Chapter 5

Breakfast in the morning was odd for Jarrod, just like everything else was odd. Exhausted from his travels, he felt barely awake and asked to be excused from going to church. He didn't want to snore during the sermon.

He took a seat beside Eugene – because Audra was sitting beside Nick and the seat beside Eugene was the only one open. Jarrod gave the boy a grin and wink as he sat down, but Eugene only continued to stare, until Victoria asked him to give the blessing.

"Lord, bless this food, amen," Gene said and started to reach for the plate of steak.

"Wait – " Victoria stopped him. "You should give thanks, too, that we're finally all together again."

Eugene bowed his head and quickly said, "Thank you, God, that we're all together again. Amen."

If Jarrod hadn't started to chuckle, Tom was ready to chastise his youngest son. Jarrod saw him start and just shook his head no, so Tom let it go.

XXXXXXX

The family did not go to church on Sunday, opting instead to take Jarrod around and get him familiar with the ranch again. Nick took the children to school on Monday morning and instead of just letting them unload and go in, he followed along. Amanda was at the door, welcoming the children. She smiled at Nick. "Good morning," she said. "This is a nice surprise."

As Audra and Eugene scampered inside, Nick said to Amanda, "I'd like to ask you a favor. Our older brother Jarrod got home from the war the other night, right after I left you off. He's feeling like a stranger and that's partly because Audra and Eugene are looking at him like he's a stranger. Which to them, he is. He's been gone for four years."

"Oh," Amanda said, understanding. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, maybe just talk to them privately if you get the chance – ask them something like how they feel now that Jarrod's come home," Nick said. "They're just staring at him. They might talk to you."

"Haven't they talked to you or your parents?"

"No. I don't know why, except that our parents are making a big fuss over Jarrod and I think those spoiled little characters might be jealous of the attention this stranger is getting. If you get the chance, maybe just see if they'll say anything to you."

"I'll try, but – well, it might be tough to get them alone, and one of the other children lost her brother in the war. It's touchy when a brother comes home, I know, but it's even touchier if the one whose brother isn't coming home hears me talking to the kids whose brother did come home."

"Well, I don't want to let it cause a problem," Nick said. "If you think you can say something - if you think you can't, don't worry about it. We'll figure it out at home."

"Will you be picking the children up later?" Amanda asked.

Nick nodded. "I think so."

"I'll talk to you then."

Nick gave her a smile and went back to the buggy.

XXXXXXX

"Go with me to pick up the kids," Nick said.

"What?" Jarrod asked.

"Go with me," Nick said. "We'll take the surrey. The kids always feel special when we take the surrey. You can sit in the back seat with them while I drive, and you can start talking. And you can meet Amanda, too. Come on."

Jarrod had spent the day with one of his law books, trying to get four years of not reading law behind him. He rubbed his neck and had to admit, the eyestrain was killing him and Nick's idea was a good one for several reasons. He got up from the desk.

"Hitch up the surrey. I'll tell Mother I'm going with you."

Nick gave him a slap on the back.

XXXXX

Nick pulled up in front of the school just a few minutes before school was due to let out. Jarrod eyed the place and said, "It looks just like it did when we went here."

"Stockton's got some new buildings in it, but this one is still up and running," Nick said. "Maybe we'll get around to building a better school sometime in the next few years."

"How do Audra and Gene like school?"

"They seem to like it all right. Gene is like you. He likes to read, and Audra does too but she likes horses and dogs and kittens better."

Jarrod chuckled.

Nick started to climb out. "Come on. Amanda will be opening the door in a minute. I want you to meet her."

Jarrod climbed down too and went with Nick up to the door. No sooner had they gotten there than it opened, and Amanda came out ringing the hand bell, children rushing out behind her. She gave Nick a happy, familiar smile – and then saw Jarrod.

The smile changed. It wasn't as familiar, but there was something else about it Jarrod noticed too. Surprise? Caution?

"Amanda, this is my brother Jarrod," Nick introduced him.

Jarrod tipped his hat. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Collins."

"Oh, please, make it Amanda," she said.

At that point, Audra and Eugene came out – and looked startled to see Jarrod. Again, their smiles changed – they vanished. Audra tried to get hers back, but Gene made no effort.

Nick said, "Kids, we brought the surrey. Why don't you go with Jarrod and climb in the back seat – " He gave a sly smile. "While I say good-bye to Miss Collins here."

Audra and Eugene gave each other eewwwww faces that knew full well their older brother Nick had something going with their teacher and didn't want them around to watch them together. They ran off to the surrey, not waiting for Jarrod.

Jarrod shrugged, tipped his hat again, and said, "Nice to meet you, Amanda," before he followed to the surrey.

Amanda watched them go to the surrey. "So that's your brother Jarrod."

"That's him. He's the brainy one in the family. I got the good looks and sparkling personality."

Amanda turned her gaze to Nick, and smiled. "Humility, too," she teased.

"I'm looking forward to Saturday night," Nick said. "I wonder if you wouldn't mind having dinner with the family at the ranch. I'd like you to spend more time getting to know my big brother."

"Uh – of course," Amanda said. She sounded funny, not really disappointed, but maybe like she might feel awkward around Jarrod.

"Did you talk to the kids about Jarrod today?" Nick asked.

"No, no, I didn't get the chance," Amanda said. "I'm sorry. I'll try again before Saturday night."

"Thank you. Anything you can do to help me get Jarrod eased back into civilian life, I'd appreciate."

Amanda smiled, but just a little, and nodded.

XXXXX

Saturday night came, and so did Amanda. Having her at the dinner table seemed to loosen things up. Audra and Eugene liked to talk to her, and Jarrod took the opening to join in. The kids actually let him.

Jarrod brought up things like hardtack when the good food came around. "What's hardtack?" Eugene asked.

"It's a big, fat, hard cracker that they made us eat," Jarrod said. "Sometimes it was all we had."

Gene made an ugly face. "Didn't it break your teeth?"

Jarrod chuckled. "With some men, it did, but mine came out of it okay because I always tried to soften the cracker up with coffee or water."

"Ick!" Eugene said. "You ate soggy crackers?"

"Sometimes, Gene, you eat whatever you can get."

"I bet you won't complain the next time we get some good milk and cookies in class, will you?" Amanda said. "Or maybe I should ask your brother to come up with some hard tack."

"Ick!" Eugene repeated, and this time he was joined by Audra.

Tom and Victoria sat back and smiled at each other across the dinner table, but Victoria's smile started to fade a bit. She was noticing something. Nick was watching the interplay, only joining in once or twice, but after a while he wasn't smiling much anymore. He was looking like he was feeling left out.

And Victoria noticed something else. Amanda was doing a lot more looking at Jarrod than she was looking at Nick.