Chapter Ten

A/N Guest…along with anyone else who is asking the same thing…the fact that Nick saved many people in town was the reason Michael gave Jarrod when it came to why no one in town would want to help him find Nick. That was the ONLY reason that was mentioned. As I stated in the author's notes at the top of Chapter Seven…there was going to be NO drama in this story. It was merely, as I said, Nick explaining to Jarrod why there had been no contact with the family.

Excerpt from Ch 9.

'You can't be falling for her.' Nick, who found feelings stirring inside him, kept thinking "Heath loves her. He would take her back in a heartbeat if he had the chance." He finished the foot rub and then came up with a believable excuse to leave the room.

~oOo~

Nick, who was sitting at the table eating, looked at Jarrod. The eldest brother had, again, asked when things between Nick and Marie changed. "As I said, I pushed any feelings I was starting to have for her aside, telling myself I would only be betraying Heath if I allowed them to grow. Told myself I'd help with Resolve until everything was taken care of," Nick shrugged his shoulders. "I succeeded until after we arrived here and started living with Mr. Greene."

Jarrod smiled wide as he told Nick, "You're right, at that time Heath would have taken her back. Though," he smiled even wider as he added, "I don't think he'd change his life now." Jarrod, who had not spoken about their siblings various situations, told Nick all about Heath meeting up with Brydie once more…and the whirlwind courtship the two had had. "He's happy, Nick. I mean, if you've been worried about that one. He and Brydie are extremely happy and very much in love with each other." It was only after telling his hot tempered brother that news that Jarrod thought he understood what had kept Nick from contacting them. "None of us will reject the two of you, and Heath won't hate you, Nick. He'll be grateful you stepped in and helped her, and that you're happily married now. Everyone in the family will be." He paused and asked, knowing looks can be deceiving, "You are happy, aren't you?"

"With my marriage?" Nick smiled as he glanced in the direction of his home. "Yes, I am. Though, I admit there was a time I wasn't sure she'd agree to really be my wife. After all, as far as I knew, we were only passing ourselves off as a couple for the sake of Resolve."

"When did you get married for real?" Jarrod, who was also back to working, drove another post into the ground.

"If you mean in front of a man of the cloth, that happened a few months after we arrived here. The traveling preacher only comes by once a year…and we had to wait for him. When it comes to a common law marriage," Nick paused and then said, "A few days after we arrived here, before I had a chance to go back into 'town' and to the general store." Nick then went on to share that part of the story as well.

"It's a nice home." Maria walked out of the bedroom they were using for Resolve. "Might not be as fancy as my father's place, but it's definitely filled with a more positive, loving feeling than I fear his will ever be."

"You're something else, you know that? Not every woman I have met could go from living the privileged life you've had to adjusting to living the life we'd had to live this past year." Nick, who found the feelings he'd buried deep inside him, pushing themselves to the front as he looked upon the last person he'd ever dream of falling in love with.

"You haven't turned out to be so bad either," Maria, who had been telling herself it was merely gratitude she felt, allowed the wall that she'd been holding up to fall. There was a smile a mile wide on her face and the light in her eyes were dancing-almost as if asking to share more than they had in the past. The force of those two things reached out and pulled Nick to her. Before either one of them were half aware of it, they were embracing each other and exchanging kisses.

"Maria…I…" Nick, who had felt a fire inside of him begin to burn, started to pull back thinking; maybe, he'd simply been seeing what he wanted to when it came to Maria's eyes.

Maria, who was pretty sure she knew where Nick's hesitation came from, stopped him. "I told you, I honestly thought I was in love with Heath. I was wrong; we both know it." She paused and then added, "I love you, really."

Nick swallowed hard 'Forgive me, Heath. I love her too.' "We're already passing ourselves off as a married couple; we're cohabiting-why not simply agree we really do have a common law marriage? We can be married in front of a preacher when he comes to town; Mr. Greene says one will be coming to Martinsdale soon."

'Common law marriage' Maria couldn't help, but chuckle. "As long as we don't try to find my 'good' father and tell hm, why not?" She took a step forward, which put her against Nick. That's all it took for him to pick her up, carry her into their bedroom and love her with all he had.

