Chapter 3

"Mother!" Audra cried, and she and J.J. leapt from their horses.

J.J. took hold of the leads of all the horses so they would not panic and run away. Victoria was trying to sit up when Audra reached her.

"Mother, are you all right?" Audra asked urgently.

Victoria struggled to sit up. She couldn't seem to use her left arm. "I think so," she said anyway.

Audra didn't think so. "J.J.," she said to her nephew, "go get Nick and Heath and tell them what's happened. Bring them here."

J.J. nodded, handing the leads of Audra's horse and Victoria's over to his aunt, then mounting up his own horse and riding fast back the way they had come.

Audra helped her mother sit up. Victoria still seemed to be dizzy, and her left arm was just hanging there. "I don't know what happened," Victoria said.

"You fell from your horse," Audra said.

"But why? I was fine, and then suddenly I was on the ground."

At least Victoria was speaking clearly. Audra took comfort in that, but it worried her that she didn't seem to have any strength on her left side.

Victoria tried to stand up, and Audra helped her, but it didn't work. Victoria couldn't steady herself, and her left side crumpled. Audra eased her back onto the ground.

"I've sent J.J. for Nick and Heath," Audra said. "They'll be here in a few minutes. We'll just wait here and rest until they get here."

Victoria finally looked Audra in the eye and held onto her with her right arm. "This is the strangest feeling," she said. "Part of me just seems numb."

"Maybe you landed wrong when you fell," Audra said, knowing full well that landing wrong was not the reason for Victoria's partial paralysis.

No one knew, but Audra had talked a lot with Stockton's newest doctor, Dr. Shane, about things that could be expected as Victoria grew older. Small strokes were first on his list, and he described how they might present themselves. Partial paralysis was right there in his description.

Her mother was into her seventies now. It tore Audra to her heart that the things Dr. Shane had described were beginning to happen, but it couldn't be denied. It could only be dealt with.

J.J. was back with Nick and Heath within minutes. They all dismounted, and the men ran to their mother's side. "What happened?" Nick asked.

"She fell," Audra said.

"I'm not hurt," Victoria said. "My left arm and leg have gone numb, but I don't think I'm hurt."

"We should send for the doctor, just to be sure," Audra said.

"I'll go for him," Heath said. "J.J., would you ride to the house and bring back a buggy or a wagon?"

"I can ride," Victoria said.

"No, you can't," Audra insisted. "We're going to take things easy until we have you checked out."

Victoria gave a small grin to her daughter. "It looks like the torch has been passed," she said. "You're becoming the boss now, are you?"

"Yes," Audra said. "So get used to it."

Victoria laughed.

XXXXXXXX

Almost two hours later, Dr. Shane came down from Victoria's room. Audra was up with her mother, but the rest of the household – grandchildren included – were gathered in the living room, waiting.

"She's resting comfortably," Dr. Shane said quickly. "I haven't given her anything, because she's not in pain."

"Did she have a stroke, Doc?" Heath asked.

Dr. Shane nodded. "Looks like it, but it looks like a small one. She's already regaining some feeling on her left side. That's a good sign."

"How do we keep this from happening again?" Nick asked.

"There is a surgical procedure that seems to help," Dr. Shane said. He ran his finger down the side of his neck. "We open up the carotid artery and clean it out. I can't perform it – a surgeon would have to do it. It does seem to help, but otherwise we just deal with the symptoms."

"Our brother's a surgeon," Nick said.

"So I've heard, but he's back east, isn't he?"

Nick nodded. "I think we could get him out here if you think it's a good idea."

"I'll go on into town and wire him," Heath said. "Then I think I better get home and let Suzanne know what's happening."

"When will Mother be up and around?" Nick asked.

"Using her cane, I think she can try getting around as soon as she wants, but I'd keep her off horseback. As soon as your brother gets here, he and I can talk about her treatment from here on."

Dr. Shane headed to the door with Nick and Heath. "Thanks for your help, Doc," Nick said.

