Alternative Ending to The Man From Nowhere 1 or 2
A/N Parts in Italics are straight from the episode.
~oOo~
Libby stood on the porch of her home with her rifle aimed at the two strangers. She didn't know them and, with after what happened during the previous raid on the ranch, she wasn't about to just let them dismount.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"My name's Barkley," Nick answered. Heath added, "We're looking for our brother, Jarrod Barkley."
Jarrod Barkley! The name of the envelope she'd burned. She wasn't sure what to think. Were these men really Dakota's brothers or had some of the ranchers, somehow, learned his real name? If they had, were they using the information to lure Dakota away from the Mathews' ranch so they could raid it again? For a split second, Libby thought about denying ever having heard of any man called Jarrod Barkley. Then changed her mind. She'd been wrong in the way she'd handled the finding of the letter; it didn't mean she had to continue handling things the wrong way.
"Throw down your guns." She snapped.
"Why?" Nick, instantly suspicious, barked. It didn't faze Libby Mathews.
"Mister, if you are who you say you are…if you're not just a couple of Vatcher's men, you'll thrown down your guns and then dismount your horses."
Vatcher's men? Nick and Heath looked at each other. Silently they agreed to do as the woman said. They threw down their guns and dismounted.
"Now what?" Nick barked, not caring to hide how irritated he was.
Libby nodded towards the barn. "There's a couple crates in the barn. You can get them and place them against the outside wall, and then just sit on them. Don't move off them, even when Dakota gets here."
Dakota? Confusion showed in both Heath and Nick's eyes, but they did as they were told.
"Jarrod's got to be around here. Did you see that shirt hanging over the porch railing?" Heath whispered once they were almost to the barn.
"Yeah, I know. Let's get the crates." Nick opened the barn door and went inside.
"Who are they?" Mrs. Mathews, who had heard Nick's voice from inside the house, stepped out onto the porch.
"They say they're Barkleys, say they're looking for their brother."
"So, you'll have to tell him who he is?"
Libby didn't care for excited gleam in her mother-in-law's eyes, though she understood it. Dakota's coming to the ranch, helping them and befriending Danny had made her face the fact her husband was dead and made her realize just how lonely she was. She was sure Scott's mother, who still held onto the hope her son would return, resented it.
"I'll confess what I did, yes, but it will be left up to Dakota whether or not to believe them." She then added what she feared Vatcher had learned the truth as well. "After the raid, if he did such a thing, I wouldn't put it past Vatcher to send a couple of men out here to distract Dakota away only to kill him. After that, Danny and I are leaving. You can come with us if you want."
"Leave!" the elderly Mrs. Mathews had to force herself to keep her voice low; she didn't want the two men-whoever they were- to hear what she had to say to her daughter-in-law. "What about Scott? You're his wife! Where will you go?
"I'm his widow! Face it, Scott's dead!" Libby snapped back. Then softening her tone. "I do not know where I will go, but I have to move on. There's nothing for me or Danny here, nothing!"
Infuriated that her daughter-in-law would say Scott was dead, Mrs. Mathews whirled around and stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind her.
Libby sat back down and, resting the rifle across her lap, waited for Dakota and Danny to come home. By the time she saw Dakota and her son driving up to the house, a solid two hours had passed.
Alarmed to see two pistols lying on the ground and two strangers sitting on crates outside the barn, Dakota pulled up on the reins.
"Ma?" Danny, who was alarmed as well, jumped down from the wagon.
"I'm fine, go inside, but don't bother your grandmother. She's not in a good mood." Libby gestured towards the front door.
"Is she ever in one lately?" Danny said without thinking, and then added quickly apologized as he saw a flash of hurt pass over his mother's eyes.
"Who are those men?" Dakota asked once he'd climbed out of the wagon.
"Before I answer that, I need to confess something to you. I'm sure what I have to say will upset you, and rightly so. Only, please, realize how scared and lonely I've been. No, it won't make what I did right, only it does explain it."
'Dakota' stiffened ever so slightly, but determined to control any reaction he might have to the confession -whatever it was-as she was right; he did realize how desperate she was, and he wasn't surprised to hear her admit to being lonely either. "All right, what is it?"
Libby took a deep breath and confessed everything. By the time she was finished, she wasn't surprised to see shock, anger and sympathy all rolled into one appear in 'Dakota's' eyes. "They," she pointed towards Nick and Heath. "They claim to be your brothers."
"You don't believe them. You think they're working for the ranchers." He said even as he glanced towards the men he did not recognize.
"I don't know." Libby, who had handed Jarrod the rifle that had been lying on her lap. "Maybe they are; or, maybe Vatcher found out who was supposed to be coming here and used the information to his advantage. That is something you need to decide. However, you don't need to worry about fighting for me, or against me." She then told him what she'd told her mother-in-law. "I'm tired of fighting for a place I no longer consider home. I don't know where I'll go, but Jed Cameron will buy this place for a fair price. I know it. Out of all the ranchers around here, he's a good man."
'Dakota' thought looked at the pistols on the ground and then towards his brothers. "They throw those guns down the first time you asked?" He turned back to Libby.
"The dark haired one wanted to know why, but after I gave him my reasoning, they didn't fight it." Libby shrugged her shoulders. "Probably telling the truth."
For a moment, he said nothing. When he did speak, it was with a bit of chastisement. "You're right; you should have told me. However," he gave her an understanding nod, "thanks for telling me now." He then looked at Nick and Heath who were standing up. "I'll go talk to them, but first, promise me something."
Libby wasn't about to tell him no, not after hiding the facts from him. "Anything, I owe you after I hid the truth from you the way I did."
"Let me help you find a new place to live, and a way for you to support Danny and your mother-in-law." 'Dakota' answered.
"You'd help me? After I burned that letter and threw away your coat?" Libby asked astonished.
"You were desperate as you said, but you're not making it worse now. Yes, I'm willing to help you." He smiled. "So, do I have your promise?"
"Yes," Libby started beaming. "Well, at least for me and Danny. I don't know what my mother-in-law will want."
"Fine." 'Dakota' said as he handed the rifle back to Libby. "I'll have their pistols, you can take this and go inside…just in case." After she'd taken the gun from him, he bent over and picked up the pistols that had been tossed to the ground. As he did so, his eyes fell upon the eagle on the pistol closest to him. Automatically, he stood straight up-his eyes never leaving the eagle.