Chapter 4

Nick watched as Jarrod left and Heath rode up beside him. Heath got straight to the point with Nick. "Jarrod said to ask you about this Carol Keenan."

Nick watched Jarrod until he disappeared over the ridge. "Did he now?"

"What's it about?"

Nick still didn't look Heath's way. "It's about a woman I thought I loved and I thought loved me, but I was wrong."

Nothing new about that, Heath thought. There had to be more. "What else?"

Nick finally turned his attention to his younger brother, and the tenseness left his shoulders. He just shook his head. "I can't explain it out here. Maybe we just best wait until we get home and we hear what all Jarrod has in mind."

With that, Nick turned his horse and rode away. Heath knew he wasn't going to get one iota of information more out of him, and he knew this evening's get-together before dinner was not going to be peaceful. He thought – not for the first time – that this Barkley family was a lot more turbulent than he had bargained for, but he was in it now. The papers were signed, and even if he had yet to change his name legally, all the rest of it was legal and binding on him, including being part of conversations he'd rather not be involved in. But that's what being part of a family was – the good and the bad. He knew it when he decided it was what he wanted. He didn't plan to change his mind now.

XXXXXXX

Jarrod got to the house and came in the front door carrying the Grant memoirs in his portfolio. He left it and his hat on the table in the foyer and started to go looking for his mother and sister, but Victoria appeared from the library before he go very far.

"Did you find out anything?" she asked.

He knew she meant about the memoirs. Jarrod nodded. "Yes. Is Audra around?"

"No, she's gone over to the Marshall place to take them some preserves and fresh apples," Victoria said. Then she saw how unhappy Jarrod looked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Jarrod took his mother by the elbow and led her into the parlor. "I've picked up a new client, and yes, she is involved with the papers Heath found and she's in jail on yet another charge."

"What charge?" Victoria asked. Jarrod had steered her to the settee, but she declined to sit down.

"Passing bad money," Jarrod said. "She says she didn't know it was bad and I believe her, so I agreed to represent her as far as trying to get her a plea bargain is concerned, but I told her that would be as far as I would go. I won't represent her if she has to go to trial."

"Why not?" Victoria asked, knowing that was an unusual position for Jarrod to take. "Who is she?"

Jarrod took a deep breath and said, "Carol Keenan."

"Oh, my heavens," Victoria said and slumped down onto the settee.

Jarrod sat down beside her and took her hand. "I know what you're going to ask me."

"Yes, why on earth did you take her case at all?" Victoria asked. "After what happened with Nick, how could you get within fifty feet of that woman?"

Jarrod couldn't explain the whole thing. He had never told anyone about what happened when Carol left the last time because he never expected to see the woman again. But now here she was, and Jarrod needed to give some explanation as to why he was representing her. He was just glad he had his reasons that didn't include what she might reveal to them about her last visit. "She's a woman alone and in jail," he said. "She has a viable defense against the charge. She says she did have a conventional life for a while, even married, but her husband died in an accident only six months after they were married. She's lost, Mother."

"That doesn't mean you have to be the one to find her," Victoria said.

"Which is why I told her I would only take this as far as trying to get her a good plea deal," Jarrod said. "Let's talk about it this evening. Let me talk to Nick about it first. Maybe there's a way – "

"Jarrod," Victoria said, very seriously, "do I need to remind you what happened to Nick because of her?"

"No, you don't need to remind me," Jarrod said. "He was pretty broken up and it took a while to get him back together. But that was six years ago, Mother. I've wired Pinkerton for some help with this. Regardless, I think she is innocent of knowingly passing any bad money."

"And 'The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant'? What is that about?"

"I know, that's not something that sounds all that innocent – she was trying to get some sucker to believe they were real and buy them from her."

"Jarrod, you are out of your mind to be representing that woman. You should turn her down."

Jarrod got up. He wished he could explain everything about why he was representing Carol Keenan Bernard, but he knew it would be a giant can of worms he'd be opening if he told her what happened the last time she was here, and he knew it would hurt the hell out of Nick. "I can't do it, Mother," he just said. "I really believe she's innocent of the charge, and there's another reason, but I can't explain it to you, not yet. Please, just trust me."

Victoria took a very deep breath. "When you decided to expand your law practice and take clients outside the family, we made it clear that your outside practice would not hinder or harm the family in any way."

Jarrod nodded. "And I've already let that happen more than once, I know. It was an unrealistic expectation, Mother, and we've talked about it when my outside work has impinged on the family before. We decided we would handle it."

"This is different," Victoria said. "It's one thing when a defendant threatens you or takes a shot at you. It's quite another when you take on a client who has a personal history with the family."

Jarrod sighed. They had definitely reached an impasse. "Let me talk it over with the whole family here this evening."

"Will you agree to abide by what we say?"

Jarrod hesitated. "I can't resign from her case, Mother. I'm hoping you'll all understand once we talk."

"You might just be asking too much, Jarrod," Victoria said. "And if all the rest of us are against you taking this case and you still take it – "

She stopped there. Jarrod understood, and he nodded. "I know. I've done it before and you feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

"That's exactly right," Victoria said.

Jarrod couldn't bear the expression on her face. The last time he took a case the family didn't want him to take was Corby Kyles's case, and that ended up a disaster. A disaster they forgave him for. If he did it again, there might not be any forgiveness this time. But if Carol told them what he had done the last time she was here, that might be tough to forgive too. He was stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

Now he knew it was all going to be up to Nick. The family would do whatever Nick wanted. Jarrod had no idea what that was going to be, but he hoped he could do some fancy talking when the whole family was together, and he hoped he would at least retain some of his teeth once Nick was through with him.