“She doesn’t belong here,” his mother hissed. “If it weren’t for her, my Bruce would be here right now.”
“Good grief, I don’t believe you. If it weren’t for Bruce, Jess’s first husband would be celebrating Christmas with her. Bruce murdered him, Mom. You can’t blame her for that.”
“What do you want me to do? Welcome her like a daughter? Well I won’t do it. I wish you’d never married her.”
“It’s a little late for that. She’s my wife.”
“Not for long, thank God,” Molly said peevishly.
“Not if I have any say in the matter,” Dan said quietly. All eyes zeroed in on him.
“What are you saying, son?” Nate asked.
“I love her, Dad. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she stays with me.” Monica gasped in horror, clutching the area around her heart like a drama queen in a cheesy soap opera.
“You wouldn’t be so cruel.”
“Cruel? No. Jess is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. If you can’t accept her as part of this family, then I guess you don’t accept me either.” He crossed to the doorway. “We’ll be leaving as soon as she comes back down.”
“Dan, don’t go,” Nate said, extending his hand toward his son. “If Jess is what you want, then it’s fine with us. You know that. Isn’t that right, Monica?” Dan looked at his mother, then at Molly, but neither would meet his eyes.
“I guess you’re wrong, Dad.” He pulled their coats from the closet.
“Monica- For the love of heaven, say something.” Nate pleaded with his wife to relent, but she remained silent. “Monica! They’re leaving.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Dad, never mind. I’ll see you at the office, and you know you’re welcome to come to the house whenever you want.”
“You aren’t coming back, are you?”
“As long as Jess isn’t welcome here, no.”
CHAPTER 9
Jess was silent on the drive home, and Dan couldn’t think of a thing to say that might make her feel better. He wanted to apologize for his mother and sister, but how did one go about making excuses for something like that? The fact that they blamed Jess for Bruce being in jail was beyond ludicrous. But he supposed it didn’t matter. From here on out he would make sure, whatever their problem was, his wife wouldn’t be hurt again.
Glancing at her as he eased the car in the garage, he saw her discreetly wipe her eyes, and he wanted to hold her. To do something to make her world right again. Unfortunately, the only thing he could do was try and take her mind off what had happened.
“What do you say to some popcorn and hot cocoa by the fire?” he suggested, opening her door and helping her out. “I can get it started while you go up and change.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Jess hurried inside and out of sight before Dan could say another word.
He watched her go and was ashamed of his family. Not his father and Gary. They’d done their best to stop their wives. But the other two, his mother and sister- It had been obvious from the start that they were going to take their anguish out on Jess. And they’d succeeded, much to his disgust.
Try as he might, he couldn’t understand where they got off making Jess the ‘bad guy.’ Or how, deep down, they were able to justify their behavior. He was sure there was a renowned psychologist somewhere, who would be able to identify the reason, but it would never be good enough for him. Not after they’d chosen to hang on to their irrational feelings and let him walk out of the door tonight.
With a sigh, he got the corn popper he used in the fireplace from the pantry and took it to the living room. There he lit a match to the kindling beneath three logs, and waited until he was sure it was burning nicely before returning to the kitchen to start the cocoa. Maybe he’d put ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ in the DVD player when everything was ready. It was a good movie, and might lift her spirits a bit.
“What can I do?” Jess asked from behind him. Dan turned to see that she’d slipped into a pair of blue stretch pants and a white maternity sweater. He also took note of her eyes, red-rimmed from crying.
“You could get a couple of mugs out of the cupboard if you want. And a big bowl.” He’d already added the marshmallows to the pan, and they were just beginning to melt.
“Do you want me to pop the corn?”
“I’ll do it in the other room. Do you want to split that chocolate bar in the drawer?” The big, thick kind with almonds she liked so well.
“I guess so.” Not much enthusiasm, even for chocolate.
“It looks like we’re ready.” He let her carry her mug, and the jar of popcorn while he took the rest. He asked her about the movie as he knelt in front of the fireplace. “Have you ever seen it?”
“No.”
“Would you like to?”
“If you want.” So far, no good. Biting back a sigh, he wished they’d just stayed home tonight, holiday or not. She hadn’t deserved the treatment she’d endured from his mother and sister, and he was sure they knew it too.
“Go ahead and get it out of the cabinet. I’ll be finished here in a minute, and we can get comfortable, and enjoy our snacks.”
“You do realize my doctor is going to have a fit if I don’t stop eating so much.” It was the first semi-normal comment she’d made since they’d left his parent’s house.
“Tough. Take him a box of tissues. Come here.” He patted the spot on the sofa beside him when everything was ready. “Sit beside me and we can share.”
~~~~~
Jess didn’t argue, glad to be close to someone right now. She was feeling rather abused and lonely, and Dan was such a nice person to be with. Who better than him to cheer her up?
It seemed perfectly natural to snuggle against him after he put his arm on the back of the sofa behind her. Not that she was paying him much attention. This movie, it turned out, was one of the best she’d ever seen, and she was thoroughly captivated by the story. George was discovering what life would have been like had he never been born, and she vaguely wondered if she’d ever touched anyone in such a significant way during her lifetime.
