While she’d never known her father when she was growing up, they’d never married, she did go and live with him when she’d been orphaned so young.He’d treated her well, but they never really had a good relationship like she did with her mom, and that had been all right too.She left home when she was eighteen and had never contacted him again.For all she knew, he could be dead now.
Knox was in her room when she got back from her evening walk.“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”He told her things hadn’t gone well with David.“I’m sorry, but I did warn you.He’s not a nice person to have to deal with.I know that firsthand.”
“You do.”He kissed her on her mouth, which was healing more daily.“He wants you as his mistress and is upset that you’re getting married.Speaking of which.”He got down on one knee, and she wanted to cry tears of happiness.“Will you do me the honor of being my wife forever?Will you allow me to pamper you and be pampered by you when I need it?Have children with me?Raise them to be good men and women?Will you please marry me so that I can feel whole?”
“Yes.”He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her hand.She could see that it was bright, but not too much more than that.“You’ll have to tell me what it looks like.I can’t see it through all my tears.”
“It’s a white diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds.It’s a wide band, as I’m sure you can feel.Martha gave it to me when she passed away.I only saw her wear it on special occasions, but when she did, it made her shine with happiness.I think perhaps she bought it for herself so that she’d have something pretty to wear when she went out.I know that she wore it to my graduation when I got out of college.”She kissed him, careful of her still-healing lips.The swelling was going down on them as well, but they were still cut up.It would be three weeks or more before she was able to get the stitches out.“I think it makes you shine more than it did her.”
“Thank you so much.”She asked about David.“How does he think it’s going to work with us being married soon if I’m to be his mistress?I’m assuming that he has a plan.”
“I think he just likes the way the word mistress rolls off his tongue.He has it in his head that you’re going to be waiting on him to come to you with bated breath.And if you get out of hand, you can’t hit him back, but he can pop you in the mouth was his exact words.He forgot that you were trained in combat duty when you were in the service and thinks that you fight unfairly.I nearly burst out laughing at that.”She asked about his plans for a job and how he was going to pay for a mistress.“I think he believes he’ll be able to con his way back into his job.He also thinks it’s unfair that you didn’t get put in jail for knocking him around.”
“He’s an idiot.”Knox agreed with her.“I’m sure that he thinks that his wife is going to be all right with him having a mistress too.”Knox told her how she’d left them.“Then I’d not be a mistress if he’s not married.See?He’s an idiot.I wonder where he got it into his head that I’d be okay with being his mistress?Surely not from anything that I said during my interview.”
“Who knows how his mind works.I told him how he was going to be spending a lot of jail time,and he didn’t seem to get that.Zander said that he’d sue him for attempted murder if nothing else.The fact that you fought back will have no bearing on the court proceedings at all.”She asked about her being in the hospital and how that had any bearing on his getting put in prison.“It will play a big part in it.You’ve been hospitalized for three weeks now, and it looks like it might be a couple of more.A month in the hospital because you wouldn’t be his mistress is a goodly amount of time for any reason.”
The two of them talked about what kind of wedding she wanted, and she told him that the courthouse was fine by her.She didn’t need nor want a big fancy wedding when going to the courthouse would do the same thing.He asked her if she’d miss it later.
“No.I mean, my parents had a big wedding, I’ve seen the pictures, and their marriage didn’t work out.I’m not saying that ours won’t work out, but why go to all that bother when we can just say our ‘I do’ at the courthouse and get to live the rest of our lives with each other.We can save our money and go on a huge honeymoon with the money we’ll save.”
“What an excellent idea.Where would you like to go?When you heal up, that is.”She said she’d been all over the world, so seeing the States would be fine with her.“I like that idea.We can travel around, seeing what the country has to offer, and still save money.I know.Let’s get us a camper and see the country that way.It would be fun to see the sights by driving to them, I think.That way, we can still save money.Though we really don’t have to.We can do whatever we want and still not run out of money, love.”
“I know, but this way we can take our time too.We won’t have to be on a work schedule or anything.Just come and go as we please.Even if you have to work on some things for the family or with Zander, there’s still the internet that you can send things back and forth with.”He told her that he had not thought of that.“I think this is an excellent idea that you had.By the way, the doctor said that I can go home on Monday if I keep progressing the way that I am.Since this is Thursday, that gives me four days of working on getting out more and seeing around the hospital wing.”
“That’s wonderful news.Are you sure you don’t mind me having dinner with my brothers tonight?I can cancel, no problem.We do this every Thursday night, and the women go out to dinner too.”She said she wouldn’t hear of him canceling out on a tradition that they have going on.“There won’t be anyone around to sit with you.I’ll be with the rest of them.”
“I’ll be fine.I’m getting around more and getting better at knowing when I’ve had enough.I’m going to be just fine, I know it.Besides, there is no reason for you to sit around here with me when you could be having fun with your brothers.I’m sure that you guys have a lot to say to one another.”He said they end up staying late because of that.“Good.Then it’s settled.You’ll go to dinner with them and hear more gossip that you can come back and tell me about it.It’s a win-win for the two of us.Besides, I don’t want them to be mad at me because I had to have you miss the first dinner in a long time.Just go and have fun, and I’ll be here when you’re finished.”
