Little Jake nodded. “Ain’t nobody like my grandpa.”
Peter nodded. “That, son, is an understatement. I’ve had enough encounters with that man to know it’s so.”
Little Jake looked from Peter to Randy and back to Peter. “You’ll be back at my house by dark, right?” he asked.
“Of course I will. And your mother is very gracious to give me a room there. And since it’s your room, I thank you for letting me put you out.”
“It’s okay. When Grandpa is gone, I always sleep over here anyway… Me and Stephen and Ben all sleep over here, and there’s always a man outside. When Grandpa is here, though, she doesn’t need protecting. Nobody gets near my grandma when Grandpa is around.”
“Oh, I have absolutely no doubt about that, Jake.” Peter struggled not to burst out laughing. The statement couldn’t be more true! “And I can help watch her, too, while I’m here. She’ll be fine.”
Little Jake studied him a moment longer before he very reluctantly left. The two little granddaughters scurried off to one of the bedrooms to play with their dolls.
“I’m sorry he gets a little rude, Peter,” Randy laughed. “He wants so badly to be as big as Jake that he tries to make up for it in other ways.”
“I understand. Someday that kid is going to be a man not so easy to contend with, just like someone else I know.”
“I’m so glad you’re here, Peter,” Randy told him—something she’d repeated many times. “It’s good to have a friend here, and one who understands and cares about Jake.”
She glanced at Jake’s chair, where she’d slept every night, holding his pillow. Peter saw the quick sign of terror in her eyes. She turned away. “Come back to the kitchen, and we’ll have another cup of coffee,” she told him.
Peter followed her to sit down at the huge table that often held the entire family for a meal. It was early morning, he’d just eaten the best homemade coffee cake he’d ever tasted, and Randy was already cutting him another piece. “I’d better go home soon. If I stay here too long, I’ll be fat,” he told her, trying to get her mind off Jake.
“Treena wouldn’t like that,” Randy answered. “I actually make the cake for myself because Jake wants me to gain weight. I’m trying hard, but he still thinks I’m too thin.” She set the coffee cake in front of him and turned away to pour more coffee.
No matter how hard he tried to change the subject to something else, it always came back to Jake. He’d seen flashes of Randy’s old strength and independence, but he also saw what Lloyd must have meant. She seemed to fluctuate between the old Randy and the child afraid to be alone.
She set two cups of coffee on the table and sat down near Peter. “Are you enjoying your visit, Peter?”
“Yes. Very much. Stephen took me out to the new barn yesterday. It’s a beautiful building. And it’s nice that one stall was left empty in memory of Pepper.” He wanted to kick himself, realizing the mention of Pepper would bring back memories of the old barn fire…and what had happened after that.
Randy looked away. “Yes. Pepper was a good man. It’s terrible what those men—” She caught herself and rose to walk over to a cupboard and put away a few more dishes. “Did Lloyd tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“About the barn fire…how it happened.”
“Yes, he did, Randy.”
She remained quiet for several long seconds, her back to him. “We lost a lot of horses, but Jake saved Outlaw. And he…came for me. I knew he would. That’s how I survived. I knew Jake would come, just like he saved my life after we first met. He tried to ride away, you know. I left to go west and find my brother, and Jake ended up coming after me. I was dying of snake bite, and I was in a…terrible place. Jake came and took me out of there, and that’s when we knew we were in love.”
“I know the story, Randy.” Did she even hear him?
“That thing last winter…” Her back was still to him. “Jake can be so ruthless. You have no idea what he can do to a man. But they deserved it. They did…something terrible to me. But Jake can turn right around and be so incredibly kind…and gentle…and understanding. He has a way of making things better…a way of almost making the bad go away. I think it’s because he’s had to do that for himself…make the bad go away…the things he’s been through.”
She didn’t mention shooting Brad Buckley herself, and like Lloyd and Evie, Peter wondered if she even remembered doing it. She was still turned away, but he could tell she was wiping at tears.