Chapter Nine

A/N Reminder, unless I note different, any town mentioned is made up-as far as I know anyway.

By the time the sun came over the mountain and rose in the clear blue sky, it had indeed been a long night. Nick and Elizabeth had taken turns tending to the ill couple and sleeping. In between the two, they'd also kept the campfire going. Now, ready or not, Nick was driving the wagon towards Taylorsville. They just hoped the town was large enough to warrant a regular doctor. After all, the map only showed the town's name and location.

Nick could hear Elizabeth talking soothingly to the couple as they would moan now and then. It reminded him of the many times his mother, or grandmother would help him when he was growing up; his father's mother had lived with them for a short time when he was a child. Naturally, thinking on his family- made him realize they should have received 'the bad news' by this time. He felt horrible about the pain that would be inflicted upon them only he did his best to push the feelings aside. After all, Heath and Jarrod were beyond smart. They'd be able to figure out what his message was saying and be able to eliminate that pain. Well, enough that-hopefully-they'd be able to forgive him and accept what was. He felt just as bad for the family's friends only there was nothing he could do about easing any pain they were feeling. He sighed. Life had never been so complicated before; it was making his head hurt.

For Elizabeth's part, tending to the couple was bringing back memories she would rather forget…. days and nights of tending to her first husband. She'd done her best, used the best natural herbs that grew in the mountain area, but to no avail. She whispered, "Maybe this is going to sound selfish on my part-for that I'm sorry. I really do want the two of you to live only; please, if you're going to pass away-do it on a doctor's time, not mine and N… I mean, Jonathon's." She fell into silence as she started to wash the gentleman's forehead. Because she was so focused on the gentleman's care, Elizabeth didn't see the woman's eyes open. Only when the woman spoke did Elizabeth turn her head. Of course, she turned rather quickly and had to rub the back of her neck.

"I am sorry." The older woman smiled weakly at her and her husband's rescuer…she paused in her thoughts as she realized the wagon was moving. "Who are you? Who is driving the wagon? What happened?" Even as she asked the last question, the woman remembered getting sick, and her husband looking rather pale himself.

"My name is Elizabeth. My husband, Jonathon is driving your wagon." She went on to explain how Nick and she had found the couple and where they were taking them. Once she was through talking, Elizabeth asked the sick woman, "Where were you going?"

"Kingsville, Wyoming," she closed her eyes, letting a sigh slip through her lips. "We have a son up there, bought himself a ranch and asked us to move up there…said his brother could come with us too."

A worried looked crept into Elizabeth's eyes. She had seen no one else when Nick and she had found the sick couple. She had no time to ask about the man before the woman was talking again-though her eyes remained shut. "Our son in Wyoming must never had received the letter we sent him. His brother never returned from his trip to Ireland, met a young Irish girl and married her instead of coming home." She took a deep breath, coughed and then said that, while she was happy for her son-they missed him dearly. "I didn't want to make the trip alone, just my husband and I. Told him I thought we should hire help, but he didn't want to hire just anyone and was sure we would do just fine." She coughed again.

"Don't talk, ma'am," Elizabeth patted the woman's shoulder. "My husband and I will get you the help you need."

"Name Beatrice Gyver, Bea for short, not ma'am. My husband is Paul Lyman Gyver. He'll tell you to call him Paul." Bea opened her eyes and gave her 'angel' a weak smile. "Thank you for your help, even just for this little while." She then closed her eyes and fell asleep, never really realizing Elizabeth could only partially see her.

Elizabeth remembered the lengthy conversations she and Nick had had when it came to where they needed to go when they left California. After hearing what Mrs. Gyver had said, Elizabeth slid through the flaps in the opening of the covered wagon and made her way onto the seat next to Nick. "Kingsville, Wyoming," She turned her face towards her husband, smiling as she did so. At least this close up-with the sun up-she could see him a lot better.

"Huh?" Nick, who had not been trying to listen to any conversation going on inside the wagon, looked at Elizabeth in confusion.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and started from the beginning. "They're old, Nick. They shouldn't be making the trip alone. After the doctor in Taylorsville takes care of them, and they're well, I think we should offer to go with them. We can tell them we are heading that way, hoping to find work."

"We still don't have a last name to give them. They're going to want one." Nick reminded her.

"Yes, we do." Elizabeth grinned. "Gyver," she then hurried to add she wasn't saying they should try to pass themselves off as some long-lost relatives. "They'll want to know if we're related sure. Only, when they do, we can honestly tell them no. When they start asking more questions, we can tell them it's not open for discussion…that we're trying to get a fresh start."

"They'll assume the worst." Nick snapped, though the tone in his voice said he wasn't turning down the option.

"Probably, only we can't exactly share our past with just anyone. Going to make anyone wonder if we give them an opportunity to ask about our history. And," She shrugged her shoulders, "that's going to happen when you look for work whether we like it or not."

Nick said nothing for a solid five minutes. When he did start talking, Elizabeth about jumped off the wagon-simply because she was so deep in thought that his loud voice startled her.

Nick couldn't help but laugh just a little, though he did apologize. "Didn't mean to scare you, never have found a way to be quiet."

Elizabeth laughed as well, "You're not loud; you're just 'pronounced'." Her eyes were laughing as the words came out of her mouth.

Nick started laughing and laughing hard. He'd been called a few things in his life only that one was a first. On impulse, he wrapped his arm around Elizabeth and gave her a quick hug. "Thanks for the laugh, Mrs. Gyver. I needed it, badly." His own eyes were twinkling and his grin wide as he removed his arm.

Elizabeth couldn't keep her eyes off Nick as she thought on what she'd said at her brother's house, on the sacrifice Nick was making, and on how she continued to feel around him.

'You've never seen my temper' his words from a previous conversation repeated themselves in her ears. 'Would you ever hit a woman?" She looked at him as if to dare him to say he would. It was a question that threw an appalled look onto his face.

'Blast those dimples again' she thought as she moved just a little bit closer to her husband, an action that did not go unnoticed by Nick -though he forced himself to keep his eyes on the road and his hands on the reins. After all, the need to get the sick couple in the back of the wagon to a doctor outweighed the need he now had to have a serious, heart to heart, talk with his wife…along with a few strong shots of whiskey, if not a whole bottle.