Audra looked down at her brother's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful, she thought. Like nothing was on his mind, nothing was worrying him, there was no heartache troubling him tonight. She loved when he was happy, when he smiled, when he laughed.
She smiled to herself at how close they had become. She felt like she knew Heath in her own special way better than the rest of the family did. She felt she saw the most of what he was like when he was really himself.
She knew she saw a side to Heath that the rest of the family had only glimpsed briefly. He could be very playful. He could be so funny; he was always making her laugh. It was almost like being a little girl again sometimes, but this time with a brother closer to her age and more interested in playing with her. She adored Jarrod and Nick, but they had often just patted her on the head and gone about their business. She and Heath not only had fun, they really talked.
Well, that is, she told herself, you really talk, and he mostly listens. The most important thing he had told her was that he had been happiest of all to find out he had a little sister, that he got to be a big brother. This revelation, one of the few he had made, had touched her heart.
She thought Heath was in awe of Jarrod, though she sometimes saw them talking seriously; she had no idea what about. She knew he was sometimes still on edge around Nick. He would have never admitted that, he had said nothing of the kind, but somehow she knew. She was getting to know him well enough when he was relaxed to be able to tell more easily now when he was nervous.
She felt that she knew that because he had started relaxing with her. She realized now he had been almost constantly nervous with them all at first. She hadn't been totally sure why. She had had a puzzled look on her face one time when Heath had quietly gone up to bed one night not very long after he had come to them. He had said goodnight to her very sweetly and kissed her on the cheek, but she sensed his tension. She wondered if he only relaxed when he was away from them all in his own room.
Jarrod had seen the look on her face. "What is it, Audra?"
"Jarrod, why is Heath so nervous all the time? Does he not really like us?"
"It's nothing like that at all, honey," Jarrod said. "I think he's overwhelmed. You have to remember every single thing in his life right now is new. His whole way of living is new. We're all new to him, but not to each other. None of us have ever been in that situation, but you can probably imagine that it's disconcerting."
Audra thought about that for a minute. Of course. If she had found herself with a new family all of sudden, after not knowing about them most of her life, she realized that she would be nervous around them too. "I can understand that," she said softly.
"I think Heath has probably always been a shy and quiet person," Jarrod told her. "And Audra, it's important to remember that Heath's childhood was nothing like ours. Nothing at all. We had each other, Mother and Father, more than enough of everything. It wasn't like that for Heath."
She nodded her understanding, but she wondered what things had been really like for him. He had said almost nothing about it. He had made the briefest references to things that had happened or that he had done growing up, but these things never revealed much about his circumstances.
He had only told her the fun or interesting things, like playing with Modoc Indian boys and learning bird calls from one of the Modoc men. He'd entertained her with the bird calls, and they had laughed so much her sides hurt. She smiled at the memory.
Now, she watched him sleeping, which she had a feeling he was only doing because Mother had prevailed on him to take the medicine Dr. Merar had prescribed. She had almost giggled watching Mother get stern with him about this. "Not another word," she'd said, holding up a hand that meant hush, using the tone of voice that Audra knew well, the one that said she meant business and do not cross her if you knew what was good for you.
She almost wondered if she should have warned Heath about this. But she saw he recognized this well enough for himself, like it was clearly not the first time he had received this kind of admonition, not by a long shot. He'd taken the medicine, Mother had been pleased and patted him on the shoulder then kissed his cheek before she left the room. Heath had grinned at her mischievously behind Mother's back, making her laugh.
She started to turn off the lamp and go to her own room, but something stopped her. She felt guilty. If she hadn't caused such a fuss with Evan Miles, none of this would have happened. The brother she had come to love so much wouldn't be lying here recovering from a gunshot wound. Hadn't Heath been through enough already, she wondered. Why this had to happen too was beyond her. She felt tears come to her eyes.
A slight sound caught her attention. Had Heath stirred? She wiped her eyes and looked at him. He'd turned his head and murmured slightly. Was he trying to open his eyes? A minute later, he was looking at her, though he seemed a little dazed.
