Chapter Thirty-three (Part II)

"What is it you want to talk about?" Marita stiffly asked, fighting to keep her anger under control, to not say something she may later regret.

Isaac took a deep breath recalling the conversations he'd had with Jessie Mae and more importantly Ned, thinking how important his daughter was to him and how he had to fix their relationship no matter what.

"How have you been?" He carefully asked as he walked into the room and quietly shut the door behind him.

"I've been fine." She tersely stated then resumed reviewing the file before her.

"There's been a lot going on with ranch business." Isaac declared, awkwardly injecting a lightness in his tone in an attempt to ease the tension between them.

"Yes there has." Marita acknowledged while looking for the page she needed in the file. "But I know that's not what you came here to talk about." She said, stopping what she was doing to give her pa her eyes.

"You're right. It's not." Isaac admitted as he came to stand in front of the desk. "I want to talk about what happened last week."

"What is it you'd like to discuss? Your justification for lying to me, or you telling John Wesley about my past?" She questioned with anger and disappointment, causing Isaac to sigh with regret, then reply.

"Marita, telling John Wesley about your past was..."

"Another way for you to try and control my life." She accused, cutting off her pa's explanation. "How could you..." She began then stopped and corrected her thought. "Why am I even asking ,considering the mistruths you've spoken these past three years?" She tartly stated aloud.

"Honey I understand your anger at me..."

"Do you really?" Marita questioned with ire and pain. "Do you really understand how betrayed I feel at your lies, how hurt I felt by you minimizing my feelings."

"I do!" Isaac abruptly exclaimed, shocking her. "And I'm sorry." He said. "I'm sorry." He uttered once more, this time with conviction. Her emotional gaze filling him with hurt and guilt, pushing the words from his lips that had before been so hard to say. "I'm sorry that my lies, hurt you." He continued, driving Marita to draw a deep breath, for sad tears to sting in her throat at what she'd been wanting to hear him say, what she'd needed to hear him say more than a week ago. "I'm sorry for being so insensitive about your hurt and anger over the decisions I made." He earnestly conveyed as Marita dropped her eyes, her heart aching at his words that seemed sincere, but failed to erase the pain of his lies and the arrogance and insensitivity he'd displayed when she'd confronted him about the truth.

"I appreciate your apology" She softly stated, struggling with the gale of emotions within, raising her eyes to her pa. "But it doesn't erase the hurt and anger I still feel about your deceit, and your excuses for it. It doesn't change the fact that just days ago you were still trying to control my life." She shakily uttered. Isaac quietly sighed and briefly looked away, pained by her inability to forgive him, by the wall his lies had created between them.

"I'm not going pretend this is easy for me, and that I won't continue to make mistakes because of it." He then unevenly confessed, again looking at his daughter. "You're my little girl, and I want to…" He paused, his voice choking with emotion. "I want, to guide you through your choices." He continued his tone now fatherly and strong. "make sure your life never leads again to what happened in Chicago." He said. "But in the same vein I know this isn't about me...it's about you, and what you want, and I'm need to try and respect that, respect your choices." He declared, trying to convince himself, apart of him still unable to accept that he needed to let her go, let her make her own choices even if that meant being with Sean Logan. "And that's what I want to do. What I plan to do." He vowed as earnestly as he could.

"You say those words to me, everything you should've said and done three years ago, but I can't trust them." Marita expressed with pain, devastating her pa. "After all you've said and done, the way you behaved, the way you treated me after the truth came out, I can't trust anything you say. I can't trust you." She tearfully conveyed. Isaac closed his eyes, swallowing back the agony that tore through him, then forced himself to respond...

"I know you can't trust me." He acknowledged with strength as he opened his eyes, his stoic, yet painful stare breaking Marita's heart. "But with time...I hope that will change." He said. "I hope that we can rebuild trust." He eyes pled, causing Marita to lower her gaze. She knew what her father wanted her to say and as much as she wanted to give him what he desired, what she too wished, that one day she could trust him again, she couldn't. She could no longer trust him with her hopes. She couldn't trust that he wouldn't try and use it to manipulate her life. Marita drew a deep breath, and for a moment wished for the days when she was oblivious to the truth, when there wasn't so much pain and distance between her and the people she loved most.

