by Woods, Karen
“No. It wasn’t. You sound like you’re thinking of doing something else with your life now,” Geri observed.
Brad said, “I’m kicking around the idea of asking the Navy to let me go back to active duty.”
Geri sipped her tea and nodded. “You always liked the Navy life.”
“Not always,” Brad replied. “But largely. I need to do something different now, be somewhere else. It’s either go back to the Navy or take an advanced degree in Law and think about teaching.”
“I’ll miss you,” Geri said. “But you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes, places can be just too hard to stay in.”
“I haven’t done anything yet about this,” Brad said. “I still have a pretty heavy caseload. If I do anything, it will have to be after I wind up my existing cases.”
“You have to do what you have to do, Bradford,” Geri said. “I want you to be happy. It’s been so long since you’ve had joy in your life.”
“I’m not sure I’d recognize joy if it crawled up and bit me on the ankle,” Brad replied.
Josh laughed and took Geri’s hand. “Oh, yes you would. It sneaks up on you. One day you’ll turn around and realize it’s closer than you thought, that all you do is have to reach out and take it.”
Jenny asked, “And when will you get around to having your marriage blessed, Geri?”
“When all this is over, and we can do it right, with all our friends and relatives gathered around,” Geri replied. “Until then, there are too many people who could become collateral damage. We’ve already seen this group has no compunction about using explosives and hurting the innocent. I won’t put people I care about unnecessarily at risk.”
Padre Small nodded. “That’s probably wise. Now, Jenny and I will leave you to handle family matters. Do you want me to bring mass to you on Sunday?”
“That would probably be for the best.”
“Then,” Brad offered, “I’ll be here, too.”
After her clergyman and his wife had left, Brad asked Josh, “Now, you tell me what you are going to do for yourselves. How are you going to keep Geri alive?”
“Starting tonight, we’re going back into public. There’s been enough gossip. It’s time to show our faces in public again. Lure him into a false sense of ease, so maybe he’ll try to take action and we can stop him once and for all,” Geri replied.
“That’s a dangerous game, Gee,” Brad warned.
“Tell me about it. But, I won’t go through life afraid of my own shadow,” Geri replied. “I’ve spent enough time being afraid. I won’t spend the rest of my life this way.”
Brad asked, “Speaking of shadows, where’s your friendly neighborhood spook today?”
“Out taking care of business,” Josh replied.
“Seems a good place for him,” Brad said.
“Lord bless and keep John Spiderelli… Far away from us,” Geri offered.
Josh looked at his wife. “I understand why you feel that way, but I owe him.”
“If you do, then I do,” Geri said.
“You said, starting tonight. What are you doing tonight?” Brad asked.
“Black tie charity dinner,” Geri replied.
“Doing better by doing good,” Brad observed.
“It’s the way the game is played,” Josh said.
“Don’t I know it,” Brad stated. “Don’t take any chances.”
“We intend to stay safe,” Geri answered.
“I still think it’s rather stupid to be going out,” Brad said. “But, I know you well enough to know that you are going to do what you think is best, regardless of what anyone else thinks.”
“Have I ever done anything else?” she asked.
“No. You haven’t. Well, I’ll be going,” Brad said.
“You are welcome to stay as long as you want to,” Josh offered.
“I’d rather drive for a while, try to clear my head.”
“Be really careful, Brad,” Geri urged.
“Delgado doesn’t want me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I think he’ll use anyone and anything possible to put pressure on me,” Geri said. “Be careful. He once used me to hurt you, and now, he would use you to get to me.”
Brad nodded. “You might be right. Given how they took Allie, you may be quite right at that.”
“I don’t want to see you hurt,” Geri said.
“That doesn’t rank high on my list of preferred actions either. I’ll see you later. I’m supposed to be in court at three for a hearing.”
“You didn’t reschedule that? I’m sure the judge would have understood,” Geri asked.
“I’m sure he would have. But I need to be working.”
Geri nodded. “I understand that. So, take some of my bodyguards with you. Just to be on the safe side.”
Josh looked at his wife after her cousin had left. “You look tired.”
“I am. I think I’ll take a nap before I have to start getting ready for the evening.”
“Want some company?”
Geri smiled at him. “We’ll neither one get any rest that way, husband.”
“There’s more than one way of being refreshed.”
* * *
He looked at his wife as she lay sleeping in his arms. He lightly kissed her forehead and slowly moved away from her so not to wake her. She needed that nap.
“Josh?” she asked, suddenly fully awake.
“Rest, sweetheart. I’m going to get a shower.”
“I need to start the beauty treatments, if I’m going to turn heads tonight.”
“Honey, you turn heads anyway.”
She laughed and dismissed, “Right.”
“You could have had any man you wanted, Geri.”
“The only man I’ve ever wanted was you.”
He pulled her close to him and held her tightly.
A bit of hope withered. What would it have cost him to say, “I love you”? Then she dismissed that thought. She didn’t want Josh to ever lie to her. Not even a white lie like giving her the words she so desperately wanted to hear.
