Note: This story features Hannah. I tried to capture how she sounded to me on the show, trying to use her speech patterns and filling in with my imagination. I do not mean any offense by this, or by anything not sensitive enough for today's environment. When I write BV fan fiction, I am firmly in the 1870s in my mind.
Chapter 1"Are you sure you want to do this, Mother?"
Jarrod wasn't sure that heading back to Strawberry was a good idea. He did know for sure, though, that it would be far better if she went with him than either Nick or Heath; none of them wanted her ever going by herself again. Mother had been right not to tell Heath about his aunt and uncle's threat until they were well out of there, that time she had gone off without telling anyone, and Heath had guessed where and found her just in time.
The same day they had seen Father's statue being erected in town, the day Heath had balked at wearing their father's boots, but had come home from his and Mother's mysterious trip with them on. He and Mother seemed to have connected even more. Mother said Heath had been relatively calm on their way home, just asking why she hadn't told him about what Matt and his wife had done. But Heath had had a wilder look in his eyes when he was home, just talking with Nick and Jarrod.
"I oughta go back there and tear him apart limb from limb," Heath had said, his teeth clenched. Jarrod and Nick had seen he was livid.
"I'll help you," Nick said gleefully.
"Would neither of you do that?" Jarrod pleaded. "Please?"
"Why not?" asked Nick.
"Because we really don't need either or both of you arrested for assault. Or murder if something goes wrong."
Heath heaved a sigh of disgust, but said, "All right, Jarrod. I promise. You're right. Right now I feel like strangling him."
Nick had grudgingly agreed as well. "Same for me if Heath does," he said.
"As bad as Matt is, that witch he married is even worse," Heath told them. "My uncle was kinda different when he wasn't around her. When I was a little boy, he was nice to me sometimes when she wasn't around."
Jarrod was surprised. He had never heard Heath ever disparage any woman. It wasn't his way. This woman must truly be a piece of work if his brother felt that way.
"Heath," he said, thinking of something. "Do you think your uncle and aunt always knew who your father was?"
Heath looked like he was trying to rein himself in. Maybe he shouldn't have asked, Jarrod thought. But Heath answered flatly, "Jarrod, it seems everybody knew except me."
"What do you mean, Heath?"
"When my mama died, and she had just been trying to tell me who my father was, and I was standing there not even believing she was gone, hardly believing myself what she had just told me…" He paused and took a deep breath. "I looked at Aunt Rachel and Hannah, and I saw that they knew. They knew all along. I guess Matt and Martha did too." He looked at Jarrod. "Why did you want to know?"
"With the way Matt and Martha seemed to demand money from Mother, I was just thinking it was surprising that they had never tried to extort money, possibly while Father was still alive."
Heath looked at him for a moment, surprised at first, then considering this. "Yeah, I wonder why they didn't," he said, a faraway look in his eyes. Jarrod and Nick could tell he was thinking. "Here's my guess, Jarrod. One thing I know for sure, she did not want that to happen. I would bet any amount of money that Matt tried to get her to do it, probably because Martha pushed him to it."
He was still thinking. "My mama was a smart woman. Maybe not in the way that would have protected her or kept her safe. I think she was too sheltered growing up, and that's what made her so naïve." He looked lost in thought. "The reality of having me brought her out of that. She learned the hard way. Those lessons stick." He paused. Jarrod waited, hoping he would go on.
"But she was very book-smart. She said her father educated her just as much as if she had been a boy, let her use his library all she wanted. She knew all kinds of stuff. She brought as many of those books as she could when she was sent out here. All those books in that little house." He shook his head, remembering finally appreciating them.
He was lost in a memory somewhere. Jarrod watched with fascination. He loved when he learned something new about his youngest brother. Even Nick looked curious, he noted. Heath returned his attention to the matter they had been discussing.
"She was smarter than Matt. She would have told him something that would have made him not try it. I'd bet that she told him if he did, she'd deny it, and would name someone else. That's the only thing that would have stopped Martha, thinking it wouldn't work, and that maybe someone as powerful as Tom Barkley would come after her." He gave a snort of disgust. "Martha has a very keen sense of self-preservation, along with her sense of entitlement."
Nick stared at him. Heath sounded like Jarrod just then, with all those big words. Those two were far more alike than he had realized at first. He had realized quickly enough that he and Heath, while very similar in their physical abilities, were very different from each other. This was one more way that Heath was more like Jarrod.
"Of course, I don't know any of that for sure. But that's what I'd guess," Heath finished.
"I think that's a pretty good guess, Heath," Jarrod said. It made perfect sense. The boy was not only keenly observant, he understood people exceptionally well, and Jarrod realized more every day, every time he and Heath spoke, how very intelligent he was. He felt a pang. Would Heath have gone to university like he had if he'd grown up with them?
