Winter Winds (31 page)

A chill slid over Dori. Even assuming that Bob was exaggerating, his threat was ugly. Was this the kind of thing pastors faced often, this animosity? This defiant challenge? Her only Christian experience was Young Life back in high school. She knew so very little about what a pastor’s life was like. Or a pastor’s wife’s life, for that matter.

Never once did she think Trev was in the wrong, whatever had set Bob off. The little she knew about Bob and Penni left no doubt in her mind that they were facing some consequence of their brazen actions, and like most sinners caught in their own web, not liking it.

Trev tried a couple of doors, found one that was unlocked, and flipped on the lights. It was a small office with little more than a desk and two visitors’ chairs.

“We’ll borrow this for a few minutes.”

Bob and Penni followed him in. Dori pulled the door shut behind them and came to stand beside Trev. To say the room was crowded was understatement, and it would be impossible to overstate the animosity pouring off Bob. Dori shivered. Trev leaned
back against the desk. “Lord, give us wisdom and strength and the ability to act in a manner that honors You.”

For once his prayer didn’t aggravate Dori. She wasn’t certain whether that was because she was becoming used to his praying anytime, anywhere, or whether it was so obvious that this conversation needed Divine guidance that the prayer seemed more than appropriate. Either way, she supposed it signaled an advance in her own spiritual reawakening.

Trev began. “Penni, you said you thought I was being mean. I’m sorry you see it that way. That’s not my intent at all. I’m just following church policy.” He turned to Bob. “Policy that your father helped write, Bob. When someone is involved in continual sin, has been confronted about it, and won’t change his mind or actions, that person can’t participate in church-sponsored activities.”

“So because I love Bob, I can’t sing in the choir anymore?” Penni’s chin started to wobble again, and her big eyes filled with tears.

Trev shook his head. “You know that’s not what it is, Penni. The discipline is because you are having an ongoing affair with a married man. If we let you continue to sit up there in the front row of the choir loft and sing, it’ll be like we approve of what you’re doing.”

“But I love him!” Penni’s voice had become loud and whiney. “And I’m scheduled for a solo this Sunday. I can’t leave Rosetta in the lurch.”

Dori watched Penni with interest. She didn’t want to leave Rosetta—the choir director?—in a lurch, but she was willing to leave Shannon without a husband and the kids without a father.
Can you say ‘warped thinking’?

“Rosetta knows not expect you,” Trev said. “The choir will manage.”

“You told her about us?” Penni all but shrieked.

Dori couldn’t help but compare poor, heartbroken Shannon with Penni, all wide eyes and hard edges. No question, Bob was not only wrong; he was nuts.

“Told?” Trev looked flabbergasted. “Come on, Penni. You’re living very openly with Bob. We saw you together at Dante’s and
now here at the center. I didn’t have to tell anyone anything. Rosetta already knew. She came to me about it.”

Penni turned a tragic face to Bob who rose to the occasion.

“It seems to me, Paul,” he spat, “that we’re entitled to live our lives as we want.”

Did Trev notice that Bob had dropped the
pastor
from his name? Whether he did or not, he gave no indication.

“You can say you’re entitled to live as you want, but what about those you’re hurting by your choices? You’ve got a wife who is brokenhearted and two kids who don’t understand why their father suddenly disappeared.”

Bob waved his hand in the air like his family was of no account. Dori thought of the adorable Serena and poor, colicky Jonny named after Bob’s own father, and couldn’t understand Bob’s easy dismissal of them. Had he never loved them, his very own children?

Bob decided to try another tack. “Doesn’t the Bible say love is of God and God is love? So what we feel for each other, Penni and me, comes from Him. And if He didn’t want us to be together, He never would have let us feel the way we do for each other.”

Nothing like blaming God for your sin
, Dori thought, astounded at the man’s gall.

Trev just shook his head in appalled amazement. “God does not condone adultery, Bob. He never has, and He never will. The Bible is very firm on that point. You can manipulate Scripture all you want, but you know what it says. You know very well.”

For a moment there was silence in the little office.

Then suddenly Penni pronounced, her voice sharp and dismissive, “Shannon is a mess.”

Dori frowned at her and her cruelty. Penni glared back, though her cheeks did flush.

