Jake glanced at Lloyd, sharing an equal hatred for Buckley. Lloyd just closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Mr. Harkner?”
Jake glanced at Peter, who gave him a warning nod. “Yes, Your Honor,” Jake finally answered. “I agree not to shoot Brad Buckley.”
The room hung quiet for a moment as the judge studied Jake. “Why do I get the feeling you are leaving something out?” he asked Jake.
Jake took a moment to answer, scanning the crowd and then his family first. Finally, he turned to the judge. “Well, sir, if Brad Buckley threatens one member of my family, I can’t promise I won’t beat the hell out of him.”
The crowd broke into a round of laughter, and even the judge couldn’t help smiling, although he tried forcing it back as he again pounded the gavel. The room quieted again. “Mr. Harkner, you will refrain from bringing harm to Brad Buckley if at all possible. I’ve ordered him out of Denver, but if he makes trouble, I want you to do your best to hold him so the law can take care of him, not you. If he turns up badly beaten or dead, you will spend time in prison or possibly even face a noose. Is that understood?”
Jake nodded. He faced the judge. “Am I allowed to discipline men on the J&L who might turn out to be troublemakers? And what about rustlers?”
“Normal discipline is fine. And you will do your best to hold rustlers for the law. You have every right to use your guns in self-defense, but not for taking the law into your own hands. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now”—the judge shoved Jake’s and Lloyd’s guns even closer to Jake—“take your guns and go home, Mr. Harkner.”
The crowd broke into cheers and whistles. Randy couldn’t help breaking down with relief. She hugged Little Jake closer.
“Just a moment!” the judge yelled, pounding his gavel again for attention. He turned to Jake. “Mr. Harkner, your best defense today was that beautiful family sitting over there. No man who is responsible for a family like that can be all bad, and today they might just have saved your life.”
Jake fought a desire to run off the stand and go grab up every last one of them. “I am well aware of that, Judge.”
“And I have one last question.”
Jake faced him. “Yes?”
“I want to know how a man like you—who was wanted for any number of crimes, a man who had his face on wanted posters all over the South, who’d robbed and killed and ran with loose women and God knows what all you did—how did you end up with a beautiful, sophisticated, obviously well-educated and fashionable woman like that tiny, lovely lady over there holding your grandson?”
Randy smiled through her tears, looking at Jake lovingly. Their gazes held for several quiet seconds.
“Well, Your Honor, I met her thirty years ago in a dry goods store back in Kansas City, where I had a shoot-out with a bounty hunter that scared her so bad she pulled a gun out of her purse…and shot me. Damned if I didn’t fall in love with her then and there.”
It took a moment for the crowd to realize he was telling the truth.
“You shot Grampa?” Little Jake blurted out to Randy.
The crowd burst into an uproar of laughter. The judge looked at Jake. “Give me one hundred and ten dollars, and take these guns and go home, Jake.”
Jake rose and shook the judge’s hand while the rest of the family hugged each other. Jake took the money out of his pants pocket and paid the judge, glancing over to see Little Jake had climbed off Randy’s lap, and Randy was embracing Peter. That little stab of sorrow that she could have married better hit him again, along with the lingering jealousy that Peter Brown did all this for her because he was still in love with her.
Flash powder exploded as Jake strapped on his guns. Little Jake ran up to him, jumping up and down. As soon as Jake buckled his gun belt, he picked up his grandson, who practically choked Jake when he hugged him tightly around the neck.
Lloyd stood up and managed to walk on his own to greet his father as Jake came off the stand still holding Little Jake. With the boy in his arms, Jake reached out and embraced Lloyd, both men hugging for a long minute.
More flash powder exploded, and a reporter scrambled to reload powder for more pictures, which he managed to do several more times throughout the courthouse bedlam.
“Let’s go home, Pa, soon as we can,” Lloyd told Jake, keeping an arm around his father.
“I’ve got no argument there,” Jake told him. Katie came up, and Lloyd embraced her. By then Randy was close enough that Jake set Little Jake down and pulled her into his arms. She buried her face against his chest.