The Return
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.
As the massive oak door swung open on its rusted hinges, a
musty smell of things past enveloped the young woman who stood outside.
“How long since anyone lived here?” asked her companion.
“Fifty years more or less. When grandfather came home from
Korea, he moved the family into town. Said repairs were too expensive and the
location too inconvenient.” She stepped onto the scarred parquet floor of the
foyer. “And he said it was haunted.”
The young man startled. “Haunted!”
“Shadows on the staircase. Pool-playing in the library.
Dishes on the dining room table at exactly seven-thirty every night. The smell
of flowers everywhere.”
“You’re named for your
great-great-great-great-grandmother, right?”
“Yes. I’ve heard she was a grand lady.”
He kissed the top of the dark head that just reached his
shoulder. “You’re a grand girl.”
She smiled. “Tom, let’s live here when we’re married and
raise another generation of Barkleys where it all began. There’s the money my
grandfather left, and we can do the work ourselves.”
She gazed up at him, tears misting her dark Nick-eyes
as the family called them.
“Why not?” he replied readily. “The first Tom and Victoria
Barkley built this house, and we’ll rebuild it.”
“How convenient that we’re seventh cousins and share the
Barkley name!”
She slipped a companionable arm through his. “And you won’t mind the ghosts?”
“Perhaps we’ll make friends with them.”
Later, after a tour of the house, as they walked down the
crumbling brick steps, a silver-haired shadow at the top of the stairs smiled
with satisfaction. “A full house again—how lovely! Though I do hope that
Nicholas—“ She counted on her fingers. “Nicholas the sixth won’t be
quite so loud as the first!”