You go
ahead and look at your saddles and I’ll head over to talk to Fred.”
“What do you need to talk to the sheriff about?”
“Just somethin’ that came up while I was gone. Nothin’ for ya’ to worry about. I’ll meet ya’ over at his office,” Heath dug
his heels into Charger and left his brother at the side of the platform.
It took Nick a moment to decide what to do. He knew he couldn’t follow Heath
around. That would only make his
brother suspicious. And suspicious was
the last thing he wanted Heath to be.
He’d keep at him until Nick told him about the guy who was looking for
him. Nick had no doubt of that. And once Heath knew there was someone asking
for him around town, he’d seek him out.
That’s the way he was, Nick told himself. If Heath thought there was someone in town intent on starting
trouble, he’d want to face it head on.
He wouldn’t want people covering up for him and sending the man off on a
wild goose chase. He’d want it to be
over with – and he’d go looking for the guy.
So the last thing Nick wanted to do was make Heath suspicious. Which meant, he realized, that he should
probably ride down towards the saddlery – and, maybe while he was there, he
could look at a saddle or two. No harm
in thinking ahead to his birthday – even if it was seven or eight months away.
Okay, THAT had been a mistake, Nick thought as he rode
away from the saddlery almost a half hour later. A Barkley can’t walk into a place like that and say ‘I’m just
looking’. He’d had to stand there and
patiently listen to the finer points of three different saddles, all quite a
bit fancier than his ‘this is a working ranch’ taste. When he pointed out that he was more interested in the type of
saddle his brothers had bought for Heath, he found himself taken into the back
room where two more saddles were presented for his examination. Finally he pointed at one and said, “If anyone
from my family comes in, tell ‘em that’s the one I want,” and then he made a
hasty exit, certain that he’d left his brother alone too long.
“FRED!” Nick almost bellowed as he entered the sheriff’s
office, his heart racing as he shoved the door open with a bang. “FRED, WHERE ARE … oh, you’re here,” his
voice dropped in volume when he saw the Stockton sheriff seated behind his
desk.
“It seemed like a good idea, bein’ the sheriff and
all. Now what are ya’ yellin’ about,”
the lawman asked in a gruff voice.
“Where’s my brother?” Nick demanded.
“Which one?”
“HEATH!” Nick waved his arms for emphasis. “He came to see you, right?”
“Just for a few minutes,” Fred acknowledged.
“Well, where is he now!”
“I think he was headed over to Harry’s.”
“HARRY’S! I told
him Harry’s was closed!”
“Yeah, he told me ya’ said that,” Fred nodded. “Why’d ya’ tell him Harry’s was closed? I stopped in for a beer and a sandwich at
lunchtime and Harry didn’t say anythin’ about closin’.”
“And you told him that!”
“No reason not to, Nick,” Fred sounded confused.
“Ohhh!” Nick breathed out in a loud gasp, turning back
towards the door. But then he caught
himself and asked, “What did my little brother wanna talk to you about?”
“Sorry, Nick,” Fred shook his head. “That’s between Heath and me.”
“Why’s that?”
“He asked me not to talk about it to anyone. And I’m guessin’ that ‘anyone’ means you,
too.”
“But … I’M HIS BROTHER!”
“Then ask him yourself,” Fred suggested. “I told him I wouldn’t say nothin’ about it
to anyone so if ya’ wanna know, you’ll have to get it from him.”
“Well, I just might do that!” Nick told him, again heading
for the door. He had his hand on the
doorknob, about to pull it open, when he turned and glared at the sheriff. “Do the people of this town know that you
were drinkin’ on the job?”
“I wasn’t drinkin’ on the job, Nick,” Fred denied. “I was havin’ lunch. When this town starts payin’ me to eat
lunch, they can decide what I drink with it.
But I don’t see that happenin’ anytime soon. Do you?”
An inarticulate grumble was the last thing Fred heard from
Nick before the dark-haired cowboy slammed his way out of the office.
Nick looked down the street hoping NOT to see Charger tied
outside Harry’s Saloon. Yeah, there he
was on the other side of the street and that could only mean Heath was
inside. He should have looked before he
went in to talk to Fred, he admonished himself. He left Coco tied outside the sheriff’s office and crossed the
street at a run, still running when he pushed open the doors of the saloon and
slid to a stop on the wooden floor.
Heath was standing at the bar talking to Harry and both men were
laughing.
“What are you doin’ here!” Nick demanded when he joined
his brother after making a cursory visual check of the room.
“I’m havin’ a beer.
In fact, I’m havin’ my second.
And I’m tryin’ to figure out what ya’ been drinkin’ that makes ya’ think
Harry’s is closed.”
“I guess I heard it somewhere,” Nick suggested as he
accepted the brew Harry set in front of him.
Harry gave a little shake of his head and Nick took it to
mean that the man who’d asked about Heath was no longer in the saloon. Still he turned around and faced the room,
leaning back against the bar and surveying the tables more carefully than he
had when he’d come in. He found that
the poker game was still going strong, the businessmen had taken their
discussion elsewhere, and the man in question had, indeed, left the
premises. Nick wanted to ask Harry
about it but he couldn’t do that with Heath standing right there next to
him. From Heath’s demeanor, it appeared
that Harry hadn’t said anything to the blond cowboy about the stranger who was
looking for him and Nick wanted to keep it that way.
Fortune smiled on him when Heath crossed the room to see how
the poker game was going. As soon as he
was out of earshot, Nick turned around and asked Harry, “So did you tell that
guy that you remembered seein’ the man he was lookin’ for? And did you tell him that he was headed down
to Modesto?”
“I told him, Nick, but he said he just came from Modesto
and thought he’d stick around here a couple days. Said some ranch hand down there told him he met a guy from
Stockton named Heath. It ain’t a common
name,” Harry pointed out
“You didn’t tell Heath any of that, right?”
“No. I got the
impression that ya’ didn’t want me to.
But I really think he needs to know.
How’s he gonna protect himself if he doesn’t know about this guy?”
“I’LL protect him,” Nick growled. “You know Heath! If I told him, he’d go looking for him. He’d figure if the guy means trouble for HIM, he means trouble
for someone else, too. And Heath ain’t
gonna let this guy go after someone else if he can stop him here.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“I know my little brother. He’d go lookin’ for the guy,” Nick maintained.
“Well, I ain’t gonna interfere,” Harry agreed, “but I
think ya’ should tell him, Nick.”
“Tell who what?” Heath’s voice at his back startled Nick
as he was draining the last of his beer.
His beer mug hit the bar harder than Nick intended as he
set it down. “I was just tellin’ Harry
that I needed to get you outta here and back to the ranch ‘cause Mother’s
waitin’ on you.”
“Waitin’ on me for what?” Heath set his empty mug next to
Nick’s.
“Well … you’ve been gone for two weeks! She’s waitin’ to welcome you home!” Nick
said as though it should be obvious.
“I don’t think five minutes one way or the other will
make…”
“Come on,” Nick grabbed his arm. “You’ve already had two beers.
It’s time to leave.”
