Do Not Forsake Me

by Rosanne Bittner

  Jake shook his head. “That kid is fully back to his old daring, fearless self.” He looked past Jeff then to see Dixie standing under a nearby tree. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He hurried down the steps, and Dixie stepped closer.

  “You come see me soon as you can, Jake, and tell me all about everything.”

  Jake tipped his hat to her. “I’ll do that, pretty lady.”

  “I thought I’d come and watch you walk into that church, you mean-spirited, black-hearted sinner. This is going to be right entertaining.”

  Jake grinned, leaning down to kiss her lightly on the forehead. “Thanks for all of it, Dixie.” He told her about the reprieve.

  Her eyes teared. “You just come visit a few times before you move away. I’ll miss you like hell, Jake.”

  He nodded. “I’ll miss you too, Dixie. And we can’t go till next spring, so I’ll be by a few times yet.”

  She stepped back. “You’d better get your worthless hide into that church.”

  Jake gave her a smile. “You can come too.”

  Dixie laughed. “Please! If we both walked in there, the entire congregation would faint dead away. Just seeing you will be enough of a shock.” She gave him a shove. “Go on with you now.”

  Jake reached out and squeezed her hand before turning away and heading back up the church steps. “There stands one fine woman, Jeff.”

  “Yes, sir, I agree with you.”

  “You coming to see us in Colorado?”

  “I’ll have to. I won’t have this book done until next spring, and you need to see it first.”

  “Well, we might not leave till spring anyway. Winter isn’t exactly the best time to head for the mountains, and that’s where six months lands us. By the time we head for Colorado, I’ll have four grandchildren instead of two, and an extra son. How’s that for a worthless bastard like me?”

  “You’re a lucky man, Jake.”

  Jake nodded. “Damn lucky.” He sighed, staring at the doors as those inside started singing. Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.

  Jake put a hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “Jeff, I am going to make you a bet.” He squeezed his shoulder, then stood back and took one last drag on his cigarette.

  “What’s that?” Jeff asked.

  Jake tossed the cigarette into the dirt at the bottom of the steps. People inside the church continued singing. But that thy blood was shed for me. “I am betting you that when I walk into that church, people’s mouths will drop open in shock, and they will be so surprised that within one minute, all singing will stop. Five bucks says I’m right.”

  Jeff took a watch from his jacket pocket. “All right. As soon as you go through that door, I’ll watch this thing. If all singing doesn’t stop within sixty seconds, you owe me five dollars.”

  Jake nodded. “It’s a deal.” He took a deep breath as the hymn continued. Oh, Lamb of God, I come…I come. “Lord, I’d rather face ten men with guns than walk into that church,” he told Jeff.

  “There’s no turning back now, Jake.”

  Jake rubbed at the back of his neck. “I guess not.” After one more deep breath, he glanced at Dixie and tipped his hat, then removed the hat and walked inside.

  Jeff watched the second hand on his pocket watch. After twenty seconds, he could tell fewer people were singing. After another twenty-five seconds, only a couple of people still sang. And just before the full sixty seconds, the singing stopped.

  Jeff shook his head, smiling. “Jake Harkner, you sonofabitch.” He sat down on the steps to wait, his smile turning to a surprising urge to cry. He glanced at Dixie. She smiled and nodded, then walked away. Jeff sighed, wondering…hoping that Jake, and Lloyd, for that matter, would really find peace at last in Colorado. With men like that, who knew? He couldn’t stop thinking about the day they’d rescued Evie and how the man called Mike Holt had threatened Lloyd for shooting Mike’s brother. But Holt was on his way to prison. Maybe he would even hang. Jeff hoped for the latter.

  Inside the church, the singing renewed, twice as joyful as before. Jeff quietly laughed. Right now Jake Harkner was going through pain worse than a gunshot wound. It was worth his five bucks just to picture it.

