Jake watched him closely. “I’m sorry about your wife, Peter, but what’s all this got to do with Randy?”
Peter stiffened. “I have to go to Oklahoma City on business, and that’s where a lawyer friend of mine has his office. He’s agreed to plead your case in St. Louis because he knows that judge. While I’m there, Randy could see this doctor, if you’ll allow it, and if she needs surgery, she could have it there.”
Jake just stood there, silent, smoking, staring at Peter. The room hung thick with Jake Harkner’s presence. Lloyd watched him closely, not sure exactly what was going through his father’s mind.
“Let me get this straight,” Jake finally spoke up slowly. “You’re suggesting that you take my wife with you to Oklahoma City, you make decisions I should be making about her health… You, a man who’s in love with my wife, want to take her away alone for a good two or three weeks, depending on how the surgery goes.”
Randy turned away. The fact that Peter Brown loved her had never been put into words until now.
Peter didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
Jake glared at him. “You must either be very brave or very stupid…or maybe very smart. Don’t be thinking I’m some kind of goddamn fool, Peter!”
“Jake!” Brian spoke up. “Think about it. It could save her life! Would I lie to you about something like that? Clara Donavan could go with Randy, but she needs a man to go with her—someone who can protect her better than a woman could—someone who can help make the proper legal decisions if she’s too sick to. No one can do a better job of making sure everything is handled right than someone like Peter—and he cares, Jake, enough to make sure she gets only the best doctor and the best aftercare. He’s someone who would look after her with the same concern as—”
“As her own husband?” Jake turned away. He glanced at Randy, who continued to avoid facing any of them. He turned back to Peter. “You’re someone who can protect her? How do you propose to do that?”
“I have a handgun, more than one, in fact, and I know how to use them, Jake. I’m no damned Jake Harkner, but if I have to use a gun to defend Randy, I’ll do it.”
Lloyd could almost hear thunder in the room. He thought that if looks could kill, the one Jake was giving Peter Brown right now would land the man flat on his back. “And what if she has this surgery…and she’s dying and needs someone to hold her? I’m sure you’ll gladly do that too, won’t you, Peter Brown?”
Randy remained turned away, not saying a word.
“Pa, this is Mom we’re talking about,” Lloyd reminded him. “She worships the ground you walk on. She’d never look twice at any other man, and you damn well know it!”
“She’ll be in pain and vulnerable and needing me! Me! And I can’t be there for her! And just maybe after all the other times she’s needed me and I couldn’t be there for her, she’ll finally get tired of it and decide to be with someone who can always be there for her!”
“Use your head, Jake!” Peter shot back. “Yes, at the risk of you lighting into me, I do love Randy. And that’s the best reason in the world to let me help her! Help both of you! I’ll protect her with my goddamn life, and I’ll make sure she gets the absolute best care possible—and yes, if she needs holding, I’ll by God hold her so she’s not scared and alone, and you know what? It sure as hell won’t be me holding her. In her mind, it will be you! And no, I’m not stupid, and I sure as hell don’t take you for a fool. I take Jake Harkner very seriously, believe me! Standing in front of you right now, admitting I love your wife, isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m sweating like hell under this suit at the thought of what you’d like to do to me. I have a feeling that if you tried, even Lloyd wouldn’t be able to stop you!”
“Stop it!” Randy suddenly yelled, putting her hands to the sides of her face. “Does anyone care what I think of this?”
All four men looked at her. Randy rested her gaze on Jake. “I want to do it.”
Lloyd thought Jake looked like he’d just been slapped.
“Jake, when you’re gone, I go crazy with worry. This will keep me occupied. And if this means I can have the best care, then that’s what I want. I want to come home to my grandbabies and the new one on the way. I want to come home to my son and daughter. And I want to come home, healthy and alive, to my husband, and hope he’ll be here waiting, and that he’ll also be healthy and alive…and maybe I’ll be able to tell him we’re going to Colorado in another year and all this will end.”