As Nick urged him towards the door, Heath gave a slight
wave of his hand to Harry. The
expression on his face was one that Harry had seen often. He’d always thought of it as saying ‘he’s my
big brother … what else can I do’. Most
often when he saw it, Nick was hatching a plan that Heath was reluctantly going
along with. He’d once told Harry that
going along with Nick’s crazy schemes was the only chance he had of keeping him
out of trouble. Not that it always
worked, Heath had told him, but at least he didn’t get in as much trouble as
Nick did when one of his schemes went bad.
He at least got credit for trying to keep Nick out of trouble – even
though he rarely succeeded.
Nick stopped at the double doors and Heath bumped into him
as his older brother was looking out into the street before exiting the saloon.
“Ya’ checkin’ the weather, Nick?” Heath asked when he
paused at the doors. “Ain’t a cloud in
the sky. It’s a right nice day.”
“I’m not checking the weather,” Nick said
disgustedly. “Just making sure I wasn’t
gonna run into anyone.”
“Ya’ ain’t never worried about that b’fore, Nick. Ya’ feelin’ alright?” Heath joked, reaching
up to feel his forehead.
Nick slapped his hand away. “I’m feeling fine! Just
trying to be courteous.”
“Boy howdy, I don’t think I should be goin’ outta town too
often,” Heath said as though to himself as he pushed past Nick to leave the
saloon. “Go away for a coupla weeks and
I come home to a brother I hardly recognize.
Askin’ me questions like he’s my father. Tellin’ me the saloon is closed in the middle of the day. Suddenly worried about knockin’ people over
as he’s leavin’. He sure as hell looks
like Nick … but he’s actin’ like Jarrod.”
“What are you mumbling about?” Nick hurried after him,
checking up and down the boardwalk for the man who’d been looking for Heath.
“Nothin’, Nick.
Nothin’ at all. Just talkin’ to
myself. Sometimes it’s the only way I
can have an intelligent conversation when you’re around,” Heath said as
seriously as he could.
“I’m gonna think about what you just said while I get
Coco,” Nick told him, “and if I decide that I’ve been insulted, I ain’t gonna
be real happy about it, boy,” he jabbed his finger into Heath’s shoulder a
couple times before leaving him to get his horse.
Heath leaned against the hitching rail as he
watched Nick cross the street. He
couldn’t help but think that having a brother was every bit as good as he’d
imagined it could be. Better, he
laughed to himself, thinking that Nick knew exactly what Heath had been saying but
let him get away with it anyway. Who
would ever believe, he wondered, that less than a year ago they’d have sooner
taken a swing at each other than have a beer together? As angry as he was when his mother had told
him who his father was … as angry as he was when he arrived in Stockton to
confront his father’s family … who would have thought that he’d now be thanking
his mother every day for sending him there?
He watched as Nick mounted up and turned Coco
in his direction before he swung up onto Charger’s saddle and waited for his
brother to reach the saloon. “So did
ya’ find anything worth adding to our line?” Nick asked as Heath dug his heels
into Charger and they fell into step beside Coco and the dark-haired cowboy.
“I took an option on a couple good-looking
colts and a few fillies. Nothing
that’ll do us any good right now but something to build on,” Heath told
him. “There ain’t a lot out there to look
at right now, Nick.”
“In a few years you won’t hafta go lookin’,”
Nick suggested. “They’ll all be comin’
to you. Best thing we ever did was buy
that land from Nate Shelby.”
“Yeah, that was a good move we made, Nick,”
Heath humored him, knowing that Nick wasn’t really taking credit for buying the
land. Nick knew very well that they’d
never have acquired the land if Heath hadn’t bought it himself because Nate
Shelby would never have sold it to NICK Barkley. But Heath knew that the fact that he’d stayed in Stockton and
they’d used the land for their breeding program was entirely due to Nick’s
persuasive ways. Heath had been ready
to buy his own ranch, pack up, and leave before Nick convinced him that the
Shelby Ranch was the perfect location for Heath to work with the Barkley
horses.
It WAS a good move, two minds thought as one,
each looking at their brother with a smile that the other now found so
familiar. So engrossed were they in
their thoughts about their good fortune that neither noticed the man leaning in
the doorway of the mercantile as they passed by. The man Nick had seen in the saloon who’d asked about Heath
Thomson. The man who watched them with
a smile of recognition as they rode out of town. The man who unconsciously rested his hand on the revolver at his
side as his eyes never turned away from the two cowboys until they’d actually
disappeared from sight. He lit a cigar
and casually strolled down the street towards Harry’s Saloon. He’d be leaving Stockton soon knowing he’d
paid Heath Thomson back for what he’d done when they’d both been working on the
Parker Ranch down in Arizona. The
satisfied look he wore on his face did nothing to betray his intent. Two days, he thought. Just forty-eight hours and the scales would
be even.
Part 3
Heath was whistling softly to himself as he
came down the curved stairway, crossed the foyer, and joined the family in the
parlor where they’d gathered for a drink before dinner. As he draped his jacket over the back of a
chair and buttoned the cuff of his shirt, he didn’t notice that the room had
gotten quiet since he’d walked in. It
wasn’t until Audra spoke to him that he looked up and realized everyone’s
attention was focused on him.
“What are you so dressed up for?” she asked in
a teasing, ‘little sister’ voice.
He looked around the room to see all eyes on
him and nodded at the drink Jarrod offered before telling her, “I’m goin’ into
town for dinner with a friend.”
“A lady friend?” she suggested playfully.
He ignored the question as he walked over to
take the drink that Jarrod had poured for him, hoping the family would return
to the conversation that had halted when he walked in. When he’d taken a healthy swallow he turned
around to find that ignoring the question hadn’t worked. All were still watching him silently.
All except Nick. “WELL?” he demanded.
“Well … what?” Heath knew it wasn’t going to
work but thought he’d try it anyway.
“Since when are you going into town for
dinner?”
That wasn’t the question he’d expected to hear
and it took him a moment to decide that he might as well tell him the truth
because he’d never get out the door if Nick didn’t get his answers. “I’ve been plannin’ it since I got home
today.”
“I knew it!
It’s the lady from the train, right?”
“What lady from the train?” Audra wanted to
know.
“Some lady whose name he can’t even remember,”
Nick said disgustedly.
“Her name is Ella,” Heath told him.
“You couldn’t remember it when you got off the
train,” the dark-haired cowboy reminded him.
“How come you remember it now?”
“I knew her name when I got off the train,” the
blond argued. “Just didn’t think you
needed to know, is all.”
“Well, let me tell you, boy, you’re NOT going
into town for dinner with her!”
“I think I AM,” Heath said with a slight laugh
as he set his glass down and walked over to get his jacket.
“If you think you’re going into town, then I’M
going with you! Someone has to see that
you get home!” Nick stated firmly.
“Nicholas!” Victoria Barkley chided him. “When was the last time you invited Heath to
have dinner with you and a lady friend?”
Nick laughed at the very thought of it. “Oh, that’s all I need! Him and his ‘aw, shucks, ma’am’ sitting at
the same table. The ladies just can’t
resist trying to get him to talk. The
last thing I’d do is invite him to have dinner with me and ANY lady friend.”
