Chapters 19-26
by
Stacey256
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
Chapter
19
Jarrod prevailed and, in a short while, he and Christiana
arrived back at Peter and Samantha’s home.
A subdued Audra and Barton quietly greeted them as they came in. Both Lizzie V. and Nicky were down for naps
and Carlotta was letting Tom decorate a special cake for his mother, Audra
explained. At least Peter was awake;
Barton added that he’d talked with his partner for a few minutes about some
business issues.
“I don’t know if Samantha is still asleep,” Audra said
honestly. “I’ve tried not to disturb them. Peter went into the washroom and cleaned up
some after he talked to Barton, but he went back into their bedroom to be with
Sam. I think the croissants are a
wonderful idea, Christiana. She hasn’t
had a thing to eat today. Let’s fix up
a tray and you and Jarrod can take it up.
Samantha may be ready for a little visit. And, if she’s not, I’m sure she’ll enjoy the croissants.”
Samantha, apparently, was very ready to have
visitors. She was the one whose voice
answered Jarrod’s light knock on the bedroom door. She greeted Christiana warmly and her eyes lit up at the
tray. “Croissants! From Antoine’s? Oh, Christiana, you’re an angel.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Christiana teased as she
leaned down to kiss Samantha’s cheek and settle the tray across her lap, “but I
am well aware of your weakness for Antoine’s.
I thought these might be a nice treat.”
“Oh, you thought right,” Samantha managed a sincere smile,
but then it dimmed a little as her eyes moved to her brother-in-law. “Oh, Jarrod, I’m so sorry I frightened you
this morning.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,” Jarrod said
quickly. “I was only concerned about
you. I’m just glad to see that you’re
feeling better now.”
“Well, part of me is sorry that you had to experience this
but another part is glad you were here for Peter,” she reached out to grasp his
hand. “I know how upsetting it is for
him to have to just sit and wait to hear what the doctor has to say.”
“Sam,” Peter protested, “I can handle things just fine.”
“But it’s better if one of your brothers is here,” she
countered.
He allowed her a small concession, “Sure, it is. Gives me somebody other than the doctor to
punch when I lose my temper.”
“You were going to punch the doctor?” Christiana’s eyes shifted
between the other three.
“No, he wasn’t,” Samantha started and then rolled her eyes
as her husband said flatly, “I was considering it.”
“Peter!” Samantha scolded.
“Well, he was just being so damn negative. Got on my nerves,” Peter grumbled.
“He was just doing what doctors do, Peter, telling you
what the worst thing could be,” his wife tired to be reasonable. “You know that’s what Gene said.”
Peter hmpffed, and Jarrod remembered how definite the
doctor had seemed. It did not seem to
be a question of whether Samantha was going to lose the baby but rather
when. He was, however, not going to say
that in front of Samantha. Instead, he
asked, “So, I guess you’re going to follow the doctor’s instructions and stay
in bed for a week.”
Samantha and Peter exchanged a quick look and she took a
deep breath, “Actually, Peter and I have been talking. Umm, is Audra downstairs? I think it would be best if we all talked
this over together.”
“I think Barton is still here,” Jarrod said carefully.
“That’s fine; maybe it would be best if he were here,
too. After all, he’s been the one who’s
had to keep things going at the bank when Peter had to take off to take care of
me,” she whispered.
“I’m sure Barton doesn’t mind,” her brother-in-law said
quickly. “Peter will be making up for
it when Barton is off for his and Audra’s wedding and honeymoon next summer.”
“The wedding,” Samantha’s eyes flew up to Peter’s
face. “So much to do for the wedding.”
Jarrod wasn’t sure what Samantha meant so he just raised a
dismissive hand, “Mother and Audra will take care of everything. Nothing to worry about. Now I’ll go get Audra so that we all can
talk.”
Audra and Barton were waiting at the foot of the stairs,
obviously hoping for some news on Samantha.
Jarrod quickly relayed the news that Peter’s wife seemed in very good
spirits and that she had asked them to come in also. Jarrod was only a little surprised, and perhaps a little pleased,
with the way that Audra and Barton communicated with each other with just a
look and then followed him back to the bedroom. They were definitely meant to be together.
Christiana was now sitting on the edge of the bed, holding
Samantha’s hand. Audra immediately
crossed the room and bent to kiss her sister-in-law’s cheek and then stepped
back to lean against Barton. Samantha
managed what Jarrod would call a very brave smile. He tried to smile encouragingly and unconsciously stepped closer
to the bed and placed a light hand on Christiana’s shoulder.
Samantha took a deep breath and looked up at her husband
for a moment. Her voice was carefully
modulated as she began, as if she had rehearsed this speech, “I’m sorry that
all of you have had to deal with so much today.”
Audra beat Jarrod in responding, “You have nothing to be
sorry for, Sam. This isn’t in your
control.”
The young mother sighed and smiled rather grimly, “No, I
know it’s not but still if I were . . . .”
She was interrupted by a loud voice.
“Hey, where is everybody?”
A moment later, Eugene Barkley appeared in the doorway of
the bedroom. He was across the room in
just a few long strides and unhesitantly gathered his sister-in-law up into a
tight hug. Christiana quickly gave up
her place beside Samantha so Gene could sit down. Samantha continued to press her face into the Gene’s neck. Jarrod remembered that Audra had said that
Gene was close to Samantha, but he had no idea they were this close. He watched in silent awe as his baby brother
gently soothed their sister-in-law with soft tones.
“More contractions?” Gene asked. Samantha only managed a nod, so he added, “Did they last long?”
“About an hour and a half,” she whispered.
“Hmm, longer than before,” he gently patted her back. “What did Dr. Anderson say?”
She sniffed, “He wasn’t very hopeful.”
“Have you dilated further?” Gene calmly asking such a
personal question shocked Jarrod. He
would have chastised the boy except that neither Peter nor Samantha seemed
particularly concerned.
“A little more, the doctor said,” she pulled back from his
embrace to look into Gene’s eyes.
“Have your membranes broken?” Samantha shook her head and Gene asked, “And there’s no
bleeding?”
Jarrod felt the color rise into his face. He couldn’t believe what Gene was asking in
mixed company, but Samantha just shook her head and Peter continued to calmly
stand with his arms crossed.
The youngest brother smiled, “Well, that’s good news. So what’s the plan?”
Samantha laughed and reached to hug Gene again, “Thank you
for saying that. For not just giving
up.”
“Haven’t you been told?
Barkleys don’t give up,” Gene teased lightly. “So, what are you going to do?”
Her eyes flitted up to her husband’s again and then swept
around those gathered with them. Peter’s
eyes told her that he would let her explain things as she wished. Her eyes went back to Gene’s. He had known about her problems from the
beginning, had been there that first time she had had contractions. He had also been there when she had had the
bleeding in November and had listened to her and Peter’s arguments about going
to the ranch at Christmas. He had been
the one who had sat and held her hand through much of the trip to Stockton,
both of them pretending that they weren’t worried about how a train trip might
affect her. So now, it was her
husband’s youngest brother that she talked directly to.
“Peter and I have been talking. And we’ve agreed that we can’t just give up. That I’m going to try bed rest, to see if
that will keep the contractions from occurring again. If this doesn’t work, and I lose the baby, then we’ll know we did
all that we could and that it was God’s will,” she took a deep breath and let
it out with a slow sigh. “I know you
all are worried but please don’t be.
We’ll just deal with things as they happen.”
“Bed rest? For how
long?” Audra knew how active her sister-in-law was. Staying in bed was just not her nature at all.
Samantha shrugged, “Until the baby comes . . . and we’re
hoping that won’t be until April so he or she will have a better chance.”
“Over two months,” Barton softly stated the obvious. He, too, knew how his partner’s wife
preferred her usual fast paced lifestyle.
He had always been amazed at how she was able to dote on her children,
run a beautiful home, take part in a number of charitable causes, entertain her
husband’s business contacts, and be a member of San Francisco society. Peter had told him once that Samantha was
always happiest when she was at her busiest.
“Don’t worry, Barton, I’ve made Peter promise that he
wouldn’t neglect things at the bank to take care of me,” Samantha smiled up at
him.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” Barton replied
swiftly. “Peter should spend as much
time as he needs with you. We’ll manage
at the bank. It’s only for two
months.” He smiled at how a change in
tone could somehow make that period of time seem less.
“Thank you for that, Barton,” she whispered. “I know he’ll worry about me and might be
distracted at times. When he does that,
you just give him a good shake and tell him that he better get back to work so
that he can support his wife in the way that she likes.”
“I’ll be sure to do that,” Barton said with a straight
face, never ever considering shaking his well-muscled, quick-tempered partner.
“It’s a good plan, Sam,” Gene said softly but added
firmly, “but it’s going to be very hard on you. I know it’s easy to say you’ll do the bed rest right now when
you’ve had a bad scare, but you know it’s going to be very difficult when that
memory fades and you start feeling better.
It’ll be boring. And you know
you’re going to hate not being able to do things with the children.”
“Jeez, Gene, you already sound like a doctor,” Peter
groused.
“I’m just trying to be realistic about all of this,” Gene
defended himself. “I think bed rest is
the only answer but I also know that this is going to be difficult on everyone,
most of all Sam.”
“I can do this,” her voice was stronger. “Peter and I talked. My first job is to be a mother and right now
I have to concentrate on mothering the baby that isn’t born yet. And Peter has promised that he’ll help the
other children understand that this is just a temporary thing and Mamma will be
out of bed before they know it. I can
do this.”
Her words were so heartfelt that Jarrod, despite his
misgivings, felt compelled to champion her, “Of course you can, honey. And we’ll all be here to help you however we
can.”
Her next words, said in a teary voice, shocked them all,
“But that’s not what I want. I don’t
want to be a bother to anyone.”
“Samantha, you’re not a bother,” Audra snapped. “You’re part of our family, and all we want
to do is to help you during this difficult time.”
Samantha sniffed, “That’s just it. This isn’t supposed to be a difficult
time. Women have babies every day and
they don’t have problems. And because I
can’t do this right, I’m causing problems for everyone.”
“Sam,” Peter spoke through stiff lips. He had alternately comforted his wife and
tried to reason with her every since they both woke up in the late
morning. He couldn’t convince her that
none of this was her fault. She kept
saying she was weak, that she was failing as a woman. He had fought hard not to just out and out scoff at her; he knew
that his dismissal of her views would have just hurt her more. Now he struggled not to argue with her. “There isn’t a right or a wrong way to
something that’s out of your control.
Please quit blaming yourself, honey.”
“There’s no one else to blame,” she whispered and sniffed
again.
Amazingly, it was Eugene who tried to put an end to such
talk, “All right, let’s quit talking about the subject of blame and, instead,
let’s talk about making things better.
Now, if you’re going to stay in bed for two months we’re going to have
to work out a schedule so that you can spend time with the children here and
still get plenty of rest. I know you’re
not going to be happy unless you’re spending time with them every day. And, oh by the way, I’ve been doing some
reading and the current thought is that you need to try to stay on your side as
much as possible. That puts less
pressure on the arteries leading to the baby.”
“On my side?” Samantha made a face.
“That’s what the literature says,” the youngest brother
said with an air of authority.
“All right,” Samantha made a face and shifted onto her
side. “What else?”
“Not much else, except you have to minimize your time on
your feet. You also need to try not to
sit straight up. Every time you do,
you’re putting stress on the membranes.
Once they rupture, then there will be no choice but to take the baby,”
Gene’s voice was soft but grim.
“I understand,” Samantha nodded. “Dr. Anderson already warned us.”
“Well, you’re probably going to need to think about
getting a nursemaid to help with the children and maybe a nurse for you,”
Gene’s eyes went to Peter’s face. His
brother slowly nodded his head. Sam
would not like having someone else taking care of her children, but it had to
be done.
“You know Mother’s going to be here just as soon as she
finds out you’re confined to your bed,” Jarrod said quickly.
Both Peter and Gene cringed at Jarrod’s statement and
Samantha’s eyes flew up to his face and she barked out, “No.”
The sharpness of her voice stunned them all. Audra stammered, “But, Sam, Mother will want
to help you.”
“I don’t want your mother to have to come to take care of
me,” Samantha shook her head, tears flooding her eyes. “Your mother should get to plan her only
daughter’s wedding without having to worry about me. Please, I don’t want her to know what’s happening here. I don’t want any of the rest of the family
to know.”
“Not know?” Jarrod was stunned. He had never considered not telling the rest of the family.
“There are already too many people worrying . . . I don’t
want anyone else upset . . . particularly your mother. I want you all to try to go on with your
lives and not worry about us,” Samantha’s eyes swept across the group.
“All right, Sam, we’ll do the best we can . . . but I’m
not guaranteeing that we won’t worry a little,” Jarrod managed to smile at her
even as he doubted the wisdom of her approach.
Peter let the silence fill the room and then murmured,
“Honey, I’m going to go check on Tom.
You know he’s got to be upset with all that’s going on. I’ll see if I can’t calm some of his fears
and then we’ll come up and see you. In
the meantime, maybe you and Christiana can have one of your hen parties.”
Christiana picked up on Peter’s intent immediately. She pretended to be offended, “We do not
have hen parties, Peter Barkley. We
simply discuss a wide variety of topics that probably would not interest you.”
“You’re right, the proper size of a bustle isn’t the least
bit interesting to me,” Peter shot back.
“Peter, we do talk about serious things,” Samantha’s voice
regained some of its usual vivre.
“Sure, honey,” Peter pretended to patronize her and then
bent down and kissed her cheek. Over
her head his eyes signaled the others.
“Sam, I’m going to go check on Nicky and Lizzie V.,” Audra
said smoothly. “Nicky should be waking
up soon. You and Christiana enjoy your
visit.”
“Well, if this is going to be a hen party, I’m heading to
the kitchen to see if I can find something to eat,” Gene winked at his
sister-in-law.
“Barton, I think this would be a good time for us to slip
out also. I just don’t think we’ll be
able to hold up our end of a bustle conversation,” Jarrod added.
“Interesting choice of words, counselor,” Christiana
turned to look at him, her eyes crinkling.
“I think I’ll leave without saying another word,” he let a
hint of smile slip through and then backed out of the room. The smile disappeared as soon as he joined
Barton and his siblings in the hallway.
Jarrod opened his mouth to speak but Peter jerked his head toward the
stairway. The group moved downstairs
where Jarrod, hopeful that Christiana was keeping Samantha entertained, finally
said grimly, “Peter, this isn’t going to work.
We can’t keep this from Mother.”
The younger brother sighed, “Jarrod, I’ve argued and
argued with Sam since last fall. She is
emphatic. She doesn’t want to worry the
rest of the family, particularly Mother.
And, since Audra and Barton’s engagement, she keeps saying that nothing
should detract Mother from planning her only daughter’s wedding. This morning all she could talk about was
how she wished that Audra hadn’t been here for this, that Audra should only be
daydreaming about her wedding day and honeymoon, not thinking about a sister-in-law
who can’t even go about carrying a baby right.”
Jarrod shook his head, “Samantha is acting like this, in
some way, is her fault.”
“She’s been like this since last fall,” Gene
murmured. “You have no idea how hard it
was for me to come home for Thanksgiving, knowing how upset she was, knowing
that by the time I got back she could have lost the baby.”
