Peter sighed and grabbed hold of the harness of the small, painted mare attached to the buggy. “Jesus,” he muttered. “Lloyd, I should go talk to your mother.”
Lloyd scowled. “Just go home, Peter. Go before she sees you.”
Peter looked up to him, unafraid in spite of the warning look in Lloyd’s dark eyes. This man and his father could be the most intimidating men on the face of the earth, but one thing he knew about them was they would never hurt a friend of Randy’s, and he’d damn well been that.
“I’m not going anywhere, Lloyd. Part of the reason I came is because Jeff Truebridge is worried. He told me Randy’s last letter sounded strange, and that was months ago. It’s not like Randy to not be herself, as you put it, even when Jake goes riding off. She’s always been strong and independent and confident in Jake’s abilities to take care of himself. What’s really going on?” He saw a flash of distrust and near guilt in Lloyd’s eyes.
Lloyd turned to Terrel, who still sat on his horse nearby. “Go on down to the bunkhouse, Terrel. I’ll handle this.”
“Sure, boss.” Terrel rode off, and Peter watched after him. He got the feeling the entire ranch was on some kind of alert, everyone on edge. Was it just over Jake? He noticed a woman come out onto the porch of the main house. With that long, dark hair, it had to be Evie. He looked back up at Lloyd.
“Tell me what the hell I’m dealing with here, Lloyd, because I am going to go down there and talk to Randy whether you like it or not. Help me know what to say to her. It might help her. Sometimes talking to a friend is a relief from family, because family is too close.”
Lloyd’s horse whinnied and turned in a circle, ending up between them. Lloyd smacked its rump and shoved the steed out of the way. “Get going, Strawberry!” He smacked the horse’s rump again, and it ran off, charging down the hill toward the barn.
Lloyd faced Peter. “They always head for home, no matter how far away.” He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, his dark eyes telegraphing a warning as he took a deep drag.
“My God, Lloyd, from what I’m looking at, Jake Harkner will never die because he’s standing right in front of me. If looks could kill, I’d probably be dead, but thank God I trust you not to act on what you’re thinking right now.”
Lloyd sighed, taking hold of the buggy horse and turning it, leading it up and over the hill far enough that they were out of sight of the house. Peter followed, not quite sure if Lloyd wanted to talk or meant to beat him into the ground.
“Get into the goddamn buggy,” Lloyd told Peter.
Peter did as he was told, and Lloyd climbed into the front seat beside him, resting his elbows on his long legs. He took the reins and tied them around a hook to keep the horse still, then kept the cigarette between his lips as he spoke, a gesture Peter had often seen from Jake.
“Peter, between thinking I could be dying and her husband could be hanged, last summer was hard enough on my mother.” He smoked quietly for a moment, staring at the floor of the buggy, then finally took the cigarette from his lips. “What I’m going to tell you is in complete confidence. The whole family knows it has to be, even the boys and the ranch hands. As far as anyone knows, Brad Buckley has disappeared off the face of the earth, and good riddance.”
“Oh my God…don’t tell me.” Peter removed his hat and hung his head. “That judge told Jake if he took the law into his own hands one more time he’d go to prison. He—” He hesitated. “Please don’t tell me this has something to do with Randy.”
“It does.” Lloyd’s jaw flexed in repressed anger. “We had a barn fire. While we all fought that, Buckley and some other men made off with my mother.”
Peter covered his face. “Oh my God! God, no,” he groaned.
“You can imagine the rage my father was in. Him and me both. We went after them and…found her. Needless to say, they’re all dead and buried. We burned the line shack we found her in to the ground. My mother totally changed after that. It was like she was twelve years old. She clung to Pa like a scared kid clinging to her father…wouldn’t let him out of her sight. It took months for Pa to get her back to her normal self, or at least close to it. He loves the hell out of that woman.” He cast Peter another warning look. “As you well know.”
“You damn well don’t need to tell me that.”
Lloyd sighed and drew on the cigarette again, holding it between his fingers as he continued. “I never thought Pa could be so strong and stay sane after something like that, but he did it, for her. Mom was finally pretty much back to her old self, until Gretta came along. Gretta was desperate to help her daughter, and Jake was her last resort. She couldn’t get the law to help her, and the first man that went down there to rescue the girl never made it back.”