Again…I don't do accents very well. We all know Brydie was Irish only if, by accident, I make her sound like she has a Cockney accent, I am sorry. That is not my goal.

A/N If any of the towns that are mentioned from here on out actually exist in California, it's pure coincidence. I'm simply working with the idea of the many towns which have come, and then died, through the years.

Chapter Two

"You were supposed to be visiting friends, you did what instead?" Jarrod sat in his study, behind the new oak desk he'd had delivered to the house the week before; his eyes were wide and the surprise he felt could be seen as clear as the noon day sun. Brydie stood in the middle of the room telling her brother-in-law what she had had been doing for the past few days.

"I've been visitin' me friends, I just didn't need ta be stayin' as long as I was goin' to." Brydie walked over to the study window and, placing her hands on the window pane, gazed upon the scenery outside. "I was wantin'… I had to see if I could feel him there." She then began telling her brother-in-law all about her short trip to the place that had come close to robbing them of Nick and the place that was supposedly Heath's resting place.

Brydie dismounted her horse and, looking down the steep hill. The events of the past few weeks rolled through her mind. Soon she was thinking of the day Jarrod and the men who had gone with him in search of his brothers had arrived home with Nick.

'Charger was next to the pile of boulders, neighing and acting as if he wanted to move them.' Brydie could see Jarrod standing in front of the house, next to Jingo, as the men who had gone on the search for the two missing brothers, carried an unconscious Nick into the house. 'Heath's rattlesnake rattler lay on the ground next to the rocks.' Jarrod went on to say all they could figure was that the earthquake had spooked Heath's horse and sent the horse racing down the hill. Somewhere along the line Heath had to-in spite of being an excellent horseman-been separated from Charger and then met his death as the boulders hit him. When Brydie had fallen apart screaming at Jarrod and the men with him, telling them how dare they assume things and to get back out there and look for Heath, Jarrod had simply let her scream-knowing how it felt to lose someone and be powerless to stop it.

Brydie closed her eyes and concentrated on 'feeling out the area'…a gift only she, Heath, her late mother and late grandmother knew she had. More people might have known, but Bryide had not made a habit of speaking about it, as she didn't want to be bothered by people who she just knew would see her as some sort of freak to be stared at. By the time she was through, she knew the majority-if not all-people would say she was just a grieving widow unwilling to let go, only she knew Heath wasn't underneath the boulders. "Heath Barkley, what's happened? Where be ye?"

"I had ta go." Brydie turned around and stunned Jarrod even more. "Nick is right; Me husband be not dead. At least, he's not buried underneath those boulders."

Jarrod said nothing as he rested his elbows on the oak desk and lifted his hands up to his chin. He thought of his mother and sister, along with his brother-in-law; they-like most everyone else-had accepted their loss. And, until Brydie's revelation, Jarrod had thought it was only his hot tempered brother that needed to be convinced that he needed to let go of the blonde haired cowboy that had ridden into their lives a few short years ago. "Brydie…" Jarrod started to speak only to have Brydie shock him yet again.

"I'm needin ta pack some things. I'm goin' to follow the river and stop in towns that outline it. Someone might know somethin'." Brydie folded her arms across her chest, letting Jarrod know there was to be no negotiating on this. In fact; Brydie knew they did, only she couldn't prove it. No, she was simply going by the feeling that had been growing inside her ever since she stood alongside the boulders and felt nothing.

Jarrod looked at the papers that sat on his desk, along with a letter that had arrived that morning. "There's no need to do that." He held up one hand when an angry look appeared in his sister-in-law's face. "I'm taking Charity and Thomas to Harlin; the Stevenson family started a small business in the town and want me to help with the legalities of it. Since their children got along so well with my children when they lived in Stockton, the family asked me if I'd bring them along. We can all go together."

Brydie would have argued only Harlin would have been the first town she'd come to anyway. "And, just how soon would you be leavin'?" she asked as she unfolded her arms.

Jarrod leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. He hadn't planned to leave for a few days, but if he did that, he just knew Brydie would pack and leave. "Tomorrow morning, right after breakfast." he tapped the sides of his chair with his thumbs. He wasn't about to start a trip with two children without making sure those children were fed first.

Brydie would have pushed to leave sooner, only she knew full well where Jarrod was coming from. If the shoe had been on the other foot, she would have been telling him the same thing. "Fine, I'll be ready." She then walked briskly out of the room.

~oOo~

"I wish I was going with you." Nick, who was sitting on the porch in his wheelchair, watched as Jarrod walked out of the house and began loading the wagon.

Jarrod felt his heart go out to his middle brother. He could only imagine the frustration and other emotions that were running through Nick at the moment. "I know; I wish things were different as well." Jarrod gave Nick a small smile and then disappeared into the house to get more of the luggage inside.

Nick might have followed, only Charity appeared on the porch and the climbed on his lap. The small child had been Nick's shadow almost from the time she'd started walking. It hadn't hurt his feelings, still didn't. However, it was all he could do to hold onto his heart as she knelt on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and said in a quiet voice, "I wish you were coming with us."

Nick held onto as tightly as he dared and agreed. 'It will be worth being left behind if Brydie is proven right' he thought as he remembered how Brydie had approached him and told him of her feelings. That is, after she'd finished talking with Jarrod. "I know, so do I." He might have said more only Jarrod and Thomas walked out with Brydie and by Jarrod that it was time to leave.

Charity hugged him tighter and then, climbing off his lap, hurried over to the wagon where her father stood waiting to help her into the back.