The Woman He Married (34 page)

“What did you say your name is, again?” she asked, her demeanor stiffening.

“I don’t think I did. I’m John Bearden,” he said, pompously.

“You seem familiar…” She thought for a moment before her face brightened. “Are you the one who does those used car commercials?
Bearden’s Bargains?
With the big gorilla
who
jumps off the roof, smashing prices? I love that commercial!”

Offended that she’d suggest he was a lowly used-car salesman, John dropped the charm and glared at the woman. “That’s a different Bearden.”

“Oh. Well.” Looking back at the computer screen, she asked, “Isn’t Beth supposed to be picked up in the car pool?”

John shrugged. “I
dunno
.”

Looking John up and down suspiciously, she said, “I’m
gonna
have to see some I.D. since I’ve never seen you before, and you don’t really seem to know much ’bout your daughter, or this school.”

Five minutes later John smiled balefully at the woman behind the counter when Beth came running up to him, her backpack bouncing and hanging down to her knees. “Daddy, Daddy! I didn’t know you were coming!”

Loading Beth into the van, John saw that the line of cars to pick up pre-
schoolers
had all but dispersed. Shaking his head, he climbed into the van and headed toward home.

* * * *

John was right about the reporters. In the parking lot, and then again in the hall, a few microphones and cameras had been shoved in Josie’s face. “Do you think defending an accused murderer will hurt your husband’s chances?” “How can your husband assert that he’s hard on crime when his wife defends...
”

Brian, considerably more used to being in the limelight, pushed past everyone, dragging Josie along in his wake before turning to one of the cameras. “Mrs. Bearden and I have the utmost confidence in the innocence of our client.” He spoke with complete self-assurance.

John should enjoy seeing that on the evening news.

Inside the courtroom, Josie sat on the left side at the defense’s table, gnawing at her bottom lip. Looking around anxiously, she tapped her number-two pencil on the blank legal pad in front of her. The Columbiana courtroom was crowded with spectators and its lack of windows made the area feel claustrophobic. Tawdry with its wood veneer paneling and florescent lighting, the room was a far cry from the glamorous mahogany courtrooms portrayed in television and movie legal dramas.

Ms. Henry, dressed in her Sunday best and black straw hat, looked about as uneasy as Josie felt. Surrounding her sat most of her children, Josie guessed, not knowing the family as well as Brian. In the chair to Josie’s right, Brian reached over, and put his hand on top of hers to stop the tapping.

“
Relax,
it’s going to be fine. You’re in the company of the best.” Winking, he smiled affectionately at Josie.

“Am I interrupting something?” Scott Crank, the prosecutor walked up to the table. Josie and Brian actually knew him during their undergrad at
Alabama
. He was much thinner and considerably less smarmy back then. “I guess it shouldn’t surprise me to see you two together again.” Regarding Josie dubiously, he added, “It
does
surprise me, however, to find out that Josie is the current Mrs. John Bearden…or is it ‘Jocelyn’ now?” He said “current” like he knew, or assumed, Josie’s marital status could soon be changing.

“What can we do for you, Scott?” Brian asked.

“Just wanted to give you one more chance to accept the plea bargain we offered—it’s not too late,” Scott said, while keeping his eyes fixed on Josie.

“Not a chance,” Brian said.

“Well, all right then.
If you’re sure.”

He didn’t try too hard to convince them before slinking back to his side. Josie got the feeling Scott simply came over to gawk at her. He looked back to Brian and added, “By the way, your father sends his best.” Brian and his father—still employed in the prosecutor’s office—continued to be slightly estranged. He still didn’t approve of Brian’s career choice.

The room started to quiet down when the jury was ushered in. Sandra hurried up the aisle, taking a seat directly behind Brian. A moment or two later,
Slidell
was led in by a sheriff’s deputy.
Slidell
’s gaze darted around anxiously, and the trepidation was evident on his face. About five-feet ten inches, he wore a low-end designer suit Brian had purchased for him. His hair was cropped short, his skin medium dark, and he had gentle light brown, amber eyes.
Ms. Henry was right,
Josie thought,
Sly could never have hurt anybody.
After he took a seat next to Josie, she reached over to pat his shoulder, wishing she could promise him that everything was going to be all right.

When the judge came in and everyone stood, Josie tried to imagine what John would be like, strutting into
his
courtroom, draped in a black robe, everyone standing at attention simply due to his presence. Would he be just, fair? Somehow, even after everything that had happened, she knew he would.

* * * *

Beth’s usually organized room was strewn with toys and dolls. A quick look around told John that Josie’s notion of a clean house had relaxed considerably since she’d started back to work. Kneeling amidst the clutter, he struggled to pull Beth’s tights up her legs as she all but ignored his efforts. Hugging Puffer-Lee-Anderson, Beth gazed thoughtfully at John, who was now cursing under his breath, trying to pull the nylon up by the waistband, while most of the fabric remained stuck on the toe ends of Beth’s feet.

“Have you been
bad
, Daddy?”

“Why do you ask that?” Pulling really hard, John lifted Beth right off the floor.

