Thicker Than Water
Chapter Six
Heath stood next to his bed which had been stripped of its bedding looking at the only picture he had of himself and his late wife, Elizabeth. He sighed as he put it inside the box which held what little clothing he had, along with his journal, and shut the top. He then carried the box out of the room and out the front door. His children were playing over to the side of the house with Jenny, who had been kind enough to agree to watch the children while her parents helped him pack.
"It's not right the way Jack let you go." Mr. Lee didn't hesitate to say his piece as he slid a box into the back of the wagon. Gideon Stokes had died the month before and, sure enough, Heath had been told within two weeks he no longer had a job on the Stokes' ranch. Heath was surprised the man had had the decency to give him a few weeks to get out. Then again, Jack's mother probably had a lot to do with that one. "I wish there was some way I could keep you here." He did too. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee had all the help he needed at the livery stable.
Heath gave his friend a lopsided grin. Men like Jenny's white headed father made his life bearable at the worst of times. He also thought on Gideon Stokes. Because Gideon had talked to Heath shortly before he died, Heath knew of Nick and Jarrod's promise to give him a job if he needed it. He probably wouldn't have thought on it and eventually sent a simple telegram that read "Job available?" only he had his children to think about. By the time Jack let him go, Jarrod had sent him a wire back. "Don't worry about it." Heath told Mr. Lee as he headed back into the house for another box.
It didn't take all that long to load the wagon. Heath and his children didn't have all that much to pack. They weren't taking the furniture either; it had come with the house. Once the wagon was loaded, Heath took one last walk through the house, stopping in the children's room the longest. His thoughts again took him down memory lane.
"Oh, Heath! Look at this house! It's beautiful!" Elizabeth's hands flew up to her mouth as she looked around the living room. The walls had been painted white, a couch sat up against the west wall with a large rectangular window above it and the front door off to its right. A chair sat against the north wall with a matching chair against the south one. A fireplace sat on the east side of the room and another window set a few feet away from the fireplace.
Elizabeth hurried into the kitchen and looked through all the cupboards, some had canned food in them while others held the dishes they would need, and then she'd explored the bedrooms which one got to by opening a door in the corner of the kitchen. Once she reached the room that would eventually belong to the twins, she'd stopped and leaned against the window. "Is it really ours?"
Heath gave her one of his rare wide grins and swung her around in a circle. He was thrilled she liked the house. He'd actually had two to choose from, but the other home only had one bedroom. "For as long as I work for Gideon Stokes it is," he answered as he set her back down on her feet and drew her to him, "and I'll work for him as long as I can." He'd then laid her down on the bed that the Stokes had been kind enough to provide for them and loved her for all he was worth.
Heath found a tear trickling down his cheek as that memory finished only to have another one start playing. A memory of the day he and Elizabeth had become parents.
"I'm huge and these babies are so active!" Elizabeth laid the palms of her hands upon her swollen abdomen and smiled as the children inside her womb kicked and rolled around, making a rippling effect appear across her stomach. "How are we going to keep up with them?"
Heath gave her a crook smile as he sat at the table going over the men's work details for the week. If he could keep up with twenty men, he was sure he would be able to keep up with two children. "We'll take one day at a time, honey." He never called anything but honey anymore. She'd smiled and went back to the sewing she was doing only to double over and scream his name not half hour later.
Heath leaned against the door frame as he remembered the hours he'd spent out on the front porch talking to Gideon and a few of the ranch hands while Mrs. Stokes and Doctor Myers had attended to Elizabeth. The children were three weeks early, and they were all concerned that the babies might not be strong enough to survive. Twenty-four hours after the first pain hit, the twins had come. The first month had been a fight for them for sure, but they'd thrived and grew. "Guess ya know we're movin' again." Heath said out loud as he thought on his late wife. "Don't like it, but Mr. Stokes died and that son of his still doesn't cotton to me. Guess it don't matter none, Gideon promised me the Barkley's were good people and would pay enough for me to provide for the children. That's what I gotta think 'bout right now, not some man fool enough to think the world revolves around him." As Heath finished speaking and stepped out of the door, he could have sworn his late wife brushed up against him and whispered for him to take care of himself and the children.
His thoughts were interrupted as Leah, who was sitting on the buckboard, Mr. Lee had helped her up, stood up and practically flew through the air into her father's arms. Actually, she stood on the edge and jumped the moment she thought he was close enough. Heath himself had to do his own jumping in order to catch her. "Boy howdy, girl! Do you think you can get my heart movin' any faster?"
"Do you really want to know?" Mr. Lee laughed, once he got his own heart back in place.
"Not really," Heath laughed and answered as he put his young daughter back where she'd been, making sure Bryon, who had moved over when his sister jumped, got back in his own spot, and then climbed up himself. Once he was up, Mr. Lee shook his hand, allowing Jenny to do the same afterwards.
"Good luck, Mr. Thomson, bye Leah, bye Bryon." Jenny made herself smile for the Thomson's sake, though her heart was breaking. She loved the two children like she loved her own siblings, but she understood Heath had to do what he needed to in order to take care of his children.
"Thanks." Heath nodded to his friends and then lifted the reins and brought them down; the horses moved and seconds later Mr. Lee and his daughter were watching the Thomson family leave Modesto.