Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. No infringement is intended in any part by the author, however, the ideas expressed within this story are copyrighted to the author.

Nothing like a beautiful June day to make a man want to work outside until the stars make their appearance.

Nick's family was already seated around the table. He kissed his mother on the cheek, then walked to the sideboard where scrambled eggs sat in a covered pan. While the man heaped his plate with eggs, muffins, and bacon he greeted his siblings.

"Morning, Jarrod. Heath. Audra."

A chorus of good mornings followed Nick to the table. He set his plate down and reached for the salt and pepper shakers.

"Mother, don't expect to see me and Heath for lunch. I'll have Silas pack something for us. On a gorgeous day like this there's more than enough work on the Barkley ranch to keep us going clear to night fall. And speaking of night fall, don't plan on having supper too early. I doubt we'll be in much before eight."

Heath's eyes flicked to Victoria. The two of them exchanged glances Nick didn't see, while leaving Jarrod and Audra wondering what they were up to.

Victoria dabbed her mouth with a corner of her napkin. "You map out your day however you see fit, Nick. But Heath won't be going with you."

"What? What do you mean he won't be going with me?"

Never one to use eight words when four would do, Heath replied, "Just what she said."

"Well, just what she said made no sense. Mother, June is one of our busiest months what with cattle that need moving to fresh pastures, and fences that need mending, and calves that need branding, and horses that need breaking, and,....."

"Yes, dear, yes. I understand all that. Nonetheless; Heath is staying here with me today."

"Can I ask why?"

"You can. But really, Nicholas, it isn't important. It's simply how things are going to be."

Nick looked at Jarrod who shrugged his shoulders. He eyes shifted to Audra who raised an eyebrow and voiced her own confusion by shaking her head.

Nick knew better than to argue with his mother any further. It wasn't often she overruled how he dictated the ranch should be run, but when she did he bowed to her wishes.

The dark headed cowboy couldn't help but feel a little resentment when breakfast ended and he rose to begin his working day. Jarrod and Audra rose with him, but Heath simply sat with Victoria enjoying a third cup of coffee and another apple muffin.

Nick made his way to the corral, Jarrod and Audra at his heels. He leaned his arms over the top rail and watched the new stallion prance back and forth. The animal's hooves kicked up little clouds of dust with an almost merry glee, as though he knew what was happening and was teasing Nick about it.

The cowboy finally turned to his siblings, waving an irate hand. "Heath was supposed to break this stallion today among other things! What the hell is going on that would make Mother decide he needs to spend the day in the house?"

"Without further clues I can't answer that question, brother Nick," the ever-practical Jarrod stated. "You and Audra are around here during the day far more than I am. Perhaps if the two of you put your heads together you'll remember some recent occurrence that has led Mother to this decision."

"Occurrence, huh?" Nick said. "The only occurrence I know of is in regards to the money we're going to lose if this stallion isn't broken today. I have him sold, Jarrod! You know that's he's supposed to be ready to go,..."

"I got it!" Audra cried right in the middle of Nick's tirade. "The visitor!"

"Visitor?" Nick questioned.

"Yesterday. Remember? The young lady who came calling on Mother in the afternoon."

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Now I remember. Pretty little gal with the blue hat and big,.........shoes."

Jarrod bit back his laughter while Audra snickered at Nick's sexual innuendo.

"That's right, Nick.," the young woman agreed. "The blue hat and big shoes. That was her."

"Who was she?"

"I don't know. I was leaving for town just as she arrived. Mother never made mention of her visit when I returned."

"Mmm. That's odd."

"Odd indeed," Jarrod agreed. Generally their mother shared all happenings throughout the day with her family at the supper table each evening. "Was Heath in the house when this young lady stopped by?"

"No," Nick shook his head. "But come to think of it Silas did come get him. Said Mother wanted to see him about something for a few minutes."

"Perhaps this is a young lady from Heath's past."

"Oh, no," Nick moaned. "I hope to high heaven that isn't the case. Every time some woman from his past shows up we have to relive all the reasons why she dumped him, then he gets angry and tells her to hit the trail, then he winds up assisting her with whatever life threatening problem she has, then he winds up getting dumped again, and then we're the ones who have to help him mend his broken heart. Haven't we been through this enough? I mean, how do all these women keep tracking him down to begin with? He wasn't even using the last name of Barkley when they knew him." Nick slapped a hand against the fence railing. "Great! This is just great. A morose Heath is almost worse than a moody, silent Heath."

Audra twirled a strand of hair around her fingers. "I hope she doesn't need to borrow one of my dresses."

