Randy laughed lightly, this time a genuine laugh. She ran her hand gently over his leg, leaning down and kissing it. “There isn’t a person living who would ever accuse Jake Harkner of not being a man! You are so incredibly masculine that I still worry about women going after you when you go into town for supplies. Wasn’t it Gretta Decker who said you reeked of sex?”
There it was! The smile she loved. She’d managed to get his mind off of Tommy Tyler.
“Yeah, well, that notorious prostitute from Denver is now married to our own cowboy Cole Decker and living in a cozy little cabin only a half mile away right here on the J&L.”
Randy straightened and pulled her robe a little closer around her nakedness. “Yes, and they seem so happy, but I can’t help being a bit wary when you have to go over there to see Cole, especially if he’s not home,” she teased.
Jake laughed. “They’re great together, aren’t they? I actually don’t think Gretta would ever cheat on that man, in spite of her past. Besides, Cole is my best friend, let alone the fact that I would never want to have to answer to you for something like that.”
She leaned closer. “So big, bad Jake Harkner is scared of his wife?”
“You bet I am.” He held out his arms. “Come here, Mrs. Harkner.”
Randy smiled as she stretched across his bare chest, always admiring her husband’s fine build, still solid for a man his age—a man most others still didn’t care to cross. He’d proven earlier today that was smart thinking.
Jake stroked her hair. “I’m glad Cole is happy, after what he and I went through last winter…and I’m glad for Gretta. She’s been an amazingly good wife to him. I think this is the life she always wanted.”
“I think so too.” Randy kissed his neck, and Jake rolled her onto her back and moved on top of her.
“And there are still times when I can hardly believe I’m actually still alive and lying in this bed with the most beautiful woman in Colorado.”
“Even though I’m in my fifties?”
“No one would ever guess that. And in my eyes, you’re the frightened twenty-year-old I met back in Kansas…and later bedded in the back of a wagon somewhere on the plains, losing my soul and heart forever.”
Randy ran a finger along the thin, now-faint scar down the left side of his face, from a wound suffered years ago when he was a marshal in Oklahoma. So many years. So many scars. The worst were the scars on his back, some from the beatings he took from his drunken father when he was a little boy, and more from being beaten with a bull whip over a year ago in Mexico, when he was left for dead in the desert.
“Much as you hate the word, Jake, you are a hero to a lot of people. I don’t know how you’ve survived so much, and I hate it when something happens like today that forces you to revisit that lingering anger and hatred down deep inside. You’ve come so far. Letting that man go proves how you’ve grown and changed.”
He kissed her once more and moved to her side, pulling her close. “I’m just sorry for all you’ve been through putting up with me.” He pressed his hand against her belly and gently rubbed it. “You gave me this great big family. If not for Lloyd and Evie and all the grandkids, I’d be the same lost, lonely man I was when we met—or most likely dead a long time ago. And you’re right. I can’t help feeling angry over what happened earlier. I just hated for those sweet little girls to see and hear that, especially so near the holiday. I hate being the one who keeps bringing up the ugly side of life around here without even trying.”
“You can only live your own life being the wonderful father and grandfather that you are, Jake.” Randy scooted up and kissed his neck. “Those little girls think you’re the greatest thing that ever walked. All the grandchildren think that, and rightly so.” She sat up straight then. “Let’s take all the children into Brighton next week, if weather permits. They’re anxious to buy Christmas presents for their parents and each other. We’ll separate them, keep brothers and sisters apart so they can buy for each other. They love the trip into town, and it will help get all of us into the Christmas spirit and forget what happened today.”
Jake picked up his cigarette and took a last drag before pressing it out. “Whatever you want.” He grinned, pushing her robe aside where it had fallen open again, revealing lovely breasts. “Right now I’m thinking I could make love to you again.” He moved a hand inside her robe. “It helps me forget about the pain in my leg.”
Randy smiled. “Jake, we just did this.”
“So?” He rolled her onto her back again. “No kids are here tonight, and I’m not getting any younger. We’d better take advantage before this old man can’t do this anymore.”
