Chapter 10

The next hours sped by even faster than the train seemed to go. Just after the sun went down, they were catching their connecting train from Sacramento to Stockton, and Beth said to her husband as the train pulled out, "I guess I can't change my mind and turn around now."

Jarrod looked startled. "You don't really want to do that, do you?"

"No," she laughed. "I'm just nervous. I'd never change my mind. Never."

They kissed there, in a first class seat together now for the short jump to Stockton. It was too dark to see the countryside, which Beth was sorry for, but Jarrod said, "Don't worry. The first thing we're going to do tomorrow – well, maybe the second or third thing – "

Beth laughed.

" – is drive through the beautiful country where I grew up, and into Stockton in the daylight so you can see my office and change it all around."

"I would never touch your office," Beth said. "A man's office is his castle."

"I thought it was his home that was his castle."

"No, that's our castle, or it will be once we build it. Jarrod, are you sure you're not sorry?"

She was so serious this time that Jarrod quickly kissed her. "I've never been less sorry about anything in my life. I love you, Mrs. Barkley. I will love you until the day I die. And you're right, it will be our castle and we'll make it as wonderful a home as ever was had."

Beth laughed again and shivered.

Jarrod got the message. "You're nervous about meeting the family."

"A little," Beth admitted.

"It won't last," Jarrod said. "Once they see how much I love you, they'll love you, too. You're going to fit right in, especially when my little sister Audra gets home from her travels east. She has wanted a sister since she was knee high to a grasshopper, except that she changed it to a sister-in-law once she started noticing boys."

"I may be nervous, but I can't wait to meet them all. They'll be my family now. I never had brothers and sisters. It will be a completely new experience for me. Just – hang on tight to me, please? I don't want to look as nervous as I am."

Jarrod laughed.

XXXX

When they reached Stockton, it was still somewhat lively, being only a bit after eight o'clock. Jarrod left all their baggage with Chad, the clerk at the depot, after he had said to the very shy man, "Chad, I want you to meet my wife, Beth."

"Oh!" Chad was startled. "Oh, congratulations, Mr. Barkley! I – I don't know what to say!"

"You just said it, Chad," Jarrod said.

Jarrod escorted his wife to the livery, being careful to make sure she didn't catch her footing on the boardwalk in the dark. They hadn't gone far before the largest man in town came toward them and Beth seemed almost startled at his size.

But Sheriff Madden said, "Jarrod! Welcome home!" and stopped before them.

Jarrod shook his hand. "Thanks, Fred. I want you to meet someone very special. Beth, this is Fred Madden, our sheriff. Fred, this is Elizabeth Randall Barkley, my wife."

Sheriff Madden's eyes grew wide and his smile burst out of him. "Oh, my gosh! Somebody finally got some sense into you! How do you do, Mrs. Barkley. Welcome to Stockton."

Beth shook hands with the sheriff and said, "Please call me Beth."

"Beth," the sheriff said. "I'm Fred. Well, the single ladies in Stockton will cry, but the single men will breathe a sigh of relief. And the rest of us will just enjoy having you become one of us. Congratulations, Jarrod, and the best of everything to you both."

Beth began to feel more at ease, but as they rode in the buggy toward the Barkley ranch, she began to tense up again. Jarrod tried to smile his way along as she clung to him, but when they drove under the gate and the house was in front of them, all lit up and BIG, Beth gasped.

Jarrod pulled the buggy up and helped Beth down. "Wait right here a moment and let me see who's up."

"The whole house is lit up!" Beth said. "Everybody's up!"

"Maybe – just a second – "

Jarrod went in but in a moment was back out, reaching for her hand. Beth trembled but gathered herself together as Jarrod led her inside.

And there they were, an older woman and two men a bit younger than Jarrod. Jarrod introduced Beth and she tried her best to smile and be at ease, but she was really nervous, until Jarrod said, "Beth and I are married."

And everyone started gushing, and Victoria said, "Welcome to the Barkley ranch!" and took her by the arm and led her into the parlor. Nick and Heath went to fetch some champagne and Victoria sat Beth down and suddenly realized, "I'm a mother-in-law!"