“Go get your shower,” she urged. “I’ll be in after I tape plastic over the stitches, so that they can be kept dry while I’m cleaning up.”
“Does it still hurt?” he asked as he released her.
“Throbs a bit.”
Josh looked at his wife. “Is that all?”
“I won’t complain about this,” she said. “I got off easily. I know that.”
“That’s the problem, honey, you never complain about anything!”
Geri laughed. “Oh, Josh, you are priceless. Some men get upset because all their wives do is to complain.”
Josh smiled at her. “You know how beautiful you are?”
Geri couldn’t help the blush. “I’m glad you think so. Now, go hit the shower. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
* * *
“Do you know how much I love touching you?” Josh asked as he rubbed soap suds over her back.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“You are so beautiful. There are times that I wonder what you see in an old man like me.”
“False humility doesn’t suit you, husband,” she warned, turning to rinse the soap off.
“How can I want you again, so soon?”
“You ask too many questions. Don’t analyze it to death. Just enjoy it,” she said as she rinsed off and shut off the sprays of water.
Josh smiled softly as he grabbed a towel and handed it to her. “I’m going to let you get ready for the evening. When we get back home, then we’ll do something about the desire.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, husband,” she warned as Josh wrapped a towel around his waist.
“Good. I expect you to. But don’t expect me to keep my hands off of you in public. I don’t think I can manage that.”
“If you could keep your hands off me when we’ve not even been married for a week, I’d be really concerned. The feeling is quite mu
tual, in case you haven’t noticed,” Geri replied as she wrapped the towel around her like a sarong.
Josh smiled slightly at her. “Sweetheart, people talk about any old man who marries a woman almost twenty years younger than himself, and they are going to wonder at the woman, what are her motives. We can’t change that. It’s the way people are. People are going to be looking at us, speculating, and gossiping. Nothing we do is going to change that in the short run. You’ve had a taste of that with the reactions of the people at work. Tonight is apt to be much more pronounced.”
Geri sighed. “I can’t change it, so I won’t worry about it.”
Josh stroked her face. “Good. Now, go get ready. And wear your hair down, for a change.”
“That will take longer, because I’ll have to fuss with it.”
“Then it takes longer. We have time.”
The car pulled up to the hotel where the dinner dance was being held.
Josh looked at his wife. “Are you sure that you want to do this?”
“We have to take our lives back, Josh.”
Josh smiled at her. “You are the bravest and most beautiful woman I have ever known.”
“I’m not that brave. And I’m not particularly beautiful.”
Josh shook his head negatively. “You most certainly are brave and beautiful.”
“Well, husband,” she said with a sigh. “Shall we go on in?”
The party was much like any number of other black tie fund raisers that she had attended over the years. Waitresses in black uniforms and white aprons passed trays of champagne and canapes. People milled about, doing business and spreading gossip in equal proportions.
There was a moment of silence fall over the room as Josh and Geri walked in. But, then discussions picked back up.
Josh and Geri split up and began working the room, talking with the people that they needed to talk to on business, calming rumors about the happenings of the last week.
They were seated for dinner at the same table with one of the US Senators from the Texas and a couple of state legislators, with their spouses. Dinner passed quickly, with much conversation, a fair amount of business lobbying, and quite a bit of laughter.
The plates were being cleared away after the main course, preparing for dessert to be served. Waiters circulated through the room, carrying trays. Geri excused herself to go to the ladies room.
Two of the bodyguards went down the hall after her and stood guard outside.
When Geri opened the door again, both men were slumped onto the floor. Geri didn’t know if they were alive or dead, but her money was on dead. She closed the door and stepped back into the room. She drew her pistol from her evening bag, made certain there was a round in the chamber and that the safety was off.
“Come along with me, quickly, Geri, if you want to live,” a female voice said from behind her.
She turned to face the speaker. It was the head of the bodyguard firm, Kathy.
“Delgado is here,” Geri said, not asked.
“He was spotted. We’re getting you out of here. You aren’t any match for him. Come.”
Geri saw a male figure step up behind Kathy. He grabbed Kathy’s head and twisted it sharply, breaking her neck in a sick crunch. The bodyguard’s lifeless body dropped to the floor.
He held a large caliper semi-automatic pistol fitted with a suppressor in his right hand. He’d taken time to disguise himself. But she would have still known him anywhere even though he was now bald with a full salt and pepper beard and mustache. He wore colored contacts making his eyes blue/green instead of the brown they once had been. Yet, she had never forgotten his voice.
He laughed. “My, my, Gerianne, you have grown up. You still lack the courage to pull that trigger and watch me die. You didn’t have the balls to shoot Albert. And you don’t have the balls, now, to shoot me. So, put down the pistol, and we’ll go somewhere and have a happy little reunion. If you’re nice to me, I might kill you quickly when we’re done. Otherwise, I just might take my sweet time extracting the information from you.”
She pulled the trigger on her pistol, hitting him right between the eyes. As he fell, she fired another shot aiming for his heart, just to be sure.
