He slipped a tie around his neck, tied his shoes, and headed back downstairs. No sign of Maxine in the living room meant that she either left – not likely – or was still in the kitchen. He pushed open the door with his shoulder while he tied his tie, and immediately smelled the rich brew of her coffee. For some reason, the smell soothed him. He found her at the kitchen table writing in a notebook, the snowy back yard at her back, a steaming cup of coffee at her elbow.
“I have a meeting with Tony in a few minutes,” he said, retrieving his phone and keys from the countertop.
Maxine smiled. “You might want to talk to him. About us, I mean.”
Barry sighed. “Have you talked to Tony about this?”
She smiled and shrugged. “No, but Robin knows we’re married, so count on Tony knowing it too.”
“Great.” The knot complete, he tightened his tie and buttoned his jacket. “That’s just great.”
“It all had to come out, eventually.” She rose from the table and approached him. He simultaneously wanted to run away and pull her close to him. So he did neither. She put a hand on either shoulder and stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you tonight. Please give me a call and let me know what time to expect you so that I can plan dinner accordingly.”
She turned her back on him and went back to her list. Barry stared at her for a few seconds before leaving the kitchen and wondering, again, how he’d lost control of this situation.
WAITING in Tony’s outer office, Barry checked his watch a second time. So far, Tony had kept him cooling his heels for fifteen minutes. He could not remember the last time Tony had kept him waiting. Barry had a feeling that the meeting this morning was not going to be about zoning problems for a Christian school gymnasium project.
When the phone issued a soft electronic tone, Tony’s secretary, Margaret, nodded at Barry. He picked up his briefcase and walked through the double doors behind her desk.
Typically, at seven-thirty in the morning, Tony would have a breakfast spread laid out on his conference table. It would include such Barry-friendly items as yogurt, fresh fruit, his favorite brand of tea, perfectly brewed. And, typically, Tony would meet him at the door with a handshake and a “bro-hug” and the two would make their way over to the table as they chitchatted about life since last they saw each other.
Not this morning, though. This morning Tony sat behind his monstrous desk, signing papers. He gestured toward the chairs adjacent to him but did not speak, did not stand and offer his hand, and did not give any kind of verbal or nonverbal salutation.
As much as Barry knew this moment would eventually come, he would have much preferred it had been on his terms. He’d had time in the last few weeks to talk to Tony about it, so the fact that he was on Tony’s playing field was his own fault, but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. Since this would be a fight, though, he could certainly throw the first punch.
“Maxine moved in this morning.” He set his briefcase down at his feet as he loosened his tie and kicked back informally in the chair. “She’s at the house making lists as we speak.”
Tony’s hand stopped scribbling the pen. For a moment he sat completely frozen, then he tossed the pen aside and made eye contact with Barry. “We obviously have some catching up to do.”
Barry shrugged. “I’d intended to save her the embarrassment and seek a silent annulment. Things just didn’t happen that way.”
“You shrug?” Tony leaned forward and pointed at Barry. “You mistreat my sister this way and then shrug at me? As if it were nothing?” Barry could barely understand Tony between the suddenly thick Italian accent and rich South Boston dialects. Tony’s elocution abandoned him, and all of the years spent shedding the outward evidence of growing up on the streets vanished. In that glimpse Barry caught sight of a tough kid who would do whatever he needed to do in order to survive.
“Mistreat?” Despite knowing that on some level Tony’s antagonism had some merit, Barry felt the anger bubble up inside of him. “I have not, nor would I ever, mistreat Maxi.”
“You take her to Vegas on your little annual excursion, then you –”
Barry stood and slapped his hands on Tony’s desk. “Then. I. Married. Her.” He spoke each word as if it were a sentence of its own. “I didn’t seduce her. I didn’t take advantage of her. I asked her to marry me and she – willingly – said yes.”
Tony picked up his previous train as if he’d never stopped speaking. “And then you discard her and leave her brokenhearted and lost for weeks.”
Barry shook his head. “Is your problem with the getting married or the problem with the not intending to stay married?”
Tony leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with his hands. Barry slowly resumed his seat. Tony sighed, reached forward, and spun the pen that sat on his desk. “Maxine has been in love with you forever. I doubt she has fully realized it yet, but it’s what spurred her friendship with you; the late night Sunday football, the golf outings, the funeral getaway. I think those feelings for you are what kept her from really seeking out God. Because she knew that you were married and finding ways to spend time with you, however she could, was quite sinful. But now she’s come to Him. She has dedicated her life to Him, and is carving out a relationship with Him and it’s beautiful to see. Yet all of this…” Tony’s voice softened. “All of this is at a time when you have apparently turned your back on Him.”
Barry gave a small shake of his head, very confused about the conversation. “I’m not understanding what you’re upset about.”
“She isn’t strong enough in her faith yet to carry you both. If you can’t find a way back to God, you’re going to do nothing but hurt her in the end.”
