Coming Home Again
Chapter 1
"Nick! Oh, Nick!"
Nick couldn't help but fly into his mother's arms and grin so widely his dimples took up his entire face. When Victoria pulled away a little and Tom offered his hand to his middle son, Nick took it warmly. "Hello, Father, Mother," he said. "It's good to be home."
Victoria bundled him into the living room, and Tom followed along. "Look at you! Still in uniform! My heavens, you look so grown up and so handsome!"
"He is both," Tom said. "You left here a boy and we were worried, but now you're back, a man. Look at you, you must have grown three inches while you were gone."
Nick sat down on the settee beside his mother. "Not quite. Army food isn't that great." He looked around. "Where are Audra and Gene?"
"In school," Victoria said.
More carefully, Nick asked, "And Jarrod?"
"Not home yet," Tom said. "He had some legal work to attend to in Washington."
"Legal work?" Nick asked. "He hasn't been admitted to the bar yet."
"He's defending someone in a court martial," Tom said. "You don't need to be admitted to a bar to do that."
"One of his men?"
"We don't know," Victoria said. "We don't know how long it will take or when he'll be home – but the war's over, you're both safe."
"And you can quit worrying," Nick said with a wider grin.
"You're going to have to get some new clothes. You've outgrown the ones you left here."
"Gene can have them," Nick said. "I'll go back into town tomorrow to buy some new clothes – work clothes, Father. I intend to jump right back into helping you with this ranch. I've been dreaming about it ever since I left."
Tom grinned. "So have I, son."
XXXXXXX
Nick was settling into his new clothes and into somewhat of a new relationship with his father. Long before he went away, Tom was teaching him about ranching, the basics of how to ride and how to herd cattle, how to take care of horses, how to bail hay. Very basic things.
Now came more of the complicated duties. How to take charge of men working under you. How to understand how much it cost to purchase the necessities and how to actually order them from the suppliers. How to understand the books. He was still very early in that process, and frankly he didn't enjoy it as much as he enjoyed his time out in the sun and fresh air, but he knew he had to learn it.
"You're going to be running this ranch, Nick," his father had said straight out at the dinner table the night he got home from the war.
"But Jarrod – "
"Jarrod will have his duties," Tom said. "He will learn about how to handle our other businesses, like the mines and the shipping business. He will also be handling our legal affairs, of course, so he will have to finish his law schooling and be admitted to the bar. It'll be up to you to help me run this ranch. Someday, it's going to be completely up to you. You need to be prepared."
XXXXX
One day Audra and Eugene came home from school, Audra gushing, Eugene blushing. Audra was 8 and Gene was 7. Audra was full of teasing the only person around here who was younger than she was, and on this day, she had plenty of ammunition.
"We have a new teacher!" she cried as she and Gene came in.
"So I heard when I was in town today," Victoria said. "How do you like Miss Collins?"
"Eugene is in love with her!" Audra teased.
"I am not!" Gene said, turning colors anyway. "I just think she's pretty."
"Very pretty, so I've heard," Victoria said, "but do you like her as a teacher? Do you enjoy her lessons?"
"Yes," Eugene said.
"That's because she let you draw the picture of a tree on the blackboard," Audra said. "It was awful and she told you it was beautiful!"
"You be quiet!" Gene said.
Victoria intervened fast. She had become used to doing that when her two youngest started picking on each other. "You both be quiet, change your clothes and get to your chores. Gene, help Ciego with the chores in the stable, and Audra, you go out to the vegetable garden and see what we can bring in for dinner."
The children scampered off up the stairs. Victoria smiled after them. Her oldest, Jarrod and Nick, were four years apart and less squabbling. By nature, Jarrod felt more like the protector of his younger brother, not a rival in anything when they were only 10 and 6 respectively. Then when Nick was 10 and Jarrod 14, Victoria had her "second brood," as she called them. Her youngest were only one year apart and were always vying to be on top, no matter what the subject.
Then Victoria wondered for a moment. Jarrod wasn't home from the war yet. Jarrod may have still been 22 and older than Nick's 18, but he had only been one rank ahead of Nick in the army – Jarrod a captain, Nick a lieutenant. One rank apart - was that going to be something like the one year apart in her younger children?
XXXXXXX
"Quit worrying about him, Victoria," Tom told her when she brought Jarrod up as they were preparing for bed. "He'll be here when he gets here."
"Court martials can't last as long as this one seems to be lasting," Victoria said.
"Jarrod had duties in the army that we don't know anything about," Tom said. "It's probably just taking him a while to finish up, and the last I heard the last of the confederate armies hadn't surrendered yet anyway. He's a captain. They may be keeping him for reasons he can't even tell us."
"Perhaps," Victoria said.
Tom kissed her on the top of her head as she finished taking her hair down. "Just quit worrying about him. You have three other ones to worry about right here."
"How is Nick doing?"
"Just fine. You know Nick. He's always taken to horses and cattle like they're his best friends."
"And the books and the supervisory chores?"
"He's settling in."
Victoria thought about that word. "Settle. Both he and Jarrod are going to be looking into settling down now."
"Settling down? Jarrod's old enough, but Nick is still only 18."
Victoria gave her husband a smirk. "And how old were you when we met?"
Tom had to laugh. "All right, I was 19. But how about not worrying about more than one thing at a time, darling? And whatever you do, don't go playing matchmaker."
"Oh, I would never do that," Victoria said. "They'd never let me, and I know better. So don't take what I'm about to suggest the wrong way."
"What's that?"
"The new school teacher, Miss Collins. I'd like to have her come to dinner. Audra and Eugene both like her and they're already starting to vie over her for teacher's pet honors. I'd like them to get to know her more, see if we can get them to see her as a human being. Besides, I'd like to get to know her myself. I've put our children in her hands, after all."
"All right," Tom agreed. "Nick and I are going into town tomorrow afternoon. We'll pick up the kids, and I'll deliver your invitation – formal, I assume."
"I'll write one out. How does this Saturday night sound to you?"
"It sounds fine. Now – " Tom ran his hands down Victoria's undone hair, lingering at her shoulders. "Let's put everybody else aside for now and just be you and me, and go to bed."