Chapter 4 –

Part 1

Whenever I'm feelin' down
Feelin' insecure
I like the way you come around
And offer me the cure
You know exactly what to say
The pieces fall in place
You make it all okay

Heather sat straight in her saddle on Eugene's horse. Jarrod had insisted that she keep it until Eugene got back. She of course had tried to refuse, but found that Jarrod was not as easily persuaded as Eugene. He had threatened to buy her a new horse if she didn't accept Eugene's offer. She could tell he was serious, he had the same gleam in his eye Heath would get when he was determined. A new horse would cause too much attention to be on her, a cover story was much easier concocted for her using Eugene's horse.

The cover story was that Eugene wanted Heather and the Sample children to take care of his horse in his absence, feed it, exercise it, rub it down and brush it. Oh, everyone knew he could have left it on the Barkley Ranch and it would have been taken care of fine, but this way it benefitted the Samples. Eugene's horse gave the children something to take their minds off their father's passing and Jarrod arranged to give Mrs. Sample some money for boarding the horse. Mrs. Sample never would have accepted the money any other way and Eugene got his wish for Heather to keep the horse.

So now, Heather was riding Eugene's horse with Audra riding her horse beside her. As soon as Audra had discovered that Eugene had left his horse with Heather, Audra insisted they go riding together sometimes. Heather didn't mind, she enjoyed Audra's company, and after recent events, she had to admit that she wasn't at her best. Watching Rachel be murdered, and herself being kidnapped, had messed with Heather a little bit, and she was still coming to grips with what had happened. Audra helped with this, even though she didn't know what had happened, Heather had only told her that she had left town because she found out her mother passed away, Audra always seemed to know what to say to cheer Heather up.

Audra and Heather pulled their horses to a stop as Audra pointed out a wild stallion. The wild stallion was a beauty, all black and both girls found joy just watching him run. They watched as he approached his group of mares, Heather counted twelve of them. They were all brown and white or various patterns and markings and he made a striking picture as he led them for a run across the plains. Heather and Audra took off after the herd as it ran off out of sight, they separated at this point. Audra rode down near the river in her pursuit of the herd, and Heather rode along the plains in the same direction, parallel to Audra. Neither of the girls aware that the herd had changed directions, and was now heading straight towards Audra

"Watch out!" A man's voice called out startling Audra.

Audra pulled her mount to a stop and turned to look at who was calling out. A man was riding towards her at full speed, yelling for her to watch out. Audra looked towards where the herd had disappeared out of sight, and saw that the herd had come back into view and was running full speed towards her and the man. The man tackled Audra out of the saddle and the two of them fell to the ground and rolled into the river.

Heather had heard the man yell, and had veered off her course in the direction of Audra. She had come in sight just as the man tackled her sister to the ground and the Black Stallion's herd came running past, spooking Audra's horse and the man's. Expertly Heather had caught the horses as they ran towards her and away from the stallion's herd. She had calmed them down and then brought them over to Audra and the man, whose friends had just ridden up. Audra walked over and mounted her horse as Heather dropped the reigns of the man's horse. Then with Audra voicing a goodbye the girls were off, Heather not thinking any more about the man.

When you show me you love me
I can do anything
You give me something to believe in
And you're everything I need

Heather stopped in at Jared's office, she had come into town to get supplies for Mrs. Sample. She dropped the order off at the General Store, greeting Melanie as she did. Melanie had responded with a tight smile and a promise to get everything together, her demeanor had softened since most everyone knew she was helping the Sample's out.

Jared was with the Sheriff when Heather arrived, so she waited in the lobby until they were done. She talked to Soong, Jarrod's Mandarin servant, for a few minutes and got the back story for why the sheriff was there. Harry Coleman was killed during the night, a group of masked men had demanded that he pay for "their protection." Soong told her that Harry Coleman hadn't been the only one, there were others and no one knew who they were.