He thought it was a distinct possibility, but Heath would have told him he would never have wasted that kind of time and money. He could learn whatever he wanted from a book. He loved being outdoors, and he wouldn't spend that kind of time inside during the day. Heath privately thought that it would be awful to be in an office all day. He had visited Jarrod's office in town several times, gotten interested in his books, but he was certainly not wishing to be there every day. Jarrod would have smiled at this explanation.
Mother had shared a bit with him about her visit to Strawberry one evening not long after that day, one night when they were still up, unable to sleep, Heath and Nick long since having gone to bed. "I see now why Leah kept Heath away from them. I always wondered that."
Jarrod wondered when his mother had started thinking of Heath's mother by her Christian name, as Leah, but he didn't ask. "I wondered too why the only family she had didn't help her," Jarrod said. "What you found out explains a lot."
"I want to know more, Jarrod," she said, looking pensive.
"But how?" asked Jarrod.
"Hannah, the former slave who was good friends with Heath's mother, still lives there. She helped raise Heath. She was the one who gave me the letter from your father, the one he wrote to Leah. She clearly adores Heath. How he was doing was the first question she asked. She seemed thrilled when I told her he was doing well."
"You think she can tell you more?"
"I think she can," Mother replied. "Jarrod, she was so afraid that day I was there. She was terrified of Matt and Martha. Maybe she would talk more if she felt safer."
"And let me guess. You want to go to Strawberry to do just that."
When they pulled up into the nearly deserted town, Jarrod felt a chill, despite the warmth of the day. So much had happened here. So many ghosts from the past remained. His heart sank seeing the shabby little house. This was where Heath had grown up. His brother possibly had some happy memories here, but he knew there were also painful ones. And no wonder Heath sometimes seemed to feel out of place in their house.
But as he helped Mother down from the buggy and looked around, he saw that someone had cared for the place. Someone had come and fixed things from time to time. Nothing was seriously amiss despite the age and run-down look of the place. Jarrod felt sure Heath had been doing this.
They knocked on the door. "Who it be?" a voice called.
"Hannah, it's Victoria Barkley, and my son Jarrod, Heath's brother."
The door opened. "Miz Barkley, why you here?" Hannah looked surprised. "Hello Mr. Barkley," she said, then looking at Jarrod. "What can I do for y'all?"
"May we come in, Hannah?" Jarrod asked gently.
"Heath all right?" Hannah asked, alarmed.
"Oh, he's fine," Jarrod said. "That's not why we're here. He and Nick are out on roundup right now."
Hannah looked relieved.
"Of course, Mr. Barkley, come in. Right this way, sir. Y'all can sit right here."
Jarrod was going to put a stop to that formality. He gave Hannah his most charming smile, and he looked at her with eyes that he hoped she would find kind, and similar to Heath's.
"Now, Hannah," Jarrod said, "I already feel like I know you, from all Heath has told me. I know you don't know me, but it's awfully hard for me to hear you call me Mr. Barkley when you call my little brother by his first name. Would you be so kind as to call me Jarrod?"
"I reckon so," she said doubtfully. She looked at him again. "Did you say Heath your little brother? You call him that?"
"I do," Jarrod said, smiling. "Sometimes even directly to him."
"He like it, or he roll his eyes at you?"
Jarrod laughed. "A little of both. It depends on his mood and what we're doing."
"You and he does stuff together?"
"All the time," Jarrod replied. "Heath spends more time with our brother Nick, because they work the ranch together. I'm a lawyer, so I'm in my office during the day. But in the evenings, Heath and I often play chess or checkers. I like spending time with him, even though he usually cleans me out if we play poker."
Hannah laughed with glee. "That boy so smart with a deck of cards," she said. "Ever since he was just a little mite, hardly that big," she said, gesturing with her hand. "Miss Leah let him play with the cards to keep him outta our hair for a few minutes when he little. She make him tell her the numbers. He hardly even three years old and he countin' them up."
Victoria smiled at this image of Heath as a very little boy. It didn't surprise her. She hoped Hannah would tell them more.
"That's why he so good at poker." She laughed. "When Heath maybe sixteen or so, the man kept the saloon told Miss Leah that if Heath don't find other work, he could be somethin' called a professional gambler. He laughin', but Miss Leah don't think it's funny."
Jarrod chuckled. Somehow, he could see this in his mind. Heath had an excellent poker face. Jarrod had seen he didn't have a tell. And he was a great strategist. Heath always thought several steps ahead, just as their father had.