  Epilogue

  June of 1893 found a family heading west across the eastern Colorado plains…three men, three women, two older boys who chased each other around on horseback, one four-year-old boy who rode on his grandfather’s horse, three large wagons, several horses and a few cattle…and two babies, both little girls, one with auburn hair and very dark eyes, one with light hair and gray-green eyes that seemed to change with the light.

  Back in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a young couple walked past rosebushes that had sprung up in regrowth from the summer before. They stepped into a little yellow house, excited that they had purchased the former home of the notorious Jake Harkner.

  “What’s that lovely smell?” the young man asked.

  The young woman breathed deeply. “Roses. It smells like roses in here.” She walked into the main bedroom, where someone had left a little vase of yellow roses, now drying up, but their aroma still strong.

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to:

  Jeff Quinn of Gunblast.com, for advice on firearms of the late 1800s.

  My editor, Mary Altman, for a great job of making my books the best they can be.

  Dana Alma, for her help with the use of Spanish in this story.

  The many devoted fans who urged me to write this book and kept me going.

  My agent, Maura Kye-Casella, for helping close the deal on a story that means so much to me.

  * * *

  Reference books:

  Calhoun, Frederick S. The Lawmen: United States Marshals and Their Deputies. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

  Strickland, Rennard. The Indians in Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.

  Read on for an excerpt from

  Love’s Sweet Revenge

  From the author…

  When I wrote Outlaw Hearts over twenty years ago, I never forgot my beloved Jake Harkner. Writing its sequel, Do Not Forsake Me, was a dream come true. I never felt Jake’s story was truly finished with that first book, and when Sourcebooks asked for a sequel, the story just poured out of me, mainly because I’d been totally in love with Jake for over twenty years, and I lived with this story. And then when I finished Book 2…well…we have Jake and Randy and the whole family heading for Colorado. Since I was still in love with Jake, I just had to follow them, because even I, the author, wanted to know what would happen when they reached the place where they thought that finally they would find peace.

  And they do find that peace…for a while…but the Harkner name just seems to bid trouble, and trouble isn’t yet finished with Jake and his son Lloyd. In Colorado they face new challenges that test Jake and Randy’s deep love for one another, and challenges that bring Lloyd and Jake to a new reckoning—a final coming together of the Harkner family that leads Lloyd and Evie and the grandchildren into a new era of law and order…and peace at last.

  Following is Chapter 4 and part of Chapter 5 of Book 3, Love’s Sweet Revenge. I am using this chapter because although this story opens with a beautiful moment of serenity and lovemaking between Jake and Randy, and the following two chapters help the reader see that this family is strong and together but trouble is coming, Chapter 4 shows you both the continuing sweet relationship between Jake and Randy, and it also shows you that Jake is still…well…Jake, when it comes to facing his adversaries. I might add here that dealing with rustlers is just the beginning of what is ahead for this family. The real trouble hasn’t even started yet! Be sure to watch for the continuing story of the Harkners in Book 3, Love’s Sweet Revenge!

  Four

  April 1896

  “You getting sore in all the wrong places from too much
riding?” Jake asked Miranda, turning his horse to face her.

  “It’s not the riding that’s got me sore in all the wrong places,” she quipped, taking up the reins of their packhorse.

  Jake laughed in that teasing way he had, making her feel embarrassed.

  “On a trip like this, a man your age should be too tired for frivolity, Mr. Harkner.”

  “Don’t underestimate what a man my age is capable of, Mrs. Harkner.” Jake winked at her as he lit a cigarette.

  “In your case, I don’t underestimate anything,” Randy shot back.

  Jake grinned and turned his horse again, heading down a pathway toward the valley below. Randy followed behind him, pulling the packhorse along. “Just don’t be underestimating me, dear husband. I’ve been just fine on this trip. I’d rather put up with the hard ground and lack of home comforts than to be home worrying about what’s happening when you’re gone for too long at a time. We went through enough of that back in Oklahoma.”

