Love’s Sweet Revenge(48)
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Pa is taking my mother for a ride, and I miss you,” Lloyd answered, “so I’m going to ride beside you for a bit.” He kissed her again. “And I can’t wait till we get a room in Denver.”
“Lloyd! Your mother and sister are sitting right behind us!”
“Hell, they understand.” He turned and smiled at the other two women. “Has she told you yet?”
“Told us what?” Evie asked.
Lloyd looked at Katie.
“Not yet,” she told him. “We have to be real sure.”
“I’m sure enough.” He turned back to his mother and sister. “The race is on, Sis. Katie’s carrying.”
Evie reached forward and shoved at him. “It’s not supposed to be a contest, big brother.”
“Well, Sadie and Tricia aren’t far apart in age, and they have each other to play with. What if it’s boys this time? They’ll each need someone to play with, too.”
“Well, it could be girls again,” Evie told him, “but if I have another boy, I hope he’s not as wild as Little Jake. I won’t be able to handle it. You can have him. In fact, if you have a girl and I have a boy, I’ll trade with you.”
Lloyd laughed. “Speaking of Little Jake, here comes big Jake.”
Jake rode up close on a big roan gelding, reaching out for Randy. “Let’s go.”
Randy watched him slyly. “I don’t trust you, Jake Harkner.”
“After thirty years?”
“That’s why I don’t trust you. I’ve known you too long.”
“Come on. Get on this horse.” He glanced at Lloyd. “Help her up here, Lloyd.”
Lloyd climbed down and helped his mother out of the carriage. Randy let out a little scream when he picked her up and raised her up to Jake, who grasped her around the waist and hoisted her up to sit in front of him on the horse. “You just keep going,” he told his son. “We’ll catch up in time for supper. Of course, none of us is crazy about Cole’s cooking, but we have to make do without Rodriguez.”
“I wonder how he and the boys back at the bunkhouse are doing, trying to watch Little Jake?” Lloyd joked, winking at Evie.
“They’ll be more worn out than if they were out digging trenches,” Jake answered.
“Daddy, Katie and I can help with the cooking this evening.”
“No. This is a hard enough trip. I don’t want the women doing anything extra.” Jake glanced at Katie. “You young women need to take it easy. Lloyd tells me you’re going to give me and Randy grandchild number six, not long after Evie has number five.”
Katie blushed. “I’m pretty sure.”
“Well, you’re both making a really old man out of me.”
“You’ll never be old, Daddy,” Evie told him. “Mom either. Look how pretty she still is.”
“Oh, I am well aware of that, baby girl.” He grinned and rode off with Randy.
“Jake, what are you up to?” Randy asked warily, hanging on to her hat.
“Just some time alone with my wife. I want to show you how pretty it is in that pine forest to the west.”
“That had better be all you want. We are out here with the whole family and a lot of men.”
Jake pressed her closer, taking her a good quarter of a mile west of the parade of buggies, wagons, and cattle and into a stand of pines where the ground was carpeted with needles and the trees offered cool shade. He dismounted, then helped her down and tied his horse. He took a blanket from behind the saddle and spread it out on a thick carpet of needles, then removed his guns and sat down. He reached up, and Randy saw the sly look in his eyes as she took his hand. “Jake—”
He pulled her down to sit beside him. “I just thought we’d have some quiet time together.”
Randy breathed deeply of the pungent smell of pine. They sat in the shade, watching the distant procession of family and animals make their way over what was currently government land. They had special permits to move on through private property as they made their way to Denver.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? You can see our wagons and see the cattle off in the distance. It’s quite a scene.”
“It is.” Randy watched quietly for a few seconds as Jake moved an arm around her shoulders. She turned to meet his eyes, seeing something familiar there—something she didn’t want to see. “I know you better than I know myself, Jake. You’re worried about going to Denver this time, aren’t you?”
“I’m not worried about a damn thing.”
“Yes, you are. You’re thinking about Mike Holt, and about that prosecutor who’d like to bring you down.”