Ties That Bind Page 24

  Closing the door behind him, he leaned against it and gazed at her. He loved her just as much now as he had when they’d been younger. Now he was thirty-seven and she was thirty-four and as far as he was concerned life had been good to them. They had been blessed with fourteen good years of marriage and two beautiful children.

  After Vietnam, he had spent the rest of his military days in Texas. They had returned to Miami when Leigh had been pregnant with Noelle, and by his daughter’s first birthday, he had gone into private practice. After practicing law for nearly seven years, he had gotten appointed to the office of city commissioner. Leigh worked as a guidance counselor in one of the Miami high schools and had been doing so for almost ten years. She loved her job as much as he loved his, but he had a burning desire to enter politics. And from recent polls, he had a very good chance of winning.

  “The kids are in bed?”

  Leigh’s question recaptured his attention. “Yes, and I’ve closed up everything.”

  “Good.”

  He crossed the room to her and reached out to let his hand skim up her back. “You, okay? You seemed rather preoccupied at dinner. Is anything wrong?” he asked softly.

  Closing her eyes, Leigh relaxed her body against his, reveling in his touch. His hand moving up and down her back was such a soothing motion. “I had Johnny on my mind. I hope Randolph is able to prove his innocence.”

  “If anyone can it will be Randolph.”

  “I hope so.”

  Noah pulled her closer to him. “You’re going to have to have faith. It’s unfortunate that Johnny has been locked up all this time, but at least now there’s a chance he’ll be set free.”

  Leigh nodded. “Thanks for being so supportive when you have a lot on your mind as well. I know that investigator’s report wasn’t the best news.

  Noah sighed deeply. “No, it wasn’t but I can’t give up. You do understand, don’t you? I know we could be doing other things with the money I’m paying out to that agency but—”

  Leigh quickly placed a finger to Noah’s lip. “You don’t have to explain, Noah. Both you and Randolph are paying out a lot of money but one day it will be worth it. One day we will have Ross’s daughter here where she belongs.”

  “You believe that, too, don’t you?”

  Leigh nodded. “Yes, I believe it because you believe it. And I know that Randolph believes it as well.”

  Noah sat down with Leigh on the bed. “Speaking of Randolph, from my conversation with him a few days ago I understand he’s seen Jenna again. It will serve Angela right if the two of them get back together.”

  Leigh smiled. She and Ellie had taken bets already that they would. “Yes, it would, wouldn’t it? I tried to warn you years ago that I thought Angela had the hots for Randolph but you didn’t believe me.”

  “Yeah, and I regret I didn’t take you more seriously. Angela has done nothing but cause Randolph grief and will only continue to do so. She’s not above doing anything, not even using their son, to keep her claws in Randolph. I don’t put anything past her. Sometimes I actually believe she has a mental problem with this obsession of hers.”

  Leigh thought that as well. She turned around to face Noah. “I don’t want to talk about that woman any more.”

  Noah chuckled, and the rich sound of his chuckle was like a soft stroke to Leigh’s skin. He reached out and touched her cheek with his fingertip. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Nothing.”

  “All right. There’s something I’m interested in doing that doesn’t require talking,” he said.

  The sensuousness in his voice sent shivers of desire up Leigh’s spine. She reached out and placed her arms around his neck, bringing her lips close to his. “Show me.”

  Noah’s lips closed over hers as he pulled her down onto the bed with him. They were through talking for the night.

  January 1981

  On January tenth, Randolph met with Johnny at the California State Penitentiary to discuss his case. What Randolph had told Jenna was true. For the first hour or so, Johnny’s attitude had been guarded and filled with mistrust. However, with Jenna’s presence, his attitude began thawing considerably, and he began giving Randolph a wealth of information to aid in his defense.

  Randolph and Jenna spent all day with Johnny, then afterward they returned to the hotel where they were staying. They agreed to go out to dinner to discuss all the information that Johnny had given them.

