Truth, Fibs and the Family Tree
Chapter 1
October 1890
Eight-year-old Tony Barkley had his father's quick temper. Ten-year-old J.J. Barkley had his father's determination and relentlessness. Since J.J. also had about three inches and ten pounds advantage over his cousin, their Uncle Heath made a grab for J.J.'s collar and pulled him away from Tony first. At about that same time, Nick heard his son yelling and ran to help break up the fight. He grabbed Tony by the collar, and Nick and Heath managed to get them apart and keep them that way.
"What the heck is this about?" Nick hollered at his son, and then he noticed Tony had a bloody nose. Nick pulled out his handkerchief, wiped the blood off Tony's face and held the handkerchief to his nose. "Tilt your head back."
"Why?" Tony blurted out.
"Because I said so!" Nick had right back at him. Then he softened. "It'll make your nose stop bleeding."
J.J. had a split lip that was bleeding, and Heath put his own handkerchief to it. "What started all this?" Heath asked.
Neither boy said a thing.
"Come on, I want an answer!" Heath said.
J.J. said quietly, "Tony said I didn't have a father because he ran away after I was born."
"Why would you say something like that?" Nick said, giving Tony a shake. "You know J.J.'s father died before you were born. We've been to his grave together."
Tony fidgeted. "Little Heath told me that was a fake grave."
Suddenly they heard little footsteps running away, around the side of the barn. Heath heaved a sigh. "That kid of mine loves to make up stories. Tony, listen to me. Your Uncle Jarrod died, he didn't run away. Heath was just fibbing to you."
"Why did he die?" J.J. abruptly asked.
None of the Barkley grandchildren – Jarrod's son J.J., Nick's son Tony, Heath's sons Little Heath and Little Nick, and Audra's daughters Victoria Marie and Amanda Jane – had ever talked about why J.J. had no father or why Victoria Marie and Amanda Jane didn't look like either of their parents. Everybody figured they were too young to care about such things, but now it looked like they had been talking to each other about them. Nick and Heath looked at each other, wondering how to answer J.J.'s question. There was no simple answer.
Nick said, "Why don't we talk about that after your mama comes home?"
Jarrod's widow Maggie lived at the mansion with J.J., Nick and his wife Nancy and son, and Nick's mother Victoria. Heath and his wife Suzanne and sons lived at another house on the property. Victoria, Nancy and Maggie had gone into Stockton to shop with Suzanne for some "ladies' necessities" but would be back at any time. Nick and Heath had just come in from the range. Everyone, including Audra and her husband Carl and their girls, would be gathering for dinner as soon as the ladies were back. Nick and Heath wished they would come right away so they could let Maggie decide what to tell J.J.
"And why don't we get the two of you cleaned up before your mothers get a look at you?" Heath said.
Nick said, "Heath, why don't you track down your boy while I get these two inside? And no more fighting!" Nick added to the two boys.
They went inside with Nick. Only Silas was there to get a look at them as they went into the kitchen.
Nick said, "We got some walking wounded here, Silas."
Silas said, "Oh, my goodness, sit them down over there!"
Nick put them into chairs near the door outside, where the medical supplies were kept in a cabinet. Silas got the supplies out and began to clean the boys up and treat their insignificant wounds, but for some reason, his smile began to grow wider as he tended them.
"What are you laughing at?" Tony asked.
"Hey!" Nick warned him.
Silas kept smiling. "Oh, Tony, I'm just remembering how I used to have to clean up your daddy and Mr. Jarrod when they were boys and got to fighting."
Tony gave his father a suspicious eye.
Nick saw it. "Yeah, we fought. We weren't much different than the two of you, except your Uncle Jarrod was a lot older and a lot bigger than me, so he won the fights."
Silas out and out laughed. "You never gave up tryin', Mr. Nick. By the time you got bigger than Mr. Jarrod, you were both comin' home from the war and weren't interested in fightin' anybody anymore."
"If you fought with Uncle Jarrod, why are you so mad at J.J. and me?" Tony asked.
"Because I'm grown up now and I know how foolish it is to fight, especially with somebody who's family," Nick said. "You're gonna need him later, when you're older. You don't want to be enemies, ever."
"How come you never talk about the war, Uncle Nick?" J.J. asked.