“Nick,” Jarrod spoke up, “I think Mother was
making a point. And I think you just
agreed with her.”
“Well … that might be,” Nick said after a
moment of thought, “but Heath doesn’t need to be going into town! He’s been gone two weeks! He just got home!”
“Ella’s only in town a couple days,” Heath
explained.
“Where did you meet her?” Audra still wanted
details.
“Like Nick said … we came in on the same
train.”
“And he kissed her right there on the
platform!”
“I told ya’, Nick, I didn’t kiss her,” Heath
pulled his coat on figuring it was the best way to make it clear to Nick that
he WAS going into town.
“Oh, right!” Nick waved his arm. “He didn’t kiss her,” he told Audra. “SHE kissed HIM! Right there on the platform.
They meet on the train and by the time they get off … she KISSES him!”
Heath ignored him as he walked over to give his
mother a kiss. “Don’t wait up, Mother,”
he said with a wink and an amused smile and just loud enough for Nick to hear
him.
“DON’T WAIT UP!” Nick repeated. “How late are you planning to be out,
boy? This is a workin’ ranch! You don’t NEED to be goin’ into town on a
Monday night!”
“It ain’t a matter of needin’, Nick,” Heath
patted his back as he passed by him.
“It’s a matter of wantin’. And I
ain’t needin’ or wantin’ any company. I
know the way home just fine – so don’t even think about showin’ your face in
town tonight.”
Nick took in a deep breath that he let out with
a loud sigh. It wasn’t his own face
that he was worried about showing in town.
It was Heath’s. As he watched
him leave, he considered telling him about the stranger with the Smith &
Wesson who was looking for him. He’d
never forgive himself, he realized, if Heath went into town and something
happened to him because he’d kept it to himself. Deciding that he HAD to tell him, he headed for the foyer to go
after him.
“Nicholas!” his mother’s voice stopped him in
his tracks. “Your brother is going into
town to have dinner with a young lady and he’s quite capable of doing that on
his own. Don’t you follow him,” she
commanded.
“But…”
“Not another word about it, Nicholas!”
Nick looked at her silently, weighing his
options. Tell the family about the
stranger looking for Heath, in which case they’d insist that he tell Heath … or
don’t tell them and hope that Heath didn’t run into him in town. Even though he’d decided only a moment
before that Heath should be told, it was really the last thing he wanted to do. With a little more time to think about it,
he was able to remind himself that telling Heath would lead to a
confrontation. He had no doubt about
that. And if he DIDN’T tell him … well,
there was still a chance that Heath and the other man would never even see each
other. And even if they did … it would
HAVE to be a fair fight. Wouldn’t it,
he asked himself. He’d put his money on
Heath in a fair fight any day, he thought as only a proud big brother could. In the end he decided that not saying
anything was the only way to possibly avoid a meeting that someone was probably
not going to walk away from. So he did
as his mother instructed and remained silent.
Nick spent the rest of the evening trying to
convince himself that Heath and the lady from the train were having an
enjoyable dinner for two at one of Stockton’s finer restaurants while the man
looking for him was settled in at one of the town’s saloons. AND he spent the time trying to convince
himself that there was no way they’d run into each other being in two such
distinctly different establishments. But
he couldn’t convince himself that Heath’s whole evening would be spent in that
restaurant. Oh, he knew his little
brother too well, he groaned to himself as he made a last check of the yard and
noticed that there was almost a full moon.
He vividly remembered a night around a campfire when some of the men
started talking about the lines they used on women. He remembered everyone offering a few lines that they claimed
were just the words to put a woman in the right mood. Everyone … except Heath.
He just sat and listened until Nick reached over and smacked his arm,
asking, “What about you, little brother?
What magic words do you use?”
Heath had taken a deep breath and given him
that half-grin of his before he drawled, “Don’t need no words, Nick. Just a quiet stroll under a full moon. Works ev’ry time.”
It was no use wishing the Moon wasn’t just a
day or two away from being full, Nick thought, looking up at it with a sick
feeling in the pit of his stomach. So
instead he found himself hoping that Stockton was especially noisy
tonight. Heath might have the full moon
he liked so much – but if Nick’s hopes had anything to say about it, he wasn’t
going to have the opportunity for a QUIET stroll down Stockton’s main street
bathed in its light.
As he walked towards the house he tried to put
it out of his mind that it was Monday … and Monday night in Stockton was
usually pretty quiet. He reached for
the doorknob then paused and looked to the heavens with a prayerful sigh and
said, “Send some clouds.”
* *
* * *
Nick wasn’t sure what it was that woke him as
he slept in a chair in the parlor waiting for his brother to come home. It could have been the sound of the front
door opening and closing. Or it could
have been the soft chime of the clock on the table. It might even have been the creak of that first step as Heath
attempted to quietly make his way upstairs.
Whatever it was, Nick was instantly awake and instinctively knew that
his brother was home.
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!” the words
exploded from Nick’s mouth before he had even cleared the chair and turned
around.
Heath stopped with one foot poised above the
third step before he backed down the steps he’d already climbed. His voice was just above a whisper as he
said, “Ya’ know, I think it’s goin’ on midnight, Nick. Ya’ might wanna hold it down. I ‘spect some of the family is tryin’ to
sleep.”
“It’s AFTER midnight,” the volume of Nick’s
voice came down only fractionally as he entered the foyer. “Now where the hell have you been?”
“I was havin’ dinner in town,” Heath said
defensively. “I recall tellin’ ya’ that
b’fore I left.”
“It took you long enough to have dinner.”
“Well, it ain’t all we were doin’. We were … talkin’.”
“Is that what they’re calling it now?”
“Nick, we were talkin’!” Heath said
indignantly. “Ella ain’t that kinda
lady!”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. You didn’t introduce us,” he said as Heath
was turning to leave.
That stopped the blond cowboy. “You’re sittin’ up waitin’ to yell at me
‘cause I didn’t introduce ya’?”
“NO!” Nick’s arm waved for emphasis. “I was sitting up waiting ‘cause I was
worried about you,” he admitted.
“Nick, I’ve been to town on my own at least a
few times,” Heath joked. “Ain’t nothin’
to worry about. Like I said, I know the
way.”
“That’s NOT what I was worried about,” Nick
hadn’t meant to say it and only realized that he had when the words were out of
his mouth. “You’ve been traveling for
two weeks. And then you get home and go
right off to dinner in town. I figured
you might be tired, is all.”
“So…” Heath drawled, an eyebrow raised
questioningly, “…YOU’RE not gettin’ enough sleep ‘cause you’re worried that I’M
not gettin’ enough sleep?”
Nick wasn’t sure if it was the question itself
or the expression on Heath’s face that dissolved the anger. A smile tugged at his lips. “Aw, hell,” he finally said, “I’m just glad
you’re home, little brother. I missed
ya’. Let’s get some sleep,” Nick threw
an arm over his brother’s shoulders as they started up the staircase. “Morning comes early. And this is…”
“Yeah, I know, Nick,” Heath cut him short with
a laugh. “This is a workin’ ranch.”
