Conspiracies and Unresolved Consequences
Chapter 9
Late Afternoon, Thursday 17th August 1876
"My lawd, Heath, my boy," Hannah came forward and enveloped Heath in her arms. "What you be doing here?" Hannah peered at Heath in the glow of the lamp, "You not sick Heath? Ol' Hannah fix you right up."
Heath gently took hold of Hannah's hands and stopped her from turning back into the cabin. "I'm fine Hannah. I need to talk to you though, ask you some questions about Mama and I brought a friend with me." Heath indicated with a nod of his head to where Audra was standing hesitantly in the doorway behind him.
"My boy got a girl, come in, come in," Hannah beckoned happily. "I needs to prepare a dinner to celebrate."
Heath held on to Hannah, "Hannah she's not my girl, this…"
"Land sakes boy, if she not be your girl, what you be traipsing around the countryside with her for?"
Heath drew in a breath, "Hannah this is Audra Barkley, my…"
"Barkley? I knows a Miz Barkley, you any relation to her?" Hannah peered expectantly at Audra.
Heath and Audra exchanged startled looks before Heath turned back to Hannah. "Hannah, you knew a Mister Barkley, Tom Barkley, remember. He was here a long time ago, with Mama."
"I knows that Heath, I'm not silly. Mister Tom, he be your daddy." Hannah shook her head, "Oh dear, oh dear, I's shouldn't a said that, I's promise your Mama."
Heath guided Hannah over to the small kitchen table and sat her in one of the chairs before he and Audra sat in chairs opposite Hannah. "It's alright Hannah; I know who my father is."
"Oh praise be the lawd, that should never been a secret. Rachel and I, we try telling your Mama no good comes from keeping secrets but Miss Leah, she be a stubborn one when her mind be made up. She was here you know."
"Who Hannah? Mama is dead." Heath replied quietly.
Hannah looked sadly at Heath, "I knows your Mama, my Miss Leah, be gone, Heath, I visits her grave every day and puts flowers on it. Oh, how she loved wild flowers. Do you remember Heath, how happy she was whenever you brought her a bunch?"
"Yes Hannah, Mama loved flowers," Heath agreed.
"You's look like her and him – Mister Tom," Hannah remarked.
"I guess I do Hannah, Mama and Tom Barkley are my parents."
"Not you, Heath boy, I knows you look like your daddy. You be his spitting image. I mean your friend. She looks like her Mama, Miz Barkley and your daddy."
Heath and Audra shared another confused look.
"Hannah what do you mean - you've never met Missus Barkley."
"Have too," Hannah pouted, pushing back the chair and standing up, "I's might be old and sometimes forgetful but I knows what I seen when she come a calling."
Audra shrugged and shook her head at Heath's raised eyebrow. "I have no idea when Mother would have been here Heath, I swear."
"Young ladies shouldn't swear, it's not becoming; does your Mama know you swear? She be a fine lady, fine lady, we's talk for hours but I's not able to tell her what she want to know." Hannah turned her back to Heath and Audra and began humming an old slave song as she pulled pots out from the shelf beside the stove.
Heath rose from the chair with the shake of his head. "I'll bring in the supplies, see to the horses and skin those rabbits. Hannah, I have a brace of rabbits we can have for dinner, it won't take me long to skin and dress them for you. I also brought wild greens and mushrooms."
"You be staying for dinner, you and your friend? I have some wild strawberries, I makes us a pie. You loves my berry pies." Heath smiled, "There's nothing better than your pies Hannah. I won't be long."
Audra rose, "I'll give you a hand with the supplies," and she followed Heath back to the horses. "Heath, I swear I had no idea Mother had ever visited here."
Heath nodded, "More secrets. It must have been around the start of summer. I was here the last week of spring, sold some horses, picked up supplies and came up here. Hannah didn't mention anything about having a visitor then, so it must have been after I left, unless she forgot that your mother had visited." Heath shrugged, "Given Hannah's wandering mind I guess that is a possibility too."
