Life Begins (13 page)

              “He touched you,” Žarko said. He brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. “A man should never touch another’s wife.”

              “I know, but I’m okay. I just don’t want you going to jail,” she had to admit. “It would be too hard for me to deal with and I wouldn’t know what to do.”

              He snorted, though it didn’t seem to be in humor. “If you were not strong wife, I would never marry you, even loving how you care for children. If something happened, you would be fine, but, I will not be caught so there is no reason to fear.”

              She wasn’t sure that she knew what he meant, but, she did trust him to think about his family. She sighed, prepared to just go home and forget that this day ever happened. If anything, this experience taught her to thank God for the blessing of getting her first husband out of her life, so that she could get a much better husband.

              “Let me follow you home,” he told her, before closing the car door for her. She didn’t have the chance to argue with him, knowing that most likely, she couldn’t fight with him in the first place. She felt safer knowing that her husband was in control of the situation. She kept checking the rearview mirror, making sure that she always saw Žarko’s truck behind her. She didn’t know why she was being so silly, being terrified and all. It wasn’t like her ex-husband could do anything to her, or even like he would other than this stupid thing of now trying to take her to court.

              As soon as she pulled up the long driveway to her home, she quickly turned off the car and finally allowed her body to relax. “Mommy, let me out,” her son demanded. “I have to pee.” Juljiana seemed to agree since she immediately began her I’m hungry cry.

              She sighed. Thank goodness for her babies. Her life could be falling apart all around her and they would only care about their needs being met. By the time she made her way out of the vehicle, Žarko had already helped Josif out of the car and was half way around to the other side to get Juljiana. “You didn’t have to help me get the kids inside. Don’t you have to get back to work?”

              “No. It is more important to take care of family than to take care of work right now. I called friend to take over my shift.”

              “Oh, okay,” she said, giving him a small smile as she helped her son make it into the house and then to the toilet so he could potty. Žarko took the baby to the kitchen with him. The hunger cries suddenly stopped, probably because she loved when her
tata
held her. Josie let out a relieved sigh. She loved having someone so willing to help her out. “
Tata
really is great, isn’t he?”

              Her son gave her a look that said, of course he is. Apparently, Josie realized in that moment, she was being very silly woman, as her husband would tell her.

Chapter 13

              “That bitch called the police on me,” Gary screamed into the phone at his lawyer. “She actually called the police on
me
.”

              “What were you doing getting into contact with her?” the other man asked, seeming very disinterested.

              How dare some paid snake ask him that question? Josie was his pussycat, with a pussy tighter than any virgin’s. She was supposed to be his, exclusively. Not her and two brats. And certainly, she wasn’t supposed to belong to some asshole that got to fuck her every night. “I wanted to talk to her, let her know that I wasn’t mad at her about her marrying someone else. She got crazy and caused a scene, but I’m the one that got into trouble.”

              He heard a long sigh. “Gary, let me give you a word of advice. Leave her alone right now. If you want to get into her good graces, you have to do it correctly.”

              “What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t know Josie like I know her. I’m going to handle things my way. You just do what I pay you to do. Get her tied up in court so that she can’t get away from me.” He would worry about breaking up her current stupid marriage.

              “Fine, then don’t say I didn’t warn you.” His lawyer hung up the phone. Gary threw it against the passenger side door. That man didn’t know anything, except what it meant to be sleazy. No, a soft touch would never work with Josie. He had been soft with her in high school and look what that got him. No, if wanted to get her back, he needed to bring out the big guns. There was no way that some white man was going to be able take care of Josie sexually. She needed a black man.

              It was the weekend and the girls insisted that they all go to the movies. Naturally, with two young girls, that meant going to see Cinderella. Not even Josif’s pouting, cute as it was, could halt the desire within the girls to see a movie that was wholly made for little girls. Žarko’s only response to the request was a sneer, but he didn’t put his foot down about it either.

              Josie had a feeling that for all that the boys complained, they would either find a way to enjoy the movie, or they would simply go to sleep. Her son was almost a guarantee to knockout, probably before the movie began, so she highly doubted that she needed to worry about him. She herself, felt a bit curious about the new adaptation. The animated version had always been one of her favorites and so she was very curious about what Disney had planned for this live action film.

