At breakfast, Tom and Will teased their sister about wanting to be called Caroline. Nick and Emily let the teasing continue for awhile before Emily pointed out that Caroline was the name she was given when she was born. Nick gave his endorsement to the name change by reminding his eldest son about some work he'd promised to do and then called him Tommy. Tom fell silent while his brothers and sisters laughed.

Daniel worked extra fast at his chores, wanting to have everything done before his new friend came over that morning. This Tommy, also nine and also a rancher's son, was not likely to cause the kind of trouble and anxiety his cousin, James, had and Daniel talked about how he was going to show him the mustangs and the creek near the house and take him to the south pasture where there were good climbing trees. This was more information than Daniel usually shared in one breath and his excitement was evident to everyone. Daniel had other friends from school but none of them lived on a ranch like Tommy did.

Mary Kitchner stiffened slightly at the sight of Audra Barkley, she hadn't expected to meet her this day. She knew Audra had broken Carl's heart when she ended their engagement, her sister had told her as much. Beyond that, though, the visit was a pleasant one. Mary offered her condolences and stayed for morning tea.

Tommy Wheeler came dressed as the rancher's son he was, cowboy hat and all, and the boys were off in no time, Nick making sure to pick out a couple of gentle ponies for them to ride. Bertie and Florence had packed the boys some food to take with them so they would not need to come back to the house for lunch unless they wanted to. Emily envied the boys and said as much.

Emily, Caroline, and Julia accompanied Audra to town after Mary left. Most of the food the family ate they grew themselves save for rice and other staples. Emily and the girls went to the dry goods store while Audra walked a few blocks through her old town to send her telegram to Charles, Junior. But when Audra arrived at the telegraph office, there was a telegram from Charles waiting for her. It had arrived that morning.

Dear Wife STOP need u 2 join me NYC STOP expect u soon STOP school ends this week STOP wire back STOP CAL.

CAL for Charles Adam Lorton, she noted. He couldn't even spend the money to pretend and sign the telegram "affcntly" or "yr lvng hsbd." Audra felt light-headed and the telegraph operator offered her a chair, which she accepted. Sitting didn't help much, though. The heaviness returned so completely and with such speed, she felt the walls closing in on her and she found it hard to breathe.

This was not the first time a customer had come close to fainting in the telegraph office and Audra was offered a glass of water, which she declined by shaking her head. She berated herself for being unprepared to hear from Charles. She sat up a little straighter in the chair and glanced out the window, hoping to see Emily so her sister-in-law could talk her through this crisis but Emily was nowhere to be seen.

Audra stared at the wall, as if in a daze. She took a deep breath. First, she thought to herself, I do not need to respond to Charles this minute. That realization comforted her and gave her courage to consider her options: She could simply ignore the telegram. Charles would likely simply send another. Audra rejected that option. It was cowardly and Charles might respond with a demand or simply show up in Stockton and force her back. She could wire him to say she was leaving him. Or, she could wire him a polite missive stating she was needed on the ranch for a few more weeks. That option wasn't an outright lie, she wasn't promising anything, or letting on, and it bought her a little more time to get Charles, Junior to California.

She and Charles often traveled back east to collect their son when the term was over. From there, there was no routine; either the family would travel on to Europe, stay in New York, stay in Chicago, or return to Seattle. Apparently, Charles planned for them to stay in New York. New York: where he kept that woman in an apartment on Fifth Avenue.

Her courage recovered, Audra stood and placed two wires: One to Charles to let him know she needed to remain in California for a few more weeks; and one to her son, asking that he come join her just as soon as he could.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Emily said when she stopped the surrey in front of the telegraph office.

Audra climbed into the back seat of the carriage and Caroline helped Julia climb back to sit with her aunt. "I got a telegram from Charles telling me to come to New York."

Emily looked back at her and noted, despite the lack of color in her face, Audra's expression was serene.

"I replied that I was needed here for a few more weeks. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not."

"And I sent a wire to Charles, Junior asking him to come as soon as he could."