Randy laughed lightly. “That will be the day!” She ran her hands over his arms and shoulders. “I don’t see any old man. I see a very virile, handsome, strong man who does reek of sex.”
Jake kissed her deeply. “You’re my best medicine, Randy. Tu eres mi vida, mi querida esposa.”
He met her mouth in another deep kiss, a man who knew exactly how to make her want him all over again. That hadn’t changed in all the years they’d been together. Jake Harkner wasn’t just good with guns.
Randy’s robe came off, and she tried to remember if, in all the years they’d been together, she’d ever said no to this man.
Four
It was quite a procession whenever the Harkners chose to bring the whole family into Brighton for shopping. People in the street always stopped to watch, each with his and her own opinion of Jake. Still an outlaw at heart…a hero for saving Boulder citizens when that bank was robbed…a lawman who still thinks he can take the law into his own hands…dangerous…must not be easy being married to a man like that… The whole family is so loving and loyal to him. They saved him from a hanging in Denver, you know… But he blew a man’s head off in front of a hundred people! They say he adores his wife—that he would easily kill for her… He adores ALL women, I heard, especially prostitutes… I sure wouldn’t cross him… The newspapers said he was tortured and left for dead last year in Mexico—went there to rescue some young girl who’d been kidnapped.
Whispers. Quiet laughter. Curious stares. Distrust. Admiration. Most men liked to brag that they knew Jake Harkner, had met him. He was, after all, famous—“the last outlaw” some called him. Most women fluttered and twittered and smiled with nervousness around him. His smile usually melted their hearts and left them speechless…and wondering what it was like to be married to “a man like that.”
Bells jingled merrily on the harnesses of the two horses pulling the large four-seater sleigh driven by Brian. Randy, Evie, Sadie Mae, and the girl’s two-year-old sister, Esther Miranda, were also along. Evie held her six-month-old son, Cole. Joining the packed family in the sleigh was Katie and her little girl, Tricia, two-year-old son, Donavan, and one-year-old son, Jeffrey Peter. Katie’s parents from Oklahoma also lived on the J&L now, and her mother, Clara, had come along to help with the babies.
The packed four-seater sleigh slid through town to the sound of the jingling harnesses and the girls’ and women’s laughter. Tricia and Sadie Mae had begged to make the trip in the sleigh because there was enough snow and it rode better than a wheeled wagon—and because “sleighs are more fun!” the girls insisted.
“Lord, when that bunch comes to town, it’s an all-out parade,” Win Becker said to his wife. The Beckers owned the local hardware store. They stood at their front window to watch.
“Should be a good day for us, Win,” Tessie Becker answered. “They’ll be needing plenty of supplies to get through the rest of winter. Heavier snows will set in soon, and they’ll be holed up on the J&L till spring.”
“Ole Amos at the feed store will have a good day too,” Win replied. “Those Harkners have money, that’s sure.”
“Some say it’s money Jake’s son inherited from his first wife when she died,” his wife commented. “I think her pa was a
wealthy rancher who lived way south of here. It’s quite a past those Harkners have, all from way back when Jake Harkner was a wanted man and went to prison. His wife waited for him all those years. Most women would have given up on him.”
“She’s quite a woman. God only knows what she’s been through.”
“And she’s so beautiful and tiny and sophisticated. She sure is a contrast to that husband of hers.”
Behind the sleigh came two buckboard wagons for supplies, driven by Cole and Terrel. Alongside the wagons rode Stephen and young Jake. Ben rode just behind them, all three boys on their own horses, sitting as tall as possible to feel more like men.
“You can tell those boys are proud to be related to Jake Harkner,” Tessie mentioned. Bringing up the rear was Jake himself, riding beside Lloyd. They separated and rode at a faster lope to catch up alongside the big sleigh. It took nearly a day and a half to reach Brighton from the J&L, and the whole family had spent the night at a rooming house established on a neighboring ranch belonging to Henry Hill, with whom the Harkners had become good friends. Brian had saved Hill’s son’s life earlier in the winter, when the boy took a bad turn after a case of the measles.
