“Katie is beautiful,” Jake answered, pouring a cup full of soapy water through Randy’s hair. He still held her on his lap, her head in the crook of his arm. The water ran through her hair and back into the pan of soapy water.
“Yeah, well, you know how women are always looking for their flaws,” Lloyd tried to joke. “Katie thinks she’ll end up stout like her mother.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” Jake poured soapy water through Randy’s hair again, and Lloyd helped towel it off. “Clare Donavan is a wonderful woman with a beautiful spirit,” Jake added.
“I agree.” Lloyd figured it was best to keep a conversation going. “I want about six more kids, so Katie probably will end up ‘robust,’ as she puts it. That doesn’t matter to me. It’s like you told me once—the bigger the woman, the more to love.”
Jake grinned. “Katie just doesn’t want to lose her Greek god.”
Lloyd took heart in his smile, but he knew things were boiling inside his father. He returned the smile. “I think I’ll punch the next man who calls me a Greek god.”
Jake sobered. The smile was quickly gone, and his eyes teared. He pulled Randy closer, and she whimpered his name. “Little as this woman right here is, she owns me, Lloyd. She’s got me roped, thrown, tethered, and branded. And now I’ve maybe lost her.”
“That will never happen, Pa. Love can survive anything, and I never knew two people who loved each other more than you two.”
“Jake,” Randy whispered, curling closer again.
“Que Dios te acompane, mi amor.”
“Don’t let go.”
“I’m right here.”
Randy drifted off again.
“Get her clothes from that bag you brought in and help me dress her,” Jake told Lloyd. “She’ll feel better if she’s dressed when she wakes up.”
Lloyd pulled out a simple blue cotton dress and underclothes.
“Just the dress. I’m worried she could have a couple of cracked ribs. I’m not going to cinch a damn camisole around her. Just the dress and one slip.”
Lloyd took a clean towel from the satchel and toweled Randy’s hair to dry it more. “Hang on to her, and I’ll get the dress on her.”
“Shit.”
“It’s okay.”
Jake held her limp body straighter, and Lloyd quickly pulled the dress over her head. They worked her arms into the sleeves.
“She’s like a damn rag doll,” Jake groaned.
Together they worked the dress down and over the rest of her, and Jake hung on to her while Lloyd buttoned the dress. “Don’t tell her I helped,” he told Jake. “She’d die of embarrassment. If Katie or Evie were here, they could do this, but I’m glad they aren’t here. This would be way too hard on Evie, and I wouldn’t want Katie to have to see this either.” He finished the last button. “My God, Pa, how much does she weigh? A hundred pounds?”
“Something like that. Maybe one-ten.” Jake pulled her closer again.
Lloyd rose and set the pan of water on the table. “I’ll fix up something by the fireplace where you can sleep and build up the fire.”
“Lloyd.”
Lloyd met his father’s gaze.
“You’re one hell of a son.”
Lloyd sighed. “Yeah, well, you’re one hell of a father.” He touched his mother’s hair. “And she’s one hell of a mother…and considering the ornery sonofabitch she’s put up with the last thirty years, she’s one hell of a wife.” His heart ached at what he knew his father was going through. Staying sane through this had to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. “She’ll be okay, Pa, as long as she has you. You remember that.”
Randy suddenly grasped Jake’s shirt. “Jake?”
“I’m right here.”
“Don’t go away.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll take good care of you, just like at that trading post.”
“You came for me. I’ll always remember how it felt to hear your voice.”
“I came for you because I couldn’t forget you. God knows I tried.”
“Don’t let go.”
Jake pulled her close. “Never.”
Forty-one
“I’ll ride on my own. Let Stephen ride with Little Jake, and I’ll take Stephen’s horse.” Randy spoke the words matter-of-factly as Jake wrapped a blanket closer around her because she couldn’t stop shivering.
“You’re too weak. Just last night you could barely talk or move, and you’re covered with bruises and still have laudanum in your system. It’s a long ride, and it’s cold out there.” Jake was confused by her sudden about-face—behaving like the feisty, strong Miranda Harkner he knew she could be. After she’d clung to him all night and how sick and terrified she was, her behavior didn’t make any sense.