Miranda’s heart fell. However! What was the man doing? Jake should be set free now!
“You admitted of your own accord, and it is a well-known fact, that you did commit other crimes in your days as an outlaw. I am not so sure that four years is long-enough punishment for all the other crimes you committed, but then if I paid attention to the almost-weekly letters I have received from your wife ever since I sentenced you, I would have been convinced that four days was long enough.” A few whispers and light laughter moved through the courtroom. “A woman that devoted doesn’t love a man that much for no good reason. She has lauded your attributes to me for years, and I am convinced that no further time in prison, especially at your age, is going to do anyone any good.”
Miranda breathed another sigh of relief until the judge continued. “I do believe, though, that some kind of further retribution is in order,” the man said. “Do you still think you can handle yourself with guns?”
Jake was surprised at the question. “I don’t know. It’s been a while. And my right hand is partly crippled.”
“You can shoot a rifle or a shotgun with it, can’t you?”
“I suppose.”
“And you were as good with a handgun with your left hand as with your right. Am I correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
Miranda’s heartbeat quickened. What was the man getting at?
The judge sighed, looking at some papers. “Well, I expect knowing how to handle guns is like riding a horse well or being good at blacksmithing or carving or any other thing a man does well. You never quite forget it. There is trouble in Oklahoma Territory right now, what with the recent land rush there. Towns like Guthrie that have sprung up overnight are in a state of lawless disarray, and there is trouble throughout the Territory between the Indians and ranchers as well as between ranchers and sheepherders; all kinds of problems that bring up a need for lawmen there, including the fact that outlaws still hide out in Indian Territory. Who would be better at hunting down such men than someone like yourself, someone who understands them, knows the best places to look for them and can outshoot the best of them? I am appointing you a Deputy U.S. Marshal to serve in Indian Territory. I am aware that you have been ill. I’ll give you three months to rest and get your life in order before you have to report for duty in Kansas City to that state’s attorney general. He will instruct you as to what area and to whom you will report in Oklahoma. You will then be given time to settle your family wherever that might be.”
The man pounded his gavel, and Jake just stared at the judge, dumbfounded. A Deputy Marshal! Jake Harkner? He wanted to laugh at the irony of the sentence. Miranda was at his side in an instant. She threw her arms around him, and he embraced her, still feeling almost dazed by his new freedom. “Oh, Jake, it’s real! You’re free! You’re free!” she wept.
There were more flashes from more photographers. Evie was hugging him too now. Jake glanced over at Louella Adams. She was watching him, smiling. She turned away then and left the courtroom, and in that one little moment Jake knew the true meaning of prayer and faith.
“Three months,” he told Miranda, kissing her hair. “I’ve got time to go and find Lloyd.” He looked over at Brian, who was shaking Attorney Mattson’s hand. “Go find Mrs. Adams and bring her back here. Hell, the least we can do is treat the woman to a steak dinner tonight at the best restaurant in town.”
“Oh, yes, Jake, we owe her so much,” Miranda said, weeping.
Brian quickly left to catch the woman, and Judge Mitchell stepped down from the bench and approached Jake. He put out his hand, a stern look on his face. Jake let go of Miranda and Evie, reaching out to shake the man’s hand.
“Don’t make me out to be a fool, Jake,” the judge told him. “Prove to me you’re the dependable man I think you’ll be.”
Jake nodded. “I will be.”
“Well, you can thank your wife for my generosity. She’s a one-woman locomotive, let me tell you. She even has me talking prison reform to those who will listen, and her letters about you were beginning to give me quite a case of guilt. It made it very difficult for me to discern the law from personal emotion. You’ve got quite a woman there, Mr. Harkner. Her faith in you never waned.”
“I’m well aware of how lucky I am to have her,” Jake answered, moving an arm back around Miranda. “If I can just find my son now and help him, I’ll have my family back.”
“I wish you luck in that, Jake. Heaven knows you can attest to the boy how wrong and pointless it is to get into a life of crime.” The judge nodded to the others and left them, and the courtroom began to clear.