Do Not Forsake Me(117)
“My God, Jake, calm down! Calm down!” Dixie managed to push him off of her, then stepped back. “My God, I’ve never seen that look on your face before, Jake Harkner. For the first time since I’ve known you, I’m afraid of you!”
Jake turned away and stumbled again. “They’ll rape her, Dixie. They’ll rape my angel. And she’s pregnant and sick! She’ll lose the baby! Se la llevaron! Quiero morirme! Quiero morirme! And they’ll do the same to Katie—maybe kill Stevie and my Little Jake.”
There was no controlling him. Dixie looked helplessly at Lloyd, who looked hardly any better than his father.
“Marty Bryant,” he explained. “We found out at Hell’s Nest that he has a lot of men with him and he’s headed for Guthrie to kill or take somebody in the family to get back at me and Jake.”
“Oh my God!”
“Dixie, we have to leave a young boy here. It’s a long story, but Jake will come back for him once this mess is over with. His name is Ben. We came across the kid’s father beating him with a belt, and Jake went kind of crazy. I guess I don’t have to explain to you why, and the details don’t matter right now.”
“Sure, he can stay here. I’ll make sure he doesn’t see anything he shouldn’t.” She touched Lloyd’s arm. “My God, Lloyd, you poor thing.”
Lloyd grasped his stomach as though in pain. “With my mom down in Oklahoma City, that leaves Katie, Stephen, and Little Jake for Marty’s rotten plan. We were told he’d take somebody in the family as a way to get Pa to come to him.” He grimaced. “They’ll kill Pa. They’ll kill him if he gives himself up to them. I’m going to lose my whole family!”
“You calm down. The both of you look like you need to eat and rest. If you kill yourselves trying to get to Guthrie, you’ll be no good to anybody.”
“No!” Jake roared. “We have to leave again. We only stopped to drop Ben off, and I’m doing that because I don’t know what we’ll find in Guthrie and don’t know who will be there to take care of Ben. I trust you, Dixie. You’ll take good care of him till we come back for him. And if we don’t make it, you take him to Lloyd’s in-laws—the Donavans.”
“Jake Harkner, you won’t make it to Guthrie in your condition! If you really love your daughter and want to help her, you need to rest before you go any farther. You know I’m right.”
“No! I have to go on.”
“Jake, you’re no good like this. You aren’t thinking straight, and riding half the night again could kill you.”
“I’m too goddamn thirsty for blood to stop for anything, and I’m too fucking mad and mean to die! If I do, it won’t be until after I’ve destroyed Marty Bryant and every last man with him!”
“At least eat something, Jake.” She turned to Lloyd. “You too. Let me get you some biscuits and jerky.”
“Forget it!”
“Jake—” Dixie grasped his arm, but he half pushed her away. She stumbled slightly and Jake turned away.
“Jesus.”
“I know you, Jake Harkner! You’re in a rage, but you know goddamn well that if you don’t eat something and get some water down your throat and get a couple hours of sleep tonight, you’ll die! You’re going to take some biscuits and jerky with you, and you’re going to promise me you’ll stop long enough later to sleep a little, you black-hearted sonofabitch! Are you really so stubborn and thirsty to murder those men that you’d risk not even making it there? If you love that daughter of yours and those grandchildren and that new daughter-in-law, you’ll do what you need to do to stay alive and get to them! You’ve always listened to me, Jake Harkner, and you know goddamn well your wife would be telling you the same thing!”
Jake faced her, his eyes still looking like the devil’s, but Dixie faced him squarely, her hands on her hips. “You wait right there while we get you fresh horses and some food!” Dixie turned to go into the house, and Jake glanced down at Ben, who stared at him with wide-eyed terror.
“Are you mad at me for making you stop here?” the boy asked Jake.
Jake closed his eyes and turned to lean on a hitching post. “No, Ben, I’m not mad at you, but some very bad men have taken my daughter and my grandsons and maybe Lloyd’s wife, and I’m so full of hatred for them that it seems like I hate everybody. You have to trust me, Ben. Either I or some really nice people will be along to take you in and give you a damn good life.” He looked at the boy. “You’ll be loved, no matter what happens to me, understand? I promise you, you’ll be loved and cared for. Don’t be afraid of how I look right now. I just…I need to be this way to do what I have to do. So you stay here with Dixie. She’s a nice lady and she’ll be good to you.”