"Audra?" he said. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm keeping an eye on you. You were shot over at the Miles place. Nick brought you home." She wiped her eyes hastily, hoping he wouldn't see she had been crying.
"What's the matter, little sister? Why are you crying?"
She smiled through her tears. She should have known she had zero chance of Heath not noticing she'd been crying.
He took her hand. "What's wrong?" he asked again.
The tears came harder. "Oh, Heath, this is all my fault. All my fault. If I wasn't such a spoiled brat, and made my birthday such a big fuss, and flirted so much with Evan, and led him on, none of this would have happened."
She saw her brother was instantly fully awake, his blue eyes on high alert, blazing with a look she had seen many times before – her father's when he was angry about something. She hoped Heath wasn't angry at her, but she felt he had a right to be for causing this mess.
"Audra, listen carefully to me," Heath said, giving her the most serious look he ever had.
"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because I want you to hear every word I'm about to say to you."
"All right, Heath, I'm listening."
"Good. You know you should listen to your older brothers. Though it's all right if you ignore Nick sometimes."
She giggled. How like Heath to slip in something to make her laugh. She knew he hated seeing her upset.
"None of this is your fault. None. You hear me?"
It almost felt like Father was giving her a stern talk, the way Heath was looking at her exactly like Father had. "But Heath, if I hadn't…" she couldn't find the words.
"Audra, first of all, I am going to tell you one thing – I do not for one second believe you were leading Evan on."
"But…" she stopped. She wasn't sure what. "I was so…flirty."
"Audra, nineteen-year-old girls are flirty. That's normal."
She smiled at him. "I guess you would know."
"You're right, I do know. I know very well. I'm a lot older than you, and I've been around a lot more, and I know that kind of thing."
"You're not that much older than me," Audra said.
"Well, not compared to Nick or Jarrod. But I still know more about these things than you do. More than I hope you ever will."
She wondered what he was talking about, but just guessed it had something to do with his experience with women. She had overheard something the boys were talking about one time, with Nick and Jarrod being impressed with something about Heath, and it had something to do with Heath and some girl or woman. They'd all stopped talking the second they saw her.
"Like what?" she asked, curiously.
"Like never you mind," Heath said, raising an eyebrow. "Just trust me on this."
"All right, big brother, whatever you say."
"That's more like it."
Audra couldn't help but giggle.
"Please listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you, Audra. I really want you to remember this."
"All right, Heath, what is it?"
"A man is responsible for his own behavior, his own actions. No matter what a girl does. No matter how flirty he thinks she is, or what signals he thinks she's sending him. The minute she says no, he has to stop. He needs to control himself. If she changes her mind, that means no."
He looked at her, and again she thought of Father lecturing her. It was something about Heath's expression that made her think of this. "And no means stop."
She looked at him. "But…" she wasn't sure what she meant.
"No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Audra. When a woman wants a man to stop what he's doing to her, he needs to stop. No matter what."
"All right," she said.
"So Evan should have stopped when you told him to stop. I know you told him no. I heard you screaming for several seconds before I got out there. He should have stopped long before you had to scream and had to keep screaming until one of us could hear you in the house. You hear me, Audra? He should have stopped so much longer before that.
I've never seen or heard a girl start screaming for no reason at all. She always says something first, like no, stop. And even if she was screaming for what he thought was no reason, he needs to stop immediately, and apologize for whatever he did to make her that upset." He looked at her. "That's what a decent man would do. And Evan Miles is not a decent man."
Audra nodded. "I think you're right about that, Heath."
Her brother's piercing blue eyes met hers. "Nick and I are pretty different from each other," he began. Audra wondered what he was about to tell her. "I'm not always sure I'm right, like he's sure of himself. But I know I'm right about this."
"But Heath, isn't it a girl's responsibility to behave herself like a lady? If she wants to be treated like one?"
"Well, that's probably not a bad idea, Audra. I don't know what mothers tell their daughters. I'm sure Mother can tell you best on that. But Audra, even if a girl wasn't being as ladylike as she should, that does not give a man the right to keep doing what she doesn't want him to do."