They laughed and drank champagne. Beth kept looking toward her husband for moral support, and he gave it, blue eyes twinkling, while his brothers told stories on him like the time he brought a pig home as payment for a fee or the time he accidentally squirted Basque wine all over his face trying to drink it from the wineskin the way the Basque did. They laughed, Jarrod told stories on his brothers, Victoria kept saying, "Don't mind them – you know how men are."

It was a whirlwind evening and at the end of it, Jarrod and Beth retreated to his room, now their room. Beth gasped when she went in. "Well, it's very masculine, as I suppose it should be. But it's so big!"

Jarrod laughed a little. "Not as big as some of the other bedrooms in the house. I'm not here a lot, so I don't need much. Which is something we should talk about before too long. I also have an office and a home of my own in San Francisco."

"Which you already told me," Jarrod said.

"Yes, well, this room and the house in San Francisco all need a woman's touch – which isn't here yet, I'm afraid." He went over to the wardrobe and opened the door. Out came half of the suits he had hanging there, which he draped over a chair and began pulling out the hangers. "This will have to do temporarily," he said, turning back toward her. "We'll get another piece just for you, and when we get to San Francisco, we'll do the same for the house there."

Beth interrupted him, coming toward him and putting her arms around his neck, and her mouth on his. "It's late. Let's leave all the unpacking and the rearranging of furniture and all of that for another day."

Jarrod kissed her again. "So, how did you feel? With the family, I mean."

"I feel like I've come home," Beth said.

Jarrod laughed and lifted her into the air. It was just what he wanted to hear.

XXXXX

Heath was the only one who caught them sneaking out the next morning. Jarrod asked him to tell everyone they had gone to his office in Stockton. Heath agreed, and then immediately forgot, as he had to confess that evening when everyone gathered for drinks before dinner.

"Well, I hope you had a lovely day," Victoria said to her new daughter-in-law.

"Oh, I did," Beth said. "Jarrod gave me permission to rearrange his office – which I wisely declined. Then he introduced me to so many people around town I can't remember them all. Then he took me out to see the horses and the cattle and the fruit orchards and so many other places on the property my head is spinning. I had no idea the family I was marrying into was so wealthy."

"And you married him anyway," Nick said, shaking his head. "Big Brother must have that allure that I've been struggling to find all my years, to land a gem like you without having to mention the money in the family."

"Oh, Nick, you're a gem yourself," Beth said. "Perhaps just a little in the raw, but a gem."

Nick's eyes twinkled at his older brother. "I like this girl, Jarrod. Does she have a sister?"

"Sadly, no," Jarrod said. "You're still on your own, Brother Nick. I do have a conference with the judge in the morning," Jarrod said, "so Beth and I will have to part from each other for a while, for the first time since we met, actually."

"Oh, I'll keep her busy," Victoria said. "We're going to do some cooking. I need to get Beth familiar with your finicky tastes."

"I? Finicky?" Jarrod said with fake outrage. "I'll have you know I am not finicky. I just have a refined palate."

"Whatever it is, you do like food a certain way," Victoria said. "Beth, you and I will get to work right after lunch. You don't know how much I've been looking forward to this, and these three have just kept me waiting and waiting!"

"I hope you're ready to share some of Jarrod's secrets with me," Beth said, smiling toward her husband.

"Uh-oh," Heath said. "You're sunk now, Pappy."

Beth lit up. "Pappy?!"

"Oh, you haven't told her!" Nick said. "That's what we call him around here when he gets old and bossy on us."

"Pappy," Beth repeated, looking at him.

Jarrod actually looked a little embarrassed. "Somehow they have it in their heads that I'm sooooo much older than they are, when it fact, I'm just wiser and more mature."

"Beth," Heath said, "if you ever need some truth about our big brother here, you talk to me and Nick."

"Oh, I think I know the truth," Beth said. "And I still love him very much."

"You lucked out, Pappy," Nick said. "You found yourself a keeper."

"Eat your heart out, Nick," Jarrod said, smiling at his bride.