Chapter 9
Jarrod sighed. "Nick, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do."
Nick came closer. "Maybe when I was 22, it was right not to tell me. But not now. You should have told me when you told me you paid her."
"I'm sorry," Jarrod said. "You're right. I should have told you. I hope you don't want to slug me again."
Nick just glared. "Is there anything else I need to know? And don't lie to me anymore, Jarrod. I'm trusting you not to lie to me."
"There's nothing more," Jarrod said.
Nick turned and went out the door. Victoria took off after him, leaving Jarrod to feel weak-kneed and needing to lie down on his bed. He stared at the ceiling through one eye and regretted every move he ever made where Carol Keenan was concerned, because he'd done everything – every single thing – wrong.
Victoria tried to catch up with Nick in the hall, but he was far bigger than she was and could move twice as far in one stride. "Nick!" she called, trying to stop him.
In the living room, Heath and Audra had been talking about things, and when they heard Nick's spurs stomping and Victoria's voice calling, they hurried into the foyer. Heath headed Nick off and got an ugly glare for his efforts. "Get out of my way, Heath and get out of it now," Nick said.
Heath knew he was serious, and he didn't want to end up like Jarrod. He stepped aside. "Where are you going? What's wrong?"
Nick looked at every one of them. "I'm going to town to talk to Carol and find out if all this is true."
"I'll go with you," Heath said.
"You will not," Nick ordered him. "You will stay right here, and if you follow me, I'll give you a black eye of your own."
Nick strode out the front door. Heath didn't know what to do now. The women looked distraught and he had to do something, because Nick wasn't thinking about them and their feelings. None of this was easy on them, either. "What happened up there?" Heath asked Victoria softly.
Victoria didn't even want to say it but her children were adults and there was trouble in the family. This family had always faced trouble together, one way or another. Heath was about to get a big lesson in that. "Jarrod told me that the real reason he paid Carol off six years ago was because he had found out she was a prostitute."
Audra gasped and Heath moaned. "And he hadn't told Nick that," Heath said.
Victoria shook her head. "Nick overheard us. Heath, please go after him."
"Mother, he can't hurt the woman even if he was inclined to, because she's in jail," Heath said. "And I don't think he's inclined to. I think we best let him go and work this out on his own."
"Heath, you don't know how he gets when he gets mad."
Heath glanced upstairs, toward Jarrod. "Oh, I think I do. Big brother is laid out up there, and if you remember, Nick bashed me in pretty good when I got here, too. But he won't hit a woman, especially when there are bars in the way."
"But if he goes drinking," Victoria said.
"Why don't we give him a couple hours? If he's not back by then, I'll go in after him and see if he's in trouble," Heath said. "And I bet he won't be. I bet he'll sort it out while he rides it out."
Heath tried a smile, but it was only Audra who seemed to ease up. She rubbed her mother's arm. "Heath's right. Nick will come home and maybe huff and puff around for a few hours, but he'll deal with this."
Victoria could only say, "I hope you're right."
XXXXXX
Nick rode fast into town – at first. He was so angry with Jarrod that he was afraid to open his mouth and talk to anyone for fear he'd fly into a rage. So he took it out on Coco, until the breeze started to cool him off and he realized that riding his favorite horse to death was no way to handle this. He slowed down, and he calmed down, though he wasn't sure the calm would last once he got into town and saw her again. But he knew he'd at least have to look calm or the sheriff would not let him in to see Carol.
And that was what he needed more than anything now – to see Carol and to put this all to rest. Not because he didn't believe what Jarrod said about her. He did believe it. After calming down and thinking about it, he knew Jarrod would never have told anyone, especially their mother, that Carol was a prostitute if he didn't know it was true, and then not until he was backed into a corner. A lot of the other things Jarrod said made sense too. Six years ago, Tom Barkley had just died. Nick and Jarrod were both feeling their way through their new roles in the family. They were bound to make mistakes.
Nick realized that Carol Keenan had been his biggest mistake back then. As he rode slowly into town, he admitted it to himself. He was lost when his father died. He was 22 but still a boy in a way because he had been working under his father's tutelage. And suddenly, overnight, he was in charge of one of the biggest ranches around. He remembered feeling like he had to grow up, instantly, and be a man in every sense of the word. He remembered feeling empowered and weakened at the same time, and he remembered that there were certain things that were expected of a man, things he had to do to be accepted into the community as head of an enterprise like the Barkley ranch. He remembered that one of those things was that he had to have a wife.
Nick shook his head as he dismounted in front of the sheriff's office. Of course he'd been wrong about a lot of things six years ago. He was scrambling too hard and moving too fast, and the biggest mistake he had made back then was Carol Keenan. He leaned against his horse for a moment. Coco huffed at him. "Sorry, old friend," Nick said and patted him on the neck. "I mistreated you tonight. Forgive me."
Coco huffed again, kind of a "yeah, all right," kind of huff. Nick gave him another pat and went into the sheriff's office.
The sheriff wasn't there, but his deputy was. "Oh, hi, Nick," Henry said. "What brings you to town?"
"I'd like to see your prisoner," Nick said.
Henry was young and had no idea what had gone on with Nick and Carol earlier in the day, much less six years ago. "Sure," he said and let Nick into the cell block.
Carol was lying on the cot. She jumped a little when Henry closed the cell block door. She had been asleep. She saw Nick and sat up, surprised. "Nick! What are you doing here?"
Nick was sure he'd be angry again by the time he got in here, but the anger had faded. Pity was beginning to creep in. "Carol," he said, "Jarrod told me some things today, things I need to hear from you about, whether they're true or not."
Carol kept away from the bars, unsure of Nick's intentions despite the fact that his voice was not angry. "What things?"
Nick said, "Jarrod told me you left six years ago because he paid you to."
Carol hesitated, waiting for him to say more, but he left it there. "That's true," she said in a small voice.
"He said you were out to marry me for money and that you intended to divorce me and get a settlement," Nick said.
Carol hesitated some more. She took a deep breath, but didn't say anything.
Nick went on. "Jarrod said that the whole time we were together, you were hooking to make money. He said you were a prostitute."
Now she was stuck. She hung her head, then looked off to the side, then looked up at Nick. "He's right. He found out and told me I could take some of his money and leave you alone, or he would fight with everything in him to keep me from marrying you."
Nick nodded a little bit. Then he finally asked, "Did you ever love me? At any time, did you love me?"
"I liked you," Carol said. "But no, I never loved you."
Nick had heard all he needed to hear. He nodded, said, "Good-bye, Carol," and went out the door.
As he went out into the street, Nick thought about going over to Harry's for a drink before he went home, but he decided against it. He didn't need liquor right now. He needed to think clearly, not so much about Carol and what happened six years ago, but about what would happen now, at home, between him and Jarrod. He knew he was still mad as hell that Jarrod hadn't told him everything – back then or now – but then there was what Carol had said just now. Six years ago Jarrod had found out what she really was and had told her "he would fight with everything in him" to keep her from marrying Nick. Jarrod had said that himself, but somehow hearing Carol say it sealed the lid on it. Jarrod had just been trying to have his back.
Nick mounted up. Somehow, he had to reconcile a brother who would deceive him the way Jarrod had, with the brother who would fight with everything in him to keep him from being hurt the way Carol would have hurt him. Somehow he had to do that before he got home.