He still missed Beth, and he felt so guilty for it. He couldn’t blame Katie for that.
“Katie, when I get back I’ll tell you all of it—the truth about Pa’s past, all right? He doesn’t just love me like any normal father loves his kid. He needs me. There is a fine line there, between sanity and just…going crazy. That’s why I’m so concerned about him losing my mother. She’s the anchor that keeps him from drifting away to a really bad place.”
“I want to understand, Lloyd…all of it.”
“And you have a right to know, so it doesn’t keep coming between us.” Lloyd stroked her hair. “I promise things will get better once we find Marty Bryant and end all this…and once we move to Colorado.” He moved on top of her, kissing her lightly, then stiffened when someone knocked at the door. “Damn,” he grumbled.
“I knew we shouldn’t do this in the middle of the morning!” Katie lamented.
Lloyd moved off the bed and pulled the covers over her. “Stay there.” He quickly pulled on a pair of long johns.
The knock came again and he yelled out, “Just a minute!” He grabbed his denim pants and yanked them on. “Whoever it is, I’ll tell them you don’t feel well. Maybe it’s just Pa or my mother.” He hurriedly buttoned his pants and grabbed a shirt and started pulling it on as he hurried out and closed the door. “Who is it?” he called.
“Lloyd, it’s me—Brian. I have someone with me.”
“Jesus God Almighty,” Lloyd grumbled. He ran his hands through his disheveled hair and pushed it behind his ears. Evie had recently told him he was starting to look like an Indian, but Katie liked it long and he hated sitting for haircuts, so he just kept letting it grow. He opened the door, his shirt open and his feet bare. He frowned when he saw Peter Brown standing there with Brian.
“I’m sorry, Lloyd, but we need to talk to you,” Brian told him.
Lloyd shook his hair back again and stepped aside. “Come in.” He closed the door after them. “Come into the kitchen. Katie isn’t feeling well and I don’t want to bother her.”
Brian and Peter followed him into the kitchen.
“Sit down,” Lloyd told them. “There is still some coffee on the stove. Either one of you want any?” He poured himself a cup.
“No, thanks,” Brian told him. “I’m really sorry to bother you. I know you and Jake have to leave day after tomorrow.”
“It’s all right.” Lloyd set his cup on the table and then took a tin of Lone Jack cigarettes from the top of a cupboard. He took out a cigarette and lit it with a stove match.
“What’s going on?” Lloyd asked as he turned a kitchen chair around and straddled it, leaning forward on the chair back.
Brian glanced at Peter, then back to Lloyd. “We just want your opinion about something. Don’t fly off the handle. Just listen. If you love your mother, you’ll agree we need to do this.”
Lloyd stiffened. “Do what?”
Brian rubbed the back of his neck.
“Peter here knows of an excellent surgeon in Oklahoma City. He talked to Ed Rogers about him, and Ed agreed that if your mother has cancer, this man is the best there is. And Peter has to go to Oklahoma City on business. He also knows a lawyer there who would be willing to go on to St. Louis to petition Jake’s judge for a reduced sentence. So—”
“He wants to take my mom with him to Oklahoma City?” Lloyd immediately stood up. “This is my dad we’re talking about! Do you really think Jake Harkner is going to let a man who’s in love with his wife take her that far away? Alone?”
“Lloyd, think about it! This can’t be put off without possibly endangering your mother’s life—more each day! Who better to go with her than someone who loves her just as much as your father does?”
The remark brought fire to Lloyd’s eyes. He rose, fists clenched. “Did you hear what you just said?”
“Lloyd, you know I’d never suggest this if I didn’t love Randy just as much as you do,” Brian told him boldly.
“Nobody loves my mother as much as Pa loves her!”
The room hung silent as Peter laid a long sheet of paper on the table, filled with signatures. “Look at this. I’ve been going around town for days gathering signatures on this petition. It says your father deserves to have his sentence reduced because of his outstanding service and because he has a family and this is endangering their lives. The petition says he’s a good citizen and well liked. I worded it myself, and I’ve been working night and day on this. I have three hundred signatures, Lloyd. Three hundred. That should show you how much I respect Jake and how much a lot of people in this town respect him. I’m doing everything I can to get that reprieve. I want the judge to see this. This should show you my good intentions.”