Life Begins (12 page)

              Josie sighed. She really hoped that this was the start to a new life. Her kids deserved a life of stability and she really prayed that Žarko was the one to give it to them.

Chapter 12

              The paperwork arrived three weeks after the Knežević family moved into their new home. Josie’s ex-husband submitted the check to reimburse Žarko for paying off Josie’s lawyer. That wasn’t the only thing he had done however. No, the man had the audacity to sue for the reinstatement of his parental rights, stating that he wouldn’t give consent for any man to adopt the children. She wasn’t aware that he could even appeal his own decision to give up rights to the kids, but the lawyer assured them that the state of Illinois did have a process whereby a parent could possibly reinstate their rights as a parent.

              Josie felt her stomach drop at the very thought of a judge entertaining such foolishness, knowing what all her ex-husband had done to her. Now he wanted his rights back. Why?

              “It is okay, Josie,” Žarko told her that night after they had put all the children to bed. “He is upset that you have found new husband and wants to make trouble for us.”

              Josie flopped to the bed on her stomach. “He shouldn’t have the right.”

              Her husband tapped her panty-clad bottom, the sharp sound of his slap sounded throughout the room. “The lawyer will take care of this. Even if we go to court, he cannot take babies away. He divorced you before you give birth to Juljiana and he did not sign birth certificate.”

              “And he refused to sign for Josif.” Her head ached with all of these problems. Why did life seem to hate her so much? All she’d wanted to be was a wife and a mother and to take care of her knew family. She didn’t want to have to be dragged right back to court over Gary’s foolishness. She didn’t have long to spend with her head buried in the pillow, not with him pulling her toward the foot of the bed to remove her underwear.

              Large hands slid between her and the bed to cup her breasts, immediately sending a spark of arousal through her body. She almost hated the way that he made her feel. She couldn’t help the way that her hips canted back against him. “Don’t try to distract me when I’m trying to talk about my children.”

              Naturally, he didn’t listen, not when his figures knew exactly how to pluck her nipples. “You worry too much. Children should not feel tension from mother. Let
tata
take care of you.”

              She wanted to laugh, but she her body could only enjoy the orgasm running through her. She shuddered. He slid his hands from beneath her; letting her lay flat, although she knew he wasn’t prone to stay that way. So she wasn’t surprised when she felt him spreading her legs and tucking a pillow beneath her hips. “See relaxed is fun.” Then he slid right inside of her. “Your sex should always be tight only.”

              She buried her head into the bed sheets to keep from making too much of a sound, especially when his hands spread her cheeks wider so he could really dig in deep to her. She could only gasp as he took her slow and easy, making her feel every single last inch of him. Her body craved his sex. There was just something about the way he took up all the space inside of her, about the strength that he possessed that had her melting for him.

              He gave her the ability to feel a pleasure that went much deeper than anything she had ever experienced. He felt good, actually, better than good. She had to lift her own torso to help her press back against him. “Harder,” she gasped to him. She needed to feel him hitting against her cervix. With him, she needed that little bit of pain. She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t going to fight it either.

              Best of all, she loved that he listened. He took hold of her waist and began to pull her back against his slow thrusts. She bit her lower lip to keep from screaming too loud. She could hear her husband’s quiet grunts just beneath her cries of pleasure. She felt like a porn star she saw in a movie once, who was caught unaware by the talent of her co-star. She couldn’t help falling apart completely. Žarko pulled out of her, just as her body gushed all over the bed.

              Everything, from her scalp to the very tips of her toes raced with sensitivity. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be touched again, but could find no breath to stop her husband from flipping her over and covering her body. She couldn’t stop shaking as he began to penetrate her again, easing himself slowly inside her. “I love how you spasm against me,” he breathed against her lips. “It is so easy to make you come.”

              She couldn’t dare respond with anything other than a curse and praise for how good he felt inside of her. Her hips couldn’t stop grinding against him. It should have embarrassed her, the way she reacted to him, but she wanted him too much to care about feelings. She knew that he was close when he picked up speed, his hips grinding her deeper, moving harder against her. She admired the way that the veins popped out of his hard contracted muscles. She ran her hands over him, raking trails through the glistening sweat.

              She loved him. She really did, even if it wasn’t quite yet the deep in love feeling. He was a good man, highly flawed, but good to her and her children. It also helped that he knew how to take care of all of the family’s needs. Even better, he always did everything without asking. She honestly wouldn’t know what she would do without him.

              She wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding him as tight as possible, even though he proved strong enough to break her hold on him. He curled his face into her shoulder, biting her gently, even as his body stiffened more as he came inside of her. Josie couldn’t help her moan of pleasure as her own body began to spasm in that moment.

              “Don’t pull out yet, “she whispered into his ear. He tucked his arms under her hips and rolled, suddenly pulling her on top of him. She could only flop against him. “I’m tired,” she felt she had to say.

              She felt his large hand run up and down her back. “Of course you are tired. This is point of sex. I give you great pleasure and you give it to me in return. We both sleep well during night until Juljiana wakes.”

              She groaned. “Crap. I forgot about the baby.” Josie took a deep breath. “Promise me that we’ll be able to keep the kids together as is. Promise me that they are both going to always be yours.” Her children needed a reliable father. That is the one thing she needed to give to her children.

              “Go to sleep, Josie and have faith in your husband.”

              She kissed the bit of neck she could reach beneath her. “Fine. Wake me when you hear the baby. My breasts are starting to hurt.”

