Conquering the Past
Chapter 1
"Okay," Heath said very slowly when he realized Nick wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to him. The wagon was filled with supplies they needed and it was time to head home, but Nick was staring across the street with a small, distracted, somewhat stupid grin on his face. Heath didn't even have to guess why. He knew what to look for.
And there she was, a dark-haired beauty, dressed attractively in a soft blue dress with white trim at the collar, wearing a white bonnet and carrying a white reticule. Heath had to admit to himself, she was a looker. Nick was always immediately entranced by a looker, and he was in a trance now.
"I'll catch up with you," Nick said softly, still smiling, and he started across the street.
Heath just waited, taking his hat off and wiping the summer sweat from his forehead before putting his hat back on. He considered ducking into the Empire a few doors down for a drink, but then he remembered how fast Nick's attempts to get to know a beautiful woman could end.
So far, Nick didn't have any excuse for addressing the woman at all, but Heath watched him take his hat off, bow slightly in front of her and to the side so it didn't look like he was accosting her. She stopped.
She smiled, maybe just politely, but she didn't attempt to get around Nick. Nick spoke, still smiling. She nodded and answered briefly, still smiling. That went on for fifteen seconds or so before she went on her way and Nick came back over to where Heath was waiting.
"No real luck, huh?" Heath asked.
"I wouldn't say that," Nick said, his chest swelling up. "Her name is Lucy Layton. She's new in town. And she wasn't wearing a wedding ring."
"What brought her to Stockton?" Heath asked.
"Oh, I didn't get into things that much," Nick said. "I just told her who I was and how if she needed any help with anything in particular, she could call on me."
"Where does she live?"
"I don't know."
"How do you expect to see her again if you don't know where she lives?"
Nick's eyes twinkled and he nodded to where Lucy Layton was going into a woman's shop not far away. "I have my ways of finding out," he said.
Both of them smiling now, they climbed up into the wagon and Heath started driving them down the street, heading for home. It was only a few blocks before they passed Jarrod's office, and there was Jarrod, heading out and looking like he was in a hurry. He spotted them and flagged them down.
"I need to catch the train to Lodi," Jarrod said, looking up at them. "I only have five minutes or I'll miss it. Do me a favor? I've got a rig at the livery – tell them to hold it overnight, I'll be back tomorrow – unless you think it's needed at home. If it is, just take it there." He started off toward the railroad station, but said over his shoulder, "Tell Mother I should be back tomorrow."
"Not tonight?" Nick asked.
"Probably not," Jarrod said.
With that, Jarrod started hustling off to the railroad station. "He's not carrying anything, not even a briefcase," Heath noted. "Must be some sudden emergency."
"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Well, at least if he doesn't turn up tomorrow, we know where he's gone."
"But we don't know why."
"Most of the time, we don't know why," Nick said. Then he said an exasperated, "Lawyers."
XXXXXXX
With Audra back east visiting friends, Heath thought Victoria might be a little put-out with Jarrod disappearing fast like that, but she didn't seem to be. She just gave a "Hmm," when Nick told her Jarrod had gone off.
That evening they had a cozy dinner together and then adjourned to the library, where Nick and Heath had a game of pool and Victoria read a book. Heath felt a little impish while he was winning the game, and said to Victoria, "Nick met a new young lady in town today."
"Oh?" Victoria said, not as interested as she would have been if this was something new.
Nick said, "Just briefly. I introduced myself and told her where she could find me if she needed me for anything."
"What's her name?" Victoria asked.
"Lucy Layton," Nick said.
Victoria looked up into space, thinking. "Layton. I don't know of any other Laytons in town. Somehow that name rings a bell, though. Is she living in town or staying with someone?"
"I don't know," Nick said. "I didn't ask. I didn't want to be a pest."
"That was very gentlemanly of you," Victoria said.
"He made sure he saw her go into the ladies' shop across from the mercantile, though," Heath said. "So he knows who to ask about her." He gave Nick a smug smile.
"Layton," Victoria said, thinking again. "I take it she isn't married."
"She wasn't wearing a ring," Nick said.
"So Layton might well be the name she was born with," Heath said.
"Or she's a widow," Victoria mused. "Well, if she's planning to stay in Stockton, I'll probably hear about her through the Women's League."
"See?" Nick said to Heath. "I told you I had my way of finding out things."
