by BVLindaG
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.
The front door opened and Audra held it wide
as Jarrod came through, loaded down with boxes balanced precariously in his
arms. Victoria followed after him and set down the assorted bags she had
brought in with her and called out, "Nick, Heath, we're home."
Silas came down the hall from the kitchen and
said, "Mrs. Barkley, y'all wasn't supposed to be home till tomorrow."
He helped Jarrod stack the boxes on the table in the foyer, "Mr. Nick and
Mr. Heath is out in the barn. I'll go tell 'em you're back."
Victoria shook her head quickly as he was
about to start back down the hall, "no, no Silas, don't tell them yet.
This will work out quite nicely I think." She thought for a moment then
pointed at her oldest son, "Jarrod, you and Silas take these packages upstairs
to your room while Audra and I change out of these travelling clothes."
He raised his eyebrows and looked at her in
confusion, "why are we putting them in my room Mother? I thought you and
Audra wanted to start wrapping them tonight?"
"I do, but if I know my sons, and I do,
they'll be coming into my room every few minutes asking silly questions so they
can try to see what we got them. They do it every year and always manage to
find out so there's no surprise left for them on Christmas morning."
Audra took the bags her mother held out to
her, "so we're going to wrap them in Jarrod's room this year Mother?"
"Yes, and when we're done, Jarrod can
keep your brother's occupied playing pool or something while we hide the
presents in the attic."
"But you know they always find them when
we hide them up there Mother. They're worse than little boys those two. They
always want to be surprised but they can't wait for Christmas Day, so if they
don't see what we bought when we're wrapping them, they start searching and
find where we hid them and open them ahead of time."
Victoria patted her arm as Jarrod and Silas
gathered up the packages and headed for the stairs, "don't worry Audra.
That isn't going to happen this year because I've given it some thought and
here's what we're going to do..."
Nick and Heath came into the house at noon and
threw their hats and gloves on the table.
"MOTHER??...MOTHER??"
Victoria came from the library where she had
been enjoying a cup of tea while Jarrod and Audra played a game of gin,
"stop shouting Nick, I'm right here."
Heath gave her a hug and kiss, "Ciego
said you were back. We weren't expecting you until tomorrow though."
She returned his embrace and gave Nick a peck
on the cheek before turning back towards the library, "I know, but we
finished our shopping early so we decided to take the morning train back. San
Francisco is so busy this time of year I just wanted to get done and come
home."
They followed her and hung their coats on the
rack beside the door then went over to warm themselves in front of the fire.
Nick, ever impatient, blurted out eagerly,
"what did you get us?"
Victoria settled herself in her chair, picked
up her cup and took a sip before she answered, "you'll both just have to
wait until Christmas morning to find out, now won't you?"
Much to Audra's chagrin, Jarrod laid down his
winning gin hand then got up to go over and stand in front of his brothers. He
put his fingers in his front pockets and his blue eyes twinkled as he tilted
his head at them and asked, "what makes you think we got you anything?
Have you two been good boys this year ... hmmmmm?"
A guilty look passed between them as they
recalled a certain incident from the month before that Jarrod obviously hadn't
seen the humor in. Nick waved his hand and shrugged, "well we..."
He scowled as his older brother cut him off in
mid sentence and nodded knowingly, "that's what I thought. I don't think
either one of you deserve presents."
Heath gave him a pleading look, "but you
said you'd get me that new pocketknife with the pearl handle I saw last time we
were in San Francisco. It was the only one they had and you told me not to buy
it 'cause you'd get it for me for Christmas, remember?
Nick piped up, "yeah, and you were gonna
get me an antique dueling pistol for my collection."
Jarrod shrugged, "huh, my memory seems to
be a little blurry on that, but perhaps Mother and Audra got you
something."
He went back to his card game and they looked
at their mother who raised her hands and shook her head as if to say, 'don't
ask me'. She knew Heath had wanted a new pair of boots and Nick a new hat and
she was enjoying keeping them wondering.
They looked across the room at their only
other hope. Audra dealt a new hand, ignoring the anxious glances thrown her way
and said frostily, "don't look at me you two, I seem to recall finding a
snake in my dresser drawer."
