Do Not Forsake Me (30 page)

Ben nodded, tears running down his cheeks. “He called me his son.”

Dixie smiled for him. “Then that's what you are, Ben, no matter what happens. You're Jake Harkner's son.”

Ben watched the three men disappear over the horizon. “I hope he doesn't get killed.”

Dixie smiled. “Ben, it takes an awful lot to bring down Jake Harkner.” She wanted to sound hopeful for the boy, but the man she'd just seen hardly seemed human. How long his body could keep up with such abuse was what worried her more than the outlaws he was after.

Randy
!

She saw him…falling…falling into blackness. He reached for her, but only the tips of their fingers touched…and then he slipped away.

And who was that with him? Evie? Why was she with Jake, falling into that black hole?

Gampa's guns! Gampa's guns!

Little Jake? No! She couldn't see him at all. She could only hear his voice. She cried out to them, the family she loved.

Someone grasped her shoulders.

“Jake?” she muttered.

“Randy, wake up.”

Randy gasped and started awake to see Peter bent over her. It took her a moment to remember where she was. The dream had been so real, she thought she was back home and Jake was calling for her. She looked around, coming to the reality that she was still in a hospital bed. She looked back at Peter.

“Something's wrong! Something's wrong!”

She reached up and he pulled her into his arms. “Randy, what is it? Are you in pain?”

“No!” She clung to him. “Take me home! Take me home! Something terrible has happened!”

“Randy, you were just dreaming.”

“No, it's more than that!” She pulled away and tried to get up.

“Randy, don't get up.” Peter held her down. “You have another week before the stitches come out. Maybe not even then.”

“No! He has to take them out now! Today! We have to go home, Peter. Something awful has happened. I feel it! It isn't just the dream. I
feel
it. Jake needs me. They all need me.”

“Randy, stop this! You're getting yourself worked up to where you'll just make things worse. If you break open those stitches, you'll have to stay here even longer. I already wired home three days ago that you came through everything okay and that it's not cancer. I haven't heard back that anything is wrong. We'll go home in just another week, and you'll see that everything is fine. I think you're just having nightmares from too much medication.”

Randy grasped his arms. “You don't understand! I wouldn't have this feeling if there wasn't something terribly wrong at home. Jake is hurting in some way, Peter. I don't know if it's an emotional hurt or if he's hurt physically. I just know that he's hurt! And Evie might be too. And Little Jake! I heard his voice, Peter. I heard Little Jake talking about ‘Gampa's guns.'”

“It's just a mixture of memories and medicine, Randy. Please lie still.”

“I can't rest until you go to the sheriff's office or the telegraph office and find out if anyone has sent us a message from Guthrie.” She sat up on the edge of the bed, refusing to lie back down. “Please go and see, Peter. I have this awful, awful feeling!” She folded her arms around her middle and rocked back and forth. “Dr. Rogers can take out the stitches after we get back. That way I can leave sooner. I can't wait around here another whole week!”

Peter grasped her shoulders. “I'm not leaving until you lie back down and promise to
stay
down!”

She moved back into bed and Peter pulled the blankets over her and bent close to kiss her forehead. “I'll see what I can find out. Will you lie still until I get back?”

“Yes. Just go and see! Ask at the front desk first. Maybe someone already brought us a telegram.”

Peter straightened with a sigh and picked up his hat from a chair. He put it on and went out, hoping she was wrong about all of this. He hated seeing her so upset. She'd been through so much already.

He started for the front door of the small, brick hospital when a man wearing a badge came through the door. He was decked out with guns much as Jake dressed for the job, and he had a waxed mustache that curled on the ends.

Peter hesitated, listening to the man ask if there was a patient there named Miranda Harkner. Peter's chest tightened.
Good
God, please don't say Jake is dead!
He did not want to be the one to give Randy that kind of news. It would kill her!

“That gentleman is a friend of Mrs. Harkner, and is here to watch over her,” a nurse told the man with the badge. She nodded toward Peter. “That's Attorney Peter Brown. Perhaps he can help you.”

The stocky man of perhaps forty years walked over to Peter and introduced himself. “I'm a U.S. Marshal,” he told Peter. “Bill Graham. I, uh, have some rather sad news for Marshal Jake Harkner's wife. I was told she was here.”