Barry felt a tug on his heart at Tony’s words. However, he pushed it aside and stood. “My relationship with God is my own business. Maxine’s feelings for me are her business. My marriage to her is our business. I don’t need your counsel or your concern.”
Tony raised an eyebrow. “And what about your feelings for her?”
The tug on his heart became quite painful. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, how do you feel about her, Bartholomew? Do you like her? Do you get a kick out of hanging out with her? Or do you love her? Do you love her with every molecule in your body and every waking thought? Do you put her needs ahead of your own? Ask yourself, would you die for her?”
The verse from Ephesians raced into Barry’s memory, commanding husbands to love their wives even as Christ loved the church. It was a commandment without compromise, that husbands must love their wives sacrificially and more than their very own flesh. Emotion welled in Barry’s throat, effectively cutting off anything he might have wanted to say or even could have said. He felt rebuked and suddenly ashamed. Instead of answering any of his best friend’s questions, he glared at Tony, pivoted on his heel, and left the room, slamming the office door behind him.
CHAPTER 18
BARRY closed the file and moved it to the outbox on the corner of his desk. He turned to his laptop sitting on his credenza behind him and made a notation about a deposition on Monday next week, then wrote an instruction for Elizabeth on a sticky note. As he turned to stick it to the outside of the file, he saw Elizabeth standing in front of his desk. She normally knocked, and rarely interrupted his Monday post-lunch organizational time, so he frowned and slipped off his reading glasses.
“Yes, Elizabeth?”
Her lips thinned in apparent disapproval over something. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
With his focus on the file he’d just closed, he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about or why. “I don’t think so.”
“There’s a woman,” and she said the last two words as if they left a bad taste in her mouth, “on line four who claims that she is your wife.”
Barry blinked and felt the tips of his ears grow hot. “Oh, yeah. That.”
“Mmm hmm.” She held up her fingers. “Line four.”
&nb
sp; She stood there, obviously intending to listen to the way he answered the phone. Barry cleared his throat and picked it up. “Maxi.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened, then rolled up before she shook her head.
Maxine said, “Barry. Hi. I was just checking to see if you had any clear idea about what time you’ll be home tonight.”
He checked his watch. “Probably after six. Maybe pushing seven.”
“Wonderful. Thank you so much. I’ll see you then.”
Barry carefully set the phone back in the cradle and looked at Elizabeth. She had her arms crossed and tapped a finger on her arm. “When did you get married?”
He sat his chair up and straightened an already perfectly straight stack of papers on his desk. “Yeah. About that.”
While he searched for the words to say, she interrupted his thoughts. “I hate to say it, Mr. Anderson, but I mean, this seems kind of sudden. I hope that, you know, you know what you’re doing. Because you’ve been in a pretty vulnerable spot. Trust me, I’ve been there. And I’d hate to think that you are being taken advantage of by someone.”
Barry waved his hand in the air. “Stop. I appreciate your concern, but that’s not your business.”
Elizabeth froze mid-sentence. Without changing her facial expression even a fraction, she nodded her head exactly once and punctuated the gesture by answering with, “You’re right.” She pivoted on a heel and left his office without another word.
With a sigh, Barry stared at the closed door for several minutes before he picked up another file and opened it. For a while, he stared blankly at the page in front of him, then forced himself to focus and work on the task at hand.
MAXINE stood on the balcony of the second floor and looked down at the two men carrying the boxes of stereo equipment. “Just there, by the hearth, is fine,” she said.
As she turned to go back into the master bedroom, the room in which Jacqueline had obviously resided, her phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID as she hit the button to accept the call she said, “Hi Robin.”
“Hi. Just seeing how it went this morning.”
“About like I expected. He didn’t resist.”
“What do you think that means?”
She moved the phone away from her mouth and spoke to the two men working in the huge walk-in closet. “Just box everything up. I don’t want any of it.”
She turned her attention back to her sister. “I hope it means that he’ll fall madly in love with me and we’ll have a beautiful marriage. If that isn’t what it means, I’ll know that I tried, if nothing else.”
She could hear Robin sigh. “I hope you’re doing the right thing.”
Maxine grabbed the roll of packing tape and sealed the box of jewelry she had packed before the movers came. “I am doing what God told me to do. The rest is up to Barry.” She marked the box. “Listen, I have boxes of jewelry and furs - real furs. Any idea what I should do with them?”
“I don’t know. Did she have family?”
Maxine smiled. “I knew you were my sister for a reason. Brilliant girl. I’ll find out her parents’ address and get them delivered.”
“Glad I could help. I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ll talk to you later.”
The bedroom was about the size of Maxine’s living room. A small sitting area with two winged-back chairs facing a small round table sat next to a fireplace. Maxine ran her fingers over the table and thought a marble chess set would look perfect there. She went to the nightstand where she’d set her notebook and made some notes about decorating the mantle. A noise in the doorway broke her concentration and she looked up.
“We have boxes of clothes, ma’am,” the supervisor from the moving company said. “We just need you to tell us where to put them.”