She nodded. "I'm afraid that's what I was doing, though."
"Audra, please," Heath said. He was giving her a look she hadn't seen before. It was the look of someone who had seen much more than she had, like he was saying Really? "I don't believe that. I think you were doing what is perfectly natural for any girl your age. Batting your eyelashes and giggling at what he says and even saying something like how handsome he is or whatever. That is not leading him on."
"Well, then what is? When is something the girl's fault?" There had to be something, she felt.
"Basically, never. Men use that expression to blame a girl for their own behavior. A man using brute force on a woman is always wrong. That is always his fault. There's no excuse for it. I'm not saying a man is some kind of beast if he misunderstands her intent, and things maybe get a little bit heated or out of hand at first, but when he sees she's upset, or she says she's changed her mind, or she starts to resist, he needs to stop it."
Audra looked at him. He clearly felt strongly about this. She was always curious about him. She wondered if he was thinking of an experience he'd had.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked her.
"I was just wondering…"
"Wondering what?" His tone was kind. He looked almost amused.
"Have you ever had anything like that happen? A girl changing her mind?"
He laid his head back against the pillow, realizing this conversation was going to go on longer than he'd thought. "Well, since you asked, Miss Audra Barkley, and must know everything, as a matter of fact, I have."
"Really," she mused, looking at him. She thought her very handsome older brother had always had success with girls. Girls were crazy about him. Some of her friends had infuriated her by being snobs about his birth, but they always admitted he was attractive. Many of her friends had crushes on him. He'd been described to her as "dreamy."
No one had ever said that about Jarrod or Nick, she had giggled to herself, though of course they had had plenty of admirers and many girls had wanted her to introduce them. Heath had a certain swagger than even his sister recognized, something that drove women wild. There was just something about him, as she knew from the sighs of other girls her age when they were anywhere they could see him.
"You're looking at me like you don't believe me." His eyebrow was raised again, and he was looking at her sternly.
"Oh, it's not that," she said. "If you say so, I believe you." She giggled. "It's just that, well – girls seem to really like you. A lot."
"I'll be honest with you, Audra, because I want to help you. Yes, I've been pretty lucky with that. I figured out pretty young that girls liked me. When I was about fourteen, I made it kind of a game to see if I could get every girl near my age to smile at me. Bonus points if she was older than me." He chuckled at how silly that had been.
"Did you?" Audra asked. "Get them all to smile at you?"
"I did," he grinned at her. "Of course, there weren't that many girls close to my age by then, a lot of people had moved away." Audra realized something else about Heath – he often qualified the details of what he said, especially if it was about something he had done well. She would bet he'd had no problem at all getting girls to smile at him.
He continued, "I thought I was madly in love with a girl when we were both sixteen. I asked her to run away with me and marry me." He smiled at her. "I was such an idiot."
Audra giggled. "I doubt you were an idiot," she replied. "My guess is that she liked you back."
"She did," Heath admitted. "And it was her father who ran me off, as well he should have at our age. But she certainly didn't accept my offer to run away and get married. Thankfully." He grinned at her. "That was so ridiculous. So don't think I don't know anything about silly crushes, or feeling like you're really in love, doing dumb things when you're young, or all that."
Audra was curious. "What was her name?"
"Her name was Libby," Heath said. He looked lost in a memory for a minute. "Red hair. Very pretty. She was a very good singer. She went on to sing on the stage somewhere. She wrote to me for a while, but I lost touch with her years ago."
Audra smiled. Heath had just shared something very personal with her. That meant a lot, she knew. He had never been this open with her, or so willing to talk about himself. He had always turned the conversation back around to her. He was revealing himself to her for a reason, she knew.
"She wasn't the girl you were talking about, though, right? The one that changed her mind?"