“And don’t you forget it!” Nick’s gruff voice
was in sharp contrast to the relief he felt at having his brother safely
home. He surely did like having a
little brother to work by his side, Nick was thinking as they climbed the
stairs, but THIS little brother was going to make him old before his time.
* *
* * *
Despite the late hour at which they’d gotten to
sleep, Nick and Heath were up before dawn and long gone by the time the rest of
the family sat down to breakfast. As
Nick headed in one direction and Heath in another, they agreed that they’d both
try to make it back to the house for lunch.
Nick spent the morning thinking about the man in Harry’s bar who was
looking for his little brother. He was
beginning to second-guess his decision not to tell Heath about him. With the time to really consider it, he was
starting to believe that the only way to protect Heath was to make him aware of
the danger. The problem was that he
still thought Heath would, sooner or later, go looking for the man if he knew
about him. And that couldn’t be the
best way to protect him, Nick argued with himself.
Maybe when they all sat down to lunch, he could
tell him in front of the family and they’d all be able to lend their voices in
trying to persuade Heath to simply stay out of Stockton for a few days. If Nick was to believe what the man told
Harry, he was only planning to stay a couple days before he moved on. Of course, if he found someone who was
willing to tell him what he wanted to know – and it wasn’t hard to believe that
someone would jump at the chance to pocket that five-dollar gold piece – those
couple of days could stretch into many more and sooner or later the man would
have what he wanted. Well, he finally
convinced himself, he HAD to tell him.
Nick rode back to the house with the
determination to tell his brother about the stranger in town and to enlist the
family’s assistance in keeping Heath from rushing off to confront the man. At least Nick could take consolation in the
fact that his brother was a thinker.
Sometimes it infuriated Nick when he wanted a quick answer about
something. But sometimes it balanced
Nick’s own impetuousness and even Nick had to admit that wasn’t all bad. In this instance, with the morning to
consider it, he was confident that it meant Heath would take the time to think
through the situation before acting.
And that would give Nick the time to be sure Heath knew he didn’t have
to act alone. This time he wouldn’t
complain about his little brother’s tendency to think before acting. This time he’d think of it as a blessing.
He’d already tied Coco’s reins to the fence
near the stable when he caught sight of Charger inside the stable in one of the
stalls. It was unusual for Heath to
stable his horse when he was only home for lunch and something told Nick it
wasn’t a good sign. He didn’t figure
he’d find his answer in the house so he called out to both his brother and the
Barkley foreman whose horse was likewise stabled. “HEATH! DUKE! WHERE ARE YA’?”
He heard a voice calling back and it was less
than a minute before Duke McCall came around the side of the stable from the
direction of the bunkhouse. “We had a
little accident this mornin’, Nick.”
“WHAT!
What happened to him!” Nick demanded, imagining the worst.
“He broke his arm,” Duke said calmly.
“Heath broke his arm!”
“No, not Heath,” Duke shook his head. “Jimmy.
His horse was spooked by a snake and threw him – or so he says. We didn’t see no snake,” the man’s tone of
voice clearly said he didn’t believe the story. “Heath and I brought him back.
The doc’s already been here.
Jimmy won’t be much good to us for a few weeks.”
“So is Heath with Jimmy?”
“No – he headed into town to pick up that wire
that Frank was gonna get this mornin’.
We sent Frank out to take Jimmy’s place with the crew workin’ on the
fence. Heath said somethin’ had come up
while he was in town last night and he had to see to it anyway so he’d pick up
the wire while he was there. Said he
hoped to get back for lunch but to tell you not to hold it for him. He said somethin’ about maybe not being able
to make it back like he wanted to.”
“He said he might not make it back!”
“Yeah, he said maybe,” Duke nodded. “But he didn’t say why he might not make it
back so I mighta heard him wrong.”
“How long ago did he leave?”
“Wasn’t much after nine o’clock when he pulled
outta here. I ‘spect he should be back soon.”
“I think I’ll head towards town and see if he
needs some help,” Nick decided.
“Nick,” Duke stopped him before he could mount
up again, “I don’t know exactly what he meant by it, but when he left Heath
said if ya’ got in before he got back, I should tell ya’ he knows the way to
town and don’t need ya’ followin’ him.”
“Well … I ain’t followin’ him to follow him,”
Nick said cryptically.
Duke was still shaking his head at that comment
as Nick rode out on Coco, almost at a full gallop by the time they cleared the
fence that defined the stable yard.
The foreman couldn’t deny that things on the Barkley Ranch had calmed
down considerably since Heath had first arrived. In fact, they’d calmed down quite a bit from BEFORE he’d
arrived. Nick hadn’t always been an
easy man to work for but once he and Heath had settled into their respective
roles in the family, things had been noticeably more relaxed around the ranch
as well. But sometimes Duke had to
wonder how they managed to get anything done when each one went about something
in his own way without regard for what the other said or did. There always seemed to be more going on than
Duke was privy to. This must be one of
those times, he figured.
As Nick and Coco raced towards Stockton, Nick
could feel his heart pounding as furiously as Coco’s hooves. Oh, he should have told him about that guy
in town, he told himself repeatedly as they seemed to fly across an open
prairie headed for the road that Heath, with a wagon, would have taken both to
and from town. He SHOULD have told
him. If anything happened to his little
brother because he’d kept quiet and Heath didn’t know of the danger awaiting
him in Stockton, Nick would never forgive himself. NEVER! Oh, he should have
told him…
Part 4
Nick heard the sound of a wagon before he
actually saw it. As he crested a rise
in the road, the wagon – driven by Heath – came into sight around a bend and
Nick slowed Coco to a trot as he rode to meet it. Heath reined in the horses and brought the wagon to a stop and
Nick couldn’t help but notice that he’d removed his gunbelt and it lay on the
seat next to him. He found himself
trying to remember if that was his brother’s habit or something out of the
ordinary. Thinking about that, he
didn’t at first notice that Heath was regarding him with a silent glare. A glare he couldn’t quite ignore for long as
Heath waited wordlessly to find out why Nick had been racing towards town.
“Okay!” Nick finally gave in when he realized
that Heath wasn’t going to say anything.
“I shoulda told you about the guy who was looking for you! But just ‘cause I didn’t … well … that doesn’t
mean you should go running off after him on your own! You gotta learn to ask for help!
That’s what big brothers are for!
I woulda gone into town with you.”
Heath continued his silence, a slight scowl now
gracing his face.
“So … what happened?” Nick wanted to know when
Heath still didn’t say anything.
“What guy are ya’ talkin’ about, Nick?” the
blond frowned.
“The one in town who’s…” his voice trailed off
as he realized he might have just told his brother something he didn’t
know. He took a deep breath before
asking, “Didn’t you go into town looking for that guy who was asking about
you?”
“What guy?” Heath repeated impatiently.
“The one in Harry’s bar yesterday,” Nick said
hesitantly.
“That ain’t what I went into town for,
Nick. I went in to get the wire.”
“Duke said you had something to take care of
that came up while you were in town last night.”