"But why would she come here alone Heath? If Nick or Jarrod had accompanied her, they would have said something."
Heath stared out over the remnants of the mining town. "Hannah said your mother was looking for answers. I hope she didn't badger or upset Hannah. You can see how confused she gets, especially when she is stressed."
"Mother wouldn't do that Heath, I promise. She may not have handled the situation between your mother and father very well but she would never badger or upset an old woman, and especially one with a clearly feeble mind."
"I hope you're right Audra," Heath replied, handing her the sack of coffee and the bags of candies. He took them into the cabin and left them on the table with the flour, sugar and vegetables they had picked before returning to the horses, gathering the reins and leading them around the side of the cabin to the lean-to he had built. After unsaddling the three horse and leaving Audra's horse tied in the lean-to, not sure if he could trust it not to wander off during the night, he let Charger and Gal go free to graze in the treed meadow behind the cabin. He returned to sit on a stump, an old sack over his knees as he skinned and dressed the two rabbits and plucked the pheasant. He took his time as he thought on what Hannah had already unknowingly confirmed in her ramblings. He looked like his father and his father didn't know about him, if what Hannah said was true; his mama had refused to tell his father, preferring to keep his birth a secret. "But why Mama? Why would you make Hannah and Aunt Rachel promise not to tell me or Tom Barkley?" That was the question that ate at him the most. Why she would want to keep him a secret. Was it that she was embarrassed that she had a child out of wedlock. Heath shook his head; he didn't think that was the case. His mama loved him, with all her heart, he was sure of that; despite the extra burden his birth had put on her. He remembered how proudly she would walk down the street, with his hand held tightly in hers as she ignored all the rude comments from the high and mighty, good ladies of the town. Heath snorted, his mama was more a lady than all those old biddies combined. With his work finished and no more answers to his questions, he carried their dinner back to the cabin.
Hannah made a fine meal for the three of them, roasting the rabbits and pheasant, adding the greens and mushrooms Heath had brought along, with potatoes from her vegie patch, fresh biscuits and gravy, and topped off with a wild strawberry pie. While the coffee pot boiled, Heath and Audra insisted on cleaning up and washing the dishes before Hannah and Audra settled on the small sofa that had been Rachel's, in front of the low fire, while Heath straddled one of the chairs.
"You sleep in Mama's room Audra, I'll bed down out here on my bedroll," Heath directed as he stared at the closed door to the room that had been his mama's.
"Heath, I couldn't, I'll be fine on the bedroll or even on this sofa tonight. You should sleep in your mother's room."
Heath shook his head, "I can't Audra, not yet anyway."
"Land sakes children, Miss Audra you take my bed," Hannah nodded towards the bed nestled snuggly against the internal wall of Leah's room, "and I's sleep in Miss Leah's." Hannah looked sheepishly at Heath. "Sometimes, when I feel it, I sleep in Miss Leah's room. I feel close to her there, like she still be with me."
"That's fine Hannah," Heath replied softly. "Hannah, is mama's trunk still in her room - the one you wanted me to go through?"
"Yes chile' it still be there, but what you looking for ain't in it."
"What do you mean Hannah? What do you think I'm looking for?" Heath asked in confusion.
Hannah turned to Audra, "I couldn't answer Miz Barkley's question; that be between Mister Tom and Miss Leah. Your mama she was sad but she understood what she want to know there may be no answer for." Hannah rang her hands together, "I's forgot about the letter that come for Miss Leah, maybe a month or two after Mister Tom leave. Miss Leah, she be so happy to receive it. She read it over and over again till it all creased and stained with her tears. After Miz Barkley done left I remembers the letter, Miss Leah always keep her special memories in her trunk." Hannah wiped away a tear as she looked at Heath. "I looked through her trunk, I knows I shouldn't have but I's needed to find it."