Heath gave a half-hearted laugh, "it was
a joke sis, besides, it was dead."
She sniffed huffily, "I didn't find it
amusing."
Silas ended the discussion by announcing lunch
was ready and as the rest of the family left the room, the two young men hung
back and a devious look passed between them. Dark head and fair bent close
together as they talked quietly.
Christmas Eve arrived and Victoria came upon
her two youngest sons hanging around the stairs to the attic and knew her plan
to wrap the gifts in Jarrod's room had worked and they were none the wiser
about what they were getting. She and Audra had kept moving the presents from
place to place and Nick and Heath were getting frustrated in their search. They
hadn't been able to find the gifts and were beginning to think maybe no one HAD
gotten them anything. Victoria laughed to herself, knowing that even if they
managed to find the gifts, she would be able to surprise them this year.
She schooled her features into an expression
of mild curiosity and asked, "What are you boys doing?"
A look passed between them and Heath answered
nonchalantly, "nothing Mother, just talkin' is all."
Victoria decided to press them a little
further, "why are you talking here, why not come downstairs and join us
for some eggnog?"
Nick leaned on the stair railing and shrugged,
"oh well, me and Heath here have some presents to wrap and we were just on
our way to his room to do that." He gave her a confidential wink,
"can't be lettin' anyone see what we got 'em now can we?"
Victoria eyed them suspiciously, "I
see."
Heath gave her what he thought was an innocent
grin, "yeah Mother, we gotta' get that wrappin' done, so you go ahead on
down before Jarrod drinks all that eggnog and we'll be along shortly."
Victoria looked at them skeptically, they both
had guilty looks on their faces and she had a pretty good idea of what they
were really up to, "all right, will you two be coming down soon?"
Nick grabbed Heath's arm and propelled him
towards his bedroom, throwing an answer over his shoulder just before the door
slammed shut, "we'll be awhile Mother, you go ahead."
They cracked open the bedroom door and waited
till they were certain she was gone before sneaking out and up the attic steps.
The door creaked and Heath held his finger to his lips as though that could
stop it from making noise. They lit the lantern that was sitting on a dusty
table in a corner and started searching through trunks and boxes. Ten minutes
went by before Nick happened to open the doors on an old cupboard that was
hidden under some old draperies.
He let out a gleeful chuckle, "ha! Found
'em! Get over here and give me a hand Heath."
The two sat down on the floor with the four
boxes they had found. Yes, this was definitely them. They were wrapped in dark
red and blue paper and the tags said, 'to Nick' and 'to Heath'. One each was
from their mother and Jarrod. The ones from Jarrod were in two small boxes,
just the right size and weight for a pocketknife and pistol and the other two
from their mother were large and heavy. The large boxes were very intricately
wrapped and they knew they wouldn't be able to redo them without their mother
knowing. The smaller boxes though, were simply done and could be rewrapped
quite easily with no one the wiser.
Nick picked up his small box and gave it a
shake, the satisfying clunk bringing a smile to his face, "this has got to
be my pistol Heath, I can't wait to see it. I've always wanted one for my
collection."
"Yeah, and Jarrod musta' got me that
pocketknife I wanted. It sure was pretty and he knows I broke my old one."
They carefully undid the paper and slowly
lifted the lids off in anticipation. Nick stared at the contents in disbelief.
"WHAT THE...???" His dark brows
lowered in a scowl as he lifted out a pair of ladies bloomers.
Heath picked up his 'gift' gingerly and held
it up in front of him as he looked at Nick in horror.
Nick grimaced at him and shook his head, "I gotta' tell ya Heath, the next time
I see a woman in one of them, all I'm gonna' be able to picture is your hairy
chest stickin' out the top of it!"
Heath gave him a dirty look and dropped the
dainty silk and lace camisole back in the box and said sourly, "yeah big
brother? Well I got a vivid picture in my mind of you in those bloomers, and it
ain't pretty!"
"Never mind about that." Nick
slapped the lid back on the box and reached for the paper, " let's get
these wrapped up again and go downstairs."
Heath eyed the other two gaily wrapped
packages and asked timidly, "do ya wanta' open the other two boxes?"
"DO YOU?"
