Love’s Sweet Revenge(87)
“She’s hanging on to it.” Jake leaned closer again, grasping the brass rail at the head of the bed with one hand and taking Lloyd’s hand with the other. “I love you, Son. I’m sorry as hell that sonofabitch got to you before I did. I would have shot sooner, but Evie was in the way, and then you were in the way. When Holt fired that gun and I saw you go down…” His voice broke, and he took a deep breath. “I went down with you.”
Lloyd grasped his wrist. “I’m sorry I…got mad at you…after that thing with Clem.”
“You had every right to be mad. I am well aware that I can be a real sonofabitch sometimes. You’re a hell of a man, Lloyd. You’ll get through this, and someday you’ll be the biggest landowner in Colorado, and you’ll carry the Harkner name with a lot more respect than I ever could.”
Lloyd clung to his wrist. “I’ll never be…Jake Harkner, Pa,” Lloyd answered weakly. “There’s a damn lot of pride in that…too. You…remember that.”
The words tore at Jake’s heart. “You’re as bad as Evie when it comes to making me out to be more than I am.”
“No. Evie…sees you through special glasses that…filter out the bad. I…see all of you…but I…love you anyway.”
Jake grinned through tears. “I guess that’s one way to put it.”
Lloyd grasped at the sleeve of Jake’s shirt. “Why are you…wearing…my favorite shirt?”
“Because I haven’t left this room since you were shot, and I had to change out of that fancy suit I wore to the ball.” Jake straightened. “It had a little blood on it.”
Lloyd looked him over. “Were you…hurt?”
“I’m all right. I had a little scuffle with Holt before I took him down, and his gun went off. The bullet skimmed across my left shoulder. Not all the blood on that good shirt I was wearing was mine, though. Things get a little messy when you shoot someone point-blank.”
“Pa? Oh…God!” He grasped Jake’s arm tighter. “You are in trouble…aren’t you? I…know you. You…went crazy…didn’t you?”
“A little.”
“A little?”
“That man shot my son! My unarmed son!”
“You weren’t…supposed to have a gun…”
“I’m Jake Harkner. I always have a gun.”
Lloyd covered his eyes. “Jesus, Pa.”
Brian came into the room then with Evie and Katie.
“Lloyd!” Katie hurried to his side and sat down on the bed to lean over and kiss his lips.
“Hey, Katie-girl. I’m in…no condition for this,” he joked.
Brian turned to Jake. “I told Randy to give Katie some time with Lloyd before she comes in here,” Brian told him. “Go see your wife, Jake. She’s been staying with Katie and Evie, but I told her to go to your room and wait there. You’ve been with her in here for most of these three days, but you haven’t really been with her.”
Jake ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah.” He glanced at Lloyd again. Both his sister and his wife were fussing over him.
“Too many…women,” Lloyd teased.
Jake grinned. “Son, I assure you, you can never be surrounded by too many women.” He walked around and touched Katie’s shoulder. “Katie, don’t do anything but be here for him. You let me and the doctors do the hard work, understand? And don’t let him move around too much. He still has a long way to go.”
Katie stroked Lloyd’s hair. “He’s already falling asleep again. I can stay here by him, can’t I, Brian?”
“Sure you can.”
“Thank God he came around,” she wept. “What would I do without him?”
The words reminded Jake of things Randy had said to him too many times over the years. Randy. My God, Randy, I’ve left you out again. He picked up his six-gun and headed out, looking into the hallway first to make sure no one was out there waiting for him. He hurried into his and Randy’s room to find Randy standing there in a robe and looking anxious.
“Jake, is it true?” she asked, looking ready to pass out. “He woke up? He moved his legs?”
“It’s true.”
She searched his eyes. “And how are you? Who are you? Do I have my husband back?”
He turned and locked the door. “Not completely. I’m trying, Randy.”
“I’ve been living with an outlaw the last three days, Jake.”
He looked down at the gun in his hand, then met her gaze. “Last I remember, it’s the outlaw you fell in love with.”