"I have to get back to work." She then solemnly stated, turning her gaze back to her pa, stunning and hurting him who was hoping she'd respond with the same hopes as him, that she hoped one day to trust him again. "There's a lot to do here that I must get through by the end of the day." She explained as she again began to study the file on the desk.

"I understand." Isaac sadly stated. "Thank you, for hearing me out." He then said, disheartened by having to make such a remark to his own daughter, who continued to focus on the work before her. Isaac stood there a second longer, wanting to say more, hoping she would look up and respond. However, when she didn't he dejectedly turned away leaving the room without another word, leaving Marita who was now alone to weep at what was now lost between her and her pa.

"What do you think?" Clay asked his father after Sean completed his account of what Asia saw the night of the murder and what was detailed in "MaryLynn's" journal. Ned remained quiet and in shock at what he'd just heard. His hands now folded and resting atop the journal as he remembered the items he'd received the night before which caused him to suspect the impossible.

"Do you have any idea who this Jeb might be?" Sean asked when Ned didn't respond to Clay's question. "Why he would want to take revenge against you?" He pressed as he studied his pa closely, knowing from his expression that was troubled with astonishment and suspicion that he knew the answers to his questions.

"I think I might know." Ned quietly replied, then hesitated, still refusing to believe what logic was telling him.

"Well then why? Why would this man do this to you?" Clay eagerly questioned, not giving his father time to think and construct an answer.

"Clay I said I THINK I might know why he's doing this, not that I know for sure." Ned snapped, taking Clay aback, feeling angry and fearful at what could lay at the center of the trouble he was now in.

"Pa don't do this." Sean strongly requested, giving his father a stern stare. "Don't deny us the information we need to help you."

Ned cast down his eyes, reluctant to answer his sons, to reveal to them apart of his past that he wanted to forget, still struggling with the idea that Jeb might be alive and involved with "MaryLynn's" death. If this was all true, everything "MaryLynn" had chronicled in her journal, it meant that times were dangerous for his children who were trying to fix this for him. He fearfully thought, fix what was his past coming back to him. But the situation was what it was. He bitterly deduced. And the only thing he could do now was deal with it accordingly, protect his children the best way he knew how.

"Jebediah Winters." Ned declared out of the blue, just as Sean was about to press him again to open up.

"Who?" Clay queried with a frown.

"Jebediah 'Jeb' Winters" Ned stated the name again as he lifted his eyes to his sons.

"Winters?" Sean questioned. "This guy is related to Asa?" He asked with alarm.

"He was related to Asa." Ned clarified, his answer shocking and confusing Clay and Sean.

"What do you mean was?" Clay cautiously queried, his mind reeling at how deep the conspiracy went against his pa, how Asa had likely planned to "help" him with the ranch all along.

"Jeb was Asa's younger brother." Ned slowly answered, causing Clay to yelp with shock. "He was supposed to have died 10 years ago in a New York prison."

"So you think he's still alive?" Sean asked as a sea of questions stormed his thoughts, instantly picking up on his pa's "supposed" inference.

"I honestly don't know." Ned said. "I want to believe that he's dead, that he's not behind this, but…." He paused, thinking of the ring he'd received the night before, thinking about the cryptic note, how it's taunting was not Asa's style; he was more straight forward, but Jeb. Jeb was always somewhat of a lose cannon and thus who knew what he would do if he was alive and out for revenge after all this time. "I went to his funeral." He continued, speaking of Jeb, recalling that Asa held a funeral for him in Lexington. "After everything, I still mourned his death." He quietly reflected, now focused on his clasped hands.

"After 'everything what'?" Clay uneasily asked. "Why would Jeb come after you like this?" Ned drew a deep breath, again debating whether he wanted to do this, then accepting that he had no choice...

"Because he thinks I betrayed him, and took away what was most precious to him." He vaguely replied as he closed his eyes, trying to muster the courage to continue on. Clay and Sean uttered no response, but quietly watched their pa, anxiously waiting for him to tell them what he'd been keeping secret for years. "It started a little more than 20 years ago." Ned then began with hesitance. "The Winters and I weren't always at odds. Well, Asa and I never really got along, but I was close to his brother Jeb. We were the same age, and we bonded over our service together in the war, and later the pressure of continuing our families' legacies. I always teased that he had it easier than I because he had a brother to help him carry on the business, while I didn't." Ned disclosed with an anemic smile, then stopped at the poignant emotions those memories stirred. "Anyway, things were good for us. We had, a strong friendship, until that fateful trip we took to New York." He sighed, shaking his head and dropping his eyes at that time that changed their lives forever.

