Read Online Do Not Forsake Me by Rosanne Bittner - Free Book Online

three, was the doctor’s son. The older boy, perhaps five or six, had to be Lloyd Harkner’s kid.
    Then he saw them—Jake and Randy. Jake wore his guns. Surely he didn’t intend to wear them into church! Probably not, because he also was not wearing a suit. He wore denim pants and a dark blue bib shirt with no vest and, from what Jeff could see, not even his badge. His hair looked shorter, cut to just above his shoulders. When the younger grandson with Evie and Brian turned and spotted his grandparents, he smiled and ran back to Jake.
    â€œGampa!” The kid reached up and Jake lifted him onto his shoulders.
    â€œYou’re getting almost too big for this, Little Jake,” he told the boy. “Grandpa is getting too many aches and pains to lift such a big boy.”
    After what Grandpa did yesterday? Jeff found that hard to believe, but surely the man did have aches and pains. One of the questions he wanted to ask was how many times Harkner had been shot.
    The older boy also noticed his grandparents and ran back to Jake, hugging him around the hips in spite of the guns he wore.
    â€œCareful! Careful!” Jake told him, gently pulling him away and tousling his hair. He lifted the smaller boy from his shoulders and knelt in front of the older boy. “How’s my youngest deputy?”
    The boy hugged Jake around the neck. “Where’s my dad, Grampa?” he asked.
    Jake hugged him in return, patting his back. “He’ll be along sometime today, I expect.”
    â€œIs he hurt?”
    â€œNo, your daddy is just fine. I promise.”
    Randy scolded Jake for messing up the boy’s hair. “Honestly, Jake, Stevie’s hair is unruly enough. Evie probably spent ten minutes just getting it to stay in one place.” She stopped and smoothed the boy’s thick, dark hair as best she could.
    â€œA kid his age shouldn’t worry about his hair,” Jake answered. He rose and deliberately messed it up with a wicked grin. The boy giggled and ducked away from his grandmother when she tried to fix his hair again.
    â€œJake Harkner, just for that, you won’t get any of my bread for dinner later.”
    Jake grinned. “You’ve threatened to withhold more than that a time or two.”
    His wife pushed at him. “Please. People can hear you, and we’re on our way to church, for heaven’s sake.”
    â€œ You’re on your way to church. I’m not.”
    Randy gave him a disappointed look, and Jake seemed to regret the remark. He reached out and put an arm around her. “Okay, I won’t mess his hair up again.”
    Randy moved an arm around her husband’s back and they stayed that way until they reached the church.
    Jeff took notes. Incredibly stark contrast to yesterday. The man brings in four killers and rapists, then beats on a young man half his age and throws him into the street, and today he’s playing with his grandsons and walking to church. He looks so relaxed today.
    He looked up then, watched Miranda say something to Jake when they reached the church steps. She told both boys to go inside with Evie and Brian, but first Evie walked up to her father.
    â€œDaddy, please come inside.”
    Daddy? Jeff had trouble picturing Jake Harkner being called Daddy.
    â€œBaby girl, it’s just not going to happen. Church is for angels like you and your mother.”
    â€œBut you’re an angel too—maybe an avenging angel, but you have every right to go inside.”
    Jake leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You know how I feel. Go on now. They are already starting a hymn.”
    Evie glanced at her mother, who put an arm around her and cast Jake a pleading look before going inside. Latecomers greeted Jake on their way in, and one older, heavyset man jovially invited him to join them.
    â€œI’ll wait out here like I always do,” Jake told the man.
    The older man kept hold of his hand a moment