A Greater Purpose

Part 2

By Queena Foster

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.

That night, Victoria pondered on the morning to come and what it might bring. Her thoughts were jumbled as she felt she was standing on the edge of a great cliff. And tomorrow was the jump. Of course, in reality, she had already jumped. She had jumped the moment she sent Jarrod off with the letter for his father. There was no turning back from that moment on, but it felt as if tomorrow was the big day. Tomorrow, they would make a final break with the Simmonses much to Heath’s benefit. Until then, it was still a fairly well contained secret. But after tomorrow, there would be no turning back.

She wondered about the changes that her family would be going through. Even now, she worried about Nick’s reaction. Jarrod had taken the news quietly, however surprised he had been. And Audra wouldn’t have any problems adjusting. But Nick… Nick was a whole other kettle of fish. She was certain that his reaction would be negative and sonorous. Community reaction would be mixed, but many of their friends would take their cues from the family. A negative reaction from her fifteen-year-old son might cause them some trouble with people that they cared about and whose good opinion mattered to them.

She sighed in resignation at the inevitability of the situation. Not much she could do about it till it happened either way, and she resolved to try and get some sleep before their journey tomorrow.

* * * * * * * *

When she got up the next morning, she was especially energized despite the few hours of sleep. She dressed and packed and headed downstairs to make her way to the restaurant as she had since she had come to Strawberry.

“Good morning, Mrs. Barkley. How are you this morning?” The sugary voice of Martha Simmons grated on her nerves.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll be needing my nephew this morning? Surely you were able to take care of your chores yesterday and won’t need his services this morning. I let him go on to the mine.” Her voice was condescending in tone.

“We passed a pleasant few hours together yesterday. Did he mention it?” Victoria decided to evade her questions regarding where Heath could or could not go today.

“No. He got in far too late for that.” An accusatory inflection made Victoria’s skin crawl.

“Well, he was a good companion. He’s been well raised.” And with that, she turned and headed for the door letting Martha Simmons make what she would of the compliment Victoria directed at Martha’s deceased sister-in-law and her friends.

* * * * * * * *

Shortly, she met up with Tom and Jarrod at Rachel’s house. They had already ridden to Tillysville and collected the sheriff who was with them when she arrived. Well, that meant that Tom was in a mood to shake things up. And that usually meant that things were going to happen and happen quickly. They set off for the Strawberry Mine to get Tom’s son. As they neared the diggings, Tom shook his head at the changes since his last visit there. When he had last seen it, it was still producing at almost full capacity. Now, it was but a shadow of its former self.

Tom made his way to the manager’s shed and knocked on the door. At the summons, the four of them made their way inside. A slightly harried looking man glanced up from his paperwork at their appearance.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes. I’m looking for one of the young men you have working for you. His name is Heath.”

The manager’s voice sounded a bit put upon. “Oh, yes. The Thomson boy. He missed work yesterday; you’re not going to pull him out again, are you? If this keeps up, he might just have to find himself another place. I need boys that are going to show up when they’re supposed to, and—”

At this point Tom interrupted. “You’re not going to have to worry about it any longer. Just send for him.”

“Now see here. I run this mine, and I don’t even know who you are. You haven’t even introduced yourself, and here you are trying to tell me how to boss this place!”

“No. Now you see here. Today is the last day that Heath will be working here, so you’re not going to have to concern yourself with his habits any longer. Now send for him.” Tom’s voice was authoritative, and despite the fact that Tom still hadn’t introduced himself, the manager apparently felt it might be in his best interests to send for Heath.

When the manager got back, he regarded his visitors a little more warily than when they had first arrived. Then he got down to business, including a little introduction of his own. “I’m Randolph Bates. I’m the manager of the Cross-Strawberry Mine. What is your business here?”

“I’m Tom Barkley, and I’ve come to collect my son.”

Mr. Bates didn’t appear to be the most astute individual as he thought about Tom’s statement for a moment and was unable to make any clear sense out of what were apparently two conflicting bits of information. So after a minute, he asked the question on his mind. “If you’ve come to collect your son, why’d you ask for Heath? He don’t belong to nobody. His mama died a couple years back, and she weren’t never married to his father.”

“I’m his father.”

Mr. Bates’ eyes widened at this statement and then he quickly turned his stare to Victoria as if to say, ‘You have some nerve saying that in the company of a lady.’ But when no one answered his unvoiced question, he shook his head slightly in confusion and turned back to his desk to sit down.

Shortly, there was a knock on the door, and Mr. Bates called for entrance. Heath stepped into the office with his head down. Victoria searched for his face and caught a glimpse of another shadow across his eye. She kneeled down in front of him and caught his arms to keep him from turning away. There she could see the clear evidence of at least one heavy handed blow to his face. Just what they had hoped to prevent with Heath sleeping at the livery stable.

“Heath, did this happen last night?” While he didn’t pull out of her grasp, he wouldn’t meet her eyes either. Victoria was insistent however. “Heath? Mr. Simmons did this?”

All the boy’s pride would allow was a slight nod.

She heard the sharp intake of breath from her husband standing behind her. Then his mutter reached her ears. “If I wasn’t a Christian man, I’d take that man apart for touching my son like this.”

Heath clearly forgot his shame when he heard this uttering, and he looked up at Tom as if to make sure he had heard correctly. “Uh… Uh…” He didn’t seem to know how to respond. Victoria realized this was the first time his father had called Heath ‘Son’ in public. That had to be quite an event in his life.

Tom took the problem out of his hands when he turned to Mr. Bates. “What pay do you owe him?”

Mr. Bates looked as if Tom had suggested he fly. “He hasn’t worked the full month, sir. I don’t owe him anything.”

Tom took a deep breath to control his temper and glowered at the man. “His pay is calculated on how many days he’s worked, correct? Let’s see the book and find out how many days he’s been here this month.”

Mr. Bates appeared ready to protest, but Sheriff Slayton, who had not been introduced, took this moment to pull back his jacket and uncover the star on his chest. At any rate, Mr. Bates decided it might be prudent to pay the boy his due and get these people out of his office. He pulled out the ledger from his desk. “Let’s see, he’s worked eighteen days this month at thirty cents a day, that’s uuuhh…five dollars and forty cents.”

Victoria shook her head at the poor wages but decided that it couldn’t be helped at this point. She watched as Mr. Bates counted the money out of the cash box and tried to hand it to Tom who shook his head no. “Give it to Heath. He earned it.”

Mr. Bates turned and handed the money to Heath who shoved it in his pocket.

Tom decided it was time to head on over to see the Simmonses, and he looked at his son. “Are you ready to go, Heath?”

Heath was still staring at Tom almost as if he expected a second head to grow, but he nodded his agreement. The five of them turned and left Mr. Bates standing, wondering what had just happened.

* * * * * * * *

Because of the minor threat that Tom had made against Matt Simmons, the sheriff decided to go into the hotel before Tom, Heath, and Jarrod, hoping to diffuse a potentially volatile situation. Victoria preceded him however, in order to retrieve their bags. She headed up the stairs as Martha Simmons came out to see who had entered the hotel.

As Victoria was coming back downstairs with their bags, she stopped as she saw Matt and Martha Simmons getting comfortable on the settee with the only local lawman in the area sitting down across from them. After the exchange of pleasantries, Martha asked the sheriff what brought him to Strawberry.

“Well, Mrs. Simmons, it was to bring you this,” and he handed Matt the paper giving custody of Heath to the Barkleys.

The two of them looked at the paper briefly and then back to the lawman. Martha spoke for them both. “I don’t understand. What is this?”

“Near as I can tell, it gives that boy of Leah Thomson’s to a man named Tom Barkley of Stockton.”

“What? That’s not possible.”

“Well, it looks like it is. Signed by a judge and everything.”

“They can’t have him. They won’t want a bastard around to mess up their perfect little family. I won’t let them take him after everything we’ve done for him.”

“Don’t see as you have much choice, Mrs. Simmons. The law is the law.”

Her shrewish voice raised in protest, “Where was the law when that boy came into this world? Why didn’t the law make him be here then? Other people, that didn’t have any reason in the world to care about that boy, had to take over!”

“Well, I don’t know nothing about that, ma’am. You all say you’re the boy’s kin; seems like you should want to help him out. Anyhow, I don’t make the laws, I just enforce them. And that paper makes it legal for him to take the boy.”

“Well, he’s not here. It’s only Mrs. Barkley, and this paper don’t say nothing about her!”

Just as Martha Simmons was getting up a head of steam, Tom strode in the door with Jarrod and Heath on his heels. “You’re wrong, lady. I’m here to claim my son.”

Martha uncoiled from the settee and threw the paper in her husband’s lap. “Your son?! If you’re his father, why weren’t you around to help his mother when she needed it? Oh, no! You went back to your little wife that was waiting at home! Too bad she couldn’t keep you happy enough to stay there all along.”

