Dinner lasted a long time that night, as though the people present wished for time to freeze in order to stave off tomorrow's funeral for mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother. This would be Victoria's last night in the great house. Forever.
When the meal was finally completed, her sons sat together, just the three of them, in the parlor where the coffin lay and said very little, each brother lost in thought and prayer, each brother needing to be with the other two.
Sarah, Leah, and Ellie were in the library, reading. Jane and the other children played cards and checkers in the billiards room.
Emily has just started down the stairs after putting Julia to bed when James and Daniel came rushing out into the foyer, shouting, "Someone's coming! Someone's coming!" followed closely by Jane trying to subdue their exuberance.
Jarrod stood and said wearily, "I hope it's not more telegrams."
"Or flowers," added Heath. Indeed, the parlor had taken on the appearance of a hot house in full bloom. The three headed for the front door together.
Nick was the first to step outside and onto the front porch as Will and Nancy Marvin pulled up in their surrey. Will jumped down from the carriage and walked around from the far side to the back seat nearest the house. A naturally good - humored man, he fought his urge to sound enthusiastic in light of Victoria's recent death.
"Nancy and I were seeing her sister off to Oakland, when who do you think we bumped into at the station?" Will said as he helped Audra down from the carriage.
"Audra!" Nick cried. He rushed to embrace her and was immediately pressed upon by his brothers, both wanting to hug her at the same time as Nick.
"I like the beard, Jarrod," Audra teased. She was trying to keep things light-hearted in an attempt to appear calm and to conceal from herself how profoundly she had missed them all.
Will had unloaded a couple of trunks and several bags onto the front step and was climbing back into the surrey when Nick invited him and his wife in for a drink. Will and Nancy smiled and declined, recognizing the significance of the moment. "We'll see you tomorrow," Will said, and drove the surrey away.
Audra stepped inside the house and was greeted by a virtual wall of faces looking at her. She stood on the step just inside the house and surveyed its interior, which had not changed much over the years, causing a flood of warm memories. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother's body lying still, pale, and very small inside a coffin but Jane, who stepped forward to greet her, redirected her attention.
Before Emily or Sarah could do the same, Nick asked, teasingly, if she know who all the kids were. Audra had stepped into the house, now truly surrounded by family.
"Well, let me see," Audra said, and looking at the tallest boy, she continued, "This has to be Tom and, oh, Nick, it's like looking at you when you were a young man!" She turned her focus to the young man standing next to Tom, "So, this of course would be Will."
Tom and Will, in turn, stepped forward and, gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Aunt Audra," they said.
She turned towards the five girls and said, "Hmm, this is going to be a little harder," and Nick and Jarrod chuckled softly, Heath smiled.
Audra walked towards Vicky, the taller of the two brunettes. "I am guessing this dark haired beauty would be Vicky."
Vicky smiled and said, "Yes, I am," and also kissed her cheek. Ellie greeted her the same.
Audra guessed Leah correctly because she said she looked so much like her mother with her dark blond hair and hazel eyes. Carrie and Grace were also greeted by name. Carrie thought she'd never seen anyone so beautiful in her life.
Only Tom and Will had strong memories of Audra, everyone else had been so young the last time she visited. But all of them had seen photographs of her and her name was mentioned often and always with great affection.
Audra then knelt in front of the two younger boys who stood side-by-side, one an infant the last time she'd met him, the other not yet born.
"Oh," she said, "I just don't know which one of you is James and which one is Daniel!"
James extended his hand and said, "I'm James Jarrod Barkley." This made the grown ups laugh.
"So you are," said Audra, and she shook his hand, "and it is a pleasure to meet you." And then she hugged him.
To Daniel, she said, "I understand you're very good at building things."
Daniel had his chin tucked down to his chest but he looked at her, smiled, and nodded and he hugged her back.
Emily stood on the second step of the staircase and watched as Audra got re-acquainted with her nieces and nephews. She thought Audra looked thin and Emily observed her closely. Victoria had confided to Emily her concern that Audra was unhappy or unwell though she didn't know why she thought that. Aside from being thin, Emily could find no indication for concern from where she stood.
Tonight, despite a long journey, Audra presented a rare beauty. She was dressed in an exquisitely tailored coat and dress ensemble made of dark blue silk. Her hair, now the color of pale champagne, was pinned up to frame her face to which age had brought only refinement. As if by magic spell, her beauty, grace, and elegance had almost silenced the crowd around her.
Still kneeling in front of Daniel, Audra's attention was drawn to the top of the stairs and she slowly and gracefully stood, still looking up. All other eyes followed hers to the small child who stood at the top of the staircase, watching the activity below.
Strands of wavy blond hair had been pulled loose from Julia's braid, forming a light halo around her head. With bare feet and a long white nightgown, the child looked positively angelic.
Nick started up the stairs, arms outstretched and said, "Julia, come meet your Aunt Audra."
Julia took a few tentative steps down. She might have been too shy to join the group on her own but her larger-than-life-itself father was coming to get her and he would protect her. As he approached, she reached for his neck with her small arms and he lifted her up in his. As they made their way down the stairs, she whispered something in his ear that made him smile a broad smile.
"Well," he said, "She's kind of like a fairy princess. She's my sister, so that makes her your aunt like Sarah and Jane."
Standing close, Audra said, "I am so happy to meet you, Julia." Julia responded by burying her face in her father's neck, so Audra added, reassuringly, "Perhaps tomorrow we can get to know each other better."
Only then did Emily step forward and she held Audra in a long embrace. "It's been too long, Audra," she said, and suggested Audra might like something to eat.
"No, thank you," said Audra, "but a glass of sherry sounds lovely."
The grown ups gathered in the dining room, allowing the children use of the billiards room. And there was no seating in the parlor which encouraged casual conversation.
Emily laid out a plate of bread, cheese and meat, and was glad to see Audra nibble at something. Emily was amused, and then annoyed, by Carrie's sudden and frequent need to consult with her about nothing, all to get a glimpse of Audra, and maybe get some of Audra's attention.
Nick still held Julia and soon enough she was asleep on his lap, her head resting against the black leather vest. There she stayed, too, while Nick enjoyed the company of his sister once again and the camaraderie of family.
Nick had been tentative at best as a hands-on father when Tom was an infant. Babies in early infancy scared him because they were so tiny and helpless. He liked them better when they were fatter, and babbling, and could sit up on their own, when they didn't seem quite so fragile. "When they can bounce," he had joked. He became a little more comfortable with each new baby. By the time Julia came along, his fear seemed to have vanished entirely. Hours after Julia was born, Emily had watched Nick from where she lay half asleep in their bed. He tiptoed into the room, reached into the cradle, lifted up the sleeping newborn and cradled her in his arms while he gently rocked in the rocking chair. He never took his eyes off her.
Victoria had watched Nick and his baby daughter, and one day told Emily, "Your children belong to both of you, of course." Emily couldn't imagine what on earth the woman was trying to say, she thought maybe Victoria was losing her mind, but Victoria continued, "But Tom is Nick's boy, Will is yours, Caroline is yours. Daniel you share equally. But Julia, oh, Julia is all Nick's."
Emily had smiled back at Victoria and told her that she was quite wrong: Nick was all Julia's.
After an hour or so, after most of the kids had taken themselves off to bed, and Sarah was making subtle but pointed hints to Heath that it was time to go home, Nick carefully got up from his chair, and said to the sleeping child in his arms, "C'mon, punkinhead, let's put you to bed." And he did.