Heath stood staring at Jarrod as he slept. He knew his brother would be angry when he woke up and found out what they'd done, but Nick had insisted it had to be done. Dr. Merar had agreed after getting a look at Jarrod and hearing from Nick that the man hadn't slept.

Heath, himself, hadn't been sleeping much, though he had at least managed a few hours here and there. His dreams were plagued by the wail. He remembered that it had taken him a long time to stop hearing it the first time and he hadn't known the woman. This time…he scrubbed a hand over his face then turned his attention to Victoria.

He'd come into her life and brought shame up on her husband's name, but she'd never turned him away. And now…now she called him son. She claimed him as her own. He called her Mother just as her own flesh and blood children. She'd worked her way into his heart more than he'd ever thought would be possible of his father's wife. He'd really had no intentions of letting any of his father's legitimate family into his heart, but now…well…they were a persistent bunch. Everyone always said it was the Tom Barkley in them, but he knew better. It wasn't Tom Barkley they got it from. It was Victoria.

Which was why it hurt so much to see her this way.

Victoria Barkley was one of the strongest women he'd ever known but she was broken now.

And so were her sons.

Himself included.

Moving into the room, he looked at Jarrod again and wondered just how long they were going to let him sleep in that chair. It wasn't comfortable, Heath knew that, but he also knew he couldn't lift his brother and carry him by himself. He was strong, but lifting the sleeping dead weight of a solidly built man like Jarrod…even Nick couldn't do that though Heath would admit the man was by far the strongest of the three of them.

Sitting on the bed beside Victoria, he reached out and took her hand in his. "Mother, we need you," he whispered before leaning over and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Sitting for a few moments to see if she responded, he sighed then stood up and made his way out of her room.

This house was far too quiet these days. Silas, a man that had never blended into the shadows because the family hadn't expected him to, was suddenly missing…though they all knew he was still in the house because their meals were always on the table when they were supposed to be. His songs, the songs they'd grown accustomed to hearing filtering out of the kitchen when they came in to clean up, were gone.

The house was nothing more than brick, wood, and mortar now that their sunshine was gone and their heart was absent.

"Watch it." Nick hissed as he reached out to stop himself from falling over.

"Sorry." Heath mumbled. "Mind was wandering. I've just been in to see Mother."

"I was headed that way myself."

"We need to put Jarrod in his bed."

Nick nodded and continued on his way, Heath following behind. "He's going to be a bear when he wakes up."

"I thought about that earlier." Heath whispered as they stopped by Jarrod's chair. "You have to deal with him."

Nick huffed as he bent to maneuver Jarrod up out of the chair, lifting one side of the sleeping man while Heath did the same on the other side. "Why should I have to?" he finally whispered as they moved out of the room.

"Because you did this. I didn't." Heath gave the most logical answer.

Nick rolled his eyes as they put Jarrod on his bed and settled him. "I say we just let him wake up and find whoever's here."

"Well it won't be me." Heath told him as he tugged off a boot. "Boy howdy, that stuff Doc gave you to put in Jarrod's drink sure did knock him out."

"Gave him a double dose." Nick admitted as he closed Jarrod's door. "You go on to bed, I'll sit up with Mother. Until Jarrod wakes up, McCall's going to take care of things around the ranch so you and I can take shifts here. I'll sleep when you get up."

Heath nodded. "Did you talk to Doc about help?"

"I did. He's going to talk to his wife and see if she can help him find ladies to come out to help on a more regular basis than we've had."

"And does he know how we're going to talk Jarrod into letting someone else sit with Mother?"

"Jarrod can still sit with her during the day, but he's going to sleep at night just like the rest of us."

Heath stopped outside his door. "You've thought a lot about this."

"None of us have slept well since this whole thing happened."

Nodding, Heath sighed, "Yeah. Night, Nick."

"Night, Heath." Nick went to his room to change into his pajamas and robe, deciding that if he was going to sit up all night, he might as well be comfortable doing it.

TBV

Silas carefully crept up the stairs, remembering the places on the floor that creaked when you walked over them. He knew that Mr. Nick had tricked Mr. Jarrod into taking whatever it was Dr. Merar had given him by putting it in Mr. Jarrod's drink. He also knew that Mr. Nick was sitting with Mrs. Barkley.

Careful to keep himself to the shadows, Silas stopped at the door to Victoria's room. The lamp was burning low and Mr. Nick had dozed off, the book he'd been reading, open on his lap. Quietly moving further into the room, he stopped by the bed and looked down on the woman that had always been kind to him, treated him as she would any other human. He'd learned very early on that Mrs. Barkley was not like any woman of the house he'd been around. Of course, she didn't own him as the others had, but it wasn't just that. She didn't sit about all day doing nothing. She worked alongside him when there was canning to be done. She helped fix the meals. She tended to her own flowers, helped with the cleaning. Sometimes he wondered just why she had him about the house, but then she'd smile after a party and tell him she didn't know what she'd do without him, and he'd stop wondering.

Seeing her like this was breaking his family apart but he didn't know what to do. Her sons couldn't bring her out of it, and Dr. Merar said he couldn't do anything…that they'd just have to wait and see if she'd come out of it on her own.

"You have to come back to us, Mrs. Barkley. We need you," he whispered then left the room as quietly as he'd entered.