Outlaw Hearts(176)

A few testified against Jake about the robbery and the abduction in question, and Attorney Steven Mattson, a young lawyer who had taken the case for Miranda at a reduced fee because she’d convinced him Jake was innocent of the charges, did an excellent job of discrediting some of them. He pointed out the fact that after twenty years, memories can become vague. After so long a time, how could they possibly remember seeing Jake at the scene? Several of the others in Kennedy’s gang dressed like Jake did then, carried several guns, were just as big, some bearded.

Miranda was furious at the prosecutor for bringing up things totally unrelated to the specific charges for which Jake was being tried. The man kept mentioning other raids and robberies that “men like Jake Harkner” had committed before and after the war. He put Lieutenant Gentry on the stand. The man testified that as a Confederate agent during the war he had bought stolen guns from Jake, guns Jake had killed to get.

Mattson protested vehemently. “But you had no reservations about buying those illegal guns, did you, Lieutenant?” he shot back. “Even though you knew men had died in their taking. I will remind you, Lieutenant, that there was a war going on at the time! Men do strange things in time of war. A lot of innocent people usually die, but it’s forgiven because it was war. How many innocent people did you kill in the war, Lieutenant?”

The courtroom had broken into pandemonium for several minutes. Once the judge managed to calm things down, Mattson argued that nothing else Jake did or was rumored to have done should be considered. Affidavits from old acquaintances supporting Jake were read to the court. Zane Parker showed up to testify that he had indeed been a dependable ranch foreman for years, but Miranda did not miss the man’s cool attitude toward her and Jake. There had been a brief recess after his testimony, and the man had stopped to talk to Jake.

“I’m sorry about all of this, Jake. I’ve done all I can do.” He looked at Miranda. “I just hope you understand why I can’t let your son see my Beth any longer. In fact, Beth has married and moved to Chicago.”

“Married!” Miranda’s heart fell.

“Who?” Jake asked. “And why? Why didn’t you just send her to school?”

“I can only tell you the man is reputable and is quite fond of her. Marriage was the only way to make sure she didn’t try to see Lloyd. She understands it was the best thing to do.”

Miranda had watched after him in disbelief. The man had forced his daughter to marry a man she didn’t love!

“This will kill Lloyd,” Jake had told her. “Maybe he already knows.” He had looked around the courtroom, as he was doing now, searching for his son, but still he had not come. There was only Evie, faithful Evie, who had wept so many tears and stayed by her mother’s side through it all. She sat behind her father, with her mother and Jess.

Finally Miranda herself was able to take the stand. Jake watched her with an aching love. So brave and strong and devoted. She looked especially beautiful, in a russet-colored, beautifully pressed cotton dress with white lace trim around the moderately cut bodice. Her hair was done up in curls, topped with a fashionable hat that matched her dress and sported tiny flowers. She was every bit the lady, looking refined, sitting straight and proud, showing absolutely no shame or embarrassment for being Jake Harkner’s wife.

Miranda’s testimony as to the kind of man he was left the courtroom silent, until the prosecutor asked her to explain how she had met Jake. When she told about shooting him, a courtroom mumble grew to a near roar of gossip and laughter that caused the judge to pound his gavel in order to bring order. The prosecutor began badgering her, asking her about other violent incidents, Jake’s work in Virginia City, the shoot-out in California. “Why in God’s name did you marry such a violent man, Mrs. Harkner?”

Miranda watched Jake quietly for a moment. “I married Jake because I fell in love with the real man beneath all the bravado,” she answered, facing the jury. “I learned about his battered childhood. His father beat him severely and often, killed his mother and little brother. You have heard the awful story that he killed his father. He did it because he was only fifteen years old, and his father was raping a girl even younger. He didn’t know how to stop the man, so he shot him. After that, he was an orphaned young man with no direction in life, a young man who knew nothing about love, either how to give it or receive it. He led a life of wandering and getting into trouble. I taught him it was all right to be proud of himself, all right to let people love him. With me and through the children he found a whole new world like nothing he had known before.”