Loving Beth
Chapter 1
Funny thing about getting shot in the back at close range, about spending so much time in bed lying as still as you can, then gradually rebuilding your strength until you can walk around like a somewhat normal human being. It takes so many weeks just to feel like yourself again, and your back still hurts if you move the wrong way and the doctor says that you may have to live with that. The funny thing is that by then you don't mind having to live with it if you have to, because you are living. You survived. You got well enough to be yourself again. All right, yourself with a bit of a backache, but yourself.
The world seems so full of light and joy when you can be yourself again. The future actually seems like a future, full of possibilities that you never saw before. Or maybe it was just that you got so busy you never noticed them, until you woke up flat on your back and stayed that way long enough to watch the world reveal itself all over again. You rejoiced when you were able to stand up, and walk across the room, and walk down the stairs. Riding a horse became the same wild happiness it was when you were a boy and riding free for the first time. The sun and the air and the wind were all new again.
And over many weeks, you became you again, but different. Ready for joy again, ready for the beautiful possibilities that lay before you. Ready to be twenty years old again.
So, when Jarrod Barkley announced at the dinner table, "I need to go to Washington next week," and everyone looked at him like he wasn't ready for that, he grinned. "Don't worry, I'm as good as new, and something I could really use is some time away on my own."
"Why are you going?" his mother asked. "Is there some business you need to attend to?"
Jarrod had only begun to get back to work at his office in town. He hadn't even gone to his office in San Francisco yet. "I got a wire from the governor today," he said. "Congressman Mitchell has asked for me to come. He needs someone to help him with a new bill he's trying to get passed on open access to federal property in the west. He asked for me because I know several of the congressmen he needs to get on board and because I'm a rancher."
"Are you up to it?" Heath asked. "Train travel ain't so comfortable on a good back, much less one still getting over a big fat gunshot."
Jarrod nodded. "I'm up to it."
"It hasn't really been all that long since the Dunigans blew that hole in your back, Jarrod," Nick said.
Jarrod gave him a smile. "I'm all right now, Nick. Don't worry."
"Does Dr. Merar know you intend to go?" Victoria asked.
"He does," Jarrod said. "I stopped in to see him today, he looked me over, and he says I'm fine to travel. I intend to put that entire unhappy episode with the Dunigans behind me and enjoy the journey ahead."
Audra, at least, smiled, even if Nick still looked concerned and Victoria a little worried. "I think going away for a while is a wonderful idea," she said. "I know I'm looking forward to my trip to Philadelphia." She was due to leave in two days.
"You don't have a hole in your back," Nick said.
"Neither do I, Nick," Jarrod said. "Not anymore."
So his family saw him off to Washington, and when he got there he wired them that he was there and he was fine and he hoped to wrap up his visits to the politicians in less than a week. As it was, it took four days to meet with everyone and get Congressman Mitchell's bill to committee. By then Jarrod's work was done.
He took a day to roam around the nation's capital and remember the time he was here, during the war. He didn't think very much about the woman he became involved with then. He hadn't seen Julia Saxon since, and he didn't want to. He didn't even want to think about her. He wanted to think about the future, the sun, everything that was bright and promising. He put the past behind him.
He was not scheduled to return home for another two days, but he decided at the last minute that he would skip the extra day in Washington. He had his leased private car set up to be attached to the train heading west a day earlier than he had planned. He was looking forward to getting home to California, even though his work in Washington had not been as grueling as he thought it might be. He had been right that the time away would be good for him. His happy attitude stayed with him and even grew. It was still with him as he went from the station to the train after they told him his car was ready and they would be pulling out in about twenty minutes.
Jarrod made his way from the lounge in the station toward the track and platform where he would board his car – and he immediately bumped into her. She didn't fall, but she did blurt out, alarmed, and Jarrod grabbed her arm to keep her from going down. "I'm sorry! Are you all right?" he asked.
She looked up at him. Blue eyes, auburn hair, and she broke into a smile that resonated with his sunny frame of mind. It was instant, perfect harmony. Jarrod actually started to tremble a little.
"Oh, no, it's me who got in the way," she said. "I'm supposed to be boarding my train and I lost my way and got rushed. I'm sorry."
"No, don't be," Jarrod said, tipping his hat. "Maybe I can help. Which train are you looking for?"
"The one o'clock to Chicago," she said.
"Well, how fortuitous," Jarrod said. "That's my train, too." He offered his arm and reached for the suitcase she was carrying. "Let me escort you."
She laughed a light laugh. "Thank you very much."
"I'm Jarrod Barkley," he said. "I'm heading for California."
They walked together, her arm in his. "My goodness, you have a long trip. I'm only going as far as Denver. My name is Elizabeth Randall."
"We'll have to change trains in Chicago, you know – the hub of the railroad world."
"So I understand. Will you and I have the same train out of Chicago, Mr. Barkley?"
"We will," Jarrod said. "We'll have a while to get to know each other, so please call me Jarrod. May I call you Elizabeth?"
"I prefer Beth," she said.
"Is this your first time going west, Beth?" Jarrod asked.
"Yes, it is," she said. "I've always lived here in the east, in Pennsylvania, but now I'm off to teach school in Denver."
"An exciting change for you. My home is in California, in Stockton. I've had business in Washington and now I'm quite happy to be leaving it behind."
"Too much hubbub?" she asked.
"Too flat," he said. "I live in a valley surrounded by mountains, much like Denver, actually."
"I'm told the mountains in the west are so high they can pluck stars out of the sky," Beth said.
Jarrod smiled. He liked the way she put that. "I don't know about plucking stars, but they certainly make you think you could do it if you stood atop them." They had arrived at their train, and Jarrod escorted Beth right by his private car to the passenger cars. "Do you have a Pullman?" he asked.
"I do," she asked and fishing her ticket out of her reticule, she found the car she should be boarding, and Jarrod escorted her there. Once there, they stopped, and she took her bag from him. "Do you?" she asked. "Have a Pullman, I mean."
Jarrod smiled a little awkwardly and pointed back to his car. "Actually, I'm bringing up the rear of this train. I'm lucky enough to have a private car."
"Oh!" she said, surprised. "Well, thank you for escorting me to the right place. I wouldn't want to have to walk to Denver."
Jarrod laughed a little and tipped his hat again. "Maybe we'll run into each other again on our way west."
She nodded, smiling a very interesting, and interested, smile. "That would be lovely."
As she started to turn, Jarrod said, "Um – "
She turned back.
"There is a lounge car on the train, about two cars forward. Perhaps you would join me for a drink, say about five o'clock?" Jarrod said.
Beth smiled. "I would like that. I'll meet you there."
Jarrod broke into a smile and tipped his hat again. "I'll look forward to it."
Jarrod watched her climb safely onto the train, then turned back to board his own car at the rear of the train. He didn't realize that he was wearing his smile all the way back, but he did notice that he didn't really have to climb into his car. The air around him lifted him up there.
