by Woods, Karen
“What package?” David asked.
Josh sighed. “It wasn’t a bomb. The sheriff’s office called earlier.”
“Okay,” she said lowly, bracing herself for the worst. “What was it?”
Josh hesitated, then told her, “A live Coral Snake.”
“Red on yellow, kill a fellow,” Geri recited the poem about determining if a snake was a Coral or just the look alike. She fought back her revulsion. She hated snakes with a passion and Albert knew that. “Those snakes aren’t native to this part of the country.”
“No. They aren’t,” Josh stated.
“I just want three minutes alone with this man when he’s caught. Three minutes,” Geri said, with cold purpose in her voice. “No more, and no less, in private with no witnesses. Do you think that could be arranged?”
“That won’t happen, Geri. But, I understand your wanting it,” David told her. “Believe me, I understand that.”
“When will you do the exhumation?” Geri demanded.
“Tomorrow morning, probably,” David said, his tone an apology. “Once we have the written permission.”
“You don’t have anything to feel badly about, David,” Geri assured him. “The department has to do what it must do. Every step gets us closer to dealing with this idiot.”
“One thing he isn’t is an idiot,” David replied. “I have to keep arms length from the investigation. But from what I’ve seen, this man has plotted this harassment and attacks from the beginning. He’s trying to wear you down.”
“He’s not going to win,” Geri told them. “I won’t give him that large of a degree of satisfaction.”
“That’s my girl,” Josh said.
“Oh, I’m hardly a girl, Josh. At this moment, I feel quite old.”
Chapter Ten
Josh smiled at Geri as he closed the door behind the last of the guests, at quarter of ten, locked it, and set the security system. “I’ll give you the codes to the locks tomorrow, Geri,” he promised. “And we’ll go over the schematics to the security system then.”
She nodded. He wished he knew what she was thinking.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He lightly kissed her temple.
“It’s been a long day,” she said.
“That much is true, wife,” he replied. “Would you like to go on up?”
My wife, Josh thought with pride. Geri is my wife now, at least in name.
Josh felt his desire for her grow. Soon, now, she would be his wife in more than name only. He cautioned himself to be gentle with her. But, he wondered if he could be gentle when need was riding him so strongly.
“Or would you prefer to stay downstairs for a while longer?” he added. “I don’t want to rush you.”
“I would prefer to be alone with you,” Geri replied.
He picked her up and cradled her in his arms as though she was the most precious person in the world to him. Geri wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then he made his way up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time.
“Josh, really!” she protested as they were half way up the stairs. “I can do without the Rhett Butler imitation.”
“’Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!’”
* * *
Geri couldn’t help giggling. She had never liked giggly girls, had never been one of them. But, today, she didn’t seem to be able to stop herself.
Once they were inside the master suite, he kicked the door closed. Then, he put her down on her feet. He locked the door behind him.
A bottle of champagne was on ice in a silver wine cooler sitting the night table. Two glasses sat in front of the silver cooler. The negligee she had looked so wistfully at in the store the other night and Josh’s brocade robe were both laid out on the turned down bed.
“Give me a few minutes?”
“I’ll open the champagne.”
She picked up the negligee and went to the bathroom. She removed her jewelry and clothes, then hung her dress, before she placed her underwear down the laundry chute. Efficiently, she creamed off her make-up, brushed her teeth, and took the flowers from her hair. Brushing out her hair, she stood there naked, looking at herself in the mirror. Would Josh like what he saw?
After putting down the hairbrush, Geri ran her hand across the scars at her ribs. Plastic surgery could have minimized that final reminder of Delgado’s abuse, but she hadn’t been willing to undergo the pain. There had been enough pain involved in minimizing the other, more-obvious-to-casual-acquaintances, scars. What would Josh think when he saw that? Oh, the scars had faded a good deal. They were hardly noticeable, at least in comparison to what it had once been. Would he be repulsed by the ugliness of it all?
“Geri, did you fall in?” Josh called, teasing her.
“I’ll be right out.”
She pulled on the silk nightgown. She shrugged into the filmy robe. A few more brush strokes through her hair made it neater. She drew a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. Geri refreshed her perfume. She looked as good as she could make herself look and still be ready for sleep. Sleeping in the same bed with Josh, that thought sent shivers down her spine, and not all of them were pleasant.
Gathering her courage, she stepped out into the bedroom.
Josh had changed from his tuxedo into the rich brocade robe that had been on the bed. He was waiting in the center of the turned down bed. He sat with his back against the headboard and his legs outstretched.
She had seen his legs before, in swimsuits or in shorts, but never had they looked so terribly sexy to her. She looked around the room. He had lit the gas log in the hearth and dimmed the lights. It was a romantic setting. The champagne was poured.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her.
She shook her head negatively. “No, I’m really not beautiful. But, I’m glad that you think so.”
“You going to stand there all night, wife?” Josh teased.