  “So do you think you have a solid case?” Jenna asked anxiously after they had placed the order for their meal.

  “Yes, I believe I do, especially if everything Johnny said checks out. And if it does, we have to be prepared for the federal government’s denial of the charges as well as their attempt to keep it under wraps. And more than anything, we can’t make it appear that we are accusing the government of wrongdoings, but that our accusations are leveled against certain people within the government. My approach is to place enough doubt and suspicions in the jurors’ minds, especially for what I’m pushing for.”

  “A retrial?”

  “Yes.”

  That night after dinner they had gone back to their separate hotel rooms. Randolph had given her a chaste kiss on her lips before making sure she had entered her room. The next day they had met with Johnny again and it was obvious she was no longer needed since Johnny was beginning to warm up to Randolph. With the possibility of freedom within his reach, Johnny again provided Randolph with additional information.

  Jenna’s heart was saddened. Johnny had stopped being the happy-go-lucky guy she’d known years ago and it was obvious that nearly fourteen years of confinement had broken his spirit, totally killed his faith in the judicial system and the people who ran it. But now, listening to Randolph defend the government, she realized that the judicial system itself wasn’t bad but the people who had been put in place to run it. Often they made the wrong decisions and were corrupted by the power. Randolph was determined to prove that J. Edgar Hoover, who’d been head of the FBI during the time of the Oakland raid, had been that type of individual.

  Jenna received a call from Randolph two weeks later. He informed her that his investigators had uncovered some interesting things based on the information Johnny had provided, and that in a week he would be meeting with Governor Jerry Brown behind closed doors. She. had not seen Randolph since that weekend she had joined him in California, but he contacted her at least once a week to provide an update on how things were going. During this particular phone call, he mentioned he would be in Atlanta on business and asked if he could look her up while in town.

  Jenna had told him that he could.

  Moving around the kitchen on Saturday morning, she had just finished placing Haywood’s lunch on the table when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was probably Carol, a barefoot Jenna left the kitchen and crossed the carpeted floor to the door and opened it.

  “Randolph!”

  “Hi, Jenna.”

  Jenna swallowed, trying not to become hypnotized by Randolph’s deep-sounding voice or the dark eyes looking at her. With forced calmness she inhaled … then exhaled before speaking. “I thought you weren’t going to be in town until sometime next week.”

  His dark eyes probed hers as he responded. “I hadn’t visited Atlanta in a while and thought I’d come up for the weekend. I hope I’m not visiting too early or catching you at a bad time.”

  “No, it’s not too early nor is it a bad time. I’m just surprised to see you.” She stepped aside. “Come in. I was just giving Haywood lunch.”

  Randolph came inside and glanced around. “This is a nice place.”

  “Thanks. It’s just the right size for me and Haywood.” No sooner had Jenna said the words then her daughter raced into the living room from the kitchen.

  “Is Gramma here, Mommy?” When she saw it was a man who wasn’t one of her uncles, Haywood stopped short. “Oh. Hello.”

  Randolph smiled down at the little girl who was dressed in a Cookie Mons
ter T-shirt and a pair of jeans. “Hello. You must be Haywood.”

  The little girl smiled as she bobbed her head up and down. She seemed pleased that he knew her name. But then the expression on her face changed and got serious when it appeared she’d suddenly remembered something. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” she said, taking a step back to stand beside her mother.

  Jenna smiled. Evidently it hadn’t hit Haywood that she had spoken to the stranger. “He’s not a stranger, Haywood. His name is Mr. Fuller and he’s a friend of mine from school.”

  The little girl looked from her mother to Randolph then back at her mother again. “The first grade?” she asked in excitement.

  Jenna chuckled. “No, not from first grade but from college.”

  “Oh,” Haywood said, no longer impressed. “Would you like some of my lunch?”

  Randolph smiled. “No, I had a big breakfast but thanks for asking.”

  “You’re welcome. Good-bye.” She raced back to the kitchen.