“Well, she is,” Penni said defensively. “She calls all the time. She begs Bob to come back. She cries. She asks for money. She claims that she can’t pay the mortgage or the grocery bill.”

Dori couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She glared at Bob. “So you let the church pay for your family’s food and housing.” Her tone was scathing. “Talk about deadbeat dads. Men go to jail for that, you know.”

Bob ignored her and looked at Trev. “We’ve gotten off topic here.” He sounded stiff and self-righteous.

“Have we?” Trev asked. “I thought we were talking about the consequences of abandoning your marriage, of breaking the vows you made to your wife. Remember ‘what God has joined together, let no man put asunder’?”

Dori wanted to ask the sixty-four thousand-dollar question but wasn’t sure she should. This pastor’s wife stuff was going to be tricky. She glanced at Trev. “Can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead. Ask whatever you want.”

She hesitated a minute, then blurted out, “Is this the first time you’ve been unfaithful to your wife?”

Bob and Penni stared at her, their mouths agape. Trev lowered his gaze, but not before she saw the amused approval in his eyes.

“Well?” she prompted.

“It’s not a matter of being unfaithful,” Bob said, carefully dodging the question. He pulled Penni close to his side. “It’s a matter of loving Penni.”

“Don’t try to put a nice face on it, Bob.” Trev sounded disgusted. “No matter how you try to explain it, it’s adultery. Don’t kid yourself with nice words. If you choose to continue in this pattern, I can’t prevent you. But before God, know that you are wrong. Marriage vows are forever, not until a Penni comes along.”

“Look who’s talking,” Bob spat, clearly tired of being on the defensive. “You and your sudden marriage. I’m not even sure I believe that she is your wife.”

Trev glanced at Dori and grinned. “Oh, she’s my wife all right.”

Dori looked at Bob and Penni and smiled as sweetly as she could.

Bob shook his head. “There’s something weird going on here,” he persisted. “It’s just too sudden. My dad has been checking, and we’ll find out the truth. I hope you can deal with that!”

“There is something unusual about our marriage,” Trev admitted.

Dori closed her eyes and prayed as earnestly as she ever had.
Lord, let him keep his mouth shut. Please! Strike him dumb. Bob is making enough trouble as it is. Please don’t let Trev play right into his hand
.

“I didn’t marry Dori this past weekend.”

“I knew it!” Bob punched the air.

“Well, I never.” Penni sniffed and looked down her nose at them. “And you’re a pastor!”

“I married her six years ago,” Trev said calmly.

Bob and Penni stared. “What?”

So much for answered prayer
.

“We’ve been married for six years,” Trev repeated. “We’ve had some difficulties in the past, but we’re working to resolve them.”

“Six years?” squeaked Penni, eyes as big as Dori had ever seen them.

Bob grinned, a very nasty, smug grin. “Well, well, so that’s the story. A pastor who couldn’t even keep his marriage together.”

“You have a lot of nerve lecturing us!” Penni sneered. “And if I can’t sing and Bob can’t play, you can’t preach. It’s only fair.”

Trev nodded. “Maybe it will come to that, though I hope not. After all, neither of us is running around town with someone else. In the meantime, you know the church’s position on your actions. If you want to fight the decision, you’ll have to go to the board of elders. You did notice that the letter was also signed by Ed Masterson, chairman of the board?” He nodded toward the door. “I think we’ve all said everything that needs to be said for the moment, and Dori and I have a party to attend.”

With ill grace, Bob and Penni stalked out, slamming the door behind them.

Dori turned to Trev. “Should you have told them about us? I’m worried that he will do something to hurt you because of me.”

He pulled her into a hug. “It’s going to come out anyway, Dor. Better I say it than someone like Jonathan.”

She wrapped her arms around his middle. “I didn’t mean to be such a problem to you,” she said in a small, unhappy voice.

He kissed the top of her head. “Sometimes life is a problem no matter what you do. There’s no easy way to deal with things and no easy or painless solutions.”

Too true
, she thought.
If I stay away, I’m trouble. If I stay here, I’m trouble
.

“But understand that you are one problem that I delight in.”

Dori looked up. “Really?”