“Well, it wasn’t his business to tell ya’
that,” Heath stated, “but if ya’ gotta know, I was pickin’ up some supplies at
the mercantile for the Watsons. George
broke his leg and Annie’s been sick. I
heard about it in town last night. Ya’
know they got five kids, Nick. I
thought they might be able to use a few things so I stopped by the mercantile
and asked Mr. Perkins to put some things together that I could pick up after I
got the wire. I dropped it off at their
place before I headed home.”
Nick took in a deep breath that he let out in a
relieved sigh. “I thought you went
after this guy who’s been looking for you in town,” he finally told him. “And when Duke said you might not make it
back … well…”
“I told him I might not make it back like I
wanted … but I meant for lunch. I
wasn’t sure how long it would take to get the supplies out to the Watsons. Now who is this guy ya’ thought I went lookin’
for?”
“He asked about you in Harry’s yesterday. ‘Cept he asked about Heath Thomson. He’s wearing a fancy gun and he looks like
trouble.”
“And ya’ were gonna tell me about him when?”
Heath demanded to know.
“First I wasn’t gonna tell you at all. I was just gonna try to keep you outta town
‘til he left,” Nick confessed. “But
that ain’t as easy as it sounds. So
this morning I decided that I had to tell you and I was gonna do that at
lunch. Then Duke said you went into
town for the wire and that you had something else to take care of and I
thought…”
“So last night … ya’ didn’t want me goin’ into
town ‘cause of this guy? And I thought
ya’ were worried that I wasn’t gettin’ enough sleep,” there was a hint of
sarcasm in Heath’s voice.
“So it wasn’t the best excuse I coulda come up
with,” Nick muttered.
“Why didn’t ya’ just tell me about him?”
“’Cause I thought you’d go running off lookin’
for him.”
“Well, I just might,” Heath said as he flicked
the reins at the horses and the wagon moved out again towards the ranch.
Nick turned Coco around and kept pace with the
wagon as he said, “We’ve gotta at least talk about it first.”
“Seems to me we shoulda done that yesterday.”
“So we’ll talk about it today.”
“Are ya’ gonna try to talk me into stayin’
outta town?” Heath wanted to know.
“’Cause I ain’t gonna do that.”
“Mother might have somethin’ to say about
that,” Nick pointed out. “She’s not
gonna want you puttin’ yourself in danger.”
“Did this fella tell ya’ why he was lookin’ for
me? ‘Cause if he did, I missed that
part of it.”
“He just said it was private.”
“Maybe he owes me some money or somethin’,”
Heath suggested. “Did ya’ ever think of
that?”
“Well, he wouldn’t need to be pattin’ his gun
if he just wanted to pay you back some money he owed you. I’m tellin’ you, little brother, he’s
trouble!”
“That’s what ya’ said about me when I came to
Stockton,” Heath reminded him.
“Yeah … well … sometimes I still think you
are,” Nick grumbled as he dug his heels into Coco and headed back towards the
ranch ahead of the wagon.
He wasn’t worried about Heath turning around
right now and going back to town. He
knew he wouldn’t do that with a wagonload of wire. But Nick was going to make sure he was waiting at the stable when
Heath pulled in with that wagon. And
then he was going to make sure that Heath went into the house with him for
lunch. He was certain that the ladies
in the family would support him in trying to keep Heath out of town. But whether or not he would listen was
another matter entirely. In the end, no
matter what anyone else said, Nick knew his brother would head into Stockton to
find the man. But at least if Nick saw
it coming, he’d have the chance to be there by his side when he did it.
Despite their plans to have lunch with the
family, Nick and Heath ate at the table in the kitchen when they found that no
one else was home. After lunch, Nick
stuck close to Heath as he worried that his little brother would go looking for
the mysterious stranger to find out what he wanted. He was determined to talk about the situation with the rest of
the family and he was confident that they’d all do their best to convince Heath
to use caution in whatever he decided to do.
But when they returned to the house for supper and gathered for the
drink that had become family tradition, he found that the others were more inclined
to think, as Heath did, that there was no evidence to suggest that the man had
anything other than good intentions.
“But you didn’t hear the way he said Heath’s
name. And the way he said that their
business was private just as he put his hand on his gun,” Nick protested. “If you’d been there, you wouldn’t think he
had good intentions! And if he DID have
good intentions, how come he wouldn’t tell us why he was lookin’ for him?”
“Maybe ‘cause it was none of your business,”
Heath suggested. “You don’t tell ev’ry
stranger YOUR business.”
“Actually,” Jarrod spoke up, “Nick probably
DOES tell every stranger his business.”
“Go ahead and joke about it, Pappy, but I’m
still not convinced. I saw him and I
heard him and he didn’t sound like a man who just wanted to pay back some
money. And if Heath goes into town any
time soon, I’m goin’ with him!”
“Well, I’m goin’ into town tomorrow afternoon,”
Heath told him. “You’re welcome to ride
along if ya’ want.”
“What are you goin’ into town for?” the exasperation
was evident in Nick’s voice.
“I gotta see Doc Merar. Those stitches he put in my arm before I
went outta town have gotta come out.
They’re startin’ to annoy me. They
shoulda come out a week ago. I saw him
as I was leavin’ town today and he said I should stop by tomorrow afternoon and
he’d take ‘em out.”
Nick pulled out a pocketknife, held it up, and
said with a wicked grin, “I could do that for you.”
“I ‘spect I’d still need Doc’s services if I
let ya’ do that,” his little brother joked.
“Just come with me and we can look for this guy together after I see the
doc. He ain’t gonna try to start
trouble with my big brother standin’ by my side. In fact, if he’d known you were my big brother, he prob’ly woulda
left town after he got a look at ya’ in Harry’s. Those spurs alone woulda scared him off.”
“If you wanna go outside,” Nick said
threateningly, “I’ll show you what these spurs can do to…”
“Nicholas!”
The voice that could stop every one of them in
mid-sentence did just that to Nick. “Sorry,
Mother,” the look he fixed on his blond brother betrayed the contrite tone he
used in responding to the Barkley matriarch.
“I believe it’s time for supper,” she stood up
and regally extended a hand towards Nick.
He had no choice but to offer his arm to escort her to the dining room.
The subject, by the unspoken decree of Victoria
Barkley, was closed.
* *
* * *
Nick had decided to trust that his younger
brother had enough sense not to head into town on his own. So when they started their day on Wednesday
morning, he went off to work with one of the ranch crews as usual, while Heath
rode over to what he referred to as ‘Shelbyland’, a name he used only when he
wanted to annoy his older brother. Nick
found a convenient reason to be nearby at lunchtime and joined him for a noon
meal that had been packed by Silas and was twice what was needed to feed the
two hungry cowboys. His reminder that
he’d see him back at the house around 2 o’clock sounded casual but Heath had no
doubt it was the sole reason Nick had found his way to that part of the ranch.
Charger was already tied to the fence when Nick
got back to the house just short of the appointed hour. When Silas told him that Heath had gone
upstairs to get a clean shirt and offered a slice of apple pie while he waited
for him, Nick wasn’t hard to convince.
He’d almost finished when Heath came down the back stairs to the kitchen
in preparation to leave for town.
“Do you hafta wear that blue shirt?” Nick asked
him.