Victoria took a deep breath at the viciousness of the other woman’s verbal attack. She closed her eyes, remembering that this was just a sample of the things that people might say when they took Heath home with them. However, she realized that she could only be hurt by people when she gave them the power to do so. Resolutely, she looked back up and suddenly saw Heath with his face cast down in shame as he clearly felt the responsibility for the assault rested with himself, not his parents. Knowing she needed to get the boy out of there, she made her presence known to hurry up the proceedings.

“Tom, Jarrod. I’m glad you’re here. Now we can go.” She handed their bags to Jarrod and turned to Heath. “Heath, why don’t you go get your things, and we’ll be on our way.”

Still refusing to look up, he shook his head. “Ain’t nothing here I need.”

She looked at him with an appraising and sympathetic eye and nodded. “Alright.” She turned to her husband and the sheriff. “Tom, if you’ll finish up here, we’re ready to go.”

He eyed his wife and then his son and nodded curtly. “Gladly. Sheriff, I believe all the paperwork is in order. There’s nothing preventing us from leaving, is there?”

“No, sir.”

“Alright. I’ll take my family and go. Thank you for helping us today.”

Martha Simmons would not be silenced so easily. Her voice reminded Victoria of a snake. “Just a minute. Do we not have rights to compensation? We supported this boy when his father didn’t give a fig for him. Doesn’t he have a responsibility to pay us back for our time and money?”

The sheriff looked uncomfortable as he glanced at the family and settled on Heath’s bruised face. Tom looked as if he was about to erupt and his voice was full of barely controlled fury.

“Listen up, you two. I’ve gotten enough of this story to know that you two have worked my son like a dog and taken every penny he earned. And, that on multiple occasions, you have beaten him unnecessarily. And I’m here to tell you, in the strongest possible terms, that it won’t happen any longer. You won’t raise a hand to my boy ever again.”

“Oh, really. Your boy—”

At this point, Matt Simmons finally got into the argument and shut up his wife. “Martha, that’s enough.” He looked at Tom with anger. “Listen, Barkley. You used my sister. And she paid for it with her life. Having that boy sucked the life right out of her. She couldn’t buy a husband after that. And then when she died, I took him in ‘cause he was her boy. Didn’t have no use for him, but I couldn’t see leaving him to starve. You owe us for her and for taking care of the boy.”

“Simmons, that story of yours won’t stand up. Rachel Caulfield wanted to keep him, and Leah wanted her to have him. You wouldn’t let her because you wanted him for yourself—just to see what you could get out of him. You say you didn’t have no use for him? What about all the money he earned that you took? What about all the times you beat him? Who used who here?”

“Money don’t grow on trees, Barkley. It might down in the valley, but it sure don’t here. We had to have the money to help with his upkeep. And the boy’s incorrigible. He had to have some discipline.”

The sheriff bodily stopped Tom from attacking the man as the shout exploded from his throat. “Discipline? Discipline! Look at his face. Any man ever tried to discipline me like that, and I might be able to get away with killing him in self-defense. Sheriff, you be witness to this. Simmons, if you or your wife ever comes near me or my family or most especially my son, Heath, I will take it that you mean us harm, and I will respond with force. Stay away from my family and my property. You’ve been warned, Simmons! Do you hear me?”

Matt and Martha Simmons glared at all of the Barkleys in the room. Martha hissed once again. “Sheriff, what about our compensation?”

“Aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!” The shout that erupted from Tom’s throat shook the windows, but a small voice stilled it in a moment.

“Wait. I can pay them.” And with that, silence stole across the room. Heath walked forward and dug down into the pockets of his pants. When he stopped in front of the Simmonses, he pulled out his hand, still dirty with dust from the mine. “Aunt Martha, Uncle Matt. Here’s my last pay—five dollars and forty cents. It’s all there. You can check with Mr. Bates at the mine.” He handed the money to Martha Simmons, glared at them both for a long moment, and then turned and walked out the door.

The three Barkleys, Sheriff Slayton, and the Simmonses all looked at one another for a minute, and then Jarrod turned to follow his brother. The sheriff looked at Tom, and his lips twitched to keep from smiling. Tom acknowledged it, but his anger wouldn’t allow him to return it. He took one last look at the Simmonses and remarked, “I believe that settles my son’s account.” And he turned and took Victoria’s arm and walked her out to join his boys. The sheriff followed them.

Tom turned to the sheriff and shook his hand. “Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate you coming all the way over here.”

“T’weren’t no trouble. I needed to be getting over this way anyhow to check on things. I’ll just be looking in with some of the other town folks and see how things are going.” He paused briefly and then said, “I can’t be certain there won’t be no more trouble with them two, but as long as they stay here in Strawberry, that ought to be the end of it.”

“I know. I won’t be coming back here to cause trouble. Might bring Heath back to visit with Mrs. Caulfield and Hannah, but it won’t be to see them two, I promise you. We’ll check in with you over in Tillysville whenever we come this way.”

“Seems fair. That’s quite a boy you have there, Barkley. Now that he’s yours, you take care of him.”

“I aim to do just that. Thank you again.” Tom reached to shake the lawman’s hand and then the sheriff turned and headed down the street. Tom turned to the family that was waiting for him. “Let’s go get the wagon and head over to Rachel’s to say goodbye to the ladies.”

* * * * * * * *

After bidding farewell to Mr. Hutchins at the livery, they all made their way over to Rachel Caulfield’s house for one last good-bye. Victoria stood just in front of her husband and took comfort in the warmth of the hand that rested on her shoulder as she watched the sad scene unfolding in front of her.

Heath’s face was buried in Rachel’s chest as she hung on for dear life. Tears streaked her face as she whispered her good-byes to him. Hannah had already hugged the stuffing from the young man and returned to the house to keep from breaking down in front of the Barkleys. And now it was Rachel’s job to send their boy on his way.

Finally their embrace was broken, and she stroked his face and wiped away his tears. “Now. You be good and behave yourself. Show these good folks how you were raised. Make your mama proud.”

Heath’s lips were pressed tightly together in a straight line as he fought to control his emotions. He nodded tightly but was unable to say anything in response to her admonishments.

Rachel pushed the blond bangs away from his eyes as she continued, not caring that her voice was breaking the entire time. “This is for the best, Heath. You’ll get to go to school, and you’ll be with family. You won’t have to work in that awful mine or be around your uncle. It’s gonna be hard, but it’s for the best. You’ll see, I promise.” She pulled him toward her and kissed him on the forehead.

Heath nodded once more and pulled her into another hug. When Rachel finally pushed him back, she turned him toward the Barkleys and moved him forward.

“Tom, you take care of this boy.”

“I will, Rachel. I promise. Heath?”

Heath had been looking at everything except Tom and Victoria, but he glanced up at them when his father called his name.

“Are you ready to go?”

Heath averted his eyes again, but he nodded quickly and headed for the back of the wagon.

Hannah hurried back out from the house with a basket. “This is for your trip.” As she handed the basket to Victoria, she continued, “He loves cornbread and milk. And ham, if you get the chance to get some good somewheres. But his very favorite’s apple pie. Now he’ll eat anything you put in front of him, but that’s his favorite. We didn’t get to fix it much, but I thought I’d tell you ‘cause I know’d you got them apples from the farm yesterday. And tomatoes—anyway you want to fix them. And turnip greens with a little fatback.” She paused in her list and looked up to Victoria who was nodding with understanding. Hannah smiled briefly, “Well, you got boys. You knows what they like. Just take good care of him.”

Victoria nodded as her eyes filled up at the sacrifice these women were making. “I will. He’ll be fine.”

Tom and Rachel had been watching the scene. He took this opportunity to break in. “Hey. It’s not like you won’t be seeing each other again. It’s only a couple days trip here. We’ll be back to visit, and you can come visit us. What do you say, Heath? Maybe we’ll plan a visit for, uh, maybe November? After the cattle drive and the haying is done again, and after you’re going pretty good in school? Maybe we’ll come back and visit your Aunt Rachel and Hannah?”

Heath’s face that had been so stoic now transformed into a look so raw with hope that his vulnerability was hard to look at. He quickly pulled himself back under control quickly and nodded without a word. Rachel and Hannah both looked at Tom with relief and gratitude as they nodded their thanks.

Tom turned to get them underway. “Alright, boys. Let’s get started. Jarrod, are you, or you and Heath, gonna ride my horse or in the wagon?”

Jarrod searched for his brother’s eyes. He found them briefly, but Heath looked away as he crawled into the back of the wagon. “Ummm, I guess I’ll start out on your horse, Father. Maybe later we’ll do something different.”

Victoria patted her son’s back because she knew he had correctly read his new brother’s unverbalized feelings. Heath needed to be alone for a bit to try and figure out his new circumstances. His world had changed an awful lot in the past day or two, and it was going to take some getting used to. Leave him be for a bit and let the rest take care of itself later.

They quickly got underway and turned to wave to the ladies. As they pulled out of the town, one last look revealed Martha and Matt Simmons watching from the end of the main street. A quick glance showed that Heath also saw them. He stared at them for a moment and then turned his back resolutely and faced the other direction. Victoria watched him briefly and then she too turned back to face towards Stockton.