“What on earth?” Dan asked when Jess’s mug of cocoa, which she’d been resting on her softly rounded belly, sloshed over onto her sweater. He tried to wipe it with his hand, thankful it was only warm, not hot out of the pan.
“The baby kicked,” Jess explained, smiling at his surprised reaction. Dan’s eyes widened when he felt a jab beneath his fingers.
“Does it hurt?” he asked incredulously.
“No.”
“My goodness, I think we’ve got a football player on our hands. Did you feel that?” ‘That’ being an especially hard jab.
“Do you want to see?” Jess asked shyly, touched by Dan’s excitement. He nodded eagerly, and she raised the hem of her sweater and pushed the waistband of her slacks down a bit.
Dan couldn’t take his eyes away from the sight, clearly awed by the rolling movements before him. Hesitantly, he reached out a finger, gently touching her side. It was where the most vigorous activity seemed to be. Covering his hand with her own, Jess flattened it and said,
“I think that’s a foot.”
“Wow.” No sound came from him as his lips formed the word.
~~~~~
“You ought to see him,” Jess said, over yet another lunch with Emma. Their weekly get-togethers were becoming something of a tradition now, and Jess looked forward to the alone time with her friend.
“It does sound like he’s pretty fascinated with the baby, doesn’t it?”
“That’s not the half of it. Not only does he spend most of his time with his hands on my stomach, but he’s even bought a bunch of Dr. Seuss books.”
“Why?” Emma asked, taking a sip of her Coke. “The baby won’t be able to read for years.” Jess laughed harder.
“Dan reads them.” Emma made a face to show that she didn’t believe her.
“Isn’t he a little old for Dr. Seuss?
&nb
sp; “He reads them to the baby.”
“Yeah, right.”
“He does,” Jess insisted. “He was reading a baby book, and it said that babies in the womb can hear. So he has me sit on the couch, and he lies down with his head in my lap and reads out loud. It’s a riot.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm, what?” Jess demanded.
“Nothing.” She spooned some chili into her mouth, grinning while she chewed it.
“I know you. You don’t say hmm for no reason.” She looked hard at her friend. “What are you thinking now?”
“You don’t want to know what I’m thinking. It would probably offend you.”
“I’ll be offended if you don’t tell me.”
“Okay.” She took another bite of her food, ignoring Jess’s glare, and waited until she’d swallowed before she gave in. “Okay. I don’t think Dan could be happier about this baby than if it were really his.”
“Well, he is going to adopt it,” Jess pointed out.
“That’s to get Bentley off your case. No. It’s my guess he’s starting to get attached to the baby...and its mother.”
“No.” Jess shook her head. “Dan’s no more interested in me than I am in him.”
“But you’ve already admitted you are interested in him.”
“I have not.” She knew it was a lie, even as she said the words.
“Jess, why fight it?” Emma asked quietly. “There could be worse things than falling in love with your husband.”
“Listen to you. You’re being ridiculous.” And she was making Jess uncomfortable with her implications. She picked up a french fry and pointed it at Emma. “It’s a temporary marriage.”
“Is it?”
“If I told Dan what you’ve said, he’d think you were nuts.”
“Maybe.”
“Would you stop it?” She threw the fry down and scowled at Emma.
“Hey, don’t have a cow.” She reached across the table and squeezed Jess’s hand. “Does falling in love with Dan make you feel guilty about Frank?”
“Falling in love with anyone would make me feel disloyal to Frank,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Listen to what you’re suggesting. How would you feel if Ty died, and I started pushing you to fall in love again less than six months after the funeral?” Emma shrugged her shoulders.
“About the same as you, I expect.”
“Dan and I are friends. That’s all.”
“Whatever you say.”
~~~~~
“Jess, are you sure you want to go?” Dan asked, while they stood in the kitchen. Bruce’s trial was set for that morning, and Jess was determined to be there.
“I’m sure.”
“You’re a witness. They won’t let you in the courtroom anyway. You might as well stay home until they need you.” He adjusted the tie circling his throat.
Jess had been pale and withdrawn for days, and Dan was worried. She’d been doing so well, he was afraid the trial would bring the memories back so strong it would send her into another depression. Or worse, break the fragile bond that had formed between them.
“I’m going,” she said flatly.
“I guess I’ll see if there’s a private room where we can wait then,” he said in resignation. She’d go, he knew, with or without him.
“You don’t have to stay with me. I know you’ll want to be with your brother.” She didn’t seem to resent the fact that he was also worried about Bruce.
“Jess, my first loyalty is to you.” He reached out and pulled her into his arms, holding her close. “I don’t think this is good for you, or the baby, and if you’re going, I’m going to be close by so I can make sure you’re all right.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, burying her face against his chest. He wished he could hold her there forever but said,
“I guess we’d better get this show on the road.” He got their coats from the closet, and they left for the courthouse, a drive as silent as the one had been on Christmas Eve.
“Dan.” Nate hailed them as they walked along the sidewalk, struggling against a blustery wind.
“Dad,” he acknowledged, holding Jess at his side, and urging her to hurry. “We’ll talk inside.”
