A/N: My apologies for being so late with this chapter. The lack of any feedback on the last chapter has made me nervous. Too much going on?

To say that Ryan did not take the confirmation of his sister's kidnapping well would have been an understatement. It took both Eugene and Nick to keep him from charging out of the house. Victoria calmly turned to her oldest son to take charge of it.

"I assume that you don't have the gold they're after?" Jarrod asked as his brothers wrestled Ryan back to the chair.

"The army didn't believe me; why should anyone else?" Ryan answered, slumping. Audra out her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "No, I don't have that cursed gold. I never had it. And I can't get that kind of money in a few hours. Almost everything Natalie and I have is tied up in investments and property."

"Jarrod, how much do we have available at the bank?" Victoria asked practically.

Her son shook his head. "If we are going to get Natalie back safely, we're going to have to be smart about this," Jarrod answered. "I've heard of too many situations like this ending badly when the family gives in to the demands."

"You think they'll kill her?" Nick asked. "Why would they do a fool thing like that?"

Ryan let out a laugh. "Because she'll be able to identify them," he said. He ran his hands through his hair "Especially if they knew me from this stupid gold business. There's only a handful of people who know the whole business as it is."

"Then, we have to use that to our advantage," Jarrod responded. "Now, we're not going to rush things. Tell us the story, Ryan. Then we can know how to proceed."

Letting his hands drop, Ryan nodded. "Where do you want me to begin?"

"Why don't you give us some background information. I'm assuming that there's a reason for you being sent to the Indian Territory instead of a closer posting, Ryan," Jarrod remarked, keeping the subject on track. "Why don't we start there?"

"There was some fear that I would be a liability to the front lines because of my ties to Georgia," Ryan responded, tiredly. "It was decided that to avoid there being a chance that I would desert to the other side with valuable information that could be used against the Union, I needed to be as far from the south as possible. So, guarding the trails used for transporting gold it was."

Glancing over at Heath, Jarrod saw his half brother nod. "You helped keep the trails clear?"

"Every day for nine months," Heath answered, his tone short. The war was one subject that the fair haired man was always reluctant to talk about. And given how he spent the last days of the war, Jarrod couldn't really blame him for not being quick to bring it up.

"Why were you sent to the Indian Territory and not your father or brothers?"

The medical student shrugged. "My father was born and raised in in Boston," he answered. "My brothers went to school in the North while I spent several of my teenage years with an uncle in Georgia."

Accepting the information, the lawyer turned his attention back to the topic at hand. "So that brings us to the last fight you both were involved with," he said, guiding the conversation with the ease that comes with years of experience. "I'm assuming there was a gold shipment being transported down the trail you were guarding. What happened then?"

Ryan and Heath looked at each other and then they both nodded. Heath leaned against the fireplace mantel, his eyes taking on a distant expression. "The troop had received word that there was a wagon train on its way," he began, speaking up first. The lack of emotion in his voice was not a good sign. "All of us were ordered to scout the route to make sure there was no chance of an ambush."

"As it turned out, there was an ambush waiting, not for the shipment, but for us," Ryan added then, his voice cold. He breathed out as if to calm himself down. "I'll never forget the sound of those shouts coming at us from the trees. We must have been outnumbered ten to one. We didn't stand much of a chance."

"Where was Natalie while all of this was happening?" Jarrod asked, building the scene in his mind.

"I thought she was well away from danger, but as it happens, she was running right into trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Jarrod prompted.

"The kind that involved her getting cornered by a confederate soldier," Heath answered before Ryan could. There was a note of emotion in his voice that Jarrod had never heard before and couldn't identify. He wasn't sure if it was an improvement or not. "I heard screaming and I ran to help. I thought I was too late when I heard the gunshot."

"Oh, Heath," Victoria murmured.

The fair haired man had curled his hands into fists, seemingly without realizing it. "I saw Nat on the ground and the soldier standing over him -her, with a knife in his hand," he corrected quickly with a quick self-deprecating shake of the head. "He was kneeling down and I reacted without thinking. I shot him."

"Natalie always said you saved her life, Heath," Ryan said quietly.

Eugene shook his head. "And I was so mad when Father said I couldn't be a drummer boy," he commented quietly.

"You sulked for weeks, and tried running away at least three times," Victoria responded, shaking her head.

"Oh, it was several more times than that. Father caught me every time and sent me back inside."

At the revelation, Victoria's eyes widened with shock. Jarrod chuckled. "It seems there's more than one confession happening this morning," he commented. He returned back to the subject at hand. "So, what happened next?"

The two veterans of that fight exchanged looks. "I don't know," Heath admitted ruefully. "The last thing I remember is running towards Nat to see if he was alright, and then the next thing I knew, I was waking up in chains. The troop had been defeated and we were being transported to Carterson."

A look of guilt appeared on Ryan's face, and the tall, black haired man shifted. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "Natalie told me there was a second soldier who came out of nowhere. He hit you over the head with his rifle when you were going towards Natalie. He was searching for the gold."

"Did Natalie tell the soldier where the gold wagon was?" Jarrod asked gently, taking a guess. "She must have been frightened and in shock by this point."

"I wish it were as simple as that," Ryan responded. "Natalie defended herself and killed him."