In answer he kissed her.

J
OANNE WATCHED
B
ARNEY
as he dressed and thought again how handsome and strong he was. He liked to wear pin-striped suits and dress shirts to make himself stand out in a town where everyone wore casual clothes most of the time. He flipped the broad end of his tie over the narrow end and made a perfect knot.

“Well, babe, it looks like Friday will be the night. And just in time too. Mr. Jankowski is due home Sunday.”

Joanne had noticed right off that Barney never called Mr. Jankowski the shortened Mr. J that Vinnie did.

“You have to give your boss respect,” he explained when she mentioned it.

“Why Friday?” She stretched, reaching over her head and touching the padded headboard of the great king-size bed in Barney’s suite overlooking the ocean. She loved the glitz and flash of Atlantic City. She played the slots for hours each evening on Barney’s unlimited credit while he attended to various business responsibilities. Once she even won five hundred dollars. That evening she couldn’t wait for Barney to come take her for their now-customary late dinner so she could show him her prize. By the time he actually arrived, most of
it had gone back into the machines, but he’d been real happy for her anyway.

“Trevelyan’s going to be away.”

“He is? How do you know?”

“People who keep their calendars on their computers share their plans with the world.”

Joanne was impressed. “You’re a hacker?” She’d learned the term from TV where she saw the Sandra Bullock movie about breaking into computers.

“No, but I’ve got friends who are.”

Jo shrugged. It was still amazing, all the stuff he knew.

“With him away,” Barney said, “that means only the girl, the kid, and the dogs.”

Joanne sat up abruptly. “You aren’t gonna hurt the dogs, are you? You said you never did.” The idea of making one of them cry just about broke her heart. Her eyes actually got teary thinking about it. “I-I wouldn’t want you to do anything that mean, baby.”

She said the last softly because she was still feeling her way with Barney. She hadn’t been away from him since they met Sunday except for the short stints when he had to work. He hadn’t taken her home to get any clothes or anything. He’d simply bought her new, and they were gorgeous! She knew she could never go back to Wal-Mart, and even Sears and Penney’s were ruined for her after the exclusive boutiques he’d taken her to.

Every day she liked him more, and she loved his style of living.

Barney looked at her strangely. “You don’t think I’m mean?”

She shook her head. “I think you’re wonderful.” She smiled sweetly at him, thinking of all the gentleness he had shown her these past few days.

He studied her for a minute longer, looked out the window at the ocean, then turned back to her. “You do know what I do for a living, right?”

“Oh, yeah. You do Mr. Jankowski’s necessary work. But dogs—I don’t know. Dogs is different.”

He smiled, and she melted. How had she gotten so lucky?

“So, okay,” he said. “We won’t hurt the dogs.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

She stood on the bed and threw her arms around his neck. Standing on the bed she actually got to look down on him a couple of inches. “Thank you! Thank you!” She rained kisses all over his face, and he grinned like a happy man.

“How about you and me taking a vacation after Mr. Jankowski gets home?”

“A vacation?” Joanne clapped her hands. “A real vacation?”

He nodded, smiling at her excitement.

“I never been on a vacation before.”

“Never?”

She shook her head. “My father said they were a waste of money.” Like being a drunk wasn’t. She felt her spirits start to sag. It always happened when she thought of him and his heavy fists. She took a deep breath.

No more sad thoughts about him, Joanne. He can’t hurt you any more. You’ve got Barney
. With Barney she had only happy.

“So where do you want to go?” Barney asked. “You pick the spot. Hawaii? The Bahamas? Paris?”

“Paris?” she squealed. “That’s in Europe! We could really go there?” Of course she’d have to fly, which made her shudder, but with Barney holding her hand, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.

“Paris it is,” he said. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

She shook her head. “I was just thinking how far that was, that’s all. I really want to go somewhere warm since it’s so cold here.”

“The Caribbean somewhere.” He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet, a long, sleek leather one, not the bent and beat-up thing Vinnie stuffed in his back pants pocket. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I’ll take care of everything. Here’s a few hundred. Get a new bikini for the trip, and a couple of those floaty dresses for our nights on the town. Anything you want. I’ll be back for you in time for our midnight dinner.”