Nate walked beside them, and they were all relieved when they reached the welcoming warmth of the lobby.
“How are you holding up?” he asked Jess, kissing her cheek.
“Better than you are, I expect,” she said, squeezing his hand. He’d been a frequent visitor to the house, and he knew she had grown more than a little fond of his father.
“Don’t worry about me. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself and my little grandson.” Apparently, he’d decided since Dan was adopting the baby, he was going to take advantage of it. Loving the role of ‘grandpa’, he could care less if the child was related by blood or not.
“It might be a girl, Dad,” Dan drawled, walking pointedly toward the elevator. The trial should be starting in about ten minutes, and they needed to be up there. Who knew how long it would be before they called Jess in to testify.
“I can live with that.”
As the doors closed, and the cube began to move upward, all pretense at normal conversation ended, and the three occupants didn’t speak again until they left Nate at the courtroom door.
“I’ll let you know what’s happening when I can,” he told them.
“I’m going to try and track down a place where we can wait in privacy, Dad.”
“I’ll find you.” He disappeared behind the heavy doors to join his wife and daughter, already there and waiting for him.
Dan asked around, and they were directed to a small room bare of anything but a table and four chairs. Wordlessly, Jess sat in one while Dan took the one adjacent to hers.
~~~~~
The absence of sound was disconcerting, as the seconds crawled by. It was so quiet she could hear Dan’s even breaths, just as he surely must hear hers. Jess was certain she’d never heard this degree of silence before, and she hoped she never would again.
“Shall I try to hunt up some magazines?” Dan asked after several endless minutes.
“No. I don’t think I could concentrate on anything right now anyway. Thanks for asking.” At this rate, the day would be never ending.
It wasn’t long before a light rap sounded at the door. Dan opened it to find Sam and Jon standing there, looking out of place and uncomfortable. Sam told them that Cal and Darby were in the courtroom, and would deliver any important information, but that they were here to keep them company. Jon whipped out a deck of cards saying,
“Euchre, anyone?”
Long didn’t even come close to describing the eternity the morning session lasted. It helped that they played game after game of Euchre, stopping only when Sam went off in search of sodas. By the time the judge called for the lunch recess, it felt like they’d been sitting there for days.
Nate, along with Cal and Darby, found them and briefly explained that Bruce had pled guilty, and the medical examiner had testified. It seemed likely Jess would be called in that afternoon.
“This is probably going to be the shortest trial in history,” Nate murmured, looking strained. Dan squeezed his shoulder. “Bruce told the judge he wants it over as quickly as possible, and that he wants the stiffest sentence he can get.”
“He said that?” Dan asked. Nate nodded.
“He even said the trial wasn’t necessary, but the judge refused to set it aside.” Jess saw that Dan had paled, and put her arm around his waist in a gesture of comfort. He smiled his thanks. “I hate to be rude, but your mother and sister are waiting.”
“I assume we aren’t welcome to join you?” Why he’d asked a question he had to know the answer to, she’d never know, but there it was. At least his father’s response didn’t seem to surprise him.
“I wouldn’t, Dan.” Jess knew how hard that had been for him to say. “They haven’t stopped crying since Bruce took the witness stand. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jess said gently. Nate smiled a little, then walked away from the small group as he hurried to join his distraught wife.
“Hungry?” Dan asked after a moment.
“Why do you always ask me that when you know my answer is always going to be yes?” She made an attempt at lightness, deciding it was time she started thinking about how Dan must be feeling, because it finally hit her how difficult this whole situation must be for him. She needed to show him some of the same consideration he’d been showing her for months.
“Have you ever eaten at Dimitri’s?” Jon asked out of the blue.
“Once. When Em and I were kids.”
“Want to head over there now for lunch?”
“I love greasy burgers and fries.”
“I know,” Dan said with a grin. He helped her into her coat. “Button up tight, or they’ll have to thaw us out before we can sit in a booth.”
~~~~~
“So you didn’t actually see the assailant’s face,” the blond defense attorney asked, once Jess had finished describing what she’d seen the night of Frank’s murder.
“No.”
Jess felt sick to her stomach. Facing Bruce for the first time had been hard. He didn’t look like the monster she’d imagined him to be. Rather, like a pitiful young man who’d made a serious mistake. But add to that Monica, Molly, and Phillip, all sitting there glaring at her, and it was so much worse.
“So it could have been anyone in the parking lot with your husband, and you would never be able to identify him?”
“That’s right.”
“Mrs. Bentley. Excuse me, it’s Mrs. Mulholland now, isn’t it? You have since married the defendant’s brother, correct?”
“Yes.”
“That is certainly a strange turn of events. Mrs. Mulholland, we have received anonymous information that indicates that you and your current husband were having a relationship prior to your first husband’s murder.”
“No! That’s not true,” Jess cried out, all color leaving her face.
“Objection!” the prosecutor shouted.
“Mrs. Mulholland, isn’t it true that you asked Bruce Mulholland to murder Frank Bentley so you could be free to marry his brother?”
“No,” Jess repeated, tears streaming down her face. She was saw that Dan had gotten to his feet, angrier than she’d ever seen him.