“You never said a word about this, Gene,” Jarrod wasn’t
sure whether he was upset with his baby brother’s silence or impressed with the
boy’s sudden maturity.
“Sam made me promise not to say anything. Peter told me just to let the family think
that he had business that kept them away,” Gene’s eyes flicked to Peter’s
face. “You don’t know how difficult it
was for me to listen to Nick grouse about how selfish Peter was, how he didn’t
care about the rest of the family. Nick
has no idea.”
Peter gently shushed his youngest brother, “Hey, it’s all
right, Gene. Nick really had no idea
what was going on. You can’t blame him
for his reaction. If you want to be
upset with anyone, it should be me. I’m
the one who’s being untruthful.”
“I don’t think it’s an issue of untruthfulness; it’s one
of not disclosing the entire truth,” the lawyer in Jarrod equivocated.
“Well, I’m not trying to make any excuses,” Peter
replied. “Sam has this foolish notion
that she shouldn’t be an imposition to anyone while she’s carrying a baby. I’ve tried to reason with her, but she’s
steadfast. Because she’s my wife,
because she’s the one I love, because she’s the one who’s suffering through
this, I’ll do whatever she asks. For
her, I’ll keep her condition a secret from whomever she wants and I’ll let
whoever think whatever they want to about me.
It’s not honest, but for Sam, I’ll do anything.”
The frank admission touched the others. Barton was the first to speak, “Well, I need
to be getting back to the bank. Is
there anything special I need to do for you this afternoon, Peter?”
His partner shook his head, “No, I think things will hold
until tomorrow. I promised Sam that if
she was doing all right tomorrow that I would go to work. Sam doesn’t think a wife’s confinement
should have any impact on her husband’s work schedule. I just don’t understand it. If it were one of the children, she would
expect me to set work to the side and be here.
But, when it’s her, I’m supposed to not even think about her.” He sighed and shook his head, “I guess I
need to go check on Tom.”
“I’ll go see if Nicky is awake,” Audra volunteered. “If he is, I’ll bring him down to the
kitchen, too. We’ll give them both a
snack and then you can take them up to see their mamma.”
“Thanks, Audra,” Peter smiled. “Thanks for all your help with the children. Sam has told me that you’ve saved her a
million steps every day. We’re sure
going to miss you when you leave this weekend.”
“Oh, I’m not going,” she said innocently.
“What?” the question was barked out by all four men
simultaneously.
“I’m not going home at the end of the week,” she said
calmly. “I’m going to stay and help
with the children.”
“Now, Audra,” Peter started. “This isn’t what Sam wants.
She wants you to go along with things just the way you planned. You’re supposed to be going back to Stockton
to help Mother with the wedding plans now.”
“Plans change, big brother,” she shrugged. “I’m not 100 percent satisfied with my
wedding dress. I need to spend more
time with Madame Alexander.”
“I thought you said the dress was turning out perfectly,”
Barton was honestly mystified.
“Well, you know how flighty I am. I’ve changed my mind,” her mouth crooked up
in a good-natured smile.
The eldest brother scolded gently, “Audra Barkley, you
little scamp, you know better than to lie.”
“It’s not exactly lying, Jarrod,” she batted her eyes at
him. “It’s just bending the truth a
little. I’ll just write Mother and tell
her I think I need to stay a couple more weeks. She’ll understand.”
“Well,” Peter allowed.
“A couple of weeks would give us enough time to look for a nursemaid for
the children.”
“Oh, heavens, Peter,” she laughed at her brother, “don’t
worry about that. In a couple of weeks,
I’m going to be so busy with Barton looking at possible houses to buy that
there will just be no way that I can come home. And then I’ll be swept up with picking linens and china. Heavens, I’m just not sure when I’ll be able
to get back to Stockton.” She waved her
hand in the air.
“Audra,” Peter shook his head. “Sam’s gonna catch on and so will Mother.”
“Sam, maybe, but I think I can keep Mother convinced for a
while. Besides, it’ll be better than if
I go home. Mother will see it on my
face immediately and she’ll get it out of me in no time. No, it’s better if I stay here,” she nodded
seriously.
Peter looked over at Barton who shrugged and grinned, “I’m
not going to be the one to tell her she has to go back to Stockton and I’ll
only be able to see her on every other weekend. I really like her idea.”
Peter sighed softly and looked over at Jarrod, “You know,
the women in this family are really just way too independent. But darned if I’m gonna pass up help with
the children.”
They all laughed and Eugene turned to Jarrod, “Well, it’s
up to you, Pappy, not to let Sam’s secret out.
You’re going to have to convince everyone that Audra just can’t tear
herself away from Barton.”
Barton immediately pretended to be offended, “Now, why in
the world would that be so difficult to convince someone of?”
The group again laughed.
Peter’s eyes moved around the circle, his oldest brother, his youngest
brother, his best friend, and his little sister. Their presence gave him an incredible feeling of comfort. He didn’t know what the future held for him
and Sam and the baby yet to be born, but it was good to know that these people
would be there to help them.
Chapter
20
“Please, Aunt Audra, can we please go to the park
today? We haven’t gotten to see Adam in
a long, long time,” little Tom Barkley didn’t often beg for things but today
was different. It had been a whole
week since Pappa had explained to them that sometimes mammas had to spend time
in bed before new baby brothers or sisters came. Since then their lives had been turned upside down. Instead of Mamma helping them get dressed
and eating their breakfasts, Aunt Audra was helping them. And now instead of eating their lunch and supper
in the kitchen they all ate upstairs in Mamma and Pappa’s bedroom . . . he and
Nicky at the little table that Pappa had set up for them and Lizzie V. in her
high chair next to Mamma’s bed. While
he and Nicky still got to play in the backyard, they all played in the floor in
Mamma and Pappa’s room for many hours each day. Now Mamma read to them with them all gathered around her on her
bed and Tom did his lessons on the little table as she watched him from the
bed.
But they hadn’t been able to go to the park for days and
days and days. He hadn’t gotten to see
his good friend, Adam, and Adam’s nice auntie.
He was worried about Adam. Adam
was sad almost all the time. His mamma
and little sister had gone to heaven to be with God. Most of the time Adam didn’t smile, but, sometimes, when they
were in the midst of playing some game at the park he would actually
laugh. Tom thought that perhaps, in
those brief moments, Adam forgot about all the sadness in his life and could
just enjoy playing. He wondered if Adam
was missing seeing him and Nicky, if he was having fun in the park without
them. He hoped so . . . but something
made him doubt it. As much as he
enjoyed playing in the park, the real reason he wanted to go was to see Adam.
“Please, Aunt Audra,” he repeated, having no idea how his
big blue eyes tugged at her heart.
“Let me talk to your mamma,” Audra promised. Samantha had become so concerned about how
much Audra was doing with the children.
She kept saying that Audra should be spending her time planning her
wedding not caring for her niece and nephews.
And Samantha had tried to minimize the burden on Audra by keeping the
children at the house except for when Peter took them to church on Sunday. But the boys, particularly little Tom, were beginning
to chafe under the limits. Audra hoped
that she could convince Samantha to let her do more. She had great confidence that her wedding would be just the way
she had always dreamed of it, but what was important now was taking care of
Samantha and the children.
True to her word, Audra approached Samantha during Nicky
and Lizzie V.’s naps. Tom had spent
some time working on his lessons at the little table beside Samantha’s bed and
then asked if he could take a book out to the tree house to read. After a quick admonishment to take care of
the book, Samantha had sent her eldest along with a smile and a kiss.
Audra watched as Samantha shifted, trying to find a
comfortable position. Her poor
sister-in-law, forced to spend all her time in bed. Audra knew that Samantha was continuing to have twinges of pain;
she’d seen her wince and then rub her expanding stomach. Today, however, there wasn’t pain, Audra
knew, as her sister-in-law’s smile became soft and her eyes dreamy as her hand
gently stroked the bulge.
“All right?” Audra asked.
“Fine,” the other woman smiled. “Baby’s just moving around a lot.”
“Really?” her eyes widened and then she flushed. Polite ladies, especially those not married,
did not talk about babies that were growing inside of other women; it was like
you were supposed to ignore a woman’s expanding girth and then just be
pleasantly surprised when a baby appeared.
It was almost like you were supposed to believe that babies were found
under a cabbage leaf. It was so
ridiculous. Even her old friends who
were now married just exchanged knowing looks and remained close-mouthed
whenever she was around. Heavens,
except for Samantha’s comments about her morning sickness, even her
sister-in-law had been properly noncommittal about her condition until the day
that they had had to send for the doctor.
Audra would be glad when she was a married woman, able to discuss such
things openly at least with her mother and her sister-in-law.
Samantha’s next words snapped her out of her musings, “Would
you like to feel?”
“Really?” Audra was stunned.
Her sister-in-law shrugged her shoulders, “I think it’s
something that can be shared between sisters.”
Smiling broadly, Audra slowly extended her hand toward
Samantha. Sam took it and guided it to her
stomach. “Oh, my,” Audra gasped as she
felt the distinctive movement under her hand.
“Oh, Sam, that’s incredible.”
“It is, isn’t it,” she agreed, softly laughing. “As many times as it has happened to me,
every time I feel my baby move inside of me, it just awes me. A tiny little separate person is growing
inside of me, getting stronger each day, moving and pushing and stretching,
just waiting for the day it’ll be on the outside. And Peter, well, Peter is always just overwhelmed anytime he’s
felt one of the babies move inside of me.
It just leaves him speechless.”
“Peter speechless?
Now that’s something,” Audra joined the laughter. “Oh, Sam, I can hardly wait until it’s me,
carrying Barton’s baby, feeling it move, leaving him speechless.”
“Your day is coming,” Samantha winked at her.
“I know. Can you
believe that by this time next year I could be the one with the fat belly,
being preached to by my husband to take it easy?”
Her sister-in-law sighed, “Well, hopefully, you’ll be able
to do a better job of this than I do.”
“Sam,” Audra’s blue eyes snapped in anger, “please quit
saying that. You’re doing a wonderful
job. The fact you’re having a few
problems is not your fault.”
“Oh, Audra, I just keep thinking that if I were stronger I
wouldn’t be having so many problems carrying this baby.”
“Samantha Barkley, you’re one of the strongest women I
know. Just look at how you’re handling
things now. Most women would be lying
around, sobbing all the time. You’ve
got everything organized so that you can see to things even though you’re
confined to your bed. Your other
children are taken care of, they’re not frightened by what’s going on. Everything is going fine.”
“For now,” Samantha whispered.
“And it’s going to be fine, right through this baby being
born,” Audra patted her sister-in-law’s stomach. “Look, Samantha, Tom is asking to go to the park.”
“Oh, Audra, that’s too much. He can just play in the yard.”
“But he wants to see his friend Adam so badly. And it’s not too much. We’ll only be gone for a couple of hours.”
“You were going to work on your invitation list this
afternoon, weren’t you?” Samantha countered.
“Yes, I was, but there’s still plenty of time. It’s only one afternoon and he asked so sweetly,
Sam,” Audra had no idea that her identically blue eyes tugged at her
sister-in-law’s heart just as Tom’s had tugged at hers.
“Oh, I don’t know, Audra,” Samantha groaned and
shifted. “I’m a little worried about
Tom and Nicky spending too much time with Adam.”
“I thought you said he was a sweet little boy.”
“He is. It’s just
that,” Samantha frowned as she searched for the words, “he’s such a sad little
boy. His mother, well, his mother had a
very hard confinement. His little
sister was born early and died shortly after she was born and then his mother
worsened and died.”
“Oh, no,” Audra’s eyes teared for the unknown woman and
child.
“His aunt came to take care of his mother and then has
stayed to help take care of Adam. Adam
told me that his mother and little sister had gone to heaven. I’ve only talked to his aunt once and she
told me very briefly what happened,” she explained. “I’m just so worried that Tom and Nicky might draw some parallel
between what is happening to me and what happened to Adam’s mother.”
“Oh, no, Sam,” Audra shook her head, “we won’t let that
happen. I understand if you want me to
keep Tom and Nicky away from Adam. I’ll
try to think of some way to distract them from wanting to go to the park.”
Samantha sighed and shook her head, “Oh, that’s not right
either, Audra. I shouldn’t be thinking
that way. That poor little boy. He needs all the friends he can get. All right, you can take Tom and Nicky to the
park today. Maybe Adam won’t be there.”
“What’s his aunt’s name?” Audra asked. “If they’re there, I’ll speak with her about
what’s going on and explain how we want to be sure that Tom and Nicky aren’t
worried.”
For a moment, her sister-in-law just looked blank and then
she blinked her eyes and laughed, “I have no idea what her name is. We hadn’t gotten past the point of her being
Adam’s aunt and me being Tom and Nicky’s mamma. I’ve seen her at the park several times but she keeps to herself
most of the time. The only time we
spoke was the last time I was at the park and she explained about Adam’s mother
and sister. I guess you’ll just have to
have Adam point out his aunt.”
“All right, then,” Audra smiled, “Tom and Nicky’s aunt
will go meet Adam’s aunt.”
* * * * * * * *
As she walked toward the park, a chattering little boy
attached to each of her hands, Audra smiled to herself. This was what her future held. In the years to come, she would walk to this
park with her own children, listening to their plans, gently correcting their
English, encouraging them to dream. She
sighed contentedly. This must be how
love felt.
As they crossed through the gate, Tom shouted, “There’s
Adam,” and released her hand to race across the open space to a small
brown-haired boy who was playing by himself in a patch of dirt beside the path.
“Me, too, me, too,” Nicky worked his little legs as hard
as he could but he lagged well behind his longer-legged big brother.
Audra laughed and shook her head at the little boys. So much competition between the two . . . but,
of course, it had been that way among her brothers . . . was still that
way. She walked across the grass to
where the three boys were now gathered, already planning their dirt building
project. What was it about little
boys? They always had to be building
something out of rocks and twigs and dirt.
She was pleased that Tom wasn’t trying to overrule Nicky’s every
comment; in fact, the older brother was actually being fairly nice about it
all. She wondered how long that would
last.
Tom swung his eyes up and greeted her, “Hi, Aunt
Audra. This is our friend, Adam.”
“Hello, Adam,” she smiled down at the small boy who sat
between Tom and Nicky. Tom was right;
he was right between them not only in age but also in size.
“Hello, ma’am,” the little boy said dutifully. He had obviously been taught his manners
well. “Tom was right. You are beautiful.”
Surprised, she could only continue to smile and then
managed to say, “Well, thank you, Adam.
That’s a nice compliment from both you and Tom.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the boy’s smile was a shy one. She thought his face looked a little
pinched; his eyes definitely sad.
“Well, it looks as if you three are already making plans
on what you’re going to do this afternoon.
Adam, where’s your aunt? I would
love to meet her.”
“She walked over to buy a newspaper, ma’am. She told me to play here and that she’d be
back in just a minute. That’s her, over
there,” the little boy pointed toward the newsstand where a dark-haired woman
stood waiting to pay for a paper.
“I’m going to go over and say hello to her. You boys play nice. I’ll be back in just a few minutes,” Audra
reached down to ruffle Nicky’s hair and was rewarded with an angry glare from
her younger nephew. He hated being
babied.
