My apology...to those who read "Chapter Nine"...I put this chapter in Ch 9's place without realizing it. I have put the right contents in Ch 9 now.

Chapter Ten

Previously:The rest of the afternoon the three enjoyed a pleasurable enough visit, though by the end of the outing Heath was no closer to knowing just what Ruth and Timothy was hiding. Knowing Nick was interested in Ruth, Heath wondered if Nick could, somehow, get some information…without tripping over his two feet doing it.

~oOo~

Unbeknownst to Heath, while he was doing his best to be friendly with Timothy and Ruth, Nick was heading to the telegraph office. He would've been riding with Jim back to the ranch only an innocent comment Nick had overhead while he and Jim were looking at the horses Jim was interested in had stirred a long forgotten memory…one-like many- Nick had only wanted to forget after he'd returned home from the war. He might have missed the comment only the ranch hand who had made it wasn't but a few feet away from Nick. Now, with the memory in the front of his mind, Nick was getting an uncomfortable feeling that he knew at least one reason for Jim's niece's unease. Only, for his uncle's sake, Nick would check to make sure he was remembering correctly before he pushed the issue with Ruth.

"Why hello, Nick," the telegraph officer looked up from his desk. He'd heard Nick was in town and had hoped to see him, as he, his wife and Nick had been friends for a number of years. "Good to see you again. What can I do for you?"

Nick smiled at his friend. "Good to see you too, Curtis. I need to send a telegram to Tennessee." He wasn't surprised by the shocked look that appeared on Curtis' face. The two of them had often talked about the desire to forget the past and neither one of them had much dealing with the southern states because of it; even if they didn't hold any ill will against them.

"Anything wrong?" Curtis asked his curiosity peaked.

"Just checking to see if my memory's serving me correctly on something is all," Nick answered even as he fought the urge to simply go and demand Ruth verify the memory for him.

Knowing Nick as well as he did, Curtis figured Nick had made an impulsive bet with someone and was now hoping he was right so he wouldn't have to pay any money out to whoever he'd made the bet with. He handed Nick some paper and pencil to Nick, telling him to write his messages on the paper.

Nick thought for a moment, not wanting to write anything that would get Curtis' curiosity up enough for the man to actually act on it. After all, if Nick was right, he wanted Ruth to explain things first. Within a few minutes, the telegram had been sent and Nick was heading back to the ranch. He'd instructed Curtis to simply send any reply out to the ranch as soon as he got it…but to restrict its delivery to him only.

~oOo~

"Know when Heath, Ruth and Timothy are going to be back?" Nick, who had been back at his uncle's ranch for a half hour, stood inside Jim's barn talking to his uncle's foreman, a forty-year-old, salt and peppered haired, cowboy by the name of Joe Stapleton.

"Should be back soon," Joe answered as he finished stacking some hay in the far left hand corner of the barn. "That brother of yours wanted to be back in time to help us with some branding we have to get done." He then went on to say how much he appreciated Heath's help that morning, and how impressed the other hands were when it came to Heath not allowing his prosthetic leg to stop him from working on a ranch…as they knew many men who would have simply given up.

"He's not just any other man." Nick smiled and then asked Joe if he, or any of Jim's hired hands, had been around when Ruth and Timothy arrived.

Not being the kind to repeat things, Joe hesitated. His hesitation didn't surprised Nick, but it also told him someone had been with Jim Barkley when his guests arrived. "Please, just answer my question." He assured the foreman.

"You think she's lying about who she is?" Joe asked, not liking that idea at all.

Nick, who had just finished looking through a small portion of Jim's family album, after having gotten his uncle's permission upon returning to the ranch, answered. "She's Patience's daughter." He, for once, chose his words carefully. "She's the spitting image of her mother at that age. Please, just tell me what you heard, or saw, when she and the boy got here. I," Nick decided to tell Joe just enough to satisfy the man's curiosity. "I'm just interested in her and want to make sure that, for once, I don't jump before I look."

Joe, who knew Nick well, stared in shock. The hot tempered rancher was looking at a pretty woman and NOT reacting first? Joe had to bite his tongue from teasing Nick, who had to hold in a chuckle of his own-due to the comical look that had appeared on Joe's face. Joe scratched the back of his head and leaned against the corral. "I don't know a whole lot, really," he said as he glanced towards the house and back at Nick, "I was in the living room talking to Jim when the knock on the door came. He opened it and stared at her and the boy, like he was seeing ghosts." Joe shrugged his shoulders and continued. "She said 'Uncle Jim?', and he practically whispered 'Ruth' then he practically shouted her name with joy and started talking a mile a minute as he showed her in. I didn't hear much after that. I couldn't; I had work to get back to."

Joe hadn't heard much…Nick, who was taking time to think for a change, asked, "What else did you hear?"

Joe chuckled inside. Nick really had to be interested in the woman if he was asking for as much information as he could get. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders. "As I headed out the door, Jim was talking about his brother-in-law and sister-in-law and all that he, Jim, had been told after that war. Ruth didn't say all that much really. Well, not that I heard anyway."

Nick thanked Joe and then bade him goodbye, saying he was going back into the house.

Joe broke in a grin once Nick had his back to him. 'It's about time someone came along that not only catches your eyes, but makes you stop and think for a change.' Joe then turned his attention to the work that was waiting for him.