Chapter 2

One Week Later

Getting five people and their baggage from the train station in Stockton to the Barkley ranch took two surreys and a buckboard, but by mid-afternoon the job was done. Heath was still hobbling on crutches, but Jarrod was on his own two feet, and he escorted Cilla in the front door. Nick escorted Hilda and held the door open while Heath made his way in.

Victoria and Audra were there to greet them. The first thing they did was moan when they saw Heath. "Oh, Heath – " Victoria said and in her mind saw all the injuries she'd seen her most accident-prone son through.

"Mother, Audra," Jarrod said, "may I present my new housekeeper, Miss Cilla Mills, and the very helpful nurse who has been seeing us all through the past few weeks, Miss Hilda Clay."

A couple of the ranch hands began to bring the baggage in as Victoria said, "It's a pleasure to meet you both. We can't thank you enough for all the help you've been to these wayward sons of mine."

"They're the ones who've been helping me," Cilla said. "I don't know what I'd have done without your sons, Mrs. Barkley."

"Your misfortune is my good fortune, Cilla," Jarrod said. "I've been needing a full time housekeeper and she's fallen into my lap."

"How is Heath's ankle?" Audra asked Hilda.

"He should be off those crutches by the end of the week," Hilda said. "He might get hurt more than most, but he heals better that most, too."

"Nick insisted on telling Hilda about all my bumps and bruises since I came here," Heath said.

"It took hours," Nick said.

"We best get you seated and take the weight off that ankle," Victoria said. "And you, too, Jarrod. A concussion is nothing to sneeze at, especially since you took as long as you did to get over the unsteadiness."

Jarrod and Heath accepted their mother's instructions and headed for the two easy chairs in the living room, while Victoria and Audra led Cilla and Hilda to the settee. Nick pulled a couple chairs over for his mother and sister and then said, "I'll get these bags where they belong. Where will Cilla and Hilda be staying, Mother?"

"Cilla in the first east wing guest room, Hilda in the second," Victoria said.

"Excuse me, ladies," Nick said and went to take care of the luggage.

"How is your house coming, Jarrod?" Audra asked.

"The site is cleared, and I have my architect drawing up plans for the new house and the house next door," Jarrod said. "In the meantime, the rental is working out fine, thanks to Miss Mills here. This is one first rate housekeeper, let me tell you."

"Speaking of first rate housekeepers," Victoria said, "remind me, Cilla, to give you the recipes I had Silas, our houseman, write out. Jarrod's favorites."

"Thank you," Cilla said. "He's getting more of his appetite back every day."

"Oh, my appetite is fine now," Jarrod said. "It's just that Nick has been eating me out of house and home and leaving little for me to feast on."

Nick was coming down the stairs to get more luggage and said, "I heard that."

"I hope you don't mind, Miss Clay," Victoria said, "but after Jarrod wrote and said you might be interested in relocating to Stockton, I mentioned it to our local doctor, Dr. Merar. He's very interested in meeting you. His practice is getting so large that he thinks he needs a nurse."

"I don't mind at all," Hilda said, obviously pleased to have a job interview already lined up.

"He'll come out here tomorrow to check on Jarrod and Heath and Miss Mills. It'll also give you a chance to meet each other."

Nick heard that, too, as he took more of the bags upstairs. He smiled.

Silas appeared from the kitchen, carrying a tray of glasses and a pitcher of lemonade. "Here you are, Mrs. Barkley," he said and put the tray down on the coffee table.

"Thank you, Silas," Victoria said and then introduced the houseman to Cilla and Hilda. Silas nodded and smiled, and then he went back to the kitchen to begin making dinner.

They chatted a bit more together, while Nick took two more loads of baggage upstairs. When he came back down, he headed for the refreshment table, asking, "Does anyone need a drink?"

The lemonade was holding out and no one was interested in anything alcoholic yet, but Nick turned with a shot of whiskey and held up his glass. "A toast!" he announced.

"What are we drinking to?" Heath asked.

"To bad luck turning good," Nick said. "And staying that way."