“I was just looking at everything, trying to burn it all into my memory,” she said as she walked toward the bed. “You’ve made a romantic setting.”
“That was the idea,” he agreed. “I want you to remember tonight.”
Sitting down facing Josh, she smiled at him. “I doubt I’m in any danger of forgetting it.”
Josh handed her a glass of champagne.
“You know I’ve had more to drink in the last few days than I’ve had in the past few years?”
“It’s been a special time.”
“That’s one way of describing it,” she said as she sipped the very expensive champagne. “This is very nice.”
Josh smiled. “For what it costs, it should be very nice, wife.”
Geri shook her head. “I don’t know much about wines.”
“Fortunately, I do. So, I’ll teach you.”
“Is that all you intend to teach me?” she asked after she finished the wine in her glass.
Josh took the glass from her and set it down on the night table. “What do you want to learn, sweetheart?”
“I want to learn how best to please you.”
He drew in a sharp breath as she stood and removed her robe and nightgown.
“Oh, baby, you’ve got that backwards. It’s my job to please you.”
“Really,” she said as she moved closer to him. “Then shouldn’t you get to work, husband?”
“I can tell that you are going to be a demanding lover,” Josh replied as he touched her face. She was so responsive to him, so sensitive to his touch that he wondered afresh if he could be as gentle with her as she needed him to be.
“Would you really mind if I made demands?” she asked as she untied his robe belt.
“No. I like it that you want me as much as I want you.”
She felt her face grow warm. “You must think I’m a total idiot.”
“No. I think that you are a beautiful, innocent, woman. I also think that innocence is going to be a thing of the past. You are very shortly going to want me as much as I w
ant you.”
“I’m already burning up with need, Josh,” she confessed.
“You don’t burn as much as you are going to,” he told her. “Not nearly as much as you are going to, sweetheart.”
* * *
Geri looked at her husband as he slept, later that night. Lord, how she loved him!
She began to move out of bed to go to the bathroom. Josh reached out, still asleep. “Love you,” he said. Geri’s heart surged through her throat. He loved her. That was all she wanted.
“Mandy,” he added in his sleep.
Great silent tears fell from her eyes as she buried her face in her pillow. Josh was still in love with his dead wife! Well, that couldn’t be helped. Amanda was dead. But Geri was very much alive. She resolved to show him so much love that he would have to fall in love with her. But, this still hurt. It hurt more than she thought anything could.
* * *
At five, Josh looked at the sleeping face of his wife. She’d been crying. That much was obvious from the dampness of her pillow and the puffiness of her eyes. That knowledge cut him through to the heart.
Josh thought about how completely she had responded to him. He had told her they would catch fire together. Josh shook his head in wonder. He hadn’t lied. But, even he hadn’t known how much he had understated that. Thirty-two good years with Mandy and not even a single night with her had ever been as intense as the pleasure he and Geri had shared. He didn’t know what to make of that.
Nor, did he know what to make of the fact she had cried herself to sleep. Was she regretting this marriage? Was she unhappy? Stupid question, Josh, he told himself mentally. Women don’t cry themselves to sleep if they are happy.
Still, she had plenty of reason besides being unhappy in her marriage to have been crying. He didn’t know how she had held herself together as long as she had with this level of harassment and assault against her. Now, with her mother’s body and the exhumation of the grave… He didn’t know how she was at all holding herself together.
He only wished he could be certain she was happy in their relationship, that he hadn’t caused those tears on her face. But he wasn’t going to ask her, just in case he had been the reason she cried.
Josh looked at the clock. He didn’t want to wake Geri. Yet, he was awake and wasn’t likely to get back to sleep. Geri needed her sleep. And if he stayed here much longer she was likely to wake up to find him atop her.
He had awakened wanting her. Lying beside her, looking at her, and remembering the night before had done nothing except make that wanting a driving need. So, he knew that he had to get out of bed and go focus on something else other than the delectable woman who was now his wife.
But he hadn’t done more than to roll over when she was fully awake and sitting up in bed, clutching the covers over her chest.
“Josh?” she asked.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” he urged. “You have another two hours or so yet that you can sleep.”
“Come back to bed.”
“I can’t sleep past five, Geri.”
“Who said anything about sleeping?” she offered as she held out her hand to him.
* * *
When she again awoke, Josh was gone and the bed was cold where he had lain. She looked at the clock. Ten! Why hadn’t he tried to wake her? They had things to do today.
Geri climbed out of bed. Every movement reminded her with an ache she had used parts of her anatomy she’d been unaccustomed to using. She went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Then she quickly dressed in a conservative light gray, skirted suit and slid her feet into black shoes before she went in search of Josh.
She found him in his office, talking on the telephone, obviously to his secretary. “I won’t be in until after about two,” he said. “Neither will Geri. Have our morning meetings and lunch appointments rescheduled for later in the week. Thanks, Elaine.”
After hanging up the telephone, he said, “Good morning, Wife.”
