Twenty Two

The heat of the sun was offset by a gentle breeze blowing through the air. Nick and Ruth-whose dinner date had been set aside due to an emergency with one of the calves- had taken the first opportunity to make up for the lost meal; which meant having a noonday picnic the following day. Now the two sat on the dark red blanket that Ruth had laid out under a tree. The picnic basket that sat near the edge of the blanket was full of chicken, fruit and other miscellaneous items Silas had been nice enough to put together for them.

"Thank you," Ruth said as she finished a piece of chicken and stood up, walking to a nearby stream. "It's been ages since I enjoyed some down time as it were. You sure your mother and sister don't mind watching Timothy?" She was still struggling to remember to say Timmy and slipped into old habits.

Nick shook his head as he too stood up and followed her. "They don't mind at all; believe me, they don't." He went on to repeat everything he'd told her before; well, a shortened version of what she'd already heard. "If they can handle an orphanage full of father and motherless children, they can watch Timmy." Then, due to the fact that he could tell something was bothering Ruth, Nick reached up and the palms of his hands upon her shoulders. "What's up?"

Slowly the conversation she had with Audra repeated itself in her head. A part of Ruth wished the young woman had never brought the subject up; on the other hand, she was also grateful Audra had. It made Ruth ask herself, if she trusted Nick as much as she told her brother she did, why she hadn't she told him about the one time she had confided her secret to someone. "I've been honest with you when it comes to the details I've shared with you, but I haven't told you all the stories I could have. I left out one major story when it comes to our experiences." She sighed and admitted what Audra had asked, explaining the conversation had brought up a memory she'd just as soon forget.

It irritated Nick that Audra had asked such a question. What on earth made his sister think she had the right to ask such questions unless Ruth brought up the subject? He might have said what he was thinking only he found himself just as curious...and he hadn't started the conversation. "If you want to share the story you can, but…" he quickly added, not wanting to chase her away either, "you don't have to."

Ruth gave him a smile and chuckled slightly. She wasn't blind; she could see her comment had aroused Nick's interest. She couldn't get angry at him for it. After all, if someone had said the same thing to her, she'd want them to continue talking just as badly as Nick did-and he did want her to. She could see it.

"I wasn't quite seventeen when Timothy and I moved to Kansas. I met a woman by the name of Sarah Williams there." Ruth folded her arms as she gazed upon the water that ran past her. "Mrs. Williams had four children herself and, overall, was a pretty good woman. After a few months, I made the mistake of telling her the truth; that is, I told her Timothy was my baby brother not my child and that our parents were dead. I actually didn't say what my marital status was." Ruth's eyes grew hard and she spit out her next words. "She said she admired me for taking care of him so well and said I was right to have kept him with me." Ruth shook slightly as she continued talking. "However, one moment Timothy was with me, the next thing the local sheriff was taking him to the orphanage. They demanded to know who my next of kin was, only I wouldn't tell them." She turned and faced Nick, tears running down her face. "I ran off and hid in a nearby church. Later, around midnight, I snuck into the orphanage, grabbed Timothy and ran. They probably looked for us, but they never found us...we had already crossed the Kansas state line." She sighed, "Though," she shrugged her shoulders, "the one good thing I did back then was to call my brother Timothy Duncan. If they looked for us, they were handing out the wrong name."

While Nick understood a person's concern when it came to a young girl having to raise her brother by herself, it angered him to learn what Mrs. Williams had done. Mrs. Williams shouldn't have pulled the sheriff into it after saying what she had to Ruth. It was also rather humbling to realize that Ruth had put her trust in him in such a short time after being burnt like that. "After what you just told me, I'm not surprised you didn't say anything to Uncle Jim. In fact, it's amazing you didn't simply lay into me and tell me that you were your sister...and I simply had things wrong. I would have believed you." Nick told her as he took a step towards her.

Ruth remembered how she'd been tempted to do just that... to insist she was her sister and that he had things backwards. She also thought about the memory that had come back to her by the pond...the one of him in the hospital. "There was always something about you." She admitted as she turned back to the river even as Nick took another step-placing himself next to her. She then admitted she'd known from the first moment he stepped into Jim Barkley's house that she should know him. "But I couldn't place you and then Timothy took a shine to Heath. I turned my mind to keeping an eye on the two of them, fearing Timothy might say something to Heath...and what Heath would do if that happened."

"Heath wouldn't hurt that boy if his life depended on it; none of us would. No one's going to take Timmy from you if I or my family has any say in it." Nick assured her even as he reached out and, turning her around, pulled her to him in a very warm and secure embrace.