"Oh, that," Heath said. "Yeah, that was someone else. I was a little older then, maybe about your age. She gave me a look that I interpreted as her wanting me to kiss her. I had seen that look plenty of times before, and I was sure that's what it was. She kissed me back at first. Then, she changed her mind, and I could feel her pulling away from me and stop kissing me back. So I let go of her. I stopped."
"I see," Audra said. "Were you upset with her?"
"No, not at all. I told her I was sorry, that I must have misunderstood. She said it was all right."
"But wasn't it confusing? Her kissing you back at first?"
"Maybe a little," Heath said. "But I learned early on that women are plenty confusing."
She giggled. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really," Heath assured her. "You females are the most confounding creatures. I guarantee none of us males really have much more than the foggiest notion what is going on in your heads."
This made Audra laugh so hard she had a hard time stopping. "Oh, Heath, you put things the funniest way."
"Well, it's true," he said, grinning at her. "But Audra, the point is, whether I was confused as to why or not, she had every right to change her mind, to tell me to stop. It didn't matter whether I understood why or not. I needed to stop, so I did."
"I see," she said. She smiled at her brother. "Thank you for telling me that, Heath," she said softly, touching his hand.
He smiled at her. "It's really important to me that you understand this, Audra," he said. "I haven't gotten to be your big brother for long. So it means a lot to me if there's anything I can do to help you."
She was touched. He was so sweet, she thought, as she had thought many times.
He went on, "I can't have my little sister thinking it's her fault, something like that. It's just not. Audra, Evan Miles is a sorry excuse for a man. If there were anything decent about him, he would take responsibility for his own actions.
Instead, he blames you, which is an absolutely disgusting thing for a man to do, or he blames me, says I overreacted, not because he's got his hands on my sister and she's screaming, but because I'm…whatever." She knew what he meant. She swallowed the lump in her throat that came whenever she felt someone was hurtful to Heath.
The way he was looking at her, he must have guessed her feelings, Audra thought, the way he so often did, the way he could so easily tell when something was bothering her. Heath was very sensitive, she realized, so aware of the way people felt, even as he tried to reveal as little as possible of how he might feel.
She wondered why he was like that. This brother of hers that she now treasured was a mystery to her in some ways still, and she hoped that in time she'd know more of what went on in his mind. She knew it was a lot, that he was always thinking.
"It's all right, little sister," he said. "Don't you worry about a thing." He smiled at her, but she knew there was some pain behind his smile.
"Heath, I hate it when people do that," she burst out.
"Do what?" He was looking at her, alarmed, wondering if he had upset her.
"Say ugly things to you, or judge you for something that is not your fault, without even knowing you, without knowing how wonderful you are." She was crying again, crying at the injustice of it all. She hated people being mean to Heath.
"Hey, now," he said. "It's all right. Don't cry." He squeezed her hand. "It's all right," he said again, soothingly. "This isn't about me. Evan Miles and his stupid father try to make it so, because they don't want to face the truth. Miles doesn't want to face the truth about his son. Evan Miles is a monster, and that father helped make him that way."
"Why do you think that?" Audra asked, though she sensed that her brother was probably right.
"Because of the way they don't own up to things," Heath said. "It's like they take no responsibility at all. His father shoulda snatched him outta there and at the very least, given him a hard lecture about how to treat girls. At the very least. Then make him apologize, whether he thinks his boy is at fault or not."
"Why should he apologize if he doesn't think it's his fault?"
"Well, it was his fault, but to answer your question, to take responsibility. If there's a situation at a party or dance, and it involves a man and a girl, if the girl ends up screaming or crying, the man did something wrong. Period. He may not have meant to, he may think she's overreacting, but he should still apologize if the lady is upset.
Like I told you, men don't always understand women. But they can all understand this: Men are bigger and stronger. That can intimidate women. The man shouldn't let that happen. It's a man's job to protect women, not hurt them." He shook his head, winced at the pain shooting up his arm, and said, "I can't think of much that disgusts me more than a man that mistreats women."
Audra desperately wanted to ask Heath about his mother, but she wasn't sure if she should. She hesitated.
