by Pearl
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.
Synopsis: A relative shows up to cause trouble for the
Barkley family. Everything is concurrent with the series
except there is no Eugene.
Jarrod Barkley was in his
law office in Stockton, California, wrapping up the last of the paperwork on a
case he’d just finished that day.
Exhausted and tired, he was headed for the ranch though it was early
afternoon. He wanted nothing more than
a glass of scotch and a long soak in a tub of very warm water. He picked up his satchel and was rising from
his desk chair while reaching for his coat when his secretary, Mildred Landers,
opened the door.
“Excuse me, Mr. Barkley,
but there’s a man out here who insists on seeing you.”
“Mildred, I’m through for
the day. Make him an appointment for in
the morning. I’ll be glad to see him
then,” Jarrod said as he put on his coat.
“I’ve already tried
that. He insists you’d want to hear
what he had to say.”
“Who is he?” Jarrod asked.
“He said his name is Matt
Simmons,” she answered, and seeing the expression change in Jarrod’s face she
asked, “Do you know him?”
Jarrod could feel anger
rising in him, and admonished himself, ‘Ok, Jarrod, calm down. Surely this is not Heath’s uncle’.
“Mr. Barkley?” Mildred
questioned again.
“I’ve heard of a Matt
Simmons, and if he’s the one I’ve heard of, I don’t want to hear anything he
has to say.” Jarrod’s eyes had a cold
look such as his secretary had never seen on this Barkley’s face.
A voice from the door had
Mildred and Jarrod turning around at the same time.
“Oh, I think you do want to
hear what I have to say,” Matt Simmons said as he pushed his way past Mildred
Landers to stand in front of Jarrod. He
had a very smug look on his face.
Jarrod looked at his
secretary and nodded. She looked at
Matt Simmons and left the room shutting the door behind her.
By the manner the man
entered his office and the look on his face, Jarrod was fairly certain this was
the same Matt Simmons he’d heard about, and he had to fight the urge not to
slam his fist into the man’s face. For
a minute, he envied Nick’s impulsiveness.
If Nick were here, he knew without a doubt, Matt Simmons would be
unconscious on the floor, and they’d still have to pull Nick off of him. It was not in Jarrod’s nature to act first,
so he did nothing but glare at the man across from him.
Matt Simmons was aware of
the cold look he was getting, and for a minute he reconsidered his plan. It appeared his no account nephew had
already shared some memories with his new found family, but then Matt Simmons
smiled, after today, he’d have no family to share anything else with.
“Do you know who I am?”
Matt asked.
Not one to give his hand
away, Jarrod answered, “I believe you said your name was Matt Simmons.”
“I’m Heath’s uncle from
Strawberry,” Matt said. He waited to
see the effect of this revelation on Jarrod’s face, but he was
disappointed. The man’s face showed
nothing.
“I don’t believe we have
anything to say to each other,” Jarrod answered, “so if you don’t mind, I was
on my way out.”
“My, aren’t you the high
and mighty one,” Simmons sneered. “Well,
you won’t feel so high and mighty when you find out you have been taken for a
fool. Your whole family’s been taken
for fools.”
When Jarrod remained silent
and apparently unmoved by anything he’d said, Matt Simmons became enraged.
“Heath Thomason is not Tom
Barkley’s son. He’s played all of
you.” Finally seeing a changed look on
Jarrod’s face, he continued, “That’s right, Heath is not your brother.”
Jarrod looked long and hard
at Matt Simmons, a man he despised; although, he’d never met him. He beat Heath
when Heath was but a small child.
According to Heath, Matt Simpson was cruel to his sister, Leah who was
Heath’s mother, because he felt she’d disgraced him by having a child out of
wedlock. He took his embarrassment out
on both Heath and Leah.
“I think you should come to
the ranch, and tell your story to the whole family. Say about eight o'clock tonight?” Jarrod said quietly. He
was thankful Heath was out of town picking up some horses. They’d have this problem over and done with
before he returned.
Matt Simpson looked at
Jarrod. It bothered him that he
couldn’t tell what the man was thinking.
He wasn't getting the reaction he’d hoped for. He was prepared to answer a few questions, and accept some hush
money, but he didn’t expect to be invited out to the big house. He had planned to only stick around long
enough to see his nephew get booted out on his ears. That’s what his kind deserved.
“All right,” Simmons
answered, “I’ll be there.” And with
that he turned and left Jarrod’s office.
