Wyoming Wrangler

Chapter Eleven

Jessie sat next to Buck and looked at each and every one of the Barkleys. She felt bad for all of them. In spite of the talk Jarrod had had with Buck, the gentleman still looked as if he was walking on thin ice. Nick looked as if someone had him on a witness stand and the only thing he wanted was off. Heath too looked rather uncomfortable, but Jessie was sure that was due more to the situation at hand than the past. After all, her husband spoke highly of the support this brother had given him. While Victoria did extremely well at hiding her nervousness, even she looked uncomfortable. Jessie sighed as she remembered the moments from seconds before.

"Hello, Ge…I mean, Buck. Sorry," Jarrod held his hand out and shook Buck's hand while clasping the man's shoulder with the free hand. Jarrod wanted desperately to embrace his brother in one huge bear hug, only the man looked like he was ready to run as it was. Jarrod didn't want him to actually do it."The others are inside."

"Do they know?" Buck didn't mince words; he saw no reason to. He wanted to know from the beginning what the situation was.

Jarrod nodded slowly and explained, hoping he'd chosen to do the right thing. "I hope it is okay." He looked from Buck to Jessie and then back to his brother. He was relieved to see Buck nod in the affirmative and Jessie smiling.

"It is more than okay." Jessie answered for her husband, as he seemed to be at loss for words. "Quite frankly, I wasn't looking forward to a dinner where I had to sit and wait 'for the inevitable'. After all, your mother's not blind." She, like Victoria, felt strongly the Barkley matriarch would have seen through everything within minutes…had she actually been in the same room as Buck before now.

Jarrod had led them inside after that. Heath sat in the living room, but stood up the moment Buck and Jessie entered the house. He hurried and left the room to greet his long lost brother and his new sister-in-law. Unsure of exactly what to say, Heath simply smiled and said hello. He was shocked when Buck offered him an apology.

"I wanted to thank you, Heath. After all, you were the one person that listened to me. That is, listened to what I had to say even if I didn't include the fact that I'd been wrangling for awhile bit in our conversations. For that, not telling you everything, I am sorry."

Heath gave him a lopsided smile and nodded. "It's okay this time."

Buck couldn't help but chuckle at the words "this time". If he asked, he was sure Heath would tell him those two words did indeed hold an unspoken message of some kind. He went to say something else only to have Nick appear at the top of the stairs. Instantly, the uneasy feeling in the room went from 3 up to 8. Nick wore an unreadable expression on his face as he started down the stairs. Buck stiffened and held his breath as the dark haired rancher made his way down to the bottom and stopped.

"Hello, Buck." Nick did his best to keep his emotions under control. He'd had time to do nothing but think and, at the moment, it didn't seem to have helped any. He was still as nervous as a raccoon treed by a fox. The old guilty feeling he thought he'd worked through had reared its head, and all he wanted was the dinner to be over with. Not that he wanted Buck to leave, he didn't. He just feared if he didn't keep in control of himself something would go wrong.

"Hello, Nick." Buck wanted to add 'it's good to see you', but he didn't. Oh, he was glad, but he feared the sentence might earn him a lecture along the lines of 'if that's the case; why not speak up sooner?' Jarrod then led them into the dining room.

Victoria took one look at her youngest and she knew she'd been right. The additional hair, plus the fact it was darker than it used to be, would not have made enough difference for her. For the hundredth time, she chastised herself for not going out and actually meeting him when he arrived. Without thinking, she embraced her youngest son. Out of respect for her as his mother, Buck returned the embrace, but could not hide the rather uncomfortable feeling that was definitely in the air. Soon they were all seated.

"So, you've been in Wyoming this whole time?" Heath broke the silence that had attached itself to the Barkleys once they'd seated themselves.

Buck shook his head. "I was in Nevada for a few months, broke some horses in for a Fred Jepson. Afterwards, his cousin, Jessie's father, visited and offered me a full time job on his ranch. He does nothing but deal with horses." Silence again hung in the air.

It made Jessie sad for the whole family. How she wished they were all little children again. That way they could just give each other something small trinket, say they were sorry and go on with their lives. As it was she spoke up and commented on the last couple of horses that needed broke in. "I think they're the best looking ones you have out there."

"We think so." Nick smiled. "That's why we kept workin' on catchin' them. It wasn't easy, but, as you can tell, we did it."

The conversation around the dinner table was kept light, as no one wanted their first dinner to be turned into any fight, big or small. Everything would have been fine except the subjects of their horses came up again and Nick, without thinking, made what would normally be a harmless statement.

"Too bad you didn't come back sooner." Nick's smile grew wide. "We had some other horses that make those horses look like common work horses." The moment he said the words Nick knew he'd made a mistake somehow. If he hadn't, why did Buck look like he was literally in pain all of a sudden?

The room grew instantly quiet due to that same fact, the pained look that had come into Buck's eyes. All wished the statement could be retracted, even if Nick hadn't meant any harm by it. "How could I come back?" Buck stiffened as he laid his utensils down, slid his chair back and stood up as he threw Nick a harsh glare, "I didn't have my degree in my hand!" He turned and stormed out of the room.

"I'm sorry." Jessie shifted in her chair and began to raise, only to be surprised by Nick.

"No, please. This is my fault." Nick stood up and looked at his family, "Let me talk to him. I promise…" He held up his hand when Jarrod began to protest, "I won't yell or throw any punches, not even tiny ones." He then turned and left the room knowing he had to do just that, not yell or throw punches, as he had some fences to mend…and fast.