Chapter 13

The next time Jarrod woke up to voices, they were different voices, and he recognized them even through the fog of a leftover drugged sleep. He fought his way awake, reaching. "Audra – Heath – "

A new soft hand took his. "We're right here, Jarrod," Audra's voice said.

Jarrod woke up, opened his eyes, saw her face smiling down at him and saw Heath beside her. He said, "Hello."

"Hello," Audra said.

"Don't tell me another day has gone by," Jarrod said.

"No," Audra told him. "It's evening now, still the day after you were shot."

Heath said, "We sent Mother and Nick to get something to eat when we got back from the little hospital Sister Emily runs."

Jarrod grew anxious. "Did you see Alana? Is she all right?"

"She's improving," Audra said. "She's still pretty shaken up by everything, but she's improving."

"Does she know everything that's happened?" Jarrod asked. "Does she know her brother's been arrested?"

"She knows," Heath said. "Your Pinkerton man Davis told Sister Margaret, and she told Mrs. Roman. They all know you're in here too but you're gonna be all right."

"I can't wait to get out of here," Jarrod said.

Audra chuckled. "I'm sure you can't. You'll be happy to know that Mother is already lobbying the doctors to let us take you to your home here in San Francisco and look after you ourselves."

"Mmm," Jarrod made a happy sound, closing his eyes again. "I'd like to see Alana as soon as I can, if she'll see me."

"She's already asked to see you," Heath said. "But it won't be before tomorrow. Sister Emily wants to keep her there at least one more night."

Audra said, "After what happened, they don't want her to be alone."

"What about her husband?" Jarrod asked. "Does he know what's happened?"

"I don't know," Audra said.

"I want to talk to Nat Springer."

"Tomorrow," Heath said. "I'll make sure he comes to see you, whether you're at home or still here."

"See if you can help Mother get me out of here," Jarrod said.

"I think if you can get out that bed tomorrow, she might stand a chance of springing you," Heath said.

"I'll get up tomorrow," Jarrod assured him. "In the meantime, go see Nat in the morning, huh? I know he'd love to see you."

Heath grumped a little, and Audra chuckled again. Heath and Springer hadn't exactly hit it off when Springer defended him on the charge of murdering Parker Atlas, but that was water under the bridge and had turned out right, despite Springer's dislike of Jarrod's strategy. "I'll go see him myself," Heath said.

"Find out if Alana's husband has gone to see her," Jarrod said.

"Anything else?" Heath asked.

"Where their divorce stands now," Jarrod said, and he started to fade again.

"Will do," Heath said. "You go back to sleep. You gotta be ready to get out of that bed in the morning."

"I'll be ready," Jarrod said quietly and fell asleep one more time.

XXXXX

Jarrod felt a lot more awake when he woke up the next morning. His family wasn't here yet, but breakfast was, and even if it was just hospital food, he was hungry for it. One of the nurses helped him sit up in bed and he was able to feed himself. She wasn't willing to help him get out of bed yet, though she did bring him a bedpan.

Jarrod grumbled about that, but it only made him more determined to get up and around and out of here today.

The surgeon came to see him fairly early and checked the surgical site. "Not bad," he said. "Healing nicely."

"Does that mean I can get out of here?" Jarrod asked.

"You'll have to ask the ward doctor," the surgeon said. "I'll give the okay, but he gets the final word."

Jarrod grumbled about that too, but it wasn't even an hour later the ward doctor came in and said right away, "Let's see if you can sit up on the side of the bed."

Jarrod was determined. He pushed himself up and moved his legs over the side of the bed even if it hurt his midsection like it was on fire.

"All right," the doctor said and helped him stand.

Jarrod stood, the back of his legs against the bed, but he kept upright for a full minute.

"All right," the doctor said and helped him sit back down. "Your family's out in the waiting area. I'll tell them they can have you back. We need this bed."

"Thank you, doctor," Jarrod said earnestly.

The doctor left, closing his bed off with the curtain, and it wasn't two minutes later that Nick and Heath came in with clean clothes. "All right, Pappy, let's get you outta here," Nick said.

Jarrod sat up on the edge of the bed again and his brothers helped him dress. Within half an hour, he was walking out of the hospital on his own, even if it was with his brothers on either side of him to make sure he stayed upright.