"Try not to worry," Dr. Shane said. "What's happening is alarming, but once she gets treatment, she should do well for quite a while."

Dr. Shane and Heath left together, and Nick came back into the living room. J.J. was pouring a glass of sherry for his mother; Tony was sitting on the hearth, just listening to what was going on. Nancy was sitting beside Maggie on the settee.

J.J brought the sherry to his mother, asking his Aunt Nancy if she wanted anything. Nancy declined. She was concentrating on her husband, because Nick was still looking pretty worried. She exchanged looks with him before she stood up and took him by the arm.

"Nick, why don't I go into the kitchen and see to dinner? Come with me in case Silas needs some help digging up some potatoes from the garden."

Nick nodded. He didn't talk about his mother as he went with Nancy into the kitchen. He didn't need to. Nancy knew what he was thinking about. When they got to the kitchen, they found Silas already peeling potatoes – but he had tears in his eyes.

Nancy let go of Nick and touched Silas's shoulder. "Oh, Miss Nancy, I am sorry," Silas said. "I just worry so about Mrs. Barkley."

"We worry, too," Nick said, "but the doctor thinks there's a treatment that can help her and we're sending for Eugene in Baltimore. It won't take him long to get here."

"Good," Silas said and rubbed his eye with the back of his hand.

"Can we help you at all?" Nancy asked.

"No, thank you, ma'am," Silas said. "I have everything doing good. I'm making some broth for Mrs. Barkley and will keep it warm for when she wants it."

Out through the window, Nick and Nancy saw J.J. and Maggie already on the back porch swing. Nick smiled, remembering how Jarrod used to be there with Maggie, thinking how much J.J. looked like his father and even acted like him. Nick and Nancy went outside and saw Tony out in the garden. When he saw his parents coming, he said, "I'm picking some flowers for Grandmother."

"Good idea," Nick said. "She'll like them."

"I hope she feels better pretty quick," Tony said.

Nick and Nancy could tell the boy was worried. This was the first time something critical with someone he loved had happened. Everyone else in the family had managed to dodge anything serious in the years eleven-year-old Tony had been aware of what was going on. Nick let go of his wife and put his arm around his son. "Come here, kid," he said and guided the boy to the bench.

The bench only held two people, so Tony let his parents sit down and he got down on his heels in front of them, fingering the flowers he had picked.

"Things happen to us when we get older," Nick explained. "We don't feel so good. Our bodies take a lot of punishment over the years, and things add up."

"Is Grandmother going to die?" Tony asked.

"I don't think so," Nick said quickly. "She just has some of the problems we get as we get older."

"But someday she will die," Tony said, his voice beginning to show the strain of his thinking. "Someday you will, too. And me."

"That the way of life, son," Nick said. "We're not meant to live forever. Being in this world is kind of like – well, it's kind of like riding on one of those fun rides we got on together at the State Fair in Sacramento, remember? We waited to get on and then we rode around and we laughed and had a good time, but then we had to get off and let other people get on. This world is kind of the same way. Comes a time, we have to get off, let other people get on."

Tony thought hard about that. He understood that when you die you go to heaven, and it made sense that he would someday have to die – get off the ride – and let other people come here to live. But in his heart, he trembled. He didn't know how to explain that.

Nick read it in his eyes. "It's natural to be nervous about leaving here and going to heaven. It's the way we're made."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Nick said. "It just is. God made us that way, maybe so we'd be careful while we're here. I don't know. God does. He knows what He's doing, even if we don't always understand it. But it's His world, and we can trust Him."

"Tony," Nancy said quietly. "Grandmother is going to be all right for now. She might need our help now and then to get around or to do things, but she's all right for right now, and so are the rest of us. We'll be all right for a long time."

Tony nodded, still not understanding completely and still a bit shaken about everything, but he straightened up, then got up and said, "I'm going to take these flowers to Grandmother."

As he went off to the house, Nick put his arm around his wife. "Growing up can be scary sometimes, can't it?"

Nancy nodded. "Yes, but we all have to do it. Tony will be all right."

Nick kissed her. "I know."