  “Well, I’m sure as hell not bringing you along every time, so don’t be thinking that’s going to happen. It’s been nice, and we needed the time together, but out here a lot of things can go wrong. Even so, being a marshal back in Oklahoma proved more dangerous than all the grizzlies and bobcats and renegade Indians and rustlers put together out here.”

  “Are you giving me orders, Jake Harkner?” she called out.

  He kept the cigarette at the corner of his mouth when he glanced back at her. “You mean by telling you you can’t come with me next time?”

  “I mean exactly that.”

  He turned away. “Then I am giving you orders. What if something goes wrong? You’re a distraction. I might not be as alert as I should be.”

  Randy smiled. “I like being a distraction. That means you’re still attracted to me. A woman my age needs to know that.”

  “Easy, Midnight.” Jake pulled up on the reins to the black gelding he favored over the other horses he owned. The path had suddenly banked steeper, and small rocks tumbled as Midnight whinnied and stepped lightly to his master’s command. “Stay there!” he told Randy.

  Randy slowed her horse, a gentler gray gelding called Shortbread. She watched Jake and Midnight half slide down to a flatter pathway. Jake dismounted and tied his horse, then grasped at trees and rocks and anything else he could to keep from slipping as he climbed back up to where Randy waited. She noticed how worn-looking his leather boots were in spite of being fairly new. That’s what ranch life did to a man’s clothing. She wore leather boots herself, and a split riding skirt. She shivered under the extra sheepskin jacket Jake had made her bring along, and she was glad for his advice. Mountain mornings could be very cold, even when the weather was warming in the valleys.

  Jake reached her and took a last drag on his cigarette, then threw it down and stepped it out. “Get down. We’ll walk down using the trees to keep from falling and let Shortbread and the packhorse make their own way down. They aren’t as sure-footed as Midnight, so I want you off Shortbread. The last thing I need is for you and that horse to take a fall out here where there’s no help.” He reached up and grasped her about the waist, helping her down.

  “I do have help,” she teased. “You’re here.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m no damn doctor.” He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. “And why on earth would you think I’m not still attracted to you, after the two days we spent up in that cabin?”

  Randy smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I just like hearing you say it, that’s all.”

  He yanked her wide-brimmed hat farther down on her head when she looked up at him again. “See?” he told her. “You’re distracting me again. And there’s Shortbread and the packhorse, already headed down. Come on.” He kept hold of her arm as they made their way down the escarpment, Randy voicing little squeals at a few slips on the steep hill. Jake’s strong grip kept her from tumbling down like a loose rock.

  “What a relief!” she said when they reached the flatter pathway.

  “Must have washed out in that rain we had last night.” Jake helped her remount and handed her the reins to the packhorse again. He untied and mounted Midnight, and they headed farther along, ever downward until they reached the vast expanse of green valley below the cabin.

  Randy glanced up at the line shack, feeling a little sad at wondering if and when they would go back again. Their last two days there were the sweetest, most peaceful, most satisfying days they had ever spent together. It was as though all the bad things they’d ever faced together never happened, as though he was thirty again and she was twenty and they were starting over. “Jake?”

  “Yeah?” He kept riding ahead of her, heading even farther down into the valley, where they would turn south and head closer to home.

  “I really enjoyed the last couple of days. We can go back again sometime, can’t we? Maybe after roundup?”

  “Sure we can. It’s just that I can’t take you with me every time I leave the house. I have my ranch work, and you have work to share with Evie and Katie—and the grandkids would have a fit if Grandma was gone all the time. They are probably already asking about you.”

  “Oh, I know that. I wouldn’t want to be gone all the time. It’s just that this time together seemed so special. I’m glad I came along.”

  Jake slowed his horse and let her catch up. He looked her over lovingly. “I’m glad too. But I love you and I want you to be safe.”

