Chapter 6
Victoria barely picked at her food at dinner, but the brandy she'd had was making her tired, so she went to bed early. She fell asleep fairly quickly, but woke up long before the sun came up. She couldn't settle down again, so she gathered herself together and came downstairs just as Silas was getting up and lighting the lamps in the living room.
"Mrs. Barkley!" Silas said, smiling. "You're up awful early."
"So are you, Silas," Victoria said as she reached the foyer.
Silas chuckled. "This is the time I always been gettin' up these days, Mrs. Barkley. I'm ahead of you all by a good hour so's I can get the baking done."
Victoria managed a bit of a smile. "Silas, whatever Nick is paying you, it isn't enough. Remind me to have a talk with him when he gets home."
"I'll have coffee ready in half an hour or so, Mrs. Barkley. Will you have some?"
"Please. In the living room."
"Certainly, Mrs. Barkley."
Silas went back into the kitchen while Victoria went to the living room. She tried to sit down and relax, but she couldn't do it. She could only pace around the room, until finally she was so tired she sat down.
"Dear God, let it be today," she said out loud. "Let them find him today. I don't know how much more of this I can stand."
She picked up a book and tried to read, but she couldn't concentrate, so instead she picked up the embroidery she had been working on. It immediately made her remember that Beth had been working on something when she died. She wondered where it was, but didn't see it around the settee anywhere. It must have been in her and Jarrod's room. She sighed and continued with her own work.
The morning passed far too slowly. Silas brought coffee and an hour or so later and said breakfast was ready. Audra came down shortly after that, and as they ate, Audra asked Victoria if she wanted to go riding again, but today Victoria wasn't up to it. Audra stayed with her, despite Victoria telling her it was all right for her to run along. Together, they worked on embroidery projects and did not talk much.
They took lunch in the garden and were there when the sheriff came with Nick and Heath's latest wire. It was the same as always. They still had not found Jarrod but were still following him. The sheriff promised he'd come again the next day, whether he'd heard from Nick and Heath or not.
After he left, Victoria took to her bed for a nap. She did not get up for the rest of the afternoon.
Audra was worried sick. She looked in on her mother several times to find her still sleeping. She suspected her mother was tired from her failure to sleep the night before, but she was afraid a mental illness was sinking in, too. Audra fought the panic that was starting to rise up in her. When she let her thoughts get away from her, she was afraid that everyone in her family was going to be destroyed by this, maybe even more devastated than when her father had been killed. This day after day grinding on them, waiting for something from Nick and Heath that said the searching was over and that Jarrod was all right, the good news that never came - Audra watched what it was doing to her mother and felt powerless to do anything about it. All she could do was say her own prayer for her mother as well as her brothers.
Victoria did not wake up until well after Audra had finished dinner, but when she came down, Silas still had some food warm for her. She ate better than she had the evening before, and Audra was heartened. Afterward, they continued to work on their embroidery until Audra decided to go to bed.
"Since I slept all day, I'm just not tired yet," Victoria said. "You go on. I'll be up in a couple hours."
Audra kissed her. "Maybe you should get Silas to make you some warm milk."
"That's a good idea," Victoria said, and she walked to the stairs with Audra. She bid her a good night there and went into the kitchen.
Silas was just finishing his clean-up of the kitchen when she came in. "Mrs. Barkley! Can I get you anything?"
"Some warm milk would be good, Silas," Victoria said and sat down at the kitchen table.
Silas set about warming some milk for both of them. He would never tell Victoria, but he was having trouble sleeping himself. He had watched Jarrod grow up from a boy of about 10 to the man he'd become. Of course he was worried, but Mrs. Barkley didn't need another worried face around here. He kept it to himself.
"Will you have anything to eat, Mrs. Barkley?" Silas asked.
"No, thank you, Silas, just the milk," Victoria said.
Since the stove was still hot, it didn't take long for the milk to warm up. Silas poured two cups and placed one before Victoria as he sat down with her.
Victoria sipped the milk and smiled. "This might just do the trick tonight, Silas."
"I hope so, ma'am," Silas said. "I know you didn't sleep too well last night."
"To put it mildly," Victoria said. "When those boys get home I may just box somebody's ears."
Silas chuckled. "That might not be a bad idea, Mrs. Barkley," he said. "But I suspect you'll just hug him instead."
"This is so unlike him, Silas. I'm not sure how we'll bring him back around to the man he was."
"Mrs. Barkley – pardon my sayin' it this way, but he ain't never gonna be exactly the man he was."
Victoria looked up at the houseman.
"He's gonna learn lessons from this," Silas said. "They're gonna change him. I expect it'll be more for the good than the bad, but what's happenin' to him now will make a different man outta him. He'll be a man you can be proud of again, but he'll change. He can't help but change."
"I think we'll all be changing, Silas," Victoria said. "I just pray that tomorrow will be the day they find him and however we change, we can start facing it."
XXXXXX
The next day brought a soft, soaking rain to the ranch that set in late in the morning and kept up until late afternoon. It seemed appropriate, Victoria thought. Like tears falling from heaven. Oh, she knew that wasn't really so, but she liked to think that somewhere, some greater power was thinking of her sons and was feeling for her as she thought about them. This had to be the day they found him. This nightmare had to end today.
Silas kept lamps lit in the house all day. Victoria and Audra both found the concentration to read for a change, and again, Victoria decided to nap. She woke up at about four in the afternoon, and immediately realized she hadn't seen Sheriff Madden yet today. She hurried downstairs.
Audra was still reading in the living room.
"Audra!" Victoria called, and Audra looked up. "Audra, has the sheriff been here yet today?"
"No, Mother, not yet," Audra said.
Victoria stood perplexed. "The sheriff said he'd come, no matter what."
Audra put her book aside. "I'm sure he'll be here before long. Maybe it's a good sign he isn't here yet. Maybe he'll bring good news."
Victoria came into the living room and poured herself some sherry. She brought it to the settee and sat down beside Audra. "Maybe something's just happened in town to keep him busy," Victoria said. "Somehow, weather like this seems to bring the grouchiness out in people."
Audra chuckled. "You're right. Even the orphans are miserable."
Victoria picked up her embroidery and set to work again, occasionally sipping her sherry, while Audra went back to her book. About an hour later, there came a knock on the door, and Victoria put her things aside and ran to it before Silas could make it in from the kitchen.
It was the sheriff. He was smiling.
"What?" Victoria asked.
Sheriff Madden removed his hat but tried not to get water on anyone else. "Got a wire from Nick and Heath, from Rimfire. They found Jarrod. He's been hurt but he's all right, and they'll be coming home. Hyatt confessed to killing Beth and he's in jail."
Victoria dissolved in tears. Audra had come up behind her, and she turned into her daugher's arms. Audra was bursting with smiles.
The sheriff continued. "Wire said they'd be a week to ten days coming home. I expect Jarrod needs some rest."
"Did they say what happened to him?" Victoria asked.
"No," the sheriff said. "I can wire back and get more information if you want."
"Please," Victoria said. "And Fred, thank you so much. You've been wonderful through all this."
"No thanks needed, Victoria. Jarrod and I have become good friends over the years, working on different cases together. I'm just happy he's all right. I'll head on back to town and wire Nick and Heath. Be back out as soon as I know more."
The sheriff nodded, put his hat back on and went out.
"I knew everything would be all right!" Audra said.
Behind her, Silas was all smiles, too.
Victoria pulled away from her daughter and wiped her eyes. "I think I could use another sherry."
Silas said, "I'll pour one for you right away, Mrs. Barkley, and I'll get dinner started, too. I think maybe your appetite is back."
Victoria laughed for the first time in days.