“You know how to use a gun?”
“’Course I do.”
“All right. I’m camped outside of town. You can join me if you want.”
“Hell, I have a farm, such as it is, just northwest of here. You’re welcome to come there with me and sleep in a real bed under a real roof.”
Holt nodded. “That’s right friendly of you, Buckley. I’m hurtin’ pretty bad from that damn red-bearded man’s fists.”
“I bet. Red St. James is the town gunsmith, and he’s known for his fighting skills. He’s never been beat arm wrestling.”
They started walking together.
“Hey,” Brad said, “if you don’t mind my asking… I saw it in the news. They said you were released because there was no proof you actually raped Jake’s daughter.”
“And you want to know if I did.”
Brad shrugged. “Can’t help wondering. I sure would have liked to have been there and had my own turn.”
Holt stopped walking. “Well, son, I had my turn at her, and it was sweet. The best part is, she was blindfolded.”
“Blindfolded?”
“Yup. Some of us decided to blindfold her when we took our turn. It was pretty entertaining. And now I could walk right up to her, and she wouldn’t recognize me. When I was done with her, I went back to a barn where me and some of the other men slept, and she never really saw me. When the shooting was over, her husband had already taken her behind the cabin so’s she wouldn’t have to see those of us left alive.”
“Yeah, but Jake and Lloyd saw you. They won’t forget. So whatever you have planned, you’d better make sure you truly have the drop on them, or you’ll be pushing up daisies.”
“I don’t really know for sure what I’ll do, but I’ll damn well pay back Lloyd Harkner. You can bet on it.”
Brad grinned. “Well then, we both have scores to settle. Maybe between the two of us we can find a way.”
“Maybe so.”
Holt started walking again. “Lead me to your farm, my boy. I’m hurtin’ pretty bad.”
“Sure. My horse is back at the saloon where I was when I heard the commotion. You stay here and wait. I don’t want anyone in town to know we’ve been talking. I’ll be right back.”
Brad hurried back down the street, wanting to laugh out loud at his luck. He’d been wanting to get out of Guthrie for a long time. Because of Jake Harkner, his whole family was gone, and nobody around Guthrie wanted what was left of the Buckleys or their outlaw friends the Bryants. The possibility of getting his revenge against Jake Harkner was the best reason of all to leave Guthrie, and he’d damn well never come back.
Seven
Randy folded a quilt and laid it across the foot of the bed, smiling at how big the bed was—specially built from black walnut for Jake’s tall frame. Jake had ordered the wood shipped from Michigan and hired a carpenter from Boulder to build the bed and a matching six-drawer dresser. The set was quite grand, but also quite heavy. Getting all of it up to her and Jake’s loft bedroom had been quite a project.
She turned and headed downstairs, still a bit overwhelmed by her lovely home and thanking God for what she and Jake finally had here together. Only a hundred yards away on either side of their home were equally lovely log houses belonging to Lloyd and Katie and to Brian and Evie.
She untied her apron and tossed it over a chair, then stepped out onto the wide veranda where she could hear laughter and guitar music coming from the bunkhouse. It was Sunday, and the ranch hands were enjoying a day off. Teresa, the Mexican woman who helped with housework and the children, was at the cabin she shared with her husband, Rodriguez de Jesus. Dinner with the entire family, a Sunday ritual that Jake insisted they keep, was over, and in the absence of church, Evie had read from the Bible and had sung a hymn before the meal.
Randy breathed deeply of the fresh mountain air and glanced over at Jake, who sat leaning back in a chair, one foot up on the porch railing. He smoked quietly, watching the usual bedlam of the whole family together. She smiled, knowing that Jake still couldn’t get over the fact that he had such a big family. Tricia and Sadie sat near him, playing with dolls. Tricia called Jake Poppy, and to Sadie, Jake was Gamps. Sadie had her mother’s long, straight black hair and big, dark eyes. She was going to be as beautiful as Evie someday, the Mexican blood from Jake’s mother showing through. Tricia had her mother’s very red hair but Lloyd’s dark eyes.
In the distance, grandson Stephen rode horses with adopted son Ben, who could be spotted anywhere because of his very blond, almost white hair. Seven-year-old Little Jake was chasing after Stephen and Ben, asking Stephen to saddle a horse for him, too. Ben and Stephen were good riders already, and it was obvious that Stephen, tall for his age, was going to be a big man like his father and grandfather.