“What’s wrong with it?” Heath looked down at
the shirt he’d just finished buttoning.
“It’s one of the things he said.”
“Who said?”
“The guy in town! When he was askin’ if we’d seen you, he said you liked to wear a
blue shirt.”
“Well, I do.”
“But that’s what he’s gonna be lookin’ for!”
“Then I guess he’ll find me.”
“You don’t hafta make it that easy!” Nick
protested.
“I thought ya’ were goin’ with me so we COULD
find this guy.”
“THAT’S what I’m sayin’. I wanna find HIM! I don’t want him findin’ you first.”
“Either way … you’re gonna be there. And I ain’t gonna change my shirt,” Heath
said stubbornly.
“Fine!” Nick’s hands hit the table louder than
they normally would have. He pushed
himself to his feet. “Let’s go find
him.”
“Nick…”
“What!”
“I’m goin’ in to see the doc first … THEN we’ll
go lookin’. But when we DO find him,
ya’ gotta promise ya’ won’t take a swing at him or nothin’ like that, ‘til we
know what he wants. Ya’ DO sometimes let
your fist get ahead ‘a your brain, ya know.”
“Well, if he puts his hand on his gun, my fist
just might react,” Nick growled.
The look Silas saw on Heath’s face as they left
the kitchen was the same one Harry had seen when they’d left the saloon two
days before. That look that said ‘he’s
my big brother … what else can I do’.
But Silas saw more in the look than Harry ever had. He’d seen, firsthand, the struggle within
the family when Heath arrived and now, in this expression, he saw all the love,
pride and respect that Heath had in his big brother. And the arm that instinctively fell over Heath’s shoulders as the
brothers left the house conveyed the same to the older man. He’d heard some of the talk the night before
and had to admit that he was concerned about the outcome of their visit to
Stockton. But he took comfort in the fact
that they were together. Nick would
take care of his little brother. Silas
had no doubt about that. Now if Nick
could just keep his fist from reacting…
* *
* * *
Heath had been adamant when he told Nick that
he didn’t need him sitting by his side as Dr. Merar took the stitches out of
his arm. “There ain’t nothin’ gonna
happen in the doc’s office, Nick. Ya’
don’t need to be sittin’ there makin’ those faces that ya’ make when he snips
those stitches and pulls them out.”
The description alone brought that look to
Nick’s face as he said, “Fine. I’ll go
talk to Fred. Maybe he’s seen this guy
and can give us a place to start lookin’.
But ya’ gotta promise that you’ll come straight to the sheriff’s office
when you’re done at the doc’s.”
“Won’t go nowhere else, Nick,” Heath promised
as he dismounted and tied Charger to the hitching rail outside Howard Merar’s
office.
Only when Nick had seen him safely enter the
building, did he turn Coco towards the sheriff’s office. A pair of eyes smiled down from a room on
the second floor of the hotel as the brothers parted. A curtain fell back to cover the window as the man behind it
reached for his gunbelt on the bed and strapped it on. He settled his hat, pulled on his gloves,
and left the room wearing that same satisfied smile he’d displayed when he’d
seen the brothers together just two days before. A three-year old debt was about to be paid.
Fred was seated at his desk and Nick wasted no
time in describing the stranger and asking if Fred had seen him. The lawman told him that he didn’t recall
seeing anyone matching the description Nick provided. But he offered a stack of wanted posters and asked if Nick wanted
to look through them while he waited for his brother to join him.
“Well, I ain’t sayin’ that I think he’s
wanted,” Nick sort of protested. “But I
suppose it can’t hurt to see if his picture might be on one of these.”
There was a good-sized pile of wanted posters
and Fred took more from a cabinet and set them on the desk to keep Nick
occupied. He filled two cups with
coffee and placed one next to the flyers.
Nick was already so engrossed in studying the faces that he didn’t seem
to notice the coffee’s presence but still, unerringly, reached for it and took
a drink without conscious thought. He
couldn’t have been sitting there more than fifteen minutes when they heard the
yell from the street outside the sheriff’s office.
“THOMSON!” a voice called out. “HEATH THOMSON!”
Coffee splashed across the pile of wanted posters
as Nick dropped it and was on his feet in an instant. Fred reached the door first, pulling it open and stopping Nick
from rushing out into the middle of what certainly sounded like trouble to both
men.
“I ain’t drawin’ on ya’, Andy,” they heard Heath
say as he moved away from Coco and Charger and into the openness of the street.
“Drawin’ on me ain’t required,” the stranger
Nick had seen in Harry’s saloon menaced.
“I TOLD ya’ I’d pay ya’ back for what ya’ did … and it’s past time for
that. Whether ya’ draw or not don’t
matter one bit to me.”
Time went into slow motion as Nick pushed past
Fred even as he saw the man go for his gun.
He knew instinctively that Heath would react and go for his gun as
well. Both revolvers cleared their
holsters and Nick heard two separate shots fired. For just a brief instant he felt relief at seeing the stranger’s
hand go to his chest and his knees buckle as he fell to the street. But it was only an instant as his eyes went
to his brother and he saw the splash of red under the hand that Heath clutched
to his chest. Heath’s eyes met Nick’s
then rolled skyward as his legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground.
‘HEATH!’ the word screamed in Nick’s mind … but
the sudden dryness of his throat prevented the word from escaping as he rushed
into the street and dropped to his knees at the side of his fallen brother.
Part 5
As Nick dropped to his knees next to his
brother, he was relieved to see the rise and fall of the blond’s chest. His brother was still breathing! Nick bent over and spoke directly into his
ear. “Heath? Heath, you hear me, boy … you’re gonna be okay. You hear me, Heath?”
The eyes flickered slightly and a slit of blue
could be seen behind the partially open eyelids.
“You hold on, Heath. You’re gonna be okay.”
“Nick…” it was almost a whisper as Heath’s hand
reached up to grip his brother’s arm, leaving a red handprint on his sleeve,
“…gotta know…”
“Just take it easy, Heath. The doc is comin’,” Nick could see him
crossing the street.
“…gotta know…” Heath repeated.
“What?” Nick asked him as Merar crouched down
on the opposite side of his brother.
“What do you hafta know?”
“I gotta know … the date…”
“What do you mean? What date?”
“Today…” Heath sort of groaned. “Gotta know … on my tombstone … what date…”
“Now don’t start talkin’ like that,” Nick said
gruffly. “You’re not gonna die! Tell him, Doc. Tell him he’s not gonna die.”
Howard Merar looked up at the dark-haired
cowboy and said, “You’d best tell him, Nick.”
“Nick … gotta know…” Heath said weakly as his
hand dropped from Nick’s arm.
“I … uh … I don’t know,” Nick looked to the
doctor for help.
“It’s the first of April,” the medical man said
softly.
“You hear that, Heath?” Nick asked him. “It’s April 1st, 1874. But you’re not gonna…” his voice trailed off
as Heath reached out and pushed the two men away.
“Aw, hell!” the blond said in a suddenly strong
voice as he sat up. “I can’t die
today! You put that date on my
tombstone and everyone who looks at it’ll say ‘here lies an April Fool!’ Ain’t no way I’m dying today,” he got to his
feet and extended his hand to Merar.
