Author's note:

I feel like I should give a warning here, dear readers: there is some intense description of a sad event and emotions in this chapter.

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Chapter 7

Jess stepped off the porch and stopped near the buckboard as Gil helped Francie down from the wagon, the two of them laughing conspiratorially.

"Still fryin' size like always, ain'tcha?" His voice was filled with happiness as he directed the tease toward his sister.

Gil's head jerked up in surprise, and Francie whirled around so fast she nearly fell over. Eyes wide, it took only a second for her to recover from the shock, and she flew forward, leaping into her brother's arms.

Amid the chatter of questions from sister to brother, and laughter from all the Bradys, Jess finally coaxed Francie to turn him loose from her embrace. "You're 'bout to strangle me, Francie. Let me breathe a while. And I gotta stand back so's I can git a good look at ya."

Francie giggled and reluctantly let her arms slip away from around his neck, allowing him to stand upright.

"Oh, my land. You're here! You're really here!" Her voice trembled in a quiet whisper. She managed to draw a deep breath and wipe at her eyes. Gathering herself a bit, she smiled hugely. "Just look at ya. Outside of needin' a shave and a haircut, you look mighty good, little brother."

She couldn't stop smiling, and she welcomed the way her cheeks began to ache. Jess also had a huge grin securely in place.

"Well, let's get you two inside now." Mrs. Brady put an arm around the waist of each Harper.

Just before she ushered them into the house, Gil welcomed Jess with a handshake and then set about tending to the horses that pulled the wagon. Jerome excused himself too, knowing brother and sister would need to have time to talk. He took the reins of Jess's horse.

"I'll curry and feed your mount, Jess. What do you call him?"

"Tracker. 'Cause he's always on the trail with me, takin' me where I need to head to find…" He didn't finish the thought. Now wasn't the time to talk about his hunt for the Bannisters.

But Jerome knew what he meant. He nodded to Jess and clicked to the bay. "Come on, Tracker. Let's fill that belly of yours with some oats." He led the horse toward the barn as his mother guided the Harper siblings into the house.

Leading them to the parlor, Mrs. Brady motioned Jess and Francie to the couch. Jess took a seat at one end and Francie at the other. As Francie continued to bombard Jess with questions, only occasionally giving him a moment to answer one, Mrs. Brady returned with a tray holding a pitcher of tea, two glasses, and some cookies. She sat the tray on the table in front of the couch, poured the beverage, and handed a glass to each sibling.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you two should need anything. I know y'all have a lot to catch up on." She cast a compassionate look at Francie. The girl caught it, and her smile wilted. She turned her gaze back to Jess, who had just gulped down half a glass of the tea nonstop. Now, he set it aside and stared at his sister.

"Francie… I can't tell ya how good it is to see ya." Jess still beamed. "And where's Johnny? Can't wait to talk to him too. Why wasn't he in the wagon with you and Gil? Ebal said he sent you two over here."

Francie frowned. "Is that what he told ya? That Johnny was with me?"

At his sister's bewildered and somewhat angry expression, Jess thought back to Ebal's words. "Well, I guess he didn't rightly say it exact. He said he often sends you over here. But I'd just asked him 'bout you and Johnny, and he told me to come here. So I figured he meant the both of ya came to the Bradys'. Why? Ain't Johnny with ya? I didn't see him at Ebal's place. Ain't he here?"

Francie sat her untasted tea on the table. Her brown eyes locked with Jess's blue as she drew a breath and then spoke softly. "No, he ain't here." She scooted toward the middle of the couch, close enough to lay a hand gently on her brother's arm. "Jess… Johnny's passed on."

Jess's jaw dropped and his eyebrows hiked up at the bridge of his nose as he tried to make sense of his sister's words. He sought desperately to find another meaning for them. But failing to attach a better outlook to them, he spoke in a voice that was tense and ragged. "Passed… Ya mean… he… d-died?"

Francie nodded. "About four months ago." She waited, giving her brother time to deal with yet another loss.

Jess sat frozen. Then he shook his head slightly and his gaze drifted from Francie's face to the fireplace, staring into the hearth. His heart pounded in his chest as the clock on the mantel ticked off a full minute. "How?" he choked out, his lower lip trembling slightly.