              “Then maybe you should clean up and get ready for baby’s feeding.”

              She pouted. “But, I’m tired. I just want to lay here with you and go to sleep.” He didn’t respond to that.

              Josie dropped the girls off at school before making her way to the grocery store where she used to work. She’d been working on a special recipe for pizza crust and needed to replenish some of her supplies. She loaded her two into the cart, hoping that she could get in and out before both tiny tots decided that it was a good idea for them to fall apart, especially her son who was liable to want something sweet. She was so focused on her list that she completely missed walking by her ex-husband. She didn’t notice that he followed until he stopped her from grabbing a package of gluten free dough mix.

              When she finally saw who touched her, she snatched her hand away, wanting more than anything to just run, but also fearing what doing so might cause him to do. So, even though she really had no confidence, she planted her feet and stared down the one man that she no longer could say that she loved.

              “What do you want?” She pulled away again when he tried reaching for her again. “Don’t touch me. You don’t have that right.”

              “Why are you trying to be like that, pussycat? I would think that you’d be willing to treat me better than that after ten years of marriage.”

              “Don’t call me pussycat. You lost that right when you wasted ten years of my life,” Josie said in reply.

              “Wasted,” he pointed at his chest. “I wasted ten years? We would still be married if you had only listened to me and had done what I wanted to do.”

              Josie couldn’t help the snort of laughter escaping. “This is my fault?” She couldn’t believe that he would have the nerve to say something so stupid after everything he did to her. He really should have been glad that she hadn’t tried to take everything from him in the divorce because after all the pain that he put her through, she certainly deserved something more than she got from him.

              He held both his hands up. “Hey, no offense. I’m just saying that we were good together, baby. We could still be good together if you would just do two little things for me.” He licked his lips, giving her the puppy eyes that used to work so well on his chocolate face. Already, Josie felt her heart beating the slightest bit faster in remembrance of their beginning years together.

              But then, she thought about her kids, the girls, Žarko. All of them together gave her multiple reasons for not caving in to her ex-husband’s foolishness. Besides, he hated her children and she could never return to a man that didn’t want a family.

              “I think you must have been the only one completely content. That you still don’t get that I would never be happy without children just shows me the kind of man that you are. Thank God for sending me a husband that assumes we’ll be having more children, because I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t have all of them.” She reached over to grab the box she was looking for and practically ran for the nearest checkout line. As soon as she felt safe enough, though she had no idea how safe she could feel with her ex-husband tracking her down somehow, she planned to call her husband. She needed him to tell her what to do. So she ran with her cart as fast as her legs could carry her to her car.

              She didn’t realize that she’d been crying until her son mentioned it. She tried to take a deep breath, hoping that it would calm her and make her son feel better. “It’s alright, baby. Mommy just is having some problems and needs to call daddy.”

              “Don’t cry, mama.” He reached out for her face to pat at her cheek.

              She wiped away her tears with the bottom of her palm. “I won’t, daring. Let me just get you and your sister in the car and maybe we can go get something special for lunch.” She tried to pretend that she wasn’t worried, but it was hard. She could hear her ex-husband calling her name.

              She got her son into his seat and had just managed to put her daughter’s car seat back into its base to close the door when he caught up to her.

              “Josie, why are you running like that? You act like I’m the enemy or something.”

              “Because you are the enemy. You married me, knowing that I wanted a family and you lied for ten years. Now you want me to think that you really want a relationship?” She went to walk around him, but he grabbed her upper arm, squeezing her tight.

              “You don’t get to walk away from me. I’m trying to be nice by talking to you, but you always want to act like a fool.”

              She was lucky that a young couple passed them, allowing her to cause a scene with witnesses. “Let go of me,” she yelled as she began to tug back on her arm again. She was ready to scream louder if she had to if it would get her away from man.

              “You okay, ma’am,” the young man asked. “You need us to call the police?”

              She didn’t take long to think about it. “Yes. Please. My ex-husband doesn’t seem willing to take no for an answer.” He let go of her immediately, and rushed past her rescuers, even pushing the young woman to the ground. Seeing that, she really wondered what she ever saw in him. He was a monster.

              “Hey, what’s wrong with you man?” her rescuers called out after Gary.

              Josie pulled out her cell phone and dialed the police herself. She explained the situation to the 911 attendant, now unable to stop her body from shaking. While they waited for the officers to arrive to take their statements, she called Žarko to let him know what was going on. She didn’t expect him to leave his job for her, but she honestly felt glad that he insisted on seeing that she was safe personally.

              It gave her strength to give her statement about everything that happened to the police, then waited in the car for her husband to arrive. There wasn’t much that they could do considering Gary had left the premises, but she felt comfortable knowing that his actions were going on record. If there was anything that she hoped out of this situation, it was that Gary took this as proof that she wanted him to leave her alone.

              I had to have been a wait of about ten minutes at the most before the face of her husband appeared in the driver side window. “Tata,” Josif shouted from the back seat as his father opened Josie’s door.

              “What happened?” he asked her. She told him, not really wanting to go into it, but also fearing what would happen if she didn’t. He didn’t speak, but that didn’t make her feel safe. The whole energy around him changed, becoming this eerie and dangerous thing that terrified her greatly, worse than she ever felt around Gary.

              “Please don’t look that angry,” she whispered to him. “He didn’t do anything.” At least, that is what she believed. She couldn’t even feel the spot where he grabbed her.