By late afternoon, the younger children were over-tired and the girls were bored. Grace would have liked nothing more than to join Tom and Will with their afternoon chores out in the barn but instead made herself useful by keeping a cranky Daniel and Julia occupied and gave them a snack since dinner would be later than usual.

There had been deliveries of telegrams, scores of telegrams, throughout the day, including one from Audra stating she hoped to be in Stockton by dinner the following day. Her telegram did not mention Charles. Flowers arrangements also started arriving throughout the day, one from California Governor Budd, others from ranching neighbors.

Sarah and Emily added all the leaves to the dining room table so that it could now comfortably seat twelve.

"Six adults and ten children!" Emily said to Sarah, "Where do we usually put everyone at Christmas? How are we going to do this?"

Sarah laughed and counted on her fingers, frowned, and recounted. "How about the six adults – seven tomorrow – sit at the table with Vicky, Ellie, and James, and everyone else can shift for themselves?"

"Brilliant!" said Emily. "I rather suspect some of the older kids won't be disappointed to be banished away from us."

~~BBB~~

Audra didn't start to relax until the train was south of Olympia. She felt both bone weary and excited at the prospect of seeing her family and the valley she loved so much.

The last time she'd seen her family, she and Charles and Charles, Jr., along with his nanny, had spent two too short days at the ranch on their way to Denver and then on to New York City. And that was - Audra stopped to count - ten years ago. And so many children! She smiled as she remembered. Nick's boys were six and seven, Jarrod's first girl was five, the same age as Charles, Jr., and each of her brothers had daughters in one year, fours years old at the time of her visit. Grace was two and just learning to walk with that leg. Jarrod's son, James, was an infant, and Emily was expecting again. What fun they'd all had! It had been chaotic and noisy and even the grown ups were playful and laughing. Charles, too. And then, too soon, it was time to go. If she had known she wouldn't see them again till now . . .

There had been a lot of travel in the early years of her marriage. There was still travel but it wasn't as frenetic as before as she and Charles were now firmly based in Seattle.

Seattle. Charles. The thought of both dampened her happy memories and she knew she would need to return to them and it made her feel . . . heavy. Audra's sense of dread had become so much a part of her being she could no longer name or recognize it. She sighed. First, though, she would enjoy a visit with her brothers and their families.

~~BBB~~

Heath took the surrey carriage into town to meet Jarrod's train. He was glad to have some time by himself to think and it was a bittersweet reunion when the San Francisco Barkleys arrived at the ranch.

While Jarrod sat at his mother's bedside alone, Jane and her children chatted with Emily and Sarah while Nick and Heath carried their luggage to the guest house.

Jane was the daughter of a prominent San Francisco family. She was tall with perfect posture, green eyes, and glossy brown hair. There was nothing of the spoiled daughter of privilege about her: She was forthright and political but poised and discreet. She might make the perfect politician's wife but for her activism with women's suffrage. There was some talk this made her a political liability for Jarrod but if true he didn't seem to mind. He was, in fact, very proud to have a wife who acted on her beliefs and was something much more than an attractive decoration on his arm.

Sitting down to dinner that night, Nick gave Jarrod, as Pappy, the seat at the head of the table. Emily again hesitated to sit in Victoria's chair but was gently teased by her husband and in-laws who had come to understand her natural reticence and how to encourage her out of it.

Jarrod led the family in prayer in which he gave thanks for the family being together and asked for safe travels for Audra.

As serious and somber the event which brought them together, there was also a wash of warmth in knowing they belonged to each other. Opportunities for everyone to come together at one time were fairly rare anymore and whatever the cause of it this night, there was a sense of celebration alongside the grief. The irrepressible cacophony brought by the ten cousins together did little to seal the room with gloom. And, frankly, this was as Victoria would want it.

Tom and Will sat at the children's table, a normal size table so named only because that's where children ate. And where Tom and Will went, Jarrod's son, James, was never far away. At ten, he was enthralled with his older cowboy cousins. He didn't believe it when his father told him about his own youthful adventures. He simply could not picture his father with a cowboy hat, a gun, and riding herd or busting up a saloon.

But if James looked up to his Stockton cousins, Leah and Carrie were impressed and not a little intimidated by their San Francisco cousins. To these ranchers' daughters, Vicky and Ellie – short for Victoria and Eleanor – were the epitome of style and sophistication and they noted every detail of dress and inflection of voice.

Emily understood but it was almost beyond Nick's comprehension that the aftermath of the occasional visit from Jarrod's daughters always included a request for a new dress and hat from his own.

After dinner, Jarrod, Nick, and Heath sat alone together on the veranda while the children took over the billiards room – with strict instructions to keep it quiet: no laughing, no running.

Jane, Emily, and Sarah planned for the coming day: getting the guest room ready, preparing food for guests, and rearranging furniture in the parlor to accommodate the coffin being delivered the following morning.