"He and Ebal's oldest boy, Matthias, went up to that rocky rise to fish the north crick. I didn't know they were headed there, or I woulda stopped him. It's a lot of climbing… Johnny's heart and all."

Jess still stared into the fireplace.

"Matthias said they had just throwed in their lines. Then Johnny groaned and clutched at his chest. Of a sudden, his eyes rolled back… and he tumbled into the crick. It was deep there, and the current was fast. Matthias couldn't git to him before he got pulled under the water. And Matthias can't swim. He couldn't go out too far from the bank." Francie's voice quivered. "Johnny got swept away."

Minutes passed again. Jess still sat silently staring into the fireplace. Francie watched the muscle in his jaw twitch and his chest heave with the effort of constricted breaths. She knew what he was feeling, the loss, the grief. But she wondered what kinds of thoughts were swirling through his mind.

Knowing Jess, she was sure he was blaming himself for not getting back to check on her and Johnny sooner. She would never blame him, but she knew he would be beating himself up. If not right at the moment in this time of shock, then later. He also would be wishing he could have been informed of the death sooner. Was he wondering if she had tried to reach him?

"I wish there woulda been some way to git word to ya. But I didn't know how. Didn't know where ya were. Well, least not till we heard after you'd already gone from a few places 'round the state that you'd been there. But by then you'd moved on, and we didn't know where."

Jess squeezed his eyes shut and sat still, sucking in shallow breaths. Finally, he drew his view away from the fireplace and back to Francie's face. "Take me to his grave. I wanna pay my respects."

Francie took one of Jess's hands in both of hers, holding it like she did when they were tiny children. "There's no grave to mourn at."

Anger flared. "Ya mean they didn't look for him? Didn't fetch him from the water so's he could be proper buried?"

"They tried. Lots of folks looked. Includin' the Bradys. For days and days. But that crick flows into the river, Jess. You know that. And you know how the river swells with all the streams goin' into it when the spring rains come. It was just… impossible," Francie's voice broke, "to find him."

Tears gathered in her eyes as she saw the devastated look on her brother's face. "The sheriff promised me they'll keep lookin'. And he put the word out to towns down river. But it's been four months now, and all that's turned up was a belt buckle I gave Johnny for Christmas." She faltered, and had to gather herself to go on. "One of the deputies found it snagged on a log along the bank where the creek meets the river. That was a couple weeks after… it happened. There's been nothin' since then."

Jess sat still, gritting his teeth.

A minute passed and Francie added, "But we had a remembrance for him. After church one Sunday. Father James said nice words for him. Read from the Good Book for him. Prayed for him." She paused. "Prayed for you and me too."

There was nothing more to say or do. Just wait and let Jess come to terms with it. He sat silently, his head hanging down, his eyes closed. Francie could feel his hand shaking in hers. She could see his entire body quivering.

After a while, Jess withdrew his hand from hers, stood up, and nervously moved toward the fireplace. He leaned his left arm on the mantle, and lowered his head to brace his forehead on his arm. Francie watched his right hand, near his holster, open and clench, his thumb sliding across his fingers, in the habit he had had since he was a kid.

Wiping away the tears that traced down her cheek, she waited.

Quietly, she tried to reach through his grief. "Jess?"

There was no response. She folded her hands in her lap and waited some more, watching him, his eyes clenched tightly closed.

After a while, she gently tried again. "Jess?"

She waited again. She could see him working to calm his breathing, forcing his hands to be still.

"Jess? Do ya hear me?"

He raised his head. He turned back to his sister. He stepped forward and held out his hand. "We'd best git ya back to Ebal's."

Francie took his hand, and they went into the kitchen. Mrs. Brady's heart was breaking at the sorrowful look in Jess's eyes where just a half hour earlier happiness and mirth had danced.

She gently touched his arm. "How are you doing, hon?"

Jess felt Francie's petite hand in his large palm. He was the man of the family, what there was left of it. It was up to him to be strong for his sister. His father's image flashed in his memory from that time when Jess was seven, with that whispered thought Luke never intended anyone to hear.

"Say it enough… and you can make yourself believe it."

Jess raised his head. He swallowed hard. Still, his voice came hoarse and pained. "I'm fine."