Beth finally decided to pay attention to what he was trying to do. “You’re
s’pose
to scrunch it first,” she said and then continued on with her original thought. “’Cause, Momma put you in
the
time-out—in the pool
house,
and you’ve been out there
a long
time. Puffer thought it’s ’cause you must have been bad,
really
bad.”

“What do you mean ‘scrunch it up first?’” he asked, ignoring her question mostly because he didn’t have an answer.

Beth said, “You must be really old too ’cause Momma says when I’m bad, I have to stay in
the
time-out one minute for every year old I am. That’s four
whole
minutes.” She wagged four chubby fingers in his face.

Heating up from his exertion, John loosened his tie some more before finally working Beth’s tights over her feet and edging them up her legs. “Well, I guess I’ll be out there a while then, because Daddy’s pretty old,” he teased with a half smile, relieved that he was finally making some progress with her tights.

“You could just say you’re sorry and give Momma a big hug and kiss. She can be re-son-
ble
’bout those things.” Beth nodded her head.
“Works for me and Puffer
all
the time.”

Finally pulling the tights up to Beth’s little round
belly,
John blew air up and onto his red face. “Thanks for the advice, Baby girl. I’ll give it a try. But your momma, she can be a might stubborn at times.”

Looking down at the considerable amount of tights still hanging off the end of Beth’s toes, he hoped getting Josie back would be easier than dressing his little girl. “It’s just going to take some time, that’s all. She’ll come ’round.” Sighing, he rubbed his flushed face. “I’m going to do my best to see that she does.”

He turned his attention to the ruffled, sparkly, recital dress lying on the bed, picking it up like it might bite him if he moved too quickly. Feeling mystified, and suddenly exasperated, he turned it over and every which way, trying to figure out which side was which.

* * * *

While Scott Crank droned on with his opening statement, Josie’s fatigued mind wandered.
Is Beth feeling better? What
am I going to do about Bobbie and his grades? How do other working mothers keep their careers and home life from falling apart?
A maid, a personal assistant, tutor, and a nanny—that’s what she needed.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought bringing in some help could be the answer, and the better she felt. However, hiring extra help meant she was going to need a bigger than expected divorce settlement. In that case, she might as well add a personal trainer to the list and…

“And furthermore the prosecution will show…” Scott was still talking.

But then why even
have a home
or children, if
I’m just going to hand them over to someone else to care for?
Josie felt strained again.

Then by some miraculous act of God, Scott finally sat down. Brian pushed back his chair to take his turn. Josie had to focus now.

Brian buttoned his suit jacket before walking out in front of the table to address the jury. Josie watched him, in awe of his confidence. If Brian was the least bit nervous, it didn’t show. She knew his sparkling brown eyes and the soft waves of hair curling lightly around his neck and ears had captivated the women, at least, on the jury before he’d even begun to speak.

“Ladies and gentleman of the jury,
Slidell
Henry sits here before you today, not as a cold-blooded killer, but as a man unjustly accused of a heinous crime for which the prosecution has no definitive proof…” Thankfully, Brian jumped straight to the point.

As Brian moseyed toward the jury box with one hand in his pocket, looking so genteel and demure, Josie thought back to the first time she’d seen him. In her Women’s Studies class, Brian had been one of only a few male students, and the only one who attended regularly. She remembered feeling Brian watching her during every class until—one day—he approached her. Almost instantly, she noticed a sincerity about him that was different from the other boys she’d known in high school and her freshman year of college.

Brian was her first. Josie remembered with adoration how he waited patiently until she was ready. How carefully he proceeded, making sure that she was comfortable, ensuring her first time would be an experience she would never forget—
ever
. Watching Brian a moment longer, Josie thought about how he used to talk in his sleep. She wondered if he still preferred to make love in the morning.

Eyes trained on Brian as she reminisced, Josie didn’t realize a wanton expression had taken shape on her face. When Brian’s diction began to show a hint of distraction, Josie snapped back to the present and saw that his eyes were directed at her now, playfully, as if to ask,
“Is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

Josie bit her lip when she felt the heat rise up to her cheeks. She glanced around uncomfortably to see if anyone else had noticed that her mind was…not focused on the matters at hand.

When Brian finished, he gave one more earnest look to the jury before striding back to his seat. He leaned towards Josie and she could feel his breath tickle her ear. “You’re going to have to stop distracting me—a man’s freedom is at stake here.”

Josie turned her head slightly in Brian’s direction and their lips almost touched. “I can’t help it when you’re so—”

Sandra leaned forward and interrupted. “Do you two need to take a recess? Or, can we continue with defending our client?” Looking more jealous than annoyed, she glared at Josie first, then Brian.

* * * *

John had underestimated the complexity of dressing a four-year-old for dance, and then, realizing he didn’t really know where the class met, he’d had to call
Lydia
for directions. He arrived at the dance studio a few minutes late.

When he pulled up and emerged from the van with
Beth
,
Lydia
was pacing impatiently out front while her plump sparkling-clothed twins ran circles around her. “John! What took you so long? I have an appointment in ten minutes,” she scolded.