Do Not Forsake Me(154)
“It’s terrible! He’s so good to me it makes me feel guilty. You’ve got to tell him to let me do things on my own, Daddy. He’s wearing himself out trying to do everything. Will you talk to him?”
“Hell, no! Why would I ask a man to stop treating my daughter like she’s some kind of princess?”
Evie pushed at him. “You know what I mean, and Daddy, you just said a cuss word right before walking into church. I am praying Little Jake doesn’t blurt out some kind of horrible swearword during the service.” She looked him over. “Why are you wearing those guns? Don’t you dare walk into church with those on.”
Jake kept an arm around her as he led her back to Brian. “You get more like your mother every day. I hear enough preaching from her.”
“You are coming inside, aren’t you?”
Others walked past them, some stopping to greet Jake and the rest of his family. Jeff figured most of them probably did not realize Jake intended to actually step inside church today.
“I’ll be there,” Jake told Evie.
“Without the guns?”
“Without the guns.”
Brian moved his arm around Evie and nodded to Jake. “Jake, you have never looked more dapper.”
“Dapper? I’m not sure I like that word. I’m not the ‘dapper’ type.”
Brian smiled, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
“She doing okay?” Jake asked, sobering.
“She’s doing fine.” Brian pulled Evie closer and kissed her cheek. “This is one strong woman.”
“Forgiving people can be healing, Daddy,” Evie told him.
Jake didn’t answer. He turned away and noticed Peter approaching with a rolled-up piece of paper in his hand. He walked closer to greet Jake and Randy, eyeing Randy with an obvious appreciation for how beautiful and well she looked today—wearing, of course, a yellow dress. He nodded to Jake, then handed out the rolled-up paper.
“In six months you will have served a full three years, Jake. Then you can head for Colorado if you still want to go,” he told him.
Randy gasped as Jake unrolled the document and read it. “My God,” he muttered, sobering. He looked at Randy. “In six months I’ll be a truly free man.”
“I think that petition everyone signed helped,” Peter told him.
Randy’s eyes instantly teared. She threw her arms around Peter. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, Peter!”
Peter glanced at Jake as he embraced her in return, giving him a look of helplessness. “You’re very welcome,” he told Randy before gently pushing her away. “And don’t just thank me. Thank the whole town, because all those signatures made an impression on the judge, or so I’m told.” He looked at Jake. “A lot of the people in that church signed it, Jake. I hope you understand how welcome you will be in there.”
Jake put out his hand and Peter shook it. “Thanks for everything,” Jake told him, true sincerity in his eyes.
“You are very welcome. I’ll be heading back to Chicago soon. I was just waiting for this order to come through.”
Jake nodded. “I hope you find someone again, maybe in Chicago.”
“Yes, well, maybe so. But you, my friend, have the best of them all.”
They squeezed hands. “I am well aware of that,” Jake told him.
Peter let go of his hand and tipped his hat to Randy, then glanced at Jake again. “Come and see my gun collection sometime before I leave.”
“I’ll do that.”
Peter turned and walked up the church steps.
Randy could barely see for the tears in her eyes. “Oh, Jake, we can go to Colorado!”
Jake held up the rolled-up order. “Lloyd and Evie, get over here,” he called. The whole family gathered around him, and Jake held out the paper. “My reprieve. We’re all going to Colorado next spring.”
“Oh, Daddy!” Evie burst into tears and hugged her father. The rest of them took turns reading the reprieve, hugging Jake one at a time.
“We’ll find the prettiest spot in the foothills and run the biggest ranch in the state,” Lloyd told his father. “No more violence, Pa. You and Mom and the rest of us can finally have some peace.”
Jake hugged Randy close. A little part of him worried that peace was impossible. He kissed Randy’s hair. “And no more being apart,” he told her.
A very joyful but tearful Harkner clan all headed for the church. Stephen and Ben, already friends, shoved each other back and forth playfully, and Lloyd warned Stephen not to get his clothes dirty. He watched Ben take Katie’s hand and head for the church steps. Lloyd hesitated, then turned and walked back to Jake. “You sure you can handle this?” he asked.