"What is it?" he asked her, knowing there was something she wanted to say.
"Promise me you won't be mad at me?"
"I promise," he said, wondering why on earth she thought he'd be mad at her.
"The way you feel, what you just told me…is it because of your Mama?" She knew Heath thought of his own mother as Mama, and Mother as well, Mother, of course. She'd been surprised that day, not that Mother had invited Heath to stay, but that she had asked him to call her Mother. Now, looking back, it didn't surprise her at all. It wouldn't have worked well any other way. Mother taking Heath as her own was by far the best thing. Audra realized more and more how much Heath needed this, how grateful he was for it.
Heath looked at her, his blue gaze inscrutable for a minute. She could tell he was thinking. "Well, maybe so," he said. "It's more of what I believe than just what I feel. Like I feel like punching Evan Miles until he can't even move, but I believe he's a monster because his father never made him own up to anything. I had to form my own beliefs about what a man should do, for the most part.
I watched men I respected to see what they did. And I had a man teacher my last couple years of school who was kind enough to tell me some things, since he knew I didn't have a father to tell me. My mama told me some things, though.
She made me take responsibility for and own up to anything I did. She didn't listen to excuses. I didn't dare ever lie to her, because she absolutely would not tolerate that. She was strong in her own way. And one thing she made absolutely sure I knew was that no means no when it came to women. When a woman said no, she said, leave her alone. Period. The end."
Heath looked away for a minute. "She was trying to protect me in her way. She felt that people might not give me the same chance or as much benefit of the doubt as others, so she wanted me to be extra careful, never give anybody the wrong impression. That's why she was so adamant about some things. She couldn't completely control me, and I didn't always do what she said as I got older, probably because she couldn't make me the way a father could."
He shook his head for a moment. "My poor mama. Good lord, how she tried. She did manage to get some things into my hard head. That was one of them, how to treat a woman and how not to treat a woman."
"She did a good job," Audra said softly.
Heath smiled sadly at her. Audra guessed that he was remembering his mother. "I'm glad you think so," he said, a faraway look in his eyes. "That would have pleased her, that she did something right." He looked at her again.
"When I was a boy, I thought it was the absolute worst thing in the world to live in a house with three women. I thought I knew it all and they knew nothing." He looked away for a minute and said, "But I guess it taught me some things, though, about how to act around women, what they like, how not to upset them, that kind of thing."
He grinned at her. "And definitely, how to apologize. I remember my mama making me apologize for things that I thought were completely unreasonable, but she said a gentleman apologizes when a lady is upset, period, and I'd better learn to do that. She said I could act like a gentleman even if I never had the means of one, and if she had anything to do with it, I would."
Audra looked at him fondly. She loved him so much. She knew Heath was as tough as a man could be, that he could be as fierce as he needed to be, that he could make just about anything he did on the ranch look effortless, like it was nothing. She knew he could probably wallop just about anybody, and that he was physically capable of anything he needed to do. Heath scoffed at physical pain and got right back up – the same way, she thought, that he absorbed the blows that didn't leave marks on the outside. He just kept going, no matter how he felt. For this reason, she worried about him.
She knew that he didn't have a mean bone in his body, that there was a deep gentleness and kindness that ran all through him. She'd seen the compassion in his eyes when he'd gone with her to the orphanage, the way he instinctively knelt to the children's level instead of towering over them to talk to them.
She thought of the way that he insisted on driving her, going with her, rather than her going to town by herself, anytime he was near the house and realized she wanted to go. He didn't care if Nick got mad at him for taking the time; he was going to see her safely there and back. How lucky they all were to have him now, she thought. How she wished they'd gotten to be children together.
"Heath," she said. "I understand everything you told me. I think you're right. But I still think…" she paused. "Don't be mad at me?"
"You know I won't be," Heath said. "When am I ever mad at you? And even if I was, I guarantee you I couldn't stay mad for long."
