Randall Renegade (12 page)

Once Megan had dropped her off at her house, Patience drove her own car to the main street of Rawhide and parked. Then she entered Nick’s law office, which was across the street from the general store.

“May I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“I’d like to see Nick Randall.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

Patience stared at her. “An appointment? Uh, no.”

“He’s not in the office this morning. Could you come back this afternoon?”

Like she had a choice. Patience nodded. “What time this afternoon?”

“Just a minute. I’ll check with him.” The receptionist picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Mr. Randall? What time could you take an appointment this afternoon?”

Patience stood there, feeling like an idiot for thinking she could just walk in and see the lawyer.

“Ma’am, what’s your name?”

Hurriedly she replied, “Patience Anderson.”

The woman repeated her name into the phone. “Oh. Yes, sir, of course.” She hung up the phone and said, “Mr. Randall is available now. He’ll be right down.”

Now Patience was thoroughly embarrassed. She knew Nick lived on the floor above his office, but she hadn’t meant to intrude on his personal life. “I don’t want to disturb him. I can
come back later.” Before she finished, a door behind the receptionist opened.

“Now, why would you want to do that, Patience, when I have time on my hands this morning?” Nick Randall asked with a grin.

“But you must’ve had plans,” Patience protested. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t be silly. Come on in.” He escorted her into his private office. “My wife wanted me to baby-sit our little boy this morning, but he’s taking a nap.” He put a baby monitor receiver on his desk. “We’ll use the monitor. If he wakes up, I’ll have to go upstairs for a minute.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

“By the way, I’m glad to hear you got your little boy back. Is he all right?”

“He’s great. Jim was wounded, though. He’s going home from the hospital today, so he’s recovering quickly.”

“I heard that. My brother called last night. I was going to go see Jim today.”

Patience smiled politely.

“Now, what do you need to talk to me about?”

“I don’t know how much you charge, Nick, but I’m in need of a good lawyer.”

“Tell me the problem. We’ll worry about payment later.”

“Well,” she began, “Tommy is my sister’s child, and Joseph Kane is his father. Kane left town as soon as Faith died. We neither saw nor heard from him until he came back last week and abducted Tommy. I’ve raised Tommy since he was born. But because I hadn’t legally adopted him, the sheriff said he couldn’t do anything about Tommy’s abduction.”

“I’m not sure I agree with him, but obviously you want to remedy that situation. Do you want complete guardianship of Tommy?”

“Yes,” Patience said with relief. “Can that be done?”

“Tell me what Mr. Kane was doing with Tommy when you found them. I heard you went after him by yourself.”

She nodded. “Yes. Kane was making Tommy stand at attention in the snow. Every time the boy moved, Joe would slap him quite hard. He’d just knocked him down for the third time when I entered the camp.”

“Physical abuse,” Nick said, and made a note.

“Yes. If Jim hadn’t come—” She broke off and covered her face with her hands.

“What do you believe would have happened?”

“Kane decided he wanted to marry me and have more sons so he’d have a bigger army to command.”

“He told you this?”

“I believe he would have forced himself on me. Thankfully, Jim had come and he got Tommy and me out of there.”

“Well, thank goodness Jim showed up.”

“But then he was shot. I—”

“Hello, Nick.” Jim’s voice startled them both as he entered the room.

“Jim, I just heard you were getting out this morning. How are you?” Nick asked, obviously not as startled by Jim’s presence as Patience was.

“I’m doing well, Nick. I know I shouldn’t have interrupted, but I needed to know what Patience was up to.”

Patience stiffened. “You could’ve asked me.”

“Mom said she did, and you didn’t tell her anything.” Jim sat down in the chair next to her. “Sorry, I can’t stand for too long.”

“Of course, Jim,” Nick said. “But Patience is entitled to have this discussion in private if she wants. Patience?”

“I don’t mind Jim knowing what I’m doing, but I can’t see any real need for his presence.”

“I want to make sure Nick understands that I’ll pay the bill for his work. He’s the best,” Jim told her.

Patience tried to maintain her dignity, but she was growing angry. “I’m going to arrange a payment plan with Nick. I don’t need your money.”

