PART 10
"Can you see anythin'?!" Dan called over to Nick.
"Naw, we probably won't 'till we get over the next hill!" Nick yelled back. The six riders seemed to be riding at neck-breaking speed. As they reached the top, everyone slowed simultaneously, and it seemed as though there was a collective intake of breath.
"Oh my God," Jo muttered under her breath, and for a split second, there was silence. Then Dan turned in the direction that they had come and began shouting out the word "fire" into the night, hoping that help was coming. Jo turned around as well and made out some figures approaching…but it would take them a few minutes to get there, minutes that they didn't have. They quickly were galloping towards the house, Dan and Nat in the lead. When they arrived, Franz rushed into the house on their heels.
The two babies were crying uncontrollably, and he and Jo went to them. Dan ran upstairs shouting at the top of his lungs, "Bess!! Nan!! ANSWER ME!!" He ran back downstairs and looked at Nat. "Anything?" he said quickly.
"Nothing, they're not here," Nat said, and they both continued towards the barn, their brisk walk turning into a run.
"That means they're in the barn!" Dan shouted out above the roar of the flames. Nick and Laurie rushed out of the house after them while Jo and Franz watched, helpless, from the doorway.
"Dan!" Nick called out, "Nat! What are you doin'?!" But the boys didn't heed his shouts and they rushed into the barn. Immediately they started hacking and their eyes watered. Dan started off in one direction, and motioned for Nat to go off in the other. They each frantically searched the floor, trying to cover their mouths and noses from the smoke. Meanwhile, Nick and Laurie were standing just outside.
"We have to go after them!" Laurie yelled.
"And what happens if we all get trapped in there Laurie?" Nick yelled back, "I know it's hard to just stay out here, but they'll find them." Laurie calmed down a bit after that, and instead began to help Nick get buckets of water to put out the fire. Inside the barn, Nat thought he was about to pass out when he ran into Dan. Nat silently asked him with his eyes if he had found anything, and Dan shook his head. Nat started shaking his head, and that was when he saw it; a pile of something lay on the ground to their left.
He motioned to Dan, and the two ran over to the "pile." Turning her over, they found out that it was indeed Bess. Dan quickly pulled the unconscious girl to his chest and just held her for a few seconds before picking her up in his arms. He looked at Nat, trying to figure out what they were going to do. Nat motioned for Dan to leave with Bess; he'd keep looking for Nan. Feeling uneasy, Dan quickly made his way out of the barn.
As he got out, he was aware that many people were now trying to put out the large fire. "Dan!" Laurie yelled, rushing over to him and Bess. Dan collapsed on the ground, barely able to catch his breath.
"Where's Nat!?" Nick shouted. Dan, unable to speak yet, simply pointed to the barn. All heads snapped in that direction though, as a large crash was heard. The roof of the barn was collapsing! Dan, Laurie, and Nick all shared a look, and Jo came running up behind them.
"What's going on?!" she called, taking in the situation, "Where are Nan and Nat?!" She and Nick shared a brief look, silently communicating his suspicions. "No," she said softly at first, and then got louder, "No! Where are they? I'm going to find them!" As she headed off for the barn, Nick grabbed her waist and prevented her from going any farther.
"Jo! You can't go in there," he said.
"My children are in there," was Jo's fierce reply. At that moment shouts began as a figure emerged from the barn. "Nat!" Jo sigh as she ran over to him. As Dan had done earlier, Nat collapsed to the ground, and in his arms was Nan. "Nat! Are you two okay?" Jo asked.
"I….I'm fine," Nat coughed, "Nan……needs…doctor…" Jo nodded and ran back towards the house, where Harrison, Amy, and Meg were pulling up…with a doctor!
"Jo! Where's Bess?! Is she alright??" Amy yelled, practically jumping from the wagon.
"We heard what happened, and we got here as soon as we could," Harrison called, quickly helping Meg down from the wagon.
"They're out of the barn, but something's wrong with Nan," Jo said, "Please hurry!"
"Right away," the doctor said, "My name's Dr. Richards, where's the girl?" Jo first lead him over to where Bess lay. As the doctor examined her, she began to stir, but then slipped back into a peaceful sleep. "She should be alright, just get her up to the house," he said, "Now where's the other girl?" Jo lead him over to Nan, where he proceeded to examine her. "Oh dear," he muttered.
"What? What's wrong?" Jo asked.
"We can't do this here. We'll have to get her into town. Help me get her into the wagon," the doctor said. As Nat watched, still coughing a little, everyone helped Nan into the back of the wagon, and it carefully sped off. Nat slowly got up and grabbed one of the nearby horses, attempting to get on.
"Nat, where do you think you're going?" Harrison asked.
"I'm going with her," Nat coughed, as he successfully got on the horse and rode off. Harrison and Meg looked at all the chaos around them and took a deep breath. It had already been a long night, and it was just about to get even longer…
After an hour or two in town, Jo and Nick went back to Dan's place, leaving Nan in the care of Nat and the doctor. "I can't really say for sure," the doctor had said, "Only time will tell." There was nothing for anyone to do but sit and wait, so Nat had urged Jo and Nick to go home. On their way, they ran into Dan, who reported that Bess was still sleeping. Dan was going into town himself to check on Nan, but promised to be back soon. Thirty minutes later the sun had yet to rise, and Jo stood alone in the half of the barn that hadn't been destroyed, petting one of the horses.
Nick silently walked through the door and paused at the sight of her. She looked so peaceful, so serene as she stood there murmuring to the horse. "Hey," he said softly, making her aware of his presence.
"Hi," she said softly, her head still turned away. Nick sigh, knowing that she had been crying.
"Thinkin' about the kids?" Nick asked.
