Outlaw Hearts(179)

The courtroom broke into loud talking, and Jake turned to Miranda. Evie was already around the railing and running to her father. She embraced him, as Miranda approached him more slowly, their eyes meeting in mutual understanding and horror. She knew that if her husband had to stay in a penitentiary for very long, she would never see him alive again.

The disappointment in her eyes tore at Jake’s gut. She had tried so hard, had been so sure she could get him off with a lighter sentence. She came closer, and he drew her into his arms, hugging her and Evie both. “Let it go, Randy. End the marriage and get on with your life.”

“No! Never!” she groaned. “Something will happen. It won’t end this way.”

“It’s already ended.” He kissed her hair, held her tightly when he felt her body tremble in sobs.

“Let’s go,” one of the deputies told him.

“No, wait,” Miranda begged.

Another man pulled her and Evie away. Jake glanced at Jess. “Take care of her.” His eyes showed their terrible grief as the deputies forced him to leave.

Jess put an arm around both women. “You two had better get on back to the hotel and get some rest. Randy, I’ll bring you back tomorrow and you can see Jake. We’ll find out where they’re sending him. Maybe we can get the judge to send him out to the territorial prison at Laramie. There’s lots of federal prisoners there. That wouldn’t be such a terrible move for you, and we could maybe both find work in Cheyenne. That way you’d get to go see Jake once in a while.”

Miranda pulled away from him, meeting his eyes. What a good man he was. There were more lines on Jess’s face too now, put there by long years under the western sun. His sandy hair was streaked with gray, but he still had a rugged handsomeness to him. He had done his best to keep her spirits up, and he was doing it again.

“You knew I’d move to wherever they send him, didn’t you?”

“I knew.” Jess gave her a reassuring smile, but he ached inside, knowing he would never take Jake’s place in her life. As long as Jake was alive and she was able to find a way to be near him, there would be no one else. He had accepted that a long time ago. “Let’s get Evie back to the hotel.”

She nodded, wiping at her eyes again and putting an arm around her daughter. “What about Lloyd, Jess? I’m so worried about him, and angry with him too. He should have been here.”

“It’s different for the boy. As far as him findin’ us after we move from the Parker ranch, the men there will know where we are. If he shows up there, they can tell him. And he will show up, Randy. You’ll see. Besides, don’t think he hasn’t been keepin’ an eye on what’s goin’ on here. He might be pretendin’ he don’t care, but he damn well does. He’ll know where they sent his pa, and he knows that where Jake goes, you go.”

How she hated the thought of leaving the lovely home Jake had built for them in Colorado. More tears wanted to come. Jake had loved it there so much, loved his work there. Life would never be like that again. Leaving that house would be the hardest thing she had ever done, but she would do whatever it took to be near Jake. She would not let him rot away in prison alone. She had to be stronger than ever now, for the children, for Jake. If she could find a way to be near him, she could take him decent food once in a while, nurse him if he needed it, do all she could to keep his spirits up.

“I’ve got to find Lloyd, Jess. I promised Jake I would.”

“Then we will. I’ll help you. But first we’ve got to see about talkin’ to that judge and gettin’ Jake sent to Laramie. After that we’ve got to get you resettled.”

So, she thought, time to move again, from Illinois to Kansas, to Nevada and California, Colorado, and now either Illinois or Wyoming. This would be the last journey for her and Jake both. A few people stayed to gawk, and one reporter pushed his way through to Miranda. “What do you think of the sentence, Mrs. Harkner?”

It struck her then that she could finally use her real name. It seemed so ironic. For years she had wanted to be able to use it, but not this way.

She turned away, keeping one arm around Evie, and clinging to Jess’s arm with her other hand. She had to be strong for Evie, but she didn’t feel like being strong right now. It took every ounce of effort she could muster to keep from screaming. Jake! He was as much gone from her life as if he was dead.





Twenty-eight


Lloyd waited across the street from the mansion owned by David Vogel. He’d never seen a city as big as Chicago, had gotten lost several times, finally found the neat row of homes on the street where Beth was supposed to be living. Under a gaslight he looked again at the newspaper article he had spotted while in St. Louis.