"It's alright Hannah; I came to find the letter too. Silas, the Barkley houseman, told me about it. He actually posted it to Mama for my father."
Hannah studied Heath's face. "You not mad? That be good." Hannah turned back to Audra. "I's can't read so I don't knows if it be what your mama looking for." Hannah rose from the sofa and walked into Leah's room, returning a few moments later with a crumpled envelope in her hand. She hesitated, held out the letter to Heath and then snatched it back, holding it tight against her chest. "I's don't know if this is what you be looking for Heath, maybe it answer your questions, maybe it don't, but I gots no more knowledge than what's I already told you." Hannah tentatively held the envelope out to Heath, who accepted it almost reverently and placed it with a shaking hand on the table before him. Hannah had watched with sad eyes as Heath accepted the envelope before she turned and walked to the closed door of Leah's room. She turned back and studied the two blue-eyed, blond siblings. Audra had risen from the sofa and was now sitting in the chair opposite Heath at the table. "It be good you finds your family Heath, my boy."
Audra and Heath sat in stunned silence, the envelope resting on the table between them. Heath blew out a deep breath and reached for it but stopped before he picked it up again. He could barely believe that what he had come to search for was sitting right in front of him. Would the answers he was seeking be found within that simple piece of paper, or would he be left with more unanswered questions? Heath swallowed hard and glanced at Audra who seemed to be mesmerised by the envelope. "Audra?" Heath queried gently.
Audra turned wet eyes to Heath, "That is Father's hand writing," she replied shakily. "Oh Heath, I hope it answers the questions we all have."
Heath nodded before he reached for the envelope again. This time he picked it up, carefully lifted the flap and removed the yellowing letter from within. Taking another deep breath, he unfolded the missive, and slowly let his eyes wander over the words written by his father for his mama.
Audra watched nervously as Heath read the letter, but she couldn't discern any emotions from her brother's face, not relief, anger, sadness. She felt as though she was looking at a blank canvas rather than her brother.
Heath folded the tattered letter with his mama's tear stains on it, slipped it back into its envelope and after carefully placing the envelope in his shirt pocket, rose from the table and silently left the cabin.
Audra watched her brother leave the cabin. She wiped away a stray tear that trickled down her cheek and even though she had been in the cabin for several hours now, she finally allowed her eyes to really take in her surroundings. This was where Leah Thomson had saved the life of her father. This was where her brother was born and grew up. The wooden floors and walls showed numerous repairs, presumably done by Heath. Several faded rugs were strategically placed around the room: one between the fireplace and the sofa, another under the table and chairs and the third beside Hannah's bed. Clean lace and pink gingham curtains hung from the two windows either side of the door. A small sink and wash stand stood tucked into an alcove of the kitchen, and a paint chipped dresser was squeezed into the space between the alcove and the wood stove. Despite its worn appearance, it was obvious that the cabin was a well-cared for place of love and memories. Audra stood up and walked to the stove where she moved the coffee pot back onto the heat. Turning around she surveyed the room once again. With a guilty conscience she realized it wasn't even as large as her bedroom at home, and yet three people, including her brother, had lived here most of their lives. What must their house at the ranch seem like to Heath? This entire cabin would practically fit in the front foyer. One thing she knew was that she would never take her home for granted again. Hearing the coffee boiling, she took it off the hotplate, retrieved two cups from the dresser and poured coffee into each of them, adding sugar to both, two for herself and one for Heath, remembering that he had added one at dinner time. Picking up both cups, she opened the door. She wasn't sure where Heath had gone but she didn't think he would go too far from Hannah or herself. The light from room cast a soft glow across the stoop and she could just make out the darker form of her brother sitting on the top step of the porch. Closing the door behind her to keep the warmth in the cabin, she ventured across the small porch and offered Heath his cup of coffee. He accepted it with a nod of thanks and shifted across slightly to make room for his sister to sit beside him.
"He didn't know about me, Audra."
