Love's Sweet Revenge Read online

  “Isn’t, Little Jake, not ain’t,” Evie corrected him softly. “And you’re right. There’s nobody better. If you want to be just like Grandpa, that’s just fine.” She looked at Lloyd. “What do you think, Lloyd?”

  Lloyd glanced at Jake and slowly nodded. He suddenly grinned, looking over at Evie. “Well now, actually…” He scanned the room. “I could tell all of you some very interesting stories from back in Oklahoma—”

  “Lloyd Harkner, be serious!” Evie chided. “I used to sock you when I was little, and I’ll do it again.”

  “Well, there was Dixie’s place, and—”

  “Lloyd!”

  “—then there was that fight in the tavern in Guthrie when Pa busted that whiskey bottle and shoved it—”

  “Oh, I really will sock you!” Evie held up a fist.

  The boys giggled.

  “Do it, Mommy!” Little Jake told her.

  “I’m just trying to be honest,” Lloyd teased.

  Randy knew exactly what Lloyd was doing. He always knew when his father was falling into a bad place. Katie was sitting on Lloyd’s lap, and he suddenly rose, picking her up with him. “Boys, I think your grandpa needs to think about something else. Things are getting way too heavy in here.”

  Katie pouted. “Are you talking about me?”

  “Well, whatever is in this belly of yours isn’t any lightweight,” he teased.

  “She’s got a baby in there, just like Mommy does,” Little Jake spouted with a giggle.

  Everyone broke into laughter, and Randy loved her son for quickly changing the subject.

  “What’s yours gonna be, Mommy?” Little Jake asked her. “A boy or a girl?”

  “I just hope whatever I have, he or she minds me better than you do sometimes, Little Jake—and better than your Uncle Lloyd, who I can beat up.”

  “Hey, I never socked you back because Pa would have taken away every privilege I ever had and probably would have made me write down ‘I will not hit my sister’ about a thousand times.”

  “Well, speaking of babies, I am having a boy,” Katie declared, wrapping her arms around Lloyd’s neck and resting her head on his shoulder. “I just know it.”

  Jake turned to tamp out what was left of his cigarette. “I think it’s time for pie and coffee,” he announced.

  “Sounds good to me,” Lloyd answered. He kissed Katie and set her back down in the chair they’d shared. “I’m still hungry.” He leaned down and whispered something in Katie’s ear, and Katie shoved at him, her face turning a soft pink.

  “Can’t you two keep your hands off each other?” Brian joked.

  “You’re one to talk,” Lloyd shot back. “You didn’t get my sister pregnant just by holding her hand.”

  Evie let out a little screech and covered her face while everybody else broke into uncontrolled laughter.

  “I’d like to remind you, Lloyd, that Evie was pregnant first last time, and she was first again this time,” Brian answered, “so I might ask you—who is the better man?”

  That brought little screams of embarrassment and laughter from the three women. For Brian to make that kind of remark was highly unusual. Lloyd covered his eyes and groaned. “Brian Stewart, I sure didn’t see that coming. Not from you!”

  “You two be careful, or Katie and I will start comparing notes,” Evie told both men.

  “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Lloyd put up his hands. “Enough!”

  Everyone quieted a moment until Lloyd threw in a last jab. “You should notice, Brian, that as soon as we found out about Evie, it didn’t take us any time at all to catch up. When I set my mind to something, I get it done.”

  Katie turned beet red and bent over to hide her face, and Little Jake looked puzzled, not sure what they were laughing about.

  Randy loved all of them for what they were doing. She watched Little Jake run up to his grandfather and hug him around the middle while Lloyd escorted Katie to the dining table, and Randy told everyone to sit down for pie and coffee. Evie started helping her mother cut the pie.

  “I love you, Grampa,” Little Jake told him. “I’ll always take care of Mommy and Grandma.” He leaned his head back to look up at Jake. “But I’ll be a big, grown man then, ’cause you’re gonna live a real long time.”

  Jake knelt down, wincing from the pain in his hip that often flared up from an old bullet wound suffered in the shoot-out in California. “I hope you’re right, Little Jake. Right now, let’s go have some of Grandma’s apple pie. Nobody makes it better, do they?”

