Chapter 11
Nick and Heath spent the evening in Rancho Calaveras in comfortable, happy style. They wired the family about catching Barrett and said they'd be home tomorrow. They got a room at the hotel. They decided that baths and shaves at the tonsorial parlor were worth every cent and more. They bathed in tubs set side by side, smoked cigars as they bathed, and discovered they both knew all the words to "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair" (and sang it with gusto, even if the attendant left the room while they did). A poker game and a few drinks at a saloon, and life was good, very good.
The ride to Stockton the next day was uneventful, even if Barrett was sullen and kept looking like he was going to try to get away from them. He didn't. Once in Stockton, they took Barrett straight to Sheriff Harris and Harris locked him up, but as soon as he got the cell block door closed and Barrett out of earshot, the sheriff said, "I hope you have some evidence it was him who shot Eugene, because he's saying he didn't do it."
"Jarrod saw that Appaloosa of his," Nick said. "That's got to be good for something."
"I'll be talking to the DA," Sheriff Harris said. "I'll see what we can do."
"Have you had any word about how Gene's doing?" Heath asked.
"He's doing fine," Sheriff Harris said. "The doc saw him this morning, has him up and around. The kid's like the rest of you Barkleys – hard to keep down."
"Well, we're gonna head on home," Nick said. "Somebody – one of us or Jarrod or somebody – will check in with you tomorrow to see what the DA said."
"I prefer Jarrod, since he's your witness," the sheriff said.
"Then Jarrod it'll be," Nick said.
When they got home, it was getting late in the day and Jarrod was coming in right behind them. He'd been out in the field every day they were gone and got a big grin when he saw them. "You got him?" he asked.
"We got him," Nick said.
"The sheriff's got him now," Heath said. "He wants to see you in the morning about seeing that Appaloosa."
Jarrod nodded. "I'll take care of it." Then he got a look at his brothers. "Well, now, you two look well taken care of, not at all like you just got in from three days on the trail."
Nick grinned at Heath and then back at Jarrod. "They got a real nice tonsorial in Rancho Calaveras."
"And Nick was the big winner at the poker table," Heath added.
By now, they had all dismounted and given their horses over to the stable hands. Jarrod laughed, took his glove off and stuck it under his belt. "Nice end to a hard job," he said. "It's good to have you home."
"How's Gene?" Heath asked.
"Fine," Jarrod said. "Up and around. Arm in a sling – we're two of a kind for now."
They went inside and found their baby brother in the living room with their mother and sister. His arm in the sling wasn't good for much, but he could hook a skein of wool around both hands while Victoria wound the wool into a ball. He looked bored stiff and as they came in, he was asking, "Why doesn't it just come in a ball in the first place?"
Gene's brothers laughed. Nick said, "Sounds like the kid is doing just fine."
"You're home!" Audra gushed.
"Home, and Barrett's in jail," Nick said. "How are you doing, little brother? Up to snuff?"
"I'll feel better when I get out of this sling," Eugene said. "And I got new respect for how our big brother gets things done with one hand. I'm terrible at it."
"Practice, my boy, and necessity," Jarrod said. "You'd get used to it too."
"Before we get too much into the yakking and the refreshment table, Jarrod, you and Heath and I got some talking to do," Nick said.
"Oh?" Jarrod said.
"Heath and I worked out part of a new system," Nick said. "We decided that one thing we ought to be doing, you, me and him, is getting together at the end of the day and talking about how things are going in our great empire here so we're all singing on the same page in the hymnal."
"We've been doing that," Jarrod said.
"Just now and then," Heath said. "We mean as a regular habit. The end of every day, even if we don't have a lot to talk about, the three of us get together and have a little board meeting."
"And it starts now," Nick said, put his arm behind Jarrod's neck, and he and Heath started to guide him off to the library.
"Can I come too?" Gene asked.
And he had a forlorn look on his face that said get me out of this wool thing Mother has me doing.
"And what about us?" Audra asked.
Nick and Heath both looked at Jarrod to decide how large this "board meeting" was going to be. He was the head rancher, the executive decision maker around here. He had the final call on everything.
Even if it had never been in his dreams to begin with, even if it was something he was left with when that war took his arm away, Jarrod knew he was the rancher now and had been for years. Sometimes it still stung that he'd had to change all his plans thirteen years ago, but overall, the way it had worked out was all right with him. He'd never have chosen it, but he was glad it chose him. Running the operation, having the final call on everything, but most of all working with his brothers – it was good, in a lot of ways better than being a courtroom lawyer would have been. And now, seeing that Nick and Heath were working out systems of their own and fitting them into his, he was pretty darned pleased.
"Tell you what," Jarrod said to his mother's "well?" grin. "These workmen and I will get together and devise an executive summary of what's going on around the ranch, and when we get together for scotch and whiskey and wine and talk before dinner, we'll fill the rest of you in and you can tell us what you think. Like a board meeting followed by a shareholders meeting, only a bit less elaborate. And we'll do that every day we're together. How does that sound?"
Victoria smiled. "Very businesslike. Your father would be very impressed." And she looked at Heath when she said, "With every one of you."
Nick said, "Come on," and led the way to the library.
"You know, Mother," Audra said, "you were right. This trip was good for Nick and Heath."
"I just wish I hadn't had to get shot for it," Eugene said.
"We wish the same, darling," Victoria said. "But if you were going to get shot, I'm glad something good is coming out of it. Those boys are starting to look and sound like brothers, aren't they?"
"Barkley brothers," Audra said.
Victoria smiled. "Yes. Barkley brothers. I like it."
The End
