Chapter 2

Beth was just about to go into the lounge car, her fingers tingling, her heart beating faster than she expected, when she heard him say from behind her, "Hello, again."

She turned, and there he was, that very handsome man with the marvelous blue eyes and the private car who had helped her find her way to the train. Jarrod Barkley, she remembered. She was pretty sure that even after she got off this train in Denver and watched it take him away to California, that she would never forget this man. "Hello," she said. "Perfect timing."

"It would appear," Jarrod said. "Come, let's sit down and have a drink." He found an empty two-seat table and held a chair out for her. "I'll go to the bar for us," he said. "What would you like?"

"Some white wine would be lovely," she said.

Jarrod went to the bar, only a few paces away, and soon he returned with two glasses of white wine. He set one down in front of Beth and then took the seat opposite her, whereupon he raised his glass in a toast. When she raised hers, he said, "Here's to serendipity."

She laughed. "I'm impressed. Many people don't even know what that word means."

"I used to think I did," Jarrod said, "but I'm not sure I fully understood it until today."

They each sipped and set their glasses back down, keeping hold of them so the jarring of the train did not tumble them over. "I have to admit," Beth said, "I'm a little flabbergasted by this trip so far."

"Really?" Jarrod asked. He looked at the window at the landscape just beginning to turn color as the sun thought about going down. "The scenery really hasn't changed that much, and we are just about back into Pennsylvania. You ought to be used to that."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "What I'm surprised about is meeting you." Then she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm rushing things and I don't normally do that."

"What's wrong with rushing a little?" Jarrod said. "We're on a train. We'll only be seeing each other for three or four days. If we want to enjoy each other's company, we're going to have to do it in a hurry." And then he laughed at his own words.

"Well, in a way I'm amazed I'm making this trip at all. It was a big decision for me to leave Pennsylvania for a job in Denver."

"Why did you decide to do that?"

"I suppose because I wanted another chance at living. My parents both died over the last year. I have no family. For a while there it was like I had died, too, and then I realized that maybe I had, but I could be born again. I looked at my life, I decided I wanted something to look forward to, a future that was really a future. Do you know?"

Jarrod did know. He smiled a little. "It's funny, but part of the reason I went to Washington was part of what you just described. I spent the last couple of months having my own rebirth in a way. I was shot in a robbery and for a little while there, my family wasn't sure I would survive. When I did, when I started taking stock of what had happened, I realized I had a chance to be born again, too. I looked at my life and realized I did have something to look forward to. The future was a future. I felt like a kid again."

"And so you reached for it."

Jarrod nodded. "Just as you've reached for it."

The truths they had just told each other actually made them each lean a little closer toward one another. "Why were you in Washington, Jarrod?" Beth asked.

"To see a Congressman and help him get a bill about open range on federal land to committee." Then he laughed. "I'm sorry if that sounded like political gobbledee-gook."

"No, not at all," Beth said. "Civics is one of the lessons I teach my students – how government works, or doesn't work sometimes. Were you successful?"

"Yes, but my job was only to get it to committee. Whether it will ever get out of committee and passed, I don't know. It can be a very long process. Sometimes it doesn't work one year but it works the next."

"So, are you a politician by profession?"

Jarrod shook his head. "I'm a lawyer, and a bit of a rancher, too, which is why my congressman wanted my help. My family owns a large ranch and some related enterprises in California. I do the legal work and have my own practice in Stockton and San Francisco, too."

Beth was impressed – and a bit intimidated. "I see now why you have the private car."

Jarrod laughed. "It's more for convenience than anything. I travel with a lot of paperwork that I end up spreading out all over the place. I never liked looking ostentatious. It makes me a bit uncomfortable."

"Even though you've always lived a privileged life?"

"Oh, well, I haven't. When I was growing up, my parents were growing up, too. The money and the property came as I was reaching my teen years. I'm the oldest of their children, you see. I'm the one who saw the tough times as well as the privileged times."

"I knew there was a reason you seem so down to earth," Beth said.

They sipped their wine, and they talked, and when seven o'clock arrived they decided they did not want to part company just yet. They went to the dining car together, had dinner together, talked together, and before they knew it ten o'clock had rolled around. Jarrod escorted Beth back to her car, but he stopped with her between cars, to take a look out into the darkness, to see the stars together. It was a moonless night, and the sky held a million lights.

"There's my star," Beth said and pointed toward the North Star.

Jarrod recognized it. "That's the star for a lot of people."

"Hm," Beth agreed. "It's the star the slaves followed when they made their way from the south up to Pennsylvania. I grew up on a small farm just outside Harrisburg. My parents had us on the Underground Railroad."

"Really?" Jarrod said.

Beth nodded. "Every time we helped someone through to Canada, my father would point out the North Star and tell them to just keep following it. It was their star. I started thinking of it as my star, too."

Jarrod said, "I can remember times during the war, looking up at that star and reminding myself what it was all about – getting more people to freedom as well as preserving the Union."

"You served?"

Jarrod nodded. "All four years. It was tough. My parents weren't too keen on the idea of me going. But I had to. I'm glad I did. We did something important. I was part of something that history will remember long after I'm gone."

Beth turned to him and looked at him. They could barely see each other in the faint light coming from the railroad cars, but it made everything seem so private, so intimate. Every minute of that evening together had been leading to this wonderful moment. Jarrod suddenly felt like he could tell this woman everything that was so deep inside him he never told anyone. He lifted her chin, and he kissed her.

Then he was a little embarrassed. "That was very forward of me. Forgive me."

"No," Beth said.

Jarrod was a bit taken aback.

"How can I forgive something that wasn't a fault?" she asked. "It was a lovely kiss."

"We'll have a layover in Chicago after we get there, early the day after tomorrow," Jarrod said. "Will you spend the time with me?"

"I'd like that," Beth said. "And I hope we'll spend some time together tomorrow, too."

Jarrod gave into the desire and kissed her again. Then he said, "It's best I walk you back to your seat so you can get ready for bed. Maybe you'll meet me for breakfast?"

"I'd like that," Beth said.

"In the dining car, about seven?"

She nodded.

Jarrod took her hand and walked her back to her seat. "Till morning, then," Jarrod said and kissed her hand.

Beth nodded. "Sleep well."

"Oh, I will," Jarrod said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"So will I," Beth said.