Set just before Heath's first birthday as part of the Barkley family.

Nick's Trilogy – Chapter 1

The First Birthday

Nick didn't tell anyone where he was going. He figured it wasn't going to take a long time to do what he wanted to do, and if anyone knew about it – especially Heath – they might not understand why he wanted to go where he was going. It was silly and sentimental, a side of himself that Nick didn't always like letting out, but sometimes it was just right. Like now.

As he rode up to where he was going, he thought a lot about why he was going there, and he thought a lot about what had been happening to the Barkley family over the last few months. Heath coming out of nowhere to claim his place, winning the family over one by one and Victoria, of all people, being won over first. The thought made Nick laugh now, because he was the one who had been won over last. But now he loved that kid as if he'd always been around.

Nick couldn't even begin to explain it, even to himself. The boy just proved himself, over and over, so that in a matter of weeks – no, days – Nick thought of Heath as his brother. As if he'd always been there. It was impossible to think he hadn't always been there.

Nick kept smiling and laughing, remembering times he'd shared with his new brother over the last few months. Fighting at Sample's farm, Heath fitting perfectly into their father's boots, good times at the poker tables in Stockton, fun times just riding like the wind together out in the field. Tough times too – Heath being wounded by the Miles boy, Heath having to testify at the Kyles trial with Jarrod parboiling him in cross-examination – but also the grace the kid showed when the tough times hit. The steadfastness to his new family.

God, I love that boy, Nick thought to himself, and laughed at himself to think he almost refused to let it happen.

In a few days, it would be Heath's first birthday with the family. Nick had been struggling for a month, trying to decide what the best gift would be, what the best celebration would be, how not to go overboard but how not to give the meaning of that day short shrift. He had found a gift he thought was good – a new leather vest now that Heath's old one was beginning to get a little thin in spots. Nick had it wrapped and hidden under his bed. But somehow he thought there should have been more. He just didn't know what it was until it came to him that morning.

"I got to run an errand today, Heath," he said suddenly at the breakfast table. "I'll let you take care of the men, all right?"

"Sure," Heath said. "Where you going?"

"Oh, it's – no big deal, just someplace I have to go check something out."

Jarrod raised his eyebrows. "That's really helpful information, Nick. Where am I supposed to go to bail you out of jail?"

Nick gave him a sneer. "Very funny, big brother. Trust me, you won't have to bail me out this time."

"You promise to be good?" Victoria said with a smirk.

"I promise to be good and be home in time for dinner," Nick said.

And that was all he would tell them. Jarrod still looked at him crossways when he rode away, but Heath didn't seem to give him another thought. Nick realized that he and Heath had built a bond of trust over the months he'd been here that was even more solid than Nick had with the other members of his family. Working together day in and day out had really forged that bond.

And Nick liked it a lot. It was so good to have that brother who knew him so well and trusted him so well that they could almost move in tandem every time they really needed to. Sure he loved Jarrod and Eugene, but they were different kinds of men than he was. Heath was closer to Nick in temperament. Heath understood without even trying.

So, Nick decided to run a certain errand and probably never tell anybody about it, except for one particular person he hoped would know he'd come here. As he came into the town he was hoping to reach, he went looking for the exact place he wanted to be. It wasn't a big town. It wasn't hard to find what he was looking for.

He dismounted and tethered his horse to a tree – there wasn't anything around here more solid to tether it to. It took a little bit of looking around, but Nick finally found what he was looking for. And there it was, just like Heath had described it, a little scrape of a grave in a potter's field, but a place that might have meant more to Heath than any place in the world, even the Barkley ranch.

Leah Thomson

Born – 1830

Died – 1872

That was all it said, just the name of a woman Nick only knew through her son and the dates she was alive. He took his hat off and knelt beside the grave. He brushed some leaves away from the stone and then just looked at it. He tried to imagine what she looked like, how she smiled. Did she have that crooked little smile Heath had? No, probably not. Both Jarrod and their father had a touch of that smile. Did she have those deep-set eyes that made you believe there was a lot of thinking going on back there? Maybe.

But he knew she had that gentleness that his half-brother had. Kindness, understanding. Tough as nails and ready to fight at a moment's notice, but even more gentle than any Barkley. That part of Heath had to have come from this woman lying here.

"Hi, I'm Nick Barkley," Nick said out loud, feeling awkward about it but feeling like it was necessary. "I'm Heath's brother. Half brother, but true brother now. His birthday is coming up, and it's the first one with us, and – well, I just didn't want to forget you right now. I know I never knew you and you never knew me, but on Heath's birthday – you gave a gift to me. Best gift I ever could have hoped for. I know that sounds silly, but I wanted to tell you that. I want you to know how much I've come to love that boy. I have two other brothers and I love them with everything in me, but Heath has come to mean so much to me. We work together, we carry on together, we just – fit together. We got a lot of things in common, but where we're different, we just fit. Where I'm fast tempered, he's sensible. Where I'm rough, Heath is gentle, and I know he got those things from you.

"I just want you to know something. I love that boy, and I love you for giving him to me. To us, really. The whole family is so grateful he found his way to us, and you led him there, too. I have so much to thank you for, and with his birthday coming – well, I wanted you to know he's doing fine, and he's loved and appreciated and – I thank you for sending him our way.

"Maybe our father is up there looking after you, and I won't mind one bit if he is. I know how Heath came to be had its – well, it was rough on us all when we found out. But not now. We all love him, and we all love you, even if we never knew you. We know you through him."

Nick stood up. "I know this might sound wrong, but I know my mother wouldn't fault me for saying it. I bless the day you saved my father and came into his life. If you hadn't, we'd have lost him, and we'd have never had Heath. We're gonna give him the best birthday he ever had, and we're gonna make sure you're a part of it, too. We got enough love to spread around, and we know where to spread it. Good-bye, Miss Thomson."

Nick put his hat on, fetched his horse and mounted up. He gave one last looked Leah Thomson's way, and again, he thanked God for the day she birthed Heath. He threw her a soft kiss, and he rode back home.