Jo laughed at herself, saying, "Oh look at me! I should be worried sick about them, but I can't help…" She paused, bowing her head.
"Ya know," Nick said, walking up directly behind her. He paused and smiled as he smelled the beautiful scent she always seemed to carry with her. "We never finished our conversation." Jo remained silent. "I think," Nick said, slowly wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, "That there's been a misunderstandin'." Jo shuddered at his touch and took a sharp breath at his words.
"Ya see," Nick said, leaning close to her ear, "You think I want us to be friends. But the truth is…all these months have just been getting' worse for me Jo. I've grown more in love with ya every day…how could I not? And it was just drivin' me nuts that you weren't ready to get married yet, so I didn't want to push you. And that's why I stayed away…but Jo, if you say the word - if you tell me, that…"
Jo swiftly turned around and found herself locked in a tight embrace with him. "Things are different. I want to marry you so, so much. And…and I love you even more," she said, squeezing her eyes shut as she hugged him tightly.
Nick grinned and said, "I think that can be arranged." Jo slowly pulled back and Nick just sigh.
"What?" she asked.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me," he said softly.
"Our kids are going to get through this - we're all going to get through this," Jo said fiercely, "and we are going to have such a life together."
"Jo," Nick chuckled softly, "we already do." With that, he gently leaned down and kissed her …as the sun finally pierced the darkness of the night sky.
Dan pushed open the door to Nan's room softly. It smelled so…clean. So clean, in fact, that Dan became a little uneasy. Dan walked farther into the room, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Nat's face. Nat sat in a chair by Nan's bedside. His arm was wrapped in white gauze, and soot still lined his face. His gaze was intent on Nan's face, her features too still for such a lively person. "What happened?" he finally asked.
"She's got a pretty serious concussion. She's…in a coma," Nat said, his words void of emotion. There was a moment of silence between the two, and then Nat finally got up and walked over to the foot of the bed where Dan stood.
"Maybe you should go home, get cleaned up," Dan said.
"No," Nat said, never taking his eyes off Nan, "I don't need to."
"Well, I could stay here and-"
"I bet you'd just love that Dan, wouldn't you?" Nat said, shooting an icy glare in Dan's direction.
"Oh come on Nat, you still don't think that there's somethin' goin' on between Nan and me, do ya?" Dan asked. Nat's even stare confirmed Dan's suspicions. "Look, why don't I just tell ya the whole truth, alright? Yeah, me and Nan did write to each other a lot, but it's not for the reasons that you think. I care about Nan a lot - like a sister. There ain't nothin' I wouldn't do for her. Back in Boston, she was confused and scared, and she wanted to write to you Nat. But she couldn't."
"Why?" Nat questioned softly.
"She couldn't bear to tell you things. Nat, she didn't want to tell you about how her father pushed her into seeing David so much. She knew you'd only try to help, and she couldn't have that either. You know the only way she could go to medical school was if her father paid for it, and the only way he'd keep payin' for it was if she acted like the perfect little daughter," Dan ran a hand through his hair and gave Nat a sad look, "She didn't want you to know, and I didn't want Bess to find out about this, 'cause I knew she'd get the wrong idea."
Nat moved directly in front of Dan, his gaze heavy with grief, "I can't lose her Dan. I don't care if she spends the rest of her life with David, or if she spends the rest of her life hating me…I can't…" Nat choked on his last words and Dan enveloped him in a firm hug.
"We won't," he said, determination in his voice, "She won't give up. You know her, I know her….she'll keep on fighting…"
Dan slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? What time was it? What day? He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked out the window where the sun was high in the sky. Then it came to him like a bolt of lightening, Bess! He quickly got off the bed where he had promised himself only a few minutes of sleep before returning to his vigil by Bess' bedside…but that had been well over three hours ago.
He raced into Bess' room and his heart nearly stopped. She was sitting up in her bed with Nat perched at her side. "Bess," he breathed softly.
"Dan," she returned, and he saw hope, love, and understanding in her blue eyes.
"I explained to her…" Nat trailed off, "Well I'm going to go get washed up before I go back into town. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Bess squeezed his hand and said, "When she wakes up, would you tell her thank you?"
"For what?" Nat asked.
"For being the brave one," Bess replied with a smile. Nat's breath caught in his throat, and he nodded before leaving. Dan sat in the space Nat had left, brushing the hair back from Bess' face. "What happened last night?" she asked softly.
"You tell me," Dan said gently, "you were here."
"Nan…went outside when she noticed something about the barn…I can't really remember what. Anyway, it was a while later and she still hadn't come back, so I looked outside and saw that the barn was on fire. I rushed out there, but I was too late. And….and then someone grabbed me and…," she put a hand up to her head, as if remembering the blow she'd gotten.
"Barn's gone," Dan said, continuing the story, "I pulled you out of the barn first, but Nat stayed in there, lookin' for Nan. We thought we'd lost them both, but then he came out with her. You were all…lucky."
"Dan," Bess began, taking his hand, "about everything that's been going on these last few-"
"Don't Bess," he said softly, "I don't want to think about that. That's behind us now."
She smiled a little and then said, "Do you know what caused the….fire last night?"
"No, but I'm going to find out," Dan said, anger and determination in his voice.
"Dan, promise me you won't do anything rash or stupid," Bess said seriously, and with a tired note.
"Shh, don't worry, I won't," Dan said, pulling the covers around her, "You get some rest now okay?" She nodded as her eyes fluttered closed. As soon as he was sure she was asleep, Dan brusquely walked to the barn, got on his horse, and dashed off to town. 'Sorry Bess,' he thought, 'But I can't let them get away with this, not this time.'
PART 11
