Chapter 7

Jarrod wired the home in San Francisco right away and had a reply by the end of the day. He hurried back to Olivia's house with the news. They would take her if she could get there within the next two days. Jarrod was a little surprised by her reaction. She gave a little laugh and said, "I already packed."

Jarrod broke into a grin.

"I'm independent minded," Olivia reminded him. "Once I make that independent mind up, it's made up."

Jarrod laughed. "I'll wire them back, and I'll take you there myself on the train tomorrow morning." Before she could say she would get there herself, Jarrod said, "Don't argue. I want to see you're settled in, and I want to visit myself. I haven't been in six months or so. I like to check in now and then and see what they need."

"Why don't you want your family to know you're supporting this group?" Olivia said. "It doesn't embarrass you, does it?"

"No," Jarrod shook his head. "I have several organizations I support in San Francisco that they don't know about, just because I don't want to draw attention to it. In this case, I'm doing it to honor my brother, and I just don't want Heath to know. Just a quirk of mine."

Olivia understood. "I'll keep your secret, and I'll be ready to go first thing in the morning."

XXXXXX

When he got home and explained he was going to San Francisco the next morning, Jarrod had to explain why he had gotten a postponement of the case he had coming up in court and was taking off so suddenly. At first he was reluctant to say it was because Olivia was going there to have a baby – he was nervous his brothers would take it the wrong way, and his mother and sister, too for that matter – but remembering Olivia was not going to be secretive about her child, he explained.

"Olivia is a very good friend," he said. "She has become with child – not my child," he said quickly, but he didn't explain whose it was. "She doesn't want to give the baby up once it's born. She wants to raise it herself, here in Stockton. She can't go to the nuns here because they'll make her give the baby up, so she's going to this place I know of in San Francisco, where they'll help her have the baby but not force her to give it up."

"How long do you intend to stay involved in this with her?" Victoria asked.

Jarrod understood the expression in his mother's eyes. She was concerned about the effect his involvement with this unwed mother was going to have on his life, on his career. "I don't know," he said. "Olivia is a very independent woman. She might not allow me to be very involved. But I care about her. I care about what she's going through, and I'm at least going to give her my legal expertise as long as she wants it."

The way they were all looking at him told him he had to explain more. He knew Olivia wouldn't mind what he was about to say.

"She's my age, Mother," he said. "She's over 30 and she sees this as her last chance to have a child of her own. And she might very well be right. She's a good woman. I've known her for a few years. I'll give her whatever help she'll accept."

It was later, while having a cigar on the verandah, that the very honest conversation began, and Jarrod was not really surprised it was Heath who came out to join him. What was a little surprising was his opening remark – "Are you gonna marry this woman, Jarrod?"

Jarrod raised an eyebrow at his bluntness. "Not likely," he said. Then he admitted it. "I think if we were going to marry, we'd have done it already."

"She's one of your earlier relationships, isn't she?" Heath asked.

"I can't answer that, Heath," Jarrod said. "I promised any woman I was with I'd keep it to myself. I just won't talk about them, not even to the family, not even to say I was or wasn't with someone."

But that was answer enough, at least on that part of the subject. Heath switched to his other big concern, and said, "Does she know how rough a time she's in for?"

"She's already getting the rough treatment," Jarrod said.

"But raising an illegitimate child alone," Heath said. "Is she considering how that's going to affect her child?"

Jarrod eyed his brother. Heath never talked much about how growing up illegitimate affected him. He didn't really have to. When he showed up here he was angry and bitter, but the inner man of warmth and commitment came through pretty quickly. Jarrod said, "She's seen how it's affected you. She knows you're a good man."

"She doesn't know how hard a fight it was to get there," Heath said, and he wouldn't look at his brother now.

"Do you want to talk to her?" Jarrod asked flat out.

"No," Heath said. "I don't. She's close to you, not me."

"I'll tell her anything you think she needs to know, if you tell me."

Jarrod's blue eyes were sympathetic, but not pitying in any way. Heath had never seen a bit of pity in Jarrod's eyes for who he was and how he came to be, even if in the beginning he saw doubt. But that was in the beginning, and except for Victoria, Jarrod was the quickest of the Barkleys to understand and accept who Heath was – all of who he was. Still, now, Heath hesitated answering Jarrod's question, almost sorry he had brought any of this up. He wondered what to say. He finally said, "My mother was a special woman. She was kind, she was loving, and she was strong enough to face the kind of treatment the 'good' people gave her because of me."

