The Woman He Married (19 page)

* * * *

Patrick kept the story moving.
“So.
How’d you two meet, then?”

“Well, the Judge seemed happy enough that Jocelyn was coming home and said she didn’t have many friends around anymore. He asked if I would take her out to the club and introduce her—make her feel comfortable again.”

“The old man totally set you up,” Andy put in.

“It’s not like I didn’t know what he was doing,” John said and then stopped. “Since our daddy took off when we were young, the Judge was almost like a father to me. I couldn’t exactly tell him no, and besides, what’s the harm in spending a night out with his daughter. I decided we probably wouldn’t get on anyway, and I could suffer through one date.” John shrugged. “So he asked me to drop by his house and pick up something he left. Jocelyn would be there, and I could ask her then.” He shook his head. “Simple enough, right?”

* * * *

“One morning Daddy called and said John was coming over to pick up something for him. It was on the piano in the front room, and he said I should be
courteous
.” Josie chuckled, remembering how ridiculous it all was. “I wasn’t really interested in meeting Daddy’s stuffy old clerk, or so I assumed he was. I’d already decided to torture him to the full extent of my abilities.”

“What did you intend on doing to him?” Barbara asked with a chuckle.

“Well, Momma let him in and then called to me. I mean it was
so
staged I could hardly keep a straight face.” Josie rolled her eyes. “So, I come skipping down the stairs and…” She took a breath, remembering. “I just stopped dead in my tracks on the bottom step. He was
so
gorgeous that I could barely believe my eyes.” Josie whistled through her teeth. “But I decided I was
still
going to give him a hard time. After all, my daddy loved him more than he did me—talking about how perfect John was all the time.”

“I’m sure your daddy loved you,” Barbara said.

“Well, I wish I could be so sure…”

* * * *

“So, I get there and Carol lets me in, says ‘good luck,’ calls Jocelyn, and then leaves, looking like she didn’t expect to ever see me again.”

Patrick looked perplexed. “That’s weird.”

“Man, I tell you what…” John shook his head, smiling wryly. “Jocelyn was something else bounding down the stairs—wearing these low jeans with holes in the knees, bare feet, and this short, black tank top, no bra. And I can see she had this tattoo right here on her hip.” John motioned down to his hip. “Not exactly the kind of girl you bring home to Momma, you know what I’m saying?”

“Jocelyn has a tattoo?” Andy asked, with sudden interest.

“Yeah, she has a few of them,” John said, remembering how he panicked slightly, realizing that one date with the Judge’s daughter wasn’t going to be as uneventful as he’d originally thought.

Patrick adjusted his horned rim glasses.
“Really, where?”

“Never mind,” John said, cutting the conversation off.

* * * *

“So, I pull myself together. He’s the enemy after all, and I still have to torment him. But it just might be more fun now than I’d originally thought.” Josie smiled deviously. “So, I grab the envelope that my daddy left, and I walk right up to him…” She pursed her lips. “I looked into his eyes and almost lost it right there.”

“Really?
Did he know that you were smitten?” Barbara sounded almost giddy.

“Don’t know. He stuttered some nonsense about going out that night. I was so infatuated, I couldn’t even speak.”

* * * *

“She walks right up to me and looks me in the eye. Now that I’m not distracted by the tattoo and…um…no bra…” John stopped, felt a smile tease his lips. “I notice that she’s not too bad looking either, you know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, Jocelyn’s one damn fine-looking woman,” Patrick said with a nod.

John glared at Patrick. “You do realize we’re talking about my wife?”

Patrick shrugged.

Yes, Jocelyn
is
beautiful
, John mused. Although it had been a while since he’d looked at her that way, he hadn’t realized other men were noticing.

“Anyway, I stammer something. I don’t even know what I said. And then she just walks over to the door and holds it open for me to leave.” Shaking his head, John said, “So I just start walking, and as I pass, she shoves the envelope in my hand, and says, ‘Pick me up at seven.’ By the time I turn around she’s shut the door already.”

The Yankee golfers had moved on, but Patrick didn’t make a move to start playing. “So?”

“So, the Judge said that I could drive his car—Mercedes 450sl—and I go back at seven.”
With a little more enthusiasm this time
, he thought.

* * * *

“I’m dressed
kinda
proper for the club, you know, but I had other plans.” Josie bounced her eyebrows deceitfully.

Barbara giggled.
“Oh,
Lordy
!
I’m afraid to ask.”

“I take him out to this Blues club over on the other side of
Birmingham
that Brian and I always go to when we’re in town.” Josie put her head back and laughed. “He looked so nervous and out of place in his khaki pants and navy blazer. At least he took off that stupid tie.”

* * * *

“We walk out to the car, and Jocelyn snatches the keys from me. She says, ‘I’m driving.’ So I get in and she’s outside of the car taking her clothes off.”

Patrick and Andy snickered in disbelief. “What?” they both said.

