"Audra! AUDRA!" shouted Nick, turning his head towards the billiards room, holding the door open. Turning back to the young man, he gestured to welcome him into the house.

The young man, tall and blond and blue eyed like his mother, put his satchel down on the inside step, and extended his hand to Nick. "You have to be my Uncle Nick," he said, smiling.

Nick shook his hand, not yet recovered from the surprise, but he managed to say, "We weren't expecting you so soon."

"So soon?" Charles asked. But before the words had left his mouth, Audra had entered the foyer and gasped in surprise, happy surprise, covering her mouth with the fingers from both hands. Her son turned toward the sound of her gasp and they were soon embracing.

When they parted from their embrace, Audra took a step back to get a good look at the son she had not seen in many months. He was now as tall as she and his face was beginning to take on the contours of adulthood.

"What – why - you could not have received my telegram," he said, "I wired you yesterday asking to come as soon as you could."

"I finished my exams early and got on the first train I could. I wanted to see you and knew you would have wired if you were going . . . well, going to be anywhere else."

"Does you father know you're here?" she asked, suddenly a little fearful.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? I've only seen him twice since he arrived in New York." New York City to Charles, Junior's school was a short train ride away.

Caroline had followed Audra into the foyer and was re-introduced to the cousin she'd last seen when they were both small children. Audra ushered Charles into the parlor while Caroline went into the kitchen to get refreshments ready. Nick followed his sister and nephew into the parlor after staying behind a moment.

"Uh, Audra, I'm going to check and see how Em and Julia are doing. Then I think I should go to town and send a wire to Jarrod." He looked at Charles and said, "Your father may not be too happy that you're here."

Charles looked at the carpet for a moment, and then looked up again, "Well, I realize that doing something without his knowledge or permission may displease him but I think my mother needs me." He smiled at Nick and quietly asserted, "And I'm not leaving her. No one can make me." He continued to smile and he was resolute in his statement.

Nick was momentarily taken aback by the young man's boldness but then recognized himself in his nephew's stance. This young man is not a Lorton, he thought, he is a Barkley.

Julia had become a small, hot heap of coughing, mouth-breathing, nose-dripping, flesh. Her breathing was labored and, when she was awake she was so uncomfortable she whimpered, too sick to cry outright. When she was awake, Emily ministered to her, wiping her nose, rubbing her back, cooling her down with wet cloth. When she slept, Emily slept in the bed next to her and this was how Nick found her when he came to tell her Charles, Junior had arrived.

Emily had opened her eyes and Nick was pretty sure she'd heard him but gave little response. As he sat a moment on Julia's bed, he decided he would ride over and let Heath and Sarah know about Julia, and about Charles, Junior. And maybe, he thought, he could bend Heath's ear about his concerns about, well, everything.

He took the path that went directly to Heath and Sarah's house, lost in worry, so was surprised to see Sarah and Leah in a buggy coming his way. When he met up with them, he learned that Daniel had ridden over earlier and told them about Julia and they were coming to help. Charles' arrival, however, was news to them.

Nick found Heath out in back of the house, fixing some fencing with the aid of Daniel and Grace. Heath stopped the moment he heard Nick approach and walked over to him as quickly as he could, and held Theo while Nick dismounted.

"How's Julia?"

"She's pretty damn sick, Heath, and Em's taking it real hard," Nick said. He saw Heath's face relax when he said it, which he found odd at first, and then realized the news Heath might have been expecting instead. "Listen, I come to tell you that Audra's son is here."

"Already?"

Nick stared in the direction of town and told him he was on his way to town to wire Jarrod. The brothers stood silent a moment while Heath studied Nick's face staring into the distance.

"What else is bothering you, Nick? I know you, you know. Spill it."

Nick still stared away but he did answer his brother's concern. "I've never seen Em this worked up about a sick kid before, that's what's bothering me." Heath continued looking at Nick's face, considering why Emily would be so worried. It worried him, too. Then Nick added, "And I had to bail Tom outta jail this morning."

"He shoot someone?" Heath asked, smiling.

Nick snapped his attention back to Heath and said, "That's not funny!"

"Well, what'd he do?" Heath said, trying to be serious again.

"Got drunk and busted up a saloon," Nick said. As soon as the words were spoken, Nick relaxed a little. The brothers smiled slightly, both knowing that they'd each, separately and together, engaged in enough barroom brawls to earn a widespread reputation. Nick, in particular, had been locked up plenty of times and the family had had to pay an untold fortune in damages over the years.

"Well, Nick, I'm not gonna tell you about the apple falling not far from the tree but I don't think you're gonna have much luck if you think a firm lecture from you about upright, moral behavior is going to make an impression on him."

After Nick left for town, Heath, Grace, and Daniel saddled up to ride over to the big house. There was family visiting there and there was family sick there and they needed help. And this is what family does, Heath thought on the ride over. Growing up, he had longed for something that he later understood was a sense of belonging. It was more than a longing, though, it was an aching, a deep aching, and he was grateful to have the intelligence to appreciate that he had that belonging now. The struggle he'd endured as he started to fit himself into this family was now a short and faded memory. Now, on this day, he – Heath – was needed, not to fix fences or gentle a horse or drive cattle, but simply to be there with his family. He was needed by his family.

Sarah and Leah had met Charles but Sarah stayed only a short time before she went upstairs to check on Emily and Julia. Julia was awake in bed, crying and coughing, with her head in Emily's lap. Emily gently moved her child back on the bed in order to stand and greet her friend and sister-in-law. Sarah was startled by Emily's appearance and dispensed with any polite or inquisitive greeting.

"Emily! Go to bed!" It was a command, not a suggestion. Emily just looked at her and Sarah studied the dark, puffy circles under her eyes. Emily wore a dressing gown now, and her hair was plaited into a braid down her back. Sarah had known Emily for many years, knew her well. Sarah had even been present for the birth of every one of Emily's children; she had never seen her look so tired or distressed.

"Emily, now!" Sarah said. She stepped toward her sister-in-law and put her arm around her waist and gently informed her that someone would be with Julia at all times and assured her she would stay throughout the night. Emily gave no protest while Sarah lead her to her own bed, the same bed where she'd given birth to Julia and all the other children before her.

Charles, Junior was the focus of dinner that night. The meal was pleasant though subdued. Tom said nothing, not even to respond to the questions from his siblings and cousins about the cuts and bruises he was now sporting. He picked at his food and Nick ignored him except to roll his eyes at him.

Sarah, Leah, Will, and Nick took turns sitting with Julia through the night. As the sun rose, Nick was just starting to come awake in the rocking chair in Julia's room, legs stretched out in front of him, arms resting on the rocking chair arms. Half asleep, he felt some pressure on one arm and opened his eyes to see Julia standing next to the chair, her hands on his arm. "Papa, Papa! I'm hungry!" Nick felt her forehead, and though he knew he wasn't much of an expert at such things, thought she didn't feel quite so hot anymore. So, he wrapped her in a blanket and carried her downstairs to the kitchen where she ate several slices of bread with butter and jam and some milk he warmed up on the stove. As the food started to fill her stomach, Julia, her nose dripping and her breathing still raspy, started to prattle to Nick who didn't try to follow the story, just looked at her and smiled.

Emily was left to sleep through dinner and didn't wake again till the next morning, feeling warm and woozy, her throat glands swollen and her lungs feeling congested. She felt too sick to care and went back to sleep.