"Are you sure, Mother?" Jarrod asked. He looked tired. They all looked tired. Victoria wondered if any of them had slept that night.
"I am, Jarrod", she said. "Do you think I'd say such a thing about your father if I wasn't sure?" She took a sip of her coffee, fighting to keep her need to cry under control.
Jarrod recalled the moment he had seen Heath's eyes for the first time and had thought to be watching his father. The familiarity he felt with the boy was something that he couldn't define but that was unmistakably there. He wondered if Nick and Audra felt the same.
"We must find him before it's too late", Victoria added. "He could go anywhere... We may never see him again!"
Nick was uncharacteristically quiet, looking into his coffee as he could find there the answers to his questions.
"Then, we'll have all the time to discuss the rest", Victoria continued. "He has a right to an equal part of the heritage, he needs a bank account and…."
Nick spoke for the first time, that morning: "Now, don't rush Mother. Don't you think it's premature to talk about the heritage?"
"Nick is right, Mother", Jarrod intervened. "Given he's actually Father's son, I hardly believe he can legally..."
Victoria stood, looked first at Jarrod, then at Nick. She spoke calmly, but her tone was full of resolve.
"I'm not going to say this twice, so please listen carefully. I'm not talking about what's legal. I'm talking about what's right. You all are adults and I'm sure you know what to be an illegitimate son means. There's a young man out there, with your same blood in his veins, and I can't think about what he had to face in his life." Her voice wavered. "I believe your father and I have taught to you the difference between right and wrong. I don't think I need to add anything else."
Jarrod and Nick had lowered their gazes. Audra was openly crying, not even trying to hide her tears.
Jarrod was the first to react. He passed around the table, put a hand on his sister's shoulder, reassuringly. Then he took his mother's arm to make her turn, embraced her. He bent to place a kiss on the top of her silver hair. He was so proud of her.
"We'll find him, Mother", he stated, and felt her nod against his shoulder.
"Let's go get the boy", Nick said, resolutely, already walking toward the door.
Leah had never written to Tom. She had promised to do so if something was wrong, but nothing was wrong with this beautiful, healthy, sweet child of their love. The boy was beautiful indeed, gifted with a mixture of the best qualities of both his parents. His features were those of Leah, but he had his father's eyes.
On the wooden bridge that crossed the river, looking down at the waters where he had first met Jarrod, the illegitimate child born of Tom Barkley and Leah Thomson's love, was thinking about his mama. She was warm, and gentle and fair, and had loved him with all her heart. When he had begun to ask about his father, Leah had told him his father was the best man she had ever known. She wasn't lying. She still loved Tom. But, she had never revealed his name. The day she had died, she had finally confessed who he was.
Heath reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a folded paper. He unfolded it and stared at his father's picture. It was the newspaper article her mother had kept for six years, since Tom Barkley's tragic death.
She was very sick, her voice just above a whisper. "Take the Bible, Love", she had said to her son, "there, in that box. Turn to the back, to the last page". He had started to do as instructed and the paper had fallen out. He had picked it up and read it. Then he had looked at her, and she was gone.
He dropped the paper. In a matter of seconds, it was enveloped and carried away by the current, swallowed under the surface, just like, in a matter of seconds he had thrown away the chance to know his father's family. He was surprised at the sting of tears. He shook his head at the hopeless feeling of longing for something that could have been but never would.
He mounted his little black mare and was going to turn and leave forever, when he saw two men on horseback on the other side of the bridge. While they were slowly crossing, one after the other, he recognized them: they were his brothers, Jarrod and Nick. Did they come to get him? Had they believed what he had said? What he knew was that he was unexpectedly glad to see them and smiled crookedly as they reached him.
Neither of them talked, they just stared at each other.
Heath took off his hat and used it to fan himself.
"Hot, ain't it?" he asked, the smile still on his face.
"Yeah, you can really raise a sweat this time of year", Nick replied, amused.
"What about refreshing in a comfortable bathtub?" Jarrod asked, "or would you prefer a swim in the river?"
"That's you, Jarrod, not me", Heath said, and laughed, soon joined in his hilarity by his brothers.
"Come on, let's go home", Nick said.