Maxine huffed out a breath. “As soon as they’re done cleaning out this closet, I want you to put them in here.”
“When we’ve finished that, I think that will be all, ma’am, unless you had something else.”
She glanced at her watch. They’d made great time that morning. “That will be it for today. Thank you for doing such a great job on such a short notice.”
BARRY stood in the living room of his home – their home– the residence once central to the worst marriage on planet earth. Now he apparently shared that exact same domicile with another woman. A new wife.
The room glistened, sparkled, and smelled good. A new table stood by a different lamp. The couch sported brighter pillows and colorful throws. The intense stereo system sat unboxed next to the entertainment center. From the kitchen, the smell of roasted meat and baking bread warmed him and tempted him.
He set his briefcase near the stairs and moved through the room, letting the sound of thumping music lead him to the kitchen. Maxine stood at the sink, washing a large pot. He noticed the coffee pot almost right away and smiled for the first time that day. The red cloth covering the table warmed the snowscape beyond the windowed walls. Candles stood unlit and serving dishes sat covered, waiting.
While he felt comfort, warmth, and appreciation, nothing else stirred. He had shut his emotions off for so many years, he didn’t even know what he was capable of feeling, much less his actual emotions. He felt irreparably damaged inside and wondered if Jacqueline might have broken him. He couldn’t understand what Maxine saw in him, or why she intended to pursue this. He could certainly imagine loving her, if he understood the word. He had some affection for her and he really enjoyed her company, so he was willing to see what ended up coming of it.
“Hi.”
She spun around, soap suds flying from her hands. When she saw him, she smiled. “Hi. You startled me.”
He gestured at the radio on the counter. “The volume must have muffled my arrival.”
As she approached him, he steeled himself for her wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. He didn’t return the gesture of affection. But he did put his hands on her shoulders and smile down at her. “Smells good.”
“Do you want to eat now?”
“I’m good.” He looked at his watch. “I’m a little later than I said.”
She waved a hand at him dismissively. “The meal is one that isn’t time reliant. Roast beef is easy to keep warm. Go ahead and wash up and have a seat. I’m afraid the dining room is kind of a staging area for my stuff right now, so we’ll have to eat in the kitchen.”
“I’ve been eating standing beside the sink for years. It’ll be a treat to sit down for dinner.”
They chatted comfortably while they ate the amazing meal Maxine set out. After dinner, they washed the dishes together then went into the living room and enjoyed watching a basketball game. As the time passed, Barry grew more apprehensive about the coming end to the evening. Lending credence to his concerns, when the game ended Maxine rose and stood next to him, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I feel like there’s a big wall between us right now,” she said. He opened his mouth to speak, but really didn’t know what he intended to say. He didn’t have to worry about it for long, though, because she leaned her hip against the arm of the couch and leaned toward him, her arms slipping around his neck, her elbows resting on his shoulders. Were it not for the arm of the couch, she would be in his lap. “Shh. I know you feel all gallant and chivalrous. That’s fine. I’ve moved into the master bedroom, because that’s where we belong … together. But I also found your room, where you obviously lived before. I understand your hesitancy. I’m okay with it. Just know that when you are ready, I love you, and I want you to join me in our room.”
She framed his face with her hands. He closed his eyes and savored the feel for just a moment. The he opened them again in time to see her lower her head and brush his lips with hers. “Good night, Barry, my amazing husband.”
He watched her walk from the room, up the stairs, and listened for the sound of the master bedroom door shutting, a sound he had heard most of the nights during his married life with Jacqueline, but the sound never
came. After about twenty minutes, he rose and went up the stairs himself. As he reached the top landing, he saw the door standing wide open. Invitingly open. For the second time that day, a verse ran through his mind. “Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you.”
He put his hand on the doorknob to his room, but it took several long heartbeats before he turned the handle to let himself in, and it was much, much longer before sleep finally found him.
CHAPTER 19
MAXINE drew in the warm spring air in one long, deep breath. Oh, how she loved springtime. While she couldn’t possibly fool herself into thinking the warm weather that greeted her this first Saturday in March might stick around for even a few more weeks, she certainly intended to savor every single second of it while it lasted. The late morning sun warmed the skin of her arms beneath her short sleeved shirt. What a treat to wear a short sleeved shirt in March.
She carried a notebook filled with rough sketches. She used it to devise landscaping and planting ideas as she walked the perimeter of the property. As she plotted outdoor furniture, a patio kitchen with a grill, and dreamed of possibly inaugurating the first annual Anderson Fourth of July party, the back door opened and Barry joined her outside. With a grin, Maxine held out her arms and lifted her face. “Look!” she said, “The sun! It shines!”
Barry smiled in return. “About this time of year, I start doubting its return myself.”
He wore khaki pants and a collared golf shirt that accentuated the shape of his broad chest. She gestured at the keys in his hand. “Do you have to work today?”
“I do, some, but I can do it from here.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, ah, have a church budget committee meeting, though.”
Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Page 16