* * * * * * * *

They rode for several hours quietly. Though she knew Tom was anxious to talk to his new son, she squeezed his arm whenever he started to speak. Heath wasn’t ready. When they stopped for lunch by a quiet creek, Heath quietly got out of the wagon and went forward to hold the horses as Tom helped Victoria out of the wagon.

After Victoria and Tom were out and Victoria had reached back in for Hannah’s basket, Heath finally said something. “Um… would you like me to walk the horses down to the creek for a drink?”

Victoria knew that Tom was wondering if the team was going to be too much for the boy as he looked at her hesitantly. She nodded minutely, and he turned to Heath. “Yes, Heath. That would be wonderful, thank you.”

Heath scrambled up into the box and picked up the reins. Jarrod guided Tom’s horse behind the wagon as they began the short trip to the creek. Tom watched them carefully to assure himself that Heath could indeed handle the team and wagon. Then he turned and hugged Victoria as she stood up after laying out the blanket for their picnic. “What do I say to him?”

“Nothing right now. Give him a bit to get used to the idea. This is a lot to take in, in a short amount of time.”

He sighed heavily. “You’re telling me. When I saw Jarrod ride up to the house a couple days ago, I didn’t know what to think. And then when I read your letter…I…I just…”

“I know. I wanted to be able to tell you myself, but I couldn’t leave Strawberry without him.”

“Honey, I’m so, so very sorry. All these years, I’ve thought this was behind us, and now…”

“You didn’t know. She didn’t tell you.”

“I should have known. I should have checked more carefully. She should have told me.” Tom’s voice was beginning to crack with emotion.

“I know. I wish she had, too. But it’s gonna be alright. He’s with us now. And I’m fine. And you’re fine. And the rest of the family will be too.”

“Really? You’re alright? I’m so sorry—”

“We’ve been through that. It’s behind us now.”

“It’s not behind us. It’s an eleven-year-old boy that will be with us for the rest of our lives. That will be a reminder to you of what happened. And everyone who knows us will see what I did to you.”

“What we went through together, when all this happened, is behind us. The only difference as far as I’m concerned is that our family is bigger than it was. Surely we’ve got enough room in our hearts for one more?” And as she said this, Victoria realized it was true. Perhaps it was just the shock of finding out about Heath; perhaps it was the boy’s pain that made her own seem miniscule by comparison. Whatever, she knew that the hurt was gone, and she was looking forward to Heath’s presence in her family.

He bit his lip in remorse and nodded. “Yeah. Plenty of room for that. Just a good thing you wanted that new house to be so big.” He tried to hide his smile at that comment, knowing that Victoria was going to jump on it.

She didn’t disappoint him. “The big new house I wanted? I beg your pardon. I would be perfectly content to stay in the house we’ve got, and you know it, Thomas Barkley.”

This got him hopping, as it always did, and he began to sound a lot like Nick when he was trying to convince them that he was right. “Well, when we put up the new barns and corrals, it just made the old house look small and shabby. The ranch is growing, we’ve got some money put back; why shouldn’t you have a big, beautiful house? Stockton and the valley are only going to get bigger. It’s an investment, just as much as the new barns. It’ll only improve the value of the property.”

“Unless you’re planning to sell the ranch, why would we care how much the property is worth?”

She watched as his lips stumbled around trying to come up with an answer to her question, and she knew she’d won that round. She smiled up at him as he finally came to the same conclusion and conceded to her with a grin and a laugh.

They turned as they heard the boys come back from the creek. Heath was watching them with undisguised curiosity as they walked up. Never having a father, she could certainly understand his interest in their behavior. They all had a lot to learn about each other.

“Did you boys have any problems?”

Jarrod answered for them. “No, Father.”

“Did you hobble them?” Victoria knew that Tom asked that of them both so as not to offend the newcomer.

“Yes, Father. They won’t be going anywhere.”

Victoria took control of the conversation. “Well, why don’t we all sit down and have a bite to eat. See what Hannah put together for us, huh?”

They started to sit down, but Heath seemed confused about where to sit, particularly whom he should sit next to. He glanced around quickly, taking in his options, but it was clear he didn’t know. He was becoming anxious, but Victoria didn’t know how to advise him so that he would be the most comfortable. Suddenly, he looked at her. “Would you like me to go get us some water to drink, ma’am?”

Seizing this plan as a way for the three of them to be alone and give them time to discuss the situation, she nodded and gave him the water bucket. He hurried off, and she turned to her husband and son. “Heath doesn’t know where to sit.”

Tom looked at her completely mystified. “What do you mean, ‘he doesn’t know where to sit?’”

“We haven’t given him any indication of his place, Tom.”

“His place?! He’s my son; his place is beside me!”

“Jarrod is also your son. Your first-born son. And he’s my son. That makes it different for Jarrod. And for Nick when we are all together. He doesn’t know how he’s going to fit into our family. We need to let him know.”

“Victoria, I don’t know how you’re going to feel about this, and we haven’t had time to discuss it, but I want to treat him as I do all of my sons. I know he’s different, but I don’t want him to feel any different. I’m sorry, but that’s how I plan to handle this.”

“I expected no less from you. And that’s what I want as well. Other people in the community will take their lead from us. If they see we treat him the same as our other sons, I hope that they will deal with him in the same manner. And if they don’t, well, at least he’ll know that’s not how we feel about him. And we can tell those other people to go to the devil.”

Tom and Jarrod were both taken aback by Victoria’s language. “Victoria!”

“Well, that’s how I feel about it. He’s her son, but he’s yours as well. And what’s yours is mine and vice versa. That’s the way we’ve always handled our marriage, and I see no reason to change now just because of new circumstances.” Victoria saw a look of surprised admiration in Jarrod’s eyes and affectionate pride in her husband’s.

He shook his head slightly at her and sighed in contentment. “I think, at this moment, I love you more than I ever have in the entire time I’ve known you. You’re amazing.” He walked over and kissed her lightly. “But watch your language, Mother.”

She smiled mischievously and tried hard to look repentant, but failed miserably. “Yes, Father.”

At this point, Heath returned with the water bucket and seemed dismayed that they hadn’t sat down on the blanket yet. She supposed he was hoping that the spot they left open for him would solve the problem. She decided to once again take charge in the slightly uncomfortable situation. “Heath, come over here with that bucket and help me with the mugs. Why don’t you boys go ahead and have a seat while we take care of the water?”

With that, Tom and Jarrod sat down on the blanket and began to open the towels filled with food. Heath took his father’s and brother’s cups to them and then returned to help Victoria with theirs.

Together, they walked back to the blanket. “Heath, would you sit by me? You can tell me about all this wonderful food that Hannah’s made for us.” She sat down with Jarrod on her left, leaving a place for Heath between her and his father. He looked at the unfinished circle and the place left for him to sit and nodded at her request.

They made small talk for a bit about various dishes that Hannah and Rachel cooked that Heath enjoyed. Victoria was trying to make mental notes about more of his favorite dishes. However, it was clear that Heath was not comfortable, and his father didn’t know how to go about resolving the situation. Of course, Victoria had always known her husband had no gift for polite conversation or making people feel at ease in uncomfortable situations. He always stumbled over his words. Like his middle son, he had no use for subtlety. Usually Victoria could remedy the situation, but in this case, she was having no luck either.

Finally, Jarrod jumped in. “Heath, how old are you?”

Tom and Victoria looked at their oldest in gratitude and then turned to Heath for his answer. “Eleven.”

Jarrod waited for him to elaborate, but when that didn’t happen, he continued, “When’s your birthday?”

“Couple months ago. April nineteenth.”

“Well that’s a good time of year. Almost in the middle after Christmas.”

Heath blinked in response and after a bit of thinking, he nodded, “Guess so.” Victoria thought about his response and wondered what kind of birthday and Christmas the boy enjoyed. She doubted if they had any resemblance to the celebrations the Barkleys had every year. Her glance at Tom and Jarrod saw they quickly came to the same conclusion.

Tom quirked his head to one side and back. “What did you get for your birthday this year, son?”

Heath glanced at his father quickly at the mention of his new title of ‘son.’ He took a deep breath and answered, “Aunt Rachel made me this here shirt. And Hannah made me an apple pie. And Mr. Hutchins gave me two penny bags of candy. I had a fine birthday.”

“Well, I guess you did. Hannah said apple pie was your favorite. What kind of candy did Mr. Hutchins give you?”

“One bag of red and black licorice and one bag of horehound and peppermint candies.”

Jarrod jumped in. “I love horehound. That’s my favorite. Which is yours?”

“Well, really, I like lemon drops the best, but the store was out of them. Mr. Hutchins said he tried to get them, but they was out. So he just picked a bunch of different kinds to give me all at once.”

Tom took up the conversation again. “Lemon drops are Nick’s favorite candy, too.”

