Heath and Sarah and their daughters had said their good-byes to Jarrod and his family the night before and would not be returning to the main house for breakfast. Instead, Heath would be heading out to the herd and Sarah and her daughters returning to their usual routines of school and housework.

The surrey carriage was hitched and loaded with luggage before breakfast so Jarrod and his family could make better time in getting to town and catching the morning train to San Francisco once breakfast was over.

Amid the embraces and farewells on the front porch of the house, Carrie and Vicky talked about seeing each other in a few weeks and promised to write in the meantime. James and Daniel also made plans; plans to hunt rabbits the next time James came out to the ranch. Jarrod rolled his eyes at Nick at hearing this and knew a stern lecture on gun safety would be in his future.

Nick drove the surrey with Will and James traveling behind in the buckboard. Will might have gone straight to the feed and supply store once he got to town but James wanted to ride along with him and he needed to be deposited at the station to join his family. They talked about ranching on the way in to town. Will was amused by his cousin's juvenile notions of what went into running a ranch, all roping and branding and breaking horses, and tried to impress on him the routine, daily labors that could never be overlooked. In the telling, Will knew he loved the ranch but he also knew he wanted more. He just wasn't sure what that was.

The farewells at the station were brief. Nick was distracted and eager to get back to work though he did take time to tell James he did good work and should come out to the ranch again soon. He thought about giving him another brief lecture about following orders but decided to save it for another time.

Later, Nick and Will loaded up the buckboard with the needed supplies and Nick started for home while Will collected the mail and then the telegrams which continued to arrive in the wake of the news of Victoria's death.

Back home, they unloaded the supplies with the help of a few hands and headed into the house to deposit the mail, have a little coffee and grab some jerky before riding out to the herd. Riding in silence for several minutes, Nick looked over at his son and said, "So, ah, you wanna look into going to college?" To Will, the question seemed to come out of the clear blue sky and it startled him, but Nick had been thinking a lot about what his wife and his brother had said to him.

Neither Carrie nor Daniel felt inclined to go to school that day and Emily indulged them. Tomorrow, however, they would return to school and on this day, they would tend to chores: Daniel to cleaning the chicken coop and weeding the vegetable garden and Carrie to weeding Grandma's rose garden and doing some of the mending which had sat wanting attention for over a week.

Emily stood in the parlor and sorted through the mail and the telegrams. Those that were clearly about the ranch went on the desk in the library for Nick to answer and Audra and herself would answer those addressed to the grieving family. Midway through the handful of telegrams she stopped. Holding the one telegram in her hand, she called Audra's name and followed her response to the dining room where Julia was helping her pretty aunt straighten the tablecloth.

As Emily handed the telegram to Audra, they looked at each other but said nothing. Audra opened the telegram and scanned through it quickly. Emily watched her expression soften from concern and worry to a gentle smile.

"It's from Charles, Junior," she said as she sat down at the table to read it again. Emily sat down, too, and continued to watch her. Julia climbed onto a chair so that she could be sitting at the table with the women.

"Emily, he says, 'Father here soon STOP Pls stay in Cali STOP I will write STOP Love C.'

"I don't understand. Charles is on his way to Connecticut? New York?" Emily thought it odd that Charles, Junior would tell his mother to stay in California but she didn't know how to ask about it. Perhaps, she thought, he didn't want his mother returning to an empty house in Seattle but she sensed there was more to it.

"Charles had no plans to go to New York and he usually tells me when he has to travel without me." Audra's eyes were filling with tears when she looked back up at Emily. "Oh, Emily, I'm so afraid that Charles, Junior shares his father's feelings for me!"

Emily moved from her chair and stood beside her sister-in-law, her arm around her shoulder, holding her close, while Audra let her tears flow.

Emily felt a familiar tug on her skirt and looked down. "Momma? Why is Aunt Audra crying? Did her Grandma die, too?"

Emily pulled out the chair next to Audra's and lifted the child onto her lap. "No, Julia," she reached out to touch Audra's arm, "it's going to be all right because Aunt Audra's going to stay with us and we're going to love her and take care of her, right?" She kissed the top of Julia's head and Audra smiled.

~BBB~

Over the days that followed, the family fell back into its routines of ranch and school and home. Audra's presence helped to ease Victoria's painfully felt absence and Nick was pleased to see his sister regain some of the spark she'd had when they were younger. She spoke up a bit more and was less inclined to ask and simply do; she was no longer acting so much like a guest in the house. Riding Juniper around the ranch seemed to revitalize her.

A letter from Charles, Junior arrived several days after the telegram and Audra read it in her room and didn't mention it to anyone until a few days later.

Dearest Loving Mother,

Please know how very disconsolate I am to hear of your mother's passing. I recall you speaking often and fondly of her and cannot fathom the grief you are enduring. Father informed me you had gone to California for the funeral and that you plan to stay on at the ranch to help Aunt Emily in what I remember you describing as a large house filled with much activity at all times. With five children and the person you have described as your brother Nick I imagine you and Aunt Emily have enough to distract you at times from your grief.

I am very glad and much relieved to know you are surrounded by family who love you dearly. You deserve that. You deserve to always be shown love and tenderness. Please forgive me if my words seem blunt and forward but I feel I must take the opportunity of this time to share with you my heartfelt sentiment. I know I am not an adult though I am no longer the child who went away to school those years ago and I have learned much in that time which I feel must be spoken here.

You were so sad when I went away to school but I was glad to go. I could not have articulated to you at the time why I felt the way I did but I think I have some understanding now. You know of my friend George, I have written to you about him before, as he and his family have taken me in for some of the school holidays. Mother, I watch George's parents and they are tender with each other and often laugh together. This fascinated and intrigued me as it was so foreign to my understanding and I asked George about his parents until I feared he thought me daft. I cannot help but compare my parents with his, or Douglas's parents, or Steven's, or any of the mothers and fathers of the fellows I know here at school.

When I first arrived at school and it was nighttime, I was never lonely or scared, young though I was. It struck me as strange that I longed for you but I never longed for my father and in the quiet of the evening in the dormitory I could hear the muffled echoes of your cries and father's angry bellows.

Mother, I beg you to stay at the ranch for as long as you can, for as long as they'll have you. I am not yet a man so I am impotent to help but I pray the day comes soon that I may provide a safe and loving home for you. Until that time, I will ask Uncle Nick or my uncles Jarrod and Heath to have you remain in California with them and away from the life I myself was glad to leave. Please, please, write and let me know you forgive me my forwardness. I know it is not a child's place to instruct a parent but I would sleep better knowing you are safe in California. You are forever in my prayers.

Your most loving and affectionate son,

Charles, Jr.