“Let me help ya’ up, Doc.”
“APRIL FOOL!” Nick exploded. “I’ll show you an April Fool!” he got to his
feet, grabbed his brother’s shoulder, and spun him around to face him before
taking a swing that connected with Heath’s jaw and laid him out flat on the
street again.
“Heath!” Nick heard a voice behind him and
turned to see the man who’d started it all – the stranger from the saloon – on
his feet and approaching the brothers.
“Heath, ya’ okay?” he barely had the chance to ask before another right
cross from Nick sent him flying.
As he landed several feet from where Heath lay,
Nick turned and stared at Fred who was laughing. “You knew about this, didn’t you!” he accused the sheriff.
Fred sort of shrugged and seemed to apologize
as he explained, “Heath just wanted me to know that no one was really gonna get
shot.”
“I need a drink,” Nick snarled as he turned on
his heel and headed for Harry’s Saloon.
Andy raised himself on his elbow and watched
Nick stomp away before he looked over at Heath, who was still on his back and
whose hand was working his jaw back-and-forth as he tried to decide if it was
in one piece. “I thought ya’ said your
brother has a sense ‘a humor,” he said drily.
Heath turned his head to look at his
friend. “Well … I guess he just didn’t
think that was as funny as we did,” he breathed out as he sat up.
“You okay, boy?” Howard Merar’s hand on his
shoulder had Heath looking up at him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Doc, thanks. Ya’ know, ya’ almost had me believin’ it
when ya’ sounded so serious. Ya’d best
tell him, Nick,” he tried to mimic the doctor’s voice. “Hell, I can’t do it as good as you did,” he
got to his feet for the second time.
“Thanks, doc.” He looked over at
the sheriff. “Ya’ want us to dig the
bullets outta the street, Fred?” he joked.
“They ain’t doin’ no harm there,” Fred shook
his head, laughing. And then he warned,
“Ya’ might wanna steer clear of your brother for a while. I don’t want anyone else gettin’ shot in my
town today.”
Heath looked down the street towards the saloon
Nick had disappeared into. “Harry’s
might be the safest place for us. He
won’t stand for Nick shootin’ me in there.”
He walked over to a horse trough and dunked his bandana in the
water. As he wiped his hands he said,
as though to himself, “That red paint was a good idea. Real convincin’. Ya’ wanna join us for a beer?” he looked at the sheriff and the
doctor as he walked over to Andy, who was still sitting on the ground, and
pulled him to his feet.
“I think I’ll pass on that one,” Fred declined.
The doctor declined as well. “But give us a call if you need us. I’m thinking you might,” he suggested as
Heath and Andy headed across the street towards Harry’s.
“Ya’ know, the next time I’ve got forty-eight
hours to kill, I think I’ll find another way to do it,” Andy complained. “Ya’ didn’t tell me your brother had such a
good right hook.”
“I ain’t apologizin’ for that. Ya’ saw him lay me out and ya’ still got
close enough for him to do it to you, too.
That ain’t my fault,” Heath shook his head. Then he laughed. “Ya’
really had him goin’, Andy. For two
days he was flat out convinced ya’ were after me. ‘Course, I had to tell Mother the whole thing so she wouldn’t
agree with him. Oh, wait ‘til ya’ meet
her. She’s quite a lady. If Nick doesn’t shoot us when we walk
through that door,” he gestured towards the saloon, “remember that Mother wants
you and Ella to come to dinner tonight.”
“I think we’d better wait and see how angry
your brother is before we make any definite plans,” Andy suggested as Heath was
looking over the top of the saloon doors, trying to catch a glimpse of his
brother.
“He’s over at the bar and his gun is in his
holster,” Heath told his friend. “I
guess it’s safe to go in.”
They didn’t exactly join Nick. He was at the far end of the bar and as they
stopped about midway down the counter, Nick picked up his beer and went over to
a table. Heath gestured for two beers
and when Harry placed them in front of the men, the blond cowboy asked, “What
kinda mood is my brother in?”
“The kinda mood that makes me NOT wanna tell
him that you let me in on the whole thing when ya’ walked in here the day HE
showed up,” he gestured with a nod of his head at Andy.
“I guess we’ll have to find our own table
then,” Heath decided.
They picked up their beer mugs and crossed to a
table on the opposite side of the room from Nick. Heath sat facing his brother but Nick refused to look over in his
direction. He watched as Nick nursed
his beer and ignored him and had just about decided that he was going to have
to be the one to make the first move when Nick pushed his chair back and stood
up. He seemed to hesitate for a moment
but then strode purposefully across to the table at which Heath and Andy sat,
put his mug down on the table with a firm bang, and growled, “It’s your turn to
buy.”
He sat down as Heath picked up all three mugs
and got to his feet. Only when his
brother was out of earshot did Nick speak to Andy.
“So where do you know my brother from?”
“We worked together down in Arizona about three
years ago,” Andy told him.
“How’d he roped ya’ into this game of his?”
“Oh, that part of it’s true. I’m payin’ him back for somethin’ he did for
me.”
“What?” Nick almost demanded to know.
Andy drew his gun from its holster and placed
it on the table. “That gun…” he said,
“…it was a gift from my father. He gave
it to me for Christmas just over three years ago. ‘Cept for my horse and saddle, it was the only thing I had that
was worth anythin’. My father died a
couple weeks after he gave it to me and I swore I’d never part with it. It was the last thing I ever got from
him. A coupla months later I got a job
on the Parker Ranch outside Arizona City and that’s where I met Heath. He started a week or two before me so bein’
the new guys we kinda got to be friends.
We were in town one night playin’ poker and I’d put all my money into
the pot … I had a sure winner … four of a kind,” Andy reminisced. “I was gonna hafta fold until one of the
other guys in the game said I could bet my gun. I didn’t figure anyone could beat my hand so I put it in the
pot.”
“And ya’ lost, didn’t ya’?”
“Yeah, I lost to a straight flush,” he
nodded. “I headed back to the ranch on
my own … I was lower than a snake’s belly, I gotta tell ya’,” he breathed
out. “Heath was still goin’ strong so
he stayed in town and kept playin’.
Don’t know what time he dragged himself into the bunkhouse. When I got up the next mornin’ my gun was in
my holster and I asked him about it ‘cause he was the only one who woulda cared
to get it back for me. But I was afraid
he mighta gotten it back usin’ his own gun, if ya’ know what I mean. He said he stayed in the game ‘til he won it
back,” Andy related. “Then he looked me
right in the eyes and said ‘when a man is lucky enough to have a father who’d
give him somethin’ like that, he don’t bet it away in a lousy game’. And he made me promise I’d never do it
again,” Andy picked up the gun, slipped it back in the holster, and patted it
fondly. “I figured he was speakin’ from
experience … like he’d done the same thing himself once.”
Nick shook his head. “Heath never knew Father.”
“I know that now but I didn’t at the time. I guess maybe he was just thinkin’ what it
would be like to have a father,” Andy reflected. “It was prob’ly a coupla months before he really talked about his
family. That’s when I found out it was
just him and his mama. She raised him
to be a good man to do something like for someone he hardly knew.”
