With a start, Natalie Ward sat up in her bed. Her heart was racing and she was gasping for breath. Before she could calm down, she heard a muffled cry. "Nat," she said, forgetting her own terror. She untangled herself from the quilt and got to her feet. Snatching up her dressing gown, she rushed to the door.

The hallway beyond her bedroom was empty, though a lamp at the end burned low as if in expectation of an event such as was occurring. No one, it seemed, had heard Nat's nightmare-driven cries just yet. Pulling her dressing gown on, Natalie hurried down the corridor, making her way along by memory in the darkness. She reached his door and pushed it open. "Nat?" she called in, anxious to hear her twin brother's voice. "Nat, are you alright?"

When she didn't hear anything in answer, she ventured further in. She wasn't as familiar with the room and sincerely wished she had thought to bring grab the lamp from the hallway, or any kind of light source really. Natalie found the edge of the bed, guided by the moans coming from her brother. As she leaned forward, her short hair fell against her cheeks and she pushed the locks behind her ear. "Nat, wake up," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

The moment she touched him, Nat Ward woke up. He flung his arm up and knocked her back. "Leave me be!" he shouted. "I won't have any part of it!"

Stumbling, Natalie managed to catch herself before she hit the floor. Maybe he wasn't awake after all. "Nat! It's me. You need to wake up now. Nat! Nat!"

All the sudden, her brother's slender hands were at her throat, squeezing tightly. Gasping in shock, Natalie tried to pry his fingers away. "I said I won't be party to murder!" he screamed in her face. "You're no angel of mercy, just an angel of death! Leave me be!"

Natalie's vision began to blur as she struggled to breathe. "Nat...let...me go!" she begged. But his fingers only tightened. Her legs were unable to hold her up anymore. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn't brought in the lamp. She didn't want her last view of her twin brother to be him in a murderous rage.

"Nathaniel Aaron Ward, let her go!" Ryan's voice rang out. A moment passed, and then Ryan said, in a much sharper tone, "Jack! Enough!"

The pressure vanished and Natalie fell to the floor. Air filled her lungs and then she began to cough. Hands grabbed her arms and pulled her up. "Take her," Ryan said, passing her off to someone else. "And don't let her back in this room!"

By the time her vision cleared, Natalie was seated in her bedroom with the nurse, Mrs. Sands, waving a bottle of smelling salts in front of her. "Take it away," Natalie said, bringing her hand to her nose as her eyes began to smart. Her voice was hoarse and raspy. "I am not about to swoon, I assure you."

"Thinking of the shock you've had, I wouldn't blame you if you did faint," Mrs. Sands said soothingly. The older woman moved to brighten the room with the lamp by Natalie's bed and on her writing desk. "You just stay right there until the doctor can come make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine," Natalie insisted. She could hear voices talking loudly nearby. "I need to see—"

Mrs. Sands shook her head. "I'm sorry, Miss Ward, you can't," she told her. She moved to pour fresh water into the basin. She wet a rag and brought it to Natalie. "Your brother insists you stay away from Mr. Nat. He's not well right now and there's nothing you can do to help him right now. It's best to stay out of the doctor's way."

"He's my brother!" Natalie protested as the nurse gently pressed the cool rag against her throat. She closed her eyes, Nat's words running through her mind. You're no angel of mercy, just an angel of death! "I need to be there for him."

She had been so hopeful that she would have her brother back when they left Stockton at the beginning of the summer. His behavior had been vague, almost regaining his memories when they had been with the Barkleys. Once they had arrived in Boston, though, he had taken a turn for the worse. Nightmares plagued him and he firmly maintained he didn't know them. Natalie especially made Nat uneasy.

"Not when you bring out bad memories," Ryan responded. Natalie opened her eyes as her older brother came in. He bent down and pulled the rag away to examine her throat, putting the damp cloth in her hands. He shook his head. "How many times must I tell you to stay away from him until he's stable? Natalie, he could have killed you tonight!"

"But he didn't."

Glancing over his shoulder, Ryan said, "Mrs. Sands, Dr. Ellis could use your help with my brother. You may safely leave my sister to me."

The nurse nodded and hurried out. Ryan turned his attention back to his sister. "Natalie, I know you don't mean any harm but Nat's progress always goes back a step when he sees you at night," he said seriously, poking at her throat. "You can't run to him every time you hear him in distress."