Jarrod looked at his sister. "Pardon?"

"My one-size-fits-all dresses. I hope she doesn't stay with us and need to wear one. You boys are forever bringing women here who don't know how to properly pack for a trip. My one-size-fits-all dresses are getting stretched out. Why, they're hardly a perfect 8 any longer like I am."

The men ignored their sister's whining. Jarrod pushed his hat back on his head and shook a finger. "You know, maybe this has something to do with Eugene."

"Eugene?" Nick questioned. "Who's he?"

"Our younger brother."

"But I thought our younger brother's name was Heath."

"Not that younger brother, our younger younger brother. The one younger than Audra."

"Oh," Nick nodded, as the light of day dawned. "Sure, I remember him. Skinny little guy, wavy hair, drew a paycheck but we never could find any real use for him."

"That's the one."

"How long has he been gone by the way?"

"He disappeared just a few months after Heath arrived."

"And you think Heath was the cause of that?"

"I don't know. But possibly Mother has discovered something the rest of us are in the dark about."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Say, you don't think,..."

"Think what?'

"Maybe Heath really is Mother's kid and it's Eugene who belongs to some other woman."

Jarrod rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that. I'm fairly certain Mother is well aware of who she's given birth to over the years."

"You're both so far off the mark it's ridiculous," Audra said. "Eugene left for one reason and one reason only."

"And that reason is?" Nick asked.

"When Heath came to stay we were short on bedrooms."

"Short on bedrooms! We've got a whole house full of bedrooms! As a matter of fact every time I turn around we've got bedrooms where we never had bedrooms before. They're just like the dining room. They keep moving, and disappearing, and then reappearing again in different places."

"I know it seems like we have a lot of bedrooms, Nick, but when you take into consideration how many people we invite to stay at our home in one week's time you can see where it could get to be a problem."

Nick gave a reluctant nod of his head. "I guess you're right. I suppose that Eugene fella mighta left us to go in search of a room he could call his own."

"Regardless," Jarrod said, "that doesn't change the fact that we don't know what's going on with Heath."

"I know! I know!" Audra jumped up and down in triumph at having her first original thought in longer than she could remember.

"You know what, little sister?" Jarrod asked.

"I bet some big, bad,......handsome man from Heath's past has shown up and is making threats against him. You know how that happens every other month or so. Or maybe some big, bad,.......handsome man who we know from years ago has come to call, but Heath really knows him from somewhere else and has told Mother all kinds of mean things about him that will make him go away before I have a chance to lose my virg,....."

Nick crossed his arms over his chest. "A chance to lose your what?"

"Nothing. Nothing. I wasn't going to say anything."

"I didn't think you were."

Jarrod cleared his throat. "With a brief amendment I will restate what I said earlier. Regardless of what Audra loses or doesn't lose, that doesn't change the fact that we don't know what's going on with Heath."

Nick met his brother's eye. "You're right, Jarrod. That doesn't change that fact. And I aim to do something about that right this minute."

The cowboy stomped toward the house, his spurs jangling with every step. Audra and Jarrod gave twin shrugs then followed.

Nick stopped short in the middle of the foyer. Heath was reclining against two pillows on the parlor sofa while Victoria read the paper to him. When Victoria caught sight of her children she simply shooed them away with a wave of her hand.

Jarrod never did go into his law office that day. Audra never went to the Mission Orphanage like she had planned, and Nick never wandered far from the ranch yard. Every time one of the them snuck into the house they found their mother catering to Heath's every whim.

That evening the family gathered around the dining room table for supper. Nick eyed his blond brother.

"I hope whatever it was that caused you to miss a day of work has passed and that tomorrow you'll be rejoining me."

Heath speared a piece of roast beef off his plate. "Yep."

"Yep? That's all you have to say after laying around all day with Mother waiting on you hand and foot Do you know how much money we lost because of your little vacation?"

"Yep."

Before Nick's temper erupted Victoria stepped in. "Nick, now just calm down. First of all it wasn't Heath's idea for him to stay in the house today, it was mine. And secondly, don't worry about any money that might have been lost because of his absence by your side. I have more than made up for it."

"Made up for it? How?"

Victoria smiled at her family. "Our new neighbor paid me a visit yesterday. A young woman by the name of Leanne."

"I saw her," Nick acknowledged. "Pretty little thing, nice hat, big .....shoes."

"I didn't have reason to look at her feet, but whatever you say, son. Anyway, it seems this Leanne is an author. A quite famous one at that. She and the women in her Writer's Guild have even penned stories about us."