“She is.” Peter felt sick. “You can tell me, and I'll give her the news. She's not completely healed yet. You can't just go in there and blurt out whatever you have to say.”

Marshal Graham removed his hat to reveal thinning, sandy-colored hair. His blue eyes revealed a deep sadness.

Not
Jake! Not Jake!

“Mr. Brown, something has happened back in Guthrie. This won't be easy for Mrs. Harkner. I know Jake real well, and I've met his wife. She's a good woman, very devoted to her family.”

“And?”

“And, uh, maybe you know that a few weeks ago, a prisoner by the name of Marty Bryant escaped. Jake killed a couple of his brothers, and we all figured he was headed back to get some kind of revenge against Jake. A lot of men, including Jake, have been looking for him, but to no avail.”

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “My God,” he muttered. “What's happened, Marshal?”

Bill Graham sighed. “Mr. Brown, Marty Bryant and a whole gang of men raided Guthrie, burned some buildings to create a diversion while he took Jake's daughter Evie…and his grandson…the one they call Little Jake.”

“No!” A woman behind them nearly screamed the word.

Peter turned to see Randy had come out of her room and heard what the marshal said.

“No! No! No!” She screamed the words over and over as she crumpled to her knees. Peter ran over and grabbed her up, holding her in his arms so she wouldn't fall. “Tell me they've already found Little Jake and my daughter!”

“No, ma'am. It just happened yesterday. A posse went after them, but they all got away, and Sheriff Sparks was shot. He's alive, but not in good enough shape to go after them. Jake wasn't there. I'm sure if he was, he might have stopped it all. He was out looking for Bryant and his men.”

“Brian! What about Evie's husband, Brian?”

“I'm told he got knocked unconscious, but he'll be all right. More men want to try looking for Evie and the kid again, but they need someone to lead the way—someone like Jake who knows how to find men like that. But no one is sure how to find him, and he hasn't sent any wires.”

“He knows. Jake knows!” Randy clung to Peter. “He'll be there soon, I'm sure of it. Somehow he found out and he'll find Evie.” Randy wilted against Peter. “Oh my God. My God! Evie! Poor Evie! Jake will go mad!” She collapsed into sobs. “I'll never see him again. I'll never see Jake or my daughter again! And Little Jake! He's just an innocent child!”

“Randy, Jake will go after them and—”

“They want
him
, Peter. They want
Jake
. He'll do anything for Evie—
anything
! He'll offer himself up like a lamb to slaughter to get her back. They'll kill him, Peter! They'll kill him for sure this time. They might even kill Evie and Little Jake. They're ruthless, Peter!”

Marshal Graham pushed back his hat. “I'm so sorry for this terrible news, Mrs. Harkner. But, ma'am, if I may say so, you ought to know better than most that Jake doesn't go down easy, and if he can find a way out of this and still get your daughter back, he'll do it. Didn't he take on the Kennedy gang all by himself back in California? That's how I heard it, anyway.”

Randy dug her fingers into Peter's arm. “Yes.” She closed her eyes at the awful memory. “I was there.” She looked at Graham. “What about Lloyd's wife, Katie? And my grandson Stephen?”

“Far as I know, they're okay. And, ma'am, remember that Lloyd rides with Jake now. He's a real able man too. I'm thinking they'll be all right. Those two together are quite a force. And I'm sure Jake will be smart enough to take a few more men with him. He's not alone this time, Mrs. Harkner. You ought to take hope in that, and in the fact that…well…like I said, this is Jake Harkner we're talking about, and those men took his little girl. Personally, I wouldn't want to be a part of that gang right now…not with Jake Harkner after me.”

Randy straightened a little, but Peter kept hold of her. “I know all that, Marshal, but you have no idea how much Jake loves his daughter. He'll give himself over to them even if it means being tortured to death. He'll do anything for her.”

“Well, maybe he won't have to, ma'am. Maybe he won't have to.”

