Chapter 11

Victoria stayed where she was long after the men had ridden out of sight and Audra and Tommy had disappeared into the barn to check on the foal and kittens. There was no doubt in her mind anymore that Heath was Tom's son and a Barkley. The last vestiges of doubt crumbling like so many fragments of a shattered glass as she watched Heath ride, straight and proud from the yard. Sighing inwardly, Victoria returned to the house, pausing in the foyer as she thought about what her next move should be. Deciding that it was high time she 'spoke' to her husband, Victoria pushed open the library door and moved across the room to stand in front of the portrait of her late husband that hung above the mantel of the fireplace. "Well Thomas, what a pickle you and Leah have left for us. I can't blame you entirely Tom but for God sake, surely you should have realized that there was a chance that you may well have sired another child with your affair with Leah Simmons." Victoria moved away from the portrait and sat down on the settee, resigned that this would be another one sided conversation, in a long line of previous one sided conversations she had had since her husband's death. Always in the past, these conversations had helped her to clear her mind and decide on a specific course of action but this time…she shook her head…this time the stakes were much higher. This time her family's welfare was at stake, and not only her family but also Heath's family. "In some ways Tom, I wish you had never sent that letter to Leah, or that Leah had not missed the mail on the twelfth." Victoria sighed. "I know what Leah did when your letter arrived but what about you? What would you have done had you received her letter and discovered you had another child? Would you have told me Tom? You couldn't admit to an affair, yet you clearly had one. So would you have told me you had a child by another woman?"

"Talking to Mister Tom, again, Miz Barkley?" Silas asked as he placed a cup of tea and biscuits on the small table in front of the settee.

"Oh Silas," Victoria panicked, "how much did you hear?"

Silas allowed a soft smile to spread across his face, "I be a young man, when Mister Tom rescued me. I remember as clear as if it were yesterday…" Silas looked up at the portrait of his benefactor staring impassively back at them. "…what a young Mister Tom looked like. I's don't need to hear anything to know that Mister Heath be Mister Tom's boy."

"Is it that obvious Silas?" Victoria asked.

"Yes'm Miz Barkley, it be as plain as the nose on my face to me, but like I say, I's remember young Mister Tom."

"What do I do Silas? How do I tell the children…?"

"They not be children anymore, they be grown adults now, old enough to make up their own minds once the facts are known, even Mister Heath can't deny the truth." Silas paused, "Mister Jarrod, he'll accept Mister Heath right off as soon as he sees the proof, and Miss Audra, well she have a big heart, she already take a shine to young Master Tommy, she be tickled pink to learn he is her nephew. Now Mister Nick, he may take a bit more convincing…" Victoria chuckled lightly "…but once he done thought about it for a while he'll surely come around too."

"And Eugene, Silas?" Victoria asked, enjoying listening to Silas thoughts on her 'children.'

"Master Eugene, he be young, but he have a good heart. He be like Mister Jarrod, he'll look at the facts and the proof and make the right decision."

"Thank you Silas," Victoria smiled, "I believe you may just be right but how do I tell Heath that I know who he is? I just can't go and confront him, tell him I know his secret."

Silas' face crinkled in a grin, "Why you show them the proof Miz Barkley."

Victoria shook her head, "You have mentioned the proof a couple of times Silas, what proof are you talking about? The letters?"

Silas nodded, "those and the pictures."

Victoria stared at Silas. "How do you know about the picture? I only showed Nick the one of Esmeralda before I gave it to Fred." Victoria gasped. What if Fred gave the picture back to Heath? How would he react when he realized somebody had been searching through their belongings?

"I'm not sure what picture you're talking about Miz Barkley but I mean the ones in the attic and..." Silas pulled out a folded piece of paper, "…this one." He said handing the paper to Victoria.

Victoria unfolded the paper and gasped at the small daguerreotype of a young Tom and Silas, standing side by side, Tom's arm over Silas shoulder and each with a smile on their face. Victoria stared at it in wonder for a moment before looking up at Silas.

Silas smiled, "Mister Tom and I were travelling through a town, can't remember which one now and there was a photographer there. Mister Tom insisted we had our picture taken, he said it would be proof that I belonged to him if anybody questioned me. When I first saw Mister Heath, I just know'd he was Mister Tom's boy but I's needed to be sure so I found that picture. I's hadn't looked at it for many a year. Had it tucked away in my Mama's Bible."

