Do Not Forsake Me (16 page)

Lloyd nodded. “What should we do?”

“Sit tight for now. It's obvious Hash Bryant has rounded up some men and had them go break Marty loose. Maybe it was even Dell who planned it. The kid has been wanting to prove his manhood for a long time now. And that damn prison wagon being late gave him or Hash time to plan this. We have to figure out what they're up to next. I can't go out on the trail yet, but I'll
damn
well get out there soon! And don't you think about going alone! That's an order!”

He limped over to a window and looked out.

“Right now you go catch up with Jeff and your mother. She's at Peter's office by now. You walk her and Jeff back here. Jeff is no match for Marty Bryant if the man is actually around here. Get going, and try not to alarm Katie too much when you get home.”

“What should I tell Mom?”

“The truth, I guess. There's no hiding it from her. I damn well hate burdening her with this.” He limped back to the sofa. “
Damn
it
all!
”

“I don't like leaving you here alone, Pa.”

“
Me?
Do you realize who you're talking to? Go get my cartridge belt. I just have a couple of screws to tighten, and these guns will be in full working order. You go make sure your mother is safe.”

Lloyd nodded and hurried into the kitchen, grabbing a cartridge belt and tossing it onto the end of the sofa. “I'll be back soon.”

He left, and Jake felt ready to explode. He picked up a clean ashtray from the side table and threw it against the stone fireplace, smashing it to pieces.

Randy returned with Brian, Lloyd, and Jeff to find Jake loading cartridges into his gun belt. Randy knew what the look in his eyes meant. She glanced at the scattered pieces of glass around the stone fireplace. “Jake, you can't leave yet,” she said, quickly removing her shawl.

“Can't I?”

“No,” Brian answered for her.

“Pa, you don't even know yet what's going on,” Lloyd reminded him. “We already talked about this. Waiting another eight or ten days won't matter, and you'll be a lot healthier. Besides, you wanted Brian to talk to Mom about the pains she's been having.”

Jake threw the gun belt to the floor and stood up to pace with a prominent limp. “We should have killed Marty Bryant when we had the chance!”

“This isn't the old days, Pa. You can't just shoot somebody because you want them dead.”

Jake looked at him darkly. “If that man harms one hair on the head of one person in this family, I'll damn well kill him even if it means going back to prison! And he won't die easy, because I'll shoot every joint in his body first!”

“Jake, if you mess up that leg again, it will just cost you time going after him,” Brian reminded him. “Do you want to be out there within two weeks, or three or
four
weeks?”

Jake paced more. “Goddamn leg,” he muttered.

“Jake,
please
sit down,” Randy begged. She removed her hat and set it on a chair, then walked up to him, grasping his arm. “Sit!”

He met her gaze. “Did you set up that meeting?”

“Yes. Tomorrow morning at ten, just like you wanted. And don't you dare go there and make Peter wonder if you came to shoot him rather than talk to him. He doesn't deserve to be insulted and threatened, Jake, and the mood you're in, you're likely to do both. If you're going to be like this, I'm not going.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair and walked over to plunk down on the sofa.

Jeff turned away to hide his smile. Three men in the room couldn't make Jake sit down, but his wife could.

“Jeff, you can go on back to your hotel,” Jake told him. “Be back here tomorrow morning at nine, and we'll go eat before we go to Peter's office.”

Jeff tipped his hat to Randy and handed the shotgun to Lloyd, glad to be rid of it. “I'll be back in the morning,” he told them before leaving.

Lloyd carried the shotgun into the kitchen and unloaded the shells. “I'm just as angry about this as you are, Pa,” he told Jake when he walked back into the sitting room. “But right now there isn't a whole lot we can do. The sonofabitch escaped, and for all we know, he took off for parts unknown so as not to be caught again. You did when you were wanted.”

“I wasn't
after
someone. Marty Bryant is, and it's you and
m
e
! He'll risk being caught again just to get back at us some way, and he could go after anybody in the family.”

“Maybe. All we can do is keep our eyes open, and when you're ready, we'll go out there and see what we can find out. I'll go get the Donavans and have them stay here in town with Katie so she won't be alone. And Evie has Brian. Mom can go stay with them or with Katie. If they all stay in town and don't go wandering off alone, they'll be fine while we're gone. They all know the rules.”

Jake waved him off. “All right. All right. Go see to Katie. Just don't take her and Stephen out of town for a picnic or fishing or whatever. Keep them in town.”