Audra tentatively hooked her arm through his and lent against his shoulder. "I'm sorry Heath."
"You got nothing to be sorry about, Audra. At least we know now that he didn't abandon Mama and me on purpose."
"Mother should never have stopped Father from coming back here to check though."
"I suppose not, but Audra your Mother isn't the only one to blame. My mama never told our father about me and I don't know why and now I guess I never will." Heath sighed and thought back to the words that Missus Barkley had written. Your mother chose not tell him of you and you of him, I believe out of fear of losing you to your father who had every right to claim you and bring you to the ranch with or without her. "Perhaps it is as your mother said, Father would have claimed me and taken me away from Mama, and Mama was afraid of that happening, so she kept quiet." Heath chuckled, "It would seem that our father was the innocent party in all of this. The two women he loved unknowingly conspired to keep the truth from him."
"Did he love your mother, Heath? Did he tell her that in the letter?"
Heath pondered his answer, "I think he thought he loved her, did love her, without his memory."
Audra shivered in the cool breeze. "C'mon, it's time we went in. Audra, I know you didn't bring any clothes with you but I would like to stay here tomorrow, do a couple of repair jobs and make sure Hannah is settled after tonight. We can ride into Pinecrest tomorrow morning; it's only a few miles away if you want to buy some things."
Audra giggled, "It was an oversight on my part wasn't it? I might be a girl, Heath, but I'm also a Barkley. If my brothers can trail a herd of cattle across the range for a month or two, I think I can wear the same clothes for a couple of days. I'll just take an extra-long bath when I get home."
"You won't have to wait that long. I'll bring the tub in tomorrow and you can have a bath then, while I'm patching the roof and porch. Hannah will make sure I don't peek."
BV
Friday 18th August 1876
Heath spent the morning repairing the roof and several boards on the porch and filling in under the steps where the rabbits had been digging, while Audra enjoyed a bath in the cabin. Hannah produced one of her scented soaps for Audra that Heath had given her after one of his horse selling trips, and she washed out Audra's blouse and unmentionables, hanging them by the stove to dry while Audra bathed. After finishing the repairs, Heath walked to the potters section of the cemetery where he had buried his mama eight months earlier, stopping to pick some wild flowers along the way. He picked a few stray weeds from the top of the grave and placed his bunch of wild flowers next to the cross he had fashioned for her. "Wild flowers Mama, just for you." Heath squatted down beside the grave, "Well Mama, I guess you know I found out about my father. I don't understand why you kept me a secret, Mama. We could have lived comfortably had you let him know. I have three brothers and a sister; they all seem nice and want to get to know me." Heath smiled, "In fact Audra, my sister came with me. Boy is she stubborn and curious. Missus Barkley recognised me all those months ago when she and Nick stayed at my cabin in the hills. I guess the knowledge of what she did or maybe didn't do weighed on her so heavily that she's now mighty sick but she was the one who told my brothers and sister to come look for me. They don't hold it against me, what their…our father did, not like the good folks of this town did." Heath paused, "Hannah gave me the letter Tom Barkley sent you. She said you took great joy in its words every time you read it. I hope she was right and it did bring you some comfort. I'm going to take the letter with me, Mama, and read it to Missus Barkley. She needs to hear her husband's words too; maybe it will bring her some comfort as well." Heath stood, "I have a lot of thinking to do Mama, about my future. I know you would want me to be happy even if that means living with the Barkleys, but I promise Mama, I will never forget you and will come and visit as often as possible. I love you, Mama." Heath turned away from the grave and slowly made his way back to Hannah's cabin.
Audra was sitting on the porch steps, waiting for his return. She rose from the steps and picked up a wicker basket and a fishing rod as she saw her brother coming up the road.
Heath raised an eyebrow as he drew closer and saw what she was holding. "Do you know how to use that thing?"
