Read Online An Indecent Marriage by Doreen Owens Malek - Free Book Online Page A

to try.
    “I was just thinking about your parents and Lalage, the kids. How are they?”
    Jack pulled up to a stoplight and turned his head. “My father died about five years ago.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    He snorted. “It was hardly a surprise. Everyone was amazed he lasted as long as he did. Cirrhosis finally got him.”
    “And your mother?”
    “As soon as I could put the money together I bought her a place in Canada. She’s back there now, raising the rest of the brood. She lives near Lalage and her husband and their two little girls.”
    “So you’re the only one left this side of the border.”
    “Oh, yes. I’m an American now, a citizen. I even talk like a native.”
    Again, his tone could have been tinged with irony, or maybe she was imagining it. She could hardly take anything he said at face value. “I noticed that. I...miss the accent.”
    The light changed and the car surged forward. “Sometimes, so do I.”
    Jessica sensed a slight easing of the strained atmosphere and felt bold enough to ask, “Did you like playing professional football?”
    He laughed mirthlessly. “It wasn’t a question of liking it. Playing football was the only thing people were willing to pay me a lot of money to do. Choice didn’t figure into the plan very heavily.”
    “You used to enjoy football in school,” Jessica said.
    “I enjoyed winning games and getting a break from people in the town who would have spit on me otherwise. Besides, comparing high school football with the pro game is like comparing a pistol shot with a cannon blast.”
    “So you quit?”
    “I was fired. My knee fired me.”
    “Your knee?”
    “Yeah. I tore it up so many times that finally it just couldn’t be repaired anymore. So I decided to take the money and run, invest it in a business.”
    “That seems to have worked out very well.”
    “My firm is successful, if that’s what you mean.” He turned into the parking lot of Mario’s, a low brick structure illuminated by floodlights and lanterns strung in the surrounding gardens. A valet took the car, greeting Jack by name, and the maitre d’ led them to a secluded table sheltered from the rest of the crowd by a wall of standing plants. A blaze roared in a fireplace to their left, and to the right a bay window displayed a view of the turning trees, bathed in a mellow glow from the overhead lamps.
    “This is beautiful,” Jessica said as they were seated.
    “There was a time when I would have given anything to be able to take you to a place like this,” Jack replied.
    “Is that why we’re here? Do you want to prove something to me?”
    The wine steward approached and Jack ordered something while Jessica waited. But when the man left it was clear Jack had no intention of answering her question.
    “I’m interested in your marriage,” he said, leaning forward and folding his arms on his closed menu. “Tell me about it.”
    “There’s nothing to tell,” Jessica replied shortly. “It didn’t work out.”
    “Why not?”
    “Why does any marriage break up? We weren’t suited, that’s all.”
    “That surprises me. According to your father, your husband was perfect for you. Old family, promising career. How could you fail to get along with a paragon like that?”
    Jessica looked at him over the expanse of the white linen tablecloth, longing to tell him the truth. But he probably wouldn’t believe her, as he’d said. And if he did believe her, he might well carry out his threat to ruin her father publicly. For while the truth exonerated her, it condemned her father more completely. If she could just endure these lacerating questions, the undertone of derision, she would be able to keep Jack at bay until the deal was closed.
    “I was too young, I think. I didn’t know my own mind,” she finally said.
    “I’d have to agree with that,” he commented sarcastically. “Until the day you disappeared you thought you were in love with me.” Then he lifted one shoulder. “At least