"I just hate what all has happened. I feel like I should apologize, even if it's not my fault, just to smooth things over." Tears came to her eyes. "You could have been killed. When Nick brought you home, he was so angry that he went straight to the gun room and was loading up. He was going to go right back over to the Miles place. He said a couple more inches the wrong way, and we'd be burying you. I've seen Nick mad plenty of times, but he was furious. Furious. Mother had to really pitch a fit to make him not go over there right then."
Heath absorbed this information. He hadn't known that. He wondered if Nick had seen what he had – that it was Evan who had shot him. He returned his attention to his sister. "Audra, I'd never try to tell you not to do something you think is right, unless it was dangerous, in which case I would try to stop you. If you think that's what you need to do, that's your decision."
He squeezed her hand. "I don't necessarily agree that you should apologize. All right, I flat out don't. I don't think you have anything to apologize for. But it's true that calming things down some is never a bad idea. Bullets flying doesn't ever really help. I don't want anyone to get killed, even I feel like beating Evan within an inch of his life with my bare hands." Heath wouldn't budge on that one. If he ever got the chance, Evan Miles would be sorry. The punches he'd landed the night of Audra's party would look like a walk in the park when he got through.
"I'm so relieved you understand, Heath," Audra said. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing either you or Nick, or heaven forbid, both of you."
Heath smiled gently at her. As much as he'd enjoy thrashing Evan, a part of him agreed with his sister about the general concept of smoothing things over, and an even bigger part understood how she felt. He had never felt particularly helpless – he had been scrappy from an early age, ready to fight back – but he had seen how his mama felt, and sometimes Aunt Rachel, and definitely Hannah – they had all been at men's mercy.
They just either had to hope and pray, or in Hannah's sake risk life and limb to seek escape. The men could do what they wanted, and the women sat there and felt nervous or scared, nothing they could do about it. He didn't think that was fair. Seeing things from Audra's point of view, he'd support her, no matter what she chose. Even if he preferred her to choose slapping Evan Miles in the face.
"I understand, little sister," he told her. "You do whatever you need to do. I'll always have your back."
She impulsively reached over and kissed him on the forehead. He grinned at her and said, "Just give me the word, though, when it's all right for me to whup him, and I will."
Audra giggled. "You have to get better first. There was a bullet in your arm."
"Evan Miles would be a one-arm job."
"Heath Barkley, you better behave yourself."
He laughed. "I'll try. For you, I'll try." He looked at her seriously again. "Audra, please promise me one thing, though."
"Of course, Heath, what is it?"
"Please, please don't go anywhere near Evan Miles. If you insist on apologizing, let Mother do it for you. Please."
"All right, I will," she said, seeing how important this was to him.
He looked relieved. "I don't trust him, Audra. I don't trust him at all. Either him or his father. I think he's capable of anything, and I think his father would do anything to let him get away with it and face no consequences for it." Heath fully believed that Evan would have raped Audra if someone had not intervened.
He continued, "I don't know if I told you, but one job I had was working with a U.S. Marshall, Frank Sawyer, as his deputy. We put some bad men away and faced some others that got away. Audra, there's no outlaw that I ever came across, that I think is as evil as Evan. As bad as some of these men were, and some of them got hanged for murder, most of them probably wouldn't have hurt you, because you're a woman. And at least they were openly evil. Evan tries to hide it by being from a respectable family. But he's every bit as dangerous."
Audra was looking at him wide-eyed. "Don't ever let yourself be anywhere alone where he can get to you. He's got some kind of obsession with you. Whatever happens, this is not going to end well if he has any chance to get to you."
Audra nodded. "I promise, Heath, I will be very careful."
Mother came in then. "Careful about what?" she asked Audra. "And why are you awake?" she asked Heath, looking at him sternly. "You're supposed to be asleep. You need to rest."
"Careful around Evan Miles," Heath said. "He's dangerous, Mother."
"Yes, he is." Mother totally agreed with Heath on this.
"Audra," Heath said. "Will you be my favorite little sister in the whole world, and get me some milk? I have a feeling Mother is going to make me take more medicine. And that stuff is nasty."
