I'll Be Sick for Christmas

Chapter 1

Christmas Eve. Nick and Heath were out searching early, found the perfect tree and hauled it home. A beautiful fir, about nine feet tall. Once they got it up, they and their mother and sister stood admiring it, and –

"It's so beautiful, it's almost a shame to hang ornaments on it," Audra said.

"That's half the fun," Heath said. "Putting the ornaments on, then rearranging them because one little one looks better over here, and then moving it again because it looks better over there."

"We still have to put the mistletoe up too," Victoria said. "Back there in the arch, as we always do."

As if on cue, Silas came in with the ladder. He stopped under the center point of the arch and set the ladder up, saying, "I've got it, Mrs. Barkley. It won't take long to put it up."

"Thank you, Silas," Victoria said. And then she noticed something.

She noticed that Nick did not look like he was really thinking about the tree or the mistletoe. He kept looking toward the front door, then back at the tree when someone spoke, then back at the front door.

"Are you expecting someone, Nick?" Victoria asked.

"I hope not," Nick said. "I was remembering, this was just about the time last year that Jarrod came in with Maybelle Williams in tow. I'm wondering who he's gonna bring this year."

"I don't know, that all turned out pretty good last year," Heath said. "Rocky at the start, maybe, but pretty good at the end."

"And Maybelle is off at school," Audra said.

"In San Francisco," Nick said. "And Jarrod's gonna be coming in from there at any minute."

"He won't be bringing her," Victoria said. "The letter I got from him yesterday that said he'd be here, but she was staying to celebrate with the women and the nuns at the home where she's working."

The thought made Audra smile. "She's really doing well there, isn't she?"

Victoria nodded with a smile. "Jarrod was hoping that working there would help her develop some gentleness, and he thinks it's working. She likes it."

There came a knock at the door.

"Aha!" Nick said.

"Jarrod wouldn't knock," Audra reminded him.

Closest to the door, Silas answered the knock, but whoever it was just gave him an envelope. He thanked them, closed the door and brought the envelope to Victoria.

"Telegram?" Nick asked.

Victoria opened it, and read it, and looked very unhappy. "It's from Jarrod. He's not coming. He's sick."

"Sick?" Audra asked.

"Influenza," Victoria said, and looked more distressed.

So did everyone else. Heath didn't quite understand yet, but Nick said, "When Jarrod gets the influenza, it's always worse than any of the rest of us gets it."

"Before Nick was born, Jarrod was very sick with pneumonia," Victoria said. "We nearly lost him. He recovered, but ever since then, even just a cold is harder on him than it is on the rest of us." She looked down at the telegram and read, "It's from Jarrod's doctor but it's Jarrod's words. 'Sorry I won't be home. Influenza. Quarantined but Charles is helping me. He's still well. I'll be here for him if I get well but he gets sick. Will stay in touch. Love, Jarrod.'"

Charles was Jarrod's houseman. "But Charles has a family," Audra said. "How can he stay with Jarrod?"

"He might not have any choice, if the doctor put a quarantine on Jarrod," Victoria said.

"If he's quarantined, we can't even go see him," Nick said.

"Knowing Jarrod, he wouldn't let us even if he wasn't quarantined," Heath said. "The last thing he'd want to give us all for Christmas is the influenza."

"No, we can't go to him, not yet anyway," Victoria said, thinking. And thinking. And deciding. "Nick, Heath – would you go into town for me while Audra and I finish up getting ready for tomorrow?"

"To wire Jarrod back?" Nick asked.

Victoria finally smiled a little. "Yes, I'll write out the telegram, but there's something else I want you to do too, just as soon as I get things ready."

She turned and took off upstairs, leaving her children looking at each other, baffled.

XXXXXX

Nick and Heath made a dash for the train depot, hoping to get the package on the noon train to San Francisco. They had ten minutes to spare. The train had not come in yet, but the clerk already had two other customers in line before Nick and Heath got there.

One of them, Mrs. Moreno, looked at Nick and Heath, and at the name and address written on the package. "Oh – Jarrod isn't coming home for Christmas?"

"No," Nick said. "He got himself sick with influenza, so we're sending Christmas to him this year."

