Chapter Two

Nick, who was standing next to a dresser that stood close to the bed where his brother lay, glanced at the window. A storm had hit and dumped bucketfuls of water down upon Miss Ames' small cabin. The last of the rain was now sliding off the glass pane. He looked back at his older brother. While he was relieved Jarrod's temperature wasn't so high as to cause convulsions, Nick was still extremely concerned. After all, the fever that held his brother in its grip had yet to break, and the labored breathing he heard coming from the bed wasn't helping his nerves any either. He watched as Deidra once again put another wet cloth on Jarrod's forehead. He couldn't help feeling an immense amount of gratitude. The woman had been relentless in helping care for Jarrod, relieving him throughout the past couple of days. While he and Jarrod had left Rockville early, their family would not miss them for a few more days for one simple fact. He and Jarrod had wanted to surprise them, so they had sent no telegram. For that Nick was again kicking himself.

"He'll be fine." Deidra, who could see the worry in Nick's eyes, smiled and did her best to reassure Jarrod's brother. "He's a fighter, always has been."

Nick's eyes widened. How on earth would she know that? On the heels of his unspoken question came the answer. The War. However, that thought only brought confusion. "Jarrod was never wounded in any battle." He leaned forward.

Deidra sighed and shook her head, a bit of disbelief in her eyes. "You know as well as anyone, you didn't have to be shot in order to find yourself in a hospital of any kind during that time frame." She then pointed out she'd asked him when he first arrived that she'd asked how many times Jarrod had had pneumonia. "For me to ask that, I'd have to know he'd battled the disease at least once."

Nick conceded her point. "We seldom talk about the war, though he did mention being 'slightly sick' a couple of times. Never said it was bad enough to land himself in any hospital," 'I'll have to take that up with him another time' Nick added only to himself. "How long was he in the hospital your parents worked at?" He figured he might as well find that one out while he was there.

"A few weeks," She replied and then asked Nick to go into her room and grab the spare pillow she had. "I want to prop him up a bit more, make it so he can breathe a bit easier." In no time at all, Nick had brought her the pillow, pulled Jarrod up enough for Deidra to adjust the pillows behind Jarrod and then lay him back down. Afterwards, she left only to return with a snack for him. "I didn't have much to give you for breakfast, thought you might like a small sandwich. Though, you can sit down to eat it."

Nick smiled wide. He was hungry, but hadn't wanted to impose on Deidra even more. She seemed to read his mind as he thanked her for the food and began eating, though he refused to sit down. "Been doing too much of that, need to stand for awhile."

"Like I told your brother once, never hesitate to ask for anything. I may not always be able to help you only, if I can, I will." Deidra, who had set another chair on the other side of the bed the first day her visitors had arrived, sat down. She then surprised Nick by asking if Jarrod had always had a wicked sense of humor, and the surprise showed in his eyes.

"Jarrod has a sense of humor; I freely admit, only wicked?" Nick's eyes filled with a look that screamed of curiosity. "Just what did my dear brother do?"

A grin a mile wide spread over Deidra's face as she fought to keep a straight face. "One of the soldiers who was stationed nearby was a real piece of work, always saying-or doing-one thing or another that was totally unnecessary. More than once, he'd been more than rude to more a few of the wounded, or sick, patients. Well, one time the troublemaker was so over focused on harassing one young man he never noticed your brother had gotten out of his bed, grabbed some string that happened to be lying on the dirt floor, and crawled silently up behind him. Of course, those of us who saw Jarrod acted as if we didn't. Not a few minutes later, he was back in bed…with the man none the wiser. The last thing that man said before he tried leaving was 'If I'm lying, I'll eat dirt!' I wonder if he'd have said that if he knew your brother had successfully tied his boots together."

Nick, who didn't have to be told what happened once the man moved, roared with laughter. "I don't know that I'd call tying shoes together so the man would fall would be called wicked only sounds like the gentleman-if you want to call him that- sure deserved it!"

"He did at that!" She went on to tell him a number of things Jarrod had done while in the hospital, most of them Nick had actually heard about after the war only some-like the shoe lace bit-were new.

Nick's head snapped up when the sun's rays slipped through the window and under his eyelids. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. The first thing he did was to check on Jarrod. He was more than overjoyed when he rested his hand on his brother's forehead. "YES!" he couldn't help but exclaim when he realized there was no heat rising off his brother. As he did so, Jarrod's eyes opened ever so slightly.

"Welcome back to the land of the living!" Nick smiled down on his brother. "You gave us quite the scare, thought you might be crossing over on me." The relief that was not the case could be seen in his eyes and heard in his voice.

Jarrod's eyebrows turned downwards. "Us? I don't remember making it home, and this doesn't feel like my bed." He managed to say as he fought to keep his eyes open.

"We're not, and it's not." Nick explained where they were and the extra help he'd had in caring for Jarrod.

"D..Deidra A..Ames?" Jarrod asked, astounded. "T…that's i..impossible."

Nick, who wasn't surprised by Jarrod's reaction, only smiled wide. He went to assure Jarrod he was very serious only to realize Jarrod had slipped back into a deep sleep. "Rest easy, brother. I'll go tell our angel of mercy, she has an old friend to visit." He smiled wide as he walked out of the room.