Chapter 8

Audra sat there astonished, then agonized, first staring at Jarrod and then around at everyone else, then back at Jarrod again. "Will is gone? He just left? That doesn't make any sense."

"It only makes sense if he's off somewhere trying to make money to help save his father," Jarrod said, "but we don't have any evidence that's what he's up to. We don't have any evidence of anything, except he's been seen up near Sacramento."

"Well, you've got to go look for him!" Audra cried.

"Pinkerton and local law officials up there are doing that," Jarrod said. "We may end up going after him, but not yet. Not until we have a better idea of where he's gone. I'm sorry, honey, I didn't want to get into all this over lunch, but things are happening fast and furious at the moment. And I do have to get back to town."

Jarrod got up as Audra said, "I need to go see Mr. Marvin!"

"No, not yet," Jarrod said.

Victoria said, "Audra, there's more to talk about before anyone but Jarrod goes to see Henry."

"He's pretty fragile at the moment," Jarrod said. "You can imagine why – Will gone, the orchard sold, his entire ranch in trouble. And Mother is right, we have a lot more to talk about but it should wait until later. Right now, I have work to do, so I hope you will all excuse me."

Jarrod got out of there as fast as he could, because he did have a lot of work to do to get the Marvin orchard sale finalized and because he didn't want to answer any more of Audra's questions just yet. Audra still sat looking like a train had run over her.

Heath said, "Audra, right now, we just have to get Mr. Marvin through the next few weeks and wait to see where Will turns up."

"IF he turns up," Nick said.

Audra looked completely uncomfortable with that sole choice. "There's got to be something I can do."

"I don't think Will would contact you since he doesn't know you're home," Victoria said, "but if he does, you must let us know right away."

"Of course," Audra said.

Heath wiped his mouth and put his napkin on his plate. "Audra, why don't you and I go for a ride? The day is beautiful, you need to relax and see the ranch again. Things will look more settled by the time Jarrod finishes up in town and you get a chance to be more at home."

"Great idea," Nick said. "I'll go head out and see how McColl's doing and we can get into all this again later when the lawyer gets home."

Audra gave one more stricken look toward her mother. It wasn't lost on Victoria or Nick or Heath that no one yet had mentioned the possibility of the Barkleys buying the Marvin ranch and putting it in Audra's name. That was a discussion for later. Right now, things just had to settle down.

Victoria reached for Audra's hand. "Try not to worry. Jarrod's been working closely with Henry and with Pinkerton, and we will get the Marvins through this. Both of them, when we find Will."

Audra finally nodded, clearly worried, but accepting the comfort.

"Come on," Heath said and got up. "No use wasting those good riding clothes you have on."

Victoria gave Audra's hand a squeeze and watched as all her children got up and went out of the dining room. Then she let herself take a deep breath and heave a sigh.

XXXXXXX

Heath was right. Going out for a ride, feeling the wind in her hair again, savoring the blue sky and sunshine had Audra feeling more relaxed and secure before she and Heath even stopped to rest the horses at the waterfall they both fancied. They sat down together and she didn't even say a word at first. She just looked at the sky and smiled.

Heath finally said, "It's good to have you home, Sis."

"It's good to be home," Audra said. "World traveling was fun but I was ready to stop. I don't know what I need at this point but it isn't more traveling."

"No, it's staying put here and getting your bearings back," Heath said.

"You've told me plenty about the Marvins, but what about us," Audra said. "Is anything happening with the Barkleys that doesn't involve the Marvins?"

"Not a lot," Heath said. "Mother and Jarrod helped start a shipping company in Mineral Springs."

"What?"

"Oh, it's quite a tale. I'll let Mother tell you about it. She gets a big kick out of telling people. Jarrod turned down a nomination to be Attorney General of California."

Audra nearly jumped up. "What?!"

Heath nodded. "Nick and I were all ready to campaign him right off to Sacramento, but he had a tough case here in Stockton that involved Mother. He took some heat because his client was unpopular – he killed two men and came after Mother, too. Jarrod ended up killing his client and his client's brother and the whole thing had him re-evaluating whether he wanted to be a politician clamoring and compromising for votes, or a lawyer. He decided on the lawyer."

"I always thought he was aiming for the Attorney General position, maybe Attorney General of the United States." Audra sounded disappointed.

"Well, if he was, he'd be the biggest prosecutor around, and I don't think he wanted that either. He made his decision and Nick grumbled a lot, but we supported him."

"It's a good thing, I suppose. He wouldn't be here to help the Marvins if he had taken it."

Audra sighed and looked up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud up there. The sound of the waterfall was hypnotizing and sent her thoughts disappearing into the air. Heath saw her wandering off, and he let his thoughts wander too. It was nice to get lost in the sun, the air, the water.

Then, abruptly, Audra said, "I think we need to do more to get Will back."

"Jarrod's got Pinkerton and the law looking for him," Heath said, "but until we get some better idea where he might be, we don't know where to look." Then Heath looked closely at Audra, and thought about what he was seeing in her as she looked at the sky, uneasily. He decided to go ahead and ask. "Were you thinking it would be good to see Will once you got home?"

"I don't know," Audra said honestly. "Maybe I really didn't think about it until you told me he was gone, but on the way home, after talking to Eugene and hearing how he was getting his future together, after I started wondering about my future…"

"You've started thinking about settling down," Heath said.

"Maybe," Audra said. "I can't say I really thought about Will being someone I'd settle down with, until you told me he was gone. Now – I just don't know."

"Yeah, we don't really think about what we want until we find out we can't have it," Heath said.

"Why do you think Will took off?"

"Nobody knows. Jarrod thinks maybe he found out about his father's financial trouble. Hopefully he ran off to try to get some money together and not just because he saw the ranch slipping away from him. We just won't know until we find him."

"And you can't begin to find him until you have some idea of where he's gone."

"No, we can't."

Audra looked even more unhappy. "Whether Will is ever to be part of my future or not, I want him to come home."

"So does everybody else," Heath said. "It might just take a little time – or he might just turn up on his own."

"I hate to think he's lost forever."

"Oh, I don't think he's lost forever," Heath said. "I think he's just trying to figure out what to do."

"I wish we could help him."

Heath smiled a little. "We will - as soon as we figure out how to."