After the Sheriff left, staring hard at her, after all everyone knew who she was and who she dated, Heather had greeted Jarrod, asking him to fill her in on Coleman's murder. Jarrod complied as she took a seat on a couch he had in the corner of his office. He sat down beside her and filled her in, she listened carefully as he told her Harry had come to them and asked for money. In the end Harry hadn't taken the money, he instead had gone back with the intention to refuse.

Heather frowned, "They hadn't killed anyone before now?"

Jarrod shook his head, "No, only one went to the sheriff he lost a barley field to fire and they fowled his well."

"They escalated, why?"

Jarrod shrugged, "They didn't like that he stood up to them?"

Heather shook her head, it's too much of an escalation, shooting him in cold blooded murder? It's more likely that Coleman recognized someone."

Jarrod nodded, "You might just be right, no matter now though, they've killed now, they won't hesitate to do it again."

"True." Heather lay her head on Jarrod's shoulder. "I'll keep an eye out for anyone or anything unusual and reach out to George and see if there is any more reports of this happening around the country. This doesn't sound like the first time they've done it."

Jarrod agreed and changed the subject to their family, filling her in on how Heath was doing. He wrapped an arm around Heather as she relaxed into his embrace and listened to his stories. They were interrupted by Nick barging into the lobby, hearing him Heather moved away from Jarrod and stood up, crossing the room. She hadn't seen Nick in a month, and wasn't looking forward to it now. Jarrod remained where he was, knowing that a confrontation was going to happen now.

Under the influence of what you got
Under the influence of what is true
I'm goin' higher than I've ever been
'Cause I'm under the influence of you
Under the influence what you give
Under the influence what you do
I'm goin farther than I've ever been
'Cause I'm under the influence of you

Nick barged in the office and spotted Heather right away. "What are you doing here?" He growled at her.

"We were talking about her ordeal last month," Jarrod spoke up before Heather could say anything.

Nick frowned, "Her ordeal?"

"A mad woman kidnapped me, when I went home after I found out my mother died." Heather replied. "Your brother was one of my rescuers and was filling me in on the case."

Nick just stared at her, while Jarrod confirmed her statement.

"I'll just be going now Jarrod, thank you for the information, let me know if I need to testify against her." Heather spoke up.

Jarrod nodded, "Where are you heading now?"

"The General Store, I left an order with Melanie for Mrs. Sample. I really need to get back, she'll want to go to Mr. Coleman's funeral and I'll need to watch the kids for her."

"Nick will help you." Jarrod said, seeing an opportunity to make them spend some time together.

"Now wait just a minute Jarrod." Nick ground out.

"I don't need help." Heather spoke up at the same time.

Jarrod wouldn't accept any arguments and Nick found himself accompanying Heather to the General Store. Melanie was happy to see Nick, but not happy to see him with Heather. She took comfort in knowing that he clearly wasn't happy to be there.

"Melanie, do you have to order for Mrs. Sample ready? Jarrod wanted me to help Heather with the supplies and I have other things that need to get done."

"Of course, Nick." Melanie replied coyly, smiling up at the handsome cowboy, and ignoring Heather.

Heather looked down at the ground, wanting nothing more than to get out of Nick's company, since he hated her so much. Nick asked her how she got to town and rolled his eyes when she told she walked in. He arranged it so that the supplies could be loaded on his horse and then he and Heather left town. He and Heather walked silently leading the horse to the Sample's.

"Just how did my brother become one of the people that rescued you?" Nick asked finally as they neared the Sample's place.

Heather blinked in surprise, she had expected Nick to ignore her the entire time. "Uh, It happened when he went to Strawberry with the proper authorities after your mother visited. She had caught a glimpse of me in the Hotel, and thought it was strange that I was there and mentioned it to Jarrod."

"Jarrod, went up to investigate my brother, Heath's Aunt and Uncle." Nick spoke up.

Heather nodded, "The Simmons. Mrs. Simmons had kidnapped me because I saw her murder Heath's Aunt Rachel."

Nick frowned and looked at her, "You know Heath?"

Heather smiled softly, "I grew up with Heath, I lost contact with him a long time ago though."

