Critical and My Name was Tom
Jarrod and his siblings were all in the living room waiting for their mother or Dr. Merar to come and tell them what was going on; some were sitting and some were standing. When Dr. Merar walked down the stairs and into the living room, they all turned their faces towards him. He looked rather grave. Each and every one of them stiffened, fearing the worst. The awkward silence that had filled the room the moment they realized the good doctor was through operating on Heath continued until Dr. Merar started talking. "Forget any infection that has sent in, as much blood as he lost, I can't believe he's alive; we might have to do a blood transfusion later. He should have been looked at yesterday."
"We know he should have been checked before now!" Nick barked as he glared at the doctor. "And he would have been had he let us help him. Only, like Gene told mother, he refused and rode off before we could! How is he now?"
Dr. Merar shook his head. "I won't lie to you. In between the amount of blood he lost and the infection he's now fighting, he's in a very bad situation. I've left instructions with your mother, ones that include getting as much water and broth down him as you can, along with getting him to swallow the medicine I've left to fight the infection. I'll be back tomorrow to change the bandages and, maybe, do that blood transfusion if one of you is willing. That is, unless something happens that you feel it necessary to send for me before then. And," he looked at Nick, "he needs peace and quiet up there." He didn't think it was necessary to tell anyone why he was looking at Nick while making the comment; he didn't.
Nick's three siblings all had to bite their tongue to keep from saying anything that might set Nick off-which probably wouldn't take much everything considered. As far as Nick went, he turned back to the fireplace and snapped, "I'll keep quiet when I'm upstairs." He wasn't about to point out that noise traveled. No, if he did that, Nick could just see someone in his family offering to glue his mouth shut for him.
"And don't worry," Jarrod spoke up, "If necessary, I'll donate some of my blood."
"I've got other patients to go see," said the doctor before turning and leaving the room.
Jarrod followed him, getting any additional instructions the good doctor had for them. Then, after closing the door behind Dr. Merar, Jarrod headed upstairs. Audra and Gene watched Jarrod walk up the stairs and then they started talking about Heath while Nick, feeling the need for breathing room, wound up going outside.
~oOo~
Heath was more than confused to see himself standing at the foot of the bed the Barkleys had laid him in. Jarrod was leaning over Heath and laying a wet cloth on his forehead. What on earth was going on? When he heard a man clearing his throat, Heath turned and was infuriated to see the same gentleman who had been with him for some time now. "What are you doing here! What is going on? Are you some sort of angel? Are you here to tell me my life is over?"
The gentleman stood up slowly and braced himself for what he was sure would be Heath's reaction when he got the answer to his question. "Whether or not your time on earth is drawing to a close is something I can't say at the moment. When it comes to me," the man couldn't resist the urge to slightly chuckle as he replied, "it all depends on what your view of an angel is. Though, yes, I was once living on earth and now living on the other side." He paused and then said, "In life they called me Tom Barkley." Tom wasn't surprised by the anger that appeared upon Heath's face, nor was he shocked when Heath-without thinking-lunged at him as he had done when Tom mentioned Heath's mother. However, Tom disappeared and reappeared next to Jarrod as Heath's spiritual form hit the floor.
When he stood up, Heath saw his mortal body being held down by Jarrod and heard the famous Stockton attorney yelling for someone to bring him some ice. Before Heath could count to twenty Victoria and Audra were rushing in with the needed ice. Heath looked at his father and once again asked why Tom was there. "You never cared about me while you were alive; why now?" There was great bitterness in his voice.
Tom turned and walked to the window and then looked at Heath. "Come over here, please." He motioned with his hand.
Heath, still trying to understand how the Barkleys could be working on bringing the fever down to his body laying pale and struggling on the bed, while at the same time he was talking to his late father, almost stayed where he was. However, after a moment, he joined Tom at the window. He could see McColl and some of the other ranch hands standing near the fence talking. Somehow, Heath knew they were talking about him. Well, at least what had happened the past couple of days.
Tom looked away from the window and over to Jarrod, who was once again sitting next to Heath, whose convulsions had now at least stopped. Victoria had tried to get Jarrod to let her take over only Jarrod had refused. "I built this place up; at first, with the help of McColl and then, later, with the help of my sons." He sighed and added, "I never knew about you. Can't say I blame your mother for not telling me, though. Leah was afraid I'd want to be a part of your life, and not just from a distance. She was right. As wrong as it would have been, I would have insisted on talking to Victoria about bringing you home and raising you here. Leah had very little, but what she did have, she cherished dearly."
Heath, who had turned away from the window, angrily lashed out at Tom again. "So what are you doing here now? Are you going to show me the past, present and future? Show me what life will be like if I don't leave the Barkleys and expect me to do some sort of stupid happy dance afterwards?" He didn't know what he expected his father to do only the reaction he got sure wasn't what Heath expected. Instead of telling Heath he was right, Tom got a crooked smile on his face and then started laughing … and laughing hard. By the time he got control of himself, Tom had wandered over to his oldest son and laid his hand upon Jarrod's shoulder, an action that might have been noticed by Jarrod had he not had his mind on what Heath had done for him and on praying for Heath's recovery.
"What was so funny!" Heath demanded as Tom gazed upon Jarrod longingly.
Tom shook his head as he remained by Jarrod's side. "You've been reading too many stories. However," he turned his head and shocked Heath by suddenly growing serious and being the one to glare at him instead of the other way around. "You condemn me for not checking in on your mother after our affair, for not thinking about what the consequences of my actions might have been. And yet you come here looking for work, knowing full well who you were and said nothing until Nick pushed you too. You might not have intended for this family to learn I was your father; it doesn't really matter. What matters is this…you did exactly what I did. That is, you didn't stop and think about the possible consequences to your actions. Did you really think you could fight alongside your brothers, get wounded saving Jarrod and then not have them look for you when you rode away?" By the time he was finished, Tom's voice was as loud as Nick's.
Heath turned away from his father and from the sight of himself laying in the bed with Jarrod watching over him. "They didn't want me here, still don't. Only reason they have me here now is because my wounds got the best of me." He then added, rather exasperated, "I don't even know how, or why, we're having this conversation. I'm wounded and unconscious."
Tom sighed as he made his way back to the window and leaned on the seal. "You're in critical condition, Heath. Whether or not you will live to fight your way into this family or not is something I do not know, but I've been assigned to stay close by you- or your mortal shell as it were-until that decision is made. You can come and go as you please until then. That is, you can move throughout the house. You won't be allowed outside the walls of this house until your fate is decided." He then sighed again and said in a subdued tone of voice, "Son, I know this much. You need to fight to stay alive. Don't just give up because you think you don't belong anywhere. It's not the truth. This family needs you, and you need them."
Heath didn't know if Tom was serious when he said Heath could not leave the house, but all of a sudden Heath just wanted away from Tom, away from having to talk with him. He wished he could go somewhere quiet until his fate was decided by whoever was in charge of things like this. The moment Heath thought that he was shocked to find himself out in the hallway. Before he had time to really think about it, he heard a young woman crying in a room a few doors down from the room his body lay in. Figuring it was Audra that was crying, Heath made his way down the hall. The door to Audra's room was wide open; she was sitting on the side of her bed holding a picture. 'Maybe I should have stayed with Tom Barkley' Heath thought and turned to leave only to hear Audra begin talking. He might not have stayed only the first words she said to the picture were 'Father, I've got to talk to you about Heath'.