Victoria returned the dog eared picture to Silas and rose from the settee. "Thank you Silas. I now have some idea of what I'm going to do, starting with the attic." Victoria eyed the portrait of her husband, "Mark my words Thomas Barkley, our discussion isn't finished."

Silas watched Victoria leave the room and then turned to look up at Tom Barkley as well. "Mister Tom, I have a feeling Miz Barkley isn't going to be the only one wanting to have a few words with you before this is all over."

BV

Nick stepped back, putting some distance between himself and the irate blond with the blue flashing eyes that looked just like…his father's…when Tom Barkley had his dander up.

Jarrod stepped between the two men, shaking his head as Frank and Fred moved forward to flank Heath. "Heath about four weeks ago we started losing cattle to rustlers and not just us. A couple of the other spreads had cattle stolen as well. Not a lot, a dozen here or there. Between all of us there is probably fifty or sixty head missing. Nick, Fred, our hands and the other ranches have been searching since the first rustling but no-one has found hide nor hair of them. The tracks are lost once they get to rocky ground."

"Tracks are there, you just gotta know what to look for." Heath growled.

Jarrod nodded, "Sam, one of our hands found a print from one of the rustlers horses after the first lot of our cattle were taken and he recognised the same print at your camp after your wife and daughter were taken."

"We didn't have any cattle," Heath glared at Nick, "so why raid our camp?"

"We think that they took your wife and daughter to sell over the border Heath," Fred replied. "Your wife is very beautiful and I bet your daughter takes after her too. They'd both sell for a high price in Mexico."

Heath swung around to stare at Fred bemusement, "How…?"

"She sure is a beauty boy," Nick agreed.

Swinging back to Nick and despite his injury Heath moved with lightning speed and let fly with his left fist in a round house punch, packed with all his pent up anger and frustration that sent Nick sprawling in the dirt. "How the hell do ya know what my wife looks like?" Heath demanded. "What else ain't ya tellin me?"

Frank grabbed Heath's good arm and pulled him away from Nick, recognising the blonds growing anger as his vocabulary took on more of a Southern accent. "Easy Heath, fighting between ourselves isn't going to find Essie and Leah."

Fred pulled the daguerreotype from his pocket and handed it to Heath in way of explanation. "Victoria, Mrs Barkley gave this to me. I asked her for it after your father-in-law told us where the picture was. We weren't trying to invade your privacy Heath, but you were unconscious and we needed to know what Esmeralda looked like for the search."

Heath's features paled and he staggered sideways, almost falling save for the steadying hands of Frank and Fred who both grabbed on to him. "Damn," Frank muttered under his breath.

"Are you alright son," Fred asked worriedly.

Heath pulled away from the two men and stalked to his horse, resting his head against the warm neck and taking in a deep breath. She knew, she had known all along, that explained the look in her eyes. Damn you Gyorgy. Heath accepted the canteen thrust into his hands and drank gratefully from it.

"Now's not the time Heath," Frank cautioned. "Think of Essie and Leah. That's all you have to worry about now. The rest can wait until they're safe. I know you're going to say no but I want you to take a small dose of this." Frank held out a small bottle of laudanum. "The doc left it for you. Just enough to take the edge off that pain you're in, and then we will get after your family."

Heath nodded silently, too tired and in too much pain to argue, which raised Frank's eyebrow, swallowed some of the laudanum followed by more water and then handed both back to Frank. In a repeat performance from earlier that morning, Heath gently tugged on the reins and clicked, stepping into the saddle as the stallion dropped to his knees. After regain his feet, Heath wheeled the stallion and sat glaring at his brothers. "Well, are you coming?" Not waiting for a reply Heath nudged the horse forward with his heels.

Jarrod offered his hand to Nick, pulling his brother to his feet. Nick dusted the last of the dirt from his pants with his hat, slapped it back on his head and grabbed the reins of his horse from Duke without acknowledgment. "What the hell was all that about Jarrod?" Nick demanded as he gingerly worked his jaw with a black gloved hand.

"I don't know Nick." Jarrod replied following the blond with his eyes. There was something…he just couldn't put his finger on it. Sighing he let the thought go for the time being, the most important thing at present was finding the missing woman and child. "Just put it down to stress and pain Nick. I can't imagine what it must be like for him at the moment. Not knowing if his wife and daughter are even still alive."

Nick rubbed his jaw, damn but that man could hit hard, even injured. "Yeah I guess I'd be stressed too if it was Mother and Audra we were searching for." He mounted up and followed Jarrod as he moved off to follow Heath. He could hear the hands muttering behind him and he just bet not all of what they were saying had to do with that little trick the boy had just pulled with the stallion. "How the hell did he teach the horse that?" he asked no one in particular.

