A/N This is definitely AU…as I've changed some major-and I mean MAJOR... facts.

Chapter One

It was almost ten at night before Jarrod opened the front door of the Barkley home. He'd been in court most of the day, and had to finish some work in his office. Though, with the case he'd been fighting-and just won-he was ready to unwind and relax. However, it was not to be the case as he saw his mother sitting in front of the fireplace. She looked more than unsettled. What on earth had happened?

"Mother?" Jarrod set his briefcase down on the small table that stood just inside the front room and hurried over to Victoria, putting his hand on her shoulder as he stopped by the chair she sat in.

"I can't believe it. After all these years…." Victoria repeated, still feeling the shock of the words Fred Madden had repeated a few hours before.

"Believe what?" Jarrod, not liking being confused…and confused he was.

Victoria turned her head slowly, and then looked up at Jarrod. "Fred came by earlier. You best sit down."

Sit down? Jarrod's concern rose as he took his hand off his mother's shoulder and wasted no time in pulling another chair over by the fireplace. "What is it?"

"Do you remember when you were five? How your father left here intent on inspecting the Strawberry mine? How…" her voice cracked.

"He never came back." Jarrod sighed as he thought on the father he barely remembered. "You and Uncle Jim traveled to Strawberry only to find out the mine had collapsed. The hotel owners, Matt and Martha Simmons said they didn't know all the men in the mine and weren't sure if Father was doing his inspection at the time it collapsed. However, they were adamant that, mostly likely, he'd been killed in the mine". Jarrod stiffened as his mother's words 'after all these years…' repeated themselves in his ears.

"You're not saying Father is alive?" The thought appalled him-simply because he thought that meant his father had purposely deserted his family.

"I, Fred doesn't know for sure. However," Victoria regained her composure. "If Fred is right, your Father did not simply walk away from us. However, before I say anything else I have to ask you…how will the law look at the marriage your Uncle Jim and I had before he was killed by the railroad? What will it mean for Audra and Gene?" Victoria had loved Jim just as fiercely as she had Tom. She hated the idea that, in the eyes of law, the two of them had lived together without a legal marriage.

Still in shock, Jarrod didn't answer for a moment. After what seemed like an eternity to Victoria-it was actually just under a minute, Jarrod-who had been leaning forward-sat up straight. "You waited seven years before you had Father declared legally dead and then married Uncle Jim. Your second marriage is as valid as the first one was which means Audra and Eugene are as legitimate as Nick and I are. However, if Father's alive and the two of you wanted to be man and wife again, you'd have to reaffirm your vows. Now, why don't you tell me everything?" He wasn't surprised to see a huge amount of relief appear in his mother's eyes. Leaning forward, confusion once again appeared in his eyes. "Why does Fred think Father's alive?"

Victoria turned her attention back to the orange flames dancing up and down in the fireplace. "The Simmons and a friend of theirs bought the mine after it collapsed, had it worked on and then opened it back. Only it seems like Martha Simmons has been arrested—as it has come out she's been pulling one illegal stunt after another over the years when it comes to that mine. Fred said he was in that area helping a friend when she was arrested and was asked to go help haul her to prison-along with her partner in crime, one Mr. Phelps." She looked away from the fire and back to Jarrod. "Fred says he met a blonde haired gentleman while he was in Strawberry that could have passed for your father at the time the mine collapsed. He talked with the gentleman for a couple of minutes. He didn't learn much of anything-as the young man was very busy with his work." Victoria paused and then shocked Jarrod when she said, "Fred said the young man's was Heath Thomson."

Heath…Jarrod stiffened. The name his mother and father had given the son that had been born when Jarrod was two years old only to die a few months later. "He didn't see Father though?"

Victoria looked back at the fire. "No, but as Martha Simmons was being forced into the prison wagon, she kept demanding to know who had given the evidence to the law. He said that, as the prison wagon was being driven away, she yelled 'Don't tell me! It's that amnesiac brother-in-law of mine or his blonde haired brat, isn't it! Now since Leah's dead, they'd do anything to get rid of me!"

"That doesn't mean she was talking about Father or this Heath he met." Jarrod said, and then added that surely Mrs. Simmons would have known if her brother-in-law was really Tom Barkley the mine owner. "It doesn't make sense. If Father is alive, living with amnesia, why wouldn't the Simmons tell him?"

Victoria stood up and walked over to the hearth. Her son had a valid question, only she didn't have the answer. However, she had to know. "Will you go to Strawberry?" She turned away from the fire and looked at Jarrod. "Don't tell Nick why you're going. He'll want to go with you, and I don't need him losing his temper down there before you get a chance to find out if Fred is right. If he is, you can get some answers before you have to play referee."

Jarrod chuckled. His mother sure knew her children well. "I'll leave first thing in the morning." He headed for the foyer only to turn back to his mother. "You haven't told Gene or Audra either, have you?"

"No," Victoria sat back down, rubbing the brown arms of the chair as she did so. "There's no need to right now. You just said my marriage to your Uncle Jim was valid, and they're legitimate. No, just go and find out if Fred's right or not."

Jarrod nodded and walked out of the room, struggling with the emotions now running throughout his entire being. Though, as he climbed the stairs, he had to chuckle again…as his mother's reason for sending him alone again rang in his ears.

A/N What Jarrod says to his mother in this chapter-concerning the marriages-may not be accurate for California. The person I asked said laws vary from state to state, so I just went their suggestion.