"Because of you," Jarrod said. He heard the guilt in there. He always knew it was there, but Heath hadn't been so blunt about it before.

Heath nodded. "You don't grow up a bastard without feeling like you've inflicted some bad on the people you love. You gotta learn to live with that before you come to realize that it wasn't your fault to begin with and you don't deserve to give yourself the guilt. It's a hard road for a kid. I just want to be sure you know that, and that Olivia knows that."

Jarrod nodded. "I'll make sure she does, Heath."

Heath gave a nod and a cockeyed smile. "That's all, Jarrod," he said. "That's all she really needs to understand. And I hope she can do this. I hope she's made of the same stuff my mother was made of."

Jarrod nodded. "I think she is, Heath. I think this baby will be as lucky to have her as a mother as you were to have Leah."

Heath's cockeyed smile grew. He gave his older brother an appreciative pat on the arm and went back inside.

XXXXXX

Jarrod decided that he would wait to talk to Olivia about Heath's advice. Traveling to San Francisco and moving into the environment of a home for unwed mothers was going to be trauma enough for one day, without thinking too much about the future. When Jarrod arrived at Olivia's place in the morning, he arrived with a smile and a respectful tip of the hat. "Good morning," he said politely. "Are you ready to go?"

Olivia nodded. "I am."

Jarrod carried her bags as they walked to the station, which wasn't far. They both noticed a few heads looking their way, watching this fallen women being escorted and assisted by the most prominent and unmarried lawyer in town. Olivia wondered what damage just being seen with her was going to do to Jarrod's reputation. But Jarrod just smiled and tipped his hat to every woman they came to, and said hello to the people he knew personally as if he were escorting any other client. Olivia hoped people would see it that way, that she was a client, not even a friend.

Before long they were on board and heading out of town. Jarrod had sprung for first class tickets, knowing the seats would be more comfortable. He also made sure there were several paper bags available, just in case Olivia needed them for her morning sickness or even motion sickness from the movement of the train. She needed one once, and that was all. "I'm over the morning sickness part," she said quietly. "It wasn't too bad anyway."

Jarrod didn't hesitate to hold her hand, knowing how tough this trip was on her even if she was putting on a brave front. "I hope you'll let me look in on you at the home now and then. I don't mean to be nosy or bossy. I just care how you'll be getting along."

"I'd like to see you now and then," Olivia said. "I'll feel less lonely."

But it didn't take long, once they arrived at the home in San Francisco, for Olivia to realize loneliness was not going to be one of her biggest problems. She was greeted right away by five women who ran everything – Mrs. Tate the administrator, Mrs. Parson the midwife, Mrs. Jones the housekeeper, Mrs. Oster the cook and Mrs. McWhirtle the "everything else." Every one of them wore a smile, and even all the unwed mothers-to-be who lived here looked comfortable, protected, safe.

"Mr. Barkley, we'd love for you to come back this evening for dinner with us, but for now we'd like you to skedaddle while we make Miss Olivia comfortable and get her familiar with the routine," Mrs. Tate said after Jarrod had carried Olivia's bags to her room.

"Sadly, I have to get right back to Stockton," Jarrod said, "so I'll have to decline. But I'll be back in a week or so. May I stop by then and see how Olivia is doing?" He asked that question mostly of Olivia.

Olivia nodded, leaned toward him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm sure I'll be doing fine and I'll be well settled in. But Jarrod – my place in Stockton – will you look after it, or at least after my things I left there? I haven't prepaid the rent for more than another month."

"I'll look after things," Jarrod said, well aware they hadn't even discussed how Olivia was going to support herself and her child after the baby was born. There were so many things to talk about, but they had to take the back burner. For now, just getting Olivia through the pregnancy had to take priority.

Olivia understood he'd be thinking what he was thinking. "We'll be talking a lot over the next few months, I suppose. I know I have decisions to make."

"I'll help you," Jarrod said. "Mrs. Tate," he said then with a slight bow. "I hope you'll think about what you need around here so we can talk about that when I come back next week."

"Oh, we're doing fine right now," Mrs. Tate said. "We just got a nice donation from the mayor's wife."

"That's wonderful," Jarrod said. Then he leaned to give Olivia a kiss. "Till we see each other again, Olivia."

She nodded and smiled.