“I owe you my life, Patience. How much do you think that’s worth?”

Nick’s eyebrows soared and his gaze traveled back and forth between the two combatants before he broke in. “I’ve assured Patience I’m willing to help her. It’s an interesting case. So, Jim, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“But I think she should’ve talked to me first,” Jim argued, which caused Nick’s brows to soar again.

“Tommy is my child,” Patience said. “I appreciate your help, but that does not put you in charge, Jim. And I promise I won’t call on you again.”

“Do you think you’re going to prevent that madman from trying to get his son again?” Jim asked.

“No. But I’m going to have the law on my side the next time.”

“The law moves slowly. Kane could kidnap Tommy and carry him out of state before you could get Sheriff Metzger to act. But I don’t have to wait. And I love Tommy, too. I’ll be there for you.”

Patience closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Once she had herself under control, she said to Nick, “What do I have to do?”

“I’ll need to take your statement about Mr. Kane—what he’s done for his son, or to his son. I’ll need the specifics of how you can afford to care for him. Some character references for you. When do you want to do that?”

“I’m prepared to do any of that at your convenience, Nick. I want to have this issue settled as quickly as possible.”

“Well, we can—”

“Anyone in my family will provide character references for Patience,” Jim said insistently. “Mom’s waiting in your outer office. She can—”

“Your mother scarcely knows me!” Patience protested.

“Why won’t you let us help you?”

“Because I can manage on my own!” she returned.

Nick stood and moved to Jim’s side. “Let me help you to the outer office. I want to get started on Patience’s case at once. I’ll let you know what you can do to help us.”

Jim wasn’t strong enough to fight Nick. Not today. But he wasn’t happy being escorted out. When Nick had him outside his office, he said, “She’s being hardheaded, Nick. She needs help.”

“Probably. But we have to give her a little room. You can’t take away her freedom of choice.”

“What’s wrong?” Megan asked. She’d gotten to her feet when the two men appeared.

Nick grinned. “Patience and Jim seem to have a lot of friction between them.” He winked at Megan.

Jim saw the wink and didn’t understand its significance. “She’s just being difficult. She thinks she can handle everything by herself.”

“Is Patience upset?” Megan asked.

“A little,” Nick said.

“Let me go talk to her so she’ll come back to the house tonight. That’s important.” She
walked into Nick’s office even as her son protested.

Jim finally apologized to Nick for interrupting his meeting with Patience, but he believed Patience would let her pride get in the way. “She doesn’t have much patience, in spite of her name.”

“I see,” Nick said, a grin on his face.

“Why is that funny?” Jim demanded.

“It reminds me of when I was courting my wife.”

“No! No, I’m not…well, maybe eventually, but she needs time to settle her business.”

“And that’s what I’m going to help her do,” Nick promised. “We may be able to get legal custody pretty quickly if the docket isn’t full. I’m going to try for the first of next week.”

“That’d be great,” Jim said.

Megan came out of Nick’s office. “We can go now, Jim. Patience needs to talk some more with Nick. She’ll be home for dinner, though. She promised.”

Jim gave his mother a dark look and muttered a goodbye to Nick.

When they were in the truck, Megan said, “Jim, you’ve got to remember that Patience is
not a member of our family. She gets to make her own decisions.”

“I was trying to help her, Mom.”

“You were trying to make decisions for her,” his mother said. “Your father tried that a few times with me, too. But Patience has provided for her mother and her nephew for three years now, making her own decisions. You can’t take over her life.”

“I’m not trying to,” Jim protested. “I’m just trying to help her.”

“Well, until you marry her, find another way to help her.”

“What? Mom, I’m not going to… I mean, we haven’t talked about… How did you know?” he finally asked.

“Your father and I did quite a bit of arguing when we first met. It just reminded me of that.”

Jim sighed. “I haven’t said anything to her yet. She may still be mad about what happened at college.”

“I don’t understand what made you two break up. You’ve never told me.”

Jim gave her a wry look. “And I’m not going to now, either. But I’ll try to work things out as soon as I can.”

Chapter Ten

Patience turned up at the Randall house for dinner as she’d promised. Immediately she started helping put dinner on the table for the children.