Rolling her eyes, Audra left the boys and walked toward
the newsstand where the woman continued to stand, waiting to purchase her
newspaper. As she neared, Audra
realized that she had forgotten to ask Adam his aunt’s name. Oh, well, she’d just fall back to the
“Adam’s auntie” approach.
“Excuse me,” she said as she came up behind the other
woman, “are you Adam’s aunt?”
The other woman quickly turned, her eyes first searching
out the group of little boys. Obviously
relieved that her nephew was safe, she finally turned her eyes to Audra’s
face. Her eyes rounded in shock and her
mouth dropped open. It was several
moments before she managed to stutter, “Audra?
Audra Barkley? Is it really
you?”
The moment Audra had seen the other woman’s face she had
been so stunned that she could simply stare at her. Now, she barely managed to respond, “Hester Converse? You’re Adam’s aunt??”
Chapter
21
“You could have knocked me over with a feather, Sam,”
Audra’s blue eyes were wide as she again reflected on her afternoon at the
park. “Hester Converse is Adam’s aunt
or really his mother’s cousin.”
“Well, I guess it’s like Peter says, it’s a small world,”
Samantha shook her head, still trying to assimilate all that Audra had told
her. “I can’t believe that Nick was
once engaged and no one told us.”
“Oh, it was years ago, and it only lasted a little over a
week,” Audra tried to explain. “It was
right after Heath came, and then, like I told you, it ended so badly. None of us ever talks about it. I mean, I know Nick told her that she shouldn’t
stay unless she was sure . . . but I know it had to have broken his heart when
she rode away that day.”
“And Nick and Heath fought?” Samantha’s shook her head
again, “I just can’t believe that.
They’re so close.”
“Oh, it was horrible, Sam. Nick so misunderstood what had happened. He jumped on Heath before either Heath or
Hester could explain. Heath was just
trying to protect himself, but he pushed Nick down the ravine and Nick hit a
rock and hurt his back. The doctor said
that if Heath hadn’t rigged up the stretcher and restraints for Nick, Nick
would have ended up spending months in bed.”
“Mon Dieu,”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “And then she
just up and left.”
“Rode off with the doctor,” Audra nodded. “It was probably for the best, I mean Nick
and Heath needed time to sort through things.
I think she cared for Nick but I just think she wasn’t ready to give up
being the belle of the ball.”
“You’re right, it was probably for the best . . . but my
heart just hurts for Nick,” her sister-in-law grunted as she shifted to a new
position in the bed earning her a sympathetic look from Audra that she
ignored. “I’m sure she was surprised
when you told her about Peter?”
“That was the funny thing,” Audra’s eyes were round. “She knew about Peter. I mean the moment I started to explain that
I was Tom and Nicky’s aunt and that my brother Peter and his family had moved
to San Francisco, she knew immediately whom I was talking about. She said that Nick had told her about his
little brother Peter.”
“Really?” Samantha frowned. “But you said that they only knew each other for a week before
they were engaged and it was only a week after that before she left. I can’t believe with all that was going on
that Nick had time to mention a brother who’d been gone for years. And even if he did, I’m surprised Hester
would even remember.”
“It was incredible.
As soon as I mentioned Peter, she asked, ‘Peter? Nick’s little brother Petey? The one who ran away to sea when he was just
a boy? Oh, Nick, must be so pleased. He missed his little brother so much,’”
Audra shook her head. “Sam, I was with
Scott Breckenridge for weeks and weeks and I never even mentioned I had another
brother. Nick and Hester were together
for only a matter of days and she knew all about Peter . . . about how much
Nick still missed him. What does that
say about me and Scott and, more important, Nick and Hester?”
Samantha reached over to pat her sister-in-law’s hand, “I
guess it says something about true love.
Just like you’ve shared everything with Barton, like the little fiasco
with Scott, Nick shared everything with Hester.”
“And that’s what’s so sad,” Audra sighed. “Nick really did love Hester. Oh, why couldn’t she have loved him back?”
“How do you know she didn’t?” Samantha smiled gently. “She may have loved him so much that she
couldn’t hurt him by staying, by causing there to be a rift between him and
Heath, by making his life miserable because she couldn’t be happy living out on
the ranch . . . away from all the excitement of the city. She may have loved him very, very much.”
“Oh, Samantha, she’s changed so much,” the younger woman
whispered. “She told me about her
cousin, Marietta, Adam’s mother. They
had spent a good bit of their childhood together, and Hester would come to
visit Marietta here in San Francisco after she married Bill. It was during one of her visits that she met
Nick. She said Marietta wrote her last
summer that she was having problems with carrying her second baby. Hester came to be with her, to help with
Adam before and after the new baby was born.
But Marietta got very sick. She
had the baby early and the little girl didn’t live. And then Marietta developed a horrible fever . . . and she
died. Hester has been here almost six
months now. She said she just can’t
bring herself to leave Adam until she knows that he’s going to be all
right. I told her that I was surprised
that I hadn’t run into her before . . . at a restaurant or at the theater or at
some party. Hester told me that she
just hadn’t had time to really socialize, that she felt she needed to be there
for Adam and having to get up every morning with a four year old made it too
difficult to ‘play’ like she used to.”
“Interesting,” Samantha murmured.
“You’re thinking the same thing I am, aren’t you,” Audra
challenged.
“I have no idea what you’re thinking,” her sister-in-law
declared. “I was just thinking that it
would be good if maybe you could talk Hester into bringing Adam over here to
play sometimes. It’ll be easier on you
and I’d like to have a chance to visit with Hester some.”
“Curious?”
“Definitely,” Samantha confessed. “I just wonder what kind of woman catches
Nick Barkley’s heart.”
“Well, Hester is just as beautiful as ever, but there is a
difference,” Audra chewed on her lip.
“She’s much more subdued now.
I’m not certain whether she would still catch Nick’s eye now. Of course, now she seems like she would be
able to give up all the parties, to settle down with one man.”
“Well, any which way, Adam is a good friend for both Nicky
and Tom, and heaven knows that Adam needs to have some fun in his life. I hope you can talk Hester into bringing him
over here some. I think that would be
good for all the boys.”
“I’ll do my best,” Audra promised.
“Good,” Samantha smiled.
“Now we need to get down to business.
How far have you gotten on your invitation list?”
Audra groaned, “I haven’t had time to work on it yet, but
I will tonight.”
“You better,” her sister-in-law warned, “or I’ll make
Barton and Peter put you on a train back to Stockton so that your mother can
settle you down even if you don’t have your wedding dress just perfect.”
“I think just a few more trips to the dressmaker will get
the dress on track,” the bride-to-be beamed. “Once I get that taken care of, I’ll be able to concentrate on the
other details.”
“Well, once you get the dress ‘on track’ as you say, then
you need to get back to Stockton,” Samantha insisted. “You know your mother will get frantic if you don’t come home
soon to help with the wedding arrangements.
There’s so many decisions that need to be made.”
“How do you know about all the decisions that have to be
made?” Audra teased, hoping to distract Samantha. “You and Peter got married two weeks after you were engaged.”
“I helped Jocelyn plan her wedding,” she replied. “She and Victor had a huge wedding. They had 10 months to plan it and it still
was nerve-racking all the way through.
Right to the last day, Jocelyn was sure it wasn’t going to happen.”
Audra waved a hand, “Oh, you know how organized Mother
is. I’m not the least concerned that
everything will get done and everything will turn out perfectly.”
“You’re right, of course,” Samantha sighed, thinking of
the always unflappable Victoria Barkley.
Not sure why her sister-in-law’s expression had become a
little grim, Audra decided to return to the lighter topic of Hester Converse
and brother Nick, “Well, I wonder what would happen if Nick would happen to run
into Hester now.”
Samantha smiled now, “Hmm, that might be interesting. You’re not thinking of playing matchmaker,
are you, Audra?”
“Oh, no, I would never do that,” Audra grinned. “My sister-in-law does a much better job of
that.”
The twinkle returned to Samantha’s eyes. She had, indeed, played matchmaker for
Barton and Audra but even she was surprised at their sudden mutual declarations
of love. Certainly after what she had
thought was a very slow start, Barton and Audra were now racing toward the
altar. Only a little over four months
and her sister-in-law would be married.
The thought of it almost made Samantha’s eyes mist. She pushed it back and then chuckled as she
patted her rounded stomach, “Hmm, maybe we can arrange to have Hester and Adam
come to this baby’s christening . . . and, of course, Nick will be there. That might be very interesting.”
“It’s a thought,” Audra nodded. “We just need to get Hester to join us here first, to get her use
to the idea of being around the family.
She was so fun when she came to the ranch. She has so many wonderful stories to tell . . . you’ll love
laughing with her.”
“Laughing sounds good,” Samantha agreed. “You’re planning on taking the boys to the
park on Wednesday . . . if she and Adam are there why don’t you ask her to come
to the house on Friday. Tell her that
Adam needs a chance to play in Tom and Nicky’s treehouse.”
“Sounds like a plan,” her sister-in-law smiled, pleased to
have Samantha thinking about something other than the perilous state of her
baby’s life. Hester would be good
medicine for her.
Chapter
22
Peter called them hen parties but, actually, the sound of
women’s voices talking and laughing up in his and Samantha’s bedroom made him
happy. Hester had accepted Audra’s
invitation for that first Friday afternoon gathering, and Audra was right –
Hester was good for Samantha. The three
women had laughed all afternoon and Samantha was still chuckling about some of
Hester’s stories when she and Peter had gone to bed that night. As a result, Peter made it a point to wander
home the following Friday, to meet the woman who had, once upon a time,
captured his big brother’s heart.
And he had seen immediately why Nick had fallen for
Hester. It was more than just her outer
beauty. Oh, she was beautiful, all
right, the kind of beauty that had men tripping over their feet and fumbling
for words. She had left a string of
broken hearts in her path, he was sure.
But what would have caught brother Nick’s eye was that sparkle in her
eye; Hester loved life just the way Nick did.
It was unfortunate, Peter thought, that their romance had stumbled
because they would have made a good pair, he immediately decided. Of course, Peter was no matchmaker and
firmly believed in fate . . . if it had been meant for Nick and Hester to be
together, then they would be together.
And, unlike his wife, he saw no need to “help fate along.” The businessman in him did ponder the
probability of Tom and Nicky’s newest friend’s aunt being their Uncle Nick’s
former fiancée. But he refused to
speculate on what the chance encounter would mean for Nick and Hester. Instead, he chose to see this new friendship
as just a fortuitous diversion for his bedridden wife.
On that second Friday visit, Hester, Audra, and Samantha
had been joined by Christiana. By then,
their bedroom had been rearranged so that bed-bound Samantha could look out on
their backyard and see the boys playing.
The large yard, enclosed with a white picket fence, offered many
diversions for the three little boys, from the treehouse at the back of the lot
to Sam’s fledgling garden to the large bushes next to the house. So many hideouts . . . so many pretend
castles and fortresses. So much better
than the confines of the park. It was
no wonder that the boys begged to change their Monday meeting location from the
park to the house also. Peter made a
mental wager that, in a few weeks, Wednesday’s gathering would also be moved to
the Barkley house. The boys antics on
Monday had drawn the attention of their “across the back wall” neighbor, Miss
Rebecca Henderson, and Audra had immediately gone down to invite her up to the
bedroom for tea and conversation. The
young woman readily accepted and was soon swept up into the stories and
laughter.
Adhering to Samantha’s wishes, letters home made no
mention of Audra replacing her sister-in-law in trips to the park or the boys’
play area being shifted to their own backyard.
So there was no reason for Audra to write about young Adam and his sad
circumstances and the wonderful aunt who had come to stand in for his lost
mamma. Of course, Hester’s repeated interaction with the San Francisco Barkleys
could not escape notice by some of the Stockton Barkleys.
The first, of course, was Eugene. The youngest brother had started making the
trip across the bay several times a week so that he could check on his
sister-in-law. He wasn’t a doctor, he
had no practical experience, but he was perfectly capable of reading everything
he could on pregnancy and childbirth. Unbeknownst to Peter and Samantha, he had paid visits to both Dr.
Anderson and Dr. Vanders and managed to parlay his position of Samantha’s
brother-in-law into gaining an update on her condition. The specialist was rather dire in his
predictions, offering the opinion that bed rest would probably do no good and
that the Barkley family needed to accept the inevitable . . . this child was
not meant to live. But Peter and
Samantha’s family doctor, Dr. Vanders, was more understanding.
“Every day that she’s able to carry the baby just gives us
more hope,” he had told Gene. “We
always say that an early term spontaneous abortion is easier on the mother than
a miscarriage . . . but Samantha is well past any of it being easy. Now our best hope is that she can carry the
baby long enough that it’ll have the strength to make it once it’s born. I know how devoted both she and Peter are to
their children. I know how much they
both want this child, too. They are
certainly doing everything they can.
Bed rest is all that I can recommend . . . that and trying to keep
Samantha as calm as possible.”
Gene had convinced Dr. Vanders to pay an impromptu house
call and shortly afterwards Samantha and Peter had agreed that perhaps they
should just rely on their family physician for the remainder of this
confinement. Certainly they were both
more comfortable talking with him than they were with the specialist. When Peter had mentioned this to Gene, the
younger brother had simply nodded his head and hypothesized that the specialist
probably only saw the worst cases and was, therefore, inclined to have to deal
with more heartache than happiness.
Since they were all determined to make this a happy occasion, then Dr.
Vanders might be a better choice.
Gene tried to time at least one of his regular San
Francisco visits to match Dr. Vanders’ now every other week house call at the
Barkley home so that he would have the latest on Samantha’s condition. He also liked talking with the physician. He used his other visits both to check up on
Samantha and to enjoy the company of the rest of the family. He happened to arrive in the midst of
Hester’s second visit. He had been
surprised, of course, to see the woman.
His first thoughts had not been very kind, remembering clearly the day
she had ridden out with doctor, recalling the pain in Nick’s eyes even as his
brother murmured “it’s for the best. I
told her she had to be sure.” Gene knew
his eyes had been harsh and his voice cold when he murmured, “Hello,
Hester.” He had only visited for a few
moments with the women and then excused himself to go out into the backyard to
play with the three little boys. It
wasn’t long before Peter arrived and it was his big brother who told him the
whole story, of Adam’s mother, of Hester’s devotion to her cousin and her
cousin’s child, of a woman apparently changed.
So, when Gene went back upstairs to bid Samantha, Audra, and Christiana
good-bye, his voice was kinder as he included Hester in his farewell and he
actually added that he hoped to see her again in the future.
The second was Jarrod.
He returned to San Francisco three weeks after the crisis on the
pretense of handling a contract for family friend Mike Wong. He had managed not to let the rest of the
family in Stockton know what was happening in San Francisco, but the “not
knowing the latest” began to gnaw at him.
Gene’s letters home had been just as carefully worded as Audra’s so no
hints of Samantha’s condition were included.
Jarrod finally invented his excuse and caught the train to San Francisco. He stopped by Christiana’s shop first but it
was closed. He toyed with going to
Peter and Samantha’s home but then decided to go to the bank first. Perhaps his little brother would be there
and Jarrod would be able to get an update.
If the news was bad, he would have time to school his emotions before
having to face Samantha. Of course, he
tried to be more optimistic as he neared the bank, if the news was too bad, if
Samantha had lost the baby, then he was sure that Peter would have notified
Mother and the rest of the family. No
news was good news, he comforted himself.
