Carbuncle
Chapter 1
October 1880
"I know I'm grumpy," Maggie said, squeezing her eyes closed. "I'm entitled to be grumpy. I'm as big as a whale and I'm confined to bed, and I want to have this baby!"
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jarrod tried not to smile. Even if there was something entertaining about Maggie's description of her predicament, he had already learned that he'd better not let her know that. She was not feeling remotely entertaining. She was miserable.
The best thing to do was just go with it. "Tell you what. When Mother stops over this morning, I'll talk her into going back to the house and have Silas make some of his really famous roasted chicken for us for dinner." His mother and sister still came over during the day, but Jarrod had convinced them that he could tend to his wife overnight. They had used a housekeeper during the day for a while, but when she left, Jarrod decided that he and his wife needed the alone time, and he could always pull his mother or sister back in if Maggie thought she needed them.
Maggie shifted in the bed, trying to get comfortable, thinking about the chicken. "Really famous, huh?"
"Renowned throughout the valley," Jarrod said. "It's the only reason we ever got invited to picnics."
Maggie chuckled a little. "I don't believe that."
"Yeah, you're right, it wasn't the only reason, but it was requested every time. We'll have a picnic here together on the bed, just you and me. We'll open the windows wide and let the fresh air and the birdsong in."
Maggie smiled, just a little. "Do I have to promise to be good for the rest of the day?"
It was Jarrod's turn to chuckle. "No, you don't have to promise anything. I know you're uncomfortable being confined to bed, and I don't blame you. I can remember a couple times after I got shot or beaten up and had to be bedridden when I didn't want to be. It's terrible." He leaned toward her and kissed her. "I just want to make it a little less terrible."
"And I'll try to reward you with the cutest baby ever born – and I'll try to do it soon."
Jarrod laughed again. "Somehow I don't think the timing on this is going to be up to you, my love. Though I suppose it's possible we could entice our little bundle of joy to join us once we get the scent of that chicken in the room."
"It's that good, huh?"
"Once, when I was laid up, they actually thought I had died. Then I smelled Silas's chicken coming up from the kitchen and I was resurrected!"
"You made that up."
"Yes, I did. But the chicken really is that good."
They heard the sound of a horse riding into the yard. Jarrod gave a look over his shoulder. He could see the front door with the bedroom door open, but he couldn't see who had ridden up.
"Be right back," he said.
He went to the front door and then out onto the porch. He was surprised to see Sheriff Madden coming toward him.
"Hello, Fred," he said. "What brings you out here?"
Sheriff Madden did not come up onto the porch, and when he spoke, he kept his voice quiet. "I need to talk to you about something, Jarrod. Jack Dysart is out of jail."
Jack Dysart. Jarrod remembered the man, remembered the threats he hurled at him when they took him off to prison. The next thought Jarrod had made his blood go cold and then boil up, all within the span of five seconds. Not again, he thought. I will not let this happen again.
The sheriff was thinking the same thing. "Jarrod, I'm not gonna let there be a repeat of Cass Hyatt. The minute Dysart shows up in Stockton, I'm gonna run him out of town and keep him out, I don't care if it's legal or not. But you better talk to your brothers about getting some protection out here. He may not even show up in Stockton before he creates a problem for you."
Jarrod nodded. "Would you do me a favor? Go by the house and talk to Mother, fill her in? She's been coming out every day since Doc Merar put Maggie on bedrest, and I don't want her traveling alone anymore. I can't leave Maggie. Get Mother to get a couple hands to ride out here with her."
"I thought you had a housekeeper."
Jarrod shook his head. "She left. Family duties. I haven't had the chance to find a new one."
"Sure, I'll go talk to your mother. In the meantime, you better keep a firearm on you."
"Will you go talk to Carl Wheeler, too?"
"Sure."
"Has anybody seen Dysart around here?"
"No, not yet, but I don't want to take any chances. Jarrod – whatever happens, I don't plan on letting you go off half-cocked again, and I mean that."
At first Jarrod nearly boiled over with anger that the sheriff would think that, but then he realized the man had reasons for his concern. The sheriff was doing him a favor. "Understood," Jarrod said.
Jarrod went back inside as the sheriff mounted and took off to talk to Victoria Barkley at her home. Jarrod went back in to see Maggie, wondering what he was going to say to her, knowing full well he was not going to tell her another one of the men he'd put away was out and after revenge. She didn't need that now. She had a baby to worry about.
