There's a Pony in Here Somewhere
Chapter 1
Everyone knew that when Jarrod came in the front door, there would be trouble. Nick had been pacing around, frowning. He'd pour a drink for himself, take one swallow, then set the glass back down on the refreshment table and pace some more. He was like a caged lion right before dinnertime.
Victoria and Audra sat on the settee, sipping sherry uneasily, while Heath stayed on his feet, trying to be ready for anything. He thought back on what had happened over the last few days – how Jarrod had taken on an unpopular client accused of murder, how the man's three sons had terrorized Stockton late one afternoon after drinking far too much, how they had actually slapped Victoria and Audra around not knowing who they were. Those three were in jail now, but while this was happening, Jarrod had found evidence that his client was innocent and the old man was now free. The client was on his way out of the cell block door even as his sons were going in. Everyone around was waiting on pins and needles to see what the old man would do now that his three sons were locked up and he wasn't.
And then Jarrod had the nerve to try to talk his mother and sister out of pressing charges against the sons.
Nick was livid. He didn't care about Jarrod's rationale – that letting the sons out of jail was the best chance of putting the whole episode to rest. That family would just go back to working the farm and that would be the end of it. Nick convinced his mother and sister to pursue the charges despite Jarrod's pleas. It didn't take much convincing. Nick didn't want to see the Robinson boys slapping anybody else around, and neither did Victoria or Audra. This time, they just thought Jarrod was wrong in his advice.
As soon as Jarrod came in the front door, Nick resumed the argument they'd been having in town before they came home. Jarrod was ready to quit yelling but without giving up his belief that he was right. Nick wasn't ready to end it yet, so while Jarrod was putting his hat, gun belt and briefcase away in the hall, Nick was already yelling.
"The end of it, my eye!" Nick had yelled, picking up the fight where they had left off. "Those Robinsons are worthless and dangerous! Those boys hit both mother and Audra – HIT THEM! They have to pay for that!"
"Nick, Mother and Audra aren't hurt," Jarrod argued, coming into the living room. He looked toward his mother and sister, sitting on the settee. "If we don't pursue the charges, this will all blow over."
"You don't slap my mother and sister across the face and not pay for it!"
"They've been in jail for three days – "
"And they ought to stay there for at least three months!"
"And who's gonna work the farm for the old man if they do?"
"Assault, Jarrod!" Nick yelled. "This was out and out assault!"
Heath was watching and listening from a spot between Nick and Jarrod but not directly between them. They were still a good eight feet from one another, Nick at the refreshment table and Jarrod just into the living room. Heath didn't want to put himself into this battle just yet, but he wanted to be ready to do it if he had to.
"I know what assault is, Nick!" Jarrod yelled. "I've seen you commit it a few times and gotten you out of trouble, or have you forgotten that?"
"Me?!" Nick yelled. "At least I've never come so close to killing a man you had to pull me off or watch me hang!"
Jarrod's blue eyes turned an ugly black. Hearing Nick bring up that extremely sore spot in Jarrod's life sent him over the edge. "Damn you - "
Jarrod started toward his brother, trembling with rage. Heath got in between them and held Jarrod back. "Jarrod, back off!" Heath shouted into Jarrod's face. Then he turned on Nick. "You too, Nick! Walk away, right now!"
Jarrod's glare shifted from Nick to Heath now. He glanced at his mother and sister and didn't hear any support from them either. They had taken Nick's side and weren't listening to him, even though when it came to legal matters they usually followed his advice, not Nick's. But even if a part of him understood why they felt the way they did, Nick had no right to carry the argument as far as he'd carried it.
And then Nick growled, "Get out of here."
Jarrod turned around fast, grabbed his hat, gun belt and briefcase from the hall and kept on going, through the dining room and out the kitchen door.
Silas was there, cooking dinner, but when Jarrod didn't give him a glance or say a word before tearing out the door, Silas got worried. He had heard the loud voices coming from the living room but couldn't make out the words, and knew better than to try to get closer. But usually things calmed down and all that remained was some silence at dinner. He couldn't remember the last time anybody walked out the back door.
As soon as Jarrod was gone, Heath let go of the front of Nick's shirt. Nick still snorted and stared after his older brother, but his puffed out chest eased off.
"Nick, sit down and calm down," Victoria said quietly. "This is not worth banishing your brother over and you know it."
Nick picked his drink up from the refreshment table and headed for the chairs, but he avoided Jarrod's "thinking chair." He didn't want to be reminded of Jarrod right now. He sat in the other armchair and he drank.
Heath had played peacemaker quite a few times since he'd come here, but this was one of the bigger blow-ups he'd arbitrated. He looked at Victoria and Audra almost apologetically, thinking in the back of his mind that maybe he should have headed this ruckus off before it got so out of hand. He poured himself a drink, but then he stayed where he was, in case Nick jumped up and went after Jarrod.
