I do NOT own The Big Valley or any of the original Barkley characters.

Blindsided

Chapter Eight

Victoria stood in front of the fireplace as she gazed at the picture in her hand. She'd been standing and holding it for a good twenty minutes. "Audra, where are you?" she whispered.

"They'll find her, Mrs. Barkley," Silas spoke up as he walked into the room with some flowers she'd asked for and put them in the empty vase on the table. "You'll see. They'll find Miss Audra." He hoped so anyway. It wasn't the same around the house without her. After two and a half weeks of searching the ranch and outlying areas, the boys had had no choice but to start sending out telegrams and going on with their lives. Nick was ornerier than ever, Heath ten times quieter than he already was and Jarrod seemed to either live in his study or office.

"I keep telling myself that," Victoria replied as she held the picture close, "but why did Audra have to up and disappear? What's happened? Is she alive or what? The questions won't stay away and then I feel horrible when I find myself thinking finding out she was dead would be easier than not knowing anything. She's got to be alive; she's got to come home." She looked at the picture again.

Silas started shaking his head. "No, Mrs. Barkley, Miss Audra got spunk, she's a good one. You see, she'll be back. You just wait and see." He knew it; he didn't know how, but he knew it. He wanted desperately for the grand lady before him to know it too.

"Of course she will," Jarrod said as he walked in the door and up to his mother. Wrapping his arm around Victoria, he gave her a hug. "She'll be home, sooner or later."

"Have you heard anything at all?" Victoria knew her son had been sending telegrams to every contact that he had in an effort to find his missing sister.

Jarrod didn't answer at first. He knew how his mother would feel when he answered her; he felt the same way already. He let go of his mother and replied slowly, "There's a few leads being checked out. We just have to hold onto hope."

Leads. It was a word Victoria had learned to hate in a short period of time. She didn't want leads, she wanted answers and she wanted her daughter back! She whirled around and hurried out of the room.

"What else do you know, Mister Jarrod?" Silas looked at Jarrod, there was something else bothering the man. Silas could see that.

Jarrod chuckled. He never could hide anything from Silas. He was a very observant man, had been for years. "I don't know, really." Jarrod shrugged his shoulders, picked up the canister of sherry and poured himself a glass. "I just keep getting this feeling I have a piece of the puzzle," he said as he set the glass down, "but I haven't the faintest idea what it would be." He then turned around and headed for his study.

Puzzles. That's what Audra felt like she was trying to put together as she rode alongside Brigham with Jack and nine other men. They were riding hard towards Strawberry. None of the men had been happy to find a woman among them, but none had dared go against Brigham or Jack.

"I can't tell you everythin' right now; however, I will tell you this much. There are people bent on makin' trouble in Nevada and they'll get their way if someone don't stop them." "You would have talked…"

"Stop it!" Jack had walked up and slapped Theodore, a young twenty two year old man, upside the head. He'd been looking at Audra in such a way to make her nervous as she walked down the stairs of the hotel to meet Jack, as Brigham had directed her to. "She's Brigham's gal! He catches you looking at her like that and you'll have to be content raising other folks sons' 'cause Brigham will make sure you never father any of your own!" The young man had quickly turned his gaze away and never took a second look at her. Well, not with any of the thoughts he'd been having that is.

"We'll be your contacts in this part of California." Brigham had stood in front of the men. "Once we get to Strawberry, follow Jack and get to Reno as fast as possible. There are men there waiting for you…."

Brigham acted very much like a gentleman around her, while some of the men who rode with him gave her the creeps, such as Theodore. Mr. McCallister talked as if they bent on stopping trouble, yet they weren't wearing badges. She hadn't dared ask any of the other men questions as they were all thoroughly convinced she was with Brigham; asking them questions would arouse suspicions on their part. She knew that much.

The only thing that kept the puzzle from driving her crazy was the fact that Brigham had promised her up and down he would explain the whole story after they'd been in Strawberry for a couple of weeks. She would have pressed him for more answers right then, but he was already agitated that they were behind schedule as it was and wasn't exactly being very sociable at the moment. *"When anger controls one's action, everyone suffers". The line from one of the school age childrens' papers rang in her ears. Audra kept the tears she felt inside as she thought, "I'm sorry, Mother. I'm sorry, Jarrod, Heath and Nick, even Eugene when you hear about my disappearance. I'm sorry for letting my anger get the best of me.'

* Anonymous.