Victoria smiled as she read the letter from her daughter. Audra was in New York staying with Jarrod and his children for the past six months while his family dealt with the loss of his wife. In the beginning when Victoria and Audra traded letters back and forth Jarrod would only send his wishes through his sister but he was now writing short little notes to her which she thought was a very large step in the right direction. He also sent pictures the children had drawn for her although she really couldn't make heads or tails of them.

Victoria looked at the picture on her bureau of Jarrod, Hester and the children which had been the last picture the family had taken before Hester's cancer returned. It was quite obvious how much the couple was in love and once again Victoria cursed herself for her foolishness. She sighed as she picked up the letter Hester wrote her shortly before her death and read it once again.

Mrs. Barkley,

I want to thank you for raising such a marvelous man as Jarrod. He is by far the most loving, kind and forgiving man I have ever met and I consider myself blessed many times over he was able to look past my rather ominous past to give me the best five years of my life. Not only did he give me his unconditional love he also blessed me with our beautiful children; your grandchildren. Although Jarrod would never admit it, I know he was hurt and troubled by your family's refusal to accept me as his wife, however I do understand. I hurt your family terribly and if I was in your shoes I am sure I would feel the same way. That being said I hope and pray after I am gone Jarrod is able to reconnect with the family as he and the children will need all the love and support you can give them. I am not giving up on my fight but I know it is inevitable and my time is probably short. Please believe me when I tell you how much I loved Jarrod and wished with all my heart our lives together would have lasted much longer but it was not meant to be. I will be forever grateful for the five wonderful years I had with Jarrod and our children.

Hester Barkley

Victoria sighed as she folded the letter and put it carefully back in the envelope. What a fool she had been.

"Mother, mother," Nick bellowed from the front parlour.

Victoria shook her head as she left from her bedroom and glided down the stairs. "Nicholas must you bellow?"

Heath chuckled as Nick spoke, "Sorry mother." He handed his mother an envelope and said, "This was delivered earlier."

Victoria looked at the envelope but didn't recognize the writing although the postmark was from Boston it wasn't Eugene's writing. She carefully opened the envelope and pulled out an invitation. Her eyes got wide as she read the invitation.

Nick and Heath frowned as they waited for their mother to tell them who it was from.

"Well?" Nick asked impatiently.

Victoria was smiling although there were tears in her eyes. "Eugene is getting married next month."

"Boy howdy, I knew he was serious about Edith when he brought her home for Christmas but I didn't think they'd tie the knot this quickly," Heath grinned.

"It's kinda quick isn't it? I mean don't all you women like to drag out the engagements?" Nick asked.

Victoria frowned at Nick, "Nicholas. Each woman is different and since your brother is still in school I' m sure this is being scheduled around his break."

"Oh," was Nick's only response. He exchanged a look with Heath as the brothers wondered if the quick marriage was due to other reasons.

"So, when we leaving?" Heath asked.

"It will be a week's worth of travel and I will need to do some shopping for a dress and a gift once we get there," Victoria stated.

Nick swallowed and asked cautiously, "Do you um think maybe Jarrod would be up for a visit from us?"

"I don't know Nick. I certainly don't want to push him too hard too fast. He has only recently been writing."

Nick sighed as he knew his mother was right. Although Jarrod did write his mother, he made no mention of his brothers in his notes which made Nick and Heath wonder if their oldest brother was still upset at them.

"Well why don't we just plan on going a week early so mother can do her shopping and if Jarrod wants to visit with us he'll let us know," Heath suggested.

"So we'll leave here week after next?" Nick asked.

Victoria smiled and said, "Yes so that should give you two plenty of time to get everything in order so you can turn the ranch over to Duke with no problems."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jarrod groaned, "I don't know how I let you talk me into this."

Eugene smiled as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, "It wasn't me big brother that would be our sister and my future wife."

"Hmph," Jarrod sat down and sighed heavily. He was happy for his little brother but he was having mixed emotions. It had been over seven months since Hester passed away and he was doing better but it was still hard as hell. He missed his wife terribly and all the events of the day reminded him of what he no longer had. His heart constricted as he thought of his wedding to Hester.