And that was indeed the case. Peter was at the bank and Jarrod was quickly ushered into his
little brother’s comfortable private office.
Peter’s smile, their father’s smile, immediately calmed Jarrod’s
nerves. Peter told him that things were
going as well as could be expected . . . maybe even a little better . . . and
invited his big brother to accompany him home for dinner. They stopped by Barton’s office and he
agreed to watch over things at the bank until closing time. “Tell Audra that I’ll be by about 7 to pick
her up,” he added.
“Going out?” Peter seemed surprised.
“Oh, Samantha scolded me for not taking Audra out in
weeks. She says all we do is have
dinner with you two and then sit down in your parlor. Samantha says Audra needs a break from taking care of the
children and that YOU can handle things for one evening,” Barton shrugged. “She said that I needed to do some courting
so I’m just doing as I’ve been instructed.”
“Well, I think Sam’s right. Audra does need a night out and you’re being a little lax in your
courting,” Peter nodded. “I’m sure
between Marie and I, we’ll be able to get the children down. I’ll let Audra know she needs to be ready by
7.”
Jarrod smiled to himself at the thought of Audra being
ready on time. Peter didn’t have the
years of experience of dealing with their little sister’s tardy ways. As they rode in the hack from the bank to
the house, Jarrod tried to think of a way to ask about Christiana without
arousing Peter’s suspicions. He
wondered if she was just at an appointment or if she was out of town. In the three weeks that he had been gone,
Jarrod had thought of her often . . . several times a day, he admitted to
himself. He had considered writing her,
but thought that might seem too forward.
After all, they had only danced a few dances at New Years and had one
luncheon together. One couldn’t really
count the outing to the theater.
Samantha had been the one to invite Christiana. While they might have appeared like three
couples, the truth was that Christiana had been a guest of the whole
family. He was trying to phrase a
proper question, when Peter’s words interrupted his thoughts.
“Look, Jarrod, there’s something I’ve got to tell you,”
Peter started.
His heart in his throat, Jarrod interrupted, “Things
really aren’t going all right with Samantha.”
“No, no,” his younger brother shook his head. “Nothing like that. Really, she’s doing pretty good. Occasional twinges but generally all
right. She’s tolerating staying in bed
much better than I had hoped, and we’ve worked out things so that she can still
be a part of the children’s everyday lives.”
“Good,” Jarrod sighed.
“The things is, well, Sam has made friends with a
woman. Nah, that’s not quite
right. Tom and Nicky made friends with
the woman’s nephew, met him at the park.
It’s a really sad story. The
little boy’s mother, well, she lost a baby and then died from fever after. The aunt, well, she’s really the mother’s
cousin but Adam calls her his aunt, she came to be with the mother when she
started having problems during her confinement and she’s stayed on to help care
for the boy since, well, since things happened.”
Jarrod was surprised at the way his usually glib little
brother seemed to be stumbling over this story. “All right,” he finally prodded.
“The thing is, Sam has become good friends with Adam’s
aunt. Audra invited her to bring Adam
over to the house to play with the boys so that she’d be able to visit with
Sam. She’s a delightful woman and Sam
so looks forward to her visits. They
sit up in the bedroom and laugh and talk away the afternoon. It’s great entertainment for Sam. She says it just makes her afternoon sail
by.”
“All right,” Jarrod repeated, not understanding Peter’s
obvious discomfort.
“The thing is, Jarrod, well, the thing is, the woman is
Hester Converse.”
Peter watched as his brother’s face went from curiosity to
comprehension to consternation. His big
brother was upset.
“Look, I know she did wrong by Nick,” Peter started. “And I hate that for Nick. I know he puts on this tough, brash cowboy
front, but I also know he’s got the tender heart of an Irish poet. I know she hurt him. The thing is, Audra says she’s changed. She’s still beautiful and witty and totally
captivating, but that her cousin’s death has changed her. Her first concern is Adam, his happiness. And, like I said, she’s been great for Sam.”
“I see,” was his brother’s only comment.
It was Peter’s turn to sigh, “I understand if you can’t
forgive Hester for what she did to Nick, for the problems that she caused
between Heath and Nick, but I’m asking you to be civil toward her. I don’t want her to think she’s not welcome
in our home. I don’t know the woman who
did those things years ago. I only know
the woman who is so devoted to her cousin’s child that she’s put her life on
hold. I only know the woman who will
spend several afternoons a week, sitting in a bedroom and giving another woman
whom she hardly knew the opportunity to laugh and gossip and talk about
whatever it is women like to talk about.”
Jarrod stared out of the window of the hack for several
moments. When he spoke, it was obvious
that he was choosing his words very carefully, “As a lawyer, as one who
believes that the criminal justice system isn’t just for punishment but for
rehabilitation, too, then I have to say that I believe that people can
change. And, because I love Samantha
and would do anything to help her, I’ll be more than just civil toward
Hester. I’ll be pleasant and hope that
she’ll continue to come and visit Samantha and make her days easier. I can do those things, Peter. I’m just not sure if either Heath or Nick
will be able to be as accommodating.”
“I understand,” Peter nodded, “and I appreciate your
candidness. I’m not certain that either
Heath or Nick will ever be around to see Hester, and we’ve all agreed not to
say anything to them about her. Like
Samantha’s confinement, we’ve decided the less said the better.”
Jarrod had never agreed that the less said about Samantha
was the better course. He had abided by
her wishes but truly felt that the whole family should be aware of what was
going on so that their full support would be there for Samantha and Peter if
the unthinkable happened. But, holding
back the knowledge that Hester Converse was now a regular visitor at Peter’s
home was perhaps a good idea.
As soon as they crossed the threshold into Peter’s home,
he could hear the voices of the women upstairs. Hen party, Jarrod chuckled to himself, Peter’s description was
very apt. The brothers climbed the
stairs together and stood outside the bedroom door, highly amused that the
group of women – Samantha, Audra, Christiana, Hester, and a young woman Jarrod
didn’t recognized – were so engrossed in their own multiple conversations that
they failed to notice the two male intruders for a bit. It was actually little Lizzie V.,
entertaining herself on a quilt at the women’s feet, who finally alerted them
as she struggled to her feet and began to toddle to her father chanting, “Me
Pappa, me Pappa.”
“Peter,” the delight in Samantha’s voice was obvious. “You’re home early and you’ve brought us
wonderful company. Hello, dear brother
Jarrod.”
Peter swooped his daughter up and stepped between the
chairs to place a gentle kiss on his wife’s cheek as Jarrod returned the
greeting, “Hello, dear sister Samantha.
I had to come back to San Francisco for business and managed to convince
my little brother that he should see that I got a home-cooked meal once again.”
“I’m glad you did.
It’s always good to see you. I’m
sorry, but it seems as if our bedroom has now become our sitting room,”
Samantha acknowledged as she accepted Jarrod’s gentle kiss on her cheek. “It seems to be where we do most of our
socializing now.”
“I think there’s not a thing wrong with that,” Jarrod
winked at her. “I believe many of the
queens of Europe did much the same thing.
You strike me as looking very regal as you sit in your very comfortable
throne bed and are entertained by your ladies in waiting.” He now turned to face Hester directly and
managed a friendly tone, “Hello, Hester.
It’s good to see you again.
Peter told me about your family’s sad loss. My deepest sympathies. I
understand that your cousin’s little boy has struck up quite a friendship with
our Tom and Nicky. That’s
wonderful. And, I hear that hen parties
in her royal highness Samantha’s boudoir have become a regular occurrence.”
“Hen parties,” Samantha snorted. “You’ve been listening to your little brother again. He has no appreciation for the intelligent,
animated conversation that a group of educated women can have.”
Hester reached out to shake the hand that Jarrod offered,
“It’s good to see you again, too, Jarrod.
It’s been a while. Thank you for
your condolences. It has been a
difficult time for us all, but Adam’s time with Tom and Nicky has really
helped. He gets to be a little boy with
them. I’m so thankful to Samantha and
Peter for tolerating our frequent visits.”
“Don’t be silly, Hester, we love having both you and Adam
here,” Samantha waved a dismissive hand.
“Well, given the past, your kindness to us is just
overwhelming,” Hester’s face colored slightly.
“The past is the past,” Jarrod said as he gently squeezed
her hand. “I think Peter and Samantha
enjoy your and Adam’s presence here just as much as you enjoy being here. Let’s all just focus on that.”
She swallowed hard and slowly withdrew her hand, “Thank
you, Jarrod, very much for that.”
Peter sought to move the conversation away from serious
things, “Jarrod, I don’t think you’ve met our neighbor, Miss Rebecca
Henderson. Becca, this is my big
brother Jarrod, sometimes referred to as Pappy.”
Jarrod’s eyes quickly moved to the young woman he had not
known, and smiled and shook his head, “Miss Henderson, it’s a pleasure. And you’ll have to excuse my little
brother’s unfailing lack of manners as he slips into using everyone’s
nicknames. Would you be Judge Samuel
Henderson’s daughter?”
“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Barkley. And, yes, my father is Judge Henderson. He’s mentioned that you’ve appeared before
him in court. He also said that he knew
your father,” the young woman reached out to shake the offered hand.
“Just Jarrod, please, there get to be too many Mr.
Barkleys when we all get together,” he advised her. “Yes, I’ve had the dubious honor of having to argue appeals
before your father. He is always very
demanding of we litigators but always a staunch defender of the law. I never fail to learn from him.”
“I’ll be sure to pass that along to him. I think he prefers to be seen as something
of a tyrant but I’ll let you in on a little secret. He is actually a softy and loves his rose garden almost as much
as he loves the law,” her eyes twinkled mischievously.
“Hmm,” Jarrod grinned at her, “I’ll be sure to remember
that the next time he’s dressing me down over some point of law.” He now turned to the other two women,
“Christiana, how is the photography business going?” He tried to hide his delight at happening upon her here. With some luck, perhaps she could also be
persuaded to stay for dinner and then he could see her home again.
“Very, very good,” she smiled at him easily. “I had a portrait to shoot on this end of
town and stopped by here afterwards to catch up with Samantha and lucked into
this wonderful group of educated, interesting women to talk with. I’m a very lucky woman.”
“Good for you,” he nodded at her. “Good afternoon, little
sister. I trust you’ve been behaving
yourself.”
“Of course,” Audra stood to hug her big brother’s
neck. “I’m glad you came into town but
it’s a little bit of a surprise. Mother
didn’t mention it in her last letter.”
“Last minute business,” he fibbed a little. “And, Peter and I are supposed to tell you
that Barton expects you to be ready at 7 to go out to dinner. Or, perhaps I should have said 6:30 so that
there’s some hope that you’ll make your dinner reservation.”
“I’ll be ready on time,” she wrinkled her nose at
him. “And we’re not going to a
restaurant; we’re going to a party at the Palace.”
“Oh, are you going to the benefit ball?” Rebecca turned
toward Audra.
“Yes, are you?”
“Uh huh, with a young man who’s clerking for Father.”
“Oh, a new love interest,” Samantha teased.
Rebecca colored, “No, just a friend but the ball should be
fun.”
“Are you going, Hester?” Jarrod asked politely.
Her laugh was just as he remembered it, full-hearted but
soft, “Oh, heavens, no. I have to get
up tomorrow morning with a four-year-old.
I’m afraid my days of dancing all night are pretty much over.”
Jarrod nodded, thinking this was what Audra had meant when
she told Peter that Hester had changed.
Before, Hester would have been the first woman on the dance floor, danced
every dance, and convinced the band to play an extra set just for her. He only murmured, “So, Peter, are you about
ready to take our little Lizzie V. to see what those little boys are up to and
we can leave these lovely ladies to their hen party, I mean, their animated
conversations.”
The women’s indignant protests followed them out the door
and down the stairs.
Chapter
23
Barton had insisted that he needed to be the one to go out
of town that Monday to handle the finalization of the loans on the mining
equipment. Peter definitely needed to
be the one who stayed in town; he had Samantha to be concerned about. Of course, they had to be careful not to let
Samantha know that was why Peter was staying and Barton was going. It would have irritated her to no end.
He could have easily stayed the night in Copper City and
come in on the train the next morning, but he had foolishly not wanted to be
away from Audra for that long. He knew
that her days in San Francisco were numbered.
When they returned to Stockton for Victoria’s birthday party in just a
few weeks, he was sure that his mother-in-law-to-be would insist that Audra
remain in Stockton. He wasn’t looking
forward to the battle of wills when Audra tried to convince her mother she
needed to be in San Francisco without letting the rest of the family know about
the problems with Samantha and the baby.
Audra would not betray Samantha and that would cause her to lose her
argument with her mother, Barton knew instinctively. Knowing that his days of seeing his beloved every evening were
quickly drawing to a close, Barton didn’t want to waste one sitting in a hotel
room in Copper City.
Of course, his luck wouldn’t hold and the train was
delayed for hours as a small mudslide was cleared from the tracks. He didn’t pull back into San Francisco until
almost 10. He should have gone straight
home but he gave the hack the address for Peter’s house. Maybe he could see Audra for just a few
minutes. Get a good night kiss from
her, at least. Luckily, Peter was
working down in his office and answered Barton’s knock immediately. He told Peter of the outcome of the final
negotiations and Peter congratulated him on his success.
“There really wasn’t any need for you to come back
tonight, Bart,” Peter told his partner.
“You could have come back on tomorrow’s train.”
“Oh, just felt like I shouldn’t tarry too long out of
town. You never know if you’re going to
need to be away from the bank for a period of time,” Barton shifted from one
foot to the other, his eyes wandering up to the second floor. “Audra, wouldn’t still be up, would she?”
Peter sighed loudly.
He should have known it wasn’t business that brought Barton back so
quickly. “She was talking with Sam
earlier but I think she’s gone on to bed.”
“Oh.”
The word sounded so dejected that Peter figured he could
at least go up and check. He told
Barton to wait and he trotted upstairs and knocked on his sister’s door. Wearing a dressing gown, Audra immediately
opened the door. Her eyes were wide
with concern and the first word out of her mouth was, “Samantha?”
“Sam’s fine,” Peter soothed. “Bart’s downstairs.”
Her face flushed with surprise and pleasure, “Really? I wasn’t expecting him to come back until
tomorrow.”
“Neither was I,” her brother said dryly as his sister
slipped past him and hurried toward the stairway. He trailed along behind and watched as she descended the steps
quickly and slid into Barton’s arms.
The kiss they shared was unhurried and a little too intense for Peter’s
comfort. After all, they were only
engaged. When they finally came up for
air, at least Barton had the good grace to look a little embarrassed by their display.
Audra was totally immune to Peter’s disapproving
look. Instead, she kept her arms twined
around Barton’s neck and murmured, “Barton, darling, I’m so glad to see you,
but you look so tired. You must be
exhausted.”
“I’m a little tired,” he admitted as he let his hands go
up and gently stroke the hair that hung down her back. “But I just wanted to stop by and wish you a
good night.”
“I’m so glad you did,” she whispered and stood on her
tiptoes so that she could again touch her lips to his.
As the two started to settle into another long, deep kiss,
Peter decided that he needed to take control.
“Audra, you need to let Barton get back to his place,” he said
sharply. “We have a busy day at the
bank tomorrow.”
