Man of Honor

Chapter Two

By the time noon rolled around, Heath and Rebecca were well on their way to Stockton. After talking in depth about Rebecca's desire to clear her husband's name and bring the real criminal to justice, Heath had talked her into going to Stockton with him before a hunt of any kind was started by anybody. "My oldest brother, Jarrod, he's an attorney." Heath had explained. "He has connections when it comes to the law. You can tell him your story first." Heath also assured her that he knew Nick well enough to know that the hot tempered rancher would be more than happy to help anyway he could too, especially with it being the slow time of the year. It had taken a bit more talking than he was used to in order to get her to consent to it, but in the end she'd done just that.

They had been traveling for a few hours when Rebecca shocked him by stopping her horse and looking backwards. She saw a cloud of dust off in the distance. She'd see dust being kicked up into the air every time she'd turned her head. Her gut told her what, and who, it was. "We're being followed." She looked at Heath. The disgust she felt came out in her voice. With having to travel on such a hot day, Rebecca sure didn't feel like dealing with this. Still, she kept her complaints to herself.

Heath, who had stopped Charger, turned and looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, he could see dust rising up in the air. He pushed Charger forward while Rebecca did the same. "You have a good eye," he threw her a crooked smile, impressed with she had the ability to spot such a thing; many people didn't. "I'd say ten to one it's Weaver." Heath turned his head as he spoke the words ninety-five percent he was right. He wasn't surprised when Rebecca nodded her head in agreement.

"That man will follow us clear to Stockton and harass me there when my late husband isn't there to meet me." She shook her head as she thought on a man so blinded by greed he wouldn't at least investigate her claim. She'd never understand men like him.

Heath again thought on his last meeting with the Deputy Marshall. He couldn't help allow another crooked smile to appear on his face. The one good thing that came out of that mess was Jarrod being able to help Heath adopt little Joey. In fact, if it hadn't been for the fact that the family had had visitors coming, ones that had extremely young children themselves, he'd have had Joey with him at that moment.

He'd had the hardest time leaving the child behind only now, with Weaver in the picture; Heath couldn't help but be glad his son was on the ranch with the rest of the family. The boy was the light of the household and had everyone wrapped around his little finger, and another reason he had to be careful what kind of choices he made.

Heath snapped out of his thought as he and Rebecca pushed their horses forward, but did not change their pace. While it was annoying knowing Weaver was being so obstinate, Heath and she did not see any reason to give the lawman a reason to claim they were trying to shake him and thus protect someone who was, in spite of what the man might want to believe, deader than a doornail.

"I wouldn't worry about being harassed once we get to Stockton." Heath told her as they stopped to their horses rest and made their way to a couple of boulders. "Jarrod can do something law wise; I'm sure of it."

"I hope so." Rebecca handed him one of the sandwiches she'd pulled out of her saddlebag and then began eating one herself. "I really don't like dealing with that man almost every time I turn around. He rubs me the wrong way." She then chuckled and added, "I'm sure I irritate the living daylights out of him. I mean, I don't exactly hold back when it comes to how I feel about his kind."

Heath nodded. "Don't worry; I'm not high on his list either." He went on to tell her all about finding Ben Rawlin's wife lying in her bed sick and dying, all about little Joey and what he, Heath, had promised the child's mother, along with all that had transpired afterwards. "Mr. Weaver is probably telling himself I'm after 'his' reward money again." Heath took another bit of the sandwich, ate it and then said, "Heavens knows what that man would think if he knew that baby is now part of the Barkley family, probably start whining all over again." Not that Weaver losing out on the reward money hurt Heath's feelings any. It's not like Weaver had done anything to earn his loyalty.

The story made Rebecca want to rush to the ranch just so she could hold the child, as she thoroughly enjoyed children; had since she was little. Though, when it came to Heath's comment about Weaver and whining, she couldn't help but chuckle and agree as she could see Weaver doing exactly what Heath had just said he would. "We best get moving." She stood up and headed for her horse. "It will be dark before we know it; that is, if we drag our feet." She didn't want to be traveling in the dark. She had never cared for doing something like that, unless she was camping for the fun of it.

Heath finished the last of his sandwich, nodded and mounted Charger. He wasn't going to argue. After all, not only did they need to get back to the ranch t talk to Jarrod about this situation, Heath wanted to be with his adopted son again. The boy was growing like a weed and was going to be turning a year old in a few weeks and he had no intentions of missing that milestone in his or Joey's lives.

Heath and Rebecca were right when they said it was Weaver following them. The persistent lawman had been standing inside Manteca's General Mercantile when he saw Heath help Rebecca up onto her horse and then mount Charger. Weaver had then watched as the two rode out of town. The lawman's eyes had darkened and a few choice cuss words had slipped out of his mouth. Since he didn't believe Rebecca's story, Mr. Weaver figured she'd conned Heath into believing her husband was innocent. That being the case, he was absolutely sure the young woman had talked him into going with her to wherever the man was hidden. That being the case, he'd gathered his things, left town and started following their trail. He just knew this time he'd collect a reward, and it would be Heath left holding the bag per say.