Because after all the hot words in town and what had gone by here, Nick looked ready to beat his older brother to a pulp.
Nick finished his drink and said, "I don't want him back."
Everyone's ears pricked up. "What?" Victoria said.
"You heard me. He's out of here for good."
"Nick, you can't mean that," Audra said.
Nick glared at her now. "I own this property. Mother has the right to stay here for life, but the rest of you are here because I let you be here. Jarrod goes. He can go to his place in San Francisco or go live in Stockton or take off for parts unknown, but I don't want him here anymore."
No one was sure how to answer that. Nick was right. The property was legally his, and only Victoria had a legal right to stay here. Heath and Audra looked at each other, half wondering if Nick would ever take the notion to throw them out. The near tears coming into Audra's eyes made Heath ready to go after Nick himself.
Victoria was the first to recover her thoughts, and she made sure to set them out without raising her voice. "Of course, you have the right to insist Jarrod leave for good, but we decided a long time ago that whether any one of us stays or goes from this family, it is up to that person and to the family, not just to you. You'd better leave whatever rights you think you have to throw Audra and Heath out alone, and you'd better think hard about evicting Jarrod before you go against the family and do it, because I for one am not going to vote to throw him out. It's foolish to treat this as if it's worth breaking the family up. Besides, if he leaves, you have to hire another attorney in town, and that means a lot more time in town than you spend now, which you will hate."
"If that's how it's got to be, then that's how it's got to be," Nick said. "But I won't have his legal business threatening this ranch and this family anymore."
"Nick, you hit him below the belt when you brought up Rimfire," Heath said.
Nick glared hard at Heath now. Nick actually knew what he was doing when he hit that weak spot in his older brother's psyche, and part of him even regretted it, but another part felt just fine about it.
"Maybe you ought to go talk to him, Nick," Heath tried.
"I'll talk to him when he comes back in," Nick said. "But I'm gonna let him know how I feel, regardless of what the rest of you think."
"Nick, you've already done that. Don't buck the family on this," Victoria said. "Audra and I agree with you that the Robinsons have to be punished, but Jarrod doesn't need to be. Jarrod will leave if you tell him to, and I for one am not going to like that one bit."
"Mother, what are we supposed to do? He takes these cases that cause us trouble, and he does it without giving us a second thought! How many times have we been threatened because of him? You want that to keep going on, because if he stays here, it will."
A knock at the door interrupted things. "I'll get it," Heath said and went to the door.
Nick looked at his sister while Heath was at the door, and he let his gaze fall. "I'm sorry, Audra. I didn't mean you to think I'd ever want you to leave."
Audra said, "It's all right, Nick. You're upset. You don't really know what you're saying."
"I do about Jarrod," Nick muttered.
Victoria and Audra looked up at Heath speaking to someone at the door, but whoever it was left without coming in. Heath closed the door and came back into the living room.
"Well, it looks like Jarrod made the decision for us," he said, "Ciego says he rode into town. Said he was spending the night in his office and going to San Francisco on the morning train. Asked us to come for his horse tomorrow. I told Ciego to take care of that."
Asking them to collect his horse meant he was planning to be in San Francisco for quite a while.
Victoria slowly looked into her glass of sherry and then took a sip. She did not like to interfere in the battles between her sons, even if it meant one of them would leave, possibly for good. Jarrod and Heath were old enough and experienced enough to make their own decisions, live their own lives no matter where, and deal with Nick in their own ways. She would let them.
But to say she was happy about Jarrod leaving or Nick wanting to throw him out – even given what trouble Jarrod's business had brought to the town and the family – would be stretching it a lot. She understood Jarrod's anger at her refusal to follow his advice and drop the complaint, but like Nick she was too concerned that the Robinson boys would attack someone else someday over something or other and do more damage. She half considered going into town to talk to her oldest before he left for San Francisco, but Jarrod had made up his own mind about leaving and now that he had, she wouldn't interfere. If she did, it wouldn't help Jarrod feel any better, and it would make Nick even angrier.
Silas came in. The look on his face told everyone he knew what was going on and didn't know what to do about it. He tried to say, "Dinner is served," but it came out half a croak, half uncertain as to whether he should serve it or not.
Victoria said, "We'll be in in just a minute, Silas. Please remove Jarrod's plate."
"Yes, ma'am," Silas said and left.
Victoria was the first to get up, and she got up slowly, leaving her unfinished glass of sherry on the coffee table. She said, "I suggest we eat and then we think about everything that's happened over the last few days."
Victoria headed for the dining room without an escort. Her children gave each other unhappy looks as they followed along.