Do Not Forsake Me(147)

“Dixie—” She turned back around, and Randy surprised her by walking up to embrace her. “Thank you for being there for him when I couldn’t be. I feel so much better knowing that. You might have saved his life.”

Dixie patted her back. “He’s a good man, and a good friend. He respects women like me, and that means a lot.” She pulled away.

Randy wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I guess I had better go have a talk with Ben.”

“Well, I don’t want him to be a burden to you right now. You need to take care of yourself. Like I said, Ben can stay with me at the hotel, or with Katie’s folks for a while. I don’t know them, but that’s who Jake thought would take him in if it’s too much for you. Lloyd told me what good people they are, and you still need time to heal, Mrs. Harkner. And when Jake gets back, you two will need some time alone. Ben will understand if you explain it right.”

“Well, if Jake loves this child, then I do too. How old is he?”

“Eight.”

“That’s the same age Jake was when—” Randy closed her eyes. “Maybe little Ben out there can help heal his wounds, Dixie…the unseen wounds deep inside. I think God sent that boy to him.”

Dixie nodded. “I’m thinking the same.” She turned. “I’ll leave you to your rest now. I really have to get going before people know I’m here, Mrs. Harkner. They might talk.”

“I couldn’t care less if people see you here. My husband is Jake Harkner, and Lord knows the rumors that abound about that man. And from now on, if we meet again, call me Randy.”

Dixie pressed her arms. “Thank you. And I’ll be praying Jake comes back.”

“The whole town is praying.” Randy opened the bedroom door. “Thank you again, Dixie. Let’s talk to Ben together.”

They walked into the parlor, where bullet holes still showed in the walls. One window remained boarded up. Randy’s heart ached at the empty table where her beautiful lamp used to sit. She remembered when Jake bought it for her, on a trip together to Denver…a lifetime ago.

Peter frowned, meeting Randy’s gaze. “This boy here told me how he met Jake…says Jake has adopted him. That true?”

Randy glanced at Ben, who looked at her with wide, hope-filled blue eyes. “Yes. It’s true.” She imagined Jake at eight years old, terrified and alone and horribly abused. How could she not take this little boy and love him?

“So you’ll take him in…just like that?” Peter asked.

Randy watched the hope in the child’s blue eyes. She nodded. “Just like that.”





Thirty-seven


“Do you want more coffee?”

“No. How do I look?”

“Randy, Jake will be so glad to see you, it won’t matter how you look. In his eyes you are always beautiful.” Peter studied her lustrous hair, brushed out long because Jake liked it that way…her pale-yellow dress, Jake’s favorite color…the tiny diamond earrings she wore that Jake had bought for her years ago when he asked her to come to him after two years away doing only God knew what…the slim figure of a woman she was, determined to stay that way for…who else? Jake.

All men find you beautiful. Peter watched her pace, watched her go to the door again, hoping this was the day Jake would finally come home, still worried he wouldn’t come home at all.

“Randy, please sit down. You should be resting.”

“I can’t. It’s been eight days since he rode after Evie. I’m so worried about her, what my precious daughter has been through. And poor little Ben is so scared.”

“It’s amazing how attached he apparently became to Jake, when he’s known him such a short time.”

Randy watched the quiet street. “I’m not surprised. They share the same soul.” Please come home, Jake! Bring our Evie back. “Peter, what if he’s dead? What if they killed him? Maybe Lloyd too. Maybe they even killed Evie.”

“He didn’t go after Evie alone, Randy. He had Lloyd and Brian and Jeff and four men from town who are good with guns. He probably could have gone after them alone and still made it back.”

Randy smoothed her dress and looked at herself in a mirror. “Sparky said it takes close to four days to reach Dune Hollow. Knowing Jake, he probably made it in three. By the fourth day, he would go after her. He’ll probably take it slower coming home, for Evie’s sake.”

She walked to the front door again. “And he’ll probably ask Red St. James and those other men to stay behind and bury however many men need burying and let them bring in whoever is left alive. That will save him time so he can get Evie and Little Jake back here sooner.”