Chapter Two

By the time the stagecoach rolled into Rockville, Audra was more than ready to climb out. She was sure they had hit more holes in the road than ever before, and said as much. Even though her family agreed with her, they weren't about to say so for one simple fact. If they did, they knew from previous experiences Audra would continue talking about it. At the moment, none of them felt like dealing with that one.

"Don't worry about it, dear." Victoria smiled as the coach came to a stop in front of Modesto's general store. "We're here and, see, Loretta is waiting for us." The Barkley matriarch pointed out the window and towards Loretta Snyder who stood on the boardwalk in front of the building.

It was all Audra could do to wait for her brothers to climb out. The moment Jarrod reached up to help her out-which was after he'd helped their mother out-Audra ran towards her half-sister. This time Loretta was ready for her and simply smiled as the young woman embraced her.

"Glad you made the trip safely," Loretta smiled at Audra before looking at the rest of the family. The moment her eyes fell on Heath, Loretta had to bite her tongue. One look into his eyes, and she could tell he did not wish to be there. However, before she could get even one word out, Heath was walking away-saying he was going to get them some rooms at the boarding house.

Victoria sighed and hoped Heath would be ready to at least be civil to his half-sister by the time they sprang the surprise birthday party on Loretta-which Victoria planned on doing once she'd had a chance to talk to the owners of the café, a couple by the name of Adam and Elisha Gibbs.

"Thanks for meeting us. We were half afraid you'd be busy when we got here." Victoria smiled, as Audra-who had let go of Loretta-still remained by her half-sister's side.

"I have a patient coming to the office later today, but I still have enough time to visit all of you before then." She nodded towards the boarding house. "We should catch up with Heath. You'll be needing to at least put your luggage in your rooms."

None of the Barkleys argued as they picked up the luggage that the driver had removed from the stagecoach. Soon they and Loretta were walking down the boardwalk and talking. However, they hadn't made it even two blocks when a young man by the name of Casey Black, who worked at the boarding house, came barreling towards them-calling out for Dr. Snyder as he did so.

"Whoa there," Jarrod held out his hands and had to literally stop the young man as he almost collided with the family.

"Sorry, mister," Casey looked at Jarrod and then at Loretta, "But we need Dr. Snyder to hurry and come to the boarding house. A young blonde haired gentleman just walked in and collapsed right in the living room! Pa probably has him in a room already, but he sent me to get the doctor!"

"Heath!" Victoria and the others exclaimed, even as Loretta took off running. Naturally, the family wasn't far behind her.

By the time Loretta and the others reached the boarding house, Casey's father-a barrel chested man who stood almost six feet tall-was standing in the door way. He stepped back inside, allowing Loretta and the Barkleys to enter.

Victoria was impressed with the changes that had been made in the living room. The previous owner had such dark colors in the room that it was rather depressing. The newly, repainted, walls were now white and held various pictures. There were also house plants that were placed in one spot or another. Though, her attention to the changes was fleeting-as she was more concerned about Heath than she was on the changes Mr. Black had made to the boarding house's interior.

"Where is my son?" Victoria looked at the boarding house owner and asked a bit more abruptly than she meant to, something she quickly apologized for.

"No need to apologize ma'am," Mr. Black smiled sympathetically, and then gestured to a brown door that set a few feet from a set of stairs that led up to the second floor. "In there."

Loretta and Victoria headed for the room. That is, Victoria joined Loretta after asking Jarrod to get the family checked in and telling Audra to stay with her brothers.

Nick, who could see a very frightened look in Audra's eyes, wrapped his one arm around her shoulders and guided her to the nearby sofa while Jarrod went to do as their mother asked. After they sat down, he did what he could to assure her not to worry about Heath. "Loretta's been doctoring people for years; she'll take care of him."

"I could tell something was wrong." Audra whispered. "This is my fault. I should have said something."

"No," Nick, who was irritated at Heath for not speaking up and shocked that Audra was blaming herself, forced himself to reply in a quiet, soothing voice. "This is not your fault. Heath is a full grown man who can speak for himself. You don't need to feel like that is your responsibility."

While Nick was doing his best to get Audra to relax, Loretta was examining a still unconscious Heath. "How long has he been running a fever?" She looked up at Victoria, who had her eyes on her blonde haired son.

Victoria was shocked. Heath had never complained to feeling ill. So, naturally, she'd had no reason to check anything like his temperature out. "I have no clue; I didn't even know he was sick."

"Well, he has a pretty high fever now." Loretta looked at Casey Black, who had just poked his head into the room to see if she needed anything. Casey was always doing that-as he was extremely interested in medicine.

"Go get a lot of ice, ask one of my half-brothers to help you." She looked at one very worried Victoria, feeling her heart go out to her stepmother. "We have to bring his fever down. It's far too high. I'm surprised he's not having convulsions." She turned and, picking up an empty pitcher that stood on the nearby dresser, excused herself-saying she was also going to get some cold water.