"Of course I do silly, but it's not for me, it's for you. Hannah packed us a picnic lunch," Audra lifted the basket and smiled brightly, "And said we should have lunch down by the river and bring back some fish for dinner."
Heath sighed, he knew what Hannah was trying to do, he just wasn't sure if he was ready to take that next step and embrace his new found family just yet.
Audra's smiled faltered, "But we don't have to if you would rather be alone."
"No, its fine Audra, come on, I know just the spot. Mama and I would go there whenever she had some time off." Heath took the basket and rod from Audra and they headed around the side of the cabin, across the meadow and into the trees on the far side. Heath led Audra down to a little beach on the South Fork of the Stanislaus and set the basket on the ground. A rocky ledge jutted out over the river, where numerous floods had washed away the bank, while towering pine trees, festooned with brightly coloured wildflowers at their bases clung to the banks further along its course.
"It's beautiful, Heath," Audra commented as she opened the basket and shook out an old blanket for them to sit on.
Heath nodded, "Mama always liked it here."
While Heath set a line in the river to hopefully catch some trout for dinner, Audra emptied out the basket Hannah had packed for them. The last of the roast rabbit and pheasant sandwiched between slices of buttered, freshly baked bread; a mason jar of lemonade and the last two slices of strawberry pie. After finishing off lunch and repacking the basket, Audra settled down on the blanket while Heath sat on the rock ledge with the finishing line dangling in the deep pool under the ledge.
"Heath?"
"Yes Audra?"
"I was wondering why name a town Strawberry? I mean it's a pretty funny name for a mining town."
Heath chuckled, "Not really, you just ate the reason; this area is named after the wild strawberries that grow here. In fact there is even a ranch called the Strawberry Flat Ranch the other side of town towards Pinecrest."
Heath pulled in his line and dropped another fish beside the three he had already caught. "Guess we best be getting back Audra. I still got a couple of jobs to finish before we leave in the morning." "I don't mind staying another day Heath, if you need extra time."
Heath pushed his hat back. "You mightn't, but I have a feeling your brothers waiting for you at home might have a different view of that idea."
"You're my brother too."
"Yep, and I promised to take you home safe and sound, and that had best be sooner rather than later."
"What are you going to do, Heath? Are you going to stay at the ranch?" Audra asked hopefully.
Heath shrugged, "I don't know yet, Audra." Heath placed the fish in the basket, waited for Audra to fold up the blanket, and then they headed back to the small cabin. They were half way across the meadow when they heard raised voices coming from the cabin. "Stay here, Audra," Heath ordered as he dropped the basket and sprinted across the meadow.
BV
"What you want here, Matt?" Hannah asked nervously as she stood on the porch of the cabin and eyed her two visitors warily.
"Now Hannah," Martha Simmons whined, "we know that good for nothing brat of Leah's is here and he brought some floozy with him."
"Miss Audra ain't no floozy, she be a fine young lady like her mama, Miz Bark…" Hannah stopped speaking and shook her head. "You best be leaving before Heath comes back."
"You were going to say Barkley, weren't you Hannah?" Martha asked gleefully. "Maybe we'll have better luck getting what's owing to us out of that little Missy than we did with that high and mighty queen bee of Stockton."
"I doubt it very much," Heath growled as he came around the corner of the cabin. "You're not going anywhere near my sister, Aunt Martha. Hannah asked you to leave, now get out before I throw you out," Heath ordered as he stepped forward menacingly.
"Matt, do something," Martha screeched, back peddling away from her advancing nephew.
Heath stared down Matt, daring his uncle to try something until Matt turned away, grabbing Martha's arm as he went.
"You snivelling coward, Matt," Martha screeched as Matt dragged her out the picket gate. Martha twisted free of Matt's grip and turned back to glare at Heath and Hannah. "We have a right to get what's owing to us for all we did for you and your harlot of a mother," Martha spat, a sneer appearing on her face as she spied Audra standing wide eyed at the corner of the cabin. "Well, there's no mistaking you're related to the bastard is there Missy? Tom Barkley sure knows how to breed them. You tell your holier than thou Mother, if she's even your real mother, she still owes us."
