“Lloyd, you’re just like Daddy—you do your best to embarrass women.”
“Just expressing my desire for my beautiful wife.”
Katie moved Donavan from one arm to the other. “Yes, well, we need to discuss that. I feel like I’m constantly pregnant, and I’ve gained too much weight.”
Strawberry whinnied and jerked as the noisy bicycle came closer to the house. Lloyd hugged Katie close. “Don’t be worrying about your weight. I’d rather have you strong and healthy.” He gave Katie a squeeze.
Katie looked up at him, and because he stood a good foot taller than she was, she stood on her tiptoes when he leaned down to kiss her lightly.
The conversation ended when the loud bicycle reached the house. Lloyd’s older son, Stephen, along with Evie’s boy Little Jake and Lloyd’s adopted brother, Ben, started asking all kinds of questions about the bike, too many and too fast for the rider to answer all at once. His eyes looked almost comical once he removed his helmet and goggles, white circles in the middle of a face covered with dust from his ride. He shook out his hair, a tangle of wild, dark-brown curls that hung past his collar. “Slow down!” he told the boys. “I’ll show the bike to you and give you rides as soon as I deliver my message.”
“Lloyd, Jake’s been hurt!” Terrel Adams told Lloyd before the messenger could. The ranch hand dismounted, and Lloyd and Evie and the rest of them sobered.
“Grampa’s hurt?” Little Jake asked, no longer interested in the bicycle. “What happened?”
“This kid on the bike here is named Connor Grace,” Terrel told them. “He’s from Boulder, and he came here to let you know. He saw the whole thing.”
“What whole thing?” Lloyd asked, letting go of Katie.
Connor reached out to shake Lloyd’s hand. “There was a big bank robbery in Boulder,” he explained. “Are you Jake Harkner’s son?”
“I am.”
Connor nodded. “At first I thought you were an Indian, what with that long hair and all.”
“Get to the point,” Lloyd told the young man.
“Well, sir, it was something, I’ll tell you! I doubt any man is as good with guns as your father is, except maybe you. I’ve heard—”
“Start from the beginning, Mr. Grace,” Lloyd ordered. “This is my pa we’re talking about! Is he hurt bad?”
“I’m really not sure.” Connor sobered and stepped back a little.
“Oh no!” Evie exclaimed. “I’ll go get Brian.”
Lloyd kept his eyes on Connor Grace as Evie ran off to find her husband. “Details, Mr. Grace, and fast!” he told the young man. “I’ve got to get to Boulder.”
“Well, sir, there was a bank robbery. Your mother and a little girl—one of Jake’s granddaughters, I think, were in the bank at the time—”
“Tricia!” Katie gasped. She looked up at Lloyd.
“That’s my little girl you’re talking about,” Lloyd told Connor. “Is she all right?”
“Yes, sir, thanks to your father.”
“What about my mother?”
“She’s okay, too, far as I know. The whole thing was quite spectacular, actually. I was right there and saw the whole thing!” Connor explained to the last detail what happened as Lloyd and the others stood there in wide-eyed shock.
“Grampa stopped all of them, didn’t he?” Little Jake asked, sticking his chest out proudly.
“He sure did. The whole town watched with their mouths open.” Connor looked back at Lloyd. “Your pa was already shot, but he still came out, guns blazing. Boom! Boom! Boom! Those men were holding that girl and the women right in front of them, but your pa fired anyway! It was something to see! He got all four of them that was holding the hostages, right in the head, shootin’ right straight at his own loved ones like he was damn sure he could get those men without hurting the women. Them robbers didn’t even have a chance to fire their guns, but two others who were standing there with bags of money did get a chance. That’s when your pa took a bullet to the head, I think.”
“Jesus!”
Katie broke into tears. “Oh, Lloyd!”
Lloyd looked at Terrel. “Go saddle a horse for Brian!” He turned to his son. “Stephen, Evie went for your uncle Brian. Run over to the house and tell her he’ll need a change of clothes and his doctor’s bag and that we’ll have to leave for Boulder right away!” He looked back at Connor. “You sure my mother and daughter are okay?”
“Yes, sir. There was bedlam everywhere after it happened, your pa laying in the street and your mother…she was fine…but I sure felt sorry for her. They carried off your father to a doctor, and your mother just kind of sat there in the street for a couple of minutes, like she didn’t know what to do.”