  “Nope! I always have three pieces!”

  “Three! That’s a lot of pie.” Jake picked the boy up and carried him to the table, plunking him into a chair. He walked around the table to Randy, reaching around her from behind. He wrapped a hand around hers and bent close as she cut into another pie. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

  Randy turned her head and kissed his cheek. “Yes. Just a few minutes ago, in so many words.”

  “I’d rather show you than tell you.”

  “Are you just needing to prove something in case I do share notes?” she joked.

  “Woman, I don’t have many years left to keep up with these younger men.”

  Randy laughed lightly. “The day a man who reeks of sex can’t—” She stopped and broke into laughter. “I can’t even begin to picture it. You can prove yourself later. I have pie to serve, so go sit down.”

  He kissed her lightly. “I’m going outside for a few minutes.”

  Randy set the knife aside and looked up at him. “Are you all right?”

  “I just need to go out and clear my head. You cut me a piece of that pie, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He kissed her again and spoke softly into her ear. “And you rest up this afternoon, because you won’t get much sleep tonight.”

  “Save it for after we’re gone, Pa,” Lloyd jabbed.

  Jake just shook his head and walked past them and out the front door.

  The jovial atmosphere around the table faded a little.

  “Is he okay, Mom?” Lloyd asked. “Should I go out there?”

  “No. He’s fine,” Randy told him. She walked to the icebox to get some milk for the boys.

  “Did I make him feel bad?” Little Jake asked.

  “No, Little Jake. I think you made him feel very good, and sometimes it’s hard for your grandfather to accept the good things in his life.” She glanced at the doorway, hoping she was right.

  Outside, Jake lit yet another cigarette, his mind and heart reeling with memories he preferred not to stir. But he couldn’t avoid explaining everything to Little Jake and the boys. A lot of it was in Jeff’s book, but not some of the ugliest details. He leaned against a support post on the veranda and drew deeply on the cigarette, hearing a wolf howl in the distant hills even though it was midafternoon. More laughter came from inside the house, and as always, he wondered how long he could hold on to those he loved most. Hearing a wolf howl in daylight was unusual, and he couldn’t help feeling as though it was some kind of bad omen.

  He straightened and threw his cigarette down when he saw Cole charging toward the house on an unsaddled horse and pulling another horse with him.

  “Jake!”

  Jake stepped off the veranda. “What is it?”

  “Trouble down at the bunkhouse. I’m scared Pepper will get himself killed.” Cole slid off the horse. “I figured I’d get here quicker if I didn’t take the time to saddle up. And with this bum leg, I’m not much of a fast runner.”

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Cole stepped closer, glancing at the house. “Well…it’s about your daughter. One of the newer men said as how little Sadie wasn’t really Brian’s kid, claimed she was the… Hell, I’m sorry, Jake—he said she was fathered by one of them men back in Oklahoma. Pepper lit into him and—”


  Before he finished, Jake was back up the steps and through the front door. He grabbed his guns from the hook and began strapping them on. “Lloyd, come with me!”

  Lloyd immediately scooted back his chair while Jake grabbed Lloyd’s gun belt from where it hung nearby and tossed it to him.

  “Jake, what is it?” Randy asked.

  “I’m not sure. But you women stay here, understand?” He quickly tied his holster straps around his thighs. “Brian, you make damn sure all three women and the girls don’t leave this house.”

  “Can we come, Grampa?”

  “You’ll have to run fast, because we’re going to the far bunkhouse, and Lloyd and I are taking horses.”

  Jake charged out, Lloyd right behind him, still buckling his gun belt. The boys excitedly flew out the door after them. “Stay out of the way!” Lloyd shouted as he and Jake took off, riding bareback toward the bunkhouse.

  The boys raced each other across the lawn and jumped over a fence in an effort to keep up.

  Randy hurried to the front door and saw Cole walking away. “Cole!” she shouted. “What’s going on?”

  “Just a little tussle, ma’am. Nothin’ Jake and Lloyd can’t handle. You know how men can be.”

