A/N: I am very new to this site & to fiction writing. My primary objective is to write for myself but find I love reading reviews (I read all reviews for other authors' stories I like, as well). I keep 2-3 chapters ready to post at all times but have withheld posting while the site fixed its little problem. In short, here is Barkley justice as written before I read the five most recent reviews:
Daniel sat on his bed; his hands folded neatly in his lap, and waited for his father. He thought he would be more scared than he was. He was mainly focused on the rope burns on his palms; they hurt pretty bad.
He didn't have to wait long. His father and mother came into his room, walking quickly. His father leaned against the wall, facing him, arms folded, and his mother sat on the bed next to him.
Nick started, "Daniel, suppose you tell me how it is you came to be at the High Ridge this afternoon."
Daniel told the story as it happened; how James had opened the gate though Daniel told him not to, how James rode into the woods.
"And you rode with him?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, after I couldn't see him no more," Daniel explained.
"Anymore," Emily corrected him. Nick shot a quick look at her.
"What do you mean you couldn't see him?" Nick asked.
"He rode away into the woods."
"So you didn't really ride with him, you rode after him," Nick said to clarify.
"Yeah."
Nick scratched his chin and frowned. This was the version he'd told to Heath, as well, and it would need to be checked with the version James told his father. But Nick knew his son and the boy had never been openly defiant before.
"Son, we're gonna see what James has to say but it seems to me you had two choices: Come and find me - but that would have taken too long and who knows what kinda trouble that boy woulda gotten himself into. Or you coulda gone with him and make sure he didn't get himself killed which it sounds like you did."
"Yes, Sir," said Daniel. He wasn't sure he could trust James to be truthful but it seemed his father believed him anyway. His father didn't always stop to hear the story before he started yelling; usually, he got mad first and afterwards listened to the other side. Daniel was glad his father was listening.
"Tell me about the High Ridge," Nick said, arms still folded.
Daniel told about the rock ledges and the rattlesnake he saw and how he threw a rock at it and moving his pony to the trail in case someone came looking for them.
Nick and Emily exchanged a look.
"Tell me about the rope," Nick said.
"Grace threw the rope," was all Daniel said.
Nick waved one hand dismissively and said, "I know that. Tell me about the hoist and pulley."
So Daniel described how he instructed James to loop his belt through the lasso hoop and how he used the tree trunk to stabilize the rope.
Emily hadn't heard any of this. She looked at Nick wide-eyed, then leaned forward and turned to face her son, "Do you mean to say that you and Grace pulled James up that ridge by a rope?" she asked.
Daniel hadn't heard anyone but himself and Grace describe what they had done today and it sounded pretty impressive when someone else said it. He nodded his head vigorously.
"Son," Nick said, "you did good today and I'm proud of you. If I hear that any part of this adventure was your idea, you and I will . . . but I think you did the right thing today."
Emily knew none of the adventure was Daniel's idea. Nick wanted more definitive testimony, but he knew it, too, and he smiled at his young son. Then, shaking his head, he walked out the room, saying to himself, "I got a genius for a son."
Emily stayed seated on the bed, turned to Daniel, and gave him a tight hug that kind of embarrassed him even though he liked it. "Oh! I am so proud of you!" she said. Then she asked for more details and Daniel was happy to oblige. He showed her his palms and she said she'd put some ointment on them. She also made a mental note to remind Nick about who taught Grace to throw a lasso.
Sarah was getting dinner ready to put on the table when Emily and Daniel came down the back stairs and into the kitchen.
"The natives are restless," Sarah said.
"So I see," Emily replied, laughing. Audra was sitting at the kitchen table next to Julia who was devouring a very large piece of buttered bread.
Emily reached into a high cupboard, pulled down the box that kept the bandages and medicines, and took out some liniment that she massaged into Daniel's palms. "I imagine you're pretty hungry, too, huh, Cowboy?" she asked Daniel. When she was done putting the liniment on, she told Daniel to tell everyone it was time for dinner and he scurried away.
Nick knocked on the library door and announced dinner, then returned to the parlor where Heath still stood, waiting. Everyone else was walking out to go to the table for dinner.
James ran out of the library towards the dining room, wearing fresh clothes, Jane and Jarrod walking behind him, looking grim, but Jarrod stopped and joined his brothers. He did not look happy.
"Well," he said, "He made a full confession. It was his idea to open the gate and go through. He said Daniel told him you would 'tan his hide' if he did. And it was all James' idea to try and hike down the ridge."
The brothers each shared their understanding of the boys' adventure. James did not come out of the story looking good.
Jarrod sighed. "I don't know what to do," he said, "I can contain his impulses better at home. I don't know whether it's the romance of cowboy life, or the open range, or the lack of routine, but I just can't seem to get it into that thick skull of his that there are strict rules of behavior even on a ran . . . " He stopped and looked at Nick. "Say, Nick, you run this ranch, right?"
