Native Affairs (60 page)
Authors: Doreen Owens Malek
“I take it that was Dolores,” Lee said.
“Yes.”
“Calling to warn you of the impending arrival of the rampaging savage,” he added.
Jennifer said nothing.
“Oh, well, I’m glad to see she survived her last encounter with me. She was looking strangely pale when I left; I fear I’ve lost a fan.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the wall. “What is that? German?”
“The Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English. It looks and sounds like German. Old English does, too, only more so.”
He nodded, watching her. “I wondered why it seemed familiar.”
Jennifer met his eyes, asking herself why she was babbling about Chaucer when she wanted to fling herself on Lee and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe. But he mustn’t know that. She crossed her arms on her stomach, concealing it from his sharp eyes.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Don’t beat around the bush, Jennifer,” he said sarcastically. “Come directly to the point.”
She waited, unmoving.
Lee propped one foot, encased in a leather topsider, on an overturned box and leaned forward with his arms folded on his upraised knee. “I’ve been accepted to medical school. I’m retiring from football and starting at Temple University in the fall.”
Jennifer felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. He had done it He had really done it Her throat closed with emotion.
“That’s wonderful, Lee,” she managed to get out “Congratulations.”
His black eyes bored into hers. “You’re responsible, you know. You convinced me to try. Without your encouragement, I never would have had the nerve.”
Jennifer turned away, biting her lip hard to hold back the tears. “Nonsense,” she said in an approximation of a normal tone. “You would have come to the same realization of what you wanted sooner or later; I just brought it into the open faster, that’s all.”
There was no reply from the man behind her. “Is that what you came to tell me?” she asked, coughing slightly to disguise the hoarseness of her voice. That couldn’t be all. He had bludgeoned Dolores, tracked her down like Sherlock Holmes, and flown thousands of miles to deliver this message? He could have telephoned or written. She was puzzled.
“Well, yes…” he said, sounding confused. Then she was suddenly seized by the shoulders and hauled around to face him.
“Goddamnit,” he said between gritted teeth, “why do I always allow you to do this to me? That wasn’t what I came to say at all.” He stared down at her, his stark features filled with emotion.
“Why did you leave your job with the Freedom?” he demanded.
“I wanted a change of scenery, warmer weather,” Jennifer said evasively. “What business is it of yours?”
“I’ll tell you what business of mine it is,” Lee said grimly. “I think you left because of me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Jennifer said, trying to shrug free of his viselike grip.
“I think you wanted to be gone before I reported back to camp next fall. You didn’t know I would be starting school, and you resigned so as not to see me again,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“You think I would give up a job I worked years to get just to avoid a few uncomfortable moments with you?” she said scornfully. “I’ve heard of giant egos, but yours must be the size of an airplane hangar.”
“That’s not the reason,” he said calmly, holding her fast despite her fruitless efforts to wriggle free. “You gave up the job because you’re in love with me and you couldn’t stand to be around me and not have me.”
Jennifer stared at him, dumbfounded.
His beautiful eyes became lambent and full of feeling. “At least, I hope so, because I came here to tell you I love you and want to take you back with me.
The silence was deafening.
“I said I love you,” Lee repeated. “Do you love me?” It was issued like a challenge.
No response.
Lee shook her gently. “Aren’t you speaking English today?”
Jennifer burst into tears.
Lee sighed and released her. “Look, something is wrong here. When I say I love you, you’re supposed to say ‘I love you, too’ and smother me in an ardent embrace.”
Jennifer sat on an orange crate and bawled.
“Oh, fine,” Lee said, throwing up his hands. “What am I supposed to derive from this?”
When she continued to cry, he sat down next to her and waited for the storm to pass, surveying her with an expression of mixed exasperation and tenderness. As she subsided to an occasional sniffle, he said, “Does that mean you love me, or not?”
Jennifer wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Of course I love you, you jackass.”
She didn’t see his long, deep, silent sigh of relief. In a voice that was not quite steady he said, “I see. Don’t you think it would be more appropriate to say, ‘Of course I love you, my darling’? You jackass’ hardly seems the proper form of address.”
She looked up at him from under long, spiky lashes matted with tears. “Are you going to pick a fight about that, now? Besides, anybody else but you would have realized it long before this.” She hiccuped.
His eyes widened. “Oh, is that so?”
Jennifer took the bandanna off her head and mopped her cheeks with it. “Yes, that’s so.”
He took the kerchief from her and finished the job. “Perhaps you’ll be kind enough to tell me how I was supposed to detect your mad passion for me when you were throwing me out of your apartment This was followed, as I recall, by your packing up and moving 1,300 miles away without even a goodbye. I emerged from the hospital to find that you had vanished.”
“After you convinced me there was no future for us.”
Lee dropped his eyes. “Forgive me, Jen. I was wrong. I had a lot of time to think while I was laid up, to reevaluate everything. I guess the scare made me realize what really mattered to me.” He paused. “Joe and Dawn told me how you came to the hospital.” He looked up again. “Nothing is as important as you and me, and our love.”
“Are you sure, Lee? I know what your roots mean to you.”
“I’m sure. I guess I finally see that having you doesn’t mean that I have to give them up. Don’t you think we can work it out?”
“I haven’t been able to think since I opened that door and saw you.”
He knelt before her and took her tenderly in his arms. She sought his mouth blindly with hers.