"He is my twin brother, Ryan. I can't just ignore him," Natalie said, pulling back. "That hurts, Ry."

"Stop talking before you make it worse," Ryan ordered, grabbing her head and holding it still. "In fact, I want you to talk as little as possible for the next week. We'll have to keep the swelling down and monitor you for any effects of oxygen deprivation. Mrs. Sands did good with the cold rag."

Annoyed, Natalie swatted at her brother's hands. "You're ignoring—"

"Stop talking." Ryan straightened up. "I understand you want to help Nat, but you have to accept that you just can't. As long as you're here, though, I know I'm not going to be able to keep you away. So, tomorrow I'm sending you to stay with friends until Nat is more himself."

Angrily, Natalie glared at him. "Ryan—"

"No, this is not up for debate. You're leaving and that's all there is to it. I have classes beginning soon and I do not want to worry about whether you're safe with Nat while I'm gone. Now get some rest."

Mutiny glinting in her eyes, Natalie crossed her arms as her brother left the room. She threw the damp rag at the door, but the slight thud it made on the wood before it slid down was unsatisfactory. Her gaze moved to where a sheet of paper was out on her desk and she began to smile.

"You want me to go to friends, Ryan, so I will go to my friends."

Two weeks later

Wiping his forehead with his sleeve, Eugene Barkley leaned against the fence post. He took a drink from his canteen as his half-brother joined him and together they looked over the work they had accomplished. "Since Nick's not here, think we can get away with calling it a day this early?" Gene asked, glancing over with a grin.

"Yep. He got an early day by going into town to meet Jarrod's train, so it's only fair that we get the same. Thing is we'll have to listen to his hollering tonight when we tell him, which won't be much different than any other evening," Heath responded. He and his younger brother shared a laugh over that. "Ready to put all this hard work behind you and get back to your studies?"

"Yes and no," Gene answered honestly. "I'm looking forward to returning to my studies and seeing the friends I have in San Francisco. But I know I'm going to miss being with the family and here on the ranch. Even if Nick does like to work me half to death. There's really no place like home."

Heath raised an eyebrow. "I see," he said as Gene drank from the canteen. "And by friends, I'm assuming you really mean one Natalie Ward, don't you?"

Gene choked on his water and spent nearly a minute coughing. "What? No!" he said in protest. "I mean, of course, I want to see her. And Ward! He'll be the one in class with me so he'll be the one I see more often. But I do want to know what they've been doing in Boston."

Tilting his head back, Heath laughed at the younger man's embarrassment. "Haven't you been writing to Natalie? Shouldn't you already know what she's been doing these past few months?"

Eugene hesitated and then explained, "She hasn't written back for a month now. Her last letter did say that her brother Nat hasn't been doing very well. Apparently, the things he's been remembering have nothing to do with their family and are all about the war."

"The war," Heath repeated softly, his teasing smile fading. His gaze shifted to the horizon. "Those kind of memories would be hard to deal with since he forgot them for a reason. A lot happened during the war, Gene, and most of it not good."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

Shaking his head, Heath straightened up. "Doesn't matter," he said. "It's in the past."

"Ward always said that," Gene pointed out. "Denying it happened, or ignoring it and not talking about it, almost got his entire family killed."

Tensing, Heath fought to shove his anger down. "Ward had his secrets, like we all do," he said sharply. "Leave it alone, Gene. A fellow might think you're studying psychology or something when you get back to Berkley."

He'd meant it as a joke to change the subject, but Gene shrugged in a good natured way. "Honestly, I've thought about it. I mean, there's been many accounts of men having come back from the war changed. It might be a fascinating study to explore."

With a scoff, Heath shook his head again. "Jarrod and Nick are right. You don't know what you want to do with your future. That's not going to encourage a girl's affection, you know. The minute she knows you don't have a career, she'll leave you to find some better prospect."

As hard as he tried, Heath couldn't keep all trace of bitterness from his voice. Thoughts of Liberty Keane, whose father had persuaded her to think Heath would bring her down, and Don Alfredo's daughter, who had been unwilling to take the chance on him, drifted through his mind. Gene, though, didn't seem to notice. "Natalie's not that kind of girl," the younger man protested.

"No one said anything about Natalie," Heath said, glancing over his shoulder. "You're the one bringing her into the conversation this time."

Sputtering, Gene hurried to catch up. "Heath, that's not fair. Hey, wait for me!"