"I went into 'town' with Mr. Greene the next day." Nick hung his head slightly. "I stood next to the store for a solid thirty minutes before I could get myself to go in. Even then, all I could do was buy the few more items Maria and I needed…not even when the clerk asked me if I wanted to send the telegram. All I could do was to tell him to forget it. Afterwards? She or I would start one letter after another, but we could never seem to finish one, let alone send it off. Not a good reason I know, only it's all we have." Nick fell silent.

For a moment, Jarrod said nothing. Sure a part of him wanted to shake Nick for acting so out of character when it came to not facing the family with what had happened. Then again, if he hadn't, with Don Alfredo being in Stockton for a short time, things could have turned extremely ugly.

He reached out and laid his hand on Nick's shoulder. "While a portion of me wishes the situation had been handled differently, I don't hate you. The family won't either, including Heath. If you can't bring yourself to contact them, let me."

"That's only a portion of the problem." Nick straightened up and looked Jarrod straight in the eye. "You said Don Alfredo left Stockton, but did he sell his land? Is he gone for good?" He went on to say he that he and Maria had already promised each other to they'd have no contact whatsoever with the man, nor did they want him to have the faintest idea she had kept Resolve.

Jarrod silently swore, as he couldn't say yes to either question. With the admission, came the sinking feeling that there would be no way to talk Nick into taking his small family and moving back to California. "The family still needs to know what's going on. If you can't bring yourself to contact them, allow me to write them a long letter."

Slowly, Nick nodded and gave Jarrod a grateful smile. However, he turned down the offer. "I think I can finish writing a letter now if a certain big brother doesn't let me wiggle out of it.

Jarrod grinned; there was no way he letting Nick do such a thing. He'd found the answers he'd wanted, the family would have them as well.

Epilogue

The gentle breeze that blew through the air made the otherwise hot day bearable, something all the Barkleys (which included Audra, Eugene and their families who had arrived in Stockton a few days ago) were grateful for as they kept their eyes towards the road. Today was the day that Nick, Maria-who was once again expecting- and their two boys were to return to the ranch. Every member of the Barkley family had wanted the couple to return the year before-the moment they'd received the letter Nick had written. Only, as Jarrod explained when he'd arrived home, as long as there was any chance of Maria's father would be in the area, neither Nick or Maria wanted to be living in the area…and he'd given his word that none of the Barkleys would speak of him or Maria by their actual names when in Stockton-if they talked about them at all. After hearing just how her father had behaved, and what he'd wanted, none of the Barkleys weren't surprised by the news. They couldn't say they blamed either Nick or Maria either. Now, with the 'good' Spaniard coming to Stockton a few months ago, and then dying of a massive heart attack, his land being sold (ironically to the Barkleys, who planned on asking Nick and Maria if they wanted to live on the land) and all who had associated with him leaving…Nick and Maria were free of any threat from the man. Though, it surprised no one to learn that Maria had changed her maiden name from Alfredo to Montero. 'I want nothing to do with my father's name' had been her exact words.

Victoria walked up to Heath, who was gazing at the road- a ray of emotions were in his eyes. It worried her that, even with a happy marriage to Brydie and having a son and daughter of his own now, he might still carry a torch for Maria…and then there'd be trouble after all. However, before she could say anything, Heath turned his fact towards her and starting speaking.

"Before Maria left with her father, I used to pray her father's heart would be softened. I thought we could have a good marriage and a good life here on this ranch." He looked past his mother in order to see Byrdie who was sitting on the grass with their two children, and then back at Victoria. "Only when we got Nick's letter, the only reason I was upset was because they allowed their fear of what I'd do to be part of the reason they stayed away. When it came to falling in love with Maria and marrying her, I realized that my prayer which had not received the answer I'd wanted was really a blessing in disguise. After all, if I'd married her, I wouldn't have the better deal I was given when I married Brydie. Though," he gave his mother a lopsided grin, "still might give him a hard left hook once I get him alone, just putting us through he…" he cut his sentence when Victoria glared at him; he knew it was because she didn't care to hear 'such language' from anyone. However, before he could pick another word, a wagon appeared in the distance, one that was being driven by Nick.

"You just make sure you save that punch for another time…and then make sure he knows exactly what it's for." Victoria grinned as she – and the family - hurried towards the open gate to welcome her middle son and his family home where they belonged.