"About us?" Jarrod questioned. "As a lawyer, I must point out to this Leanne that act could be a violation of copyright laws."

"Oh no, Jarrod, you don't need to concern yourself with that. Connor has already checked these matters out and has assured Leanne no violations are taking place."

"And just who is this Connor fellow?"

"I don't know. Some rancher from somewhere. Does it really matter?"

"It does if he's practicing law without a license."

"Is he handsome, Mother?" Audra asked, her eyes alive with possibilities. "Handsome, and tall, and single, and willing to help me lose my virg,...."

"Really, dear, you must get these impulses of yours under control. It isn't lady like. Now as I was saying, Leanne and her guild of ladies write stories about us. It seems Leanne is growing weary of Heath always being sick, injured, or mentally distraught in most of these stories."

"That's because he has been sick, injured, or mentally distraught almost every day since he came to live with us," Nick pointed out.

"True enough, son. True enough. Nonetheless, Leanne would like us to give her friends some new story lines to pen. Therefore, she issued a challenge."

"Challenge? What kinda challenge?"

"Leanne bet me two thousand dollars that Heath couldn't get through one day without some sort of bad luck befalling him that would result in him being flat on his back in bed. Now granted, some woman by the name of Marybeth did her best to convince Leanne that a number of the ladies like the thought of Heath flat on his back in bed," Victoria dropped her voice to a whisper, "and without a stitch of clothing on besides if you can believe that, but I have it on good authority this Marybeth person is about two steps from being sent away on a long vacation,.........a very long vacation if you get my meaning, but that's beside the point."

Victoria's voice rose to normal pitch. "So anyway, I took Leanne up on her challenge."

Jarrod grinned and slapped the table. "Mother, I always did say you had the business head in the family."

Nick smiled. "This will be the easiest two thousand bucks we ever made!"

"Do you think I could get a new one-size-fits-all dress with some of the money, Mother?" Audra asked. "One cut low across my bosoms, and then I could ask Leanne where Connor lives, and then I could go visit him, and then,..."

Victoria reached over and patted her daughter's hand. "We'll see, dear. We'll see." She smiled at her sons. "So now you know why I kept Heath in the house with me all day. I knew there was no way he could get hurt under my watchful eye."

"Good idea, Mother."

"Yeah, Mother. Great idea."

Heath blushed at all the attention he was getting in an indirect sort of way, then reached for another piece of pie.

The family sat around the table long after their desert plates were empty, each member contributing their thoughts on the best way to spend the money Leanne would have to deliver the next morning.

Heath was the first to stand. He gave an exaggerated stretch just to irritate Nick, yawned, and said, "Boy howdy, all this layin' around bein' waited on can sure tucker a fella out. I think I'll go on up to bed."

"Yeah, you get yourself a good night's sleep there," Nick growled. " 'Cause tomorrow it's gonna be business as usual."

Heath kissed Victoria and Audra, then said good night to his brothers. The family was just about to stand and convene to the parlor when they heard a powerful, 'thump, thump, thump,' accompanied by a strangled, "Ahhh!"

The Barkleys jumped to their feet and raced for the foyer where Heath lay in a huddled heap at the bottom of the wide staircase.

Nick slid to his knees and shook his brother's arm. "Heath! Heath, wake up! Heath, come on, it's worth two thousand bucks to us if you wake up! Come on, please wake up!"

"Oh, drat," Audra groaned, spotting the blood pouring from a gash on Heath's forehead. "There goes my new dress!"

"So much for easy profit," Jarrod sighed as he studied the odd bend to his brother's right leg. "We'll have to send someone for the doctor."

"No!" Nick looked up. "No! We can hide him! Yeah, that's what we'll do! We'll hide him until after Leanne leaves. Hide him in the attic! She'll never look there."

"Yes," Victoria agreed. "We can hide him up there, collect Leanne's money, then get the doctor out here once she's gone."

Jarrod and Nick plucked their unconscious brother from the floor, climbing the stairs on their way to the attic. From below they heard their mother call, "Oh, and boys?"

The men turned. "Yes?"

"As long as Heath's injured and will be flat on his back in bed, please make Marybeth happy by taking his clothes off."

"I thought you said she was the loony one," Nick stated.

"She is. But I'm getting tired of playing nursemaid for your brother every time he hurts himself. I do believe it's Marybeth's turn."

"Does she have big shoes?" Nick asked.

"Is she violating copyright laws?" Jarrod questioned.

"Does she know Connor?" Audra probed, while all Heath did was look pitiful and moan.

Victoria sighed. No matter how much she tried to change things, they always seemed to stay the same.