Eugene saw Jarrod's tortured face and sat beside his brother. He was torn about asking Jarrod to be his best man but Edith convinced him if Jarrod wasn't comfortable doing it he would have spoken up. Now as he looked at his brother he wondered if he made a mistake.

"Jarrod are you okay?"

Jarrod smiled weakly, "Yes and no." He patted Eugene's shoulder and said, "Just having a moment but I'll be alright."

"You know Jarrod if you want to back out I can get Matt to step in for you," Eugene offered.

"No, I'll be fine but if it's all the same to you, I would prefer he does the speech."

Eugene grinned, "Of course. Besides he has been writing and rewriting his speech for the past two weeks and I would hate to take that from him." The brothers shared a laugh until they heard a commotion outside the room.

Jarrod stood and said, "I believe the show has started." He opened the door to see Lily in her flower girl dress and her little sister, Sophie in her matching dress. They both had a basket full of flower petals they were to throw down as the walked up the aisle before Edith. Jarrod looked past his daughters and saw his son, John as he fought with the tie he was wearing.

Audra appeared out of breath and said, "They look absolutely adorable don't they big brother?"

Jarrod beamed and said, "Yes they do." He bent down as the children approached him and spoke to all of them, "Now I want you to listen to Aunt Auddie okay."They all shook their heads and smiled. "Lily you and Sophie will stand on Aunt Edith's side and John you will stand with me and Uncle Gene."

Lily protested, "I wanna stand wit' you and Uncle Gene papa."

Sophie added, "Me too."

Jarrod looked at his sister and rolled his eyes. This is exactly what he was worried about when Edith and Eugene approached him about having the children in the wedding. He and Audra both had been working with the kids for the last few weeks but he knew no matter how much they practiced it would not go as planned.

Audra interjected, "Girls you need to stand beside the women and your brother will stand with the men."

Lily kicked her feet and pouted, "It's not fair."

Jarrod blew out a long breath and said, "It won't last that long honey and then afterwards we can eat and dance, okay?"

Sophie smiled and said, "'kay, papa."

Audra gathered the children and said, "Well let's get in our places."

Jarrod watched as Audra took the children to wait to participate in the wedding.

"Don't worry about it Pappy, they'll be fine."

"Hmph," was all Jarrod said.

xxxxxxx

Victoria was escorted by Mr. Ephlin to her seat as Nick and Heath followed her. The family had not seen Jarrod but she knew he was the best man and the children were participating in the wedding although she wasn't sure of their roles. She wiped her eyes as the reverend, Eugene and Jarrod walked out to take their places. Eugene was no longer her little boy but a man who was getting married to today. Jarrod was dashing in his tuxedo and she was glad to see he had put on some weight.

The doors in the back opened to show Audra directing everyone. Edith only had one attendant who was her older sister. Victoria caught her breath as she saw her grandson, John walk down the aisle with a little pillow in his hand. He was busy waving at people but once he spotted his father he ran directly towards Jarrod.

Nick and Heath laughed at their nephew as he proclaimed loudly, "Papa!" And everyone in the church laughed. Jarrod smiled weakly as he rolled his eyes and put his hands on John's shoulders.

Next was the flower girls, Lily and Sophie; they were to throw the flower petals on the floor as they walked slowly up the aisle. However Sophie dropped her basket and petals went everywhere so she decided to help Lily with her petals however Lily didn't want to share so the sisters started fighting over the remaining petals. Sophie became upset and ran back down the aisle and started to pick up the petals and throw them again much to her sister's disgust.

Eugene started laughing as he watched the scene until Jarrod was forced to leave his spot and get his daughters before they got into an all out fight. With each one under one arm he placed them next to him and gave all three of his children the 'look'.

Victoria wiped her eyes as she looked at Jarrod with his children. As she looked at Nick and Heath she noticed their eyes were riveted to Jarrod and the children also as if they were trying to memorize every detail of the family.

Finally the music started to announce the bride to be.