“Well, if you want to look intimidating, you’ve done a good job. You’ll probably scare your own grandchildren away.”
Jake grinned. “Not Little Jake. He’ll probably walk up to me and want to touch ‘Gampa’s guns.’ That little devil is the only child I’ve ever known who truly tempts me to smack his little butt.”
“That will be the day.”
Jake walked over to her and knelt beside the bed. “You were sleeping so well and you need it so much that I didn’t want to wake you until the last minute.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you intended to wake me. If you’d left without doing that, I’d never forgive you.” She reached out and touched his face. “You’re still such a handsome man. I have to say this is how I like you best—guns and badge and looking mean—which is funny, because only I know how not mean you are.”
He grinned. “I know a few men who would argue that. And you’re talking like you’re a little drunk.”
“And did we do…terrible, disrespectful things…last night?”
Jake’s heart ached at her slurred words. “Not this time. We just held each other.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Peter Brown is sitting in the porch chair out front,” he told her then. “I don’t like leaving you in bed and half-drunk with him around,” he teased.
She grinned. “He’s not my Jake.”
“Well, just for insurance, Evie is out there in the sitting room to make sure that man doesn’t come in here. She’ll help you get dressed.”
“Oh, Jake, he wouldn’t…and I wouldn’t… You stop thinking like that. Kiss me again.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and gently pulled her into his arms, kissing her softly. “Who do you belong to?” he asked, nuzzling her neck.
“Jake Harkner.”
“You bet your ass. Yo te amo, mi querida.”
“Tell me this won’t be the last time you hold me.”
“It won’t. You’ll come back…and I’ll come back…and we’ll both be alive and well, and this nightmare will be over.”
“It will, Jake. I know it will.” She put her arms around his neck. “Hold me another minute. This is the one thing I miss most when you’re gone—these arms around me. I feel so safe when you’re holding me.”
“They’re around you, Randy, even when I’m not here.” He held her tightly, hating to leave her. “God, I love you.”
“I love you more.”
With great reluctance Jake let go of her, caressing her hair for a moment before getting up. “I have to go.”
“I should have made you breakfast. I always make you breakfast before you leave.”
“It’s all right. Lloyd and Jeff will probably want to eat anyway. We’ll stop at Sadie’s.”
“To watch Mary Ann pour coffee?”
Jake grinned. “Right out of her cleavage.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“I’ll be thinking of your cleavage,” he joked. Then he sobered, needing to leave, but just standing there watching her. “I meant my promise the other day, Randy. If you come home fine and well, I’ll go to church. God might take that as a bribe, and I guess maybe it is, but it’s a promise.”
“Be careful what you say, Jake. He’ll take you up on it.”
“That’s fine with me if it means having my wife back.”
He still just stood there.
“Go, Jake. It has to happen and we can’t stop it, so please just go, because I can’t stand lying here watching you and wanting to hold you and wanting to beg you to stay. Just go.”
He closed his eyes and sighed, then turned and took the extra cartridge belts from the hook. He walked out, wiping at a tear he didn’t want her to see. Evie met him in the parlor, reaching out for an embrace.
“She’ll be okay, Daddy. I know she will.”
“She was in a lot of pain yesterday. Help her get dressed, Evie. I don’t want Peter seeing her this way, and she wouldn’t want it either.”
“I know. And I’ll help her pack for her trip.” She hugged him once more. “Oh, Daddy, I’ll hate having both of you gone! That’s never happened before.”
“And it won’t happen again, baby girl.” Jake touched her face. “How are you feeling?”
“A little better. I’ve just had a lot of morning sickness.”
“Well, you let Katie and her mother help around here. Don’t do too much.”
“I’ll be careful. I’m married to a doctor, you know.”