“Kind of hard to face certain old memories, isn’t it?” Jeff asked him.
Peter nodded. “Jeff, this has to work—for her sake.”
“Jake is really moved that you came, Peter. It’s hard for him to admit it to you, but in spite of the fact that he knows why you are doing this, he is really grateful. He told me he can hardly believe you came all this way to help out.”
“Well, I’m not sure I’ll be any good at all, but it isn’t just for Randy. I’ve never met a man I wanted to hate so much but liked so much. He’s the kind of man you have a lot of trouble imagining being gone from this world.”
“A lot of people would miss him, Peter—even those of us who only see him once in a while.”
Peter sighed and left with him, going into Lloyd’s room to see Lloyd sitting on the edge of the bed with Jake’s arm around him for support and Katie on his other side. Brian was getting something out of his medical bag. Lloyd wore cotton pants and no shirt, heavy bandages around his chest. In spite of his condition, his impressive muscular build was obvious.
Lloyd met Peter’s gaze, and in that moment, Peter saw Jake Harkner. The resemblance was uncanny. Evie had her arms around her mother, and the whole family was teary-eyed with joy. Peter wished the judge could see them. This was not the Jake Harkner who’d held a man down and fired point-blank into his head.
He shivered at the thought. That would not be easy to defend.
Peter turned to Jeff, who was already scribbling something down on a pad of paper. It wouldn’t be long before half the country knew Lloyd was going to live. Everyone would be watching the headlines then to see what would happen to his notorious father. “Jeff?” he spoke up. “I am suddenly feeling a very heavy weight on my shoulders—something about six feet four inches tall and weighing probably two hundred forty pounds or so.”
Jeff just smiled.
Twenty-four
Randy brushed out her hair, still damp from a long bath. She breathed deeply against the anxiety of knowing that the hearing would finally take place tomorrow. She dreaded it. In the past two weeks, Jake had come to their room only three times to sleep. He’d kept a nearly constant vigil with Lloyd, sleeping in his and Katie’s room at night to make sure Katie did not overdo herself by trying to help Lloyd on her own. Jake was adamant she not do any heavy lifting.
Randy could tell without asking that Jake ached more than he was willing to admit from caring for his son day after day, but Lloyd had made great progress. He could get out of bed on his own now and had begun to fully dress each day and go for walks up and down the hallway, supported for most of those walks by his father.
Everything they did was under the watch of Denver police, who had taken Jake’s guns in a very tense moment of showing Jake a judge’s order that he not be armed until after the hearing. Peter came with them, urging Jake to turn over his guns without any trouble, to show the judge he was not dangerous. They had taken Lloyd’s guns also so Jake could not get to any weapons, and when Peter and Jeff visited to talk about the hearing, they were always searched.
The Brown Palace, though the most beautiful hotel in Denver, had become their prison. From their windows they could see the crowds gathered in the streets every day, hoping to get a look at the famous Jake Harkner. The two grandsons and Ben arrived three days ago, running to Jake and nearly tackling him to the floor in their enthusiasm, but breaking into tears that their father and grandfather might go back to prison…or worse. Stephen cried all the first day after seeing his father bedridden, scared he would die.
Now that Lloyd was better, waiting for a hearing date was agony, and the boys were growing restless. Little Jake, of course, was the biggest problem. Pepper and Cole were kept busy finding ways to entertain him, including playing cards and marbles. Jake insisted the boys stay in the hotel, because he didn’t trust the crowds outside. It still concerned him that Brad Buckley could be out there somewhere.
All three boys clearly sensed the gravity of Jake’s situation. Ben hardly left Jake’s side and insisted on sleeping on the floor right beside Jake’s cot in Lloyd’s room at night. And Stephen wouldn’t leave his father, so he slept in a stuffed chair near Lloyd’s bed. Little Jake insisted on sleeping beside his grandfather too.
No one had any privacy. Jeff and Peter each took a room of their own, and to relieve too much crowding in Lloyd’s room, Jeff kept Ben and Stephen in his room the last two nights. The whole situation had created a bit of family chaos, but the kind of chaos that was heartwarming and supportive. Randy thought how incredibly close they all were, their family unity only strengthened by all that had happened. She set down the brush, wondering if and when she and Jake would get back to a normal life, if ever. Her heart ached at the memory of that line shack where they had shared such a beautiful, quiet time alone…so happy. Jake was so much fun when he was like that, but that handsome, genuine smile was gone now. There was no joy in those dark eyes except when he saw his son walking on his own.