"I'm sorry," Mrs. Moreno said. "What a terrible time to get sick. Well, I hope your package cheers him up. He's a wonderful man, you know. He helped me and Carlos clear up that title to our property faster than we could really get upset about it."

The clerk at the freight depot finished with the customer ahead of Mrs. Moreno, then finished with her just as the train was pulling in. "Well, you just made it," the clerk said to Nick and Heath, and when he looked at the package he echoed Mrs. Moreno. "Jarrod not coming home for Christmas this year?"

"No, he got sick," Heath said as Nick paid for the package.

"What's in here?" the clerk asked. "No breakable 'Christmas cheer,' I hope."

"No, nothing breakable," Heath said. "And everything is well packaged too, so you don't need to give it special handling."

"Well, I think I will anyway," the clerk said. "Whatever it is, I wouldn't want it to get to your brother broken – not after he got me home that night last week."

"Got you home?" Nick asked.

The clerk looked sheepish. "He was working late and I had a little too much early Christmas cheer. He found me wandering in front of his building and wondering why I couldn't find my front door, which is three blocks over from there."

Nick and Heath laughed. "Don't get into any more cheer before you get that box on the train," Nick said.

"Don't worry," the clerk said. There was no one else in line. "It's going on right now."

"And can you message the depot in San Francisco that it should be delivered to this address as soon as possible? Tell them just knock on the door and leave it. Somebody will take it in."

"Don't you worry about that either," the clerk said. "I got just the man on that end to do the job."

Nick and Heath went to the telegraph office next and gave Victoria's handwritten message to the operator. He smiled, reading it. "'Message received. Christmas coming to you on the late train.' I was wondering what you'd do when you got his message he was sick with the influenza. You moved pretty quick."

"You can thank our mother for that," Nick said. "She knew exactly what she wanted to do."

"Well, here's hoping it helps him get better fast," the clerk said.

XXXXXX

To say he felt awful was putting it mildly. He was feverish and coughing and aching all over. Thinking about missing the holiday with his family in Stockton did not even bother him, he felt so bad. He didn't want to celebrate anything right now. He just wanted to get through the next few days.

Jarrod took to bed and sleeping as much as he could. Charles woke him periodically, checking on his fever, making sure he took water or broth, getting him to the wc and then back to bed.

"You're an angel of mercy, Charles," Jarrod said more than once. "I'm sorry I'm keeping you from your family."

"You didn't want to get sick, Mr. Barkley," Charles told him as he got him back into bed and covered up. "And I don't want to get my wife and kids sick for Christmas either."

"I'm afraid you'll catch this," Jarrod said, sinking into bed and closing his eyes, then having a coughing fit.

"Well, if I do, I know I won't get it as bad as you get these things," Charles said, "and you'll be well enough to take care of me by then."

Charles heard the front door bell chime.

"I best get that," he said, and Jarrod grunted an agreement.

In a few moments, Charles was back with the telegram Nick and Heath had sent. He read it off. "I wonder what that means," Jarrod mumbled after he heard it.

"I suspect it means we best expect something to arrive later, and you best get some sleep in the meantime so you can open a package," Charles said.

Jarrod grunted another agreement, and the next he knew, Charles was shaking him softly.

"What?" Jarrod asked.

"Your package is here," Charles said.

"Already?" Jarrod asked. "We just got the telegram."

"You been asleep all afternoon, Mr. Barkley," Charles said.

Jarrod opened his eyes. It was dark, except for the lamps lit. "Oh – " he moaned. "I guess I really needed it."

Jarrod sat up, had Charles help him to the wc, but then didn't get back into bed when Charles brought him back. Instead, he reached for his robe and put it on.

"Are you feeling better, Mr. Barkley?" Charles asked.

"I'm feeling more like a human being," Jarrod said, "and I'm hungrier."

"I got some dinner on, some chicken soup."

"I hope it actually has chicken in it," Jarrod said.

"It does, and I made some biscuits, too."

"And that package is downstairs?" Jarrod asked.

"Waiting in the living room for you," Charles said.

"Mother and Silas make a marvelous Christmas cake," Jarrod said. "Soaked in cherry brandy. I hope she sent some."

"Let's get you downstairs and feed you first," Charles said.