The sleigh approached the Sherman Inn, one of only two hotels in Brighton. The supply wagons clattered on down the street.
“We’d better prepare some rooms,” Margaret Sherman told her husband. They stood on their front stoop, and Margaret waved to Jake as he dismounted. The Harkners usually stayed at their place when the whole family came into town, usually only once or twice a year.
“They must be here for supplies and probably to shop for some Christmas presents,” her husband, Clint, added. “I’m glad you already put up a tree. Those little girls will love it.”
“I’ll get the rooms,” Jake told Lloyd. “The women can go ahead and shop for whatever they need.” He tied his horse and glanced at Brian. “Brian, can you see to the women? Lloyd can go with you to keep an eye out.”
“Jake, just a little shopping for now,” Randy called to him. “We’ll come back in about an hour, when the rooms are ready, and put the babies down. We all need to rest a while after that long trip.”
“I figured as much.”
Brian turned the sleigh to head for a dry-goods store on the other side of the street.
“We’re gonna buy Christmas presents!” Tricia called to the Shermans.
“That’s real nice, honey,” Margaret Sherman called back.
“My present for Mommy will be a secret!” Sadie Mae added, giggling.
Bells jingled and more giggles filled the air as the sleigh sailed back down the street.
“I’ll meet you at the stables, Pa,” Lloyd told Jake before following the sleigh. Stephen, young Jake, and Ben rode after them.
Jake stepped up onto the front stoop and nodded to the Shermans, then put out his hand to Clint. “We’ll need at least five rooms, Mr. Sherman. The family just keeps getting bigger.”
“Well, that must make you right proud, Jake,” Margaret told him, looking up at Jake and smiling. She was short to begin with, but Jake towered over most average men and women. “You have a beautiful family!”
“And I don’t deserve any of them. If anybody had told me thirty years ago that I’d end up like this, I’d have shot them for being crazy.”
Margaret sobered a little at the remark, wondering if Jake Harkner used to shoot men for no good reason. She smiled nervously and invited him inside to sign for the rooms.
Jake turned to watch Lloyd and Brian help the women out of the sleigh. Tricia and Sadie Mae screamed and laughed and tossed snow at each other before running inside the dry-goods store. He smiled, loving their excitement. He took a good look around then before going inside, always wary, always watchful, always alert.
Five
Sadie Mae studied the wide silver-handled hairbrush. She tugged at Randy’s skirt. “Grandma!”
Randy knelt down beside her granddaughter. “Look!” Sadie Mae said. “Can I get that for Mommy for Christmas?”
“How many pennies do you have, Sadie Mae?”
“A hundred!”
“And how much is that in dollars? Remember what your mother and I have been teaching you?”
Sadie Mae nodded, grinning. “It’s a whole dollar!”
Randy smiled. “Very good, Sadie Mae! Let me see how much it is.” She walked over to the clerk, speaking quietly. “Mr. Cunningham, no matter what the price, please tell Sadie Mae that hairbrush she wants is just one dollar.”
The man grinned and nodded. He quickly wrote the real price on a piece of paper. One dollar and eighty cents. Randy dug into her handbag for the eighty cents. “Thank you!” She walked back to Sadie Mae, who was still ogling the hairbrush. Tricia stood beside her and she pointed it out to her cousin. “I’m getting that for Mommy! Don’t tell!”
“I won’t.” Both girls giggled. “I found some real pretty ribbon for my mommy,” Tricia said. “She likes to tie her hair with ribbons. Daddy likes it that way.”
“Your daddy has long hair, too,” Sadie Mae told Tricia. “Maybe we should get him some ribbons!”
Both girls giggled even harder, picturing Tricia’s big, tall, dark father wearing fancy ribbons in his hair.
Randy reached them and told a very happy Sadie Mae that the brush was only one dollar. Sadie Mae clapped her hands and handed Mr. Cunningham a little drawstring bag with her hundred pennies in it. “Can you wrap it in brown paper so Mommy doesn’t see it?” she asked. “Grandma brought us here without our mommies so we could buy them presents.”