Heath visibly shuddered, "I think one
good fright tonight is enough thanks."
"Ya got that right little brother."
They haphazardly rewrapped the boxes and made
their way to join the rest of the family in the library.
Nick stopped Heath at the bottom of the
stairs, "ya know Heath, our mother sure is a devious woman."
Heath's blue eyes narrowed as he listened to
his mother's laughter coming through the open door and he nodded in agreement,
"she sure is Nick, she sure is."
Jarrod brought the gifts down from the attic
after Nick, Heath and Audra had gone to bed. He placed them under the tree and
went to sit beside his mother. She smiled as she looked at the colorfully
wrapped pile, "well, I see Nick and Heath found some of the
presents."
Jarrod took a sip of his brandy and gestured
at the small boxes at the front, "they don't know much about wrapping
though do they? Your plan worked though Mother. They were so anxious to see if I got them what they wanted that
they opened the small boxes first, then they were too scared to open the
rest."
She laughed and nodded her silver head,
"like I said Jarrod, I do know my boys."
Christmas morning arrived and Nick and Heath
were the first ones down. They waited impatiently for the rest of the family to
wander in to the living room and exchange Christmas greetings and hugs before
it was time to open the presents. Victoria smiled at them indulgently as they
sat beside each other on the hearth, clearly uncertain now if there were any
gifts for them. They looked nervous as Jarrod reached for the blue and red
gifts and were more than a little relieved when he handed them both to Audra
who ignored the cards that said, 'To Nick', and 'To Heath' and hastily
unwrapped them.
Blue eyes met hazel as they wrapped their arms
around their unraised knees and thought, 'well what do ya know, the three of
them were in on this whole thing."
It finally came their turn to receive a gift
and they were thrilled when they opened the gifts Jarrod handed them. Both
pairs of eyes lit up when they caught sight of the pearl handled pocketknife
and shiny, blue black dueling pistol. Their mother had gotten them the boots
and hat they wanted and Audra got them both new shirts. As everyone sat there
admiring their presents, Victoria went over and, with Jarrod's help, picked up
the two large boxes Nick and Heath had seen in the attic.
"Here's a little something extra from
me." They put the boxes in front of the two cowboys who looked at them in
fear as their mother added, "I think every boy should have one."
They pulled off the paper to find a complete
train set, engines, freight cars, tracks, crossing signs, little people and
wooweee, a neat red caboose! They jumped up to hug and kiss their mother as
they thanked her. Heath's eyes were
huge as he gazed at the set, "I never had toys before but I used to see
trains just like this in the store window when I was little and always wished I
could play with them even for one day. Now I can play with them whenever I want.
This is the best present I ever got, thank you Mother."
"You're welcome son." Her eyes were
misty with tears as he dropped down on the floor in front of the fire beside Nick
and the two started putting their train together.
They played well into the night, only stopping
for a hurried Christmas dinner before rushing from the room to take up where
they had left off. It was well past midnight and Audra had gone up to bed while
Jarrod stayed in the library, immersed in a new book he had gotten for
Christmas. Victoria stood at the entrance to the living room and watched her
boys with a warmth in her heart.
Jarrod came up behind her, put his hands on
her shoulder and gave her a squeeze as he whispered, "when are those two
going to call it a night? They're grown men and they've been playing with that
train set all day."
She watched the firelight flicker on his
animated face as Heath loaded up his freight car with the pebbles he had gone
outside to get. Nick backed his engine up and hooked it to the car, then
reached over to hand Heath the little conductor to put in the caboose. They
bantered back and forth good naturedly as they pushed the train around the
tracks, making station stops along the way and once in awhile having head on
collisions that led to peals of laughter.
Victoria's eyes glistened with tears as she
reached up to pat her oldest son's hand, "Heath never had much of a chance
to play or have fun in his life Jarrod. Let him be a boy...just for a little
while."
Jarrod dropped a kiss on her hair,
"you're right Mother, and Nick finally has the little brother to play with
that he always wanted."
He left her and a tear slipped out as she
silently wished they could have had a lifetime of being brother's at work and
play, but she was happy in knowing that they had each other now and would
always be, 'her boys'.
The end.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Linda