Josh came through one door with his pistol in hand. Spider came through the other.
Spider looked at Kathy’s lifeless form. “Delgado?”
“He won’t ever hurt anyone else.”
“Obviously,” Spider remarked.
“I had to stop him. My life was in danger,” Geri said as she removed the clip and cleared the chamber of the pistol. She put her pistol on safety before dropping it, the clip and the single round into her evening bag.
“No one would doubt that it was self-defense. We’ll handle this,” Josh told her as he took her into his arms.
Geri stood there for a long moment, luxuriating in the safety of his arms.
“Come on, wife,” Josh urged. “Let me take you home.”
“I shouldn’t leave until I give the police my statement,” Geri said.
“At least, let’s get out of this room,” Josh urged her. “I’ll get you a stiff drink.”
“Don’t feel guilty about this. He’s not worth even one nightmare,” Spider said. “If you hadn’t killed him, I would have. His death was the only way this could end.”
“Not the only way, just the preferable one,” she acknowledged, fighting back the bout of nervous laughter she felt building. “How many times can one woman kill a man? This makes twice I’ve killed that man in self-defense. Think he’ll stay dead this time?”
“It’s time for us to go. You’re trembling now. The adrenaline rush is wearing off. I want you out of here before you fall down. The authorities can find us if they need to find us.”
“There will be no need for any further involvement of the authorities. My crew will do damage control here,” Spider said.
Geri looked at her hands. She was shaking. She hadn’t even realized that until this moment. “I think you’re right, husband.”
* * *
Geri sat, in silence, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees, until they were half way back to the ranch. “Well, the danger is over,” she said.
“Looks that way,” Josh said with a sigh.
“I know you married me to protect me,” she said. “The danger is over, now. If you want a divorce, I won’t contest it. That reason for our marriage no longer exists.”
“It wasn’t a reason. It was an excuse,” Josh stated in an all too controlled voice.
“You’ve never needed an excuse for anything you wanted to do,” she dismissed.
“Everyone needs excuses,” Josh dismissed. “Even you.”
“Probably,” she admitted.
“Have you been happy with me?”
Geri smiled. “I love you, Josh.”
“That’s why you’ve cried yourself to sleep on more than one night,” Josh countered, his voice bitter.
“Oddly enough, it is,” she answered.
“I don’t understand. Why are you asking for a divorce?”
“I’m not asking. I’m offering you a way out, Josh, if you no longer wish to be bound to me.”
“I vowed to love you, comfort you, cherish you, honor you, protect and keep you, for as long as we both shall live. Do you think I would have said those words lightly?”
Geri sighed. “Well, five out of six isn’t a bad record, Josh.”
“How have I failed you?”
Geri shook her head negatively. “You haven’t.”
“Come here, Geri, sweetheart,” Josh said. “Talk to me. There’s something going on here I just don’t understand.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, but did not move to him.
“You’re hurting. I want to know how I’ve hurt you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she dismissed. “Just forget about it.”
“Come here.”
She unwrapped her arms from around
her legs and lowered her feet to the floor. Then, she unfastened the seat belt, and slid over into his waiting arms.
“I know I’ve failed to protect you adequately, Geri. I’m so sorry. I’ll do better in the future,” he said sadly as he fastened the seat belt about her.
“Josh, you’ve done all anyone could do in that regard. Don’t beat up on yourself.”
“Then if it isn’t a matter of protection, how have I broken my vows to you?” Josh demanded, trying to understand this.
“I didn’t say that you had.”
“You asked for a divorce. That means that I’ve broken a vow to you. Or that you feel betrayed in some way.”
“You haven’t done anything. I didn’t ask for a divorce.”
“You offered me a divorce. Did you hope that I’d take you up on that?”
“No. God, no!”
Her denial was so charged with emotion that Josh didn’t know what to make of it. He lightly kissed the top of her head. “I’m really trying to understand how I’ve failed you.”
“Josh, you’ve never failed me. It’s my problem, not yours. It’s not your fault I want more from you than you feel able to give me. I have to adjust my expectations to a reasonable level.”
“What do you want, Geri? Just tell me and it’s yours.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Okay, let’s go over this. I vowed to love, comfort, honor, cherish, protect, and be faithful. You say that I’ve protected you. I don’t think I have, but I’ll do better in the future. Trust me on that, sweetheart.”
“Josh, it’s not a matter of failing to trust you. The last few days should tell you more clearly than anything else that I do trust you.”
“Well, it’s something. Let’s review the terms of the vows and promises between us. Geri, do you think I’ve been unfaithful to you?”
“Hardly. It’s not in your nature to be untrue,” she dismissed. “And we both know you haven’t had the opportunity.”
“And I know that you haven’t been unfaithful to me.”
“Please, we don’t need to discuss this. Just let it drop. I’m sorry I said anything.”
“Haven’t I made you feel cherished and honored?”
“A woman could hardly ask to be more honored and cherished than the way you have treated me.”