"Why haven't you contacted him?" Nick wanted to know.

"I don't want him to know how I live now, he deserves to be happy. I don't want to complicate that." Heather replied.

"And you would complicate things?"

"Oh yes, Mr. Barkley, I would." Heather responded firmly. "Besides do you really want him in contact with me? We both know you don't like me much."

Nick frowned, it was true, he hadn't liked her before, but now after spending some time with him he was starting to warm up to her. He was feeling a slight protect streak towards her, not understanding why exactly, maybe it was because she reminded him of Audra in some ways.

"It's not that I dislike you, I just dislike the company you keep, Heather." Nick finally said.

His comment fell flat to both their ears, but neither made any other move towards conversation. Nick greeted, Mrs. Sample, informed her of Harry's funeral, dropped off the supplies and left. Heather stared after him as he rode off wondering what in the world had just happened.

Something's coming over me
I like the way it feels
Becoming who I want to be
'Cause it's your love that heals
It's the way you understand
You know just who I am
I hold onto your hand

Audra and Heather walked into the Mercantile, Audra wanted to pick up supplies for Margaret Coleman. Heather immediately felt on edge as they walked in, her trained eyes picking up the large group of men in the room, and the one female. The female was talking to the same man that had saved Audra's life a few days earlier. Audra hadn't noticed him, and walked to the counter, staring grimly into space. The Barkley's were being accused of being the reason why Harry Coleman had been killed, because they had told him to stand up to the masked men. Heather walked along side Audra, ignoring the men, as she too stood at the counter, waiting for their turn to be helped.

The man walked over and addressed Audra, "Looks like you recovered."

Audra looked over and smiled, "Oh, yes. No ill effects at all. And you?"

The man smiled, "Never felt better."

"I was going to look for you, my mother would like very much to thank you." Audra told him softly.

The man shook his head and stammered, "I…I'm…I'm not much of a hand at being thanked."

Heather observed the scene unfolding in front of her carefully. It was clear that her half-sister liked the man very much and she wasn't sure she liked it. The group of men made her feel uncomfortable, but there was no sign that anything was amiss. She didn't like how they both were ignoring her existence at the moment either, not that she could blame them for being in their own world, they were both obviously attracted to each other.

"I think she'll understand that." Audra told the man.

"Reckon she would if she was anything like you," the man told Audra, making Audra blush a little.

Heather looked over and noticed a young woman with dark hair staring at Audra and the man. She knew immediately that the woman was jealous of the attention the man was giving Audra. She filed the information away in the back of her head, and turned to the owner of the mercantile as he walked up. She exchanged a few words with him, as he set out Audra's order.

The owner addressed Audra, "I've got the order all ready for you Miss Audra. Got the buggy outside?"

Audra shook her head, "Just my and Heather's horses."

The owner shook his head, "Might be a little too much for the 2 horses."

The man spoke up, "But not for three, where do you live?"

Audra stared at the man, "Oh, it's not for me it's for the Coleman's."

Heather noticed a slight change in the man's face but couldn't pinpoint what it was. Something about the name Coleman had caused the reaction, but what about it. Was it because he heard about the tragedy? Impressed that she was taking supplies to them? Or was there something else there.

Audra continued to talk, explain who the Coleman's were to the man, "That's the man that was shot the other night. I'm just taking a few things over to his family."

"That's a…that's very thoughtful of you." The man picked up some of the supplies and carried them out as Heather grabbed the rest. Audra followed behind the man who turned abruptly and said, "I guess we forgot to introduce ourselves, I'm Lloyd Gardiner."

"Audra Barkley, and this is my friend Heather Thompson." Audra replied, gesturing to Heather who was behind her.

Heather nodded politely as Audra introduced her. She noticed the look of Lloyd's face and the reaction of the man standing beside Lloyd. The man beside Lloyd smiled and laughed a little and walked away, like there was some kind of inside joke. Lloyd just stared at the man as he turned and led the way back. Heather continued to ignore the group as she followed them out, wondering just what it was about the group that set her hackles off.