Man of Justice
I do not own The Big Valley or any of the original Barkleys.
Chapter Eighteen
It was almost noon before, Tom and Jim rode onto the ranch and up to the house. Victoria was sitting on the porch talking to McCall, who was standing on the ground next to the porch. Audra was playing at her mother's feet while Nick was "roping" his cow once more. Though, he'd been quick to point out it was not as much fun as the real round up which McCall had taken him on; the one he'd wound up being in charge of in Tom's absence and, sadly, Jarrod's.
The moment she saw her husband ride up, Victoria was on her feet. Any tears she'd cried for her lost son had long since dried up, though her heart was still broken into a million pieces.
"Hello, Torie, I'm sorry… I failed you." Tom's eyes showed the effect of his long, unfruitful search. The exhaustion could be heard not only in his voice, but in his soul as his shoulders drooped as if he was carrying a heavy load.
Victoria moved as quickly as she could down the steps and slid into her husband's open arms. Both hung onto each other as if they're very lives depended on it.
"It wasn't you that failed dear, dear." Victoria talked low and soft as she pulled away just enough to look up at her husband, "the man who failed is being sent to prison for eighteen years." She'd made sure she'd attended Jacob Michael's trial and made sure the judge heard her piece.
"Little consolation for the loss of our son, man deserves hanging!" Tom would have gone and had it out with the man, but murder was against the law, and that would have destroyed all their lives. He had his family to think of.
Their attention was taken off each other as Nick came barreling at his father. Tom was not surprised when the young child started hitting his leg with his fists and screaming. "You left Jarrod out there! How could you!"
Tom grabbed his son's arms and held him close while he continued his rampage, even accusing Tom and Victoria of 'only having that baby to replace Jarrod'. Though she knew Nick was only acting out of stress and his own grief, Victoria turned and fled into the house where she disappeared into her room and started crying once more. "How could you, Jacob!" she cried out in fury, "How could you! First you rob me of my oldest and now, my second is left with scars I fear will take years to heal!"
While Victoria lay on her bed crying once more, Tom and McCall were finally getting Nick to calm down. "Nick, look at me!" Tom knelt down and made the request a second time only with his voice firmer than ever. He hated doing that under these circumstances, but Nick had gone from a patient and care free boy to one with a temper too hot for his own good. He had to make sure his son knew he meant business. Slowly, Nick did as he was told and was shocked to see the few tears that had managed to escape down his father's cheek.
"First off, I did my best to find your brother and I will continue to pray and hope for the day that he is guided home. Second off, you know full well your mother was expecting before your brother left, his disappearance has nothing to do with this baby. I do not ever want to hear you such a thing again, especially to your mother, ever! Treating her that way should never even be an option! Do you understand?" Tom did not loosen his grip on his son. He had to succeed, somehow, in getting the child to at least accept, if not understand, such behavior towards Victoria was very much unacceptable.
Nick eyes turned downwards, after shooting McCall a glance and seeing the disapproving look upon the foreman's' face as well, "That's what McCall said." Nick answered quietly.
"McCall." Tom looked up at his foreman and sighed as the man looked more than a bit uncomfortable. He was sure McCall had become more of a father figure to Nick in his absence. Another pang of guilt hit him. Tom shook his head; why should he be surprised? It's not like he'd been around to help with the child. "Just what else did McCall say?" Tom let go of Nick's arms and stood up, asking the question out of mere curiosity not out of any sense of jealousy.
"Said I should be treatin' mother the same as if she was a duchess," Nick answered as he lifted his eyes back up and looked at his father.
Tom nodded and smiled at both his son and foreman. "McCall's right now, if you two will excuse me." He reached down and picked Audra up. "I need to go talk to your mother." Tom said as he disappeared into the house.
Nick looked up at McCall, who was standing and looking at him with a very disappointed look. "I didn't mean to be mean." Nick's eyes pled for his friend to believe him. "It just came out before I could think is all."
McCall knelt down in front of Nick and gave him a sad smile before he chuckled just a little, "Yeah, I know how that is. Didn't do no good though, did it?" He asked as he laid a hand upon the boy's shoulder, feeling no need to get after him as Tom had already done that. Why should he add to it?
"Nope," Nick shook his head sadly and then fought, unsuccessfully as more tears fell down his cheeks. "I just want my brother back!" he broke down sobbing again and McCall pulled him close.
"I know you do. We all do." After a few minutes, McCall let go of Nick and stood up, his voice growing firmer. His friend's voice growing firmer made Nick sit up and take notice. "Now, why don't you go back inside and make things right with your parents?" After Nick turned around and ran into the house, McCall started walking around the ranch.
Where was Jarrod? McCall sighed fully accepting the fact that was a question that might never be answered. He took a hold of a fence post that had begun to tilt to one side. As he started working on making it so the post was once again straight, McCall began praying that and hoping that no matter what, this would only make the Barkleys stronger and not tear them apart.