"Clever isn't it?" Jarrod answered. "I asked Frank the same thing on the way out here after he mounted like that back at the ranch. He said Heath learnt it from some old Modoc Indian years ago. Apparently that trick has come in handy a few times over the years. The horse also knows how to lie down as well. That trick saved Heath's life when they were caught in a sudden snow storm in the mountains. Heath was able to use the horse's body heat to stay warm and I believe Frank said it can also pretend to be lame when required. Lulls people into a false sense of security, letting them think that Heath is just a cowboy with a lame horse so he can get the drop on them."

Nick harrumphed but kept silent as they followed behind the blond. Twice more Heath stopped to check the sign, and each time the stallion performed the same trick allowing Heath to mount without putting any additional strain on his injured body. They reached the bank of the stream that acted as a boundary between the two properties at the apex of Heath's range and everybody dismounted to allow the horses to drink and rest. Hats were dipped into the water and tipped over heads to cool the men in the morning heat. Heath sat away from the Barkley brothers…his brothers…and their men on an old tree stump, squinting into the shimmering haze of heat across the stream and open range. Frank nudged him, handing him a canteen which he acknowledge with a sigh. "She knows Frank. What am I going to do now? How do I face her? Damn that old man. He knew how I felt about tellin them, about breaking Mama's promise."

"Technically nobody has broken that promise Heath. Gyorgy only told Victoria Barkley where the picture of Essie was and you don't know whether she found the two letters or not. You're only guessing at what you think she knows."

"But the letters and the bible were in the chest with the pictures Frank. She had to have seen them."

Frank shrugged, "Even if she did see them, there's no way of knowing if she looked at them or not. Don't go looking for trouble where there may not be any." Frank paused, choosing his words carefully. "Heath, I know you don't want to hear it but I'm glad it's finally starting to come out in the open. Now maybe you can get on and live your life the way it ought to be lived, with your family, all of your family, not just Essie and the twins. Those two youngsters need to know they have more than you and Essie to rely on in times of need. Now they have three uncles, an aunt and another Grandmother to love and be loved by. You no longer have the right to deny them that." Frank squeezed Heath's un-injured shoulder, "Right now you're going to find Essie and Leah. That's all you have to worry about. The rest will work itself out later."

Heath closed his eyes as his thoughts wandered back to the morning and the fleeting look of recognition and guilt he had seen in the grey eyes of Victoria Barkley. She had obviously seen the two pictures, the one of Essie; now back in his possession, Fred Madden having returned it to him and the other of him and Essie on their wedding day. But…maybe she only looked at the two pictures as Frank had said and there was nothing on their picture to say who he was…if she hadn't searched any further than the two daguerreotypes, hadn't seen the bible and…and its secrets then was he imagining he had seen that look of recognition? Heath took another swallow of water from the canteen, but then what was the look of guilt for? He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, this was getting him nowhere and it certainly wasn't going to help him find Essie and Leah. At least Tommy was safe back at the ranch…with his aunt…and his…grandmother. Heath hadn't missed how much his son had taken to Audra or how…his sister…seemed to dote on his son…her nephew. Even Mrs Barkley appeared to enjoy…her grandson…being around. Heath suddenly looked to Frank with narrowed suspicious eyes. "You didn't get me these clothes did ya Frank? That was Mrs Barkley and she got Tommy clothes too. Ya knew before we left the ranch that she had searched our wagon." Heath declared angrily. "Why didn't you tell me this morning when I thanked ya for the clothes?"

"And what were you going to do if I had. Flown off the handle like you just did and what would that have achieved? And besides Jarrod interrupted us before I could tell you, if I was so inclined to do so." Frank watched as Heath pushed himself up from the tree stump and walk away without uttering a word. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, drawing in a deep breath, thankful that the blond hadn't asked if Victoria Barkley had spoken to him about the pictures or the bible. He didn't want to have to lie to the boy but the truth wouldn't achieve anything either, not when they needed Heath focused on finding Essie and Leah. He just hoped that his friend would forgive him for keeping the truth of Victoria's knowledge from him when he finally found out, or more precisely put two and two together. Frank walked back to the group of men who were all mounted and waiting for instructions.

"How far's this canyon Nick?" Heath asked tiredly, hunched in the saddle as he eased his aching shoulder in the sling around his neck. "And how many ways in and out of it are there?"

