Ben Miller could not believe the Barkley's had not renewed the contract with his ranch. They had been working together since Tom and Victoria had come into the valley all those years ago. He had heard the scuttlebutt around town that Jarrod had turned the paperwork back over to Nick. But surely Nick knew how important this contract was between the two ranches.

Ben sighed as he knocked on the white mansion doors.

Silas greeted Ben and smiled politely, "Mr. Miller."

Ben smiled at the faithful man and said, "Is Victoria here?"

Silas smiled as he replied, "Yes sir. Please follow me and I'll take you to her."

Ben removed his hat and followed Silas into the gun room where Victoria was sitting at the desk going over the bookkeeping.

She smiled when she saw Ben and got up to greet him. "Ben it's so nice to see you." She gave a small kiss on the cheek and motioned him to sit on the settee. "Would you like some coffee Ben?"

"Ah, no thank you Victoria."

Silas excused himself so they could talk. Victoria knew something was wrong with her friend by his actions. She wondered if it had something to do with the contract Nick delivered yesterday.

"What's wrong Ben?" Victoria questioned.

"I was going to ask you the same thing Victoria."

Victoria frowned at Ben and asked, "Is there something wrong with the contract?"

Ben snorted, "You could say that since I didn't receive it yesterday."

Victoria shook her head, "Are you sure? Nick took it with him yesterday to deliver to you."

"I waited around all day Victoria and Nick never showed up."

Victoria took a deep breath as she got up, "Excuse me for a moment Ben." Victoria glided out of the gun room and went straight to Nick's bedroom.

He was still sleeping off the effects of his drinking binge from yesterday. He finally came home this morning after the sheriff released him but not before he promised to pay for the damages to Harry's Saloon. Usually Jarrod would handle the bail, fines and or damages but Nick had to now and he didn't have that much cash on him so he had to go to the bank and write a draft for the bail money and damages.

Victoria had tried to question her son regarding the details but he refused to answer her, instead he just glared at Jarrod.

She opened the door and with all the muscle she could muster and slammed his door shut.

Nick sat straight up in bed holding his head, "Hey, what's the idea..." He stopped when he saw the intruder was his mother. He gingerly lay back down as he covered his eyes with his hands.

Victoria stormed over to Nick's bed and said as calmly as she could, "We have company Nicholas."

Nick never moved as he replied quietly, "I'm not up to visitors right now mother."

Victoria grabbed Nick's hand and pushed it away from his face as she bent down to look at Nick in the eyes, "You will get up this minute and go downstairs to explain to Ben Miller and myself why you did not deliver the contract yesterday."

Nick jumped out of the bed as he slapped his aching head which caused him to grimace in pain. He knew he had forgotten to do something yesterday, damn it! This was all Jarrod's fault. He had to think quickly otherwise he knew he was going to be in big trouble with his mother.

"It's Jarrod's fault."

Victoria put her hands on her hips as she glared at her son, "How is this Jarrod's fault Nicholas?"

Nicholas sighed as he sat down on his bed, "I went by his office yesterday and we sort of...well we had words. I was so mad at him I went to Harry's and had a few drinks."

Victoria continued glaring at her son as she spoke, "So let me get this straight. You are once again blaming Jarrod for your mistake?" Nick tried to interrupt his mother but she silenced him when she raised her hand. "How is this Jarrod's fault? Did he make you go to Harry's, get intoxicated and get into a fight last night? Or did he take the contract away from you and promise to deliver it to Ben himself?"

Nick hung his head as he knew his mother would be taking Jarrod's side once again. "If he would have done his job this never would have happened," Nick reasoned.

Victoria could not believe Nick was trying to blame this on his brother. "Nicholas all you had to do was take the signed contract to Ben's house, that's it, nothing else." Victoria paced her son's room as she put her hands on her hips. "You will get dressed and go stairs and straighten out this mess you have made with Ben and hope we do not have to renegotiate the contract."

"But mother..."

Victoria silenced her son once again, "Nicholas I swear if you blame Jarrod one more time I will find my wooden spoon."

Nick hung his head and mumbled, "Yes ma'am."

Victoria walked to the door and said firmly, "Ben and I will be waiting on you in the study. I suggest you make an appearance sooner rather than later. Do I make myself clear?"

Nick looked at his mother through his bloodshot eyes, "Yes ma'am."

"Good," Victoria left and slammed the door shut loudly causing Nick to grimace in pain.

Victoria stood outside Nick's door and sighed. She hoped Nick would be more understanding of Jarrod's decision to step aside but he hadn't. She knew Tom had taught Nick everything about the ranch including the contracts and paperwork so why was he being so difficult about doing it?

When Jarrod came to the breakfast table that morning she questioned her eldest about his bruised chin and all he would say was a client didn't like his answer. And now Nick's admission that he had confronted his brother earlier in the day, Victoria knew Nick was the one to hit Jarrod.

She completely understood why Jarrod was stepping back from the ranch business as it was a very consuming job considering how the ranch had grown over the last several years. She knew they probably should have hired someone to oversee everything but Jarrod had always nixed that idea as he said it was his way of helping out. But now his practices in both Stockton and San Francisco were growing and Jarrod was stretched thin.

For her part she didn't mind doing the bookkeeping or accounting and she actually enjoyed it as it gave her something to do and it helped keep her mind sharp. Jarrod had been very thorough in his handling of the accounting but she had noticed something odd and the more she looked the more guilt she had felt. In the ten years since Jarrod had taken over all of the ranch's legal business, paperwork, bookkeeping and accounting he had never once paid himself.

When she checked into each of her children's bank accounts she and Tom had opened for the children she had noticed Jarrod hadn't made a single withdrawal in over ten years. And when she continued to dig into the bookkeeping she noticed he had never reimbursed himself for all of the expenses he had incurred and she knew for a fact there were numerous times Jarrod had to travel for ranch business or bail his brother and or ranch hands out of jail and or pay fines for them as well. Why hadn't he claimed any of those expenses as she knew they had to be numerous and expensive in some cases.

She heard Nick rustling in his bedroom and decided she would wait before she talked to Nick about her findings. Maybe once she told Nick what Jarrod had been doing all these years he would change his attitude. She sighed as she went downstairs.

Nick could not believe he had forgotten to drop the contract off at Ben Miller's house yesterday. That was the whole point of him going into town. Instead he went into town, got into a fight with his brother and thrown in jail for the night. He knew better than to blame Jarrod but it was his fault to a certain extent.

He sighed as he went downstairs to face his mother and Ben Miller and remembered Jarrod's words to him a few days ago. Jarrod had said he was tired of groveling due to Nick's missteps, well he thought wryly now I am the one who is groveling for you big brother. Nick slammed his fist into his hand and promised himself he would make his brother pay for this.