"Here, here," Heath said, and they all drank.

XXXXXXXX

Hilda came down to the living room after getting settled into her room. She found herself being slightly intimidated by this place, this family. Everything was so grand – yes, that was the word. The house was grand, the ranch was grand, the family was grand. As in "big."

She was rather startled to find that the only person around now was Jarrod, still sitting in his "thinking chair" by the fireplace. He looked around when he heard her coming. He had been reading a book.

"Where did everyone go?" Hilda asked.

Jarrod closed the book. "Mother and Audra and Cilla are helping Silas prepare dinner – Cilla read a couple of those recipes and now she can't stop picking Silas's brain for more ideas. Nick and Heath are out with our foreman, McCall, catching up on what's been going on around here. So I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Not right now," Hilda said, sitting down on the settee. "I'm still trying to get my bearings. All these changes can be a bit daunting."

"I understand what you mean."

"I guess you've been through a mountain of changes yourself lately."

"Things do get dizzying sometimes."

"Have you been feeling unsteady again?"

"No, not exactly." Then he left his mouth open for a moment before deciding to say what he said next. "I'll tell you a little story, about how it began that we came to meet you and Cilla."

"Well, I know you came to her aid in the café and got hurt for your efforts."

"Well, it goes back before that. You've probably already figured out that Nick can be pretty adamant in his opinions about things."

Hilda smiled. She had noticed already. "He is not exactly quiet about what he thinks at any given time."

"Yes, but as you've probably already noticed as well, I am much more easy going."

Hilda raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure she would agree with the "much."

Jarrod noticed and smiled a little. "This all started when Nick and I had an argument over how I was handling the family's involvement in a case of mine. I don't need to go through all that, but suffice it to say, we disagreed. We had a pretty good-sized argument – nothing new, I'm sure that's no surprise. But this time he pretty much threw me out."

Now Hilda was startled. "Threw you out? How could he throw you out?"

"Nick alone owns this property, the ranch and the house. Mother is legally allowed to stay for life, but the rest of us are here because Nick allows it. We all have an agreement that Nick isn't going to throw anyone out without the family's consent, but when we had the big blow-up – " He stopped. He didn't like the memory. "I left rather than continue the fight. No one stopped me, so I went off to my place in San Francisco, and as you know I found my house had been destroyed by a gas leak, and then I got hurt – well, not to prolong the story, but this is the first time I've been back since that whole thing started. I find I'm feeling a bit of a nasty discomfort coming back."

"You seem to have made up just fine," Hilda said.

"We have," Jarrod said. "We always do. But one thing I don't want you to take away from this story. Nick can be hot headed at times, but he has a heart of gold, and he can be an incredible softee. He's a fine man, Hilda. And he is nuts about you."

Hilda smiled, a bit shyly. No one had ever been nuts about her before.

Jarrod said, "Which, of course, is why he's so interested in you relocating to Stockton. No surprise there. If you do decide to stay, he'll be pretty happy about it, and frankly, so will I. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Nick settle down. But, if you stay and it doesn't work out in the long run, I won't let you be left high and dry. I'll help you move back to San Francisco anytime you want."

"Thank you, Jarrod," Hilda said. "Nick and I have already talked about things, more than once. And yes, I've noticed he can be a little hot-headed, but he seems to cool off pretty quickly."

"He does that, and while you may be treating cuts and bruises from a fight he's had with a man, he'd never hurt a woman. Never."

Hilda's smile grew. "Jarrod Barkley, you're sounding more and more like a Cupid every day."

Jarrod laughed. "One other secret. I'm a widower. I was very happily married. I'd like my brothers to have the same wonderful thing happen to them."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Hilda said, "but I'm very pleased you want them to settle down. One way or another, Jarrod, I think I'll be staying, at least to try things out. I'd be a fool not to."

"Good!" Jarrod said and got up, heading for the refreshment table. "Are you ready for a drink? Barkley Vineyards makes an excellent merlot."

"Thank you," Hilda said. "I will try some."