Chapter Ten

"Where do you want these, Mrs. Barkley?" Silas asked as he appeared in the foyer with the flowers she'd asked him to get; he'd put them in a vase streaked with light blue and off white stripes.

"I'll take them." Victoria smiled and thanked their faithful servant as she took the vase towards the bedroom that sat towards the back of the house on the main floor. When Jarrod had written and said he hoped to bring Georgia to the ranch, he'd asked his mother to be ready to make a few changes, one being the room they'd be using. When he'd wired and said Georgia was definitely coming, she and the others had started making the changes, starting with putting flowers in the room on the day her son and the daughter in law she'd never met were to arrive. Once she was inside the room, Victoria couldn't help but find herself worried for her oldest son. How could she not when she thought of the first few years after the war? It had taken Jarrod far too long to even look at another woman, let alone take one out to dinner or to a dance…and those times had been few and far between. She didn't want him to be hurt again.

"Looks different," Nick brought her out her ponderings when he walked into the room and looked at not only the new bed Jarrod had asked them to buy to replace his old one, but the flowers and new dresser…a dark oak one that didn't stand as tall as Jarrod's original one. The dresser was shorter, but longer with three drawers on each side. The new dresser also had a mirror with an etched wide flower pattern that decorated the top of the mirror. The room now held two more pictures as well as the ones Jarrod had had before, one of Christ walking on water and one of some of the scenery outside Stockton. Then, due to the uneasy look on his mother's face, he asked, "You okay with this?"

Victoria said nothing as she walked around the room once more. Nick mistook the silence for a negative reply. Thinking along those lines, he said, "You know, we could suggest they use the guest house for awhile. I mean, most people do move into their own place once they marry." It's not that he really wanted that; he didn't. Nick just didn't want his mother to be uncomfortable.

"No," Victoria stopped in front of the new dresser and ran her hand over the top of it while looking in the mirror, "Jarrod didn't ask for that. We need to respect his wishes."

"But if you're not…" Nick took a step towards his mother only to have her lift her hand to stop him.

"I didn't say the idea of having his wife in the house made me uneasy, though, I'm sorry I can see why you think that." She sighed as she turned to face him. "It's just so unexpected and the way he was after the war…" she paused and walked over to the bedroom window; Nick followed. "I'm just concerned for him."

Remembering his previous thoughts, Nick put his hands on his hips as he too looked out the window at nothing in particular. "We all are, but she's his wife, and he still loves her, or at least what he remembers of her. Besides," Nick said as he took another look around the room, "He's a grown man. It's not like we can tell him what to do in that area of his life."

Victoria didn't know what to think. Years ago, when she and Tom had learned what had happened to their oldest and what had come about as a result, they'd been skeptical as war time romances often ended badly…that and the fact that Jarrod and war bride had been so young when they married concerned the Barkleys. Still, they'd prepared to open their house and their hearts to the young woman who had saved and fallen in love with their son. Now, with all the time that had passed…Victoria turned her hands up and gave Nick a smile. "I guess all we can do is pray for the best." She then excused herself and left the room, leaving Nick with his own private thoughts and concerns.

~oOo~

As the train pulled into Stockton's train yard, Georgia eyes widened. Jarrod had told her Stockton was a large city and that the train station was a very busy place only to actually see it, it was something else. She turned her head as Jarrod started talking.

"You don't need to be nervous; they'll like you." Jarrod was assuring her of this fact as he'd seen her chest start to move up and down a bit faster than it should, indicating to him that she was on verge of some sort of anxiety attack.

Georgia smiled and took a deep breath. Jarrod had been nothing but a gentleman and that smile of his, along with the loving look in his eyes, wrapped themselves around her for the hundredth time. And, for the thousandth time, she wished twelve years hadn't slipped away from them. Though, she did worry what would happen if she discovered all she could was to love Jarrod merely as a good friend. The desire not to hurt him had been the main reason she'd come close to changing her mind and staying with the Hammers. She might have actually done it only Mrs. Hammer had seemed to read Georgia like a book and told her 'you'll hurt him more by not giving him a chance'.

"I hope they like me. I know I should like them. Especially your mother...she's raised a good man." Georgia answered Jarrod as the train's whistle blew and the train began slowing down.