Do Not Forsake Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

specifically for Katie. I should tell you I’ve decided to ask her to marry me, if you approve.”
    Pat’s face lit up like the spark of a match. He grasped Lloyd’s hand and began shaking it vigorously. “Of course you have my approval!” he answered. “Sure ’n’ my Katie girl has a very fond eye for you, and it’s time for the both of you to move on from mournin’ those who are gone. You’re both too young to be livin’ in the past.”
    A quick pain stabbed at Lloyd at the memory of losing Beth so soon after finding her again after years apart. “Yes, sir. Just don’t say anything when we go inside, please. After we eat, I’ll ask Katie to step outside with me. I don’t want to rush in there and cause a commotion, and we have a lot of talking to do first.”
    Pat was grinning from ear to ear. “I’ll try my best, son. This is such good news. When the wife finds out, she’ll be beside herself.”
    Lloyd just grinned and shook his head as Pat took his arm and urged him to the door. “Come! Come! The wife will be happy to see you. She and your mother are such good friends, you know.”
    Lloyd stomped dust from his boots before going inside. He actually felt a little nervous. The last three weeks on the trail were the closest he’d come to allowing himself to think about Katie seriously enough to consider marriage. His father had urged him to commit to taking another wife. He wanted Lloyd to be happy and settled again.
    Katie Donavan Lamont was only twenty-one years old, but she’d already lost a husband at nineteen to a hunting accident and buried a newborn baby lost to cholera. She was no wilting flower, but a woman who’d known hardship and loss, just as Lloyd had. It only made her more attractive.
    The Donavans were part of the new influx of settlers who’d come to Oklahoma from St. Louis in the land rush a couple of years earlier. That land rush had a big hand in the troubles out here, where new settlers were pushing out Indians of numerous tribes who had themselves been forced to Oklahoma with promises of this being Indian country forever. As usual, the government had broken its promise, and now Oklahoma was filled with angry Indians, eager new settlers, and a host of outlaws who’d come here because there was very little law…until Lloyd and his father had come on the scene.
    He followed Pat into the house, where Clara Donavan greeted him warmly. She immediately urged Lloyd to sit and poured him a cup of coffee.
    â€œYou must need a good rest,” the very robust woman told Lloyd. “We’ll put up your horse for you.”
    â€œThank you, Mrs. Donavan. My father took some prisoners in to Guthrie, and I came this way to check on things here. Neighbors say they’ve had trouble with rustlers.”
    â€œWell, we’ve not had problems so far, but it’s good of you to stop.”
    â€œYour pa probably figures you’ll stay the night,” Pat Donavan added as Clara set some sweet cream and some sugar in front of Lloyd. “He won’t worry because he knows how well you can take care of yourself.”
    â€œHe’s an able young man, that he is,” Clara added, “just like his pa. A man would be a fool to go up against this one, that’s sure.”
    Lloyd felt a little embarrassed at the compliments. He drank some coffee as he caught sight of the skirt of a green checkered dress at the top of the loft ladder. Katie came down the ladder, and just as she reached the bottom of the steps, the door opened and nineteen-year-old Tommy Donavan came inside.
    â€œLloyd! I thought that was your horse,” he said, coming in and shaking Lloyd’s hand. “I had my little brother put it up for you.”
    Lloyd felt a bit shanghaied by the Donavans. “I could have gone back tonight,” he objected. “But I have to admit, I’m pretty