Nick's eyes narrowed as he studied the posture of the blond. He had to give him his due though. The boy sure was tough as nails and tenacious as a coyote worrying a bone. "Another four or five miles from here, this stream enters it through a crevice in the rock wall, but it isn't wide enough for a man to travel through. This end is boxed in by a sheer rock wall." Nick shrugged, "there are a couple of game trails but you need to be a damn mountain goat to use them. At the far end there is a cave that the stream runs through, coming out under the wall. About a hundred yards to the right of the cave is a narrow opening, wide enough for a wagon to get through or a handful of beeves."

Frank smirked, watching the wheels turn in Heath's head. He hadn't met anybody who could form a plan as quickly as the boy and make it work. This was going to be interesting because he just knew what Heath and ultimately he were going to be doing. Of course he knew he wasn't the only one watching the blond. His two brothers were studying him intently and he just bet they weren't going to be happy with what he came up with.

"How deep is this canyon?" Heath asked.

"Maybe half a mile at the boxed end," Nick replied suspiciously. "Then it starts levelling out to a couple hundred feet at the far end. From memory there is a wide rock shelf about twenty feet above the cave. My guess that would be where they'd camp, if in fact they are even there."

Heath starred out across the range, running and discarding options through his mind as he visualised Nick's description of the canyon. Nodding his head as he finally came to a decision he turned to look at Frank, Fred and his waiting brothers. "This is what we're going to do."

BV

Victoria dusted off the lid of the battered old wedding chest in the corner of the attic. The chest had been a gift from her father when she and Tom had married and decided to make the pilgrimage out west with the other families looking to make their fortunes in the new territories. Lifting the rusted clasp she pushed the lid up, allowing it to rest on the wall of the attic. Reaching inside, she pulled out a small chest, not unlike the one she had found in Heath and Esmeralda's wagon, but not as intricately carved. This one had been a gift from Tom on their wedding day and had been used to store her jewellery and hair brushes on the journey out west. Her fingers traced the lines of the roses carved into the lid of the chest. It had been years since she had opened these chests and certainly not since Tom had died. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the lid revealing the mementoes of years past. Her mother of pearl inlaid brush and comb set, the comb was missing teeth along its length and the back of the brush had bare patches where the nacre had chipped away. They had been gifts from her mother on her thirteenth birthday and long with the hand mirror which had lost half of the mirror when a young Jarrod had accidently knocked it off her bedside table in his excitement to meet his new baby brother Nicholas. Tom had promised to have it repaired but it never happened. Putting the items aside she picked up a small tarnished locket hanging from a broken chain. Another birthday gift, this time from her paternal grandmother. It had been passed down to the first born female of her family for generations but Grandmother Iris only had two sons of which only one survived, her father, so the locket was gifted to her on her eighteenth birthday. She had worn it every day as they crossed the continent to California and then as they set up their house and had their firstborn Jarrod. Victoria laughed softly as she rolled the broken chain between her fingers. Jarrod was certainly a young tearaway. She remembered sitting in the old cane rocker…she glanced around the attic finally spying it partly hidden behind a chest of draws…while feeding Jarrod one evening. As was his want, he would reach up with his little fist and grab hold of a lock of her hair and not let go until his hunger was sated, but that evening he had also grabbed the chain and then remonstrated loudly when she tried to finish his feeding before he was ready. He had wailed loudly and pulled at her hair and the chain, breaking the chain and pulling a few stands of her hair out as well. She sighed, another promised repair that never happened. Putting the small chest aside before she got too lost in the memories she reached into the larger chest again and pulled out a small calico wrapped item.

BV

Esmeralda felt a shiver run through her as the early morning sun that had been warming her back after the night chill suddenly disappeared and a shadow loomed over her instead. She looked up into the sneering face of Blain Walters. "Eat this." He thrust a plate of what looked like hardtack and a canteen of water into her hands. "We'll be heading out just as soon as we round up the cattle."

Esmeralda's emerald green eyes flashed dangerously. "You can't expect us to eat this."

Blain laughed mirthlessly. "Eat it or leave it lady. Your choice but you won't be getting anything else today." He spun on his heel and stomped away not bothering to wait for a reply.

"Mama, I'm hungry," Leah announced looking hopefully at the biscuits on the plate. "When is Papa going to find us?"

Esmeralda smiled at her daughter, gathering the young girl into her arms. "Soon sweetheart, Papa will come soon; I hope" she added the last silently. "In the meantime…" she poured some water over the biscuits to soften them; at least they weren't mouldy or infested with weevils she thought, "You need to eat some of this."