Victoria really didn't hear him. She was thinking about that name Layton again.
XXXXXXX
As his brothers and mother enjoyed a relaxing evening in the library, Jarrod spent the evening in a saloon in Lodi, at a table in the back, watching a friend get progressively more drunk. Jarrod made sure to stay sober himself and just nursed one shot of scotch, and did more listening than talking.
"I don't know what happened," Phil Layton said for the tenth time, words now beginning to slur. "It wasn't like we were fighting a lot. It wasn't like I was drinking a lot."
For the tenth time, Jarrod said, "She wouldn't have asked me to come here to talk to you if she had given up on you."
"But she wouldn't tell you what was wrong," Layton said. "She wouldn't tell you why she left."
"No," Jarrod said, also for the tenth time. "Maybe she's not sure why she left either. But we've all known each other for years and she figured maybe I could help you sort it out if I came to talk to you."
"It's like she just got bored," Layton said. "Bored with me, bored with our life, just bored."
"It's tough keeping a law practice going," Jarrod said. "Sometimes you get so busy you let other things slide."
"We went back to San Francisco not a month ago," Layton said. "Just the two of us – the opera, the theatre, all that stuff she used to like when I was practicing there, remember?"
"I remember," Jarrod said, and in his mind's eye he saw the young couple that used to be – Phil, a young lawyer just starting out with a firm near Jarrod's office, and Lucy, the daughter of one of the lawyers in Phil's firm. Jarrod had been Phil's best man at their wedding.
Lucy's father, Edgar Tate, had died only a year ago. He had retired from his firm and moved to Lodi to be closer to his daughter and son-in-law, but suddenly he was gone. That left these two people, almost eight years younger than Jarrod, both without families otherwise since they had no siblings and no living parents. But Phil and Lucy were very much in love – until now.
Something had happened. The Laytons had moved to Lodi a year before Lucy's father died, Phil opening his own practice there. Jarrod hadn't seen the Laytons in several months. He hadn't talked to them about anything important since seeing them shortly after Edgar Tate's death and expressing his condolences. Nothing seemed out sorts then. Lucy was grieving, but of course she was.
The only thing unusual about the Laytons was that they had been married for five years now but had no children. Jarrod never asked about that, but now – with Lucy seeming bored and probably still dealing with the loss of the last of her family – Jarrod decided to ask.
"Phil, I know it's just the two of you now," Jarrod said. "Lucy lost her father not long ago and neither of you has any other family. And you don't have any children."
"No, she never got pregnant," Phil said quickly. "We tried – " He left off.
"Did either of you ever see a doctor about why you weren't having children?" Jarrod asked quietly.
"Lucy did," Layton said. "In San Francisco. The doctor said she was fine, so…"
Jarrod waited a little, then said, "So maybe it's you?"
Phil looked at Jarrod with weary eyes. "Jarrod," he said softly, looking down. "I've – been with two other women over the last couple years. Neither one of them became pregnant, and I was with them a lot, without protection. So – there's no maybe about it. It's me."
"Does Lucy know about those women?" Jarrod asked.
"If she does, she never said so," Phil said. "They meant nothing to me, Jarrod, I just – oh, God, it was stupid – "
"Let me guess," Jarrod said. "You thought the problem might be you so you checked it out your own way."
"A stupid way," Phil said quickly.
"Did you catch anything from them that Lucy would notice?"
"No."
"Is it possible one or both of them told Lucy about you?"
"Did Lucy say anything to you about them?" Phil asked.
"No," Jarrod said. "She just said the two of you were in trouble and she wanted me to come talk to you." Then he asked even more quietly. "Are you involved with anyone else now? Be honest with me, Phil. I can't help you if you lie to me."
"No, there's no one," Phil said.
"Has deciding that the problem is with you and not Lucy affected how you treat her – in bed?"
"I don't know," Phil said. "Did she say it had?"
"No, but she probably wouldn't have said anything like that to me," Jarrod said. He gave a big sigh.
Layton was starting to slump.
Jarrod put an arm around him. He didn't really have all the answers he wanted, but his friend was really slipping down the drain now. "Okay, Phil, let's call it a night. Let me get you home. I'll sleep on your sofa."
"Thanks for coming, Jarrod," Phil said.
"Thank Lucy," Jarrod said with a smile. "She sent me. That's pretty good proof she wants to work things out with you."
Layton finally smiled.