Loving Jarrod

Chapter 1

"Oh, Jarrod, look at these lovely flowers," she said and leaned over to pick one.

She heard the shot. She even felt it whistle over her back, but she didn't understand what it was or what was happening, not even when Jarrod fell backwards, away from her, over the log he'd been sitting on. She looked frantically. What was happening? What was happening?

Jarrod lay still, one leg still lying over the log, the other bent at the knee. Beth looked but at first did not understand. Then she saw it – it was just a little bit of red on his white shirt, almost dead center in his chest. Just a little bit of blood.

"Jarrod?" she said, and she bent to him.

His eyes were open.

"Jarrod?" Her panic grew. He wasn't answering. His eyes were open, but he wasn't answering. "Jarrod!"

Beth didn't know what to do. She couldn't move him – he was too big for her to move. She looked around and saw no one and she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to leave him like this. Shaking, crying, she tore off a bit of her petticoat and bundled it into a bandage that she pressed against the wound.

"Jarrod, please, Jarrod," she began to cry, shaking more. She had to go for help, but how could she leave him? She had to keep pressure on that wound. What could she do?

She spotted a rock, and she laid it against the bandage. It was pressure, at least.

"Jarrod, I'm going for help! I'm going for help!"

She ran back up to the buggy and frantically turned it around. She knew how to drive a buggy, but she had never driven one this fast before. Still, she had to get help. Shaking and crying and screaming she drove as fast as she could, back to the house.

Nick and Heath had just come in from town, just finishing unloading a wagon of supplies when they saw Beth coming. Alone, driving madly. "What's this?" Nick asked.

Heath went to her first, grabbing hold of the horse to stop it. Nick came and helped Beth down. She was wet with tears, frantically crying, "Somebody shot him! Somebody shot Jarrod! You have to help him, please!"

Nick and Heath both felt alarm rise up. "Where?" Nick asked. "Where did this happen?"

"Up by a lake," Beth panted and sobbed. "He called it Isla del Cielo. Please, you have to go get him."

"Ciego!" Nick called and the stable man came running. "Take Mrs. Barkley into the house. We'll go get him, Beth. I know where he is and we'll go get him."

Heath threw the rest of the supplies out of the wagon onto the ground, and then climbed in the seat beside Nick. Nick drove off, as fast as Beth had driven in.

Victoria had heard the commotion and met Beth and Ciego at the door. She quickly took Beth into her arms. "What is it, Beth? What happened?"

She looked at her mother-in-law and didn't know how to tell her. "Someone shot Jarrod. I got here as fast as I could. I couldn't move him."

Victoria's heart fell right out of her. Trembling, she took Beth inside, and now she knew that despite what might be happening out there, she had to be a rock for this woman falling apart in her arms. Beth was not only a new bride. She was a stranger in a house she'd been in for barely two days, among people she didn't know. For now Victoria had to forget Jarrod was her son. Right now, Jarrod was Beth's husband.

XXXXXXX

Nick and Heath flew up to the lake Nick knew that Jarrod loved, and they looked frantically for him everywhere until they saw him lying partly across the log near the edge of the water. They pulled up, jumped down and ran as fast as they could down to where Jarrod lay.

"Jarrod – " Nick said as he and Heath both fell to their knees beside him. Nick carefully removed the rock Beth had placed on her husband's chest for pressure, and he saw the bloodstained cloth. It wasn't stained that badly, not that much. He removed it slowly and opened Jarrod's shirt, to see what the damage was.

But Heath said, quietly, "Nick, he's dead."

Nick looked up at him, confused, shaking his head. "No."

"Nick – " Heath said and a sob followed.

Nick put his hand against Jarrod's chest, ignoring the blood, realizing there wasn't much of it because Jarrod's heart wasn't beating anymore. "Oh, God, Jarrod – " he moaned, he sobbed. He took his older brother into his arms and held him. "Oh, Jarrod, no, no – "

Heath sat back on the ground, crying as well. He looked around. He tried to figure out where the shot that took Jarrod might have come from and decided it was from the top of the hill. Turning his attention back to Nick, he put his hand on Nick's back, trying to comfort him. But Nick was moaning, crying, rocking his older brother in his arms.

"Nick, we gotta take him home," Heath finally said, hardly able to get the words out.

Nick eased Jarrod back to the ground. Those blue eyes that were so full of life were gray and empty now, seeing nothing, ever again. Nick sobbed and closed them. "Jarrod – "

Heath got up, and Nick began to stand with him. Nick pulled Jarrod into his arms, but Jarrod was too big a man for Nick to carry alone. Heath helped him. Together they carried Jarrod back to the wagon and laid him in the wagon bed.

Nick left his hand on Jarrod's chest. He couldn't leave him lying there alone, untouched. Nick had the irrational need to comfort his dead brother. Heath understood.

"Nick, stay in the back with him," Heath said. "I'll drive."

When they got back to the house, there were several men waiting there with Ciego. Heath pulled in and to a stop. Nick got himself out of the back of the wagon and said, to whoever was listening, "He's dead."

Moans went all around. Heath said, "I'll go get a blanket," and headed for the house.

Victoria was at the door, alone, her face ashen and wet. She knew. Heath just put his arms around her, and when she began to weep he just held her tighter. "Mother – I'm so sorry," Heath said.

Victoria tried to get herself together, but all she could say was, "Bring him inside."

Heath just held onto her while she cried and trembled. Nick came up beside them, and Heath looked at him, unable to let go of Victoria. Nick said, "I'll get that blanket."

He went inside – and found Beth standing there in the foyer. Nick stopped. He didn't know what to do or say. Beth was just standing there like a stone statue, not sobbing anymore, just cold and gray and staring. Nick came to her and put his arms around her. "We'll take care of him," he said as softly as he could. "We'll take care of you, too. We'll get through this."

Nick wanted to know what she saw up there. Did she see Cass Hyatt do this, or anyone else? But he knew better than to ask now. As Heath brought Victoria in through the door, Victoria reached for Beth, and the two women went into the parlor and sat down together on the settee. Wordlessly, Nick and Heath fetched a blanket and went back outside.

They took the blanket to the wagon, Nick saying to no one in particular, "Somebody go to town and get Sheriff Madden, and Dr. Merar, too." Then he and Heath spread the blanket out as best they could beside Jarrod in the wagon bed and lifted him gently onto it. Then they wrapped the blanket around him, Nick lingering again, not willing to stop touching his brother. Finally, without words, they lifted him out of the wagon together and took him into the house.

Victoria and Beth both sobbed more as his brothers carried Jarrod through the foyer and up the stairs. They took him to his room – his and Beth's room. Silas was there, weeping silently. He had turned the bed down, and as Nick and Heath laid Jarrod atop it, Silas lifted the blanket and coverlet over him, beginning to cover him up completely. But Nick stopped him. "No. Not yet. Please."

Silas left Jarrod's face uncovered. Then the three of them stood there, staring, wiping their faces.

Silas said, "I'll get some water. We'll take care of him."

"Not until the sheriff sees him as he is," Nick said. "He and the doctor will both need to see him."

Silas said, "I'll stay with him if you want to be with your mama and Mrs. Beth."

Nick and Heath both looked at Silas, sad, grateful. "Thank you, Silas," Nick said.

Heath gave Silas's arm a pat as he and Nick left the room and went back downstairs.

The women at the settee had gotten themselves more together again, although Victoria continued to keep her arms around Beth. But they both looked up at Nick and Heath, faces full of grief. Beth's had something else – understanding.

Beth said, "It was Cass Hyatt, wasn't it?"