Epilogue

The stars were just coming out and nice gentle breeze was blowing through the air. Over all it was a beautiful night and, with the threat of the Kyle family out of their lives, all the Barkleys should have been relaxing and settling back into their daily routines, only that wasn't the case.

Jarrod was sitting on bale of hay while Marissa was sitting on another. He was wheeling in shock over the announcement she'd just made.

"I had to have done something!" Jarrod leaned forward a bit. "This whole time you flat out refused to leave Stockton; you stuck by and helped us more than was ever expected and now, just like that, you are leaving? I want to know why."

Marissa's only answer was to close her eyes and take a deep breath. While he waited for her to say, or do, something, Jarrod thought on the interrupted celebration that had been taking place in the house before Marissa had bolted out the door.

"It's over!" Jarrod stood in the living room looking over his family and raised his drink in the air. "It's finally over!"

"'Bout time too!" Nick grinned from ear to ear as he raised his own glass, "Now, we can get back to living our lives without watching and waiting for the next attack the Kyles might make!" It was a statement his family was more than happy to agree with and began to do so, only to watch in shock as Marissa turned and ran out of the room…and out of the house.

Jarrod quit thinking about the celebration, as he watched Marissa stand up. When she started walking over to the corral, he joined her. Only when she rested her arms upon the top of the fence did she speak. She spoke of the time when she was cleaning the barn and how Heath had offered to listen. "I never talked to him, thought about it a number of times, thought about talking you, but I never did."

Jarrod went from wondering what he'd done to remembering how he felt she was hiding something the day she sat in his room talking to him while he recovered. Now, instead of frustration showing in his eyes, there was sympathy and compassion. He laid his hand upon her shoulder and asked quietly. "Why did the words I and Nick say that day in the house have such an effect upon you?" He asked.

Marissa felt tears begin to swell up inside her and she raised both her hands to her mouth. Only after she'd taken another deep breath did she begin to explain. "I had another "brother"," she turned to face Jarrod, "one that I have never mentioned before."

Jarrod was shocked. With all the conversations they'd had since she'd saved him, he'd thought of a few things she might be hiding from him, but another sibling had never been on the list. He said nothing though, as he waited for her to continue. He didn't have to wait long.

"Actually, he wasn't really my brother." She went on to explain how the young man was simply at her parents' home so much that everyone in her family considered him to be another child of the family. His name was George." She gave a soft, half hearted chuckle as she admitted, "I stopped thinking of him as brother shortly after I hit fourteen."

Jarrod couldn't help but grin. "Your first love, huh?"

"My only love until now," Marissa replied and sighed. "We were to be married after the war was over, if he survived." She shook her head and sighed. "He survived, came home with his wounds healed. We were celebrating just like your family is doing now. We even said, basically, the very same things only…" she stopped as she looked into Jarrod's eyes. "I told you my parents and one brother died. Have you never wondered how?"

Jarrod realized that the topic had indeed never been discussed. "What happened?"

She turned her face back towards the empty coral, as she let her shoulders slump forward. "We were celebrating the end of the war; George was home and we could get back to living. Only…" she lifted her hands over her face, as if trying to block the images she was seeing out of her mind. Jarrod kept his hand upon her shoulder and waited for her to continue.

"Some people never stop fighting, as you know." Marissa put down her hands. "One minute we were celebrating, the next thing I know a handful of rebels were in the house yelling, claiming the war wasn't over and they were moving into our house for shelter. When my father, brother and George tried to tell them different, those men shot them, along with my mother. To this day I don't know why they quit shooting and left. As it was, if it wasn't for the fact that George had pushed me behind the couch when the shooting started I would have been killed too. Jarrod," she stepped away from the fence, as she started visibly shaking, "My head said anyone connected to the Kyles is dead; my head said it but my heart…." She started crying, "As you and Nick were talking all I could see was myself cradling George in my arms; all I could hear was his dying declaration of love for me, his confession that he had intended to court me. What if…" she couldn't go on as the tears started flowing uncontrollably.

Jarrod wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close to him as he could. While he kept one arm around her waist, he ran his free hand over the top of her head and ran his fingers through her hair as he ran his hand down the back of her head. "There is no threat from anyone connected to the Kyles. That much I can promise you. And," he kissed the top of her head, "While I can't promise what lies ahead, I can say if you leave," He titled her head backwards, making it so she had to look up at him, "I'll die inside. I love you and need you." With that he lowered his head, covered her mouth and slid his tongue inside.

Marissa wrapped her arms around Jarrod's waist and ran them up his back, holding onto him for all she was worth. As she did so she could hear her late father say, as he had on many occasions while she was growing up, "Girl, life is full of choices, good ones and bad. You just make sure you do your best to make good ones…and learn from your bad ones." As the kiss between Jarrod and herself deepened, Marissa knew of one choice that had just been carved into stone.