Jake stopped walking, and the whole crowd followed suit. He’d paused to light a cigarette, and Jeff thought how grand he looked today—a clean shave, his hair lying in neat waves to the collar of a clean white shirt under a neatly cut suit with a string tie. He spotted gold cuff links when Jake raised his wrists to light the cigarette. Jeff looked down at highly polished black leather boots. Randy’s yellow cotton dress fit her still-lovely figure perfectly. Back in Oklahoma, when Jeff got to know Jake so well, it was not unusual for Jake to mention his wife’s beautiful cleavage, and today it showed fetchingly at the square-cut, lace-trimmed bodice of her dress. Her blond hair was drawn back at the sides and tied at the crown, where tiny flowers were stuck into it. Few men failed to notice how incredibly lovely she was, and Jeff grinned at the suspicion Jake wanted her looking extra beautiful in front of the judge.
Lloyd wore black pants and shined boots with a white shirt but no suit jacket. Deep worry showed in his dark eyes, but he had that aura of “Jake’s son” about him that hinted he was no man to mess with. He looked thin and tired today, obviously still not a well man.
Evie’s dark beauty was accented by a soft-pink dress and pink flowers in her dark hair, while Katie wore a dark-blue dress and a little, round straw hat. Both women showed only a tiny hint of growing waistlines from the babies they carried. Brian was his usual neat, well-dressed self in a gray suit with a black silk vest under the jacket.
Ben and Stephen wore suits, although when Jeff first saw them coming out of the hotel, he could tell the boys hated having to dress that way. Little Jake wore black cotton pants and a white button shirt, but he had a way of always looking ready to go play in a mud hole.
Jake and his wife are the epitome of a handsome couple, Jeff noted. They don’t come much more handsome than Jake, or more beautiful than Miranda, but I see the fear and dread in her eyes and in the way she clings to her husband with one arm around his back. She knows these could be her last moments with him. Jake knows it, too. He’s covering. I know him too well now. He’s ready to explode on the inside. This should be an interesting day.
“Jake!” Katie called out in alarm.
Jake turned to see Lloyd beginning to sway a little. He let go of the women and threw down his cigarette, hurrying over to Lloyd and putting an arm around him. His entire jovial countenance was now gone.
“Lloyd, you don’t have to be here.”
“Yeah, Pa, I do. I’ll be okay…once we get inside where it’s cooler. Once I sit down…I’ll be all right.”
“I’ll help you up the steps.”
“Pa.” Lloyd held back. “You know I love you. Katie and I prayed for you half the night, and you know damn well how hard Evie’s been praying.”
Evie began wiping at tears, and Randy went to her side. Gretta graciously and quietly left the scene.
“I’ll be fine, Lloyd, no matter what,” Jake told his son. “I can’t think of a better man to take care of Randy and all that’s mine than you, so if it ends up that way, I’ll rest easy. You stay strong, and you remember whose son you are but that you’re also your own man now, and a hell of a lot better man than your father ever was.”
Lloyd shook his head. “They don’t come any better than you.”
Jake tightened his arm around Lloyd. “You’re going to be a bigger name than I ever was. Maybe you’ll even be the damn governor someday. You’ll be well known for far different and far better reasons than your old man. And I’ll be watching, whether here on earth or someplace else.” He helped Lloyd up the steps. “And right now I can’t get emotional, understand? Peter says I need to stay steady on that stand, which means ignoring my emotions, so this isn’t a good time to talk about who’s the better man. And if we ever duked it out, I still say I’d win.”
“Bullshit,” Lloyd answered. “The only chance you’d have…is if you tried it right now…while I’m still injured and weak.”
The Christian women nearby continued their hymn singing.
“Let’s get inside,” Jake told Lloyd. “The atmosphere out here rings a little too close to a setup for a hanging.” He turned to the rest of the family. “Let’s get this over with,” he announced. He kept a supportive arm around Lloyd while bringing Randy close again with his other arm. “Randy, have I told you how utterly beautiful you look today?”
“Several times.”
They climbed the steps to the courthouse.
“If nobody cared about that man, this wouldn’t be so important to me, Jeff,” Peter told the young reporter. “If it was anyone else but Jake Harkner being questioned today, I could be pretty sure how things would go, but Jake is the most unpredictable client I’ve ever worked with. He goes entirely off his emotions and his ideas of what’s right and wrong. I just hope he can keep that temper of his in check.”