Audra looked down at Julia, sitting beside her, who was busy with the doll in her lap. Her cheeks were stained with tears. Emily had been having a time of it with Julia lately: She'd been up in the middle of the night again and this morning, lacking sleep, she'd been so unruly in the dry goods store that Emily had to remove herself and her child, leaving Caroline to finish the shopping, while she tried to soothe the child in the carriage.

Audra had explained the state of her marriage to Caroline on the way into town but stopped short of revealing any of the physical abuse. Caroline listened intently and started to understand how miserable her aunt had been. It occurred to her that perhaps unhappiness was not exclusive to poor people. Audra explained to her that if she simply left Charles, he could sue her for divorce on the grounds of abandonment. Or, as she intended, she could sue him on the grounds of adultery and cruelty. Caroline wondered if yelling and being controlling was sufficient legal grounds for cruelty, but then it crossed her mind that there might be more to it than she was being told.

"And you have to name the other people, uh, women, involved?"

"Yes."

"Why can't you just divorce him and be done with him?

"Because marriage – and divorce – are legal matters," Emily explained, "and, as such, the court, that is, a judge, has the right to deny the divorce and force the parties involved to try and work it out. But if the injured party presents strong enough evidence there was indeed injury, then the court is likelier to grant the divorce."

There it was again, Caroline, the word "injury." She understood this was a legal term, she'd heard her father, brothers, and uncles use it when discussing property laws and water rights, but it still made her wonder about her aunt's marriage and why the adults had been so intent on Audra not returning to her husband.

Audra watched the countryside she knew so well as the carriage made its way back to her childhood home. She looked down at Julia again, remembering when she was that small, riding with her parents on this same road. Julia's temper tantrum had apparently taken a lot out of her for she was leaning against Audra, asleep. Audra repositioned the little one and eased her head onto her lap. She moved her hand to caress the child's cheek with the back of her hand when she noted perspiration on Julia's forehead. Instead of caressing her, Audra felt Julia's face with her hand.

"Emily! She burning up!"

Caroline looked back at her sister while Emily spurred the horses to hurry. They were close to home now anyway.

Nick and the older boys walked into the house at midday still talking to each other. That is, Nick and Tom were talking loudly at each other, Will was trying to keep out of it. They headed for the dining room for lunch and, while there was food, there was only Audra and Carrie. Caroline.

Daniel and Tommy Wheeler were still out on their adventure and Emily was upstairs with a feverish Julia, Audra explained.

Nick paused a moment. He had seen four kids through plenty of illnesses: snot and coughs and ear infections and vomit and diarrhea and they'd survived it all. They'd survived the scary diseases like scarlet fever and measles and chicken pox. They'd all survived the critical first five years. Julia was four. And Emily was missing lunch. He left the table without saying a word and went upstairs to Julia's room.

Emily had moved the rocking chair into Julia's room and was holding her like a baby, had her wrapped in a blanket like a baby, and was rocking and crying silently but uncontrollably, her face streaked with spent tears leaving tracks for new ones that continue to fall. Nick froze and thought his heart had stopped. Then he saw and heard Julia take a breath and he breathed again, too. He squatted down next to the rocking chair and stilled it.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked. Emily continued to cry and that wasn't like her, not like her at all, and it unnerved him.

"I don't know," she said, and started to rock again. Nick stood and took Julia from Emily. He, too, held her like a baby, kissed her face, and sat at the edge of her bed, still holding her.

"I should have known, Nick! I should have noticed she wasn't herself, that she wasn't sleeping and she's been in such an ill humor. Why didn't I notice?"

"Em," he said, trying to be reassuring. He wasn't sure what to make of Emily's tears and guilt.

"Your mother would have noticed. Your sister is the one who noticed, not me." Emily had crossed the room and was wringing her hands.

"Emily, you're a very good mother, but you're not a wizard, and you got a lot of people to look after. She has a fever, that's all." He stood and put the hot, sleeping child in her bed. Emily came and stood next to him, her tears subsiding but not vanished.

"I just have a bad feeling about this, Nick," Emily said, and started to cry again. Nick had seen his wife cry, really cry, only a handful of times before, and it was always when she was frightened, not sad.

He wrapped her in his arms, stroked the back of her head, and said, "I'll send for Dr. Wold."