  “I’m always safe when I’m with you.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “Well, out here it’s the unexpected things that even I can’t stop that worry me. And I like you at home, because after days of mending fence and herding and branding cattle and seeing nothing but the ass end of cows and horses, I look forward to coming home to something that looks a lot better.”

  Randy laughed. “It’s nice to know you think I look better than a cow’s hind end.”

  “Woman, your own hind end is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” He rode off again. “And if we don’t stop this kind of talk, I’ll end up dragging you back up to that cabin.”

  I wouldn’t mind, she thought, feeling strangely sad at having to leave their little hideaway.

  “And if you don’t stay home next time I leave, how can I come home to you all warm and comfortable and rested and baking that great homemade bread?” he called out.

  He rode a little faster then, and Randy nudged Shortbread into a trot to keep up. What a contrast he was to the angry, mean, unhappy wanted outlaw he was when they met. It had been a long time since she’d seen that dark, brooding side of her husband, the look that came to his eyes when something happened to threaten anyone he loved, or something came along to wake up ugly memories. He was a man capable of extreme gentleness for his size and demeanor—and also capable of extreme violence, though only against anyone who threatened those he cared about.

  “Have I told you how you fit this land?” she told him, urging Shortbread up beside him. “When I watch you from behind, I see a big, tall man on a big horse handling a big ranch in big, big country. You fit this land, Jake. It’s like Jeff said in his book.”

  Randy loved Jeff’s description of Jake, saying that he had a way of filling up a room with his bold presence…that sometimes it seemed he filled up the whole land.

  Jake turned and bridled closer, then reached out and pulled her off her horse and onto his in front of him. “Ma’am, if you don’t quit your flirting, we’ll never make it home. I’ll end up making camp early and we’ll be cavorting right out in the open. Some of my men could show up and catch us in a very compromising position.”

  Randy laughed and sat sideways, removing her hat and resting her head on his chest as he kept his horse at a slow walk. Jake reached over and grasped Shortbread’s bridle, pulling the horse close enough to grab the reins. “Here.”

  Randy wrapped the strings of her hat around
the saddle horn on Shortbread, then took the horse’s reins. Jake urged Midnight around so he could grab hold of the packhorse. “Hell, between hanging on to the packhorse and handling my own reins, I can’t put my arms around you.”

  Randy wrapped her own arms around his waist, still clinging to Shortbreads reins. “I’ll just hang on. I know we can’t ride like this for long, but I like it.”

  Jake kissed her hair. “So do I.”

  “I love you, Jake.”

  He didn’t answer right away. “To this day, after almost thirty years, I still have trouble figuring out why. I’ve put you through so much.”

  “You’ve loved me and that’s all that matters. After all those thirty years I feel like we’re not just husband and wife, but lovers. Does that make any sense?”

  He laughed lightly. “You are determined to make this ride difficult for me, aren’t you?”

  She leaned up and kissed him. “You’re fun to be with when you’re like this, all relaxed and happy. And you didn’t answer when I said I love you.”

  He kissed her hair again. “That’s because I love you isn’t good enough for the likes of you. I was trying to think of something better than that.”

  She threw her head back and looked up at him. “Worship? Adore?”

  “Something like that.”

  They both laughed and she hugged him again. But even without looking at him, she felt the sudden change. He halted his horse, and she felt his whole body stiffen. She leaned back again and saw the darker look of the old, defensive Jake Harkner, the wanted man always on the alert. He was looking past her.

  “Jake?”

  “Rustlers. Hang on to Shortbread.” He turned Midnight toward the foothills. “We’re heading for those rocks to the west!” He urged the horses into a faster lope, heading into an outcropping of rocks that looked as though they’d tumbled there from nowhere. “Get down and hide the horses!” he told her when they reached cover. He hung on to her arm as she slid off his horse. Jake dismounted. “Tie them farther into the trees.” He yanked his rifle from its boot. “I think they’ve already seen us, but I’m not sure.”