Heath looked at them all in question. “Who’s Nick?”

The three of them looked at each other in shock as they realized no one had explained the rest of the family to their newest member. Tom continued, “Nick is your other brother. He’s fifteen. And you have a little sister named Audra who’s seven.”

Heath blinked in surprise. “Oh. Is that all of them?”

“Well, there are several aunts and uncles, but none of them live in California. And their children are your cousins, but so far, none of them have come out for a visit. That’s about it for family, but there are plenty of friends around who you’ll come to know. And we have some men that work for us. Some of them have families that you’ll meet.”

“Work for you? This ranch of yours must be pretty big, like Mr. Gibson’s.”

Tom looked for help from Victoria at the mention of someone else in Heath’s life that he didn’t know. Victoria answered his unspoken question, “Heath worked on Mr. Gibson’s ranch doing odd jobs.”

Tom sat up in surprise at this. “Oh. How big is his ranch?”

“I heard him say once that it was a few hundred acres. He had about four or five fellows working for him most of the time.”

“Well, our place is somewhat bigger than that. But not all of it is for cattle and horses. We’ve put in a couple of orchards, and we’ve just bought a vineyard from a neighbor.”

“A vineyard? For what?”

“Grapes. To make wine and juice.”

“Oh. Why’d you want to do that?”

Tom tried to hide his smile as he glanced at his wife and oldest son in their private joke. “Well, I didn’t particularly want to do that. But Victoria and Jarrod thought it would be a good idea to further diversify our holdings.”

Once again, Heath blinked, and his face took on a blank appearance. Victoria was beginning to understand that this was the visage he reflected when he didn’t understand something. He finally asked the question after he couldn’t figure it out for himself. “What’s ‘diversify your holdings’ mean?”

Tom and Jarrod seemed pleased at the question. “Diversify means to vary. When I say that, it means that we’ve put our money in a variety of investments. We’ve got the ranch with cattle and a few horses. We’ve got two different kinds of orchards. We’ve got a vineyard and winery. We’ve got some money in a couple of mines, and we’ve been known to supply some timber when we could make some money doing it. We’ve diversified so that if we have a bad year in one or even two ventures, we’ve still got other interests that will hopefully continue to make money. Does that make sense?”

Heath’s face was a picture of intensity. “You spread your money around in different places so that if some gets lost, you still know where the rest of it is, right?”

“That’s it exactly. Very smart, son.”

Heath’s eyes lit up in pride at his father’s praise, and he nodded. Victoria looked at Tom who returned her glance. It was a bit of a victory if but a small one. Every little breakthrough would be looked at as such.

They finished up and cleaned up the area. They all walked down to the creek, and Tom began filling up the small barrel that they kept water in for the trail, replenishing what they had used on the ride from Strawberry.

As they got the wagon turned back toward Stockton and home, Jarrod spoke up, “Heath, you want to double with me till we stop for tonight?”

Heath looked at his older brother and seemed to be trying to figure his intentions. Shortly, he nodded. “Alright.”

“Good.”

Shortly, they were on the trail again with Victoria and Tom in the wagon and Heath holding firmly to his brother’s waist on Tom’s gelding. She looked at her husband and sighed. She felt a bit more optimistic about the whole situation.

* * * * * * * *

Occasionally during the day, Victoria heard Jarrod and Heath conversing quietly. She knew that Jarrod was trying to draw the reticent boy into conversation and wondered how he was fairing. At one point, she missed the familiar sounds of the gelding and turned to see why the boys had stopped. Her movement prompted Tom to turn as well.

She watched as the boys switched places, and Heath now took over the reins. She felt Tom stiffen beside her and spoke to shush him. “It’s all right. Jarrod’s with him. He’ll take over if he needs to.”

“That gelding has some spirit. He might be too much for him to handle.”

“Jarrod can handle both of them. They’ll be fine.”

Tom watched the boys as they got moving forward, and everything seemed to be under control. He turned back to the team resolutely, and shortly, the boys caught up with them again.

After a bit, Tom turned to them. “Heath, that saddle seems a might big for you. How you doing over there?”

“Fine, sir.”

Tom watched carefully, noting that Heath was indeed doing fine with the lively animal despite the too long stirrups. The horse had settled down quickly, as if Tom himself were in control. Victoria watched as her husband nodded briefly in approval.

“You know, when we get home, there’s a saddle there that will fit you a bit better.”

“There is?”

“Mmm-hmm. It was Jarrod’s when he was your age, then Nick’s. Nick outgrew it a couple of years ago, and now it’s waiting in the barn for its next owner. When you get done with it, it’ll be Audra’s turn.”

Heath seemed to chew on that for a bit, and he half turned to look at Jarrod who nodded in confirmation of their father’s statement. Heath nodded in return and turned back to face the trail. He looked at his father finally, “Alright.”

Tom seemed a bit nonplussed at the lack of enthusiasm in his new son, and he turned to Victoria. She squeezed his arm and whispered, “He’s just getting used to it. He doesn’t know what to expect or how to react to any of us.”

He nodded and turned back to the trail, studiously ignoring the boys on the horse. “Well, you’re gonna need the saddle to go with the horse.”

Heath’s head whipped around. “Sir? Beg pardon?”

“Well, if you’re gonna be out there with me and your brothers working the ranch, you’re gonna need a good animal. We’ll pick out something suitable for you when we get home.”

“Sir?”

Victoria hid her smile at Tom’s tactics as he continued. “You can’t be out working the ranch with me and your brothers if I don’t know you’re well seated on an animal. Can you?”

Heath looked at his father as if he’d just said he could fly and replied, “No, sir.”

“Well, of course not.” And with that, Tom began a long, animated discourse on the types of activities going on at the ranch that would require Heath’s assistance, along with the promised horse, most of the time. Heath appeared to be half listening as his brain tried to assimilate this new information, and he turned to look at Jarrod again who innocently confirmed his father’s list with a nod. Victoria noticed Jarrod seemed to be pleased that this mention of a horse and work had finally drawn a positive reaction from his new brother.

Tom continued on with his long, drawn out list of activities without even a let up for breath. He never looked to one side or the other and, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be directing this lecture to the team of horses. He was in full throat now, and Victoria knew that she needed to interrupt this before he transformed the purpose of the lecture into an explanation on the benefits of one breed of cattle over another. She squeezed his arm once, and then again, to finally get his attention. He turned to her, totally confused over the purpose of the interruption. She smiled gently and indicated his sons. He turned and looked at them and saw the look of intense concentration on his new son’s face. Then he remembered his original purpose in talking and nodded in satisfaction. He turned back to his bride and smiled in pleased triumph at the victory. She patted his arm and then they both turned back to the trail in front of them.

* * * * * * * *

Through the remainder of their journey that afternoon and evening, they all managed to settle into a routine. Unusual, but somewhat comforting, were the necessary tasks that had to be done on any trip; they just had to make concession for an extra person traveling with them that they really did not know very well. But hopefully, thought Victoria, that would change soon. It already seemed to be changing somewhat. Through careful questioning, they were beginning to understand a bit more about the boy. He and Jarrod seemed to be getting on very well. She hoped that introductions would proceed this well for the rest of their family and Stockton.

As they got closer to home, Victoria found her thoughts turning more in that direction. The quickness of the recent events had left her very little time to consider the consequences of their actions. Granted, in balance with their only other choice regarding Heath, the decision was really out of their hands. But there would be some repercussions when they returned to home and Stockton. The only question was what those consequences would be, and how they would handle them.

Well, the only possible solution was to present a united front as a family to their friends and Stockton at large. Whatever reaction the town and their acquaintances had, if the Barkleys presented only one front, they could handle whatever was thrown at them. Heath was Tom’s son. Victoria had accepted him and welcomed him into their home. They would treat him no differently than any other child. He was a son to his parents and a brother to his siblings. A Barkley, pure and simple—just as they all were. And they expected no less from anyone else they had dealings with.

Well, that sounded just fine to her. Unfortunately, there was one little, teeny-weeny, potential problem with her plan. Nick. It was going to be somewhat difficult to present this united front if her middle son would not comply with their wishes. And she had no doubt, whatsoever, that he would have strong objections. Objections to the plan, to the idea, to his parents, and most especially, to his new brother.

Nicholas Jonathon Barkley was a study in contrasts for his parents. Blessed with her family’s dark coloring, he was intelligent, kind hearted, and fearless. On the other hand, his personality did not always reflect those characteristics. His behavior was generally overt with every emotion he felt instantly expressed on his open face and quick actions. Passionate and verbose about his beliefs, his tongue was usually far ahead of his brain, and he frequently tended to put his foot in his mouth when he spoke before thinking. Protective, noble, and loyal, he would not question anyone whom he counted as honest and trustworthy, even when any other sensible person would. And the person he trusted, loved, and most admired in this world was his father.