A long while later he said, “There won’t be as much money, with me in school, but I’ve saved quite a bit, and the condo and the car are free and clear. We can live in the condo after we’re married, if you like, it’s only forty minutes to the school from there, and I’m sure Harry will take you back at the Freedom, that is, if you want to work . ..” He hesitated. “And I’d like you to think about going back to Montana with me after I finish school. It’ll be our decision, of course, but please say you’ll consider it.”
Jennifer smiled. “Could they use another lawyer in Cawassa, Montana?”
Lee hugged her tighter. “In Cawassa, Montana, they could use another everything.” He drew back to look at her. Something was wrong. “Jennifer, what is it?”
“Nothing.”
But he knew. “The hell with your ex-husband, may he crash and burn and dwell in Hades forever.” He turned her to face him. “I’m not him, honey. Just because your first marriage was a disaster, doesn’t mean ours will be.” He pressed her face against his shoulder. “Indians are loyal, don’t you know that? Loyal, brave, thrifty, clean, and reverent.”
“I think you’re talking about the Boy Scouts,” Jennifer mumbled into his sweater.
“Same thing,” he said above her head. “Indians, Scouts, Indian scouts. I can see that you were never a fan of ‘Wagon Train.’”
She clutched him tighter, wanting desperately to believe. “Lee, I hope you’ve thought this out It’s a lot to handle, medical school, a new wife and...” She almost said baby, but caught herself in time.
“As long as you’re with me, I can handle anything.”
He picked her up and stretched her gently on the floor amidst the chaos, dropping next to her and cradling her in his arms, his hands roaming her body. Jennifer held her breath as he touched her rounded belly.
He chuckled. “We’d better put you on a diet, paleface. I think you’re gaining weight” Then he seemed to freeze for a moment, recovering to sit up quickly and examine her more closely, lifting her shirt to take in the stretch bra and the elastic waist of her pants. She saw the realization dawn on his face.
“It’s mine,” he said wonderingly.
Jennifer punched him. “Baboon. Who else could it belong to?”
He hugged her to him fiercely, saying in a strangled voice, “You’d better stop calling me names, paleface, or I might forget that you’re supposed to be crazy about me.” He set her down again and slid along the floor to press his cheek against her belly, his eyes closing luxuriously. Jennifer caressed his soft hair, holding his head, too full to speak.
“When?” he asked hoarsely.
“May.”
He smiled. “That first time. I knew it, I felt it, even then.”
Jennifer was amused. “Oh, really?”
Color seeped into his face. “I meant, I knew we had…set some force in motion. About this…well, I guess I thought you would take care of it.”
Typical male, Jennifer thought “Wrong again, Beaufort.”
“Oh.”
She sat up. “You know, that’s really an insult Assuming that I would just be prepared under any circumstances. I was living alone when I met you, and I wasn’t exactly entertaining the Eighth Army on a regular basis. And our first encounter was, uh, rather spontaneous, if you recall.”
“I recall. Spontaneous as in combustion. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.”
“Thanks a lot.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Don’t be dense, counselor. You know what I mean.” He smiled and sang softly, “‘What a lady, what a night.’”
Now it was Jennifer’s turn to blush.
He laughed. “Don’t be embarrassed, little mother. I’m looking forward to many more of the same.” He cupped her chin in both of his hands and looked into her eyes. “I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me.”
Jennifer shook her head. “I didn’t want to get you that way.”
He looked away. “But you didn’t have to go through with it You could have—”
“No,” Jennifer interrupted him, not letting him finish the thought. “I love you, Lee. I wanted your baby. If I couldn’t have you, then I wanted something of yours to keep.”
He turned aside, blinking rapidly and brushing his eyes with the back of his arm. “That settles it,” he said firmly. “We’re getting married in ten minutes.”
Jennifer giggled. “I don’t think so, Lee. There are licenses, and blood tests, and things.”
“Well, then, as soon as possible.” He drew her to him swiftly. “And in the meantime,” he murmured, unbuttoning her overblouse, “we’ll have to think of something to do.”
“Any ideas?” Jennifer said, sliding her hands under his sweater.
“I’ve got a few,” he said thickly, and then stopped. “Is it all right? I mean, is it safe?”
Jennifer smiled indulgently and pressed into him, feeling his quick response. “Unless you plan on bursting into flames, or otherwise becoming a health hazard, it will be ‘safe’ for some time yet.”
“Exactly what I wanted to hear,” he said, taking off the rest of his clothes. “I don’t suppose there would be such a thing as a bed?”
“I’m afraid not It’s in pieces in one of those boxes.”
“Then we’ll rough it,” he responded, spreading his garments on the floor and pulling Jennifer down with him. “A man whose ancestors made do with packed dirt ought to be able to handle it,” he added, nuzzling her. “God, you smell wonderful.”
“You must be in love,” Jennifer answered. “After the work I did today, I probably smell like the Freedom’s locker room after a game.”
“You know what?” he said, his words muffled by her flesh.
“What?” she groaned, arching under the touch of his lips.
“You talk too much.”
And that was the end of the conversation.
– THE END –
MARRIAGE IN NAME ONLY
Doreen Owens Malek
Published by
Gypsy Autumn Publications
P.O. Box 383 • Yardley, PA I9067
Copyright 1995 and 2012
by Doreen Owens Malek
The Author asserts the moral right to
be identified as author of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this book, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, scanning or any information storage retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from the author or Publisher.
First USA Printing: 1995