Wyoming Wrangler

Chapter One

"Are you all right, Nick?" Heath asked as he and his brother rode around the ranch inspecting a stretch of fence line. The dark haired rancher had been feeling restless all morning, and he didn't know why. It was the not knowing why that had Nick acting out of sorts all morning.

"Of course, I am!" Nick snapped and then started shaking his head. "I just have a funny way of showin' it." He grinned at his brother and did his best to shake off the same uneasy feeling that had been plaguing him since he'd gone to bed the night before. He then grew serious again and told Heath what he'd been feeling. He was surprised to learn Heath had been feeling the same way.

"If we get home and Jarrod or any of the others have been feeling the same way, I'll wonder what's comin'."

"Maybe we'll be lucky," Nick said as he smiled and stepped away from the fence they'd been looking at and remounted his horse, "and it will only mean Jarrod and Camille are announcing their engagement." Their dear brother had been seriously courting a five foot four inch, brunette by the name of Camille Sawyers, no relation to Charlie Sawyers thank heavens.

"If that is the case, they'll probably have the biggest weddin' in California. I mean, with every family member in attendance, it would be quite the crowd." Heath shot Nick a lopsided grin. He was startled by Nick's next words and his actions, though he didn't know why.

"Not everyone," Nick looked away and closed his eyes for a moment. It didn't take Heath but a split second before he caught on to what his brother was saying. Eugene, Eugene would not be there.

Heath said nothing as the two finished and headed home, his mind on his youngest brother. Everyone had expected the youngest Barkley to finish college and become a doctor or at least a veterinarian. The day he dropped out of Berkley and come home asking Nick to hire him on as one of his hands had shocked them all. Jarrod and Victoria had had frank talks with him, telling him he needed to go back and finish what he'd started. When he'd started to explain, he'd been told not to argue. He'd received, basically, the same sort of lecture from Nick only with less fancy words.

"Suppose your gonna tell me the same thing!" Eugene stood next to the corral and glared at Heath, who had walked up as Nick stormed away.

"Nope," Heath had leaned against the fence and watched as the new stallion Nick had caught the other day ran around in circles, "figure a man's got to follow his own dream. Might not catch it, but he still gotta chase it. I'll talk to Nick for you."

"Thanks," Eugene slapped his hand on Heath's back.

Heath sighed as he saw the house come into view. Talking with Nick, the others, it had done no good. They'd all been adamant that baby brother go back to college. With that being the case, everyone but Heath had been shocked to wake up one morning and find Eugene and his horse missing. The ensuing tears and guilt that followed and faded to some degree over time, but as they'd never heard from him again…they had been left to wonder and cope the best they could.

Heath turned and looked at Nick. His heart went out to his brother as he saw the old familiar pain that would appear in Nick's eyes this time of the year, the time of year he and Eugene had literally had it out in the front yard…the night before their baby brother up and disappeared. He knew Nick blamed himself, though no one else did. If anything, they each blamed the whole family except for Heath. After all, they couldn't blame him as he'd backed Gene up.

0000

The old log cabin's door groaned as its handle was turned and it was opened. Throwing his carpetbag on the table that sat next to the east wall, the gentleman that had opened the door began looking around. It seemed like ten years since he'd been in this cabin that sat in the foothills of Sonora or any place within miles of it when in all reality it had only been four. He would have preferred to have made it to his destination, but one thing after another had slowed down his travels.

He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. He no longer had the baby face he'd once claimed for his own, his hairless face sported a full beard, a thick mustache and his light brown hair had turned more of an auburn color and was definitely longer than it had been before. Also, thanks to a bout with a severe illness when he was twenty-two, his throat had been affected to the point where the sound of his voice was raspy and sounded different; question was, how different? He couldn't help but wonder if anyone who knew him in the past would even recognize him. Then again, maybe he didn't want to be recognized. It gave him more privacy, more time to prepare himself for what he'd come back to California for.

Walking over to the bed that sat against the south wall, the man most knew as Buck Adams, a name he'd picked up after getting amnesia for an extremely small amount of time and never let go of even when his memories returned, laid down and stretched out his legs. He could hear Jessie whistling outside and talking to their horses. He had to smile when he thought of the woman he'd married just last year.

Jessie stood a mere four feet ten inches, had dark brown hair which she wore, for the most part, up in a bun on the back of her head and her dresses were made of simple cotton yet beautiful. Jessie was a hard worker, strong willed and a wonderful cook; she was also his best friend. He'd actually met her when her father hired him to work on the man's ranch in central Wyoming. She'd only been fourteen then. He hadn't seriously looked at her until they'd known each other a year, and even then he was cautious. By the time she hit sixteen he knew he was in love with her. Since her parents liked him (and probably saw it as a way to keep their daughter close by) they'd consented to the marriage. Only when Jessie walked in did her husband sit up.

"You having second thoughts?" Jessie asked as she started putting away her things and the food they had with them. She asked the question knowing full well, due to his behavior the past few days, he had to be questioning trip at least a little bit.

"Some," he admitted as he stood up and went to help her, "though remember, you agreed to say nothing when it comes to my past once we hit Stockton." If, after they rested up for a few days, they headed straight for Stockton it should only take them a day.

Jessie shrugged as she looked at him. "You're the one that made the promise to a dying man, not me. Why should I say anything?" She gave him a quick kiss and went back to work, silently grateful her father had pushed him to at least return home and 'test the waters', to see if things could be worked out. That is, after her husband had broken down and told her father everything.