Do Not Forsake Me(139)

“Daddy, please stop blaming yourself. I was just so scared you’d come down and they would kill my father in front of my eyes—and maybe Lloyd too.”

“Lloyd will be all right. I see him moving around right now. He’s trying to sit up.” He held her tight, never wanting to let go and thanking God Lloyd was moving. “Evie, tell me you haven’t lost the baby.”

“No, but only because…oh, God, I just lay there and didn’t fight them, because I was afraid they would beat me more and I would lose the baby.” She curled into an even tighter ball. “Was I wrong to do that? Does that make me bad?”

Jake wanted to scream in rage. “Jesus, no, Evie. It makes you damn smart and damn strong.”

“It was so ugly…so ugly…”

“Hush, Evie. Brian loves you more than ever, and you have to let him love you, understand? You remember what you and Brian have. Your baby is just a symbol of how right and good it can be between a man and a woman. No man but Brian has ever touched you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“But he’ll wonder—”

“He won’t wonder!” He squeezed her tighter. “You listen to me, because I’ve seen every ugly thing a man could possibly see in a lifetime, and I sure as hell know men. They don’t come any better than Brian. He’s a good and patient man who loves you deeply and can make it all beautiful for you again. Let him do that for you, Evie. All he wants is his wife back and that baby you’re carrying.”

She clung to his shirt, crying. Jake put his cheek against Evie’s hair as he watched Brian wrap gauze around Lloyd’s midsection. “He’s okay, Evie. Lloyd is moving around more. He’s okay. Brian is going to come over here soon, and you go to him, all right? And don’t you dare show any shame, because you don’t have one goddamn thing to be ashamed of. Understand?”

She wiped at her tears, smearing the dirt on her face. “I understand that you’ll never stop cussing, no matter how much mother and I ask you to. Some of those awful words are already coming out of Little Jake’s mouth. You should have heard some of the things he said to those men, Daddy. Once he pouted those little lips and called them goddamn fucking bastards. A little three-year-old!”

Jake almost laughed at the vision of Little Jake talking back to such vile men. “Evie, I hope the baby you’re carrying turns out to be a sweet, quiet little girl, because if you have another kid like Little Jake, you’ll end up in a madhouse.”

The remark brought the intended tiny laugh. “He’s tough, like his grandpa. You have to stay alive for a long time, Daddy, just to help me raise him. He hangs on everything you tell him. So does Stephen.”

Brian rose from helping Lloyd and walked over to where Jake sat with Evie. “You’d better let me look at that arm, Jake.”

“Not now. It’s just a flesh wound, and the bleeding is already slowing. I can take care of it. What about Lloyd?”

“He’ll make it. A bullet went right through the flesh at his left side—knocked him sideways and took his breath away, but the bleeding has slowed. The pain will be worse than what the actual wound is.”

“I told Jeff to take Little Jake to get the horses. I was afraid he’d pick up a real gun and start shooting it in all directions. Jeff will get him some clothes. I swear that kid thinks this was all fun and games.”

“They hurt Little Jake to make him shut up,” Evie lamented, her face still buried against her father’s neck. “But he only cried for a minute, and I swear he got that same dark, angry look in his eyes you get sometimes, Daddy. He wasn’t scared at all.”

Brian met Jake’s eyes, and Jake saw the agony Brian felt at the thought, and at Evie’s condition. “He might be my son, Jake, but when it comes to not giving up on anything, Little Jake is definitely a Harkner.” He reached out and caressed Evie’s thick, dark hair, leaning closer to kiss her forehead. “And so is this daughter of yours.” He pushed some hair behind Evie’s ear. “I brought clothes, Evie, in case you would…need them. Jeff will bring them down.”

Evie kept the blanket over most of her face when she turned to look at her husband. “I was so scared they’d killed you and I’d never see you again…but now…”

“I am very much alive, Evie. Come, let me hold you. I’ll clean you up and you can get dressed. Let’s just go home, honey.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Are you still carrying our baby?”

Evie pulled the blanket back over her face. “Yes. I didn’t fight them, Brian. I didn’t fight them because I was afraid they’d beat me more and I’d lose the baby. And if I screamed and fought, Little Jake would try to defend me, and then they’d hurt him, so I stayed still.” She broke into tears of shame and horror again.