“Don’t be rude, Peter,” she scolded. “Let him at least come in and sit down for a
few minutes. I’m going to pour him a
drink and we’re going to visit for a few minutes and then he can go home.”
“You’re not dressed to have callers,” her brother argued.
“Heavens, Peter, Barton isn’t a caller; he’s my fiancé.”
“You’re even less properly dressed to be entertaining your
fiancé,” he countered.
“Peter,” she took Barton’s arm and led him into the front
sitting room. “You’re being
ridiculous. I’m covered from neck to
toe. And I’m not ‘entertaining’
him. We’re just going to talk for a bit
while he unwinds some.”
Her brother frowned, “I’m not sure Jarrod would approve of
this.”
“Jarrod would be fine with it,” she sighed, wondering why
Peter always fell into this ‘what would Jarrod approve of’ reasoning.
“Well, maybe I should stay down here with you.”
“Peter,” she rolled her eyes as she handed Barton his
drink and then sat down beside him, “you’re being ridiculous. Barton and I have sat down here in this
sitting room, by ourselves, almost every evening since we came back to San Francisco. Just because I’m wearing a dressing gown
doesn’t make a difference.”
“Yes, it does,” her brother said stubbornly.
“No, it doesn’t” she responded and then added, “Samantha
was hoping you would come upstairs soon.
She didn’t want me to come down and get you but her back is bothering her. I think she was hoping that you would give
her a back rub.”
“Oh,” Peter was clearly torn. He believed that Jarrod would expect him to be chaperoning their
little sister, but he hated the idea that Sam was lying upstairs with her back
hurting. He needed to go up and be with
her. He finally sighed and acquiesced,
“All right, I’m going to go upstairs but I expect you and Barton to get your
talk over and for him to be on his way and you to be back upstairs in half an
hour.”
“All right,” she echoed, “now go make Sam feel better.”
“I am, I am,” he grumbled. “Good night, Bart.”
“Night, Peter.
Give Samantha my best,” his partner grinned over at Audra, amused by the
way she had handled her older brother.
He waited until he heard Peter’s footsteps reach the second floor before
leaning over to catch Audra’s lips with his.
“Hmm,” he murmured, “you certainly stood up to your big brother. Are you always so impudent, Miss Barkley?”
“Not impudent,” she teasingly nipped his lower lip, “just
not going to be bossed around by one of my many big brothers.”
“Well, I’m glad,” he whispered. “I was afraid that I wasn’t going to get to see you today. For some reason that just didn’t seem
right.”
“I know,” she agreed.
“I thought of you all day long.
I was actually counting the hours until I would get to see you
tomorrow. This is so much better.”
“Hmm,” he nodded and smiled softly then slipped an arm
around her. “Tell me about your day.”
Audra began to relate her activities. As with most days, most of her time had been
spent with her nephews and niece. She
told Barton about how Tom and Nicky had almost driven their mother to
distraction with their arguing and how she had been able to get them to play
together civilly. And then she started
telling him how, out of the blue, Lizzie V. had informed them all that she was
“sis and goin’ to cool.”
“She’s been listening to Tom talk about going to school
and has decided that she’ll just be six, too, so she can go to school with him
this next fall,” Audra added. When
Barton didn’t respond to her story with his usual chuckle she glanced up at his
face and realized that he had nodded off.
“Poor darling,” she murmured. “You must be exhausted.”
When again he didn’t respond, she gently pried the glass
he was still holding out of his grasp and set it on the side table. She then eased his head down onto the pillow
at the end of the settee and carefully swung his feet up. After covering him up with the light throw,
she bent down to brush his cheek with a soft kiss. “Just rest for a few minutes, darling,” she whispered in his
ear. “You’ll feel better after a rest.”
“Mmm,” he murmured in his sleep. “Just a few minutes.” He
pursed his lips and kissed the air in her general direction.
Fondly she caressed his cheek for a few moments and gave
him one more kiss on his temple. Then
she stood and went about turning down the lamps and making sure that the fire
was properly banked for the night and that the front door was locked. She carried a lamp to light her way upstairs
and was smiling to herself as she walked toward her room. The sudden movement of a door being jerked
open and her brother stepping into the hallway yanked her from her happy thoughts.
“I didn’t hear Barton leave,” Peter’s statement was almost
an accusation.
She rolled her eyes, “He hasn’t. He fell asleep on the settee.
I’ve left him down there to get some rest. He’s exhausted, Peter.”
“Well, he just needs to go home and go to bed,” her
brother said indignantly.
“Peter, I told you, he’s exhausted,” she replied
calmly. “Let him sleep for a little bit
and then I’m sure he’ll wake up and go home.”
“Well, well,” he sputtered, “it’s not proper. He shouldn’t be spending the night here with
you here.”
“Oh, good heavens, Peter,” she snorted. “Barton has spent untold nights at the ranch
both before and after we started courting.
There’s nothing scandalous about this.
Just let the poor man get some rest.”
“I don’t think it’s right,” he said stubbornly.
“Look,” she sighed.
“Barton is asleep. I’m going to
go to bed. If you want, you can go be
rude and wake him up and send him home, but if I were you I’d go in and get
some sleep. You can wake up early and
go down and wake Barton up and send him home then . . . if he hasn’t already
gotten tired of sleeping on that settee and gone home on his own. So, good night, big brother.”
Realizing that he was being summarily dismissed by his
little sister, all Peter could do was send a disgusted “hrmpff” at her back as
she swept down to her bedroom. He
wasn’t comfortable with this, but Audra was probably right. Bart would probably wake up in a bit and go
off to his home. Promising himself that
he would wake early and make sure his partner had gotten up and out, Peter gave
up and undressed and went to bed with his wife.
* * * * * * * *
Barton’s dreams had been jumbled and confusing, drifting
from activities at the bank to images of his family back in New York to scenes
of life here in San Francisco. His mind
had finally settled on Audra; they were riding at the ranch together and she
had raced ahead of him, turning back to smile and wave at him. He had urged his horse on but couldn’t quite
catch up with her. Suddenly she had
disappeared behind a rise and he had wheeled his horse, searching for her. Then he had seen her standing next to the
river and he rode to her. So relieved
to have found her, he drew her to his chest.
He thought it was interesting that for a moment he smelled coffee, but
that smell was quickly replaced by the soft scent that he always associated
with Audra. He guessed it was the soap
that she used to wash her hair. He
allowed himself a few moments of just enjoying the smell and then trailed his
lips down her temple, across her cheek, to her lips. The kiss started as all their kisses did, softly, lips gently
brushing and then pressing more firmly.
This time he allowed his teeth to gently nip her lower lip and then to
suck. Her soft moan spurred him on, and
he released the lip so that he could trace her lips with his tongue and then to
urge them open so that he could taste her sweetness. She had hesitantly responded to the deepening kiss. He smiled as he felt her press against him.
Suddenly he realized that the clothes under his hands
weren’t her riding clothes, but something heavier but much softer. And beneath, ahh, beneath there were no
barriers of whalebone corsets or stiff brocaded lace. No, beneath was just her soft body, moving under his gently
stroking. He now realized that there
was an opening in the front of the soft clothing. Even as he pushed the thicker clothing to the side, he was able
to philosophize that dreams certainly were much more accommodating than real
life. In his dreamworld, they were no
longer standing. Instead she was lying
partially under him and his hands were skimming over much thinner
material. So thin that he could feel
her breasts respond to his firm touches.
As his lips left hers and he began to nip along her jawline and then her
neck, he pondered how far the dream would let him go. Would he be able to move his mouth to where his hands were now
caressing? Would he be able to shift
the thin material out of the way so that he could touch her bare skin? Would he . . . ?
The sound of a man clearing his throat intruded rudely
into his fantasizing. What the heck was
that? A louder, more forceful throat
clearing caused him to jerk his head up.
For a moment he just stared down at his beloved. Audra’s face was flushed and her eyes blurry
as she looked up at him. Thoroughly
confused, he looked down her body and realized she wore only a nightgown and
robe. The robe had been pulled open and
was pushed off her shoulders. Glancing
around he realized that they were on a settee . . . of course, the settee in
Peter and Samantha’s sitting room. He
had come over after arriving back in San Francisco from the trip to Copper City
and he must have dozed off. So if this
was Peter and Samantha’s sitting room, the man clearing his throat must be . .
. .
Barton’s eyes snapped around to stare at his partner, who
was standing just inside the entrance to the sitting room, his hands on his
hips, his mouth set in a straight line, and sparks literally flying from his
now icy blue eyes. Totally befuddled,
Barton looked back down into Audra’s face and then the realization hit
him. All that he had been doing in his
dream hadn’t been just in his subconscious.
Audra was here, with him, and he had, he had almost . . . .
“Oh, my God,” he whispered as the realization hit. He pushed himself up from her but the throw
that was wrapped around his legs tripped him and he ended up sitting in a
tangled heap on the floor beside the settee.
As he looked up at his partner, Audra’s big brother, he knew he was
probably going to get the beating of his life.
But Peter’s icy blue stare shifted from him up to where
Audra still sat on the settee. His
voice was just as cold as his eyes, “Get your clothes straightened and get
upstairs now.”
“Peter,” she tried to explain as she sat up and pulled her
thick robe around her. “You don’t
understand . . . .”
“Oh, I understand exactly,” he snapped. “Upstairs, young lady.”
She tried again, “Peter, it’s not Barton’s . . . .”
“Upstairs, now,” he interrupted.
“Peter, just let me explain,” Audra pressed.
And her brother exploded, “Damn it, Audra, get upstairs
now before I completely lose my temper or, I swear to God, I will take off my
belt and tan your backside right here and now.”
For a heartbeat she just stared at him. Her father’s voice, her father’s words,
never directed at her, but she had heard them used often enough in addressing
her brothers that she knew the threat was not an idle one. With a sob, she stood and ran from the room
and up the stairs.
Barton’s eyes followed her flight from the room, his heart
aching because his beloved was in pain; but, his eyes returned to the man who
towered over him, his immediate concern was another Barkley. He watched as Peter closed his eyes and took
a couple of deep breaths as if he were trying to calm himself. When he reopened his eyes, Barton detected a
thaw. When Peter extended a hand down
to help him to his feet, however, Barton did not immediately take it, asking instead,
“Are you going to knock me back down?”
Barking a laugh, Peter shook his head, “No, I’m not going
to hit you. It would probably make me
feel better for the moment but it’s not the solution to this.”
Barton accepted the help up; his knees seemed a big
shaky. He tried to explain, “I swear,
Peter, I thought it was a dream.”
“I understand.”
“No, really, I swear I was still asleep.”
“I understand,” Peter repeated. “Drink your coffee.”
Barton stared over at the cup of coffee that sat on the
side table, “Coffee.”
“Hmmm?”
“There was the smell of coffee in my dream and then, and
then, I smelled Audra.”
Peter chuckled dryly, “I’m sure she thought it would be
cute to fix you coffee and then wake you with a kiss.”
“Only I didn’t immediately wake up,” Barton slowly nodded
his head. “And I happened to be in the
middle of a dream about her.”
Peter also nodded his head, “And women don’t understand
that a man’s body can wake up long before his mind does.”
The realization of what could have happened made Barton
sit down, “Oh, God, Peter, I could have.
I mean, in my dream, I was thinking about how far I would be able to
take things. I could have.”
“I know,” Peter ran a hand through his thick blond
hair. “All too well. Why do you think this baby is due well
before Lizzie V.’s second birthday? My
darling wife instigated things one morning and my brain didn’t register that it
wasn’t the safest of times until it was too late.”
It would have seemed funny had he not been so close to
committing the same act with a woman who wasn’t yet his wife. Barton swallowed hard and murmured, “I’m so
glad that you came downstairs and stopped things.”
“Yeah, well, you were lucky. I just happened to wake up early and thought I’d come down to my
office and work for a bit before it was time for breakfast. Bart, I think the best thing would be for me
to send Audra back to the ranch.”
For a moment, Barton was so stunned by his partner’s last
words that he just stared up at him.
Finally, he blurted out, “Peter, I promise that nothing like this will
happen again.”
Peter slowly shook his head, “Barton, I know you’re a man
of your word and I know you would try very hard not to let anything happen, but
I also know that once you’ve started, well, once you’ve had even just a taste
of the woman you love, and once, well, once she’s had, well, she’s started
feeling the pleasure of it…”
“Peter, we didn’t go that far,” Barton interrupted.
“I saw her face,” Peter shook his head. “She’s had a start of the feelings. And, well, she’s going to be curious about the
rest of it, wanting to know it all. You
promise me that nothing will happen but you have no idea how hard it is to
think straight when the woman you love asks you to touch her, to warm her
blood. Things can happen despite your
best intentions. I think it’ll be
better if the temptation isn’t there every day.”
Peter was Audra’s older brother and he was Barton’s best
friend, and Barton knew he was only trying to protect them both. He also knew that Audra needed to go back to
the ranch, to help her mother with planning the wedding, to have a chance to
spend a last few months at the only home she had ever known, but he still hated
the idea of not being able to see her every day.
“Maybe Samantha could talk to Audra and, well, explain,”
he tried to think of an alternative.
Barton watched as guilt swept across his friend’s
face. The admission was a hard one for
Peter and it wasn’t anything that Barton had ever expected, “The thing is, it’s
just, that, well, damn it, I bedded Samantha before I married her and I’ve
always regretted it.”
“What?” the word slipped out before the astounded Barton
could stop it.
Peter cringed and tried to explain, “It was just two weeks
before we married. I just got all
carried away with needing her and lost all sense of right and wrong. I’ve always hated it. She says she feels no guilt about it but I
know she does.” He looked up into
Barton’s eyes, “A woman like Samantha, a woman like Audra, shouldn’t feel one
ounce of guilt for her first time. I ruined
that for Samantha . . . I don’t want the same thing to happen to Audra.”
Barton took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “All
right, Peter. If you think it’s best,
I’ll support your decision. I’m going
to miss her like hell and I’m probably going to be miserable and be a real ass
to be around and I expect to be able to go to the ranch every other weekend to
see her, but I’ll support your decision.”
* * * * * * * *
Barton might have agreed, but Audra was another
matter. She had been properly tearful
and repentant when she showed up in Peter and Samantha’s room later in the
morning to “talk.” Samantha had, of
course, been informed by her exasperated husband about what he had discovered
in their sitting room. “I warned you,
Samantha. They were spending too much
time alone,” he had muttered as he shaved.
“It was bound to happen.”
Samantha had argued with him a little but finally agreed that perhaps
Audra needed to return to the ranch, “but not because she’s done anything
wrong, Peter. I just think she needs to
get back to help your mother plan the wedding.
I won’t let you send her home under some specter of shame.”
So, after Audra tearfully explained that she, and not
Barton, was to blame for what had happened this morning, that she had only meant
to wake him up with a kiss, and that she should have stopped him when she
realized that he was just reacting to her in his sleep, Peter informed her that
he was sending her back to the ranch.
The tears became stormy then as she refused to accept that they were
sending her away. But Peter was firm
and Samantha backed him up, saying only that it was time for Audra to return to
her original plan to spend the months before her wedding at the ranch.
“But I thought you needed me,” Audra sniffed as she continued
to argue with Samantha even after Peter had gone to the bank. “I thought I was helping you with the
children.”