              Of course, the girls couldn’t just go to the movie dressed in their play clothes. So, Žarko had to drive to the Chicago Ridge Mall so that the girls could go to the Disney Store so that they could buy some princess dresses. Juljiana wouldn’t care about what she wore, but Desa insisted that she too had to dress up, as she was a pretty girl, whatever that meant. Not even Josie, as the ultimate pretty girl, Desa’s words, could escape the dress up party. She ended up wearing a crown, all glittery and pink.

              “This is too much trouble for boring movie,” Žarko said to her, even though he willingly brought out his card to pay for the purchases.

              “You’re the one that brought them here. You could have told them no.”

              He looked up at the princess crown she wore. “Like you have said no to silly crown?”

              She passed him the baby. “Don’t you get it; I’m a princess trying to find her prince.” Juljiana patted at his face.  “See, even the baby understands the importance of the crown.”

              “Yeah,
tata
. It’s important to wear the crown,” Ljiljana said from behind them. “You said we need to see ourselves as pretty. Now
majka
can feel pretty like us.”

              “I want popcorn,” the lone boy said suddenly “and juice.”

              “Okay, we’ll get you something when we get there,” Josie told him. The beauty of going to the movie theatre at the mall was that they already had scheduled seats, so it didn’t take them long to get their tickets and then Žarko stood in line while she helped the kids find their assigned loungers.  Ljiljiana stayed to help him carry everything, even though Josif wanted that to be his job, because all of a sudden, he wanted to learn how to be a man. It was cute in a way. So cute, even Žarko couldn’t ignore the young boy’s request to help.

              She, Desa, and Juljiana found the saved seats, right in the middle of the theatre. “
Tata
will want to sit by you,
majka
,” Desa said. “That way he won’t have to sit next to someone else not family.” She then pointed out spots for everyone. “Ljiljiana likes the end. I can sit next to her, but Josif can sit between us. Then,
tata
will have plenty of space by you.”

              “Is this how you always sit?” Josie couldn’t help but ask.

              The little girl nodded her head. “
Tata
says that I can decide where everyone sits at the movies, because Ljiljiana always chooses the radio station.”

              Somehow, that just didn’t seem fair, but okay, if that is how it worked for the two of them. She sat with her daughter in her lap, wondering if she should bother putting her feet up with the lounger like chair. She didn’t want to get trapped in her seat if her daughter actually needed something during the movie and she had to get up quickly. In the end, she decided that it would probably be best to put her feet up, just so she could hold her daughter comfortably. It was around nap time for the baby anyway, and she liked to cuddle best when she was tired or sleeping.

              Josie kept an eye on Desa until the rest of the family appeared, Josif carrying a small thing of popcorn with a big smile on his face. “Mama, look at me.”

              “Wow, you’re a big boy now” she told him, as he passed her the bag to hold for him. Desa busied herself telling everyone but her dad where they were going to sit. Žarko didn’t bother to wait. He sat next to Josie and took the popcorn bag from her.

              “Was he okay, not that I expect him to misbehave with you.”

              He shrugged. “He is always fine. Very helpful little boy.”

              “So then, does that mean you’ll provide a proper example for how little boys are supposed to behave at a movie they aren’t exactly enthused to see?”

              “
Ne
. I plan to sleep during movie. He can sleep with me.”

              She snorted with laughter. “That’s wasting money. Just watch it, you might even like it.”

              He lifted the chair arm between them so that he could pull her close, just as the lights went down and the trailers began. “I will watch movie and you can show me your appreciation after children are sleep.”

              Of course, he would want payment for being a
good
man. “What did you have in mind?” He whispered his response in her ear, surprising her with the sheer naughtiness of his fantasies. It kept her distracted throughout the whole film, to where she couldn’t remember much of what happened. Žarko, on the other hand, appeared riveted to the screen every time one of the children glanced in his direction. He had even taken the baby to his lap so that he could help her pretend to dance with the bigger girls.

              One would never know that he had absolutely no interest in the movie. Josif pretty much fell asleep between his sisters, Desa needing to save his bag of popcorn before he spilled it all over himself and his chair. Žarko then gave the bag to her to close for the boy to enjoy later.

              After the movie finished, the family left the theatre for the food court right outside. They chose the new burger place; because the kids all wanted to have a milkshake to celebrate the movie’s ending.  Josie wasn’t sure why the movie’s ending needed celebrating, but she went along with it because the Green River shake was surprisingly delicious.

              “I had fun,
tata
,” Ljiljiana said.

              “Me too,” Desa piped in.

