Thicker Than Water
A/N I had an online friend ask me if I would write a story with Heath coming to the family under different circumstances etc. I told her I'd roll the idea around and, if it came on its own as I refused to force it to, she'd get her story. This was the result. Please, keep in mind that because I'm changing the way he joins the family other things will facts will also change. (No train race etc)
Chapter One
The sounds of pots and pans being hit with lids rang through the small two bedroom home that sat on the edge of Modesto. Seeing how two four year olds were using the cooking pots and their lids as musical instruments, it might have been funny and cute only there was one problem. Their widowed father was asleep- was being the key word.
"What the…." Heath Thompson sat up and swung his legs off the bed. It took him a minute to realize what the noise he heard was. Throwing on his pants, he walked out of his bedroom and into the front room. From there he could see his son, Bryon, and his daughter, Leah, on the floor of the kitchen which lay adjacent to the front room, playing with more than one pot and its lid. The moment the twins saw their father standing in the front room they dropped the pots and pans and ran to him.
Heath couldn't help but grin as he scooped a child up in each arm. "Boy Howdy! You sure know how to get a body out of bed, don't you?" The question only served to get Bryon giggling and Leah shaking her head.
"We're makin' music for you." Leah said as Heath set her and her brother down at the table.
"Like Mr. Jennings and his family done last night." Bryon spoke up, still remembering the social the town had had the night before; the one his father had taken him and his sister too.
Heath wasn't sure he would call the racket his children had been making music, but the sentiment was cute. If he could have he would given them the pots, pans and their lids back. As it was, he not only had work to do, but he'd promised his boss he'd go to the local horse auction. That being the case, he had to get them fed and dressed before Jenny Lee, the children's fourteen year old babysitter, showed up. Normally, he'd take his son and daughter along and not worry about a babysitter. The two youngsters loved horses, but he couldn't today, not with all the work he had to get done.
Heath began helping his children put what pot and pans they didn't need that morning back where they belonged. He then began cooking breakfast while Bryon and Leah took turns climbing on a chair to get the plates and other things they'd need to set the table with. It was something they themselves had asked if they could do and, after a lot of begging, Heath had lowered the shelves in order to make it easier for them to do just that. It was scenes like this, his young children setting the table, that had Heath sighing silently. While he'd come to terms with his wife's death; it was moments like this he missed her the most. If only his in-laws hadn't moved so far away after he and Elizabeth had married. His mother in law might have helped. As it was, there was no way on this earth he was taking his children and move clear back to Wisconsin to live. No, he shook his head ever so slightly as he kept one eye on the bacon and the other on his children. When it came to family and help with the children, he, Bryon and Leah would just have to make the best from whatever life handed them.
~oOo~
The sun shone through Modesto's boarding house windows, one window belonged to the room Nick and Jarrod Barkley were staying in for a couple of days. The piercing light might as well made the same noise as the pots and pans in the Thompson home had, as Nick grabbed his pillow, rolled over and covered his head. He wasn't ready to get up; probably due to the whiskey he'd drank the night before.
On the other hand, Jarrod sat up as he forced his eyes to open. He stretched and let out a slight groan. It took a few moments, but soon he was awake enough to start dressing. As he dressed, he started whistling, knowing how it irritated Nick. He figured his hot tempered brother would listen to the whistling for no more than two minutes before shooting straight up into the air and asking, no demanding, that Jarrod stop such activities until he, Nick, was fully awake. He was close; Nick made it to a minute and a half before he snapped from underneath the pillow. "Ain't ya got somethin' better to do?"
Jarrod grinned from ear to ear and quit whistling long enough to remind his dear brother that he, Nick, had lost the card game the night before and owed him a nice breakfast at the café. He wasn't surprised when Nick sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and griped. "You never said we'd be eating breakfast before my hangover was through."
"I told you should save your drinking until after our business was done." Jarrod retorted as he finished dressing and headed downstairs.
Nick dressed as quickly as his head would allow. He hated it when Jarrod was right. Soon he and Jarrod were both sitting in the café talking.
"You didn't have to come. Gideon could have traveled to Stockton to talk to you instead." Nick looked at Jarrod, who sat across the table from him. The two brothers had traveled from Stockton to Modesto on business, they were going to go to the horse auction and, then later, Jarrod would visit with a family friend, Gideon Stokes, about a small piece of land the family wanted to buy, land that was adjacent to the ranch already. Well, that or at least the man's foreman.
Jarrod smiled and shrugged his shoulders. What Nick said was true enough, but Jarrod hadn't felt like arguing with Gideon Stokes over at the time arrangements had been made for the meeting. "He couldn't have, but he didn't." He just hoped that he could get away from Gideon without having to visit him for hours on end after discussing business. As much as he liked Mr. Stokes, Jarrod was sure the man could talk worse than a group of politicians at a state convention, or any other convention for that matter. Of course, he wasn't about to say such a thing out loud. If he did a thing like that then, most likely, Gideon would hear about it. Jarrod didn't think anyone needed that to happen. The two brothers continued talking about their plans for the day. Once they were done, the two brothers headed for the auction.