“Sure, I can wrap it.”
“Tricia, let me help you while Mr. Cunningham wraps Aunt Evie’s brush,” Randy told her redheaded granddaughter. She walked to a counter where bright ribbons were displayed.
Sadie Mae felt happy. Everyone was buying presents! Her cousin Jake needed new boots. Her uncle Ben needed dress pants for when the traveling preacher visited. Cousin Stephen might get a new rifle. Her grandmother wanted new curtain material, and her aunt Katie wanted a jewelry box. The list was long, and everyone knew what others needed or wanted, but no one knew if that particular item would become a Christmas present or just a needed supply. Most of the real presents would be a secret until they were unwrapped Christmas morning.
And Sadie Mae loved secrets! She looked out the window and saw a red bird, which totally fascinated her. With joy in her heart, she headed out the door to get a closer look, deciding to follow the bird if possible while her grandmother helped Tricia shop for Katie. The bird fluttered around the corner and into an alley.
Sadie Mae looked around, noticing her father coming up the steps to go into a hat store next to where her grandmother shopped. He was carrying Sadie Mae’s baby brother, Cole.
“Stay close, Sadie Mae,” Brian warned. “I have to go inside.” He walked into the hat store, where Evie shopped with Katie and Katie’s mother. Sadie Mae loved babies and was proud that she often watched her baby sister and baby brother and year-old cousin, Jeffrey Peter.
After her father disappeared into the store, Sadie Mae glanced at the alley where the bird had flown. Following it just around the corner seemed safe enough. She looked to see her grandpa Jake standing outside the Sherman Inn talking to the owners just three or four buildings away and across the street. She couldn’t wait to tell him about the hairbrush she’d bought for her mother, but first she wanted one more look at the red bird.
She darted around the corner, and the red bird flitted from a barrel farther down the alley. Sadie Mae ran after it to the back of the building, then stopped cold. A man wearing a gun and a black hat was bent over another man. The other man’s face was bloody.
“That’ll teach you to cheat me at cards!” the man with the gun said, jerking the bloody man up.
“I didn’t cheat you!”
“The hell you didn’t!” The man wi
th the gun pulled back a fist to hit the bloody man again, then paused when he noticed Sadie Mae. He just stared at her a moment, and Sadie Mae stared back, frozen in place. He looked familiar.
The man with the gun shoved the other man onto his butt and turned toward Sadie Mae, stepping closer.
Sadie Mae’s eyes widened. It was him—the gunman who’d tried to shoot her grandfather back when those men visited the J&L.
The man with the gun grinned. “Well, well, well,” he said, squinting a little to study her as he knelt nearby.
Sadie Mae couldn’t make her legs move. She just blinked, her throat feeling tight. The man with the gun scared her, not just because she knew he’d just beat up another man, but because he had an ugly, still-unhealed cut on his right cheek where her grandfather had hit him with his gun. One eye was still black, and his nose looked crooked. Did Grampa break it when he hit this man with his fist?
“You look familiar,” the man with the gun told her.
Sadie Mae swallowed. “You’re that bad man who tried to shoot my grampa!” Sadie Mae told him, her little hands moving into fists. “My grampa beat you up! You’re mean!”
The man grinned wickedly. “That’s why you look familiar. You’re one of the little girls who was watching through the front window.” He laughed from somewhere deep in his throat. “You’re Jake Harkner’s granddaughter, aren’t you?”
Sadie Mae pressed her lips together, refusing to answer.
“Well, now, you listen here, you little brat,” the man told her. He leaned in closer, leering with the Devil in his dark eyes. “You’d better not tell your grampa or anybody else that you saw me beat up that man over there. If you do, I’ll kill you, got that? I’ll wrap my hands around that little throat and squeeze till you can’t breathe any more. And after I kill you, I’ll go after your grandpa and I’ll kill him! And then I’ll find a way to hurt your mommy, so you’d better not say a word, understand?”
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