They Also Serve
They also serve who only stand and wait. John Milton
Spring 1878
Chapter 1
(Italics below indicate matter from the TV episode)
Victoria heard a door close, then footsteps, and she knew something terrible was about to happen. From everything that had happened over the last few days – especially today – she knew.
She hurried out of her room and found Jarrod heading down the stairs. He was dressed in casual clothes and his coat, wearing his sidearm, and carrying his bedroll and saddlebags. She panicked.
"Where are you going, Jarrod?" she said.
He continued down the stairs with her after him. "After Hyatt," he said.
"But you don't know where he is!" Panic growing.
"I'll find him."
Victoria almost had to run to keep up with him, only able to get her hand on his back, nothing more. "Jarrod, if Cass Hyatt did kill Beth – "
"He killed her," Jarrod cut her off and headed for the library.
Victoria couldn't keep up with him. She tried to get closer to him. "All right, say he did and you kill him, then what?"
Jarrod threw his bedroll and saddlebags onto the pool table and went straight to the gun rack. "I'll turn myself into the nearest lawman."
"And ruin your life!"
Jarrod took down a rifle. He turned on her fast. "All the life I had went into that grave this morning."
"That's not true! You think it is, you believe it but it is not true!"
Jarrod went back to the pool table with the rifle and a box of shells, and he began to load the rifle.
"Oh, Jarrod, I know the emptiness you must be feeling, but killing Cass Hyatt is not going to fill that emptiness! It will still be there!"
"There's no use talking about it." Jarrod kept loading the rifle.
Panic rising higher, faster. She pounded the pool table. "There HAS to be! Somehow I have to make you understand that you're throwing away everything you ever stood for, as a man and as a lawyer! The things Beth loved you for and married you for!"
"Let me handle this," Nick's voice came from the doorway.
Jarrod took a moment to look up at him but then went back to loading the rifle.
"You go on upstairs, Mother," Nick said. "Please."
Victoria headed for the door. Nick put a hand on her shoulder as she passed him and continued on, back upstairs to her room, as Nick had asked.
And then the panic began to roll over her uncontrollably. She knew her firstborn. She knew there was no way to change his mind about going after Hyatt. Nick was going to have to hurt him, punch him out completely, to keep him in this house, but then as soon as he woke up he'd try to leave again. Of all her sons, Jarrod was the most relentless when he was determined to do something. Stopping him was nearly impossible. He would keep at it and keep at it and never stop.
Victoria paced but only for a few minutes, and then she was back out the door, heading downstairs. She met Heath in the hall. He was pulling his shirt on. "I heard the racket and when I checked nobody was up here – what's going on?" he asked.
Victoria was bordering on frantic. "It's Jarrod! He's going after Hyatt and nothing I could say would stop him!"
They ran down the stairs. "Where's Nick?" Heath asked.
"They're in the library," Victoria said. "Nick's trying to stop him."
They hurried to the library together – and found Nick laid flat out on his back on the floor. Jarrod was gone.
Heath bent beside Nick. "Nick? Nick?"
"Oh, my God," Victoria said.
"How long ago did you leave them down here?" Heath asked.
"Only a few minutes."
Heath stood up and headed out the door Jarrod had left open. "See if you can wake him up," Heath said. "I'll try to stop Jarrod."
As Heath went out the door, Victoria went for the pitcher of water on the refreshment table. As she did, Silas came in. "Mrs. Barkley! What's happening?" he asked, pulling on his jacket.
"Silas, get a clean cloth!" Victoria said as she poured water into a glass.
Silas saw Nick on the floor and pulled a clean handkerchief out of his pocket. He handed it to Victoria, who immediately put it in the glass of water, then bent and bathed Nick's face, trying to bring him around.
"What else can I do?" Silas asked.
"Get some provisions together for Nick and Heath, enough for four days. Hurry, please, Silas!"
Silas left for the kitchen right away.
Heath came back in. "I couldn't catch him. He's already gone." He bent beside Nick and his mother. "We gotta bring Nick around before I go after him."
"Please, both of you go after him," Victoria said.
"That'll delay me more, Mother, waiting for Nick to get his senses back."
Victoria looked at Heath with tears streaming down her face. "You didn't see him, Heath. You didn't see Jarrod. He's going to kill Hyatt, and I'm afraid he's going to kill anyone who stands in his way. If you go after him alone, he could kill you."
"Come on now, Mother. You know Jarrod won't hurt me."
"No? Look at what he's done to Nick!"
Heath put his hand on her hand as she tried to bathe Nick's face to bring him around. "I got Ciego saddling my horse. I'll go see he saddles Nick's, too. Can you ask Silas to get some food together for us?"
"He already is."
"All right. I'll go see Ciego. If Nick's not hurt too bad, maybe he'll be awake by the time I get back. I'll get our guns and ammunition together while he wakes up, and we'll head to Stockton. Jarrod has to go there first and he'll have to ask around for information. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch him there." Then he stood up again and saying, "You look after Nick," he went back outside again.
Victoria continued to bathe Nick's face with the cool cloth, but Heath was coming back through the door before Nick started to stir.
"Oh, damn – " Nick moaned before he even opened his eyes, but then suddenly his eyes flew open. He remembered what had happened.
"Don't get up too quickly," Victoria said.
Nick let his mother and brother help him sit up. "He slugged me before I even had a chance to see it coming," Nick moaned.
"I'm getting the horses saddled and Silas is putting some food together for us," Heath said. "You think you can get up yet?"
Nick stood, wobbly, his mother and brother flanking him to keep him upright. Nick gave his mother a light hug and a kiss on her forehead. "Don't you worry. I'll be awake in a minute. How big a headstart does he have on us?"
"Fifteen, twenty minutes," Victoria said. Her voice was catching.
Nick kissed her again and added a slight smile. "Don't worry, Mother. We'll find him before he does any damage. Heath, would you get our guns? I'll load a couple rifles."
Heath left the room as Nick leaned on the pool table to get to the gun rack. Victoria kept at least one hand on him. "Go see Sheriff Madden first, Nick," she said.
Nick nodded as he brought two rifles and a box of shells to the pool table. "If Fred sees him, Fred will stop him."
"But Jarrod will be avoiding Fred," Victoria said. "If Fred knows where he is, it'll be because someone else told him."
"Well, our Jarrod can be wily, but I can match him," Nick said. He leaned over and kissed his mother again. "Try not to worry, Mother. If we have to go beyond Stockton, I'll have somebody bring word back."
Victoria nodded, but she was worried. She was beyond worried. Nick held her close.
Victoria said. "Find him, Nick. Please find him."
