Thicker Than Water
Chapter Four
Jarrod and Nick had planned on leaving Modesto that morning and heading home, only they found themselves standing in Gideon Stokes bedroom instead. Instead of improving, the man's health was rapidly declining. He'd sent Heath into town that morning to ask the two brothers, if they'd please come out to the house and talk to him. The black haired, brown eyed Mrs. Stokes sat at her husband's bedside. Only when Heath had stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him, due to having to get back to work, did their friend speak.
"Thanks for coming." He smiled at his good friends, silently praying he had not read them wrong or he'd be wasting everyone's time.
Jarrod and Nick smiled the best they could. As far as they could see they were going to lose their friend. In the back of their mind, they couldn't help but wonder about the land too, though that seem so unimportant at the moment and was easy to push it out of their thoughts. "No problem," Jarrod said as he turned his hat around in his hands.
Gideon pointed to a nearby table that had a huge envelope laying on it. The Barkley's guessed that it was the papers Mr. Thomson had taken away from the meeting and was proven correct when Mr. Stokes said, "Anything I need to sign has been signed only," he said as he paused glancing toward the window and thought on the best foreman he'd ever had and the responsibility that had fallen on the young man's shoulders the day Mrs. Thomson had passed away, "I don't want your money for the land. You can have it if you'll do something for me."
Jarrod and Nick's face showed their shock. It was quite a bit of land they wanted to buy off their friend. What on earth could they do that would justify just handing the land over to them? Jarrod took a cautious step towards Gideon and asked, "Just what would that be?"
"If Heath ever needs a job, promise me you'll hire him." He then went on to explain his concerns when it came to his foreman. "Many people hold the fact that he's a bastard against him and have made life hard on him, my son being one of those people. I fear Jack might let him go the day I die. He wasn't exactly thrilled when I made Mr. Thomson foreman and insisted that he handle a lot of my business." Fire filled his eyes as he spoke and he doubled up his fist, an action that had his wife leaning over and trying to get him to calm down. "It's not Heath's fault his parents did what they did." Gideon, who refused to acknowledge he needed to relax, kept his eyes on Jarrod and Nick. "Heath is a quiet man; still, I've been able to get past that wall of his and get to know more than most people." He chuckled, "I might not know all his secrets, but he and I have had many talks when it comes to his upbringing in Strawberry. The stories I could tell you," the man grew quiet and shook his head, "but I can't. I promised him never to repeat them. All I can say is his mother was a good woman who was left with quite the load to carry the day his father walked away, and he had to grow up way too fast." Truth was Gideon would have left the ranch to Heath and not bothered with getting a promise from the Barkley's only his son and he had finally made a truce with each other and Gideon didn't want to endanger it.
"What kind of man walks away from his own child?" Nick couldn't help but ask briskly.
Gideon looked at Nick as if to silently reprimand him and answered, "I don't know if he knew about Heath or not. That's one topic Heath has never talked to me about. Without all the facts, I don't think you should judge the man either." He then turned his eyes back Jarrod. "I'm not going to get any better, don't matter what anyone wants to think. That young man is an honest man, a hard worker and he has two young children to provide for. Besides all that, I love him as if he were my own son. His well being means more to me than any amount of money I might get from you."
Jarrod knew Gideon well enough to know it took a lot for a man to earn that kind of respect and devotion from him. That, along with what he'd seen in the Thomson home, made it so he readily agreed. "I'm okay with it only Nick is the one who does the hiring not me." Jarrod looked at Nick as he answered Gideon. His eyes asked what his mouth did not. 'Are you going to hold Heath's illegitimate birth against him also?'
Nick smiled as he remembered the good meal Heath had cooked and how fascinated four year old Leah had been with his vest and rawhide, and how she'd talked up a storm while he and Jarrod were at the Thomson home. "I'll take him on, if he needs it."
Mr. Stokes relaxed and closed his eyes. "Take the papers. Like I said, I've already signed them."
Seeing her husband fall asleep, Mrs. Stokes stood up and led the Barkley's out of the bedroom and into the living room. While she agreed with her husband, and was grateful the Barkley's had made the promise they did, she also wanted to have her say also. "If you ever find Heath working for you, you'd do good to remember everything my husband's told you about him. Heath is a good man; he's a patient man and a quiet man, but he can be pushed too far. If that happens, he will plant his feet and fight back. Also," she said as she began chuckling, "You might want to be careful if you ever play a game of poker with him. I've heard it told he's quite the player, though he never gets so caught up in the game as to lose track of the time. I know because anyone who's ever watched his youngin's can tell you how devoted he is to them."
Thinking on the fears Mr. Stokes had mentioned, Nick asked. "If he's a man like that, is there really a chance Jack would let him go?" Men with the description Mrs. Stokes was giving were ones bosses held onto if they could. Even Jack couldn't be that stupid, could he?
Mrs. Stokes shook her head and sighed. "Maybe not the day after my husband passes away, if he does, only it will happen. Jack lost his brains when he turned sixteen and never got them back." She knew it wasn't nice of her to say when it came to her own son, only it was the truth. Jack did not use the brains he had. If he did, her husband never would have had to pull Heath into acting on his, Gideon's, behalf when it came to business deals. Personally, she feared her son would drive the ranch into the ground the day it fell into his hands.
After a few more minutes of visiting, Nick and Jarrod mounted their horses and rode away. Because they rode in the opposite direction than the one Heath was working in, they didn't see the blond haired cowboy watching them, nor did they see the questioning look that came into his eyes before he went back to work.