Finding out that his father had been unfaithful to his mother would be a crushing blow to this young man. And that’s what he was. He had just completed his schooling this year, but he was the heir apparent at their ranch, raised to take over when his father was ready to take a less active role in the day to day operations of the family affairs. And though Jarrod was the oldest son, he had whole-heartedly passed the mantle of the ranch on to his younger brother who accepted it with relish. He was completely capable of learning and bearing the responsibilities that came with the job and very much a young man of the world.

But still a bit of a boy as well. He would not appreciate anyone saying this, but he did not have the worldly experience needed to make good decisions about every new event that came his way. And Victoria knew without a doubt that the existence and appearance of this new brother would demonstrate many of Nick’s weaknesses. The young man in him would understand that no man was perfect and that all can and do make mistakes. The boy would not realize, and would probably refuse to believe, that his father was like other men. The young man would see that his new brother had nothing to do with the events that led to his birth, but the boy would only recognize that this new brother proved that his idol had weaknesses.

Given time, Victoria knew that Nick’s kind heart and innate good sense would change his mind and attitude, but the seas ahead looked choppy from her point of view. Audra would be fine, but with Nick on board, they were in for some rough sailing. Well, they would just have to give him time to see his way clear; but she hoped it wouldn’t take too long; for Nick’s reaction would be a harbinger for the response of the rest of the world.

* * * * * * * *

In far too short a time, they came upon the edges of the ranch. Jarrod pointed out the fence that was their boundary, and Victoria and Tom turned to see Heath’s reaction. He looked around expectantly and carefully took in all the scenes the vista provided. In one of his sweeps, he noticed their observance.

“It’s real nice. How big is it?”

Tom replied on the question of his dream. “Right now, it’s about thirty thousand acres, give or take.”

Heath wasn’t able to hide his confusion at that statement. “Thirty thousand acres? You ain’t serious?”

Tom nodded with a slight smile on his proud face at both the mention of his ranch and the surprise in his newest boy. “Yes, I’m serious.”

Heath turned to Jarrod for confirmation and received it. He looked back at Tom and Victoria. “Boy howdy. I just can’t imagine a place so big. And it all belongs to you.”

“Well, it’s broken down into sections. Grazing and hay. We have a couple of sections for grains for the animals. The two orchards are quite large. And the vineyard is off on one side of the place. So it won’t seem that big after a while. Unless I’m able to buy more.”

“More?”

“If I can. Always looking to expand. If the price is right, and we can afford it, and it’s the right property, I’ll be glad to have it.”

Heath turned his eyes back to the landscape in consternation. “Just can’t imagine you don’t have all you need already.”

Victoria took up the conversation. “Oh, Heath. We do have all we need. But that doesn’t mean that what we have can’t be improved on. Or that we won’t grow and need more at some point. If the heifers have a good year, and we have many more calves than we expected, we might have to buy more grazing land to support them.”

“Just can’t imagine that what you already got wouldn’t be enough.”

Tom replied, “All depends on the size of the herd, don’t you think?”

Heath turned that over in his head. “I guess you’re right. And the quality of the pasture and good water and what the other land might be used for.”

Tom swelled up in pride at the well thought out answer from his newest son. “Exactly. You’ll see, Heath. It won’t be so big once you get used to it. But that would have to be an awful big herd.”

Shortly, they came to the flat ranch house that had been their home for the last eighteen years. Victoria was glad to be back, but she took a moment to reflect on all that had changed since she left it just a few short weeks earlier. About a quarter mile away, she could see the almost finished outside shell of the new house with the barns just behind it. She took a deep breath and turned to start unloading the wagon.

Jarrod took Heath in and showed him around the small house and then they came back out to help unload. Victoria began putting their things away quickly so they could get Heath settled. Tom saddled a fresh horse and headed over to the Miles ranch to pick up Audra. He had dropped her off there on his way to Strawberry, knowing there was no one available on the ranch to watch the precocious seven-year-old.

Shortly, Tom and Audra returned and when Victoria turned to hug her baby, she found that Nick had met up with his father on the ranch and ridden in with them. She could hear him well before she saw them as Nick was already shouting questions about his father’s sudden departure a couple of days earlier. Although Victoria hoped to get a bit more settled before hurricane Nick arrived, she had to admit that at least they would be able to get the necessary discussion over with quickly. Hopefully, it would ease some of the tension she now felt in all of them if they could get it out in the open.

Nick and Audra quickly noticed the newcomer, and they regarded him with undisguised curiosity. They both hurried to their mother and Jarrod to welcome them home, and then Audra quickly piped up. “Who’s that boy?”

Tom looked at Victoria and then back at his children. “This is Heath. Let’s go inside and sit down, and we’ll tell you all about him.”

This reply quickly satisfied their little girl, but there was a hint of alarm in their son’s eyes. He looked at his mother who nodded yes to his silent question and then followed his father and sister into the house. Heath looked at her in trepidation as well. She went over and put her arm around his shoulders in encouragement and then they followed the rest of the family into the house.

* * * * * * * *

She led him into a large common room that served as family room and dining room. A central fireplace kept the large room comfortable in cold weather. In the rear of the large area was a wide double doorway that led into the kitchen. A hall led from the joining of these two spaces and stretched out of sight to the left. This was the location of the bedrooms.

Heath took in the new house quietly, but he seemed a little overwhelmed. He looked over the large table and numerous chairs and the overstuffed horsehair furniture where his new family was sitting in front of the large silent fireplace. Victoria gave his shoulder a squeeze and moved to stand beside her husband who started speaking when he saw them come in.

“Heath, come on over here.”

Heath came and stood on the other side of the chair and glanced at his father and stepmother and then at Jarrod. He appeared to be anxious and nervous, and with good reason, Victoria thought.

Tom cleared his throat as he began. “Nick, Audra. This is Heath. He’s your brother.”

Victoria watched their reactions. Audra looked confused and then delighted at the prospect of a brother closer to her age. Nick had a look of disquiet for a bit. Victoria was frankly surprised, as she had expected an explosion.

After he thought about it for a bit, he looked at his parents and asked, “If you were going to adopt another kid, don’t you think we should have talked about this before you brought him home?”

Well, that explained his muted reaction. He didn’t understand. Tom cleared his throat again to set his son straight. Victoria, Jarrod, and Heath all steeled themselves again for the real explanation.

“Son, if your mother and I had decided to adopt a child, we would have discussed it with you all first. We aren’t adopting anyone. Heath is my son.”

Victoria watched the range of emotions run through her middle son’s eyes. Confusion, shock, anger, denial, rage. “What are you saying, Father?”

“You heard me, Nick. He is my son.”

Nick was now shouting. “How old is this…this—?!”

“He’s eleven, Nick. Calm down!”

“Eleven? ELEVEN?! Between me and…and…Audra…you…you—” Nick’s words were spacing out as he hyperventilated in his wrath.

“Yes, Nick. I did.” Tom’s voice rang with tension. Both father and son were being careful of what they said in front of Audra who looked confused at Nick angry reaction. Jarrod decided the time had come for her to leave, so he interrupted and took Audra outside for a walk up to the new house so she could show him all the new changes that had happened since he and Victoria left on their trip. Victoria and Tom sent him a grateful glance as they walked out the door.

Heath stood next to his father in shame at his newest brother’s reaction. Nick was inhaling so quickly in his anger that appeared to be breathless. Victoria went to stand behind Heath and offered him silent support with a hand on his shoulder. Tom took control of the argument.

“Nick, sit down.” His son tried to interrupt, but Tom would have none of it. “SIT down. Now.” He waited till Nick complied and sat down on the end of the sofa farthest from the other three people in the room.

“Son—”

“I can’t believe you would do this! To all of us! But especially to mother!”

“Nick, there were circumstances that—”

“Oh yeah! I’m sure there were. Some saloon girl somewhere—”

The formerly silent blond erupted at this pronouncement and started after his new brother. “DON’T YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY MAMA!!! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!”

Tom jumped up and pulled Heath back from the middle of the room where he was getting ready to lay into Nick who had jumped up and appeared to be only too willing to reciprocate. “ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH, YOU TWO! Now calm down, both of you! There’s no fighting in this house! Especially not about this.” Tom continued to struggle with his blond haired son. “Heath! That’s enough. He doesn’t understand about your mother. Now stop it.”

Heath finally stopped his efforts to reach Nick. He shrugged out of his father’s arms and stood quietly, working hard to control his temper and breathing. Victoria saw once again how similar these two boys were.

Once Tom saw that Heath had stopped fighting, he stood in front of Nick. “Nick, I was injured. And Heath’s mother took me in.”

“That’s no excuse!”

“If you will let me finish, I’ll explain.” And Tom proceeded to tell the story again of how he came to lose his memory and find Leah Thomson. Nick often looked at Victoria for confirmation of Tom’s details, which she supplied with a gentle nod of affirmation each time.

When the tale was finished, Nick took several deep breaths before responding. Then he shook his head briefly and looked at Tom and Victoria and spoke to them in an accusatory tone. “And you didn’t know about this kid?” After receiving dual denials, he snorted in disgust. “It wouldn’t have been that hard to find out. I guess that shows where you rank, kid.”

