“That worries Evie, too. You know how much Lloyd means to her.”
The women were walking toward them now, Evie holding Sadie and Randy holding Tricia. The younger boys came charging up to the house on horseback, Little Jake sitting behind Stephen with his arms wrapped around his cousin’s waist. The boy clamored down and ran up the porch steps to Jake. “Grampa, go riding with us and let me ride my own horse, will you?”
Jake tousled Little Jake’s hair and glanced at Evie. “You care?”
Evie set Sadie on her feet. “Daddy, if not for you being around to keep Little Jake busy, I’d be a worn-out old woman already. I think the two of you share the same restless soul, so yes, take him riding. Brian and I have trouble making him sit still for his lessons. You need to talk to him about that.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Little Jake tugged at Jake’s hand. “Come on, Grampa.”
Jake took his hand and walked down the porch steps and close to Evie. He put a hand to the side of her face and kissed her forehead. “Everything will work out, baby girl. Don’t be worrying about me or your brother, understand?”
Evie gave him a hug. “I didn’t want you to know all of it.”
Jake hugged her close with one arm while still holding Little Jake’s hand. “You just concentrate on that good man you’re married to and on having another healthy baby. I’ll take care of anything that comes up, and I won’t be careless about it.”
“But Lloyd gets as angry as you sometimes. I’m scared for him.”
“I’ll talk to Lloyd. He has a son and a daughter to think about, let alone a wife. You just take it easy for now. We have a lot of work ahead of us that will keep us right here on the ranch, so there’s nothing to worry about for now, all right? No stranger gets onto the J&L without somebody knowing it.”
Evie pulled away, wiping at tears.
“Mommy cry,” little Sadie said, looking at Evie with lips pouted.
“Mommy’s fine, sweetness,” Randy answered, kneeling in front of her granddaughter. “Come inside and have some cookies, Tricia.”
Evie took a deep breath and put her hand on Little Jake’s shoulder. “You be a good boy and do what your grandfather tells you, understand?”
“Can we go, too?” Stephen spoke up when he and Ben rode closer.
“Yeah, Pa, let’s all go riding,” Ben declared, his face already sunburned from riding most of the afternoon.
“And as far as I’m concerned, Daddy, you can take Little Jake on roundups and let him help with branding and feeding the cattle and anything else that keeps him busy,” Evie told him. “He needs a way to get rid of all that pent-up energy.”
Jake smiled. “Okay, boys, let’s go saddle up Midnight. Maybe Little Jake can ride Shortbread. She’s a pretty gentle horse.” Jake headed toward the barn, hoisting seven-year-old Little Jake under one arm like a sack of potatoes. “And we can’t ride near the pond. Your uncle Lloyd is there with Katie, and they want to be alone, so let’s ride in the other direction.”
“Awww, they’re kissin’, aren’t they?” Little Jake spoke the words in a singsong tease.
“You’ll never find out, you little troublemaker,” Jake answered, hiking Little Jake over his shoulder. The boy laughed all the way into the barn.
Evie watched after them. “Is Daddy really okay with all this?” she asked her mother.
Randy sighed. “No one really knows what’s going on inside that man’s head,” she answered. “But he knows the rules have changed, Evie, and he’ll keep that in mind. I’m more worried about those boys wearing him out. He has aches and pains the kids know nothing about. At their age, they wouldn’t even understand that kind of pain.”
Brian came down the steps and moved an arm around his wife. “Let’s go inside and help the girls with those cookies.” He urged her up the steps, glancing back at Jake as he headed for a barn with two grandsons and an adopted son in tow.
“I’ll be back before dark,” Jake shouted at them without turning around.
Brian smiled. “The wild bunch,” he dubbed them.
“And Jake is wildest of all,” Randy added. “Lloyd said once that when Jake is with those boys, it’s hard to tell sometimes which one is the man and which one is the child.” She turned to Evie. “Let’s go inside and have those cookies.”
Evie and Brian walked through the screened door, and Randy watched Jake out in the corral with the boys. She remembered when she first had Lloyd, how terrified Jake was of being a father. Now there he was out romping around with grandsons.