Chapter One

The noise level in the Barkley home had to be at an all-time high as Silas was in the kitchen; Audra was hanging up decorations, while Victoria was upstairs helping her future daughter-in-law ... a blonde haired twenty-five-year-old woman by the name of Theresa - with last minute details on the wedding dress they were altering. However, any discussion the two women were having ended when Audra poked her head into the room.

"Sorry to bother you," Audra apologized. "Only, I was hoping Theresa would come down to the living room for a few minutes. I want to see what she thinks about the way I've arranged the decorations."

"Go ahead, don't let me stop you." Victoria spoke up when Theresa looked at her as if to ask her if she minded. Once the two young women had left the room, Victoria put down the needle and thread she'd been using and sighed. Truth was, she'd been feeling uneasy all morning and – for the life of her- hadn't been able to figure out why. Nick had finally found a woman who seemed to have the knack of handling his loud and impulsive nature. The two seemed to get along remarkably well. Her mind went back to the first time Nick had met Theresa Brighton. It was easy to remember…as she had been with her son at the time.

Victoria and Nick were just coming out of *Hardy & Son Mercantile when the blonde-haired woman almost plowed Victoria
Barkley down. "Oh, dear, I'm so sorry, ma'am. I was in too much of a hurry. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Victoria graciously accepted the apology.

"What's your name, and why are you in such a hurry for?" Nick eyed the rather beautiful young woman and smiled. With her hair done up in a bun that sat on the back of her head and the dark red dress that fit her very well, she was easy on his eyes.

"Theresa, Theresa Brighton to be exact. I only recently moved to Stockton only the job that was supposed to be waiting for me isn't. Now, I have an appointment for an interview at the jewelry store. They need a clerk and agreed to talk to me."

Victoria thought on how, as usual, Nick had tried having a whirlwind romance only to have Theresa put her foot down. According to Nick, the young woman's exact words were 'If you want to court me slowly, that is fine. If not, you can look elsewhere." 'Everything seems so perfect.' Victoria thought on the courtship-which had lasted barely under a year, and the engagement. "Why am I feeling funny now?" She sighed again and forced herself to look back at the dress. There was absolutely no reason she could see to continue to dwell on something that made no sense. That being the case, she picked up her needle and thread and went back to work.

While Victoria wa busy, Nick was finishing up some business in Stockton, going to join his brothers and some friends at the saloon and planning on being home for supper. Though, why they thought they had to meet again after having his bachelor's party the night before was beyond Victoria. It didn't really matter. Nick would want to time to take Theresa back to Stockton at a leisurely pace. No, if her hot tempered son found himself waiting for them to finish the dress and then had to rush his bride to be back to town, he would be very unhappy.

When it came to Nick, he had tried to hurry and get any business he had to do in town done as quickly as possible. Not only because of his upcoming wedding, but the fall wind was blowing on the cold side at the moment. As he hurried towards the bank-the last stop on his list before heading to the saloon, he thought over the past year…more especially the day he'd asked Theresa to become his wife.

Theresa and Nick stood underneath some of the tallest trees in the north pasture. Nick had just handed her a small box. "If you'll be my wife, it's yours." Nick was smiling nervously, hoping to get the answer he wanted.

"I can't believe it!" Theresa gasped as she opened the small box and saw the sparkling diamond ring. There was one large diamond in the middle with a smaller diamond on each side. "It's beautiful! It had to have cost you a fortune!"

"Don't worry about the cost. It was worth it. You're worth it." Nick had told her.

He might have continued thinking about the past only as he stepped off the boardwalk to cross in front of an alley that that ran between a store and the bank a woman's voice stopped him dead in his tracks. Her voice was coming from behind a stack of crates that set next to the hardware store's outside wall. "Mr. Barkley."

He started to turn towards the crates only to find the unseen woman begging him to make it look as if he was doing anything but talking to her. "Before you ask, thanks to a house fire a few years back, I can NOT be seen in public. I am taking a great risk coming here."

"Why are you? I mean, what do you want me from me?" Nick managed to keep his voice low as he took the papers he had in his coat's inside pocket out and made it look as if he was looking through them. He asked the question unprepared to hear her reply-or the urgency that grew in her voice.

"Because, I fear for your life. Please, I can't explain everything here. Go to the livery stable and get your horse-or your horse and buggy-whatever you used to get to Stockton. There's an old, abandoned, faded blue home five miles east of town, has a partial picket fence around it. The rest of the fence is laying on the ground. I'll meet you there." She paused and then quickly apologized. "I know I'm probably interfering with your plans, and I can give you no reason to trust me. Only, please, just do as I ask." She then excused herself, begging him not to follow.

Nick turned only when he heard footsteps running down the alley way. He had hoped to at least see the back of the woman who had stopped him only the stranger was wearing a long black hooded cape. Her words about a fire rang in his ears. She had to be pretty scarred up. He looked at the bank and then up street at the saloon.

"Because, I fear for your life." His unseen visitor's words rang loudly in Nick's ears. He slid the papers in his hands back into his inside coat pocket and turned around, wasting no time in going to the livery stable or saddling his horse.

*Purely made up store as far as I know. It there was one in the show by that name, I have forgotten it.