              Josif threw his hand into the air, perhaps only because he was too busy sucking up his chocolate shake to be able to say anything. “Finish your chicken tenders before you drink all your shake, please,” Josie told him.

              Žarko sat with the baby playing with his fingers. “It is good you have fun. You work hard at school and the harder you work, the more I desire to reward you.”

              “We should probably go see SpongeBob so that Josif can see something he likes,” Ljiljiana said.

              Josie looked at her watch. “Maybe we can do that another day.  It’s going to be nap time soon and I still have to take care of the laundry.”

              “No. SpongeBob now,” Josif screamed out.

              Josie moved to argue when Žarko held his hand out to her. “Screaming will not help. You will ask and not cry, like baby.”

              Josif pouted for a moment, but he eventually sucked in his tears to say, “Please,
tata
. I’m not sleepy.” Žarko then turned to look at Josie, his eyes asking for her opinion. Honestly, Josie didn’t know what was the right answer. Jason had done a great job sitting still and behaving in the theatre, and he did actually get some sleep, something not always easy to do for the energetic toddler.

              She looked at the girls, who also seemed excited about the notion of a second movie. Josie sighed. “I guess I can do the laundry tomorrow.” The only problem would be dealing with a hungry Juljiana, but the mall did have a family restroom that she could feed her daughter in before the movie.

              “Let’s go buy the tickets,
tata
,” Josf said, popping out of his seat to run toward the movie theatre again. Žarko just managed to grab the back of his jacket to keep him from moving too far away. He passed Josie the baby so that she could handle her business and then walked the young boy to the ticket window.

              Josie heard the girls laughing and had to shake her head. “Come on, girls. Let’s get this table cleaned up and then we’ll go to the restroom.” She knew that the girls would help her to feed and change the baby, especially if it would get them the option of going to another movie.

              Baby Juljiana was not a happy baby, not that Josie felt any better. Her poor little baby was teething and obviously, the pain seemed to drive the little girl crazy. Worse yet, her husband had suddenly been called away to work. It’s like the whole house felt suddenly different with him not here. Josif took forever to get to sleep because he wouldn’t stop pitching a fit. The girls had also been a little ornery about bedtime because they suddenly decided that they didn’t want to go to school. Josie was just too tired to deal with any of it and had been forced to put her foot down so that everyone had to get into bed and go to sleep.

              “Come on, baby girl,” she crooned to her little girl. Not even the pacifier worked and that was like an ace in the hole usually. “We’ve got to go to sleep or you’re going to be really cranky in the morning.” Naturally, her little girl just wouldn’t listen.

              Finally, Josie laid the baby on the bed and pretty much let her cry it out while she tried tapping against her chest. Maybe they had some baby oralgel in the medicine cabinet. She did remember asking Žarko to stop at the store for her.

              She ran quickly to their bathroom, but couldn’t find anything that would possibly soothe her daughter’s crankiness. She tried not to cry herself, even as she returned to the bedroom and flopped down on Žarko’s side of the bed. Her head hit something hard beneath the pillow. She reached her hand beneath and felt something she never would have thought she would in the safety of her own home.

              She shot up from the spot, picking her daughter up on the way down to the kitchen. At the very least, she supposed that the others could get some sleep. She planned to wait up for her husband, because she could never sleep, knowing that there was a gun so close to her. Baby Juljiana finally fell asleep sometime after two a.m., but Josie stayed wide awake, her mind racing.

              The front door opened sometime around three in the morning. Josie’s eyes popped open. Her husband stood in the open door way, dark eyes staring at her. “What is going on?” he asked, before noticing the baby in her arms.

              “There’s a gun under your pillow,” Josie blurted out, not giving him a chance to come forward. “Why do you have a gun?”

              He didn’t say anything for a long time. Instead, he closed the door behind him and began the process of taking off his coat and other winter gear. “How are you finding gun?” He took the baby from her arms on his way back up the stairs. Josie followed close behind him, not for a moment allowing him to get away from her.

              “Does it matter how I found it? Why is it in my bedroom?”

              Žarko continued to say nothing as he laid the baby in her bed. Then, he pulled her with him to their own room, where he removed the gun from under his pillow and reached under the bed to do something that she couldn’t see. She could only assume that he put the gun somewhere because he didn’t have it when he stood again. “Gun is allowed in our room, if it is helping me to keep my family safe. I did not mean for you to find the gun.”