“Oh, you have been, honey,” Samantha reached out to pat
her sister-in-law’s hand. “You were
planning to go home weeks ago, and Peter and I have taken advantage of you by
making you take over caring for the children.”
“You haven’t been taking advantage of me. I wanted to help you.”
“Well,” Samantha replied firmly, “we appreciate all the
help but it’s time for you to go home and enjoy just planning your wedding
day.”
“This is just because of what happened this morning, isn’t
it,” the younger woman demanded. “I’m
truly sorry for what I did, Samantha, and I promise it won’t happen again. Please trust me.”
“I do trust you, we trust you both, but you need to go
home, Audra,” her sister-in-law repeated.
“Now, dry your tears. It’s going
to be fine, I promise. We’re not going
to pack you off on the train today. I
talked Peter into waiting until this weekend and Barton can take you back to
Stockton.”
“Peter trusts us to be alone for that long?” Audra said
peevishly.
Samantha couldn’t stop her smile. Audra was certainly irritated with her big
brother. “I think Peter feels that you
two will behave yourselves on a public conveyance especially since he’s not
going to let you take his private car,” she finally said. She knew that Audra was bitterly
disappointed that she would be leaving San Francisco and Barton soon, but
perhaps this morning’s little misstep was for the best. Audra should be home, planning her wedding
and trousseau with her mother, not taking on all Samantha’s jobs while she was
stuck in bed. Yes, it was time for Samantha
to take control and simply insist that Audra had to quit worrying about her.
Chapter
24
Audra had soon realized that, despite her most ardent
pleas, Peter – backed by Samantha and, surprisingly, Barton – was standing firm
on his decision to send her home on Saturday.
Audra had been initially hurt when Barton had said that he had agreed
with Peter that it was probably best that she return to the ranch. He, of course, had seen the tears jump into
her eyes and had immediately begged her forgiveness. He had told her he didn’t want her to go, despaired at the idea
that he wouldn’t get to see her for weeks at a time, but, like Samantha, felt
that it was time for Audra to go back to the ranch as they had originally
planned. Then he had leaned down to
kiss her again and, now that she had known the power of his unguarded kisses, she
felt the restraint that had always been there.
He loved her and wanted her, she was certain, and so she accepted her
fate and quit arguing with them all.
Wednesday she met Hester at the park and told her what had
happened and made her promise that she would continue to bring Adam to the
house at least every Monday and Friday and to spend time with Samantha. She also made Hester promise to write her
immediately if there were any problems.
She would make Christiana promise the same thing when she saw her on
Friday. She’d already exacted a similar
promise from Becca Henderson, and Becca had also promised she would help
entertain the little boys. Somewhat
assured that she had help lined up to watch over Samantha and the rest of
Peter’s family, Audra started preparing the boys for her abandonment of them,
explaining how she needed to go back to the ranch for a time, but that she
would be back soon to help their mamma when the baby was born. The boys were disappointed but accepted the
explanation.
And Audra would have left that Saturday if it hadn’t been
for Thursday’s events. The day had
started just as any other. She had
helped get the children up and dressed and then taken them in for breakfast in
their parents’ bedroom. While Audra and
Peter helped Tom and Nicky eat at their little table, Samantha oversaw Lizzie
V.’s messy efforts in the highchair that was positioned next to the bed. Peter had gone off to work, and Samantha,
with Audra’s help, got the children started on their morning activities. Midway through the morning it was decided
that it was warm enough for all three to go out into the backyard for a time,
so Audra took them out. Lunch went just
as smoothly, and Lizzie V. and Nicky were put down for their naps. As usual Tom spent Nicky’s naptime working
on his letters and numbers at the little table under his mamma’s
supervision. After Nicky got up, both
boys had a little snack and then Audra took them outside to play again. Knowing Lizzie V.’s schedule well, she left
the boys after about an hour and came in to get the little girl, who, as usual,
was playing quietly in her crib. She
automatically glanced into Peter and Samantha’s bedroom as she started toward
the stairs. The sight rooted her to
that place in the hallway for a moment.
Samantha was sitting on the side of her bed, her arms
wrapped around her large stomach . . . and she was sobbing.
“Sam, honey, what’s wrong?” With Lizzie V. balanced on her
hip, Audra rushed into the room.
It was several moments before Samantha was able to sob
out, “Oh, Audra, you have to send for Peter and Dr. Vanders. Mon
Dieu, I’m losing the baby. Please
help me, Audra.”
Fear froze her for just a heartbeat and then the panic in
Samantha’s voice forced her into action.
Only one of them could panic and Samantha had priority, she
reasoned. She made her voice be calm,
“Here, now, lie back in bed, Samantha.
I’ll send Sean for the doctor and Peter. Just lie back for a minute.
I have to run downstairs but I’ll be right back, I promise.”
She rushed downstairs, depositing Lizzie V. in Marie’s
care and stepping outside to call Sean from the stables. The young man’s eyes widened as he heard
Miss Audra’s instructions but he bobbed his head and ran back to the stable to
saddle a horse. Carlotta was already
setting her dinner preparations to the side and wiping her hands as Audra came
back through the kitchen. She, too,
just nodded her head as Audra asked her to bring a watered-down brandy
upstairs. Forgetting all her mother’s
instructions on how to ascend the stairs in a lady-like fashion, Audra lifted
her skirts and took the steps two at a time.
She did not realize that she took a deep calming breath and straightened
her shoulders before she stepped into the room. Her only thoughts were that it was up to her to calm Samantha and
take care of her until Peter and/or the doctor could arrive. Silently wishing that Gene would make one of
his impromptu visits right now, she felt the mantle of responsibility settle
around her as she walked in and saw the pain and panic in Samantha’s face.
Samantha had stayed in bed as Audra had instructed and she
now lay on her side, curling her body as much as she could around her stomach,
as if she were trying to protect the child inside her. But she continued to sob, her chant of “no,
please, no” becoming dangerously close to hysteria.
“Sam,” Audra said gently, but it drew no response. “Sam,” she tried once more. Again no response. Biting her lip, she hardened her heart and barked, “Samantha!”
The single word caused her sister-in-law to gasp and
stopped the mindless mantra. Seeing the
hurt in the other woman’s eyes, Audra softened her tone, “Samantha, honey, you
have to calm down. You know that only
makes it worse. Here, now, Carlotta has
brought you some brandy. It’s already
watered down, so you should be able to sip it just fine. This will help calm you some. Just sit up a little, I’ll hold the glass.”
She coaxed Samantha into drinking a good bit of the
brandy. Suddenly Samantha gave a sharp
cry and curled around her stomach again.
“Pain?” Audra set the brandy to the side and took
Samantha’s hand. “Here, squeeze my hand.
That’s good. I’m right here,
Sam. Just hold on, it’s going to be all
right.” She glanced up at the clock
that sat on the fireplace mantle. She
would need to track the length of each pain and the time between pains. She made a mental note of the time and then
turned back to gently rub Samantha’s brow with her free hand. “Hold on, Sam. Just hold on.”
It seemed forever before anyone came to relieve her, but
the clock told her it wasn’t quite two hours.
She bathed Samantha’s brow with a damp towel, held her hand as each of
the pains came, and got her to sip more of the watered down brandy. She told Carlotta to tell Marie to walk over
and ask Becca Henderson if she would help entertain the boys . . . perhaps even
take them for a walk around the neighborhood.
Finally Dr. Vanders arrived. He
apologized for taking so long, explaining he’d been away from his office making
housecalls when Sean arrived; and it had taken the boy some time to find
him. Only after Sean found the doctor
had the young groom turned his horse back toward the bank. The doctor added that it might be some time
before Peter arrived. Audra just nodded
and reached out to smooth the wrinkles in Samantha’s forehead, “It’s all right,
Dr. Vanders. We women are doing just
fine, aren’t we, Sam?”
She stayed with Samantha through the doctor’s examination,
continuing to hold her sister-in-law’s hand and whispering words of
encouragement. She calmly answered the
questions about the number of pains, how long they lasted, the intervals
between them. The doctor was just
finishing up when she heard the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and down
the hallway. She then heard Carlotta’s
voice, saying they needed to wait until the doctor was done. Audra smiled down at Samantha. “Peter’s here, honey,” she whispered. “Are you ready for him to come in?”
“I guess,” Samantha sniffed. “Is it all right, Dr. Vanders?”
The doctor turned back from the washstand, “That will be
fine. How are you feeling now? A little better?”
Samantha managed another sniff and nod. The doctor walked over and opened the
door. Peter and, surprisingly, Barton
both stood just outside the door, both with identical worried looks. Peter came through the doorway and headed
straight for his wife’s side. Barton,
in some kind of deference to propriety, stayed in the doorway, his eyes seeking
Audra’s, hoping to get some hint from her as to how things were going. She gave him a very small smile and he
nodded slightly. They would be here for
Samantha and Peter.
Peter bent down to press his lips against his wife’s brow,
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner.
I wasn’t at the bank. Barton had
to go across town to get me. I’m sorry,
cherie. I should have been here.”
“It’s all right,” she tried to reassure him. “Audra was wonderful.”
“How are you feeling now, mon amie?” Peter sat down beside her and put his arm around her.
“Still scared,” she admitted, her eyes now going to the
doctor. “I’m losing the baby, aren’t
I.”
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Vanders’ eyes were sympathetic. “You’ve dilated further.”
“But my water hasn’t broken yet,” she interrupted, trying
desperately to hold onto her hope.
“No, the membranes are still intact,” the doctor agreed,
“and I don’t know why. As much as you
have dilated, as intense and as long as your pains have been, we would have
expected your water to have broken by now.
But, it seems that the pains have stopped again . . . at least
temporarily.”
“Stopped?” Peter was stunned.
“Stopped?” Samantha echoed.
“It’s been 45 minutes since the last one, Sam,” Audra
smiled at her. “They were 20 minutes
apart before.”
“Oh,” she was so surprised. Her hand went down to caress her rounded stomach. A movement underneath her palm caused tears
to jump into her eyes. Her baby was
still alive. Oh, please, God, she
whispered, let my baby be safe. She had
no idea that her plea was reflected in her eyes. “They’ve stopped?”
“For the time being, but I have to tell you I think that
they will start again, probably in the next few days. I think your membranes are going to rupture and you are going to
deliver the baby early,” the doctor refused to sugar coat things for them.
“It’s still too early, isn’t it,” Peter had felt his child
moving inside his wife so many times.
The bond was already there; he didn’t want to believe they were not
going to have the opportunity to know this child.
“You’re still two months early,” Dr. Vanders started.
“No, just over six weeks,” Samantha interrupted. The doctor raised his eyebrows, so she
explained, “Gene told me that the, umm, the umm gestation period for humans is
40 weeks and he said that a baby born 10 days before or after the due date is
considered to be full term. So I
counted 40 weeks from the Fourth of July and that was April 10th so I figured
if I made it to April 1st then the baby would have a very good chance. That’s just over six weeks away.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the doctor
smiled, “The Fourth of July?” Samantha
nodded seriously while Peter flushed.
“Well, it sounds as if your calculations are correct and, if you make it
to April 1st the baby would stand a much better chance, but I don’t see how
you’re going to carry to that date.”
Samantha’s hand stroked her stomach again, “The baby is
moving a lot, good strong kicks.”
“I know,” the doctor said kindly. “There’s a healthy heartbeat, too. The problem is that the baby is still too
small, its lungs are too weak, to live outside your body.”
“I’m not giving up,” Samantha said, her trembling chin in
stark contrast to her firm words. Her
husband tightened his grip around her shoulders and rested his cheek on the top
of her head. And people thought
Barkleys were stubborn. Sam took top
prize any day.
The smile the doctor gave her was a sad one, “I
understand. I don’t want you to give
up, but I also have to tell you that things are just getting worse. I really don’t understand why you haven’t
already delivered this baby. Maybe
whatever is keeping that baby inside you will let it stay there for a few more
weeks. Every day improves his or her
chances.”
“Six weeks,” she said firmly. “I want to give her the best chance possible.”
“Six weeks,” his smile became real. “We’ll all hope for six weeks.”
The doctor repacked his bag and told them to send for him
if there was any change; otherwise, he would stop by to check on Samantha in a
week. Barton walked him downstairs.
“You’ll be back before the week is out, won’t you,” it was
more of statement than a question.
“I’m afraid so.
Short of a miracle, there’s just no way this baby is going to make it.”
Barton nodded his head and then smiled, “Well, this family
has seen a few miracles, maybe we can manage one more.”
The doctor just smiled and shook his head; none of them
gave up easily, did they.
Back upstairs, Barton found Audra and Peter both still
sitting with Samantha. They were
worried about her; she was worried about her children. Audra reassured her that the children were
all in good hands but now that Peter was here she would check on all of them
and if Samantha felt up to it, bring them up for a little visit. As she stood to leave, Samantha reached over
to grab her hand.
“Thank you, Audra,” she whispered, the tears in her
voice. “For being here this
afternoon. I don’t know what I would
have done if you hadn’t been here.”
Audra gently patted her sister-in-law’s hand, “I didn’t do
much more than just hold your hand and tell you to drink.”
“You did much more than that,” Samantha shook her head and
then looked over to her husband.
“Peter, please don’t make Audra leave this Saturday. I need her here. Please let her stay.”
Peter took a deep breath and looked from his wife to his
sister and back. He knew the doctor
thought everything was going to be over in a few days, and Samantha was hoping
against hope that it wasn’t. What would
Audra staying a few more days matter, he decided, especially if it made
Samantha feel a little better. He
finally murmured, “She doesn’t have to go.
If she wants to stay, then of course she can stay.”
Chapter
25
And so Audra put aside her plans to return to Stockton
that weekend, instead sending a letter home to her family explaining that while
her wedding dress was finally coming along, she and Barton were in the midst of
settling on a house here in San Francisco and she simply couldn’t come home
this week . . . but maybe next week . . . or the week after.
It seemed as if all those in the Peter Barkley household
held their breath all the rest of Thursday and through the night. Peter refused to go to work Friday morning,
but Samantha convinced him to go in after lunch. Wanting both to not disrupt the children’s routine and to give
Samantha a diversion, Audra did not send word to either Christiana or Hester so
both showed up as planned on Friday afternoon.
When they arrived, Audra briefed them on Thursday’s events. Both women were stunned. They both pasted on smiles for Samantha, but
she saw through them and took it upon herself to calmly give her version as to
what had happened.
“So,” Samantha finished up bravely, “we’re saying our
prayers and crossing our fingers and just hoping for the best.”
“And we’re going to do all those things, too,” Christiana
reached over to hug her friend again.
“Well, right now I don’t want to think about it. What I really want you two to do is tell me
what’s been going on this week. Audra
and Becca have told me about the charity ball.
Now, Christiana, tell me where your camera has taken you this week,”
Samantha forced herself to be upbeat.
“Well, actually, I have spent a little time with our
friend Hester,” she grinned over at the other woman. “I got the most delightful picture of her and Adam on
Tuesday. We went to the Presidio. It makes such an interesting backdrop.”
“Oh, I’m so pleased you decided to have the photograph
made,” Samantha beamed over at Hester.
“I decided you were right. Adam is changing every day.