“I thought we said good morning earlier, Husband,” she teased as she walked around his desk and pushed his chair away from the desk a bit so she could sit on his lap.
Josh cuddled her. “Woman, do you want some breakfast?”
“Again, I thought we’d had that earlier,” she whispered in his ear just before she kissed his lobe.
“You can’t live on love,” he replied.
“Every woman should try, at least on her honeymoon,” she countered.
He hugged her tighter. “When all this is over, I’ll take you someplace exotic for a month. All we will have to do is sit on a beach and make love.”
“I don’t need exotic places, or lavish vacations. I’d be happy with a camping trip, on horseback, just the two of us.”
“You are going to be devilishly hard to spoil, woman. You’re happy with whatever I give you.”
“I’m happy to be with you. But, we have things to do this morning. First, go to the courthouse and register the marriage. Second, we drop by at the church and let Padre take a photocopy of the certificate for his records. Third, I have to go try to identify the body of the woman found in my apartment. I know it can’t be my mother. Albert is just harassing me where he thinks it will hurt. He’s definitely not sane, Josh. He worries me.”
“We have no control of him, Geri.”
“I know. That frightens me.”
“I’d only be worried about you if you weren’t frightened. Brad, acting as both your attorney and her nephew, is going to the morgue to identify the body,” Josh told her gently. “We both thought that would be easier on you.”
“And whose idea was this?”
“Mine,” he said firmly. “You don’t need the stress. Besides, Albert would expect you to go there. He set this up. He could very well be watching the morgue. We don’t need you to walk into what could be a trap.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry for this whole situation.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. We all carry baggage. Better to deal with yours now rather than later,” he said gently.
“Given my preferences, ‘never’ would have been really quite high on the list of when I wanted to deal with any of this.”
Josh nodded and offered, “I’m taking my beautiful wife out for lunch after we make a stop at your church. Then we have meetings with the engineering staff at two thirty.”
She sighed. “Yes. The P100 project. I remember. Well, husband, it’s going to be a busy day.”
“Not exactly the way the first day of a honeymoon should be spent, my dear,” he apologized.
“I don’t have expectations. So, I’m not disappointed.” Liar, liar…But I’m not going to tell him just how disappointed I am. This is my problem, not his. He can’t help it that he’s still in love with his dead wife.
He kissed her hard. “Woman, you ought to have something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” she dismissed.
“Shall we go to the courthouse and get this marriage declared and registered, then?”
Chapter Eleven
The Fort Bend County Courthouse was an old stone building with more modern office buildings as annexes.
In a group with several bodyguards, they entered the courthouse and went into the county clerk’s office. There were several people in line ahead of them, with business ranging from business registrations to recording the transfer of property to requests for death certificates and help with genealogical research.
“Can I help you?” a middle-aged female assistant asked as Josh and Geri reached the front of the line.
Josh smiled at the woman. “We’re here to file a declaration and registration of an informal marriage.”
The woman smiled and reached for the proper form. “Fill this out, completely. But, please, don’t sign it until someone can witness your signature. Then we’ll get the oath sworn, the document signed, your fee paid, and the form filed. Okay?”
Geri read over the form. It was easy enough to fill out.
Returning it to the clerk’s assistant, they were both asked individually to swear an oath. Then under the eye of the County Clerk, they each signed the declaration. The Clerk certified the declaration, took the filing fee from Josh, made note that each of them had proved their identity and age with their Texas Driver’s Licenses, and took a copy of the declaration form to file. Then the original declaration form was given to Geri.
“You hold onto that, now, Mrs. Sutherland,” the clerk’s assistant advised. “That’s the same as an executed marriage license. Now, the law says I have to give you both these pamphlets about AIDS and HIV. Giving them to the entirely wrong population, if you ask me, but it’s the law that you have to be given them. And the best of luck to you both in your marriage.”
“Well,” Geri said as they walked out of the courthouse. “That was unique.”
Josh chuckled. “Do you feel more married, now, than you did a half-hour ago?”
“No. But, we have the legal certificate. That’s what Padre needs to be able to bless our marriage. I’ll feel properly married after that.”
“So, what? You feel improperly married, now?”
“I’d say incompletely, not improperly. And when this is all over, we’ll invite everyone for the Blessing and Celebration service and a dinner reception. Until then, we carry on.”
Geri’s cell phone rang. She looked at the number and saw it was unavailable. “It’s probably him, again.” She answered it, putting it on speaker. There was the electronically disguised voice again. “They’re digging up dear old Mummy. You can’t win against me, you stup…”
She disconnected the call in mid rant by powering off her cell phone. “Albert’s at the cemetery, or he’s near the cemetery, or he’s driven past the cemetery.”
“I wish that weren’t necessary,” Josh said.
“That makes two of us. Momma would have been utterly appalled at all of this.”
“I always liked your mother,” Josh replied.
“I didn’t always.”
“You two must have butted heads quite a lot when you were growing up.”