He said, "Hannah, when my mother was here before, you told her you were frightened of Matt and Martha, of what they did to Rachel. We want to be sure you're safe. How can we help?"
"Oh, I ain't scared o' them no more," Hannah said, chuckling.
"What happened?" Jarrod wondered.
"One day real soon after your mama was here, Heath come riding that bay horse into town like he some kinda racehorse. I saw him, and I wonder why he runnin' in to the hotel like that. I hear him hollerin' for Matt. Now, that boy riled up enough to holler at someone, it ain't good to mess with him. He madder than a nest o' hornets. I ran along home, then he come up on that horse at a full gallop and he leaps off that horse's back like it weren't nothin."
Jarrod had seen Heath do this. He knew exactly what she meant. "Go on," he said, wondering what his brother had done.
"He told me what he tell Matt. He say to Matt if he ever bother Miz Barkley or anybody in his family ever again, or he come near me, he gonna break every bone in Matt's body. Matt know he big and strong enough to do it, too, and that just might make him mad enough, him messin' with you.
While that boy's got breath in his body, he ain't gonna let nothin' happen. Then he told Martha that he and Mrs. Barkley knew that they had killed Rachel, that he thought the Stockton sheriff might be very interested, and he'd bet his bottom dollar that they believe Mrs. Barkley over her. She tell Heath he can't prove nothin.'"
Hannah smiled and chuckled to herself. "That was a real bad idea, her tellin' him that," she said. "That boy get a real wild look in his eye just tellin' me about it. He tell me that he had to make certain she wouldn't ever do nothin' to you again. I mean you, Miz Barkley. My boy ain't no killer, but he might just lose his mind if harm come to you 'cause of Matt and Martha.
So he tell Martha that if she got any ideas about any more accidents in mine shafts, she might find out what the bottom of one looks like, because she might have one herself. He scare the bejeebers outta her."
Hannah laughed. "That lady white as a sheet. She ain't gonna mess with no one no more. Heath come tell me all that, I told him I know good and well he never do that, he might whup Matt but he wouldn't push Martha down no mine shaft. He said she don't know that, though. She don't know him like I do.
He say to let her be scared so she don't start up no trouble. Heath say a killer like her deserve to be scared. So now I ain't scared of them none. They plenty scared of him." Hannah chuckled to herself again. "He kiss me on the cheek and told me he gotta go, his brother Nick needed him doin' somethin' on the ranch, but he had to take care of this. Then he leapt on that horse's back like it weren't nothin, and gallops on outta here."
Jarrod and Victoria exchanged glances. Heath had said nothing about this, but it didn't really surprise them.
"I'm glad you feel safer, Hannah," Jarrod said.
"That's my boy for you."
"Hannah, Jarrod and I would love it if you tell us more about Heath when he was growing up," Victoria said. "He's really become part of our family now. We all love him very much. I hope you don't mind, but I asked him to call me Mother, just like his brothers and sister do."
A smile lit up Hannah's face. "Oh, Miz Barkley, I don't mind a bit. It make that boy so happy. Means the world to him. He couldn't hardly believe it. He think you the nicest lady in the whole world." Heath had obviously been back to visit Hannah. Jarrod could also see some supplies stacked up. He was sure Heath had put them there.
"He's a wonderful young man," Victoria replied. "His father never had the opportunity to know him. I wish he had. He would have been so proud of Heath, and he would have loved him very much. I told Heath that I can't help but think of any boy of his as my boy, too."
"God bless you, Miz Barkley," Hannah said with feeling. "You got such a good heart."
"So does your boy," she replied, smiling, knowing Hannah thought of him that way.
"He sho' do, Miz Barkley. The very best. That boy always had a heart of gold, even though sometimes he give his mama a hard time, and sometimes he get real sassy."
Jarrod laughed heartily at that. Victoria smiled too. This surprised neither of them, even though the Heath they knew was quiet. They knew that he had it in him.
"You've known Heath since he was born, haven't you?"
"I sho have. I helped learn his mama how to take care of a baby. Miss Leah know nothin' bout babies. Never even held one. And she knew nothin' 'bout boys. Me and Miss Rachel, we had to learn her so much."
Hannah rocked in her chair. "I told Miss Leah he was the purtiest baby I ever seen, and I weren't lyin'. I minded lots of babies back in Alabama. He a tiny one, though. Hardly five pounds. Dr. Jeffries say he early, but he all right. He tiny but he strong. Had that purty light blond hair the day he was born. I swaddled him up and Miss Leah just put him to sleep right in the bed with her. She hadn't gotten nothin' ready for a baby."
"I'm sure he was a beautiful baby," Victoria said. How she wished he'd been hers.
"Miss Leah just couldn't give him up," Hannah said.