When Tommy came downstairs, he ran into her arms. “Where you been, Mommy? I missed you. Grandma said you went to town. Did you bring me something?”

“Sure. I brought you a kiss. I missed you, too.” She picked him up and kissed his soft cheek. “Did you play with Davy all day?”

“Yes, and I played with Jim, too. He’s hurted and he has to stay in bed. His mommy said so.”

“I know, sweetie, but he’s going to get better.” She only hoped she was right. Today he’d seemed as impatient as he always told her she was.

After the children had eaten, she helped clean the table.

“You’re a hard worker, young lady,” Mildred said.

“I’m glad to help. The last thing you needed was three more mouths to feed.”

“We’re glad to have you. That Tommy is cute as can be, and he keeps Davy occupied,” Mildred said. “And your mom and I have become good friends. She’s showing me how to make lace.”

“Yes, she’s very good at that.”

The door to the kitchen opened and Patience looked up. Jim came in, flanked by his parents and his brother. She immediately turned her back and began stirring a pot of beans on the stove.

She was able to stay busy helping serve the meal. Then there was nothing left to do but take a seat at the table. That was when she realized she’d made a critical mistake.

Everyone was seated except for Red, Mildred and her. They always sat in the same seats. Which left her a vacant seat right next to Jim. She desperately looked around for another option, but there was none.

Jim smiled at her. “Come on, Patience. You’re holding up dinner.”

She blushed. The last thing she wanted to do
was create problems for the Randalls. She took her place and the blessing was asked. Then they all began talking and passing platters of food.

Jim leaned toward her. “I owe you an apology.”

She shook her head but said nothing. He didn’t pursue the conversation, but he asked her to cut his steak for him. “My right arm is still sore,” he explained.

She hurriedly began cutting his steak. After all, it was her fault he’d been injured. When she finished, she withdrew again. She concentrated on her own meal, hoping to finish as soon as possible.

“What’s your hurry? Are you going somewhere tonight?” Jim asked, frowning.

“No! I want to help with the dishes.”

“Not tonight. We need to talk.”

She stiffened. “You are not my boss, Jim. You need to go back to bed, anyway, so you’ll get better.”

“Not until we’ve had a talk. It’s dangerous for you to run around town by yourself. You shouldn’t have gotten your car. I’m sure Kane knows your car, since you’ve had it since you went off to college.”

“I keep my doors locked.”

“Yeah, and then you get out of the car. So how safe are you then?”

“Jim, I can’t hide forever. Besides, he probably won’t come here again.”

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t run around by yourself. I can’t get back in the saddle for a while, so I can go with you as protection.”

“No!” she protested sharply, causing conversation to die around the table. With everyone staring at her, she stammered, “I’m t-trying to convince Jim that I don’t need protection now.”

After an awkward pause, Chad said, “Why not? Do you think Kane has given up?”

“No, but you said you had found his camp deserted. Plus, two of his lieutenants are dead, the third injured. I assume he doesn’t have any followers anymore.”

“And that means he won’t be interested in his son?” Jake asked.

“I don’t think he really wants Tommy with him. He wanted more soldiers. And he lost all the soldiers he had because of me and Tommy.”

“She’s got a point,” Brett agreed. Both Jim and his father glared at Brett and he ducked his head.

“I think he’ll be mad and want revenge,” Jim
said. “You got the best of him the first time. He’ll be determined to pay you back.”

“Oh!” Megan exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention. “Did you ever find out what those strange coins were? The tin ones with the 30p stamped on them?”

“Yeah,” Jim said. “Kane had them made. He believes God betrayed him when Faith, his wife, died. The 30p stands for the thirty pieces of silver Judas was paid for betraying Jesus. Kane thinks he shouldn’t have to pay for anything he wants, because God owes him.”

“His logic is a little warped, since he’s the reason Faith died,” Anna said quietly, anger in her voice.

“It’s a wonder he doesn’t blame Tommy,” B.J. said.

As if a light clicked on in Patience’s head, she said, “Maybe he does, subconsciously. His behavior toward Tommy was fairly brutal.”

“Then we’d best make sure he doesn’t get his hands on him again,” Chad said with a firm nod.