“She’s got this short skirt on underneath and this leather camisole thing—very sexy.” John raised his brows for emphasis.

“She starts driving like a bat out-of-hell. I see that we aren’t heading for the club and she says…” John laughed, “
‘You
didn’t think that I was going to let you take me to that stuffy old club, did you?’ She took me over to the west side of town to this dive bar. I am practically the
only
white guy in there. The only one in a blazer and tie for sure.”

Andy gave his brother a quizzical look. “You’ve never told me this part.”

John lifted a shoulder and continued, “And Jocelyn, well she’s just enjoying this a little too much, so I decide that I’m not going to let her get the better of me. So I march right up to the bar and start up a conversation.”

* * * *

“Yeah, well, my plan didn’t work out that great because
John—
being the charismatic man that he is, goes to get us some beers and ends up making friends with all the guys at the bar,” Josie said.

“I can see that. John can be very charming,” Barbara said with a smile.

“Well, when he came back I called a truce and we spent the rest of the time talking.” Josie paused for a moment, biting her lip longingly. “But not just talking. I mean, we debated about politics and the law. It was fun, you know.”

Barbara frowned. “No. I’m afraid I don’t.” Shaking her head, she added, “Young people.”

“Anyway, we stayed pretty late and got a bit drunk.” Josie gave Barbara a
what-do-you-expect-it’s-
me
look. “When they were closing the place down, John asked the band to play one more song: “You’ve got a Friend.” And that’s when it happened—when I fell madly for him.” She exhaled a long sigh. “I never should have let him kiss me.”

* * * *

“Jocelyn was something else. She could debate like no woman—or man for that matter—I’d ever met. She was challenging.
Stimulating.”

“Stimulating?” Andy said with a wink.

“Anyway, she was sort of drawing me in, but it was time to go. The bar was closing, so I asked the band to play one more song: “You’ve
Got
a Friend
.”
 
They said it was the only ‘white people’ song they knew.” John paused to wipe the perspiration from the back of his neck and thought about how to explain the rest. Josie was smart, sexy, and just dangerous enough to captivate. “Anyway, I’d been drinking too much, and she was alluring. Like one of those sirens from a Greek myth or something. I never should have kissed her.”

* * * *

“Two weeks later we were engaged, then married by the end of the summer. Daddy made sure John got his dream job. I managed to finish law school, but then Jack was born, and John wanted me home.” Josie shrugged with regret. “I just sort of fell into this domestic life. And now John’s living his dream, and I’m…not.”

Barbara reached over to pat Josie’s arm. “Ah, honey, it’s not that bad.”

“My daddy was sure happy, though.” Josie smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

* * * *

“Because there was no going back after that, we went back to my place and well…to make a long story short, neither one of us got any sleep that night.” John stopped, remembering how he lost himself in her hazel eyes, the smell and feel of her skin against his. How she opened herself to him without inhibition. The sex that night was easy—hypnotic—he felt like he could never get enough of her.

“So.
How did you go from a one-night stand to marriage?” Patrick asked.

“The next morning I went
draggin
’ into work, hung over and looking like I’d been up all night, and well, you know… The Judge took one look at me, and I knew.”

“Knew what?” Patrick asked while Andy shook his head.

“That I’d better make an honest woman out of Jocelyn or my career was over,” John said. But inside he knew he didn’t marry Josie simply to further his career. After one night with her, no other woman would ever do. “We got married that summer. I got my job at the firm and made partner a couple of years after that. That’s about it.”

“And, Trisha?”
Patrick asked.

John threw him another glare. “What about Trisha?”

Andy scoffed. “Trisha never would have married John since he wasn’t from the ‘right side of the tracks.’ Her daddy threatened to cut her off if she even thought about marrying him.” He took another practice swing. “And, you know Trisha. She loves money and power more than anything, or
anybody
.”

Irritated now, John remembered how humiliated he’d felt when Trisha refused to consider marriage. But Josie had come along at the right time and he’d never looked back, until recently. “Come on,” he said, climbing into the cart. “That’s enough talk. Let’s play golf.”

Throughout the rest of the game John wondered how his marriage to Josie, one that had started out so promising, had taken such a serious turn for the worse.

He finished a disappointing twenty-three over par.

* * * *

Josie and Barbara fell quiet as the spa workers removed the mud from their faces with warm moist towels.

When the workers had moved away, Josie said, “Momma thinks I should leave him.”

“What? John?” Barbara’s mouth fell open. “I know John’s not an easy man. He holds himself and everyone around him to such high standards, but…” Then eyeing Josie carefully, she asked in a calm voice, “What do
you
think?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know
what
I want.” Tears stung the corners of Josie’s eyes. “It’s like who I am just disappeared.
Along with my dreams.
I’m tired of trying to be someone I’m not.”

“Dreams don’t disappear, honey, as long as you keep them alive. You’ve got to be strong.” Barbara made a fist with her chubby hand and smiled encouragingly.