Man of Justice
A/N Not surprisingly, Jarrod has insisted on 'taking the reins' per say.
Chapter Twenty –Nine
The sun felt as if it was reaching down and doing everything it could to break the young man's determination and pace, as he worked on fixing the fence lines. Jarrod wasn't about to let something as simple as a hot sun make him stop. His father had asked him to fix the fences lines and he'd acknowledged the request when he picked up the tools necessary for the job out of the back of the wagon Tom had put there. A man kept his word no matter what, and as far as Jarrod was concerned he was still a man.
When he felt someone looking at him, Jarrod whirled around. It was Carl Adams, a nineteen year old man who had recently been hired. Jarrod suppressed the frown of distrust he had for this employee; he was constantly watching Jarrod and talking under his breath. Though, Jarrod noticed the man didn't act that way when his father, McCall or Nick were around. That the last part put a smile in his heart; for even at his young age Nick was proving to be a handful for the men as well as his parents. Well, that is, for everyone but McCall. That man seemed to know where Nick's reins were.
"Well, well," Carl started towards Jarrod, "If it ain't the Barkley's Injun, from the looks of it, you should have stayed with those heathens you were with." The man pushed over the pole Jarrod had just positioned in the hole he'd finished digging. "You can't even set a pole right." The man started laughing. A fight would have broken out only, to Carl's horror, he felt McCall's hand on the back of his neck. He'd been so intent on harassing Jarrod that he hadn't heard the foreman approaching from behind him.
McCall turned Carl around quite forcefully and barked, "What are you doin' here, besides causing problems? When I hired you I told you how things were and told you what was expected of you!" McCall turned and looked at Jarrod whose face was, as always, unreadable. "Has he bothered you before?" He hated the idea that might be the case; however, if that was the case, he would let this man go.
"I can't afford to let a 'man' like that bother me' Jarrod thought, but since this was the first time the Mr. Adams had actually caused him any problem, Jarrod simply shook his head and went back to work.
"Consider this your one and only warning!" McCall pulled the man up almost to his face and barked, "Bother Man of Justice again and you will be fired! Do you understand?" McCall asked, as he pushed Carl backwards before letting go. "That is, unless you wish to collect your pay and get off this ranch now!"
Carl had as sick mother to take care of and he knew he couldn't really risk losing job. "I'll keep my distance." He glared before he turned around and walked away.
McCall had other things to do but didn't want to chance anyone else harassing Jarrod either. He grabbed some tools and went to work alongside Jarrod. It was a simple gesture, but Jarrod rewarded him with one of his rare small smiles. The rest of the afternoon the two worked side by side, McCall keeping an eye on Jarrod and Jarrod rewarding him by showing he was still one very capable and hard working young man. As soon as their work was finished, Jarrod headed for the barn and McCall went to check on the men.
"Brother!" Nick yelled as he climbed up the loft, sat down at the edge of the loft and allowed his feet to hang down against the side of the barn, "Can I ask you something?"
Jarrod turned and looked at Nick and nodded, as he'd gotten used to the way Nick was his constant shadow especially when he was following Tom or McCall around the ranch.
"Do you like it here?" Nick kept his eyes on Jarrod's face in order to see his reaction. McCall had told him that you could tell a lot about another person by looking at their face and, in spite of the fact others could not read Jarrod's face, Nick seemed to do it without a problem.
Did he like it here? Jarrod mused. He turned his head back to the scenery and looked around. He'd recognized the ranch the moment he'd ridden onto the land; it felt right, but this house before his eyes? It was a different story. He felt like a fish out of water in it. It was so huge and had so many rooms. Jarrod turned his eyes back towards his brother. Since coming home the boy had dragged him from one corner of the ranch to the other, said he was reintroducing Jarrod to all his friends. That part had made him smile as they'd been standing by a small pond and Nick was holding up a frog he'd named Pete when he made the statement. For the thousandth time, Jarrod tried to make himself verbally answer his brother and for the thousandth time failed. Slowly he nodded his head.
"Then why do you act so sad? Why won't you talk? Mother and Father say there's no reason for you not to, they say you weren't gone long enough to forget. I hear McCall say that, if anything, you should only be rusty and maybe have a hard time finding the words, but… you should be able to find them." Then he shocked Jarrod by asking, "It's not me, is it? You're not mad at me are you?"
Jarrod's eyes widened and he began shaking his head violently, pulling his brother in close. Maybe it was Nick's child like manner when he asked the question, or the guilt Jarrod felt for not being able to get words to come, that in all honesty, should be coming without a problem by now. He didn't really know, but after months of either silence or Shoshone words, Jarrod whispered one small English word. "No."