If He's Yours...

Gene stood in the living room and explained all that had happened at Sample's farm. He hesitated a moment, before confessing about what had had happened to Heath, along with the fact that Jarrod and Nick were now looking for him.

"What?" Victoria, who had been standing in the living room, felt the blood draining from her face as she quickly sat down. "He shouldn't have done that. He needs help."

"We know that." Gene, more than frustrated, sat down in the chair nearest the living room entrance, and snapped harder than he meant to. Quickly apologizing, his tone softened. "Like I just said, Nick and Jarrod are still out there trying to find him." He hoped they would find the blonde haired cowboy who had appeared unexpectedly in their lives. He, for one, wanted to get to know this unknown brother more.

Victoria sighed. She realized that she had, on occasion, wondered about the possibility of a child being conceived during the time of her and Tom's brief separation during a very trouble time of their marriage. She also realized that every time the thought had presented itself, she had hurried and pushed it aside. Thinking about it too much would have built her curiosity up enough to want to find out, and that had not been an option at the time. Now she feared losing that very son before she ever had a chance to get to know him. "You need to go back out there and help them." Victoria stood back up and walked over to the fireplace. "He needs to be found. He's your half brother; I know he is."

Gene was tired, but he wasn't about to argue with his mother. How could he when he knew she spoke the truth. He stood up and headed for the door, stopped and then turned to look back at his mother, who looked more than worried. "We'll find him mother. One way or the other, we'll find him." He then walked out of the living room and out of the house.

Once he was gone, Victoria made her way up the stairs and to her room where she picked up a picture of her and Tom. It had been taken on their wedding day, November 1, 1840. How he'd managed to meet and actually convince *Alexander Wolcott to come to their wedding and take the pictures was something Tom had never told her. She was sure if the gentleman hadn't died *two years later, Tom would have gotten him to take a picture of Jarrod after he was born too.

"Oh Tom," she held the picture close. "We messed up, not checking to see if a child had come about due to your indiscretion. I don't know how things work exactly only, if you can do anything to help bring him home, do it. If not, please, watch over him until he is found." After a minute or two, Victoria put the picture down and left the room. There were things that needed to be done, and she couldn't do them standing in one place.

~oOo~

Jarrod who had ridden a number of miles before turning around, deciding that unless Nick had found Heath Thomson, they would have to get more men. He kept his eyes wide open as he began traveling back in the direction he had come. As he did so, his mind traveled back in time, back to when he was seven years old.

"But where's father? Why doesn't he come home?" He stood in his mother's room, scared because his father had been gone several months. "Is it my fault?"

His mother, who had been facing the window, whirled around, shocked at the last question out of her oldest son's mouth. Why would he….Victoria stopped her train of thought as she realized why her son would think that. Jarrod had been carrying young Thomas in his arms when the wagon rolled. Her heart broke for her son and she walked over to him, kneeling in front of him as she did so. "No son, nothing is your fault. Your father and I, we're just having some problems right now. Things will work themselves out."

'One way or the other' was a thought she'd had immediately afterwards, but not confessed them to him until after his father had been murdered by the railroad. Jarrod found himself repeating those same words now. Then, unbeknownst to Jarrod, he began doing the exact same thing his mother had just did in her bedroom…asking his father to help them if he could.

Jarrod wasn't the only one who had turned around; Nick had as well. The hot tempered rancher was cursing Heath's name, not for showing up in their lives, though he still highly resented that, but for 'having the nerve to fight with them, save Jarrod's live, and then to disappear so successfully. Over the years, Nick had become an expert tracker and to have some do what Heath had just did was more than unnerving.

His mind turned to his parents, mostly his father. Since Nick had only been four at the time when his young brother, Thomas, had been killed in a freak accident, he remembered very little of him. However, as much as he hated to admit it, Nick remembered his father being gone for a few months. His mother had told him not to worry, and that his father was simply gone on some extended business. Now, with Heath's words ringing in his ears, Nick thought back to the time when his father had returned.

"I have told you everything." Nick heard his father's voice coming from the study where his parent's had gone. "I don't' blame you for being angry; you have every right to be. With that said and done, I am sorry. Please, give me a second chance. I'll do whatever I can to have you trust me again."

Nick bristled as the realization came to him that he had not known what his father had done to make his mother so angry…and he had not wanted to know. He still wasn't sure he did. Still…"Whoever he is, father," Nick hissed, "he saved our family some grief! The least you can do is help us find him!"

Author Notes:

· 1840
First American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera.

I found conflicting dates when it comes to Mr. Wolcott's birth and death dates. Since I don't know which information is correct, I'm simply using the dates that will fit the story.