Chapter Five

"I'm worried." Audra, who was sitting at the table, next to her mother, looked around the table. Heath and Jarrod had just taken their seats. They looked more than concerned. "He should have been here last night, and now it's been raining off and on. He could be in real trouble someplace." She wasn't saying anything the others didn't already know. She was simply the first one voicing the thought.

Jarrod let out a long sigh and, after glancing at their mother, looked at his sister. "Heath and I have been talking. After we're done here, we're going to back track and see if we can find anything." He wasn't surprised when Audra stiffened.

"I …" she started speaking only to have a knock come at the door. She practically flew out of her chair and out of the dining room. The others were right behind her.

"Fred!" All four Barkleys, who felt as if their hearts had jumped three feet in the air, feared the lawman had brought bad news…especially since he looked so serious. "What is it?"

"Is Nick home?" Fred looked around the foyer and into the living room.

"No, he isn't and he's supposed to be. We were just discussing that issue. Why? Is he supposed to have done something?" Jarrod couldn't see that being the case only, with the sheriff in their house looking for their hot tempered brother, he couldn't help but think that was the case.

"Oh, no, sorry," Fred, who quickly realized what message he was sending, apologized. "It's just that I have a prisoner in town who claims Nick can back up the fact that he-my prisoner-was in a card game with him a couple of days ago."

"What's the man's name and what does he look like?" Heath, who had at least been near Nick when his brother had played poker, asked.

"Hyrum Hillman, black hair, thin black mustache…" Fred started only to have Heath interrupt him.

"So thin he could slide through a closed door," Heath shook his head as he thought on the one, very childish, gambler.

"You were there?" Fred's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Not in the game, just the room." Heath told him. He then apologized and told Fred he was changing subjects. "Nick was supposed to be home yesterday. Any chance, you could ride with us in spite of the fact we may get rained on? Just for a spell- in case,"

Fred, who hated the idea that something could be seriously wrong, nodded. "Only I need Heath to give me a written statement-I mean, saying that he saw Mr. Hillman in the game. Our illustrious new bank teller," Fred's eyes rolled as spoke, "is claiming the man tried to rob him during that time, among other things. For reasons I won't state here, I highly doubted him only I still needed someone to back what Mr. Hillman is saying. I was going to suggest he ask you to represent him, Jarrod, only with Nick missing, I'll suggest he get someone else."

"Please do," Jarrod held the door open, after Fred said he needed to leave if he was going to join them later.

"I'm going to throw a few things together." Jarrod shut the door, turned around and headed for the staircase.

"Me too." Heath quickly followed his oldest brother.

"I wish we could do something." Audra felt as if she was trying to climb an invisible wall-or at least her nerves were. She wanted to know Nick was fine, and that he'd soon be home.

"All we can do for now is wait." Victoria paused and then said as she too headed for the stairs, "Though, there's nothing wrong in us getting prepared to leave…just in case we need too."

Audra wasted no time in joining her mother on the steps, though she made Victoria chuckle when she asked, "We're not telling Heath and Jarrod, are we?" She wasn't surprised when Victoria told her that she-Audra-was absolutely correct. "After all, just because we're preparing to go…there's no guarantee we are."

While Jarrod and Heath were packing, Nick was in the barn saddling Coco. However, he dropped everything when he heard an unearthly noise. 'What on earth?" Nick hurried out of the barn. He was horrified to see that a filthy trapper or mountain man-he wasn't sure which- had grabbed Tabitha. Having no voice, all she could do was make loud noises. Elizabeth, who had exited the cabin just as fast as Nick had left the barn, was equally horrified.

"Let the child go!" Nick, who whipped out his pistol faster than anyone the stranger had seen, bellowed.

The man let out a string of cuss words, let go and took off running the best he could through the snow. Nick would have gone after him only he felt he needed to check on Tabitha first. That being the case, he hurried over to see if the man had hurt her…as did her mother.

"Are you all right?" Elizabeth signed the question that Nick automatically asked, before asking himself why on earth he expected the deaf girl to reply without knowing what he had said.

"Fine, thanks. Mr. Barkley save me." Tabitha signed, and then asked, 'What Old Man Kline doing here?"

"I don't know." Elizabeth signed and then turned her focus onto Nick. "Thank you. That man is crazy. I'm not sure I could have gotten Tabitha away from him." The whole time she was talking, she was fighting to keep herself from shaking, and Tabitha was holding onto her tightly.

"Who is he?" Nick, who didn't like the fact that the man could come back and try again, asked.

"Name's George Kline," Elizabeth spoke with disgust in her voice. "He and my late husband used to be friends…used to be are the three key words. We don't know where or why only that man has been slipping," she tapped her forehead indicating she was talking about mental issues, " for a few years now. After attacking Jason and claiming Tabitha was his, my husband ran him off-told him if he slandered Tabitha's late mother again, he'd kill him. You see, Jason and his late wife didn't even know Mr. Kline while she was living. It wasn't until Tabitha was around a year old that my late husband met the man. He hasn't been around for about fourteen months. I thought he'd left the area." The fact that she felt a huge amount of fear was something she could not hide.

Nick didn't like the idea of leaving Elizabeth and Tabitha alone now, though he couldn't stay either. 'It was Phillip and Marie…' the words the young widow had mentioned came back to his mind. "I can't make you move only, with that man in the area, any chance this Phillip and Marie you spoke of would take you in? At least for awhile?"

Elizabeth, who had been signing everything he said-in order for Tabitha to be included in the conversation-hesitated only to have Tabitha sign to her.

When Elizabeth saw the questioning look in Nick's eyes, she confessed Tabitha was begging her seek refuge with their friends. "They live seven and a half miles from here." She pointed off to her left. "But, with this snow, I fear it will take a whole day to go that far. Tabitha and I will have to leave first thing in the morning. When he gets a chance, Paul could stop by here and get some of the food." He'd have to-she couldn't stomach the thought of the food just sitting there, going to waste.

Thinking of Mr. Kline-and not knowing where he was, Nick spoke up. "If you don't mind the extra company, we can leave in the morning. Afterwards, on my way home, I'll send a telegram to my family explaining my delay. I don't want you have to deal with Mr. Kline on your own—should you run into him again."

For a second Elizabeth hesitated. "You don't even know who I am." Elizabeth said-even as she thought of her decent enough brother in the valley and the one sitting in prison. "Why would you help me?"

"Because I want to," Nick smiled at the beautiful widow. "Please, let me. I promise to be nothing but a gentleman." His smile grew and his dimples were once again very visible.

'Blast those dimples!' Elizabeth thought as Tabitha tugged on her sleeve and begged her to accept Nick's offer.

"I hate to admit only we could use your help in getting to my friends-everything considered." she signed to Tabitha while speaking to Nick. "I'm just sorry we're going to be a burden to you."

"It will be a pleasure helping the two of you, not a burden." Nick assured her as she took Tabitha's hand. Soon the three were inside-Elizabeth and Tabitha packing while Nick kept an eye out the window. That is, after making sure the back door was secured shut.