I do NOT own The Big Valley, nor do I own any of the original Barkley characters. Thanks again to my Beta Reader, for all the time she spent helping me this story.
Against the Crooked Sky
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"You went and lost it! That injury to your shoulder an graze to your head affected your mind somehow! A white man doesn't belong with an Apache woman!" Nick's voice had rang through the air as he flew into a rage after his brother had explained how the marriage came about. He'd finished with, "Leave me alone!" Jarrod sat near the fire staring into the flames, the memory of Nick yelling and storming off towards the river still fresh in his mind. When he heard footsteps approaching, he turned to see Heath making himself a place near the fire pit. Jarrod sighed; at least this brother was still willing to be in the same place as him. After a few minutes of silence, Heath leaned forward, resting his arms on knees while his hands hung downwards. "Give him time, Jarrod. He went from praying like mad you were even alive, grieving when he thought you were dead no thanks to Brian Miller, to learning you were alive, seeing you recovered, only to learn you'd married an Apache woman as well. Well, in the eyes of her people you have. You're talkin' a lot of emotion rolled up all in one, and we both know how well Nick deals with that. He'll come around though."
Jarrod gave him a sad smile as he turned his head slightly. "While I lay fighting for my life, I wondered if I'd be allowed to live to see my family again," he paused and looked up at the stars before looking back at Heath, "I never thought I'd realize, later, that I'd fallen in love with Gentle Wind or that I'd have to face the possibility of having to choose between her and any member of the family." That idea, being forced to choose, made him sicker than finding out Brian Miller turned out to be so rotten or seeing the Apache prisoner staked out. "How do you feel, really feel about this? You didn't say anything; I mean not even one word. Will you accept Gentle Wind into the family?" His head knew what Heath would say, but his heart needed to hear it as well.
Heath thought back to how the family had worked through their feelings when it came to fact that Tom Barkley had fathered a son from another woman, and then welcomed him into the family with open arms. He gave Jarrod a small lop sided grin. "You won't have to choose between us; I don't have anything against her and will do my best to make her feel welcome. However," he said before pausing. He twiddled his thumbs a bit as he entwined his fingers with each other, "There will be those who won't. I think that's where Nick's reactions really stem from, and I think you know that too."
Jarrod went back to looking into the fire. He thought back on all the people he'd met in his travels and the way they had acted. Most were good enough people, but they feared what they did not know or understand. When people let that fear get to them then, yes, persecution was bound to be heaped upon innocent parties. "We've dealt with people's prejudices before. Why should he think this would be any different?"
Heath stood up and took a few steps towards the fire before speaking. He was remembering everything he had been put through while he was growing up. Truth was, he knew better than any of the Barkleys how it was to have people look down upon you and treat you badly because you didn't "fit in". "No, Jarrod. You haven't," Heath held up his hand when Jarrod sat up straight and acted as if he was going to object, "I've been there, Jarrod. You haven't. It's not an easy row to hoe and, if you don't get and keep your facts straight, it can destroy you. To a large degree, Nick is very much aware of this. He's terrified for you, and for Gentle Wind, even if he's not admitting that part yet. What's done is done though," he sat back down and kicked out his legs, "You love her and she loves you. I'll have your back and, given time, you'll have Nick's support too," Heath said as he reached over, picked up a piece of wood, and threw it into the fire, "It will be best if we get started home first thing in the morning. From what you told us about yesterday, I don't think it's a good idea to stay even a day." Jarrod said nothing as he went back thinking about Nick and wondering if his mother, sister and other brother would react the same way.
As soon as Nick had stormed away from Jarrod, Gentle Wind, who had been watching from afar, followed at a distance until Nick sat down by the river. Once he began throwing small pebbles into the river, she made her way to a spot a good twenty feet away and sat down. She watched to see if the man she was calling Sound of Thunder would up and leave; he did not.
She had studied this man from afar for some time. At first she thought he did not approve of the marriage between his brother and her just because she was an Apache. But as she'd watched him, even as he as yelling and saying things that were unrepeatable in her books, she'd been shocked to see the same look of great concern in his eyes that Running Wolf had in his. It was the realization that this man did not hate the Apache, but that he feared greatly for his brother that had given her the courage to come and try to tell the man what was on her mind. "I speak, you listen?" She kept her face towards the river hoping it would make help Jarrod's brother feel more at ease.
Nick's shoulder sagged just a little as he too kept his eyes on the river. If the woman had come to speak to him after all he'd said in a fit of rage, he guessed he could do as she asked. "I'll listen."
Gentle Wind smiled and began speaking. "Many years I hear Running Wolf, my father, others say I Apache, I marry Apache. Many years I think same. I wait, I watch. Good Apache men I meet? Yes. Find love? No. I see other Apache girls marry, I still wait. Time pass, I accept I not find love. I think Great Spirit not want me marry. I think I live life for family, for friends, for others." Gentle Wind grew quiet as she turned her head and actually looked at Nick. She was shocked, but happy, to see Nick actually nodding. It told her he knew how it was to watch and wait. She started speaking again. "Running Wolf, others, bring Paul, your brother to village. Jarrod badly hurt. I tend him. I sit with him all night sometimes."
Nick rested his chin on the top of his folded fists as she talked. He fought a range of emotions as he listened to Gentle Wind relate every detail of his brother's fight to live. He also realized how much compassion this woman had to have in order to do all she had without complaining. Finally, he turned his head and looked at her. The look in her eyes reached through his wall and grabbed hold of him as she finished with, "We laugh, we talk, I find love. He find love." She stood up and looked Nick straight in the eye, "Not good brothers fight. Not good family fight. Jarrod, I married. You my brother now. Not fight, please. It hurt all." She turned and walked away leaving Nick to the night sounds and his own thoughts.