Victoria breathed in sharply at the harsh comment. “Nicholas!”

“I’m sorry if I’m having a little trouble believing all this, Mother. What you’re asking me to believe makes a lie out of our whole life as a family! If all this is true, then what does that make you, Father? Certainly not the man I’ve grown up believing you to be. Not the man you’ve raised me to be. Which do you want me to believe? ‘Cause I can’t do both!”

“Nick, I’ve explained how it happened.”

“Yeah, I know. I heard you. But like I said, it wouldn’t have been that hard to check. My father taught me never to turn my back on a wild animal ‘cause you never know if it might attack you. But you sure enough turned your back on this ‘lady’, and now look what that’s got us.”

Heath started to take issue again, but Tom interrupted him. “Don’t, Heath. He didn’t know your mother.” Turning back to Nick, he said, “You’re right. I should have checked. I could have, and I didn’t. And I’m sorry for that. I regret the pain I caused Victoria, but we put this behind us long ago. I blame myself for the hurt I caused Heath and his mother because I didn’t know about him. But that’s all water under the bridge now, Nick, and I can’t change what’s already happened. I can only do my best to make amends now. What would you have me do, Nick, now that I do know about him?”

Nick shook his head in discouragement. “I don’t know, but it seems awfully disloyal to bring him into this house where he will always be a reminder to Mother about what you did.”

Victoria interrupted at that statement, “Nick, I sent Jarrod home for your father when I realized who Heath was. I wanted him home with us. We are his family.”

Nick roared, “NO! Father is his family! Him coming here changes everything and makes our family a laughing stock!”

Tom surprised Victoria with his quiet reply. “Well, I hope that everyone will see that I’m a man that will own up to his mistakes. Heath, son, I’m not saying you’re a mistake. I’m glad you’re my son, and I’m thrilled to have you home with us. But I did make a mistake with your mother, and with you, after you were born. And I accept it and will do the best I can to make up for it. And the only way I can think of to accomplish that is to love you and make you my son every bit as much as Jarrod and Nick are. And if that makes me a laughing stock, then so be it. Nick, I’m sorry if you feel I’ve ruined your life, but you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.”

“It’s not my life so much as it is Jarrod’s and Mother’s and Audra’s. What’s it going to be like for Jarrod at college, and Audra at school, and Mother in town? Huh?”

Victoria could not let that pass. “Nicholas, I’ve survived many things worse than a few pointed fingers and laughter at my expense. A ride across the prairie in a wagon, epidemics, Indians, the death of one of my children…I think I can handle a few gossips. Don’t project your own wounded pride onto your dear old mother.”

Nick had to turn his head for a moment to avoid the truth in his mother’s words. After a bit, he took a deep breath. “Like I said before, him being here changes everything. And just because he’s your son, don’t make him my brother.” And with that parting shot, he brushed past them, grabbed his hat, and slammed the door on his way out. Shortly, the three people left standing in the room heard hoof beats moving quickly away.

Tom sighed in frustration and rubbed his forehead to ease the tension that was there. “Well, that went well.”

Victoria replied in same voice, “About as well as I expected. Heath, Nick will come around. It’ll take some time for him to see reason, but he’ll be as good a brother to you as he is to Jarrod. And I know you’ll be the same to both of them in time. Don’t worry.”

Heath looked at both of them for a long moment and nodded, “Yes’m.” He paused for a moment, then pressed on. “I’m sorry for bringing all this trouble on y’all.”

“Not your fault, son. That’s my cross to bear. Don’t be taking on any blame that doesn’t belong on your shoulders.”

“I don’t want to cause no trouble.”

“Any trouble caused will come from somewhere else. And you let me handle any that does come our way, alright? That’s what fathers are for.”

Heath studied them both momentarily and then nodded.

* * * * * * * *

That first night, after some awkward discussions, Heath slept on the sofa in front of the empty fireplace. Nick refused to sleep in the same room with him and Audra’s room only had one bed, so Heath ended up in the common room. Victoria honestly thought he seemed relieved by the final decision. The next day, however, Tom went to town and ordered another bed that would be put in Audra’s room, and in a few weeks, Heath was installed in his sister’s room.

On the range, Tom had introduced his newest son to their men, and they were slowly beginning to warm to the youngster. He tucked into any job given him without complaint and did it correctly almost every time. It was easy to see he had done good work on Mr. Gibson’s ranch. A few of the men continued to be unsettled on the subject, but no one said anything that might stir the pot when the boss was around. Victoria wondered if anything might be said when Tom wasn’t available to protect his newest son. If anything did happen, none of the boys ever mentioned it.

In the house, tensions still ran high as Nick refused to have anything to do with either his father or his new brother. He continued to object to Heath’s presence, but as the days went by, it became a quiet protest. Tom Barkley allowed no overt disrespect from his children, and despite Nick’s age, he did not hesitate to punish him for his insolent behavior. This led to a mostly quiet protest from Nick. He simply did not speak to his father unless spoken to and to his new brother not at all. When he did have something to say to them, his tone and manner were just short of rude to keep from being punished once again. As far as Victoria knew, there were just a couple of times when Nick and Heath actually came to blows, and it was quickly ended by Tom the first time and by their foreman, Duke McCall, the second time. If their differences led to a physical confrontation any other times, neither Nick nor Heath made any mention of it as they both knew it would lead to punishment.

Jarrod and Audra took to Heath almost instantly even though the newest Barkley continued to hold himself back initially. Even though he still stayed quiet most of the time, occasionally she heard his light laughter, and she noticed he seemed willing to take part in whatever activity they dreamed up – be it chess or dolls or a water fight in the creek.

Tom spent a great deal of time with his new son, in part to get to know him and in part to try and make the transition easier on him. After a few days, Heath had picked out a nice little Morgan horse to be his own and soon had a list of chores that he went at with enthusiasm. It seemed to make him feel a part of the daily workings of the ranch, and he appeared to settle in rather quickly. Victoria wasn’t sure if this was the case, but it certainly seemed to be. Heath was good at hiding his emotions, but Victoria was fairly confident in her ability to read him. If not happy, he at least tolerated his new circumstances with equanimity. And she supposed that was all she could really ask for in the short time he had been with them.

Rather, he settled in pretty much everywhere except with Nick. Of course, Heath’s popularity with his family and the good job he did on the ranch made no difference with his middle brother. In Victoria’s mind, Nick regarded the family, the ranch, and the men in their employ with a very proprietary air, and he probably felt like he was trying to protect them all from the certain disaster that would befall them with the arrival of the new son. And a small part of her wondered if Nick was uncertain of his place now that his father was spending so much time with Heath. Victoria had mentioned to Tom her thoughts on the problems with Nick, but as Nick seemed disinclined to spend any time with his father and refused to speak to him about anything unrelated to the ranch, there wasn’t much Tom could do about it. He went out of his way to try and talk to Nick, but Nick’s stubbornness seemed to be without bounds. Honestly, Victoria did not remember such willfulness in Jarrod when he was that age, but then she reminded herself that she was comparing apples and oranges. She knew the men were aware of the tension around Nick, but they wisely made no comments where any of the other Barkleys could hear them, as they knew that any disparaging remarks would end with their dismissal.

Things in town and with their friends were the mixed bag that Victoria had expected. Some people were supportive while others were downright rude. She let that roll off her with barely a notice. As her father used to say, ‘like water off a duck’s back.’ She kept that in mind when she heard hurtful, whispered comments, and she demonstrated to her daughter the appropriate behavior to use in such situations. The boys could handle it, she knew, but her little girl had trouble understanding why suddenly some of her friends were not allowed to speak to her any longer.

Despite everything, Heath seemed to be doing fairly well. He spent most of the time with his new family quietly observing their interactions. Unless specifically spoken to and drawn into the conversation, he seemed content to watch. He did pay close attention to all that went on around him however, as if learning his new boundaries of behavior. And Victoria supposed that was exactly what he was doing as he had never had any experience with a father or siblings. Of course, it was still nearly impossible to draw him into conversation; however, slowly but surely, everyone in the family but Nick was making headway in that area. And if Heath had problems with anyone else, he did not mention it and denied it when questioned. Victoria was certain he was probably not being completely truthful in that regard, but she had no way of proving it. In any case, he did not show any signs of overt distress.

Soon, Jarrod would be returning to school, and Victoria hated the thought of it. Since Heath had been home, Jarrod had acted as a buffer between his newest brother and Nick and the people in town that objected to him. He had been a godsend as far as Victoria was concerned. But he would be leaving shortly, and that would leave Heath without his nearest ally. And despite his stoicism, she knew he would miss his oldest brother very much. But unfortunately, there was nothing for it. Jarrod had to return to school soon.

