Chapter 7

Ceres wasn't very far away but it still took half an hour of moving fast for Heath to get there. All the way he wondered and worried about what was happening back at Grant's house – how Jarrod was, how Eliza was faring, how Abagail and the baby were. He knew that now, with Jarrod out of commission, this whole problem was in his lap, but he was a man who knew how to take problems step by step. Step 1 was to fetch this doctor and get him out to the Grant place. Step 2 would be how to deal with it once the doctor got out there because the truth would have to start to come out.

Except that Step 2 was taken care of as soon as Heath got to Dr. Blythe and said, "I need you to come with me to a ranch about half an hour away, the Grant place. My brother is injured out there, and Mrs. Grant just had a baby last night."

And the doctor said, "Which Mrs. Grant?"

Heath was stunned. He didn't know what to say.

The doctor said quietly, "When the Grants first arrived, they were seen together in town, all three of them and the young one looking with child even though she never got up out of the wagon. Mr. Grant has been the only one to come in for supplies and he never buys coffee or even tea. Nobody's confronted them about it, and even the sheriff would rather it not get spread around too far and out of hand, but the storekeeper and the sheriff and I all guessed it pretty quickly. They're Mormons."

Heath wasn't about to lie. "Yes, they are, and my brother and I knew them from Stockton. We didn't know they lived around here. We just happen to stumble on them when my brother's horse threw him and he hit his head. They were the closest place I could take him, and he was awake and a little disoriented for a while, but about half an hour ago he passed out again."

"Then let's go," Dr. Blythe said.

They were back to the Grant's place in a little over half an hour. Things were pretty much as Heath had left them – Jarrod out on the sofa with Grant nearby, the baby crying softly, Eliza now cleaning dishes in the kitchen since she had obviously gotten everyone fed while Heath was gone. Grant looked up at the doctor and moved aside as the Dr. Blythe knelt beside Jarrod.

Heath said quietly to Grant, "Push has come to shove, Mr. Grant. Dr. Blythe knows."

Grant looked alarmed. "How could he?"

"Two women with you when you first came to town, and you don't buy coffee or tea," Heath said. "That's how they figured you out in Stockton. It's not surprising they figured it out here too."

Eliza came in from the kitchen. "He was a little awake a few minutes ago," she said, "but he didn't speak."

Dr. Blythe tried smelling salts, and Jarrod reacted, trying to push him away. "Mr. Barkley? Come on, Mr. Barkley, wake up."

Jarrod finally opened his eyes, still looking groggy, but he looked around at everyone.

Heath said, "He didn't eat much last night."

Dr. Blythe said, "You said this head injury happened yesterday but he seemed to sleep all right last night."

"I'm all right," Jarrod protested and tried to sit up.

Dr. Blythe held him down. He looked carefully into Jarrod's eyes then, and examined the wound to his head. When he finished, he said, "I think you probably are but that doesn't mean you're ready to get up and run around the house. You probably have a mild concussion. You need to stay down for at least another day and rest."

Jarrod looked up at Heath, with what do we do now in his eyes. Heath said, "Dr. Blythe knows these people are Mormon, Jarrod. So do the shopkeeper and the sheriff. The whole thing is kind of out of our hands now."

Dr. Blythe stood up. "Indeed it is, but first things first. Mr. Grant, I understand a baby was born here last night." He smiled a little. "Congratulations are in order. May I have a look at the child and her mother, as long as I'm here?"

"I'll pay the bill," Jarrod said, his eyes closed but his face screwed up in a frown.

Grant took Dr. Blythe back into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. Eliza looked to Heath, then to Jarrod. "Mr. Barkley?" she asked.

Jarrod looked up at her.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"The doctor will have to talk to the sheriff," Jarrod said. "Then we will, and we'll try to buy some time. You must be sure that a divorce is what you want, Mrs. Grant."

"It's not what I want," she said, "but it's what has to be."

"Then we'll help you figure it all out," Heath said.

Eliza went back to the kitchen and the dishes. Jarrod did not try to get up, but Heath kept an eye on him just in case he did. In a little while, Dr. Blythe came back out of the bedroom, closing the door and leaving Grant behind with his wife and new daughter.

"Well, things are just fine in there, but the mother is a bit weak," Dr. Blythe said as Eliza came out of the kitchen again. "I understand you delivered the baby, Mrs. Grant."

Eliza nodded. "I've done it before, when we lived in Utah."

Dr. Blythe raised an eyebrow. "Have you done it many times?"

"Oh, six or seven I guess," Eliza said, and she smiled at the memory. "Everything worked out well every time. I suppose my oldest is about 10 by now."

"Well," Dr. Blythe said. "I'd better be getting back to town, but you understand, I'll have to confirm to the sheriff what we already suspected. He'll be wanting to talk to you about this plural marriage. I already alerted your husband."

"I'll be getting a divorce," Eliza said flatly.

Jarrod said, "I'm a lawyer. I'll take care of it for her."

"And then what?" Dr. Blythe said. "What do you plan to do then?"

When no one else spoke, Heath said, "That's kind of up in the air right now. I hate to see Mrs. Grant have to leave this family and the new baby."

Eliza looked surprised that Heath had figured that out. "I don't want to," she said quietly, "but there seems to be no other solution."

"Unless we can find you a way for you to stay in Ceres," Heath said, "IF you can bring yourself to do that."

Eliza turned away without answering. How a woman could divorce a husband she loved just because the law said she had to, yet still tend to that husband's other wife and child, was somewhat beyond all the men in the room.

"It's a question of support," Eliza said. "Hebron can't support me in a separate household, and I can't live with him if it's not as his wife."

"Do you think you could live in town, if you could find a way to pay for it?" Dr. Blythe asked.

Eliza really seemed to be thinking hard about it. Leave a husband, live independently, yet still help take care of his family? It almost seemed impossible, but then Eliza thought about that baby, that sweet little girl. She thought about how much she really did want to help care for her, and for Abagail, and how much she was going to be needed at least for a while. And being needed was what Eliza needed herself, more than anything in life.

"I – I don't know," Eliza stuttered.

Jarrod sat up very slowly. Dr. Blythe steadied him but didn't insist he lie down again. "Let's take care of getting the divorce started first. I can do that as soon as you think I'm up to getting to town, Doctor."

"Tomorrow or the next day, I would say," Dr. Blythe said. "But you should have the plan ready, because after I talk to the sheriff – and I have to do that now – he'll be out here."

"Mr. Barkley will be getting the divorce for me," Eliza said, very firmly. "That much is settled."

As she said it, Grant came out of the bedroom, and he heard it. He stopped.

Eliza looked at him. "That much has to be, Hebron. There is no choice. As for the rest of it, as for where I go now – that's what I have to figure out."