"What happened in New York?" Sean nervously pushed, urging his pa to continue.

"Jeb had business there. He invited me to come along. Your grandpa had nothing urgent going at the ranch, so I accepted his offer." Ned resumed, now looking up. "While there, we went to a saloon, where Jeb took in too many spirits, he could become so volatile when spirits were involved." He uttered in a ruminative tone. "A fight ensued." He continued. "and...a man ended up dead, shot to death at Jeb's hand." He divulged, his voice regretful and low, stunning his speechless sons. "We managed to get away, to allude the authorities and make it back here. We both confessed what happened to our pas', and I tried to get Jeb to turn himself in, per your grandfather's urging, but Jeb refused." Ned said, his eyes seemingly locked ahead, dazed at the memories of that unbelievable time. "His pa was going to help him flee the country." He revealed, thinking how Jeb planned to send for Libby once he was safely overseas. "However before he could flee, the authorities caught up to him. He was arrested, and he blamed me for his capture." He somberly declared. "He believed I informed the authorities of his whereabouts."

"Well, did you? Turn him in?" Sean managed to ask, even as his mind went a million miles a minute, trying to process the astonishing history between his pa and Jeb Winters.

"No." Ned firmly replied, now drawn from his rumination at his son's question. "I was horrified by what happened, and I didn't agree with Jeb leaving the country, but I didn't seek out the authorities to tell them where he was, and they didn't seek me out until after they had him in custody."

"And what did the authorities want with you?" Sean asked, intensely holding his father's gaze.

"They knew I was there, and wanted to know what happened."

"You told them everything?" Sean deduced.

"Yes." Ned confessed, driving Sean to swipe a hand over his face, to close his eyes and sigh at the magnitude of this mess, at the danger Jeb's vengeance posed to them all.

"So he hates you, because he thinks you turned him in." Clay quietly stated, finally finding his voice that reflected his troubled mind.

"And, because I testified against him at his trial." He solemnly admitted what he suspected his sons had already assumed, remembering how the City Attorney in New York had threatened his freedom if he didn't testify on their behalf. "I was the key witness that sent him to jail." He remorsefully expressed, yet knowing the true source of Jeb's hatred for him stemmed from him marrying their mother, Jeb's fiancée – something his children could never know.

"What are we going to do?" Clay questioned at a loss for words and thoughts, having no idea what would be the best course to take with this new information.

"You'll continue with your plan to find the boy that was helping MaryLynn and Jeb." Ned directed to his sons, citing the plan they'd informed him about earlier.

"And what about Jeb?" Sean asked, abandoning his heavy musings for the discussion that had risen. "And Asa?" He added, knowing the man wasn't innocent in all that had happened to their pa.

"I don't want you going after them." Ned firmly asserted, steadily holding Sean's eyes. "It's too dangerous."

"Well then what do you suggest we do?" Sean countered with frustration, well aware of the danger in such a plan, but knowing they couldn't let that stop them if they were to prove their pa's innocence. "We can't ignore what we know." He said.

"I'm not asking you to." Ned sharply contended. "But Asa and Jeb are extremely cunning as evidenced by what has been done here." He said, still finding it unbelievable that he was speaking about his former friend, who he thought was dead, in the present tense and as the potential mastermind behind his troubles. "You can't go after them head on. Otherwise you'll just get entangled in their web of contrivances." He argued, causing an uneasy Clay to shift in his seat at the dreadful situation he was already in with Asa.

"Pa we're not going to march up to Asa's door and confront him about all of this. That would be idiotic." Sean strongly reasoned. "But we can be just as careful and cunning as he to trap him in his own plot to hurt you."

"Sean I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this." Ned maintained, knowing that their visit would soon be forced to end, needing to address other matters before that happened. "You will stay away from Asa, and any plan to draw out Jeb." He said, his tone commanding and severe, driving Sean to back down from the counter he planned to assert. "Do you understand me?" He said in which Clay immediately answered with an affirmative. "Sean?" Ned uttered, returning his gaze to his eldest son.