I wanted a picture of him now and Christiana talked me into having one
made with the two of us. I’m sure I’m
going to treasure it always. Thank you,
my friends,” Hester’s words were laced with tears.
“I want a copy of the picture,” Samantha demanded in a
teasing voice.
“Hmm, it’ll cost you,” Christiana teased back. “Oh, look, here’s Becca and she’s brought us
treats.”
“Good afternoon,” Becca Henderson smiled and held out the
tray of teacakes. She had been a little
surprised after yesterday’s events that Samantha would want company but Audra
has insisted that they needed to try to keep Samantha’s spirits up. “Mother and I have been baking all morning
for the library reception but I convinced her that a few could be spared for
our afternoon tea.”
“Ah, excellent,” Samantha grinned. “Of course, if I keep eating like this and
lying in this bed, I’m going to be huge by the time this baby gets here.”
Her joke fell flat as the other four women exchanged quick
looks. “All right, I know what you’re
thinking,” Samantha sighed. “I know
that the chances that this baby will hold on much longer are pretty small but
I’m not going to think that way. Please
just humor me and let me pretend this is going to all go all right.”
“Of course everything is going to go all right,” Hester
nodded her head firmly. “That’s what we
all believe.”
“Agreed,” Christiana smiled and reached over to pick up a
teacake. “Umm, this is delicious. So what’s the library reception for?”
“Money raising . . . again,” Becca sighed. “I think all I do is go from one charity
event to the next. I just wish I could
do something more . . . more . . . meaningful.”
“Enjoy the parties, honey,” Hester smiled. “You’re doing good by taking part in the
fundraisers. You have a long time before
you need to worry about doing more.”
“Hmm,” the girl wrinkled her nose. “It just seems as if you all are doing so
much more. Samantha’s taking care of
her family and involved in half a dozen charities. Audra was so involved with the orphanage in Stockton and now
she’s here, helping Samantha. You take
care of Adam, Hester. And, Christiana,
well Christiana is the first woman I’ve known who’s a successful businesswoman
in her own right.”
“Heavens, Becca, all I used to do was see how fast I could
wear out dancing slippers,” Hester shook her head.
Christiana chuckled, “You’re giving us more credit than we
deserve, Becca. I, for one, am just
living my life as best I can.”
“That’s all any of us are doing,” Samantha agreed. And then she prodded her friend, “So,
Christiana, how was your ride home with Jarrod after dinner last week?”
“It was fine,” Christiana answered evenly. “Jarrod was just being a gentleman.”
“Jarrod’s always a gentleman,” Audra interjected.
“Always?” Samantha’s eyebrow raised as she prodded again.
But Christiana was ready for her, “Don’t start,
Samantha. Jarrod is a friend; he was
here visiting you all and he was just being kind to see me home after we all
had dinner together.”
Christiana didn’t add that she and Jarrod had gone out for
lunch that next afternoon. Nor did she
tell about the promise that Jarrod had gotten her to make after he walked her
back to her shop, before he had to rush off to catch his train to Stockton. He had gotten her to promise to write him at
his Stockton office about how things were going with Samantha.
“Peter and Gene are both afraid to write me anything for
fear Mother might happen to see one of the letters at my office and recognize
the handwriting and read it,” Jarrod had explained. “I understand that, but not knowing how things are going is
driving me crazy. If you could let me
know, I would appreciate it so much.
And I’ll write and let you know if I’m going to have to be out of town
for any period of time.”
Of course, she had agreed to do as he had requested. It was the least that she could do for her
friends. And, when she had finished up
her first letter to him, an absolute tome of three pages, she had realized how
fun it was to have someone to write to.
She had started off by telling him exactly how Samantha was doing during
her stop on Sunday. She had added a
story or two about the children’s antics and then she had felt compelled to
tell him what she had been doing. She
wasn’t sure he would be interested, but she had been almost giddy when she had
gotten his immediate reply. It was just
as long as hers, thanked her for her news on Samantha and Peter and their
family and then went on to relate what he was doing and what was going on with
the rest of the family. She had already
written him another reply with another update on Samantha based on Hester’s
Monday visit related to her during the Tuesday photography session. She hoped to hear from him soon. In the next letter, she would, of course,
have to tell him about the most recent scare but hopefully she would be able to
add that all was quiet.
And she certainly hadn’t told Samantha how, after Jarrod
had seen her into her shop after lunch and, even though it was midday, made her
once again go upstairs to check to be sure that everything was secure, as he
slowly relinquished her key to her, he had bent down and brushed her cheek with
a soft kiss and whispered, “Thank you.”
She had automatically responded, “You’re welcome” even
though she wasn’t sure what he was thanking her for. It had taken all her resolve not to reach up to touch the place
where his lips had touched until he had closed the door and started down the
boardwalk. His first kiss, she had
thought, and then had immediately chastised herself. They were friends, both of them happy with their lives. Don’t make it into anything more than what
it was, a gesture of friendship.
As the memory of that afternoon swept through her mind,
Christiana deftly diverted attention from Jarrod and herself by asking Audra, “So
are all your brothers always gentlemen?”
“Pretty much so,” the gregarious girl nodded
seriously. “I mean, Mother was always
so insistent about them learning their manners and knowing when to use
them. I think they all behave
themselves most of the time.”
“Most of the time?” Becca pressed, very curious about the
Barkley brothers.
“Well,” Audra grinned.
“They’re not angels. I mean
they’ve all had experiences, but I think they treat all women with
respect. I think that would make them
gentlemen, don’t you. Didn’t you think
Nick was a gentleman, Hester?”
Hester started and looked around the room guiltily. Of course, Audra knew about her and Nick,
and now so did Samantha . . . but did Christiana and Becca know? “Well,” she stuttered. “He was a terrible flirt and so funny and
then very attentive . . . but, yes, he was always a gentleman. I think he must have taken your mother’s
teachings very seriously.”
“So you and Nick used to keep company?” Becca asked the
obvious.
Hester took a deep breath and just said it, “Nick and I
were engaged for a very brief time several years back. I made a real mess of things and we ended
it.”
“Oh,” Becca was the only one who did not know the story
but she sensed that it made Hester uncomfortable to talk about it . . . so she
just added. “Now I’ve never met Nick,
have I.”
“No, Nick has never visited us,” Samantha shrugged. “He’s too busy on the ranch.”
“He’s just being stubborn,” Audra countered. “He’s trying to make out like it’s Peter
fault that we all don’t get together very often. He thinks it only counts if we come back to the ranch. He’s just going to have to learn that part
of the family lives in San Francisco and that the trains run both way.”
“Nick considers the ranch home and he just wants everyone to
come home,” Samantha had a soft spot in her heart for her loud, brash
brother-in-law.
The conversation lagged for a moment. Becca was the one who forged on, “Well,
Christiana says Jarrod is a gentleman, and Hester says Nick is a
gentleman. And, of course, we all know
that Peter is a gentleman. I’ve met
both Eugene and Heath and they both seem like gentlemen, so I guess Audra is
right. All her brothers are gentlemen.”
“You know, it’s interesting that Heath, whom Mother didn’t
raise, is probably the gentlest of the boys,” Audra commented.
Samantha nodded in agreement, “It’s probably because he
was raised in a house full of women.”
Hester was again surprised at the honest discussion and
she wondered how much Christiana and Becca knew about things. Becca was the one who asked, “House full of
women?”
Audra just nodded and sipped her tea, “Besides his mother,
Heath was raised by his mother’s best friend, Rachel, and by a Negro woman named
Hannah who had come west with Miss Leah and her half-brother, Matt.”
“Are they still alive?” Becca asked trying not to seem too
curious about Heath Barkley’s background.
Her mother had explained the circumstances of Heath’s birth to her not
long after the Peter Barkleys had moved into the house behind them. Anne Henderson had thought her daughter
might hear some gossip and wanted her to know the truth. She had finished up by telling her daughter
that similar things had happened and would happen to other families so one best
be careful about throwing stones. She
added that she thought the Barkleys handled it all with a great deal of
dignity, grace, and love. She had pointed
out that neither Audra nor any of her brothers ever referred to Heath as anything
but their brother . . . that spoke of a deep affection, her mother said. Becca thought it was the first time that her
mother had ever treated her like an adult, had spoken so openly of such an
adult topic. She had been pleased and a
little proud and she had listened and watched just as her mother had
urged. She had seen how Heath was
accepted as an equal by all his siblings . . . at least the ones she had been
around for any period of time.
“Only Hannah,” Audra replied. “Heath’s mother died about four years back; it was only when she
died that he found out who his father was.
That’s when he came to live with us.
Rachel died shortly after that . . . actually we think she was murdered
but no one can prove it for sure. His
uncle and aunt have disappeared. Hannah
still lives in Strawberry though, where Heath grew up. Heath visits her every few months. He’s tried to get her to move to Stockton
but she won’t. She says she needs to
stay to take care of Miss Leah’s grave.”
Becca spoke carefully, hoping what she said would not be
misconstrued, “Last fall, when Heath came to help take care of Eugene when he
had the influenza, when we first met him, Father said that Heath must be very
devoted to his family, to come to San Francisco to take care of his younger
brother.”
“Your father said that?” Samantha was pleasantly
surprised.
“Uh huh,” Becca continued. “He met Heath one morning when Heath came over to borrow some
syrup from us . . . something about a family remedy. Father just thought he was very nice and obviously very concerned
about his brother. Father also said
that you could certainly tell he was Tom Barkley’s son.”
“Hmm, that’s a nice thing to say,” Samantha smiled. “Well, I guess all your brothers resemble
your father in some way, don’t they, Audra?”
“Uh-huh, you see Father in all of them, physical
characteristics, how they act, how they sound, the words they say,” she rolled
her eyes. “Heavens, Peter sounded just
like Father the other morning when he ordered me upstairs.”
“Peter ordered you upstairs?” Christiana raised her
eyebrows.
Audra blushed slightly but Samantha just laughed, “Yes, my
dear little sister-in-law upset her big brother to no end when he found her
downstairs early Tuesday morning enjoying some rather intimate moments with her
fiancé.”
“Audra!” Hester’s eyes rounded as she scolded. Christiana set her teacup and saucer down
with a clink, and Becca just blushed.
“They weren’t intimate moments,” Audra denied
instantly. “Barton stopped by late
Monday evening after spending all day travelling to and from Copper City. He fell asleep on the settee
downstairs. I left him there, and early
the next morning I went down and fixed him some coffee and went in to wake him
up. We were just kissing.”
Samantha snorted, “You were down there in your nightgown
and robe and Peter said you were half undressed when he found you.”
“I was not,” her sister-in-law gasped. “I was completely covered and we were just
kissing.”
“Peter said your robe was open and that Barton’s hands were
definitely not where they were supposed to be.”
Audra’s blushed deepened, “Well, I suppose they
weren’t. He was really not awake and I
did lead him on. He was so embarrassed
about it; he must have apologized a dozen times. But, oh, Samantha, I just get these butterflies in my stomach
every time I think about how he made me feel that morning.”
Samantha chuckled, “Butterflies? Just wait until your wedding night. It’ll be a lot more than butterflies, won’t it, Christiana. I predict that Barton will curl your toes.”
“Samantha,” Christiana scolded as the other women all
blushed varying shades of red. “Behave
yourself.”
But nothing would dim the gleam in Samantha’s eyes.
Chapter
26
Heath’s official reason for going to San Francisco was to
deliver some paperwork that Jarrod had completed on the sale of the mine. The reason he had given Nick was that he
wanted to pick up something special for Mother for her birthday. Nick had tried to get him to pick up
something for him to give her, too, or to go in together on a gift, but Heath
had politely told him that if wanted to get her something from Frisco then he
could go to the city himself. Nick just
grumbled that he was too busy to just take off and go to San Francisco and
stalked away. Heath knew Nick was still
chafing about the angry words that he and Peter had exchanged at Christmas
time. He wasn’t sure whether Nick was
angry at himself for what he had said or still just angry at Peter, but the
hazel-eyed rancher refused to talk about his blue-eyed banker brother, choosing
to ignore any conversation that included Peter’s name. Heath figured this was one rat’s nest that
Nick was going to have to clean up himself.
Heath knew he could find something in Stockton that Mother
would have been perfectly happy with.
The real reason he was going was to warn little sister that she needed
to quit playing in San Francisco and get back home and take care of all this
wedding stuff. Even Mother was starting
to look exasperated after reading Audra’s letters filled with excuses for why
she couldn’t come home yet. Nick was
downright angry, even hollering at Jarrod the last time that he had come back
from San Francisco, demanding to know why Jarrod hadn’t insisted that Audra
come back with him. As he walked up the
street to Peter and Samantha’s home, Heath remembered the dining table argument
just a few days before.
“We got a letter from Audra today,” Mother had announced.
Heath had known just from her voice that the letter
contained no schedule as to when little sister would be returning home. He wasn’t sure why Nick had to ask the
obvious and stir up a hornets’ nest but his big brother had snarled, “When the
heck is she getting her tail back here so she can get this almighty important
wedding planned?”
Mother had sighed and automatically scolded,
“Nicholas. That’s enough.”
“I’m not the one you should be scolding, Mother,” Nick
replied. “Our spoiled little sister
should be hearing from you.”
And Jarrod had flown to Audra’s defense, “Just ease up,
Nick. Audra’s got a lot going on in her
life right now.”
“Yep, she’s got a lot going on and she’s playing the
little princess, staying in Frisco and leaving it to Mother to handle all the
stuff with the wedding. If she’s going
to get married, she best grow up now and start taking on some
responsibilities,” Nick had continued to rant.
“Audra has grown up just fine,” Jarrod had said through
tight lips.
“You’re just protecting her, Jarrod,” Nick had shot
back. “You should have brought her
home. It’s obvious that Peter’s not
gonna send her home. He’s just trying
to become her favorite brother by letting her stay with him and avoid any
work.”
Jarrod had snapped, “Audra isn’t avoiding work. She’s actually helping Samantha with the
children a good deal. And I think,
right now, she’s just more focused on what happens after the wedding rather
than on the wedding.”
Heath had been a little surprised at Jarrod’s statement,
but Nick’s face had flushed bright red in embarrassment and he had sputtered, “Jarrod!”
Jarrod had just looked at him for a moment and then rolled
his eyes in disgust, “That’s not what I’m talking about, Nick. I’m talking about she’s thinking about
making a home for Barton, for the family they’re going to have. I’m talking about she’s thinking about what
her job will be in making her marriage work.
And I think it’s been a very good thing for her to spend time with Peter
and Samantha, to see first hand what a good, strong, loving marriage is about,
about sharing each other’s life, about the respect, trust, and caring between a
husband and wife. These past weeks have
been a very good experience for Audra, and if she’s extending her stay for a
few more weeks I think that’s fine, too.
I’m sure the wedding will happen whether Audra spends the next few weeks
here or in San Francisco.”
“Well, hell, you sure are singing little brother’s praises
aren’t you,” Nick had gone from shocked back to angry in a heartbeat. “Audra learned what a good marriage was by
watching Mother and Father. She doesn’t
have to spend time with Pete and Sam to learn that.”
“Audra only saw Mother and Father’s marriage from a
child’s perspective,” Jarrod had replied.
“She’s a young woman now, and she sees things differently and she
understands things better. Trust me,
this has been good for her. She’s grown
up a lot.”
