Jake paced more. “Goddamn leg,” he muttered.
“Jake, please sit down,” Randy begged. She removed her hat and set it on a chair, then walked up to him, grasping his arm. “Sit!”
He met her gaze. “Did you set up that meeting?”
“Yes. Tomorrow morning at ten, just like you wanted. And don’t you dare go there and make Peter wonder if you came to shoot him rather than talk to him. He doesn’t deserve to be insulted and threatened, Jake, and the mood you’re in, you’re likely to do both. If you’re going to be like this, I’m not going.”
Jake ran a hand through his hair and walked over to plunk down on the sofa.
Jeff turned away to hide his smile. Three men in the room couldn’t make Jake sit down, but his wife could.
“Jeff, you can go on back to your hotel,” Jake told him. “Be back here tomorrow morning at nine, and we’ll go eat before we go to Peter’s office.”
Jeff tipped his hat to Randy and handed the shotgun to Lloyd, glad to be rid of it. “I’ll be back in the morning,” he told them before leaving.
Lloyd carried the shotgun into the kitchen and unloaded the shells. “I’m just as angry about this as you are, Pa,” he told Jake when he walked back into the sitting room. “But right now there isn’t a whole lot we can do. The sonofabitch escaped, and for all we know, he took off for parts unknown so as not to be caught again. You did when you were wanted.”
“I wasn’t after someone. Marty Bryant is, and it’s you and me! He’ll risk being caught again just to get back at us some way, and he could go after anybody in the family.”
“Maybe. All we can do is keep our eyes open, and when you’re ready, we’ll go out there and see what we can find out. I’ll go get the Donavans and have them stay here in town with Katie so she won’t be alone. And Evie has Brian. Mom can go stay with them or with Katie. If they all stay in town and don’t go wandering off alone, they’ll be fine while we’re gone. They all know the rules.”
Jake waved him off. “All right. All right. Go see to Katie. Just don’t take her and Stephen out of town for a picnic or fishing or whatever. Keep them in town.”
“I think I know how to protect my own family, Pa.”
Jake looked up at his tall, strong son, who could use his guns as well as he could. He finally grinned a little. “Lloyd, when Stephen is a man, you’ll find that you still see him as a ten-year-old boy.” He rubbed at his eyes. “I’m sorry. Of course you know what to do. Go on home. We’ll talk later. Brian needs to look at this damn leg, and I want him to see about your mother.”
Lloyd looked at Randy. “What is going on?”
“I’m sure I’m fine, Lloyd. If something is wrong, I will certainly tell you. Go home to Katie. She’s probably worried after learning about that telegram.”
Lloyd looked her over. “You take care of yourself. I might be a grown man, but I like knowing both my parents are still around.”
Randy smiled as she watched him leave. She walked over and locked the front door while Jake removed his denim pants. He rolled up the right leg of his knee-length long johns so Brian could look at the still-healing wound there.
“I still say you used more stitches than necessary just to be mean,” he told Brian.
Brian felt around the wound to make sure there was no swelling underneath. “Of course I did. Doctors have a special talent for torture. Don’t you know that?”
“I know it now,” Jake joked with him.
“Well, this all looks pretty good, but if you don’t listen to me, Jake, you’ll mess up my beautiful work and be right back down in bed.” He faced Jake. “If you want to get out of here and go look for Marty Bryant, you give that wound a few more days to heal up good and tight and give yourself at least another week to build up your blood or you won’t last long on the trail.” He looked at Randy. “Now, what’s this about you having pains?”
Randy reddened a little. “I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ve just had occasional deep pain really low.” She pressed her hands at her groin area. “Almost like a woman feels when…when it’s her time…only I haven’t had that problem since Evie was born, because they had to remove my…you know. It embarrasses me to talk about it.”
“Randy, this is me, and I love you like a mom. They removed your uterus, but I’m guessing not your ovaries.”
She nodded.
Brian frowned. “Go lie down on the bed.” He glanced at Jake with a look of alarm. “Get dressed,” he told Jake. He walked into the bedroom to find Randy sitting on the bed. “Why didn’t you mention this to me sooner?” Brian scolded.