Heath watched Victoria as she stood and stared at the buggy that had been the one she and Audra had taken out that day months ago that had changed their lives. He knew that not remembering all that happened that day still bothered his mother, though he knew from Jarrod that she was more troubled by what she perceived as her fault in the accident than by what she didn't remember.

All of them had tried to reassure her that she'd done nothing wrong, that they had all done such a thing at one time or another because of their complete trust in Delph, but for all of their assurances, she was still blaming herself.

And it was eating her soul.

Her eyes had a haunted look and she'd lost weight to the point of looking sickly. Silas had done his best to get her to eat properly by fixing things that she normally couldn't resist, but all she did was pick at what was on her plate.

They'd all seen her go out riding before sunrise every morning after she'd had the flash of memory, and Heath knew that each of them had taken their turn following her at a distance.

What Jarrod and Nick didn't know, that Heath had accidently discovered one morning following their mother, was that McCall had been following her and looking after her without any of them knowing. The man still didn't know Heath had seen him, and Heath had told no one of the discovery, but it made him feel better knowing that Victoria was constantly watched so that no harm came to her while she grieved.

Seeing her head drop, Heath moved to her side, trying not to startle her. "Mother," he whispered as he reached out and touched her shoulder.

Victoria started a bit then reached up to wipe at her eyes. "She was so broken. When Delph reared…she was thrown out of the buggy and against the tree. I wasn't thrown until we were passed the tree." Closing her eyes, she once again saw the broken body of her daughter. "I pulled her into my lap and tried to…" she shook her head, a sob escaping as she was pulled against Heath's chest.

"Shh, Mother," he whispered as he held her. As he thought about what she'd said about Audra, he felt his heart twist at what his oldest brother had been living with…what he'd protected them from. Victoria had seen the worst of it and there was no one to protect her from it now that she'd remembered the rest of what had happened. "I'm so sorry you remembered."

"I needed to," she managed through her tears.

"But why? Won't remembering this make your nightmares worse?"

"Probably, but the not knowing all that I should remember wasn't good for me."

Sighing, Heath handed her his handkerchief when she pulled back. "I wish there was something I could do, Mother."

Patting his cheek, Victoria smiled at him. "You're helping just by giving me a shoulder to cry on when I need one."

Heath nodded. "You know all of us will do that."

"And all of you have. All three of my sons have been wonderful to me these last months and I'm a grateful woman to have such caring men in my life."

"Gene wants to come home to help but we've all told him no."

"I'll tell him myself that I want him to stay in school. He's nearly done and I don't want him to lose everything he's worked for."

"He'll be coming home for the summer in a few weeks."

"Then I'll wait and tell him then. It will be good to have all…" she started and then her voice broke and she leaned back against Heath. "I won't have all of my children home. That will never happen again."

Wrapping his arms tightly around her, Heath felt his own eyes fill as he thought of the hole his sister's death had left their family with. She'd been the first to really warm up to him, even after beating him with her whip for daring to disturb the flowers at their father's grave. Finding it hard to think of words that would soothe the woman in his arms, he simply continued to hold her, praying for God to give him a way to heal his family…a way to help this woman who had taken him into her home and heart, accepting him as one of her own.

TBV

Nick paced the library, a glass of his usual drink in his hand. He felt useless when it came to helping his mother. Heath had informed his brothers that Victoria had remembered the rest of what had happened before that blood curdling wail that had echoed through the valley and changed their lives forever. After hearing his mother's description of how she'd found Audra, Nick was even more grateful to his older brother for not letting them see their sister and how broken she was.

He knew with just the description from his mother's memory that he would be having nightmares for a while and he understood better now why Jarrod was having so much trouble sleeping even this many months later.

While he was worried about his brother, he was more worried about their mother. Since the day that she'd had the first memory breakthrough, she'd been blaming herself for what had happened. She rarely ate much, if anything, no matter what Silas tried to entice her with. She'd already been having trouble resting, now she didn't seem to sleep much if at all. She seemed to be wasting away right before their eyes and none of them had found a way to help her.

Looking at the picture of his father, he took a sip of his drink. "What do we do, Father?" he whispered, suddenly wishing his father was there far more than he had since those early days after his death.

But would his father be able to help?

Audra had been his favorite, the daughter he adored and doted on. Would the man be able to deal with her death, especially so tragically?

"Would you blame Mother?" he whispered. He didn't want to think that his father would do such a thing, but somehow…it just seemed to be plausible that the man in his grief would blame his wife.

And just where would that get them?

The poor woman was upset enough over what she felt she'd done, she didn't need blame from someone else.

Taking the last drink from his glass, he put it down on the cart then moved to stare out the window. "What do we do, Father?" he asked again, this time speaking to the unseen father that he'd always been taught had all the answers.