Her lunch was brought to her.It was still soft food, but it wasn’t just mushy food.She had things like soup and rolls.They brought her ice cream as well as a shake that she could get some calories from.She wanted a burger and fries, but she’d have to wait a few more days for that.Her lips were still stitched up and sore.
“I have an idea that you’ll love the house.I’ve been putting things away since I knew you were going to be living with me.I’ve been neglecting things by not putting them away.The library is now fully finished, being filled out.”She asked him what he meant.“Since I moved in, the books have been in boxes.I just never got around to putting them away.A few other things too.I have a dining room with a table and chairs, but the chairs were still wrapped up from being moved in.It’s not that I’ve been lazy, but I’ve never had anyone over who cared, so I didn’t bother with getting things finished up.The kitchen is the only place that’s been finished.And I think that solely on the cook.She wanted the space finished, and she did it on her own.”They both laughed.
“I have my new apartment and all the new things that I have in it, as you know.I don’t know what to do with all of that.”He said she could sublet it out, and that way she’d not have to worry about it.Or he could buy out her lease, and she’d be finished.“I’ll have to think about that.I’ve not paid anybills since I’ve been in here.I wonder how late my rent is now.”
“I’ll take care of it for you.I’ll go by the realtor’s office tomorrow and see what I can find out.I think that your utilities are all paid with your rent, so you don’t have to worry about that.”She asked him if he owned the apartment building.“I do.That and the houses on either side of it.I rent them out for the extra income.”
“I wish I’d been that smart with my money.I was making good money when I worked overseas.But with the mess up of my checks, I was barely making it on my own without them.”He said that she’d gotten it taken care of now.“Thanks to Shipley.I don’t know how she did it, but she got the vice-president involved in my issues.I got my checks the next day.”
“She’s friends with both of them, the president as well.When she met Dusty, they gave her the paperwork that she needed to get out with full benefits.I know that she’s still in contact with them, but what she does is anyone’s guess.”Elaine said that Shipley told her that she still has a house in DC that she uses when she has to go there.“Yes, I’ve stayed there as well when I had to do some work in the area.It’s a huge house with lots of staff all the time.The government even rents it from her and keeps it safe when they have visitors who come to the White House.It’s a nice setup for the two of them.”
They talked about getting a camper, and since Knox had his laptop with him, they were able to look at the different kinds.They had thought about getting one they could drive everywhere they wanted to go, but then they’d have no car.They thought getting one that they pulled would serve them the best, and were excited about getting one for their trip.
“There’s even a big barn on the property that I had built when I moved in.I didn’t think of a camper being put in it, but I thought that lawn equipment would be stored in it for sure.It’s a nice way to have them keep in good working order while they’re not in use.There’s plenty of room for a big camper.”She asked how big he was talking.“As big as we can get.If we’re going to be traveling in it all the time, we will need plenty of room.And when the kids come along, we’ll take them with us as well.We’ll make it a family thing.”
“I love that idea.”She did too.To travel with the kids to places that they could enjoy.“Now all I can think about is traveling around the country and having a good time.It’ll have to wait until next year.I should be completely healed by then.”He said that was the plan, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t take shorter trips to make sure they know what they’re doing.“Good.Something like that could take a couple of trips to figure it out, I’m betting.Like, how do you even hook it up to a truck?I’ve seen them hooked up, but never how they do it.”
“We’ll figure it out.I’ll hire someone to show us the ropes before we even leave the driveway.”Elaine thought that was a wonderful idea.“Good.Then it’s settled.We’ll get us a camper and see what this old country has to offer us.We might want to watch some of the camping tips they have on the internet, too.Just so we can be prepared.”
She thought that they could be prepared for anything, but still have trouble once they were out and about.There was no way that they could prepare for every little thing that came along.She was about as excited as she’d ever been for anything and couldn’t wait until next summer.
Chapter 8
The courtroom was packed.David wondered if the people in this town had anything to do other than go to courtrooms when there was something going on.While he did work in the little burg, he didn’t spend much time there.He liked it that way, and so had his family.He was going to have to ask someone how he was supposed to get in touch with his wife now that she’d run off with his kids.
He couldn’t care less about the kids.They didn’t do anything with him.Of course, they knew better than to ask him to play ball with them or something like that.He was a working man and the breadwinner.If they wanted to play, then they needed to do it with their mother.She didn’t do anything all day long.It was her job to make sure they didn’t bother him when he got home, either.He’d worked all day.
David had a plan.He was going to appeal to the judge’s masculine side.Tell him how he’d never had a mistress before, and when he’d found one, she turned him down, and that’s where the fight had come from.He was also going to talk to him about making Elaine become his mistress and have his wife come back home so that it would work for him.They were just being stubborn, and that wasn’t fair to him.He’d worked hard on his appeal to the man he was going to be—
