Jake shook his head. “Never.” He looked straight at Jeff then with an unnerving glare. “You watch his eyes. Only his eyes, Mr. Trubridge. His eyes will give him away every time. And I’ve never drawn first on a man in my life. I don’t need to.”
“How do you think you’ve managed to stay alive this long?”
Jake watched another wagon rattle closer into town. “Haven’t you ever heard the term too mean to die?”
“Well, they say the Earp brothers were too mean to die, and they were federal marshals too. Did you know them?”
“That was in ’81, and I was still a wanted man living under an assumed name in Colorado. No, I didn’t know them. A lot of lawless men are a product of the Civil War and its tragedies. My reasons were far different. I did meet Jesse James and Cole Younger a time or two on the Outlaw Trail in Wyoming, back during a bad time when I had to leave Randy for a couple of years.” He lit yet another cigarette. “That’s a period in our marriage I don’t like to talk about. That woman has been through a lot of bad times because of me.” He sighed. “At any rate, Lloyd and I and several other U.S. Marshals have taken part in tracking some of the Dalton gang here in Oklahoma Territory, but they’ve been pretty elusive.”
“No other famous outlaws ever challenged you?”
Jake shook his head. “There’s a kind of code among us, I guess. No love lost, but most men like that don’t go around drawing on each other. It’s the filthy worms who don’t really know what they’re doing, like the Bryants and Buckleys, who are stupid enough to go challenging someone with a reputation. They want to make their own name famous, and they usually die trying.”
The wagon Jake had been keeping an eye on pulled up under a huge shade tree just a few yards from the church, and a young man on a big roan gelding rode beside it. Jake immediately dropped the conversation and rose to hurry toward them. Jeff stayed back and watched as the younger man dismounted and walked up to Jake. The two men embraced.
The son, Jeff thought. Other than the harder lines on Jake’s face and the fact that the younger one was a bit meatier from younger muscle, they could have been twins.
“Good to see you back, Son,” Jake told him. “I was a little worried about the Bryants, seeing as how two of their relatives are sitting in jail.”
“I didn’t see hide nor hair of any of them on the way in.”
“Jake, sure ’n’ it’s good to see you!” the hefty man driving the wagon shouted.
Jake walked up and shook the man’s hand. “You too, Pat. You’re a little late for church.”
“Ah, it’s pretty hard to make it on time, comin’ all the way from my farm.” Pat turned and helped his even heftier wife down from the wagon. “We’re not really here for church this time anyway, Jake. We have some good news, but I’ll let Lloyd tell you. I left my two sons at home to keep a watch. They both said to wish you well.”
“And I thank them for that.”
Jeff watched as Lloyd walked up to the wagon and lifted a very pretty, redheaded young woman down from the back of it. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then told her to stay put for a minute. He took his father’s arm and walked closer to the church. “We need to talk,” he told Jake.
Jake put his hands on his hips. “Something wrong? I thought you said you didn’t run into any trouble.”
Lloyd grinned. “No—nothing like that.” The younger man glanced at the church. “Mom and Evie inside?”
“As always.”
“Well, as soon as the service is over, maybe we can have the preacher hang around.”
Jake grinned. “Hang around?”
“Yeah.” Lloyd glanced over at the redheaded young woman, then back at his father. “Katie and I have decided to get married, and the sooner the better. Soon as services are over, we want the preacher to stay and marry us.”
Jake’s grin widened. “It’s about time.” An eager handshake turned into another embrace. “I’m damn glad for you, Lloyd. You be good to that girl,” Jake told his son. “She’s sweet through and through.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” Lloyd sobered.
Jeff looked away but kept his ears open.
“It’s not like Beth, Pa.”
“Of course it isn’t. But you’re both far too young to go the rest of your lives without love and family, and that girl is crazy about you. Anybody can see that.”
“Yeah, well, there’s also the job. She says she can handle it, but I’m not so sure.”