“If she’s grown up, then she should be here. Ah, hell, there’s no reasoning with you,”
Nick had stood up and tossed his napkin down.
“You’re just as bad as Pete, spoiling her, letting her have her way.”
“Pete’s not spoiling her,” Jarrod had stood also, “and
neither am I and I’m not arguing with you.
Audra will be back here just as soon as she has things under
control. If you want to talk her into
coming home sooner, then I suggest you go to San Francisco and talk to her
personally.”
Nick had snorted, “I’m too busy to waste my time going up
to San Francisco to get our little sister,” and he had stalked out of the room.
Jarrod had stared after him and then had dropped his own
napkin on the table, “Excuse me, please, Mother, Heath. I have some things I need to work on in the
library.”
Heath had taken a few more bites of his supper and then
risked a look at Victoria. She had no
longer been eating, her brow wrinkled as she stared at the doorway that her two
eldest sons had disappeared through.
“Mother?” he had asked.
She had shaken her head slightly, “I just wish they
wouldn’t argue so. Jarrod seems to
think that Audra should stay in San Francisco for a bit longer. I’ll write and tell her that her plans are
fine with us, but that we all are missing her here and that we want her to come
home as soon as possible. Maybe I can
convince her to at least come back with Barton for a few days; that might be a
nice compromise.”
“What are you gonna say to Nick?”
“That if he wants to talk his little sister into coming
home sooner, he’ll need to go to San Francisco.”
Heath had sighed deeply, “He ain’t gonna do it.”
“I know,” and she hadn’t said anything more.
So now he was going to do his best to get Audra to come on
home. It would simplify things greatly
and it wasn’t that many months before Audra would be living in San Francisco
full time. She needed to spend the next
few months at the ranch.
He opened the front gate to Pete’s house and strolled up
the front walk. As much as he dreaded
having a showdown with Audra, he was looking forward to seeing Pete and Sam and
the little boys and little Lizzie V.
Christmas and New Years seemed like a long time ago. Nick might be stubborn about having too much
work on the ranch to make visits to San Francisco, but Heath knew he’d be
making this trip a lot in the years to come what with both Audra and Pete and
their families living here.
He tapped lightly on the front door and heard little boy
voices on the other side. Sure enough,
it was Tom who pulled the door open.
His face lit up in a bright smile when he saw his uncle. “Uncle Heath,” he shouted and threw himself
into his uncle’s arms. His uncle didn’t
hesitate as he swooped him up and tossed him in the air.
“Hey, there, Thomas Henri, dang you’re getting heavy,”
Heath teased.
“Me, too, Uncle Heaf, me, too!” Little Nicky grabbed onto his uncle’s leg.
He set Tom down and gave Nicky a toss in the air. It was then he noticed another little boy
standing back, watching with big brown eyes.
“Well, who’s this?” he said as he set Nicky down and then
knelt so that he was at the boys’ level.
“This is our friend, Adam, Uncle Heath,” Tom replied. “Adam, come meet our Uncle Heath. He’s real nice.”
Biting his lip and eyeing the man closely, the little boy
edged nearer. Heath extended his hand
to the boy who solemnly shook it. He
remembered Jarrod’s story about Tom and Nicky’s new little friend, a little boy
named Adam whose mother had died in childbirth and whose aunt had put her life
on hold to help take care of the little boy.
The aunt had apparently become good friends with Samantha and Audra.
“Howdy, Adam, pleasure to meet you,” he smiled gently.
“Hello,” Adam said softly.
“Say, would you like a toss in the air like Nicky and
Tom?” Heath felt inspired.
Adam’s eyes rounded and he slowly nodded his head. Heath hoisted him up and gave him a good
toss, being sure to catch him securely and then carefully place him on his
feet. He figured he could do his part
to help cheer up a sad little boy. It
apparently worked because Adam exchanged a delighted look with Tom and smiled
widely.
“Well, what are you boys up to?” he surveyed the trio of
boys.
“Just going out into Mamma’s garden to play, Uncle Heath,”
as the oldest Tom felt it was his place to answer all questions.
“So where’s your mamma and your Aunt Audra?”
“Upstairs,” Nicky piped up, earning him an exasperated
look from his brother.
“Upstairs where?” Heath said patiently.
“In her and pappa’s bedroom, of course,” Tom replied.
“Of course?” it just sounded a little strange.
“Mamma’s always there now, ‘til the baby comes,” Tom
sighed. “Let’s go outside now . . .
through the kitchen . . . and ask Senora Carlotta for a cookie.”
“Yeah,” Adam piped up.
“Are you coming with us, Uncle Heaf?” Nicky asked eagerly.
“I’ll be out in just a bit. I want to talk with your mamma and Aunt Audra first,” he said,
trying to make sense of what he had been told by the little boys.
“All right,” Tom said agreeably and then led his playmates
toward the back of the house.
Heath slowly climbed to the second floor. He could hear women’s voices chattering
away. It sounded like when Mother and Audra
would have a group of their friends in for a tea or some other such thing. As he neared, he heard Audra’s voice and
Samantha’s. And then he heard another
familiar voice, Christiana’s he decided, say, “Samantha, behave yourself!” He wondered why Samantha was being scolded
but the laughter indicated that it was a light scolding.
Taking a deep breath, he stuck his head in the door and
gave a teasing, “Howdy, ladies.”
Audra twirled around in her chair and then fairly leaped
across the room and into his arms, “Heath!
What a wonderful surprise.”
Well, if Audra was surprised, Heath was downright
flabbergasted. He wasn’t sure what he
expected when he stuck his head in, but this sure as heck wasn’t it. He hadn’t expected to find Sam lying in bed
and he should have realized from the laughter that there were more women in the
room than just Audra, Sam, and Christiana.
No, Becca Henderson was here and he couldn’t help but smile at her . . .
and his eyes moved to the fifth woman and his smile disappeared.
“Hester?” his voice was strangled.
She had gone deathly white and now blazed bright red. “Heath,” she whispered and barely nodded her
head.
Audra broke the strained silence as Heath continued to
stare at the woman, confusion and pain twisting his features. “I don’t know if Jarrod mentioned Tom and
Nicky’s new little friend, Adam,” she waited as the words sank in and Heath
numbly nodded his head. “Hester is
Adam’s mother’s cousin. I was as
surprised as you are when I finally met Adam’s ‘auntie’ at the park. It is certainly a small world, isn’t it?”
“It sure is,” was all that he could muster for the
moment. Interestingly it came out with
a sense of wonder and absolutely no bitterness.
Hester, who had expected only bitterness, slowly stood,
“Samantha, I think perhaps we should call it a day. I’ll go out and get Adam.
I’ll be in touch.”
“Oh, no, Hester,” Samantha immediately protested. “The boys have just started to play
outside. They’ll be so disappointed if
you leave now.”
Hester’s eyes went back to Heath’s stern countenance. “I just think that I should go now.”
Samantha started to argue again but Christiana took over
the conversation. “You know, ladies, I
think that the Barkleys are due a little family discussion. Why don’t you and Becca and I go downstairs
with little Miss Lizzie V. and check on what those three boys are up to,
Hester?”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Becca immediately stood
and brushed out the wrinkles in her skirt.
She boldly added, “It’s good to see you again, Heath. I hope we get a chance to talk again before
you have to leave.”
He could only nod his head as he watched the three women
leave the room. His eyes now freed from
staring at Hester Converse, roamed the room, taking in all the changes. It wasn’t just a bedroom any more. No, as he contemplated the seating
arrangement around the bed where his sister-in-law lay, the little table set up
just a few feet away, and Lizzie V.’s highchair tucked back between the
wardrobe and Samantha’s vanity, no, this room had now become the center of
Peter’s home.
“How long?” he finally asked. His eyes swinging over Audra and to Samantha.
“How long have I known Hester Converse or how long have I
known that she was Nick’s former fiancée?” she asked in return.
“Neither,” his voice was uncharacteristically short. “How long have you been confined to that
bed?”
Chagrined, she could barely whisper, “About four weeks.”
The knowledge rocked him back on his heels. He had known it had been a time, the
shifting of a household didn’t happen overnight. But a whole month? And
not one word to the family in Stockton.
“What’s the doctor say?” he finally managed.
Her eyes locked on his and he saw such fire there that he
was afraid that he had angered her. But
her words sent his heart to aching more than any anger from her could
have. “He says I’m going to lose the
baby and I’m trying real hard to prove him wrong.”
“Ah, Sam,” he breathed out the words and then came to sit
on the edge of the bed and take her tiny hand in his. “Why didn’t you let us know?”
She sniffed back a tear, “Because there was nothing you
could do but worry, and there are more than enough people worrying already.”
“But, still, Sam,” his eyes reflected the hurt.
“Don’t be angry with me, please, Heath,” she begged. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I just
don’t like being a bother to anyone.
And I’m being such a bother to Peter and Audra and Barton and my
children and, oh, just so many people right now that I just couldn’t stand the
idea of bothering one more person.”
And, because, he, too, hated to be a bother, he finally
nodded his head that he . . . sorta . . . understood.
So, how long?” he asked.
“How long what?” she answered his question with her own.
“How long you gonna have to stay in bed?”
“Until the baby comes . . . and we’re hoping that won’t be
until the first of April,” her eyes watched his face closely.
He sat back and let out a slow whistle. “That’s a lot more weeks, Sam,” he stated
the obvious.
“I know, but it’s the way things need to be.”
He slowly nodded his head and then he asked, “How long?”
Now she snorted and repeated once more, “How long what?”
“How long have you known Hester Converse and how long have
you known she was Nick’s former fiancée?”
The grimness in his voice tied up her tongue for a moment
but then she met the challenge head on, “I met her about six weeks ago, in the
park where I take Nicky and Tom a couple of times a week. She was there with her cousin’s son,
Adam. I had seen her there a few times
before, but she tended to stay to herself.
One time, Adam looked particularly sad and I asked her if there was a
problem. She explained that his little
sister had died shortly after she was born a few months before and that his mother
developed a fever and died a few days later and that that particular day Adam
was just having a hard time thinking about his mother, whom he’d never get to
see again. I was so stunned that I
forgot to even ask what her name was.
About a week later, after I was confined to bed, Audra took the boys to
the park and had a chance to meet Adam’s auntie. That’s when we learned that Adam’s aunt was Hester Converse. Of course, the name Hester Converse meant
nothing to me until Audra explained that Nick had been engaged to her once and
then that she had caused problems between you and Nick and then broken the
engagement.”
“And broke Nick’s heart,” Heath added coldly.
“I’m sure she did,” Samantha replied quietly. “And I’m sorry for that.”
“But she’s changed, Heath,” Audra interjected. When he just looked at her with doubt, she
continued, “I know it’s hard to believe, but people do change. Oh, she’s still so beautiful and so full of
laughter. She’s been such wonderful
company for Samantha while she’s been stuck in bed; you know Hester has a
million fun stories. But, she’s changed
inside. All she does is worry about
Adam, about how sad he is sometimes.
And she never goes out to parties or dinners or dances or anything. She’s there for him morning, noon, and
night.”
Because he could think of nothing else to say, he just
murmured, “I met him downstairs. He’s a
sweet little boy.”
“Tell her that,” Samantha said swiftly. “Nothing would make her happier than to hear
you say that about Adam.”
He walked to the window and stared out at the women and
children in the backyard. Hester was
patiently swinging Nicky and talking with Becca and Christiana while Adam and
Tom were climbing in the treehouse.
Suddenly Heath laughed softly.
“What?” Audra demanded.
“Ah, I was just thinking of something that Nick said.”
“What?” Samantha prodded after a moment of silence.
“After Jarrod told us the story about Adam, about him
losing his mama and baby sister and how his mother’s cousin had put her life on
hold to help to take care of him, Nick told me that he figured the cousin was
probably some dried up old maid who knew that this was probably gonna be her
only chance to have a child to raise,” Heath chuckled. Then he added, “Nick sure would be surprised
if he could see who this cousin really was.”
“Yes, he would be,” Samantha agreed softly but then
hesitantly added, “You know, sometimes I think Hester actually believes
that. That, because of what she did to
Nick, how she hurt him, that she doesn’t deserve to have a family of her own,
that Adam is the only child she will ever have a chance to raise. She is so sorry for what she did to you and
Nick.”
“Nick and I got past it . . . I just ain’t sure if Nick
ever really got past what Hester did.
She hurt him pretty bad.”
“That’s just what I told Sam,” Audra said eagerly. “That you and Nick fixed what had happened
between you, but that Nick never talked about Hester. I think he’s never gotten over her.”
“I expect that’s Nick’s business,” Heath replied tersely.
“You’re right, of course, Heath,” Samantha soothed. “We never expected that you or Nick either
one would ever know that we had become acquainted with Hester and that Adam was
Nicky and Tom’s good friend. I’m sorry
you discovered this way.”
“You weren’t gonna let Nick know?” his eyes moved between
his sister and his sister-in-law.
“No, we thought it would be best not to mention this at
all. We thought it would be just too
painful for Nick and we thought that we could be sure that you all never crossed
paths. Nick never comes to San
Francisco and USUALLY you let us know when you’re coming,” Audra was the one
who replied.
“Sorry, meant it as a surprise. I was planning a sneak attack on you, to try to get you to come
home with me,” he admitted.
Her face fell, “Oh, Heath, I can’t. Samantha and Peter need me here.”
“It’s all right, Audra,” Samantha tried to be brave. “You should go home with Heath.”
But Heath just shook his head, “Nope, you stay here as
long as you need, Audra. I’ll take care
of things at home. Right now, though,
ladies, I’m gonna keep my promise to a group of little boys and go downstairs
and play. I’ll send your friends back
up. We’ll talk later, Samantha.”
The two Barkley women exchanged a look and just silently
watched as he left the room. Heath
walked slowly downstairs and out the back of the house. Nicky saw him coming first and literally
jumped out of the swing to rush to his uncle.
Heath reached down and grabbed the boy by the ankles and dangled him
upside down, causing Nicky to giggle wildly.
As Tom and Adam rushed over to join the fun, Heath winked at the women
and then told them to go back in and finish up their “hen party.” Christiana protested at the term, muttering
how all the Barkley men had no appreciation for women’s discussion groups. Heath just grinned at her. He nodded and spoke to Becca also, promising
to visit with her later before she headed back around the back wall to her
parents’ house. As the women started
toward the house, he gathered the courage to call out to the last woman in the
group.
“Hester,” Heath said softly.
She turned to look at him, her heart in her throat. She knew he must be so angry with her, with
what she had done to him and Nick. But,
surprisingly, his eyes were gentle.
“Thanks,” he started and then paused as her expression
turned to incredulous. He continued,
“Thanks for being such a good friend to Sam.
She’s going through such a bad time now . . . she needs all the good
friends she can get.”
She bit her lips to keep from crying and she could only
nod.
“I know Tom and Nicky enjoy playing with Adam,” he
concluded. “I hope that you and Adam
keep coming over to visit. It’ll mean a
lot to the whole family.”
“Thank you, Heath,” she finally whispered.
He smiled softly and added, “Adam’s a real fine boy. You’re doing a good job with him.”
And, as Samantha had predicted, that was just the thing to
tease a smile from her.
Continued…