Chapter 4

All day long, as they hauled rugs outside and beat them to within an inch of their nonexistent lives, Audra found herself daydreaming. She was remembering all the good times she had when she visited the Lees and played with Martha, but she was becoming a bit frustrated when she couldn't remember particulars. All she really remembered was that she and Martha were always laughing.

And she became more frustrated when she couldn't remember exactly when the Lees left and why. She didn't remember saying good-bye to Martha. Martha and the rest of her family were suddenly just gone. It really bothered Audra that she couldn't remember.

Victoria was concerned that as the day wore on, Audra seemed to be more preoccupied. She knew Audra was thinking about the Lees and trying to remember things. She was almost desperate to keep Audra from remembering what had happened on her own, so she kept her daughter working and she kept bringing up mundane things to talk about. Anything other than the Lees.

Silas was aware that something was going on. He remembered all too well what happened with the Lees, and he considered himself lucky that it wasn't his place to talk about it. Through the years, he had learned there were things he overheard that he should never talk about to anyone. This one was one that he had been personally involved with – he had to help pick up the pieces when it happened, and Mr. Tom had instructed him specifically never to talk about it, especially not to Audra or Victoria or even to him. Silas remembered it, though, like it was yesterday. He didn't want to, but he did.

As the end of the day rolled around and there were no more rugs to clean, Victoria and Audra cleaned themselves up and sat down in the living room, just to rest and relax. Nick and Heath would be coming in at any time, but the first thing Audra said was, "I wonder how Jarrod's deposition is going?"

Victoria just said, "I'm sure he'll be home soon and he'll tell us about it."

"I'm sorry he and Mr. Lee are on opposite sides of this," Audra said. "I almost wish he'd bring him home with him so we could catch up."

"That wouldn't be ethical, under the circumstances," Victoria said.

"Mother, I don't really remember why the Lees left Stockton. Do you?"

The question Victoria dreaded but knew was going to come up as soon as Jarrod had mentioned David Lee would be coming to town. She'd had time to think up an answer, but she wasn't sure it was really a good one. "I suppose they had their reasons," Victoria said.

"They never told you why?"

"No," Victoria said. That was technically true. After that day – the day it happened – the Barkleys and the Lees hadn't talked at all about anything.

"Didn't you think that was strange?" Audra asked.

Victoria reached for another decent answer. "Not really. We weren't really all that close. It was just that you and Martha were the same age and I could leave you with them while I was working at the church."

Audra sighed. "I wish I could remember them better, but all I really remember is that Martha and I had a lot of fun playing while you were working. I honestly don't even remember what we did though – isn't that strange?"

"Audra, you were only five years old," Victoria said. "You're not going to remember much detail about anything from that age."

"I remember my pony – Dawn. I remember everything about her – her color, how I could climb onto her with no trouble at all."

"You were with Dawn every day. Of course you'd remember more detail about her. Now – would you like some wine?"

"Yes, please," Audra said as her mother got up to pour.

Victoria was grateful that the end of that line of conversation had come, but barely ten minutes later, Nick and Heath came in from the range and Jarrod was with them. They all looked exhausted. Nick and Heath immediately trudged upstairs to clean up, but Jarrod left his briefcase on the table in the foyer, came directly into the living room and headed for the scotch.

"How did the deposition go?" Audra asked right away.

Jarrod hesitated, sighing wearily. "Long," he ended up saying.

"You look terrible," Victoria said.

"I feel terrible," Jarrod said. "We never broke for lunch. We finished at about two, but I had an emergency come up and I never got to eat. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if I can dig up an apple to get some sugar into my system."

Jarrod left, carrying his scotch, but on his way out, he gave Victoria an unhappy look. Victoria's heart fell. Something had happened. She got up, saying, "Audra, I'm going to check on him. He looks awful. I'll be back in a moment."

Victoria followed Jarrod to the kitchen. He had found an apple and was actually coming back out of the kitchen when Victoria caught up with him.

"What happened?" she asked right away.

"I got an earful from David Lee, about everything," Jarrod said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it while Audra is around, but later, we do need to talk."

"Is it that bad?"

"What happened with Audra wasn't the end of that family's woes – and David Lee is blaming everything on Audra."

Victoria felt sick. "Is he still in town?"

"He left on the three o'clock train, thank goodness. I don't think he'll be back unless we go to trial, but he's a bitter man, a very bitter man. We should talk later. I need to relax a bit and not think about everything that went on today. We'll talk later."

Jarrod put his arm around his mother and directed her back into the living room. Victoria wasn't sure how she was going to disguise her concern about what Jarrod had said, but she decided to take solace in the fact that David Lee had left town. That was something to rejoice about, anyway.

Jarrod guided his mother to the settee beside Audra. He plopped down into his favorite thinking chair across from them, beside the fireplace, and began to munch on his apple and drink his scotch.

Audra said, "I had no idea a deposition could be that trying on you."

"It was just a long one, and I was tired going in," Jarrod said between bites and swallows. "I keep forgetting I'm not twenty-five anymore."

"I guess you didn't get to ask Mr. Lee about Martha."

"No, Honey, I'm sorry, I didn't. We were all just too tired, and Mr. Lee had a train to catch."

"You got his address, though, right? I could write to her."

Victoria looked very nervous.

Jarrod said, "Sweetheart, why don't we talk about all this another time? I'm really beat and I need to get this food into me before I turn into a bear."

Audra let it go then, and she didn't look particularly upset about having to do that. Victoria breathed easier. Jarrod gave her a quick glance before closing his tired eyes and continuing to eat. He really didn't want to talk about the Lees some other time with Audra, but he realized he might actually have to. He didn't intend to do it before he talked with his mother and brothers, though. There was too much for them to talk about.

Too much for Audra to have to hear it flat out.