Chapter Fourteen

Previously:

"Just go find Bear!" Nick feigned annoyance, though he fooled no one. Soon his brothers and Fen were riding away. As the three men rode away, Mrs. Douglas turned around and went back into the house. That is, after she'd told Carl to get his chores done.

Once they were alone on the porch, Nick smiled at Leah. "You'd think we were school children the way Jarrod looked at us."

"Just Jarrod?" Leah, who hadn't missed the fact that her uncle and Heath's eyes were saying the same thing the Stockton attorney had voiced, laughed even as she spoke.

Nick busted up laughing. Maybe having a badly sprained ankle wasn't so bad after all.

"You think they'll find my father before anyone else does? I mean, your brothers and Uncle Fen." Carl, who was milking the Douglas's cow, asked Nick-who had used the crutches he was using to get to the barn. He was working on fixing a cradle Mrs. Douglas wanted to give to her good friend's daughter. The young woman and her husband were expecting their first child in a few months. Carl then confessed he'd thought about running off himself to try to find his father. "However, I figured he'd tan my hide the minute he laid eyes on me. Then, whatever was left of me, Mother would take care of."

"Well, considering who was acting sheriff at the time you learned what you did, sending for Fen Miller was the best choice you had." Nick smiled at the young man who had already proven to Nick how honest of a young man he was, along with being an extremely hard worker. Though, the Stockton rancher had decided he wasn't the only one who needed lessons in how to be tactful – as more than once the young lad had simply blurted out what he was thinking without thinking about how he should say what he was thinking-or if he should even say anything at all.

"When I told Mother what I just confessed to you, she said the same thing. Well," Carl grinned and added, "She actually said a lot of other things as well, but the bottom line was I'd made the right choice. That being the case, I stuck with my decision to stay here." Then, due to the fact that the barn door was open, and the young man could see Leah snapping beans on the porch, he startled -but not totally surprised, Nick when said, "Leah's a good one- I heard my parents say so before we moved to Modesto. I see the way you look at her. Are you going to court her?"

Nick couldn't help but silently laugh; the boy looked so serious it was downright comical. 'Did you age thirty years and become her father?' That question popped into Nick's head only he wasn't about to voice it to a twelve-year old boy. "I might." Nick replied as he finished the work on the cradle. "You have any objection if I do?" Again, it was all Nick could do to keep a straight face and not to laugh as he asked the question. In fact, he was shocked that he was able to accomplish such a task. Though, in all reality, he failed to keep the sparkle in his eyes from showing.

"No," Carl, who had seen the look in Nick's eyes, quickly replied, embarrassed to admit he knew how he must be coming across. "I.. it's just that…" he stumbled through the words he was saying, trying to find the right ones.

It was too much for Nick and he lost the battle not to laugh. He might have wondered if he'd hurt Carl's feelings by laughing only a grin a mile wide quickly spread over the young man's face-and he'd joined in laughing with Nick. "I must sound more like an overprotective brother than an 'adopted' cousin." Carl flicked his fingers when he said cousin.

"Nothing wrong with that." Nick assured Carl before finishing the cradle and standing up. "It's good that you're concerned enough to watch anyone who might be looking at her." He reached out and took a hold of his crutches that were leaning against a nearby stall before heading towards the open barn door only to find himself chuckling again – as Carl could be heard saying he was keeping his eyes wide open.

Nick was still laughing a little as he drew close to the porch. Naturally, Leah's curiosity was aroused, and she asked him, "And just what is so funny?"

"Your guardian angel back there in the barn." Nick replied as he made his way up to the porch and sat down on 'his' chair. Well, he might not own it only – as much as he used it-Leah, along with Mrs. Douglas and Danny, teased him that it was. He then explained what had just transpired in the barn.

"And here I thought I had no brothers to care one way or the other," Leah shook her head and smiled back at Nick. "I'd thank him for caring only I would probably only embarrass him even more than he is already."

"Probably," Nick agreed…and then asked her if she'd go on a picnic with him when she was through with the beans. "I saw a pretty nice spot a couple miles from here." He gestured towards his left.

Leah hesitated to answer. It had been quite awhile since she'd gone on any kind of date with anyone. Then, again… "Sure, why not. Just don't be surprised if Carl drills you with questions afterwards. For that matter, Mrs. Douglas might too." Not that Mrs. Douglas was the type to go poking her nose into just anyone's business. She wasn't. However, from the moment Leah first met Mrs. Douglas, Leah had known where Carl got his overprotective nature from.

"I'll be on my best behavior." Nick winked at her, something that only served to make Leah shake her head as she went back to snapping beans.