"Have you talked to Springer?" Jarrod asked as Heath helped him climb into a hack.

"He said he'd see you at your house," Heath said.

"He was that confident I'd get out of the hospital today, huh?"

"He said you were the stubbornest cuss he ever knew, so yeah, you'd get out."

In half an hour or so, Victoria and Audra led the way into Jarrod's house while Nick and Heath helped him up the stairs. Jarrod was surprised to see his sofa had sheets and a pillow on it, "So you can lie down," Victoria told him.

It was more like an order than a suggestion, so Jarrod sat down and let Heath remove his boots for him. Audra gave Heath a pair of slippers for Jarrod to put on. He did, and he lay back, slightly upright against the arm of the sofa, putting his feet up.

"Want some coffee?" Nick asked.

"Please," Jarrod said.

They had coffee together, and they talked. They made plans that Nick and Heath would stay at least one more day before going back to the ranch, while Victoria and Audra would stay until Jarrod was ready to go back to Stockton. They enjoyed each other's company, they enjoyed the fact that Jarrod was home and getting well. It was sweet to be together.

A couple hours later, Jarrod was resting and the women were cleaning up in the kitchen when the front door bell rang. Nick answered it, and found Nat Springer there. A man and a woman he didn't know were with him, but he figured out pretty quickly who they were.

"Is Jarrod up to a short visit?" Springer asked.

"For you, oh, yes, he is," Nick said and let them in.

Hearing Springer's voice, Jarrod sat up on the sofa, putting his legs over and his feet on the floor. He started to stand when he saw Alana with Springer, but she held up her hand to keep him down. Her husband Steve was with them too.

"We'll leave you all to talk," Nick said, and he and Heath went back into the kitchen where Victoria and Audra were.

"Sit down," Jarrod said.

"We're not gonna take up a lot of your time, Jarrod," Springer said.

"I just wanted to talk to you," Alana said. "To apologize for everything I've done – "

Now Jarrod held up his hand to stop her. "Not necessary, Alana. I understand everything."

"So do I," Steve said. "I never would have if you hadn't gone looking for the truth."

"And I never would have been free of my brother if you hadn't gotten hurt," Alana said. "I'm so sorry for that, too."

"Don't be," Jarrod said. "The two of you together – does this mean you're thinking about reconciling?"

They looked at each other. Steve said, "Yes, we've been talking to Sister Margaret while she and Sister Emily were taking care of Alana. We're going to be meeting with Father Carl tomorrow, and regularly for a while, to make sure we can do it but we still love each other. We still like each other. Maybe a divorce really isn't what either one of us wants."

Jarrod almost asked if that still held even if there would be no children, but Alana quickly said, "We'll be talking to the church about adoption, too. It depends on how this reconciliation goes, of course, and on how the church feels about – well, everything that's happened. But there's a chance they would put us on the list for adoption."

"And that would be just fine with me," Steve said. "We're gonna see how it goes and take it one step at a time, but we wanted you to know that given everything – and we both know about everything – that we thank you for helping us out, even if you didn't know you were doing it."

Jarrod laughed a little. "You're right. I didn't know I was doing it. But I hope it works out for you. I'd like to see you stay together, and raise a child or two."

Alana leaned down and gave Jarrod a kiss on the cheek before the Romans and Springer left again, Springer giving Jarrod a little wave good-bye as they went out the door.

Victoria came in from the kitchen as Jarrod lay back on the sofa again. "I wasn't eavesdropping," she said, "but I heard the door close. Everything is a little bit better, I take it."

"I think everything's a lot better," Jarrod said.

"And you're all right with it?"

"Absolutely," Jarrod said, reached for her, and pulled her down on the sofa beside him. "Worth getting shot for."

Victoria chuckled a little as she sat. "I doubt that."

"No, actually it is," Jarrod said. "Alistaire Martin is gonna go away for a longer time because he shot me. Beating up his sister wouldn't have gotten him that much, but shooting me will get him prison for years. Sad, but true, Mother. Shooting a man once will get you more than repeatedly beating a woman."

"Yes, I know," Victoria said. "We still have a lot of work to do to get justice to be equal. But I'm glad it's working out for Alana and you're happy." She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"Couldn't be happier," Jarrod said and squeezed her hand.

The End