Heath stepped threateningly off the porch and began a deliberately slow walk towards his aunt. "Leave now while you still can and never, I repeat never, threaten Hannah or my family again because if you do I swear I will hunt you to the ends of the earth. There won't be a hole big enough for you to hide in." Heath stood at the picket fence and watched as Matt and Martha scurried down the road like frightened rats. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and then turned back to where Hannah and Audra were standing, arm in arm on the porch. "I thought I told you to wait in the meadow."
"I…" Audra stared at Heath, "Who were they Heath? They're horrible… and why does Mother owe them something?"
Heath enveloped Hannah and his sister in hug, "That was Martha and Matt Simmons, my aunt and uncle, Mama's brother and his wife. They own the hotel. That's why I told you to stay away from it. As to why they think Missus Barkley owes them money, I have no idea." Heath led the two women back into the cabin, "But perhaps Hannah might be able to tell us." Heath seated them at the table and squatted in front of Hannah. "Hannah?" he prodded gently.
Hannah looked down at her hands, "When Miz Barkley was here, she stop at the hotel for directions to here and spoke to Matt. He and Martha turned up an hour later and demanded Miz Barkley pay them money for looking after you and your mama. Miz Barkley done said her son was always lecturing her to think before she scrawl her name on the bottom of a check and she wanted to thinks about it. Martha she wasn't too happy but then Miz Barkley threaten Martha, saying that if'n anything bad happen to her or me, her sons would come and find them. We didn't see either of them two again."
"Why didn't you tell me Hannah?" Heath asked.
"I's forget and I's not want you to get into trouble over them. They ain't worth it Heath, boy, and your mama she wouldn't want you getting into trouble neither."
Heath stood and kissed the top of Hannah's head, "I won't get into any trouble, I promise. I best go retrieve the basket and fish I caught; then I'll cut you some more wood. We have to leave in the morning, Hannah. Will you be alright when we go?"
"I's an old woman Heath and I's seen many bad things. Martha don't scare me none." Hannah straightened up and looked at Heath.
Heath nodded even though he knew Hannah was only putting on a front. After he took Audra home he would come back and put an end to his aunt's intimidations one way or another. "Stay in the cabin Audra." Heath ordered as he closed the door behind him.
BV
Morning, Saturday 19th August 1876
Heath walked down the steps arm in arm with Hannah. "Now you're sure you'll be alright here Hannah? I'll be back by the end of the week to check on you again."
"There be no need Heath," Hannah patted his arm. "I be fine, besides you done brought me extra supplies, repaired the roof and steps and cut me more wood than I'll be able to use in a year so I'll be good for a couple of months. You need to take some time, spend it with your family."
"You're my family, Hannah." Heath replied giving her a hug.
"I be your chosen family Heath, not your God given one." Hannah nodded towards Audra who was waiting by her horse at the gate. "That be that one you need to make peace with."
"I'll work on it, I promise."
Author's Note
I chose the Strawberry on the Stanislaus river as Heath's home town.
A few old buildings can be seen in the meadow downstream from the Strawberry Inn. Along the side of the road there you will find a stone historical marker which talks about the way Strawberry was named and about the early Sonora and Mono Wagon Road.
The Strawberry Flat Ranch was established in 1853 up the road where Camp Blue is now located. Wild strawberries there gave rise to the name. The former wagon trail up the Stanislaus canyon had operated since 1864 as a toll road (Sonora-Mono Toll Road) and was heavily travelled during the 1870s during the gold strike in Bodie. A number of trading posts and rest stops operated on both sides of Sonora Pass including Sugar Pine, Strawberry, Baker's Station, Leavitt's Station and Big Meadows. There were 14 mines operating in and around Strawberry in the 1850's