Chapter Six
Victoria was dusting the piano when she heard the front door open. She turned her head and saw Heath as he shut the door. He looked tired, and he was limping just a little. "What happened?"
"Nothing major," Heath gave her a crooked smile as he made his way to the nearest chair and sat down. "I got in a hurry and didn't watch where I was going, before I knew it, I'd stepped in a hole and fell." He hurried to clarify it wasn't a very big hole. "Barrett helped me out. He is taking care of things."
"Barrett?" Victoria raised her eyebrows, surprised that the ranch hand would be close enough to be of any help. Sure, since the trouble with General Wallant, James Barrett had addressed Heath as Mr. Barkley and didn't cause him trouble. Still, everyone knew the long time ranch hand didn't go out of his way to be around Heath either. It infuriated Victoria still; as both Nick and Heath had pointed out, at least the behavior was better than before.
"Yeah, Barrett. Though," Heath carefully pulled of his boot, something Victoria was quick to help with once she saw him wince in pain. "As you can see, he didn't exactly help me back here." When Victoria's anger started to flare, Heath was quick to speak up. "He helped me out, and I have no broken bones. Let's just be grateful for small miracles." He then propped his foot up on the brown footstool Victoria had recently purchased. The small piece of furniture actually had a padded top which made it a comfortable spot to rest his ankle. By this time Silas, who had looked out of the dining room and seen Heath limping in, had brought out ice wrapped in a towel.
"You didn't have to do that, but thank you." Heath didn't fight Silas giving the items to Victoria or Victoria as she put the towel and ice on his ankle. "Nick will probably threaten to take a picture and hang it on the wall, especially after I told him I didn't need my big brother to stick around just to make sure I didn't hurt myself again." Heath chuckled as he thought how he'd received another minor injury just a few months ago; it too was caused by being in a hurry…something that normally wasn't a problem when it came to him.
Victoria, who had paled ever so slightly, quickly stood up, replied, "Probably," She then existed the room.
Heath might have been puzzled as to what upset his stepmother, only he'd seen her eyes go to the family photo that stood on the small round table next to the chair. "Silas,"
Silas, who had also started to leave the room, stopped and turned around. "What is it Mr. Heath? You need something?"
"No…and yes." Heath reached out and picked up the photograph that Victoria had insisted on being taken when Heath joined the family. "What happened? I mean, after Nick truly accepted me, he told me there was another child before him only he says he didn't find out until he was almost ten. He said he found out by accident, when he was going through an old photo album while visiting Grandmother Miller but that-because the topic upset Mother and his grandma so much-Tom forbade him to talk about it. What happened?"
Silas sighed as his thoughts turned to the past. He could still remember the day he joined the same wagon train as Tom and Victoria Barkley. He remembered making friends with them, and agreeing to work for Tom when they reached California. "Mrs. Barkley, she was expecting a child by the time they arrived here. While more white men were making their home here, there was still occasional Indian trouble." Silas walked over to the window and looked out. "The old home was built ten miles from here, others would stop by and rest for the night. One week a whole wagon train stopped for a few days. Mr. Tom, he helped the men with various repairs they needed while Mrs. Barkley tended to the women folk." Silas grew silent for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "One day Indians were seen in the area, were in the area for a while actually. No one thought anything of it as, for the most part, the Indian men stayed away from the settlers." Silas sat down on the sofa and shook his head. "One night Victoria, Tom and a few friends went to a dance. I stayed at the house to watch their son-as I nothing else to do anyway. It wasn't like he needed his mother's milk anymore. I…" Silas' shoulders slumped forward just a little. "I put Mr. Jarrod in his crib and went outside to the garden. After that," Silas shrugged his shoulders again, "someone knocked me out. The next thing I remember was having Mr. Tom shaking my shoulder slightly and urgently calling my name." Silas went on to say he'd opened his eyes only to receive the shock of seeing the house engulfed in flames. "We all thought Mr. Jarrod was inside until the after the fire-which made it impossible for anyone to attempt to go inside-was out. After it was done, Tom and I went through all the debris, but there was no corpse of any kind inside. We did find a tomahawk near one of the nearby trees, had to have been dropped by one of those Indians that had been seen in the area. After we found that, people said the fire was started by the Indians, and that they took the child before burning the house down."
"Did they ever find anything besides the tomahawk?" Heath asked after a moment.
Silas shook his head. "Not that I know of, but we didn't see any other strangers around either. No," he shrugged his shoulders, "no one saw those Indians start the fire or take Jarrod, but the men Tom gathered together searched for weeks. Only people they ever saw were men traveling with their families or an occasional trapper. So, eventually, everyone came to the conclusion the child had been taken by the Indians men… probably by one who had lost one of theirs to the white man. Mrs. Barkley and Mr. Tom, they had the hardest time moving on. Truth be told," The faithful Barkley employee had a faraway look appear in his eyes. "I blamed myself. I should have stayed in the house with him, anything in the garden could have waited. I told your father and Mrs. Barkley I'd quit, but they wouldn't hear of it. Told me not to blame myself…" Silas's voice drifted off as he finished talking and left the room.
Heath sat the family picture back on the table. He felt bad for everyone involved. However, when he started to think about the Indian men who had been seen in the area, the fire and the brother he had never met, Heath was startled to get the strongest impression that while the Indians had started the fire, the assumption that those Indians had also taken Barkley's oldest child was not at all correct. It made him wonder who had actually saved the boy only to keep him. It made Heath wonder why they'd done it, and if the family would ever find out what really happened. However, before he could dwell on the matter more the front door opened, and Nick entered the house.