  Randy watched him limp away as Jake and Lloyd and the boys disappeared around a barn. “Oh, I know men, all right,” she said softly.

  Thirty-two

  Jake and Lloyd charged up to a shouting match outside the bunkhouse, two men holding back an enraged Pepper, and three holding on to one of the newer men, Clyde Pace. Two other new hires who’d shown up with Clyde—Ronald Beck and the other named Tucker—stood nearby, rooting Clyde on. No one knew if Tucker was the third man’s first or last name.

  Jake dismounted and strode up to the melee, followed closely by Lloyd. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “Jake’s here now, you sonofabitch!” Pepper growled at Clyde. “If you’d seen what he did to a man who insulted his wife, wait till you see what he does for insultin’ his daughter! She’s an angel if there ever was one who walked among us!”

  “No woman who’s been had by that many men and is still getting herself pregnant is any angel!” Clyde retorted.

  Lloyd charged past Jake. “You bastard!”

  Jake rushed up to grab him. “You’re not healed enough to be getting into a fight!” he yelled, struggling to hang on to his arm. “One wrong blow, and you’ll be in trouble!”

  “I’m healed enough to beat the shit out of anybody who’d say something like that about my sister!”

  “Hold on, damn it! He wants this! Can’t you see it in his eyes?”

  Clyde stopped his struggling, grinning. “You bet I want it! I’m wearin’ a gun, ain’t I?” Ronald Beck and Tucker stepped forward, all three men wearing guns. By then the three younger boys made it to the scene, stirring up dust as they stopped short, panting and sweating. Ben’s blond hair was plastered to his head with perspiration.

  “You boys stay out of the way!” Jake ordered.

  They scrambled over to the side, watching with great anticipation. Jake let go of Lloyd, who took a stance beside his father.

  “What the hell do you three want?” Jake growled.

  “You, Harkner.”

  “You’ve been here nearly a month with no trouble,” Lloyd steamed. “Why now?”

  “Been waitin’ for the right time,” Tucker answered. “Took a while to get up the courage, but we figure out of the three of us, one of us is bound to make a name for himself.”

  Pepper jerked away from the men holding him. “Somebody’s gonna get hurt here today, and it ain’t gonna be Jake or Lloyd, you stupid sons of bitches!”

  “I’ve been so involved with making sure Lloyd gets well and getting things back to normal, I didn’t pay enough attention to you three,” Jake thundered. “Who hired you?”

  “Pepper did!” Clyde answered.

  “That true, Pepper?” Jake asked.

  A disgruntled Pepper stood there with fists clenched. “I’m sorry, Jake. I thought they were okay.”

  “Where did you find them?” Lloyd asked.

  Pepper looked away. “Shit,” he mumbled. He swallowed before answering. “Gretta’s place.”

  Jake grinned, surprising Lloyd. “Pepper, you should know better. I know firsthand that when you’re drinking and cavorting with whores, you don’t exactly make the best decisions.” He backed up a little, keeping his eyes on all three opponents as he reached out and grasped Lloyd’s arm. “Step over a little, Son. You keep your eyes on Tucker. The other two are mine.”

  The three men straightened. “You’re gettin’ old, Harkner, and your son still ain’t completely well.”

  “I’m well enough, you worthless snake!”

  “They insulted Evie on purpose, Lloyd,” Jake told him. “It was just a way to get us out here.”

  “Sure it was,” Ronald Beck sneered. “But it’s goddamn true. Who’s ever gonna know your granddaughter ain’t the child of a rapist?”

  “I know, because she was carrying when they took her,” Jake answered, his smile gone. “And every man here goddamn well knows it, too! They also know that if a man insults a Harkner woman, he’d better already have his tombstone engraved.”

  “You just narrowly missed getting hanged back in Denver, Harkner! You’d best think twice about killin’ any of us,” Tucker told him, moving his hand toward a gun. “You’ll end up in a noose. That gives us an advantage.”

  “You’re the ones who decided on this,” Lloyd told them. “And you aren’t facing just my father. I might still be a little weak, but my gun hand is just fine!”

