Chapter Thirty-Six

Jarrod, who had planned on being to his office first thing in the morning, hurried away from the livery stable and down the main street of Stockton. There had been one thing after another delay him on the way to town, one being Jingo throwing a shoe a mile out of town. Thank goodness it hadn't been any further away. As he passed the church house, Jarrod could hear a group of children practicing some Christmas songs through the slightly opened window. He had to smile; there was nothing like hearing the boys and girls of Stockton singing. Jarrod just loved the holidays. Though, for it being the holidays, the streets of Stockton were practically empty and quiet. 'The lull before the storm' Jarrod thought as he opened the door to his office and stepped inside. Jarrod was surprised to see his secretary, Julie Nelson, sitting behind her desk. She was supposed to be away on vacation.

"Train's having trouble," Julie looked up and smiled. "I'll be gone within the hour. Though, it's a good thing I'm running late." She nodded towards his office. "You had a visitor waiting outside the office this morning. When I said you weren't here, he grew extremely agitated worrying that something had happened to you. It was all I could do to get him to calm down and assure him I just knew you'd be here soon."

A visitor? Jarrod frowned ever so slightly. He wasn't expecting anyone. "Thanks," He took off his hat and threw Julie a smile, and then headed for his office. The door was slightly ajar, but he could see no one. He continued walking towards his office, all the time he was wondering what had happened.

"'bout time you got here." The dark-haired rancher, who was sitting in a chair that was tipped slighlty backward-making the top touch the wall, grinned as he saw a look of shock appear on Jarrod's face. It was the reaction he'd expected as Jarrod thought he and Heath were busy on the ranch.

"What's wrong?" Jarrod asked, his eyes filling with confusion as he made his way to his desk and tapped the side of his brother's boots which were resting on top of the desk. The tapped naturally caused the rancher to grin wider as he placed the chair and his feet flat on the floor. Jarrod then sat down, though he continued looking at his brother; there had to be something going on. John would have been working with Heath if that wasn't the case.

His brother didn't answer at first. Even when he'd agreed to leave Nevada, he had never seriously thought he would be sitting in Jarrod's office having the thoughts he'd been entertaining since Wally and Jenny Miles had left California. Finally, he set the chair down and leaned forward, clasping his hands together as he looked at Jarrod. "You took a bullet for me in Nevada, and now you've bought a ranch that no one in the family really wants just to make sure I would at least stay until the date I'd previously set. Why?" As good as William Davies had been while John was struggling to come to terms with his loss, he could never imagine the man doing any of the things Jarrod had, even for a brother. For that matter, working with Heath had thrown him for a loop as well…as it felt so natural. He'd never experienced anything like that before.

Jarrod smiled kindly and, moving some papers that sat in the middle of his desk to the side, replied, "You're my brother. I'm not going to stand aside and watch anyone, no matter who they are, put a bullet in you. When it comes to Wally," Jarrod growled low, "That man lost my respect a long time ago." His eyes then filled with a twinge of sadness as he said, "John, we've already lost so many years. Even if I had an ounce of respect for Wally, I wasn't about to put him above you-especially after your wife and child died as a result of his son's actions, actions Wally helped cover up."

"Nick," Nick grinned and chuckled as surprise filled Jarrod's eyes. He knew the Stockton attorney had accepted that 'John Summers' would always go by the name given him by the Indians. However, after he'd seen the Miles drive away, and learned what Jarrod had done, Nick had felt the last of his resistance to this new life vanish. "The name is Nick Barkley; that's what I came to talk to you about. Heath said he was sure you get draw up papers legally changing my name to Nick Barkley and push them through, even if it was the holiday season." He then added that he had already written Mama Davies and told her about his decision. "I don't think she'll be surprised, told me before I left that she thought I should do it anyway. I just couldn't do it at the time."

Jarrod started beaming as he felt as if he'd been handed a Christmas gift two weeks early. He didn't care what time of the year it was, or what the city offices were doing; he was going to start pushing. "I'll be more than…" Jarrod never finished his sentence as the sound of breaking glass sounded throughout the building. He and Nick jumped to their feet, ran out of the room and up the hallway. They were stunned to see Julie standing with her back to wall that stood behind her desk; she was staring at the broken window glass that lay scattered around the floor. Jarrod and Nick could see a rock with some yellow paper wrapped around it lay in the middle of the floor.

"What is it?" Nick scowled and asked as Jarrod flew to the middle of the building's foyer and picked up the rock.

Jarrod quickly untied the thin, brown rope that had been used to secure the paper to the rock. He wasted no time in opening it up. His eyes widened, and he heard Nick cuss, as he read the words that were written out loud.

'Enjoy your Christmas with your 'brother'. It will be his last.'

"Got to be Kyle; he's only one who I know who hates me enough to try this during the day time; even if there's not that many people outside right now." Nick cursed again as he hurried the shattered window, hoping to see the wanted man. While he could see more people move around outside, Kyle was not one of them.

"Someone has got to have seen whoever threw this rock." Jarrod said before quickly apologizing to Julie and asking if she minded cleaning up.

"Nick and I need to go talk to the sheriff and start asking questions."

"Don't worry about it; just get the guilty party." Julie replied as Jarrod and Nick hurried out of the law building and heading for Fred's office.