***************
“Why that low count dirty
snake,” Nick snarled after hearing what Jarrod had to say. “I’ll give him what for. Coming here trying to start trouble for
Heath.” Nick started for the door
picking up his gun belt and strapping it on as he walked.
“Nick, you’ll have your
chance to confront him when he gets here tonight,” Jarrod said to Nick’s
retreating back.
Nick stopped and turned
around, “I’m not waiting. Why, I’ll
give you ten to one he’s in town right this minute spreading that lie of his
around town as we speak; probably been doing it all afternoon. I won’t have him hurting Heath anymore than
he already has.”
“Just a minute Nick,” Mrs.
Barkley spoke up, “I think you're right, but you’re not going alone. We are all going to go with you.” She turned
to Audra, “Audra go get our wraps please.
Nick and Jarrod, you hitch the carriage. The quicker we settle this, the better.”
*****************
There was a large crowd
gathered outside the hotel when the Barkleys arrived in town. A couple of men were holding a saddled horse
in the front of the building. Nick and
Jarrod dismounted their horses and made their way through the crowd.
“What’s going on?” Nick
asked above the noise.
Before anyone could answer
him, a man was shoved from the door of the hotel. He landed face down in the dirt.
Jed Carter, the owner of the general store, and Clint Webster, the
barber, picked the man up and with the help of others, threw the man up on the
horse.
“Now get out of town and
don’t show your face around here again,” Jed Carter yelled. Shouts of “Yeah,” and “Get out,” echoed
throughout the crowd.
Jarrod, who came to stand
by Nick, quietly said, “That’s Matt Simmons.”
“Simmons?” Nick questioned
in wonderment. Then... “SIMMONS!” he
yelled as he jerked the man from the saddle he’d just been put on. “I’m Heath BARKLEY’S brother,” he forcefully
said then landed a hard right hook to Matt Simmons face. Picking him up from the dirt, he threw him
belly down across the saddle and said through gritted teeth, “If you come back
here to hurt Heath again, you won’t get off so light,” then he slapped the
horse on the rump and watched until they were out of sight.
“What was going on here?”
Jarrod asked the man next to him.
“That man, Simmons, did I
hear you say?” the man asked.
Jarrod nodded.
“He was in the saloon and
other places this afternoon spouting his mouth off against Heath. Seems folks here didn’t like it, so they
dealt with it,” the man finished with a chuckle.
Jarrod pushed his hat back
on his head, and said, “Well, I’ll be.”
Nick, who’d walked up,
caught the man’s statement and his mouth fell open, but then he broke into a
wide grin. After all the trouble Heath
had with the town people accepting him when he first came here, he never
expected this kind of reaction from them.
It warmed his heart good to see the town people unite and come to
Heath’s defense this way.
Mrs. Barkley heard the exchanged,
and her eyes filled with tears of joy, and she chewed on her lower lip to keep
the tears at bay. Heath, the young man
she’d come to love and think of as her own son, was loved, truly loved by the
town people. Her thoughts were
interrupted by Clint Webster.
“Mrs. Barkley, I’m glad
you’re here. There’s something we need
to say to you and your family. Most the
folks in this town gave your family and Heath a hard time when he came to
ya’ll. A small part of it was because
we were protective of your family, but most of it was because we were prejudice
against Heath. In the few months he’s
been here though, he’s touched the hearts of all of us, and we’ve seen him for
who he truly is. I can’t tell you all
the things he’s done but to just mention a few - when Mrs. Anderson was sick,
Heath cut her wood and kept a supply handy where she could easily reach
it. When Jim Horton was out of work,
Heath took the family groceries he paid for out of his own pocket. Timmy Johnson’s little dog was ran over and
killed by a wagon just last week and Heath picked the little dog up and helped
little Timmy bury him. And ma’am,
that’s just to mention a few things.”
Tears were falling freely
down Victoria Barkley’s face now.
John Lawson, the livery
keeper, stepped forward. “No one is
going to come in this town and speak against Heath again and not know what we
think about it.”
“Thank you, thank you all
so very much,” Victoria said through her tears.
Audra had sat through the
entire incident without saying a word.
She had a smile on her face.
Seems everyone had come to know the brother she’d loved from the moment
he’d arrived.
Nick swung up in his saddle
with a smile on his face thinking ‘if Matt Simmons or anyone else wanted to
mess with Heath, they’d better think again’.