  The three men braced their feet and put on looks of bravery, but Jake saw right through them. “They’re scared shitless, Lloyd.”

  “They should be scared shitless!” Lloyd scanned them. “If I were you, I’d be pissing my pants right about now. Do you realize who you’ve called out? What in God’s name made you think you could take Jake Harkner?”

  Clyde kept moving his hands into fists and opening them again, sweat stains beginning to show under his arms. “We’ve talked a lot about it,” he answered. “The name it would get us is worth the risk.”

  This time it was Lloyd who grinned. “You idiots! Take my advice and apologize for insulting my sister before you get the hell off the J&L!”

  Clyde shook his head. “No way. We came this far, and we’ve been plannin’ this for a month! We’re finishing it!”

  “Then I’d advise anybody standing behind me and Lloyd to get the hell out of the way,” Jake announced, “because I figure these three couldn’t hit the side of a barn.”

  Men scattered, Pepper going over to the boys and herding them farther away.

  “Pa, after what happened in Denver, I don’t think you should shoot to kill,” Lloyd told him, enjoying the growing fear in the eyes of the opposing men. “You might get in more trouble, and these three will never clear their holsters anyway. They just want to prove they’re faster.”

  “I figured that,” Jake answered.

  “Grampa said once that when you draw against a man, you watch his eyes, not his hands,” Stephen whispered to the other two boys. “Him and my pa are doin’ just that. Can you see it?”

  “I see it,” Little Jake answered, his dark eyes glowing with anger. “And I don’t like what they said about my little sister.”

  “They’re just trying to make Pa draw on them,” Ben said softly. “Lloyd, too.”

  “You’d better shoot to kill,” Tucker growled, “or you’re both dead men!”

  More men backed away.

  Ronald’s eyes widened. “Maybe we should just go,” he told Clyde.

  “Maybe you should,” Lloyd told him. “Real quick. Wounded or not, I really, really want to beat you till you can’t even see—and then I’ll shoot you!”

&nbs
p; “I ain’t goin’ anywhere till I kill Jake Harkner,” Clyde growled. He went for his gun.

  The three boys watched in astonishment. Before any of the men could even clear their holsters, Jake and Lloyd’s guns boomed. The three shots came so fast it was almost like one thunderous roar that made the boys jump. Jake shot Clyde’s gun out of his hand, the bullet putting a hole through his hand from the side so it blew half his fingers off. His second bullet skimmed Ronald’s holster in such a way that it fell off him and left a deep gash across the side of his hip. Lloyd’s bullet went into Tucker’s holster and hit the bullet chambers, causing some of the bullets to explode against the man’s hip and thigh.

  Clyde just stood there a moment, gawking in astonishment at his bottom knuckles where three fingers used to be. The fingers lay several feet behind him, and blood poured from the stubs. Realizing the fingers were actually gone, he began shaking and screaming curses at Jake while Ronald was already down, writhing in pain from a bleeding hip.

  “I think my hip bone is broke!” he screamed. “It’s broke! It’s broke!” He held a hand to his hip, trying to stop the bleeding.

  Tucker was also on the ground, curled up and groaning and hanging on to his thigh.

  “Pepper, get their guns,” Jake told him.

  “Gladly,” Pepper answered, marching up to take the guns and picking up what was left of Tucker’s shredded gun belt.

  “We need a doctor!” Tucker yelled, beginning to cry.

  “The men can help you best as they can, and then they’ll escort you off the J&L,” Lloyd sneered.

  “Your brother-in-law is a doctor!” Clyde screamed. “Get him out here! He’s got laudanum!”

  “After what you said about his wife?” Lloyd seethed. “I’m not sending him to take care of the likes of you, you worthless snake in the grass! You can lay there and bleed to death for all I care! I hope you die, and real slow from infection!” He looked at the other men. “Do what you can for them and make sure they’re off my ranch by dark!”

  “Where will we go?” Clyde screamed.

  Lloyd looked at Jake. “Where do you think they should go, Pa?”

  They turned away, and Jake barked at the three boys to follow them back to the house.