"Your feeling is correct," Mother confirmed.
"Of course I will," Audra beamed at her brother, happy there was something she could do to help. She called over her shoulder, "And I'm your only little sister, so I always get to be your favorite."
Heath smiled at her retreating back. As soon as he was sure she was out of earshot, he looked at Mother and said, "It was Evan who shot me."
"You're sure about this, Heath?"
"I'm sure. I saw him aim higher than the others did."
Mother nodded. "Nick seems to think so too. What I don't know is if we can prove it."
"We can't," Heath said. "I already know that, even though I think the angles would show the shot could only have come from there. But proving that requires witnesses as to exactly where Evan was, and I don't know if they would tell the truth."
"You're probably right, Heath," Mother said sadly. She hated that it had come to this.
"Mother, Audra has it in her head she needs to apologize to the Miles family. I don't think she has anything to apologize for. If Audra hadn't screamed, it would have been too late. She had been screaming long enough for me to hear her all the way in the house and then run all the way out there. He still had his hands on her when I got there. I believe Evan Miles would have forced himself on her."
"You're probably right about that too, Heath," Mother replied. "I was afraid of that."
"The only thing innocent here is Audra herself," Heath said. "She did nothing wrong. She was just doing what all young girls do. It was his fault. Evan's father is a fool. He wants to excuse his son's behavior instead of making him face it, and he had the nerve to blame Audra, say she was asking for it. That's disgusting. I'm worried about Audra, Mother. I don't think this is over, not by a long shot. He's got some kind of obsession with her, and he's going to try something else."
Victoria didn't have to ask Heath what he thought Evan might try. She shuddered, thinking about what could have happened to Audra and what had already happened to Heath. Nick's words came back to her… "A couple more inches and we'd be burying him!" She hadn't seen Nick that angry in a long time, and it had taken all her strength to stop him from escalating what had happened into an all-out war.
"Mother," Heath said, looking at her earnestly.
"Yes, Heath?"
"If Audra insists on this apology business, can you do it for her? So she's nowhere near him?"
"Of course I can, and I will," Mother said. "That is a very good point, Heath. I also think that Evan is not to be trusted."
"Did you ever wonder why he was away so long, Mother? What was he doing? I'm sure Miles would say school, but Evan doesn't strike me as that smart, like Jarrod is."
Mother chuckled at this. "I think you might be right about that." She knew Evan was hardly a blazing intellect.
Heath leaned his head back on the pillow. He was getting tired. Victoria could see this. "You should rest," she said gently.
"Thank you, Mother," he said. "I'll sleep a lot better not worrying as much about Audra."
Victoria smiled at him. There was no one more protective of Audra than Heath.
Audra came cheerfully back into the room. "I got your milk, Heath, and I figured you might like a piece of this apple pie, so I brought that too." After she set the tray down, she said, "Nick won't touch it because I made it, but I tried it myself, and it is not bad. Silas helped me make sure I did it right."
Heath grinned at her. He took a bite, wanting her to know he appreciated her effort. It really wasn't bad. Nick was missing out. "It's good, sis," he said.
"Really?" Audra said.
"Yep. Gonna go real nice with that milk. Thank you for getting it for me."
Mother smiled and said, "Audra, let's let your brother rest." She put her hands on her hips. "But first, young man, you take another dose of that medicine."
Heath knew there was no point in arguing. It wasn't just the taste, which was terrible, it was not having a clear head that bothered him. Especially until the whole Miles business was settled. He couldn't reach his watch, but he supposed it was late, and he'd be asleep anyway. He downed the medicine, then took a sip of milk.
"Good night, Heath," Mother said, squeezing his hand. "Come along, Audra. Hopefully, Heath will be back to sleep before too long."
"Good night, Mother."
"I'll come back and check on you later," Audra said.
"I'm fine. You need to get your sleep too."
She gave him a look that meant she was pouting.
"All right, all right," he said. "Whatever you say, little sister."
She gave him the smile it always made him happy to see. "That's more like it," she said, grinning as she shut his door.