Doubt
When somebody puts something like that into your mind, it's hard to root it out. It just stays there. - Victoria Barkley in A Time to Kill
Chapter 1
Summer 1876
The man came to the front door completely out of the blue, only a few months after Heath had come to the same front door and turned the Barkley world upside down. That was rough, but they were adjusting beautifully, if occasionally awkwardly. This time the shake-up threatened to be far worse.
Silas answered the door. A man in his early 30s with dark black hair and piercing blue eyes stood there. Silas was startled for a moment. The man was tall and looked like a cross between Jarrod Barkley and Nick Barkley. The first thing Silas thought was Oh, no, not another one. "May I help you?" he asked.
"I'd like to see Mr. Jarrod Barkley," the man said, his voice a very deep baritone like Jarrod's.
"He isn't here at the moment," Silas said, "but he's expected back in the next hour or so. Would you like to wait?"
"Yes, I would," the man said.
Silas let him in and directed him to the living room, saying, "I'll tell Mrs. Barkley you're here."
"Mrs. Barkley?" the man asked. "Is that Jarrod's mother or his wife?"
"His mother," Silas said.
The man nodded, looking down. "That would be good, thank you."
Silas went back toward the kitchen, wondering just how he was going to break this to Mrs. Barkley. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, and Heath had been so recent a shock. He wasn't sure how this was going to go over.
Victoria was putting the last of the vegetables into the pot roast she was making. "Who was at the door?" Victoria asked as Silas came in.
"A gentlemen to see Mr. Jarrod," Silas said. "I told him he was expected soon so he's waiting in the living room."
"I'll go see to him," Victoria said.
"Mrs. Barkley – " Silas stopped her.
"Yes?"
Suddenly Silas didn't know what to say. "Well, I don't know what he wants but – "
"But what?" Victoria said.
"I think it's very important," is what Silas ended up saying, but the look on his face told Victoria it was even more than that.
She went into the living room without talking to Silas further and found the man looking around the room. For a moment, she thought it was Jarrod standing there and she was startled, but as he turned, it was he who looked startled.
"Hello," Victoria said, and her skin began to crawl. She too thought Oh, no, not again.
The man said, "Hello," but he said it in a manner that reflected a familiarity with her, and a fond one.
Victoria extended her hand. "I'm Victoria Barkley. And you are?"
The man fumbled and finally said, "Uh – call me Jeb Barton, ma'am."
"Jeb Barton. Is that your name?"
The man fumbled again as he let Victoria's hand go. "Is Jarrod Barkley here yet?"
"No, but he's expected at any moment. May I help you in any way, Mr. Barton?"
"I – think I ought to wait until Jarrod gets here."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes – at least I think so. It's from the war."
The man was still looking at her in a way that made Victoria feel nervous but also made her think she ought to know this man, too. "Have you and I met before?"
The man chuckled a little and looked down at his feet. "I think we might have, but I really need to talk with Jarrod before we talk about that."
Victoria headed for the refreshment table. "May I offer you a drink, Mr. Barton?"
"No, thank you, I don't drink," he said and continued looking around the room.
Victoria caught what he was doing. "Have you been here before, Mr. Barton?"
He chuckled again, and it was oddly reminiscent of the way Jarrod often chuckled. "Yes, I believe I have."
Victoria was becoming almost light headed and thought she'd better sit down, so she went to the settee. "Won't you sit down?" she suggested.
But before Barton could be seated, the front door opened and Nick and Heath came in, talking to each other. When they saw they had a guest, they slowed, and stared. They saw the resemblance both Victoria and Silas had seen.
Nick put his hat on the table in the foyer and came into the living room, suspicion in his eyes. Heath followed, but with confusion in his.
"This is Mr. Barton," Victoria said quickly. "These are my sons, Nick and Heath."
Barton extended a hand, smiling at Nick but looking a little uncertain when he looked at Heath. Both Nick and Heath shook his hand, but for both of them it was just a formality.
"We're waiting for Jarrod," Victoria said.
Nick headed for the refreshment table. "Drink, Mr. Barton?"
"No, thank you," Barton repeated.
"Is there something we can help you with?"
"I think I'd better wait until Jarrod gets here."
"Do you know him?" Heath asked.
Barton nodded. "We met during the war."
Audra came down from her room at that point. Seeing that they had a guest, she slowed until she was standing beside Heath. "Hello," she said.
"Miss," Barton said politely, but that haunting familiarity in his eyes struck Audra, too.
"Mr. Barton, this is my daughter, Audra," Victoria said.
Barton nodded to her again.
Thankfully, it was only a minute or two later that Jarrod came in the front door. He tossed his hat onto the table in the foyer and came into the living room saying, "What a day I've had. I hope the scotch – "
Then he saw Barton and stopped. He looked at the man as if he thought he ought to know him but didn't.
Barton extended a hand. "Jarrod," he said politely.
Jarrod stared at him, and suddenly he realized who the man was. "Jeb Barton?"
Barton nodded as Jarrod took his hand. "Good to see you again."
Everyone in the family noticed that Jarrod didn't seem to be all that happy about seeing Barton, but Jarrod said, "My God, I thought you were dead."
Barton chuckled. "I gathered."
Jarrod said, "I guess you've met everyone."
"Yeah," Barton said. "We haven't talked much about why I'm here, though."
"Why are you here?"
"I think you know why."
Jarrod looked wary. "No, I'm not sure I do."
"Last time we saw each other," Barton said, more to everyone else than to Jarrod, "was the hospital in Washington at the end of the war. We both had head wounds – pretty nasty ones – and even though we didn't know each other before that, we ended up in beds next to one another. We looked so much alike and our names were so close that the staff was always getting us mixed up, remember?"
Jarrod nodded slowly. "I remember."
"Remember how we kept telling each other memories about ourselves, just to be sure we still remembered things?" Barton asked.
Jarrod nodded again. "I remember one morning you were just gone. They said you'd had a stroke during the night."
Barton nodded. "It was a long time before I could even start getting myself back. My brain was just scrambled, and I had to learn to walk again and use my left arm. I fought long and hard to get normal again."
"Well, you look good now," Jarrod said.
Barton nodded. "Funny thing. There was a spell I couldn't talk real well or write anything down, but I did realize that the people at the hospital were calling me by the wrong name. Was such a long time before I could talk that by then it was too late to correct them. And then I started to think about you – Jeb."
Everyone in the room, except Jarrod and Barton, literally jumped.
"What?" Nick said.
Barton looked at him, with that same look of familiarity he'd given Victoria earlier. "I'm not Jeb Barton, Nick," Barton said. "He is. I'm Jarrod Barkley. I'm your brother."