"I understand." Sean reluctantly replied, though pondering how he might have to defy his father's command.

"Now, there are more urgent matters to attend to." Ned declared, then quickly went on to explain what he needed them to do to protect the ranch and the family from further damage at the hands of Asa and Jeb Winters.

Alice walked her horse towards the barn, feeling better than she'd felt in weeks. Not only was there hope with her pa's case due to the witness Marita had discovered, she was very pleased with what she'd accomplished with her sister. Lexy had been extremely disappointed with being pulled off harvesting the peas. However, just as Alice had hoped the hearty lunch and ride to the pond had managed to cheer Lexy up. She happily thought as she watched her now smiling sister assisted a stableboy in taking her horse into the barn.

"Nice day for a ride." Jeremy said as he walked up to Alice just before she reached the barn, drawing her surprised eyes to him and took the reigns of her horse to lead it the rest of the way.

"Indeed." The young woman merrily exclaimed, following the young man.

"You're in a good mood." Jeremy smiled, glancing back at her. "Things going better for your pa?" He asked.

"Yes." Alice answered, thinking of the witness Marita had found, encouraged by her story despite the obstacles they faced in proving it. "The trial is going much better than expected. I think for the first time in weeks we really feel he has a chance of beating this."

"Sounds like your father's lawyer presented a smoking gun." The young man deduced, hoping it would lead to Alice opening up about what he'd heard earlier in the garden.

"Well no." Alice laughed. "If he had a smoking gun I suspect my pa would no longer be on trial." She said. "But what he presented was encouraging." She said, disappointing Jeremy with her response.

"You sure there's nothing else going on with the trial that will help your pa?" Jeremy casually pressed as he now guided the horse in the barn. "You seem unusually calm, happy?" He noted.

"There's nothing else." Alice claimed, even as thoughts of Asia fueled her cheerful spirit. "Why are you so interested in my pa's trial?" She asked, now slightly suspicious. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you cared about what happens to him more than me, and I'm his daughter."

"No, I don't." Jeremy replied as he stopped and turned his full attention to Alice. "I mean, I do care." He quickly recovered. "But I care because of you." He explained.

"And why do you care because of me?" Alice shyly asked, putting him on the spot. Jeremy stood speechless, like a deer in the path of a hunter, scrambling for an answer looking from her perspective as if he was nervous about expressing himself, when he finally came up with a suitable answer.

"Because I… like you, more than a friend." He confessed, lying, thinking that Alice was a sweet girl and under different circumstances he'd probably want more, but different wasn't the circumstance and thus this was merely an exercise in deceit in attempt to get the information he needed.

"Really?" Alice replied, not knowing what else to say, after calming the excitement that helplessly fluttered in her heart.

"I know there's a lot going on in your life right now, but Shakespeare in the Park starts on Saturday, and I'd like to pay you a call, take you to the event if you're interested." He proposed.

"I don't know what to say." Alice uttered in shock, feeling as if Jeremy's request was coming out of left field as she now recalled their conversation a few days before when he'd asked her if she thought he was sweet on her. She'd vehemently answered, no, but he had not corrected her response by saying he was. Why? She questioned within. Why didn't he admit his feelings then? Was he nervous or afraid? She didn't remember detecting such uneasiness at the time.

"If I'm asking too much with all that's going on, I understand." Jeremy declared when Alice didn't answer his request.

"No, you're not." Alice quickly answered. "I'm just a little taken aback." She said, prompting Jeremy to drop his eyes, his mind racing to concoct a back up plan if necessary. "But…I'd be happy to accept your request." She stated to a pleased Jeremy, deciding to push her questions aside, feeling that an outing with an attractive gentleman would make for a nice change of pace.

"I'm glad." The young man sighed with relief, his smile returning, stirring Alice's own happiness.

"So what time should I expect your call?" Alice queried, her shyness returning.

"6:00PM." Jeremy smiled, then resumed guiding the horse through the barn, thinking he had to make that outing work. He had to make sure he got her to tell him about the mysterious Negro witness who could help her father's case.