STREETS OF LAREDO by Opal Girl Starring:

Heath Barkley

Johnny Lancer

Clay Culhane

Nick Barkley

1877 Nick 29 Heath 25 Scott 30 Johnny 26 Teresa 22

1869 Heath 18 Johnny 20 Clay 26

 

LANCER RANCH, SPANISH WELLS, CALIFORNIA 1877    “Heath, you are going to love this place!” the dark-haired cowboy enthused as they rode under a white stone arch with the name Lancer written on it.  “Murdoch Lancer’s a good friend of Father and Mother; he knew them from around the time I was born.”   “That long,” mumbled the blond cowboy wryly.  He was riding slightly behind his brother, his neck swiveling around to take in the lush fields and rolling hillsides and the foreground dominated by the a large white Spanish hacienda.  A good looking operation, he thought, everything neat and tidy.  ‘Not as pretty as home.’   Home.  Stockton, the Barkley ranch, not Strawberry.  He’d been living with his father’s widow and their children for almost a year now, and he no longer thought of Strawberry as anything other than the place his mama was buried.    As his eyes swept the fields, he caught sight of the reason for their trip to the southern San Joaquin Valley.  Palominos.  Nick was set on obtaining a pair for Audra’s birthday in two months, a colt and a mare.  Murdoch Lancer’s son John raised the golden horses.  While his father and brother, Scott, concentrated on raising cattle, Johnny’s attention was focused on horses.  Heath had never cared for the color himself - he thought them too flashy - but he knew that his beautiful blonde sister would look like a princess perched on one.    His attention was pulled back to the house as he and Nick came to the front door.  Before they could  dismount, it was thrown wide open by a very tall gray-haired man.  “Nick!” he cried, his arms opened wide to embrace the slightly shorter younger man in a bear hug.  “Let me look at you boy,” he held the dark-haired cowboy at arm’s length and looked him up and down, “It’s been how long? Three or four years since I last saw you?”    “Three years,” Nick confirmed, nodding his head.  He stepped back and swept his hat from his head. Turning slightly, he gestured with it to his companion. “Come here, Heath; meet Murdoch.”    The blond man stepped forward, extending his hand.   “Mr. Lancer.”   “Aw now, Heath, it’s Murdoch; all my friends call me Murdoch.”  He gripped Heath’s hand and looked at him as critically as he had Nick.  “Yes, I do see the resemblance.”    Heath ducked his head slightly.  While he was usually pleased when people commented on his resemblance to Tom Barkley, he never really knew how to respond.  So he said nothing, but he did allow a small grin to grace his face.   “Come inside.  Teresa’s waiting to greet you.”   Murdoch Lancer ushered his guests into the great room of the hacienda, “Teresa!”  He indicated with a wave of his hand a coat rack upon which Nick and Heath could hang their hats.  “Teresa!” he called again, stopping abruptly as the petite woman came into the room with a tray of sandwiches.  “There you are.  Nick, you remember Teresa.  Heath, this is Teresa O’Brien, my ward.”   Heath’s sky blue eyes brightened and his smile grew wide.  Teresa O’Brien was only a year or two younger than he, with long, dark, curly hair hanging almost to her waist.  “Hello Nick, Heath,” she said in slightly husky voice, looking up at each of them in turn.     “Look at you,” Nick whistled softly in appreciation, “Last time I saw you, you were just a little girl.”  He walked around the woman, looking at her from all sides.    “Nick, she’s not a prize heifer we’re buying,” Heath said shaking his head at his brother.  “If this is how you treat women, it’s no wonder you’re still unmarried.”    “Thank you, Heath,” Teresa said.  “Sometimes all these men forget I am a woman and not a part of their herd.”    “I would never think of you as part of any herd,” Heath promised.  “You’re a one of a kind.”  The two older men laughed at the blond’s show of interest in the young woman.  Heath reddened. “I mean I would never think of you as a cow . . . I mean . . .”   Murdoch came to his guest’s rescue.  “He means you’re beautiful and we shouldn’t be taking you for granted, and he  couldn’t be more correct.”  He put his arm around his ward’s shoulders and turned her towards the kitchen of the house. “We’re going to visit for a little bit, eat your delicious sandwiches, and then hopefully, Scott and John will be here.”      Following their lunch, Murdoch showed his two guests to their adjoining rooms on the second floor of the hacienda.  After washing up, Nick opened the door between his and his brother’s rooms.  Leaning against the door frame, he watched Heath hang his shirts and spare pair of pants in the armoire.  “Told you that you would like this place,” he said with a knowing smile.   “You said I’d like this place, you didn’t tell me there was a beautiful woman living in it.”   “I’d forgotten she was so pretty.”   Heath snorted at this.   “She was only sixteen years old last time I saw her, just a little girl.  I’ve known her almost her entire life.  She was like Audra, just another girl,” Nick said in defense.  “The last time I saw her was at Father’s service.”   Heath nodded at this; he could understand how Nick could have let a pretty girl get by him at that time.  “What happened to her parents?”   “They’re both dead.  Her mother died years ago when she was an infant, I think, and her father died seven, almost eight years ago.  He was killed the winter before Father died.”   “It was good of Lancer to take her in.”   “Her father was foreman here.  Paul O’Brien.  He and Murdoch really raised Teresa alone since her mother’s death.”   “Well, she grew up with Murdoch’s sons, no?  She wasn’t the only child here.”   “No, she was the only child.  It’s a long story.  His sons were raised in different parts of the country and didn’t come here until they were grown.  I’ll tell you more later.  Right now, we need to get back downstairs.  Murdoch’s waiting for  us.”     When Nick and Heath returned to the great room, they discovered that Scott Lancer had returned home.  “Heath,” he said, his deep voice cool and formal, shaking hands with the newest Barkley brother.  “I’m very pleased to meet you.”    Heath smiled and nodded to the blond Lancer son.  Scott’s greeting to Nick was warmer, “Nick, it’s so good to see you again.  I was hoping to get away to Stockton for Audra’s party, but it seems the cattle market has other ideas.”   Nick laughed.  “We should be concentrating on the summer round-up too, but Audra’s birthday comes first this year.”  He accepted a tumbler of whiskey from Murdoch Lancer.  “She’s turning twenty; Mother has planned a huge dance and we have been informed that we will all be there no matter what.”  He looked up as Teresa entered the room.  “I hope the cattle market doesn’t keep you away from Audra’s party.”   “Since no one has told me that I’m to be sold this year, I hope to be able to get to Stockton.”   “I can come and make certain you get there safely,” Heath offered. “We’ll make sure she gets there safely, Thomson.”   All eyes turned to the doorway. Heath straightened his back and drew his shoulders taut. “Madrid.”    go to page 2