Chapter Thirty One

Previously: Kyle, recovering from his shock, pulled his pistol out from his holster. "That boy and his sister are costing me a lot of money. Now, either tell me where the boy went, or I will kill you!"

Heath lifted his head and, glaring at the man, replied in quiet even tone, "Never,"

~oOo~

Nick pushed Coco forward as fast as he could; the men with him did the same. He kept asking the man upstairs to help him, McColl and the others to get to Heath before anything else happened to him. After all, it was bad enough that his half brother had to live life with half his leg missing; Heath didn't need any more bad things to happen to him. And, truth be told, Nick's heart-like the rest of the family's-now had Heath's fingerprints all over it. However, the moment he and the others heard a shot ring out, they pushed their horses even harder.

The old Mills place had no sooner came into view that Nick saw a stranger who fit the description of Ruth's uncle, with a pistol in his hand standing over Heath, who was lying on the ground. Nick's heart dropped into his stomach, as he did not know if the stranger had actually killed Heath. However, he didn't wait to find out. In no time at all, he had pulled his rifle, aimed it at the stranger and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the man in the side of the head, making it so he dropped to the ground dead before he knew what had hit him. Barrett and the other men, who were shocked beyond measure to see Nick and the others riding towards them, scattered though, it did no good. Before Barrett could count to ten McColl, who was closer than him, had jumped off his horse and tackled Barrett to the ground; McColl yelled for Nick to go see how Heath was. He needn't have bothered yelling the request though; Nick was already kneeling beside Heath.

"You no good low life…" McColl said as he pelted Barrett with his fists as he added a few choices words onto everything else he was saying. By the time McColl was through with Barrett the man lay on the ground with multiple broken bones and unable to move. "You're lucky I didn't simply hold you for Nick; he'd probably have killed you without a second thought!" McColl spat as he wiped the blood for his lip and hollered for some of the men to fix something up so they could transport Barrett back to town and back to the law. In the meanwhile Nick was desperately trying to get Heath, who had indeed been shot by Kyle, to respond to him.

"Heath!" Nick cried out again as he knelt beside his blonde haired brother and saw blood on the side of his brother's shirt. He was relieved to see Heath open his eyes.

"Thought for sure I'd never see you again; well, not in this life anyway I didn't." Heath threw Nick a crooked smile. "What took you so long?"

Nick did his best to smile, as he hollered at one of the men to give him, Nick, something to stop Heath's bleeding. It was a request that was quickly fulfilled. "Guess I'm just kind of slow. Let's get you home and patched up."

"Kyle Randall, Barrett…" Heath tried to turn his head.

"Randall's dead and," Nick glared at Barrett who still laying unmoving, "Barrett will be going away for a long time. Now, like I said, let's get you home." Nick answered, grateful his brother was still alive; he prayed he would stay that way.

(Six months later)

Heath, who had been confined to his bed longer than he would have liked, now stood in a room in the church building watching Nick trying to get his tie straightened out. He still would have liked to have seen his brother and Ruth court a full year before even getting engaged let alone married; however, he wasn't going to say that to them. It was like he told Timothy, the only choices he had the right to make were his own. Besides, he had to admit that he'd never seen Nick happier and-like Timothy pointed out-Ruth's eyes were smiling brightly now. Maybe, in time, any doubts anyone might have concerning this marriage would be proven wrong.

"Need any help?" Heath asked as he fought to keep a huge grin off his face; his brother looked so comical trying to get the tie just right.

Nick growled and then accepted. "I kind of wish we'd just eloped; we thought about it, but we'd already promised not to do that as long as no one gave us problems."

Heath didn't doubt his brother in the least. He couldn't say he blamed the two for still contemplating running off either; weddings were such a hassle. Maybe, when the day came that he was ready to settle down, he'd have to discuss elopement with whoever he wound up proposing too. "Too late now," Heath chuckled as he did Nick's tie up for him. "You're stuck with putting up with the wedding ceremony."

Heath chuckled again when Nick growled softly and then started laughing along with him. "To be honest, Heath, as long as Ruth doesn't change her mind and run out on me, I'll live with it just fine." Nick smiled and then proceeded to make his way to the chapel. Soon he and Heath were standing off to the side of Reverend Stacy, while Jarrod walked Ruth up the aisle.

Epilogue (Four years later)

The Barkleys front lawn was once again filled with guests from all over the valley. This time it was because Nick and Ruth-who had a three year old daughter by the name of Rose Marie- had now been blessed with a set of fine, healthy twin boys, Nicolas James and Nathanial Victor. Due to the fact that Ruth was *Methodist, Nick…who refused to have his wife go to church alone…had been attending church with her since the beginning of their marriage, and they'd just had the twins baptized. All of the Barkleys were there…Jarrod and Laura; Dr. Merar's daughter who was now Jarrod's fiancé, Audra and her husband; she' d married Will Marvin and was expecting their first child, along with Eugene; who had married a young woman by the name of Camilla Johnson, and was living in New York. The couple had traveled to California to see the twins baptized.

"Boy howdy, brother, if you keep pulling stunts like this, the rest of us won't have to worry about populating the earth." Heath walked up to Nick, who was sitting on a lawn chair holding a baby in each arm. Ruth had had to take Timothy into the house to tend to a cut he'd received when he and another teenage boy had collided with each other while Nick's young daughter played nearby with her doll.

Nick laughed and grinned from ear to ear as Heath sat down and took one of the twins from him. "I doubt I'll have to worry about that; it's not like twins run rapid on either side of our families." Then, because he could tell something was bothering Heath, he told him to spit it out. "Don't need this day spoiled wondering what's up." Nick told Heath as he, Nick, looked at the babies and then back at Heath.

"Are you happy, really happy?" Heath had wondered for a long time, even there were no signs of discontent in his brother's marriage.

Nick didn't answer at first; he was too busy letting a memory from just a few days before he and Ruth found out she was expecting for a second time run through his mind.

Nick and Ruth's laughter rang through the air as he and she had an early morning pillow fight. They'd been joking around with each other and, before he knew it, Ruth had hit his side with her pillow. It hadn't taken him long to get the pillow away from her and pin her against the wall. "You're just as beautiful and special to me as the day we married; you know that?" Nick growled low as he started kissing her.

"Only one difference," Ruth whispered as she pulled back just enough to look into his eyes.

"What's that?" Nick asked slightly confused.

"I'm hopelessly and madly in love with you." Ruth answered softly as she gazed into his eyes.

A smile spread across Nick's face, one that went from ear to ear as he remembered how he'd swept her up into his arms and carried her to their bed. "Yes, I am and, someday, I hope you find someone just as special as Ruth." Nick answered just as Ruth approached them.

"Maybe someday," Heath said as he looked towards a young red headed woman name Teresa, who had just moved to Stockton and made friends with the Barkleys, and was standing near Victoria. He then handed the infant in his arm to Ruth and then excused himself, leaving Nick with his family.

~oOo~

A/N
A/U One of my online friends did some research for me. The only faith in Stockton at the time of the Barkleys that believed in infant baptism at the time was the Catholics. Only thing is…I KNOW Ruth wasn't Catholic. So, in this AU, the Methodists have a small congregation in the town and, while not all Methodists believe in infant baptism, this congregation does.