"Who was it?" Maggie asked as Jarrod came into the bedroom.
"Sheriff Madden," Jarrod said. "He had some news he wants me to know about before he talks to Mother."
"What news?"
"Just some trouble in town that he doesn't want to see spill over. Nothing that we need to worry about." Jarrod sat down on the edge of the bed. "We need only worry about getting this baby here safely and soon."
XXXXXXXX
"Oh, no," was all Victoria could think to say when Sheriff Madden told her that Jack Dysart was out of prison. Like everyone else, her thoughts went straight back to Cass Hyatt and the disaster he had brought to the Barkley family. When her senses came back to her, Victoria looked at the sheriff and shook her head. "Fred, we can't let this happen again."
"I know," the sheriff said, "and I'll be running Dysart out of town the minute he shows up, but we have to be ready for the chance that he won't show up in town before he tries for Jarrod. I spoke to Jarrod on my way in. He's worried about you traveling alone, and I'm worried about him and Maggie being without protection, especially with that baby about to be born."
Victoria nodded. "I was planning to go over there in half an hour or so. I'll get a couple of the hands to go with me, and I'll leave one of them there until Nick can set up a regular guard. Do you have time to go over to Carl and Audra's, make sure they know to take precautions?"
"I already promised Jarrod I would. And if I run into Dysart, I'll be sure to let you and Jarrod know right away. Try not to worry. We'll handle this."
Victoria nodded as the sheriff left. She realized that how they were handling Dysart was completely different from the way they had handled Hyatt. The truth was, they didn't handle Hyatt. They took no precautions at all when he turned up. Victoria still felt a deep pang of guilt about that. They should have known what was going to happen when Hyatt appeared. They should have convinced Jarrod to accept a guard for himself and Beth. But they didn't even try.
Not this time, Victoria thought, and before she got herself ready to go over to Jarrod's home, she went outside to get help to go with her.
XXXXX
When Jarrod opened the door to his mother's arrival, he noted the two extra men waiting in the yard as he let her in. The next things he noted was the scent of Silas's roast chicken that his mother carried in a basket.
"Oh, Mother, you're a mind reader," he said as he kissed her. "Just this morning I was telling Maggie I wanted to get you to bring some of that chicken over here."
"Better put it in the ice box," Victoria said and gave Jarrod the basket.
"I can smell it!" Maggie cried happily from the bedroom.
Jarrod and Victoria smiled at each other, but then Victoria lowered her voice considerably. "I assume you didn't tell Maggie about Jack Dysart."
Jarrod shook his head. "She's got too many other things to worry about."
"I'm leaving you one man as a guard, and knowing Nick he'll want to double or triple that," Victoria said. "You'll have to come up with some explanation."
Jarrod put his hand on the sidearm he was wearing. "I've already told her there was some trouble in town that the sheriff was afraid might spill over out in this direction. She bought it."
"Are you sure?"
"If she doesn't buy into some story I've told her, I hear about it pretty quickly."
Victoria smiled and went into the bedroom. Maggie reached both hands for her, and Victoria sat down on the edge of the bed, taking them. "How are you doing today?" Victoria asked.
"The same as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before….." Maggie said.
Victoria laughed a little. "I can't imagine how bored you must be. Jarrod can only be so entertaining."
"I heard that," Jarrod said, coming into the bedroom.
"I want our picnic for lunch," Maggie said to him.
"Picnic?" Victoria asked.
"I promised Maggie a picnic, right here in bed, with Silas's chicken as the main course," Jarrod said.
"Well, there's plenty for both lunch and dinner," Victoria said.
"Jarrod said this baby will want to come out to have some, too," Maggie said. "I can only hope."
Victoria had an inspiration. "I've brought one of the hands to stay with you. You're going to deliver any time, and you need to have an extra man around to run for the doctor."
"Mrs. Ailey is coming tomorrow," Jarrod said. Mrs. Ailey was the local midwife. "She'll stay with us until the baby comes. But thanks, Mother. One can never be too careful."
"Especially with me being an older first-time mother," Maggie said.
"Don't worry," Victoria said. "I know everything is going to be just fine, and in another day or two, you'll have an extra mouth to feed. But I don't think saving some chicken for him or her is a very good idea."
Maggie winked. "Who plans to save any?"