Chapter Four

Previously:

It didn't take a genius to figure out the woman didn't want anyone who happened to travel by to have any inkling anyone was in the home. Though, with the time of the year it was, he would think the smoke…his thoughts stopped abruptly as he realized he could smell nothing. He looked up at the chimney and was astounded to see no smoke. 'I must be crazy." Nick thought as he led Coco to the barn…which was also showing its age rather well.

Victoria stood in the living room looking at Heath. The blonde- haired cowboy had been back on the ranch for quite a while only he'd just entered the house. She herself had only just returned from the orphanage. "He didn't tell anyone where he was going?

"

"No, but-as Jarrod said-with a witness stating our dear brother intends to be home for supper, there's no sense to go searching for him. He should be home soon." Heath then excused himself-as he needed to finish some work.

"I hope he's not going to change his mind." Theresa sat down on the sofa, looking quite worried.

"He won't." Victoria walked over and sat down next to her future daughter-in-law. "He's worshiped the ground you walk on from day one." Even as she spoke the words, Victoria remembered the uneasy feeling she'd had earlier that day. She found herself worrying it meant something after all. Naturally, she did not disclose that to the young woman Nick had asked to be his wife. No, she didn't want to worry Theresa any more than she already was. When the door began to open, the two women sat up even straighter-hoping it was Nick arriving home. They were disappointed when it was Jarrod who walked in instead.

Upon seeing the women's reaction to his entrance, Jarrod frowned slightly. "He's not home yet?"

"No, it's going to be dark soon." Theresa looked towards the window -even though she couldn't see out it from where she was sitting.

While he was greatly concerned, supper wasn't for another hour. Even then … "If he's late getting back tonight, he can explain himself. If he's not back by morning, Heath and I will start looking…along with any man we can get to help." He assured his mother and Nick's fiancée before saying he needed to go to his study.

Once her oldest disappeared down the hallway, Victoria found herself thinking about the past. She couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Theresa couldn't help but asking a bit confused.

"This actually reminds me a bit of my own experience with Tom." Victoria told her -all the time hoping history was simply repeating itself. "I didn't know he'd secured this land; we had planned to live in town for a short while. Oh, neither one of us really liked that only we had no other place to live. Anyway, at the last minute he had a chance to meet with the gentleman that owned this land. Come to find out, Tom had caught wind that the man might be selling the ranch. Well, the portion that existed at the time. Tom was meeting him instead of arriving at my sister's home as he was supposed to." She wasn't surprised when Theresa's one eyebrow rose slightly. "Clare moved out to California with us at first. Later, she met her husband and moved to Colorado with him. Anyway, he didn't show up to my sister's until after supper. I was furious with him—until he told me we could start out marriage on this land instead of living in Stockton."

"You think Nick has something up his sleeve too?" Theresa asked, her eyes saying she hoped that was the case.

"I think he best have a good explanation when arrives home." Victoria smiled at Theresa, though neither one had a chance to say another word before the door was opening again. They held their breath only to see Audra returning home. The only Barkley daughter had been out on a date.

Audra could easily see that mother was concerned about something-and Theresa seemed rather uneasy as well. "What's wrong?"

Theresa didn't hesitate to explain. By the time she was finished, Jarrod was again standing in the living room- as Theresa had very unintentionally raised the volume of her voice while explaining-though she wasn't yelling.

Worry leapt into Audra's eyes. "Carl and I saw no one on our way home." At the time she had been more than thankful for the uninterrupted ride home. Now, she wished that hadn't been the case.

"As I told you before, there's no sense in working ourselves up at the moment. After all, the only thing we can justify is being annoyed at him for taking off without telling someone where he was going." Though, he added the silent thought 'Though 'being annoyed' may be an understatement'.

"I'm going to change before supper." Audra turned around and left the room.

While Jarrod was talking with his mother and Theresa, Heath was talking to McColl and Barrett.

"I don't like this." Barrett looked at McColl and Heath. "In spite of what I was joking around about in the saloon, I don't think Nick is having second thoughts. What if something is seriously wrong?"

Neither Heath nor McColl said anything at first, knowing they felt the same way. Finally, Heath shrugged his shoulders. I don't like his taking off the way he did only I don't see where we have a choice but to wait." He looked up at the sky. The sun had set, though it wasn't pitch dark yet. "It's like Jarrod…" His sentence was interrupted when the three men heard a wagon approaching. They turned their heads and were shocked to see Sheriff Madden driving the wagon while Nick was sitting in the back talking to one Jedediah Miller…a fairly new rancher in the area.

"What happened?" Heath asked as he hurried over to wagon which was now parked in the yard; McColl and Barrett were right behind him.

"My horse was spooked just outside Jedediah's ranch. Broke my leg," Nick pointed to his leg that lay immobile and *restrained by splints and bandages. "Jedediah found me, doctored me up. Fred happened to be visiting him so…" Nick smiled. "Here I am." He looked at McColl and Barrett and asked them to go back to the bunkhouse. "Please, tell the others I'm sorry I had to miss the party." The two men agreed and left. Nick then surprised Heath by asking if Jarrod was home.

The blonde-haired cowboy was confused. He thought for sure his injured brother would have asked for Theresa first, since Nick knew full well the bride to be was in their home today. "Yeah, he is. What's wrong?"

Instead of answering his question, Nick asked Heath to help Jedediah get him, Nick, out of the wagon. "Sorry for being a bother, Fred." Nick said once Jedediah and Heath had him the hot tempered rancher out of the wagon.

"No problem." Fred smiled, promising Jedediah he'd wait for him.

Heath wanted to press Nick to tell him what was going on…and there was something going on. He had known that the minute Nick inquired about Jarrod instead of Theresa. However, with Jedediah-who loved to talk almost as much as anyone Heath knew, the blonde-haired cowboy decided against it. He would simply have to wait; though, he couldn't help but think 'So much for having a wedding tomorrow. I bet you ten to one that's one event that's being postponed.'

*A/N My research on broken bones and casts in the nineteenth century said, basically, casts as we know them did not exist. Surgery was actually very common-and very painful-during that time. However, since this is fiction and "Barkleyland"…I'm going with simply making the leg so it can't move.