Chapter 10

Nick got Dakota home, and in less than an hour, Dakota was waking up to strange surroundings. It took him a bit to remember where he was, who the people looking at him were, but after a few breaths, things began to make sense. Then his side really hurt.

"Try not to move too much, darling," Victoria said. "The doctor isn't here yet, and you have a bullet in your side."

"I never saw him," Dakota said quietly.

"We heard those three shots you fired," Nick said.

"At least I kept some presence of mind for a while," Dakota said, and then he moaned and shifted in pain. He began to be afraid that he was going to die here in front of them, that he had only come home to die. "Did you find who shot me?"

"No," Nick said, "but I think we can all take a good guess who it was."

Dakota moaned and shifted again.

"I wish that doctor would get here," Dakota heard Nick say, and that was all he remembered until hours later, when he woke up still in his bed with only lamplight at the night table to see by. He did see Nick sitting beside the bed.

"How you feeling?" Nick asked.

Dakota's dry mouth stuck together, and his side hurt. "Like I've been shot."

"Bullet's out," Nick said. "You needed a blood transfusion, but I took care of that for you. You're gonna be all right. We don't really have to guess who did it, do we?"

"Has the sheriff been here?"

"Yeah, but since you couldn't talk yet, he didn't stay. Heath and I will go into town in the morning, but James is likely to be far away, even now."

"Probably," Dakota said. "Mother's probably having a fit, isn't she?"

"Mother rarely has fits, but yeah, she was upset. But once the doctor said you were in the clear, she cheered up. Gotta tell you, Brother Jarrod, you brought a lot of excitement with you when you came home."

Dakota smiled. "That wasn't my intention, but yeah, I did. I'm sorry, Nick."

"Don't be. When you were a lawyer, you had trouble following you around, too, and we can chalk this one up to you being a lawyer."

"Me being a lawyer," Dakota said softly. "I can't even remember that, Nick. I got shot for doing something I don't even remember how to do."

Nick felt sorry for his brother, maybe for the first time since he'd come home. "I don't know what to say, Pappy. I'd remember it for you if I could, but truth is it was a world you lived in without the rest of us. I never had any idea at all how you did what you were doing when you were doing it."

"But I was good at it?" Dakota asked.

"Oh, yeah, you sure seemed to be," Nick said. Then he smiled. "That's why all the garbage you helped convict hated you so much. We were all proud of you, too, real proud. And we still are. To go a whole year looking for yourself and never giving up, to come back here without any idea of what it would be like to rebuild a life you can't remember a thing about - you took on a whole mess of unknown. That's what you did as a lawyer - took on a whole mess of unknown and made it make sense under the law. Yeah, you were good at it, all right."

Dakota thought about all that, but it made his head spin. "I'm tired."

Nick smiled. "Go ahead and sleep. I'll be with you for another hour, and then it'll be Heath. We'll look after you."

Dakota drifted off into the comfort of those words, smiling. Nick smiled back silently.

XXXXXXX

Only a few days later, Dakota was up and around, albeit slowly and gingerly. His side still hurt, especially when he moved, but it wasn't bad. He was even the one to reach the front door first when the knock came. He found one very surprised sheriff there.

"Well, look who's up," Sheriff Madden said.

"Come on in, Fred," Dakota said and opened the door wider.

The sheriff came in, and Dakota closed the door behind him.

"What brings you by?" Dakota asked.

"Good news," the sheriff said. "They picked Harold James up in Lathrop. A deputy there is bringing him back to Stockton."

Dakota sighed. "I'm not going to be able to identify him, Fred. I never saw him."

"You don't need to. He confessed. Actually bragged. How are you feeling?"

Dakota led the way into the living room, where he sat down on the settee and the sheriff took one of the armchairs. "Not too bad," Dakota said. "I just hurt. Won't be breaking any horses anytime soon."

"Nick's wallet will be thankful for that."

"So what's the procedure now? If he's confessed, I guess there will just be a sentencing hearing?"

Sheriff Madden chuckled. "Funny, how you knew that's how it's done, without even thinking about it. Yeah, in and out of court in ten minutes and he'll be off to Quentin. You got very lucky, Dakota."

"I know," Dakota said. "In a lot of ways," he added, looking around.

Sheriff Madden said, "Beginning to think you're going to stay, huh?"

Dakota smiled. "I didn't know my thinking was showing."

"Oh, it was pretty clear," Sheriff Madden said. "I could tell you had qualms about staying here the minute we met on the street, and it was even clearer when we talked about James. I don't know if lawyering is ever going to be back in your future, but I am happy you'll be hanging around."

"Lawyering or not," Dakota said, "I'm probably here for good. A man doesn't turn down a chance like I've been given here."

"I hope you can turn the 'probably' into a 'definitely' soon. Have you told your family yet?"

"I'll tell them at dinner tonight, I think. I hope they won't be disappointed. I doubt they were expecting me to be bringing all this trouble with me."

Sheriff Madden laughed. "A Barkley without trouble? Haven't you already figured out the two go together?"

Dakota laughed, but it made his side hurt, and he grabbed it. But he still laughed.

XXXX

"I have something I want to talk about," Dakota said as Nick handed him a drink before dinner.

His family members looked at each other cautiously. The way he said that sounded ominous.

But Dakota smiled. "I was thinking, in a few days when I'm able to travel again, we might pay a visit to the bank in town."

Victoria broke into a smile.

Dakota gave it back to her and kept talking. "I know my memory hasn't returned, even in part, but I don't think I really need it to. A couple of weeks being here with all of you, and I feel pretty much like a Barkley, even if I don't remember being one. The only thing, of course, is that I probably won't be able to be a lawyer – unless I go to law school all over again."

He made everyone laugh. Victoria said, "Only if you want to go back to school."

"I don't think so," Dakota said, and was kind of sorry about it, but he let the sorry fade away.

"So you'll be punching cows and mending fences with the rest of us now?" Heath asked.

"And doing whatever handling of the business I can do without a license," Dakota said.

"You can have the books," Nick said, fast.

"Just show me what to do, Nick," Dakota said.

"I will, because I hate them," Nick said.

"I never would have guessed," Audra said.

"Maybe there is one more thing we ought to ask you, Dakota," Victoria said.

Dakota was certain he knew what it was. He smiled. "Yes, I'm ready to be called Jarrod Barkley again."

Cheers went up, and so did everyone's glass. "Here's to Jarrod Barkley," Heath said. "Welcome home, Big Brother. It's good to have you back."

"Thank you, Heath," Jarrod said.

"Guess that means I don't have to pay you anymore," Nick said.

Moans went up all around.

"Only my share of the business," Jarrod said, "and since I'll be keeping the books, I can keep tabs on you about that."

"Welcome home, Jarrod," Nick said with a warm, genuine smile.

"Thank you, Nick," Jarrod said. "It's good to be home."

Epilogue

Dear Mr. Carlisle –

I am writing to tell you that I won't be returning to Ely. It turns out that I am the Jarrod Barkley of the newspaper picture. Even if I still have no memory of him, my family does want me to stay. More important, I want to stay. They're good people, and apparently I've always been a good man. I'm happy here, and I'll always be grateful to you for finding that picture and showing it to me, so that I could find my way home.

Wishing you every good fortune in the future,

Jarrod Barkley (aka Dakota)

The End