“I think I know how to protect my own family, Pa.”

Jake looked up at his tall, strong son, who could use his guns as well as he could. He finally grinned a little. “Lloyd, when Stephen is a man, you'll find that you still see him as a ten-year-old boy.” He rubbed at his eyes. “I'm sorry. Of course you know what to do. Go on home. We'll talk later. Brian needs to look at this damn leg, and I want him to see about your mother.”

Lloyd looked at Randy. “What
is
going on?”

“I'm sure I'm fine, Lloyd. If something is wrong, I will certainly tell you. Go home to Katie. She's probably worried after learning about that telegram.”

Lloyd looked her over. “You take care of yourself. I might be a grown man, but I like knowing both my parents are still around.”

Randy smiled as she watched him leave. She walked over and locked the front door while Jake removed his denim pants. He rolled up the right leg of his knee-length long johns so Brian could look at the still-healing wound there.

“I still say you used more stitches than necessary just to be mean,” he told Brian.

Brian felt around the wound to make sure there was no swelling underneath. “Of course I did. Doctors have a special talent for torture. Don't you know that?”

“I know it now,” Jake joked with him.

“Well, this all looks pretty good, but if you don't listen to me, Jake, you'll mess up my beautiful work and be right back down in bed.” He faced Jake. “If you want to get out of here and go look for Marty Bryant, you give that wound a few more days to heal up good and tight and give yourself at least another week to build up your blood or you won't last long on the trail.” He looked at Randy. “Now, what's this about you having pains?”

Randy reddened a little. “I'm sure it's nothing. I've just had occasional deep pain really low.” She pressed her hands at her groin area. “Almost like a woman feels when…when it's her time…only I haven't had that problem since Evie was born, because they had to remove my…you know. It embarrasses me to talk about it.”

“Randy, this is me, and I love you like a mom. They removed your uterus, but I'm guessing not your ovaries.”

She nodded.

Brian frowned. “Go lie down on the bed.” He glanced at Jake with a look of alarm. “Get dressed,” he told Jake. He walked into the bedroom to find Randy sitting on the bed. “Why didn't you mention this to me sooner?” Brian scolded.

“I thought…it might just go away and not come back.”

“Well, no more secrets, all right? You're too important to all of us. And take off all your slips. I can't feel anything through all that crinoline. You can leave your dress on. I know this is hard for you. Just lie down on the bed.”

Jake came inside the room. “Go hold her hand,” Brian told him. “This might hurt.”

Jake moved around to the other side of the bed and carefully sat down on it, taking Randy's hand. Brian knelt close and began pressing on Randy's abdomen, asking if it hurt. It didn't until he hit one particular spot. She cried out and gripped Jake's hand.

Jake watched the expression on Brian's face when he pressed the other side and got the same reaction. He didn't like what he saw in Brian's eyes. “What is it?” he demanded.

Brian straightened. “Jake, I can't touch her once and know exactly what's wrong.” He leaned closer to Randy. “How long has this been going on?”

She curled up. “I'm not sure. Maybe six months.”

Jake felt a black dread. “Why in hell didn't you tell me?”

“Jake, don't get upset. I just wasn't sure if it was anything important, and I don't like worrying you when you have to be out there, watching your back all the time. You have enough on your mind.”

“
Worry
me? For God's sake, Randy, I've been giving you things to worry about for twenty-six years, and you don't want to give
me
something to worry about?”

“Jake, why don't you go into the kitchen and see if there is any leftover coffee you can heat up,” Brian suggested. “I wouldn't mind more of that pie we had earlier today, if there is any left. I'll give Randy something she can take for pain when it's bad.” He turned to Randy. “Mom, I'm not the doctor for this. I think Edward Rogers is the best to examine you more thoroughly. He specializes in these things.” He glanced at Jake and spoke with a hint of sarcasm. “I just burn out and sew up knife and bullet wounds.”

“You do more than that, Brian,” Jake shot back. “You've done lots of surgeries.”

“Not on someone as close to me as Randy. If it was Evie we were talking about, I'd send her to Rogers too. This truly isn't my usual doctoring.”

“Are you saying I need surgery?” Randy asked.

Brian closed his doctor's bag. “I don't know that at all. I'm just saying someone who knows what they're talking about should examine you, that's all. It might be nothing. Either way, I can tell you're very tired. You've had a long day of cooking and running after grandkids and walking down to Peter's office, and now this news about Marty Bryant.” He put some kind of powder into a glass and poured water into it from a pitcher beside the bed. “Drink this. I want you to get some sleep.”

