"We need to talk, Nick, let's go into the other room." Victoria took him by the arm and turned him away from the kitchen, allowed his momentum to carry them both into the sitting room.

"So what are we talking about?" he asked, a big smile on his face as he led his mother to a chair, "and where has big brother been all day?"

"That's what I want to talk to you about. I have a story to tell you both and I hope you will do me the courtesy of listening to the whole thing before you start… disagreeing with my tale." Victoria smiled at Nick a bit sadly. This was going to be so hard for him. Audra would view it as a romantic tale but Nick would see it as an attack on his father.

The story was not long in the telling. She told them about the hard times, the dead baby, the anger and Tom's trip to Strawberry, about his return and the happy times that followed.

As she spoke, Nick became increasingly agitated, no longer able to stand at the mantle, he began pacing the room, trying to stay true to her request for silence. When she said the fateful words, when she said she thought that boy upstairs was Tom's son, a son born of that trip to Strawberry, he could remain silent no longer. "NO, NO, NO."

"Nick, let me finish."

"NO, I WON'T HEAR THIS. ITS NOT TRUE."

"YOU WILL. You will let me speak," and he did. She could see the anger and the control it took him to stand and listen, but he stood and he heard her. She told them about the coin and finding it in the boy's pocket.

She didn't tell them about her conversation with Heath in the bedroom earlier that day. She had told Jarrod, but as a shared moment of wonder, not as proof of something. She cherished the memory of those few moments they'd shared, and the joy at her recognition of the boy. She didn't want to use that joy she had felt to try and prove something to Nick. She wanted to hold it close, so she could remember it and again feel the warmth and connection she had to that boy and to Tom.

"All RIGHT, I LISTENED. I HEARD YOU TRY AND TELL ME THAT BOY UP THERE IS… THAT OUR FATHER…"

"Nick, just stop and lower your voice. We are all in the same room here." Victoria held her hands up to Nick with a sternness she couldn't usually muster in dealing with his loudness. "And I'm not finished yet. Jarrod has something to say."

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING?"

"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm telling you to stop yelling and listen to Jarrod." She had known this was going to be difficult, but she wanted all of the information out before she argued with Nick. She didn't want to have the same argument over each piece of information. She had been arguing with Nick for almost thirty years and she knew the quickest way through this was to have the argument once.

Jarrod waited until Nick, still fuming, had poured a drink and walked over to stand in front of the empty fireplace with his glass. Nick took a swallow of the whiskey and raised his glass for Jarrod to proceed.

Jarrod told of his conversation with Rachel Caulfield and of later speaking with Hannah. He finished by simply saying that for his part, he was convinced that the boy upstairs was his brother, Tom Barkley's son.

"WELL I'M NOT CONVINCED… SOME WHORE IN SOME MINING TOWN FINDS FATHER'S LUCKY COIN AND TELLS A FRIEND SHE'S SLEPT WITH TOM BARKLEY AND HER GET IS HIS BASTARD AND WE GIVE HIM THE RANCH."

Victoria closed her eyes and sighed softly; this was going to be a long evening.

The argument flowed back and forth for an hour. Audra, not unexpectedly, was excited about a new brother. She loved Nick and loved the dramatics, but at heart was a romantic and Victoria had known that she would love the idea of the lost son's discovery. She had a sweet heart and would readily take in any lost soul; this boy was easy to like and she'd known Audra was already half under his spell after her rescue in Stockton.

Nick ranted and raged and fumed. He defended his father and ranted against the boy. He would not be persuaded. Worn down, Victoria sighed, "the three of us are convinced he is a Barkley. Who do you think he is? What would you have us do, Nick?"

Nick didn't have Jarrod's education. He had reluctantly ignored his way through as much schooling as Tom and she had insisted he attend, his heart and mind already with the ranch, but he was no fool. The same sharp wits that made Jarrod such a good lawyer resided in Nick as well. He was not slow with an answer.

"I have no doubt he's someone's bastard, I just don't think he's Father's. He may even have been told by his mother that he's a Barkley but I have more faith in Father than I do in that boy's mother. Father would never leave a son to grow up alone in some mining camp. I think she found a lucky coin and told that boy a story. I don't argue that boy has done us a good turn. He took care of Audra when she was making an exhibition of herself in Stockton and I think he may have saved Jarrod's life at Sample's. I say we give him a reward and get him a train ticket out of the valley." Nick crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels, surveying the rest of the family, satisfied that they couldn't really refute his argument with their evidence.

This pronouncement managed to dissatisfy everyone. Audra was now angry with Nick, the only one who might have supported him. Victoria told him in no uncertain language that if he used that word in her house again he could go live somewhere else. Jarrod simply pointed out that a decision about the boy would find Nick out voted.

The arguing continued for another hour with Nick moved not an inch in his position. In the end, Victoria had simply said he was out voted. It was her house and she would ask whomever she chose to live in it. She chose to have this son of Tom's live in her house. So far as his share of the estate, that was a decision for all of the shareholders. There were four and Nick was out voted.

"I will speak to him in the morning. I will tell him what I believe, what Jarrod has learned and ask him if he will stay here and live with us as Tom's son." She looked directly at Nick, "and as your brother."

"NOW SEE HERE. IF YOU GET TO CHOSE WHO LIVES IN YOUR HOUSE, HAVE I NO SAY IN WHO I TREAT AS A BROTHER?"

"I would say not, Nick, a brother is a position you're born into, you don't get any say in your relations." Jarrod smiled at his brother just a tad triumphantly.

"AND WHAT IS THIS NEW BROTHER GOING TO DO? WORK ON THE RANCH? WITH ME?"

This obvious fact was met with silence.

"Is there nothing that we can do to convince you, Nick?" Victoria tried one more time.

Give Nick his due, he stopped to think about his answer. "No, Mother, I don't think there is. I just don't believe Father would do this. Short of his coming back from the grave and telling me otherwise, I just can't see anything changing my mind." He looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry. I just don't believe it."

She walked over to him and took his arm, pulled his head down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Nicholas Barkley." She smiled sadly.

"Let us leave it at this for the time being. I'm going to ask him to stay. If he agrees to stay, we will see if we can find a way he and Nick can work together. Please, Nick, can you do that?" She kept hold of his arm as she spoke, directing all of her words at this so strong, so stubborn son.

"I don't think I have any choice," he said begrudgingly. "Please try and see my point of view. I think he's either deluded or a con man. I think we're starting down a road paved in pain for no good reason."

"Enough. I'm going to bed." Victoria gave Nick's arm a shake and then turned and headed up the stairs, followed by the other three. It was late and they were all tired, tired of arguing, tired of an emotional ride none of them had believed possible.