“Yeah,” Nick had to agree, “my little brother’s
a good man, alright. Most of the time,”
he added with a disgusted sigh.
Andy smiled.
“Ya’ oughta hear the way he talks about you. I ‘spected ya’ to be about seven feet tall. He was on his way back home when I ran into
him down in Fresno. He started tellin’
me about his new family. I ain’t never
heard anyone talk about his brother the way he talks about you.”
“And still he pulls a stunt like makin’ me
think he’s been shot,” Nick said drily.
“We did the same thing down in Arizona
once. Really got the other guys goin’
for a while,” Andy sort of chuckled.
“They didn’t care a lick about either one of us maybe bein’ dead. They were just tryin’ to figure out how to
explain to the boss that we’d managed to shoot each other.”
Andy and Nick were both laughing as Heath
returned with three full mugs of beer.
He stood there for a moment after he’d set the drinks down, waiting for
Nick to say something. “Aw, sit down!”
Nick commanded. “I ain’t mad anymore so
quit looking at me with those ‘little brother’ eyes.”
“Harry’ll be relieved to hear that,” Heath said
as he did as instructed. “He was afraid
ya’ mighta come over here to shoot us and he’d hafta stop ya’.”
“So Harry knew all about it, too?”
“Not right away,” Heath denied. “When I came in here on Monday, he told me
about the stranger who was askin’ for me.
I told him Andy was a friend and that we were plannin’ somethin’ and I
didn’t want ya’ to know yet. I asked
him to pretend he didn’t tell me – so that’s what he did.”
“Okay, so Harry and Fred knew about it,” Nick
said, “and I expect the doc knew,” he added and Heath nodded. “Who else?”
“Mother…” Heath said hesitantly. When Nick’s eyes got wide Heath said
quickly, “I needed her to stop ya’ from followin’ me into town. I didn’t want ya’ seein’ me havin’ dinner
with Andy and Ella.”
“Ella!
What does SHE have to do with this?”
“She’s Andy’s wife,” came the reluctant
admission.
“What were you doin’ comin’ in on the train
with Andy’s wife?”
“Well, I ran into Andy when I stopped down in
Fresno on my way home. He’d just bought
a couple horses that he needed to take north to a ranch he and Ella bought a
few months ago near Stanislaus City.
‘Cept before he got the horses he’d been plannin’ to take the train up
to San Francisco where Ella was visitin’ her family.”
Andy picked up the story when Heath paused to
take a drink. “Ya’ see, me and Ella
borrowed some money from Ella’s parents when we bought our ranch and I’d been
down to Bakersfield to get the money I had in a bank down there. I was on my way back home and was gonna take
it up to San Francisco then I had the chance to buy the horses. Well I couldn’t take the horses up to
Stanislaus City AND go to San Francisco,” Andy explained. “So, since Heath was
already headed that way – and I’d trust him with anythin’ – I asked him to take
the money to Ella’s parents for me. And
I told him if he’d see that Ella got to Stockton, I’d meet her here so we could
go home together.”
“So you cooked up this whole plan when you just
happened to run into each other in Fresno?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Andy confirmed.
“Did your plan include him kissin’ your wife on
the platform at the train depot?” Nick hoped to start a bit of trouble.
Andy started laughing. “Ella’s got a mind of her own. She told me when ya’ called to Heath at the
depot she wanted to give ya’ somethin’ to think about … so she kissed him.”
“Well, he wasn’t complainin’, I can tell ya’
that,” Nick said drily. After a pause
to take a drink he said, “I think I’ve got this all figured out except … how
did you just happen to walk into Harry’s on Monday when I was havin’ a drink?”
“That didn’t just happen, Nick,” Heath told
him. “I knew ya’d come into town early
for a drink. I told him to watch for
ya’ and follow ya’.”
“He didn’t even know me,” Nick pointed
out. “How was he supposed to watch for
me?”
“He told me to watch for a cowboy wearin’ black
and white and spurs,” Andy explained.
“’Course the picture he showed me helped a bit, too.”
Nick looked over at Heath. “Then how did YOU know that I ran into him
in Harry’s? You said you wanted to have
a drink at Harry’s.”
“No, I didn’t,” Heath smiled slightly. “I told ya’ I wanted to stop for a
drink. Ya’ said we couldn’t ‘cause
Harry’s was closed. I figured that
meant ya’ didn’t want me goin’ to Harry’s … so that’s where I went.”
“You thought of everythin’, didn’t you?” Nick
breathed out.
“Pretty much,” Heath echoed Andy’s earlier
confirmation.
“And I’d even think it was funny,” Nick
conceded, “if ya’d done it to JARROD!”
“Trouble is…” Heath shook his head, “…I can’t
always figure what Jarrod is gonna do.”
“And I was thinkin’ it was a good thing,” Nick
mused.
“What’s that?”
“Havin’ a brother who knew what I was gonna do
before I did it. I’ll get you back,
little brother.”
“Ya’ don’t mind if I don’t hold my breath,
right?”
“When you LEAST expect it,” Nick warned.
“I ain’t real worried,” Heath said in a loud
whisper to Andy. “Nick’s schemes
usually go bad before the payoff. ‘Cept
when I do the thinkin’ part of it, that is.”
“Well, maybe I’ll get Audra to help me,” Nick
suggested.
“Now I’m REALLY not gonna hold my breath,”
Heath laughed.
Nick ignored him as he asked Andy, “This ranch
you got near Stanislaus City … that’s not so far south of here.”
“Not even a day’s ride,” Andy agreed.
“Well, you might wanna consider doin’ your
shoppin’ in Modesto insteada Stockton.
I’m thinkin’ you and my brother bein’ in the same town at the same time
is NOT a good thing.”
“Ya’ ain’t gonna have a problem with the two of
us sittin’ at the same dinner table with ya’, are ya?” Heath asked his brother.
“Why?” he asked suspiciously.
“Mother said I should invite him and Ella to
dinner tonight, if ya’ didn’t kill us for dyin’ in fronta ya’ like that.”
“I couldn’t kill you. Too many witnesses for that,” Nick stood up. “Come on,” he grabbed Heath’s arm and pulled
him to his feet, “I wanna get you home before any more of your old friends show
up in town.”
“Six o’clock,” Heath said to Andy over his
shoulder as Nick was pushing him towards the door.
They’d emerged into the afternoon sunlight and
were crossing the street when Nick’s arm reflexively went over Heath’s
shoulders. “I’ve gotta tell you, little
brother, I DON’T much like bein’ the victim of your jokes … but if I had to
make a choice between that and what I thought had happened … well, I’ll take
the jokes any day,” the dark-haired cowboy admitted. “I’ve kinda gotten used to havin’ you around. I don’t wanna lose you any time soon.”
“Aw, hell, Nick … when ya’ say things like that
ya’ almost make me never wanna do somethin’ like that again.”
“Yeah…” Nick sounded resigned as he untied
Coco, “…but I ‘spect you will.”
“Yeah…” Heath grinned as he untied Charger, “…I
‘spect I will.”
THE END