Love’s Sweet Revenge(144)

“You going to calm down? Your grandsons are watching, Jake!”

“Just let go of me.”

Lloyd watched him closely as he stepped back, letting go of Jake’s shirt. He grabbed his hair and pulled it behind his back as they continued watching each other.

“Your mother said that—that first night in the wagon when I thought I could make her hate me by behaving like my father.” He turned away, running a hand over his eyes. “I wanted her to hate me. I knew what her life would be like if she stayed with me, but the damn woman…wouldn’t go away. Even those two years I left and lived with…whores and outlaws again…she waited for me, and she took me back and never asked any questions.” He grasped his stomach. “Now this. This is what she gets for staying with me. I was crazy to think it wouldn’t someday come back to slap her right in the face!” He let out an odd gasp and wiped at his eyes. “Lloyd, they’ve got my wife! My wife! The woman who is my reason for…breathing!”

“And she’s my mother! Do you think I don’t want to go out there and blow all of them to pieces? You can’t do this alone, and you can’t do it without a plan, which includes taking some of the men with us. At least we’ll have witnesses. After what happened in Denver, we can’t just go after Mom alone and kill men. Everything has changed, Pa. You’re not a marshal, and there are new laws. We’ve already talked about that. We don’t even know for sure who these men are.”

“We damn well do know!” Jake looked at the boys. “Was one of them missing some fingers?”

Stephen sniffed and nodded.

“The one who took Grandma said to tell you”—Ben jerked in another sob—“that Brad has your…wife…and he’ll make you real sorry…you killed his pa and brothers.” He wiped at his nose with his shirtsleeve. “You can give me back, if you want. You don’t have to keep me. I promised I’d help you look after Mom, and I didn’t do it.” He started crying harder.

“Grampa, are you mad at us?” Little Jake asked, still shivering in sobs. “We tried to stop them. But they were too strong!” He broke into harder crying. “I wanna kill ’em! Take us with you, Grampa. Let us go after ’em, too!”

Jake looked at Lloyd, then turned away again. “I damn well know better than most how it feels to try defending someone you love and not be strong enough to do it.” He looked back at the boys. “I’m not angry with any of you. Understand? It’s damn obvious how hard you tried to stop them. I know what that’s like, and I’m proud of how you boys tried to help.” He looked at Lloyd again. “It’s those three we chased off the J&L last summer. That’s how they were able to avoid being noticed and how they knew exactly which house to hit. They set that fire as a distraction, only they probably didn’t plan on all three boys being here.”

“There were five of them,” Stephen spoke up.

Jake came even more alert. “Five?” He looked from Lloyd to Cole. “We only kicked three off this ranch. We know who the fourth one is.” He looked at the boys. “Did you catch names?”

Little Jake nodded. “Yes, there was the one called Brad. I remember those three men we got rid of last summer. They were part of ’em. But there was another one. I think he maybe used to work for us, but I can’t remember for sure.”

“I think one of them called him Clem,” Stephen sniffled.

Jake ran a hand through his hair, his whole countenance seeming to actually rumble like thunder. “Clem Sutton!” He looked at Lloyd. “It has to be Clem Sutton, the one who called your mother a—”

Lloyd’s jaw twitched in repressed anger. “We should have killed him and the other three when we had the chance, but we couldn’t, Pa. It just doesn’t work that way anymore.”

“A man draws on you—you’re supposed to kill him! And they have all drawn on me again, in another way. And I’m fucking shooting back!” Jake turned to Cole, who’d watched everything from near the doorway. “You gather some men,” Jake told him. “The best ones! Have them pack some gear and plenty of ammunition and be ready to ride out the minute it’s even remotely light out!”

Cole nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m damn sorry, Jake. Every man on this ranch loves that woman.”

Cole walked out, and Jake turned to Evie. “Who’s watching the girls?”

“Rodriguez and Teresa.”

“Til Reed is with Katie,” Lloyd told him.