"What about it?" Nick replied.
"James wants to be a cowboy. He's on a ranch, you're the boss of that ranch . . . " Jarrod stopped and stared at Nick.
It took Nick a moment to understand what Jarrod was asking. "Oh, no! He's your kid. You discipline him!" he said, holding his palms up.
"But he's disobeying your rules," Jarrod reasoned.
"I think it's a great idea, Nick," said Heath. "We'll put him to work."
Nick groaned and shook his head, then said, "Let eat!"
Jarrod laughed. "That's your solution to everything, isn't it?" he said as the three walked to dining room.
When they entered the dining room, Jarrod announced, "Family? Hello!" and tapped a glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention. When the talking died down, he said, "I may be Pater Familias – for those of you who don't understand Latin, that means the official head of the family – but Uncle Nick here is the boss of this ranch and the master of this house. It is with great honor, therefore, that I offer my seat at the head of this table to him." With a bow and a dramatic sweep of his arm, he pulled the chair out for Nick.
Nick gave him a sidelong glance and sat down at the head of the table, opposite Emily.
Jane sat to Emily's right and whispered, "I think they're up to something," Emily shook her head slowly.
Dinner commenced as though this congregation dined together often; they did not. It was Victoria's death in old age that brought them together physically but it was their sense of family and belonging to each other that bonded them and made the atmosphere comfortable and content.
James and Daniel, together again at the children's table, compared notes on their meetings with their parents and agreed they got off easy. James was not surprised to hear Daniel wasn't going to be punished; after all, he thought, they only went through the gate, nothing worse than that. Daniel wasn't surprised to learn James had suffered nothing more than a lecture from his father.
Audra looked around and tried to imagine her own son sitting at the table with this family. He was a quiet, serious boy, now a young man, really, who would likely find a friend in Will. Audra looked at every person in the room. Her son would like every person in the room, she thought, but it was Heath who seemed most like her son: Quiet and pensive, rather a loner. Her son would be drawn to Heath, she thought. Like Heath, Charles, Jr. could be a lot of fun when he was relaxed and trusted the people he was with. He trusted her, she knew. She stopped a moment and considered how, long ago, she noticed he spoke less in the presence of his father. He didn't seem to be afraid of his father and she knew Charles never struck him. And yet, he would often shut down when his father was in the room. She had always assumed Charles, Jr. was afraid of disappointing his father but now, in a flash of clarity, she wondered if her son knew more than she thought he did. She felt a chill shoot through her body as she considered the possibility that her son knew what went on between his parents.
As dinner wound down and Julia got out of her chair and began visiting various grown ups seated around the table, Jarrod stood and called for a toast. They had toasted mother and grandmother each night and they had raised their glasses to toast themselves as family. Tonight, though, Jarrod proposed a toast to Grace "whose courage and skill brought her cousins home safely."
Everyone in the dining room stood and turned to Grace while they raised their glasses and gave her a cheer.
Then, while everyone was still standing, Jarrod added, "And to Daniel whose intelligence and ingenuity made the rescue possible," and then everyone turned to him, raised their glasses, cheered, and Daniel heard his brother, Tom, shout "Hear! Hear!"
Daniel could hardly believe it. Even his mother and father and his brothers stood and cheered for him. This was as good as his birthday but somehow different, somehow better. It was kind of embarrassing but it also felt good and he was proud of himself for doing the right thing today.
As the dinner party broke up and the teenagers were leaving the room, Jarrod walked over to his own son and said, "As for you, you disobeyed the three rules your Uncle Nick gave you and, as Uncle Nick is the boss of this ranch, I leave your punishment to him."
Jane shot an angered look at Jarrod. She had not been consulted about this and she would not have anyone hit her son. Jarrod ignored her. She was also very upset with what James had done and thought he needed to be disciplined, but by Nick? Sarah approached her, touched her arm, and whispered in her ear. Heath had told Sarah what the punishment was to be. Jane listened and then she smiled a little. She still thought she should have been consulted but she did not disapprove of the punishment.
James went numb with fear and could feel his backside sting already. His Uncle Nick and Uncle Heath stood by the doorway, and Uncle Nick yelled, "Into the barn, Boy! Now!" He gestured toward the barn with him thumb. Even Uncle Heath looked angry.
Daniel had stayed in his chair, watching and listening, trying to believe what was happening when his brother Will suddenly appeared next to him and said, "Come on, let's go play some poker!" Tom and Will had been teaching him the game and he proved to be a fast learner.
James made his legs move, even though the left one was starting to hurt, and started walking slowly towards his uncles. He had only gone a few steps when his father shouted to him, "March!" James walked outside, into the evening air, and over to the barn followed by his uncles, neither of them saying a word.