Still, they did have a special day coming up before that. Nick’s sixteenth birthday was approaching. And there was a very special present that he was promised to receive. One of their neighbors, Con Madigan, had a very special stallion named Captain. Captain was a big horse, a good sixteen hands high, and the most solid cattle horse in the valley. He was fast and nimble and extremely sure footed. Spirited and game, his owner was the envy of every rancher in the valley. He had been turned out to stud the year before and had covered several mares. Since that point in time, Nick had talked of little else but that he wanted one of Captain’s new foals, and Tom had told him that if there was one that looked good when his birthday rolled around that he would see if could obtain it.

Three of the mares had foaled, and there was one colt that Nick had set his heart on. Before Victoria and Jarrod had left on their trip, Tom told her that he had spoken with Madigan and bought the colt for Nick. Madigan had agreed to keep the colt at his ranch till Nick’s birthday came along.

But as the big day approached, Nick got quieter. Victoria watched him unobtrusively and tried to divine his thinking. Finally, she decided he was concerned that his father would punish him for his recent behavior regarding the new family member by reneging on the promised birthday present, and Nick’s pride would not allow him to broach the subject. The boy had been stubborn as a mule from the moment he was born. Just like his father. And newest brother. She just had to shake her head in affectionate frustration at the three of them.

Since communication in the house was still strained as the big day approached, Victoria decided to bring up the subject. About a week before the big day, she brought up the subject at dinner.

“Nick, have you thought about your birthday?”

He had been plowing through his food silently as he was apt to do these days when he was with his family. He looked at her quickly and threw in a fast glance at his father as he hurriedly tried to swallow. When he had managed to get most of the mouthful down, he answered. “What about it, Mother?”

“Well, did you want to have some of your friends over? A party of some sort? Or would you just prefer a small family celebration?”

Nick’s eyes roamed over the food at the table as if searching for an answer, and occasionally his glance fell on the other members of his family. They rested momentarily on Heath who was watching the whole interaction carefully as was his tendency. Victoria saw the fire of resentment flash in Nick’s eyes briefly when he looked at Heath, but he banked it quickly as his eyes skittered back to his father who was starting to glower menacingly at his middle son.

Nick seemed to toss a couple of ideas around in his mind then he sighed with frustrated resolution. “Well, when we had talked before about me getting the colt for my birthday, I’d kind of wanted all my friends over to see him, but I guess now I’d just rather it be the family.” The unstated implication hanging above the table was, of course, that Heath’s arrival had changed everything.

Tom glanced quickly at Heath who had lowered his eyes in self-reproach, and he started to erupt. “NICK—”

Victoria interrupted before another family dinner was ruined. “Tom.” He looked at her and they both took a deep breath as Tom fought to rein in his temper once again. “If Nick just wants a family celebration, that’s what we’ll have.”

Tom nodded briefly at her, and she reached over and held Heath’s hand. Heath’s eyes lifted briefly to take in their entwined hands, and he also shook his head shortly in anger. She had seen his few attempts at friendship with Nick and the quick results of refusal from Nick each time. Here was yet another reason for Nick to dislike him.

In the silence that fell over the table after that outburst, she saw Nick tossing an idea back and forth in his head. Finally, he decided to just ask the question.

“About the colt, Father?”

Tom’s voice was hard in his challenging response. “What about it?”

Nick kept his head lowered, but his eyes lifted briefly to take in his father’s severe face. “Never mind.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Victoria caught Tom’s eye and sent him a silent, tender reproach across the table. His eyes gave her a regretful mental shrug that seemed to say, ‘I can’t help it.’

* * * * * * * *

Later that night after Audra and Heath were in bed, Nick was in the barn, and Jarrod was studying, she brought up the subject with Tom.

“Sweetheart, you need to watch yourself with Nick.”

He pressed his eyes shut in frustration, “I know. I just can’t seem to control my temper when he starts blaming Heath for everything.”

“I know that. But you know he just needs time. Nick will come around.”

“When? When will he come around, Victoria? How long are we going to have to wait before we get some peace in this house again?”

“I don’t know. But you know you’re not making this any easier.”

“Well, how am I supposed to do that? Just let Nick walk all over Heath? How, Vic?”

Victoria rubbed her temples in resignation. “I don’t know, Tom. But Nick’s trying to find his way through this just as we all are. When he reaches out, I don’t think you should be so antagonistic towards him.”

“I know. I’m trying not to be. I just can’t seem to help myself. I feel so protective of Heath. I just…”

“I know. But remember Heath isn’t your only son, and they both need you right now.”

“I know, I know. I’ll try harder, but that boy just…” His voice trailed off.

Victoria snickered at Tom’s frustration with his Nick. “He’s your son, husband.”

He looked at her in mock rebuke. “I didn’t bring him into this world, wife. That was your responsibility.”

“Oh no. Jarrod is my son. That one out there is all yours.”

He pulled her into his lap and began to tickle her. “Oh, really? Do you want to comment on that now, Mrs. Barkley?”

She would have if she hadn’t been trying so hard to keep from laughing out loud and waking the younger children.

* * * * * * * *

The days ticked down till finally the day of Nick’s sixteenth birthday arrived. Everyone met up at the breakfast table as usual, and the round of birthday greetings started. After they had a hearty meal, they moved over to the area in front of the fireplace, and the gifts came out. Nick was enthusiastic in his excitement with Jarrod and Audra but became somewhat more subdued when he included his parents and Heath. Victoria noticed Tom moving his head back and forth and stretching his neck till it popped, as he tended to do when he was trying to hold onto his temper.

Audra handed Nick her gift first, and he opened it to find new black leather work gloves. Next, Jarrod produced his gift, and Nick’s response could only be described as boisterous when he found a new black leather vest with silver accents. It got quiet for a moment after that.

After a pause, Heath shuffled forward with the gift that he had chosen for Nick the previous day. Since his arrival at the ranch, Tom had given Heath an allowance and as far as Victoria knew, he hadn’t spent any of it yet on his occasional trips to town. Honestly though, he didn’t go to town that often as his presence seemed to still be a source of undying curiosity for the folks in town. Victoria doubted that he minded the whispers and attention very much, but it seemed to bother him a great deal that fingers were pointed and whispers were directed at his new family. At any rate, he had gone to town with Jarrod the previous day and purchased a gift for Nick. She had no idea what it might be and was pretty curious herself about what his choice had been.

Nick eyed the brown wrapped parcel with a bit of hesitance and flicked his glance up to his new brother who refused to lift his gaze from the package. Finally, Nick reached up and took the gift and muttered, “Thanks.”

The whole family, except Heath, watched with undisguised interest as Nick swallowed audibly and finally started to open the package. Victoria decided he probably thought it might be a dead frog or something along those lines. Heath seemed to be very interested in his boots and only occasionally glanced up to see how far Nick had gotten with the unwrapping.

But finally, the package was open revealing a new pair of spurs. After unwrapping them from the tissue paper, they all noticed that the rowels jingled when the spurs were shaken. Nick looked at them momentarily and seemed to be working pretty hard to keep from smiling, but he kept himself under control – a remarkable accomplishment that Victoria would have applauded under other circumstances. As it was, she was disappointed that the gift he clearly loved was unable to break through the shield he had erected to separate himself from his new brother.

Heath also noted his reaction and went back to observing his boots full time. Tom began some hard breathing as he tried to control his temper. He glared at Nick who ignored it as he went back to looking at his new vest. When Tom finally stood up, the neck stretching began in earnest again. He gave a deep sigh that demonstrated many levels of frustration and was pacing the floor with determination when a knock came from the door.

He opened the door to Duke McCall and asked him in for a cup of coffee. Victoria hoped her face bore no trace of a smile as Duke looked at all of them gathered around Nick and his new presents. She didn’t want to give away the surprise.

Duke answered tersely, as if there was an event of great proportions that he needed assistance with. “No, Tom, thank you though. I need you outside for a bit. I don’t mean to interrupt, but can you come out for just a minute? Just a bit of a problem I need your help with.”

Tom quirked his head in supposed surprise, wondering what calamity might have occurred. “Certainly. Let me get my hat.” And with that act, he headed out the door with the foreman. The rest of the family sat silently in the family room for a bit at the sudden disappearance of their father in the middle of the festivities. Nick seemed a bit nonplussed at the apparent delay in the (hoped for) gift from his parents. Victoria worked very hard at keeping her face as surprised as the rest of the family and thought to herself, ‘Hurry, Tom. I can’t keep up this charade forever.’

Then finally (it must have been an hour, Victoria thought), they all heard his voice urgently calling them, “Victoria, kids! Come out here! Hurry!”

They hurried to find out what the commotion was about and stopped abruptly as they were confronted with the new colt. Nick’s eyes became large, and his breathing slowed in awe as he moved slowly forward to the head of his birthday present where his father stood holding the halter. He reached up slowly to the colt’s muzzle, so as not to spook the animal, and softly touched it, letting it get used to his smell and his touch.

Tom carefully reached for his other hand and handed Nick the lead rope. Quietly, he murmured, “Happy birthday, son.”

Nick turned to gaze at his father, searching for any trace of resentment, but he found none in that moment.

