A Ficlet…
by ShiningStar
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.
“Now about your brother Jarrod, Kate darling. I didn’t
approve of his leaving for San Francisco so quickly the day after you
came. As a matter of fact, I tended to
agree with what Nick said about rats leaving a sinking ship, but of course, I
couldn’t say so.”
But I understood, because Jarrod and I go back a long way.
I was barely eighteen when he was born. When he was three months old, I put him
in a sling tied across my chest and helped drive our first herd to market. I
often thought the experience marked him—and that’s why he became a lawyer
instead of a rancher!”
“Jarrod was a
dreamer—always had his head in a book—or in the clouds. His father never quite
understood, but I did. I was much the same way until the business of surviving
interfered. I suppose I encouraged Jarrod because I didn’t want him to lose his
dreams the way I lost mine.”
“Oh, I have no
regrets—certainly not about Jarrod and the others. But I knew from the
first—and he knew it, too—that he was different.
You mustn’t take
offense at Jarrod’s going that way. It’s not that he doesn’t care, but you did
keep him up most of that night, you know. And I know his talk of schedules and
organization weren’t to your taste—nor to mine.
But I think if I could ask the angels to endow you with
certain gifts, the first I’d ask for would be the ability to dream—like your
brother Jarrod.
Glancing down at her three-week-old daughter, now fast
asleep in her willow basket, Victoria Barkley Wardell sighed. “Well—there are
dreams and there are dreams, I suppose. You still have time.”