"Because it's no fun to talk about," Nick said. "Your Uncle Heath and I will tell you boys about it when you're a little older."
"Everything has to be when we're older," Tony said to J.J.
Nick saw the two boys now aligning themselves together against their elders. With a sigh, he helped clean the boys up and sent them off. "Now, go wash up for dinner and change into some clean clothes."
About then, Heath came in the back door with his son Little Heath in hand. He heard Nick send the other two boys off and said, "Heath, you go clean up and change into your clean clothes, too."
As the boys went up the back stairs, Nick asked Heath, "Did Little Heath really tell J.J. his father ran away?"
"Yeah, and he was doing the cheering while Tony and J.J. fought," Heath said.
Silas chuckled and went back to fixing dinner. "It's just the youngest boy keepin' the older two off his back."
"We better talk to Maggie about Jarrod," Nick said. "These boys are beginning to ask questions that need answers coming from somebody other than Little Heath."
"Yeah," Heath agreed. "I just hope they don't know that Victoria Marie and Amanda Jane are adopted yet."
"We better talk to Audra, too," Nick said, and Heath nodded.
The children's part-time nanny, a woman about Maggie's age named Claire, came down the back stairs, saying, "What in the world happened to those boys? I turn my back for one minute to change the baby, and they're all bloodied up!"
"It's all right, Claire, it's not your fault," Nick said.
Claire came to take care of whatever children were there when she was called upon. At the moment, that included Heath's youngest, Little Nick. "Well, I suppose they've gotten to that age," Claire said. "I guess we should have expected this before now."
"Do you mind checking to see that they're not at it again?" Heath asked.
"They're not," Claire said. "They're talking about giving it to Little Heath, though."
Heath sighed. "Maybe it's time we stopped having kids."
Silas could be heard laughing from across the room.
XXXXXXX
The ladies came back from town while the boys were still upstairs. Nick and Heath had to help carry in the packages, wondering for the n'th time how women could spend so much money, but keeping it to themselves. As they carried the packages upstairs, the women following along behind them, Nancy and Suzanne keeping close to Victoria since the stairs were a bit tougher for her than they used to be.
Nick said, "We need to talk a bit about the boys."
"Why? Was there a problem?" Victoria asked.
"Tony and J.J. had a bit of a row," Nick said.
"Any damage?" Victoria asked.
"One bloody nose and one split lip," Heath said, "and one little fib teller who got his backside wailed."
"What was the fib about?" Suzanne said. She was pretty sure who the fib teller was.
"Why don't we talk about that after we put these things down?" Heath asked.
It took less than five minutes to accomplish that and get back into the living room. While they were all up there, they could hear J.J., Tony and Little Heath laughing in J.J.'s room, so they knew the boys would probably stay occupied for a while and the adults could have some time to themselves before dinner.
"So, what fib did Little Heath tell now?" Suzanne asked as her husband handed her some sherry.
"A pretty low one," Heath said. "He told the boys that Jarrod's gravestone was fake, and that Jarrod had run away after J.J. was born."
The women all closed their eyes and sank into the seats they were in.
"I think we straightened that little story out," Heath said. "But J.J. wanted to know why his father died."
"We didn't want to say anything to him until we talked to you, Maggie," Nick said, "but your son, at least, is old enough to start asking real questions."
"I know," Maggie said. "He's already asked me. I've been soft-pedaling the answer, I'm afraid."
"They've started to ask about the war, too," Heath said. "We're gonna have to explain that to them before long. And someday, maybe now, is also the time to explain about me."
No one was really expecting him to mention that. "Are you sure they're not too young to understand that?" Victoria asked.
"Maybe they don't need to know all of it, but as long as we're straightening out the family ties, they might at least need to know that – well, I guess you'd say I'm adopted."
"Maybe it is time we ought to be talking to the older children frankly," Nancy said. "One of these days, they're going to figure out that Audra's children don't look like everybody else, too."
"Heath," Victoria said, "are you ready to talk about Jarrod's death yet?"
"Or the war?" Nick asked.
Heath looked at them. He knew what his mother meant. He never talked much about Jarrod at all, especially how and why he died, and he never asked himself if he was ready to talk. Even though it had been almost ten years now, it still hurt. And then there was the war, and the prison camp. How was he ever going to explain that to the kids?
But –
"Maybe it's time for me, too," Heath said.