“The man is right, Randy,” Peter encouraged. “This is Jake we're talking about. And Lloyd is with him. Your son is just as good as his father with those guns. If they round up a few extra men—”

“Oh, Peter, I have to go home. I have to go
home
! I have to be there for Evie if she lives through this. Let Dr. Rogers take my stitches out. Please, please, take me home. If you don't take me, I'll get dressed and go by myself, I swear it! I should be with Katie and Stephen too. Poor Katie must be beside herself, and Stephen is probably scared to death he'll lose his father and his grandfather.”

“Katie's parents are with them, Randy.”

“Is there some kind of message you want me to send to Guthrie, Mrs. Harkner?” Marshal Graham asked.

“Just that I'm coming home right away.” She pulled away from Peter and covered her face, leaning against a wall. “What will be left of my family when I get there, Peter? I could lose Evie and Little Jake and Lloyd and Jake…all four of them! And Evie is pregnant. Oh my God, poor Brian. Poor Brian!”

“Ma'am, you won't be much good to any of them if you get sicker instead of better,” Graham told her. “You need to trust in your husband now. If anybody can get them back, he can.”

“He's right, Randy,” Peter told her, pulling her back into his arms. “Jake will damn well get her back.”

She wept against his chest. “But at what price, Peter? At what price? They will want a trade…Evie and Little Jake…for Jake. They might even make Lloyd part of the bargain, and both of them will give their lives for Evie in a minute. Lloyd will
never
allow his father to face this alone.”

Peter looked at Marshal Graham. “Send a wire to Katie that Randy knows what's happened and is coming home as soon as she can. We'll leave by the day after tomorrow.”

“No! Tomorrow!”

“Absolutely not! Your getting home in a couple of days won't make any difference if they already have Evie. Jake and Lloyd will go after them the minute Jake knows, and there won't be a thing you can do until they all get back. And they will
all
come back. You have to believe that, Randy. Jake won't give himself up to those bastards. He'll find a way to bring them all down.”

“If I hear anything before you leave, I'll let you know, Mrs. Harkner,” Marshal Graham told her.

Randy turned away again. “Thank you.” She walked back to her room, feeling as though she were in another world. Evie! Her beautiful, sweet, still-naive Evie.

Peter caught up to her and took her arm.

“Peter, she worships Jake. Evie absolutely thinks he is incapable of some of the things he's done. She's going to see a side of him that will shock her. She sees only the good in him, but I know what this will do to him. If he manages to get her out of this, he will execute every one of those men left alive. I saw what he did to some of the Kennedy gang. And these men…they will rape her, Peter. That will put Jake into a world Evie has never seen. He might even do things that will send him back to prison.” She collapsed onto her bed.

“Randy.” Peter knelt in front of her. “Evie means everything to him, so maybe he'll do this right—the way he should handle it as a marshal—for her sake. And I'm betting plenty of people are praying for your family, Randy. You remember that Evie, sweet as she is, is also a
Harkner
. She's stronger than you think, because she has two very strong people for parents. I think you're wrong about her not being able to stop Jake from doing something that will get him killed or sent back to prison. All she has to say is that word
Daddy
, and he'll do anything she asks. You know that. I have a feeling that word totally undoes that man—not
Pa
, not
Father
, or
Dad
. She calls him Daddy, and that just turns him into a piece of clay she can mold any way she wants.”

Randy managed to smile a little through her tears. “Everyone thinks it's so funny that she still calls him that.”

Peter squeezed her hand. “And when she calls him Daddy, it's so endearing.”

Randy nodded. “It is, isn't it?” She covered her face. “Evie has no idea the things Jake is capable of.”

“And he won't
want
her to know.”

“It might not matter—not if they kill him, Peter. Not if they kill him. That will be horrible for Evie. She'll not get over the fact that her father gave his life for her.”

Peter pulled the covers over her again. “I'll have the doctor give you something to help you sleep. I'll see if he'll let you leave a few days early and let Dr. Rogers take out the stitches. Then we'll head back to Guthrie, if he gives the go-ahead. But I'm getting you a sleeper car on the train so you can lie down most of the way, and I'll hire a stagecoach that's just for us—no other passengers—so you can have one full seat to lie down on there too. I'll get you home, Randy, but you have to promise me you'll let the doctor give you something to help you sleep tonight and most of tomorrow.”

“But we should
leave
tomorrow.”