“But I have things to do.”

“
Drink
it! For crying out loud, you're as bad as Jake when it comes to listening to a doctor's orders.”

She sighed and sat up, drinking down the mixture and then making a face. “Tastes awful.”

Brian gestured to some peppermint candy lying on the bedside table. “Eat a piece of that candy. That should help. And for heaven's sake, lie down and go to sleep.” He glanced at Jake. “You shouldn't leave candy lying around. Little Jake already eats too many sweets.”

Jake glanced at Randy and they smiled at each other. “Well, I happen to like peppermint,” he told his son-in-law. “Sometimes you need something to freshen your breath real quick.”

“Jake!” Randy put her hands over her face.

Jake walked over and pulled the covers over her. He leaned down and kissed her lightly. “Get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.” He put a hand to the side of her face. “You'll be all right.”

She grasped his wrist. “Stay calm, Jake. Don't leave yet.”

“I won't. You'll have me around at least another week, I suppose.”

She closed her eyes and Jake watched her a moment.
What
would
I
do
without
you? How would I breathe?

Scowling, he got up off the bed and walked out, going to the kitchen, afraid to look at Brian. He took the metal box that held his ammunition from the top of the icebox while Brian poured some coffee.

“You want some coffee?” Brian asked him.

“No.” Jake opened the box of ammo and took out two slugs. He picked up the shotgun Lloyd had left on the kitchen table and shoved two slugs into it.

“No buckshot?” Brian asked.

“Slugs do a hell of a lot more damage if there is any distance involved,” Jake answered, “and since I never miss, I don't need buckshot.”

Brian rubbed the back of his neck. “I'm sure you don't.”

Jake slammed the shotgun closed. “What's the verdict?”

“Set that shotgun down and look at me, Jake.”

Jake hesitated, then laid the gun on the table, meeting Brian's eyes.

“I love her like my own mother, Jake. You know that.”

“Talk to me like a doctor right now, Brian, not a son-in-law.”

Brian turned away. “Shit.”

Jake felt as though he might pass out. “Just say it, Brian.”

Brian didn't answer right away.

“Jesus,” Jake whispered. He got up and took a cigarette from where he kept some in a cupboard. He lit it and walked out the back door.

Brian followed him out to the back steps. He waited a moment, giving Jake time to calm down.

“Brian,” Jake finally spoke up, standing with his back to his son-in-law. “Before I met Randy, I lived for a while with a prostitute who was…good to me. One day she came down with pains like what Randy is feeling. It ended up being…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus,” he muttered.

“Jake, are you saying it was cancer?”

“Yes!” Jake barked, turning to face him. “And it was the most goddamned awful death I ever watched! She was a good woman, and she didn't deserve to die that way! There is no way in hell I could stand back and watch my
Randy
die that way! I'd rather
shoot
her first, and then myself!” He turned away again.

“Jake, you keep in mind that it could very well
not
be cancer. You are absolutely jumping to conclusions. She could have something on her ovaries, but that doesn't mean it's the worst.”

Jake smoked quietly. “Being…intimate…would that hurt her?”

Brian sat down beside him on the steps. “No, it wouldn't make any difference. And if you're looking for some way to blame this on yourself, which you have a bad habit of doing—you had nothing to do with this one, Jake. It is what it is. Though like I said, she needs to be examined by someone who knows more about such things. I understand why you're concerned, but you have to be positive about this.”

Jake walked a few feet away again. “What the hell do I do now? I have to go out there and look for Marty Bryant and serve death certificates on Jessie Buckley. I have orders. I'll have to follow those orders or risk going back to prison. Lloyd could do all that for me, but with Marty on the loose, I'm not going to let him go out there alone. How in hell do I leave my wife at a time like this?”

“Jake, what you do is the main reason your wife put off telling you about the pain. She hates for you to be distracted. So you have to think positive now. You can't consider ignoring your job, because the last thing she needs is for that judge to change his mind and put you back in prison. We won't get answers overnight anyway. I assure you that nothing dire is going to happen in the next week or two.”

Jake smoked quietly, staring into the darkness.

“Jake, are you listening to me?”

“You're just telling me what you think I want to hear.”

“I'm telling you straight. You're one man I wouldn't lie to, Jake. I love that woman too, and I'm going to think positive about this.”