“Watch for an ambush, Ken,” Lloyd warned. “You can’t trust the Buckleys or the Bryants.”
“Marshal Dexter Lace will meet us in Edmond. We’ll be okay.” The driver snapped the reins, and the four horses pulling the wagon made off. Lloyd lit a cigarette as he waited for it to disappear around a corner. He turned, just then noticing Jeff. He nodded. “Mr. Trubridge. You going to the house today?”
“If it’s okay with you. Brian told me Jake is awake and asked to see me.”
“Climb in the back of our wagon. Katie and I are headed for her folks’ place, but I can drop you off at Pa’s on the way.”
Jeff climbed into the back of the wagon, where Stephen sat playing with a wooden gun. “Is Jake still in bed?” Jeff called to Lloyd as Lloyd climbed into the seat beside Katie.
“Yes, but he’s already turning into a damn grump about not being able to get up. We’re having a hell of a time keeping him there. He’ll listen to Brian, though, and Brian has told him that if he gets up and around too soon, he’ll just end up back in that bed, for even longer next time. So far, he’s staying there.”
Jeff grinned, glad to hear Jake was being obstinate. That meant he was definitely better. He hung on to the side of the wagon as it bounced over holes and ruts in the dirt street. “Do you expect trouble from the Buckleys or the Bryants?” Jeff asked.
Lloyd glanced at his wife, who grasped his arm. “I doubt it,” he answered, casting a slight scowl at Jeff.
Jeff realized he shouldn’t have asked the question in front of Lloyd’s new wife. The day of the shooting must have been quite an awakening for her. He looked away, feeling like an ass.
“Men like that talk big, Jeff,” Lloyd added. “Marty will be completely out of commission for quite a few years now, and young Brad is still in a bad way. He might be moved to a doctor’s office or a boardinghouse, but he’s in too much pain to stand a wagon ride all the way home. The ones we took down were the worst of the bunch, so I don’t think there will be any more trouble.”
The hell you don’t. “I hope you’re right.” Jeff suspected what happened at the shoot-out would only make things worse with what was left of the two families. “What happened to Marty Bryant’s eye?” he asked.
“Marty got in a bar fight a few months back, and Pa broke it up. Marty went after Pa with a knife, and Pa smashed a beer mug in his face. It shattered and cut into Marty’s eye. A doctor had to remove the eye. It wasn’t Brian, though. There are quite a few other doctors in town.”
Jeff shook his head. “Marty Bryant has more than one reason to want Jake dead, then.”
“Well, like I said, men like him are more mouth than action.” Lloyd pulled up in front of Jake’s house but stayed with Katie on the wagon seat. “Jake will be glad to see you, Jeff.”
“Thanks for the ride.”
“Sure. Katie and I have already seen Jake this morning, so we’re going on out to the Donavans’.”
Jeff jumped down and nodded to Stephen. “Have fun, Stephen.”
The boy grinned. “I will.” He waved at Jeff as Lloyd drove off. Jeff went to the front door and it opened before he even reached it. Randy stood there in a lovely green dress that made her eyes look green too.
“I heard the wagon outside,” she told Jeff. “Please, come in. Jake is in the bedroom, and he’s been giving me a hard time all morning. I’m glad for the company.”
Jeff removed his hat. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“You can call me Randy.”
“Well, actually, I’m not quite ready to call you by your first name yet. Seems kind of disrespectful.”
“Well, it isn’t at all, but you do whatever feels right.” Randy led Jeff to the bedroom. Jeff felt a bit uncomfortable going into a man and woman’s private bedroom, but Jake had to stay in bed, so that was it. To Jeff’s surprise, Jake was sitting up, shirtless and smoking a cigarette. On top of that, he was fidgeting with one of his guns.
“Come on in, Jeff,” Jake told him. “Pull up a chair.”
Jeff had a feeling it didn’t bother Jake one bit to be sitting shirtless in his own bed, welcoming someone who was still mostly a stranger. Jake held up the six-gun and seemed to be aiming it at something.
“I wish I could go out and shoot this thing to make sure the barrel is straight after all that gunplay. All that heat sometimes warps a gun.”
“Yes, sir. In fact, when I picked one of them up by the barrel the day of the shooting, I burned my hand. I had no idea they got that hot.”