Tom continued, “I love you, boy. I don’t always love how you act, but you’re my son. Today you’re sixteen. Old enough to be considered a man by anyone but your mother and myself; but I’ll always remember the day you were born and how grateful I was for another son. I’m still grateful and so proud of the young man you’ve grown to be. I can’t wait to see what you will do in the years to come. Happy birthday.”

Nick’s eyes had become misty as he listened to what his father had to say. “Thank you, Father. I’ll try not to let you down.”

“I’m not worried about that. I worry that you may be too much like me. Too pig headed to know what’s good for you. You cut off your nose to spite your face sometimes. Just like me.” Tom smiled and shook his head in affectionate regret. Aware that any sudden movement might spook the colt, they postponed the hug Victoria knew would come later.

Nick wrinkled up his nose as he thought about that. He’d heard all that before. Then he leaned forward and said in a stage whisper that they could all hear, “Well, it could be worse.”

His father smiled, wondering what his son would come up with. “How’s that?”

Nick shook his head in pity. “Well, I could be like Jarrod.”

That, of course, resulted in a bark from the oldest brother. “WHAT?!!!”

Victoria smiled as Jarrod hurried off the porch toward his middle brother who held up his hand to stop him in his journey. “Wait.”

“WHY SHOULD I WAIT BEFORE I POUND YOU?!!!”

At that, Nick gently handed the colt’s lead rope to his father and moved back toward his brother. He stopped in front of Jarrod and said, “’Cause I don’t want you to spook the best horse in valley, Pappy.” And with that comment, he took off running for the corrals with his older brother hot on his heels.

The whole family watched and laughed at their chase around and through and over the barns, fences, and other obstacles in the yard. Victoria turned to see Heath watching them wistfully. Their foot race brought his gaze in her vicinity, and he noticed her looking at him. He returned her look for a moment then returned to watching his brothers run around their home.

“Heath, Nick liked your gift.”

He looked back at her calmly as Tom turned a close ear on their conversation. “I know he did. I seen him looking at them in town a while back. I just hope he don’t decide he don’t like them now just ‘cause I give them to him.”

Victoria’s eyebrows went up in surprise at his assumption. “I don’t think he will. He’s not going to change his whole personality and likes and dislikes just because you gave him something he wanted. He might not wear them for a while because he can’t let on that he really liked your gift, but he will wear them eventually.

Heath stared at her as he thought about that for a moment, then he nodded and turned back to watch his brothers fly around the yard.

* * * * * * * *

A couple of days later, Victoria was interrupted in lunch preparations by the door banging open followed by a yell.

“MOTHER!”

She looked up and found Nick standing by the table carefully observing and picking at his left hand. She moved toward him and found the hand to be a mass of cuts, scratches, and stickers, and she moved the two of them to chairs around the table. “Stop picking at it and hold still.” With that parting comment, she went to get water, bandages, and liniment.

When she came back, he was waiting patiently and smiling at her. He almost seemed like the son she had before Heath came into their lives. “What are you smiling at, Nick? Don’t you know you’ve got a handful of thorns that need to come out? What happened anyway?”

“Oh, I was up on that crockhead horse Mooney. Once he remembers what foot to put on the ground first, he’s a pretty good horse. He’s got good bottom, can run pretty near all day when he remembers how his feet work. But then something will catch his attention, and it’s like he forgets what end his head is attached to. He took me for a tumble, and my hand ended up in a sticker bush.”

“Well, besides this, are you alright? Is Mooney?”

“Oh, yeah. He rolled right up and started to trot off while I’m working six ways to Sunday trying to figure out how to get my hand out of the middle of that dang bush. Once I got loose of the bush, I got back on him and rode home. He’s fine. Stupid crockhead.”

She smiled at him, relieved he really was alright. And that he seemed pretty much at ease with her. She wanted to ask him about the change, but was afraid that might reinstate the barriers of the last couple of months. She just assumed that Tom’s speech about his pride in his middle son had helped to remind the young man that he was loved and needed and his place was not being taken by the newest addition. Not that it had helped in his attitude towards Heath, but maybe it was a step in the right direction.

So just as she decided not to bring up the subject, of course this enigmatic son of hers did just that.

“Mother, I don’t understand you.”

“Well, you’re not supposed to understand me, son. I’m a woman, and you’re not. But what exactly are you having a problem with today?”

Nick shook his head in brief amusement, but his manner quickly became serious again. “I don’t understand how you could let Father bring…him…into this house.”

She sighed deeply. Finally, he was asking the questions they had wanted to discuss with him since the first day with Heath. “He has a name, Nicholas.”

He shook his head in frustration. “Yeah, I know. And?”

She concentrated on the stickers and splinters in Nick’s hand as she answered. “Nick, you know how babies are made. You know this isn’t Heath’s fault.”

“Yeah, but he’s proof to anyone who cares to notice what Father did.”

“What would you have us do, Nick? Pretend it didn’t happen? Pretend he doesn’t exist?”

“Why not? I never knew anything about this till you showed up with him. Nobody else knew anything about it. Why mess everything up?”

“Nick, I’m surprised at you. Where’s your heart? Aren’t you being a little unfair to Heath?”

“I don’t think I’m being unfair. He’s ruining all of our lives. Yours especially.”

“I told you the day we brought Heath home, Nick; don’t put your feelings off on me. I’m quite old enough to know how I feel.”

Nick took several deep breaths to get his temper back under control, especially since Victoria was still working on several painful stickers in his hand. “I just don’t see how you can feel anything else.”

“Nick, your father and I put all those hurt feelings behind us years ago. Imagine our marriage as a mountain; Lucas’ death started a boulder of bad feelings rolling down the mountain. As it went along, the boulder knocked other rocks loose and started a landslide. But when it was over and the dust settled, the hurt feelings were gone, and the mountain was still there, stronger and more beautiful than it was before that boulder got started.”

She searched her son’s face, but she could see he still didn’t understand. “I knew about Heath’s mother. As soon as your father got home, he told me what happened. I was hurt, and we had to work through all the hurt feelings from that and from Lucas’ death. And we did. I hate that it happened, that we lost Lucas, but your father and I, and our marriage, were stronger after we got through it.”

She watched as Nick worked through what she had said and seemed to get some grasp of the concept. Confident that he was following her, she went on. “When Jarrod and I were traveling and had the trouble with the wagon, we were near Strawberry where Tom had met Leah, Heath’s mother.”

She looked around furtively. “I’ve not told anyone this, and if you tell anyone else, I’ll deny it.” At this statement, he grinned, looking as he had at Heath’s age. Victoria couldn’t help but respond in the same way.

“Anyhow, I was curious about her. I didn’t know what she looked like, and I wanted to find out a bit about her. So we went to Strawberry, and there we met Heath. After that, most of our other concerns weren’t so important anymore.” And with that statement, she went on to tell Nick about how she and Jarrod had become involved in the young man and the terrible circumstances he had to live in. Nick’s eyes clouded a bit when he heard her speak of the young man without a father who then went on to lose his mother; the people that loved him, and the people that didn’t. She told him of the multiple jobs and the poor food and clothing. And the beatings.

Finally, she presented the main argument she had planned for this discussion with Nick. “Do you want to know what first tipped me off that he was your father’s son?”

Nick looked up at her, trying to hide his curiosity but failing miserably. “Sure.”

Victoria smiled indulgently at her middle son. “I kept thinking how much he was like you. I noticed it pretty often. At first, I just thought it was the mother in me coming out, wanting to help the poor orphan boy. But after I figured everything out, I could see it all so clearly.”

Nick shook his head in confusion. “He’s nothing like me, Mother.”

Victoria smiled, the love shining in her eyes. “You just can’t see it because you’re too close to it right now. You’re still too upset with me and your father and Heath to be able to notice, but it’s there. It’s all over you both.”

Nick shook his head in firm denial. Clearly, he thought his dear old mother was losing her mind. But the seed had been planted. Soon, he would be able to see past all his anger. Finally, she felt things were looking up.

“Son, I truly believe that I was supposed to go to Strawberry that day. Heath needed us, and he deserves to be here with his family. And your father needs him just as he needs you. I don’t think the axel on our wagon broke in that particular place on our journey by mistake. God meant for it to happen. He meant for us to find Heath and bring him home where he belongs.”

Nick thought about what his Mother said, but he shook his head decisively. “I just don’t feel that way, Mother. And I don’t understand how you could feel that way about him.”

Victoria was disappointed, but not terribly surprised. When events were in motion that had the potential to change lives, Nick had always needed time to let things simmer a bit. He needed to try the new situation on for size, one boot at a time and walk around in them, see how they felt, before he decided one way or another. But Victoria was confident that he would make the right choice. Heath was reaching out to him—shyly—but reaching out nonetheless. Nick could rarely say no to an honest request. Her middle boy had a good heart, but he sometimes had to wade through an awful lot of anger to find it.

But the seed had been planted. Someday, it would provide a yield.

THE END

** Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was published in 1847