  “She has a lot of energy,” Randolph said, watching the little girl disappear from the room just as fast as she had entered it.

  “Trust me, I know all about Haywood’s energy. You said you didn’t want lunch but can I interest you in a cup of coffee?”

  Another smile curved his lips. “You don’t have to twist my arm on that one.”

  “Good. You can join me in the kitchen or I can bring it out here to you, if you prefer.”

  “I’ll join you in the kitchen.”

  Randolph kept up a steady conversation with Haywood as she ate lunch and Jenna prepared him a cup of coffee. The little girl never lacked for words. He chuckled, remembering that Trey had been the same way at her age.

  “Do you have any little girls, Mr. Fuller?”

  Haywood’s question made him grin. “No, but I do have a son. His name is Trey and he’s twelve.”

  “Twelve? He goes to a big kids school?”

  “Yes, I guess you can say that,” Randolph answered, laughing. He found Jenna’s daughter very intelligent and a delight to talk to.

  “It’s nap time, Haywood,” Jenna said a short while later. “Tell Mr. Fuller good-bye.”

  “Good-bye, Mr. Fuller. Will you be here when I wake up?”

  Randolph looked at Jenna, saw how she was nervously gnawing at her bottom lip with her daughter’s question and said, “I’d love to be here when you wake up but I wouldn’t want to keep your mother from doing her work.”

  “She’s done her work already. She did it while I was watching my cartoons this morning. Didn’t you, Mommy?”

  A number of conflicting emotions raced through Jenna. “Yes, I’ve done most of my chores but a mother’s work is never done. Now go and take a nap, Haywood.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  A few seconds later Jenna and Randolph found themselves alone. Jenna cleared her throat. “Are there any new developments with Johnny’s case?”

  Randolph leaned against her kitchen counter. “None other than those I discussed with you the other day. I’m waiting for a call from the governor’s office about when I can meet with him again.”

  “And you think you have enough information to convince him of the need for a new trial?”

  “I hope so.” He continued to look at her. “Am I making you nervous, Jenna?”

  She turned away from him and picked their empty coffee cups off the table. “What makes you think that?”

  “By the way you’re acting.” He walked over to her. “Do you want me to leave?”

  Jenna gazed up at him for a long moment, not sure what she wanted. The weekend in California had been tense except when they had been with Johnny. Although she had tried to play it down, the attraction she felt for Randolph was still strong. She wondered why she was fighting it. There was no reason she should be placing barriers between them. He was single. So was she.

  “Jenna?”

  He reached out and touched her arm. A huge mistake. The heat from his touch when it made contact with her bare skin made her entire body tingle. She took a step toward him, which brought her almost toe-to-toe with him. Too late, she realized what taking that step meant.

  “I don’t want to rush into anything, Randolph,” she said softly when she saw him lowering his head toward hers.

  “I don’t want to rush into anything, either,” he murmured, his voice vibrating against her lips. “So let’s take things slow … and easy. Just relax, Jen.”

  All right,” she said, parting her lips for him.

  Randolph kissed her, taking her mouth slow and easy as he gently reached out and positioned her hips closer to his body. His tongue moved around her mouth to reacquaint itself with the honeyed taste of her, tantalizing her mouth in the process, and making a moan sound deep from within her throat.

  This is Randolph, her body seemed to say. And he’s back. He had kissed her before, that first night he had taken her to dinner in Virginia. But in California, he had held back. But now he was giving her what she wanted. She felt the pressure of his erection, hard … real hard … pressing against her. The feel of it made her arch into him even more.

  Randolph gripped her hips closer and slowly began moving, grinding against her with the same rhythm his tongue was using in her mouth. Slow and easy.

  Two years of going without physical release was heating up Jenna’s blood and it rushed fast and furious through every part of her body. Her tongue dueled with his, tasting, teasing, tempting. And his body grinding against hers wasn’t helping matters. Full sexual awareness for him flooded her head and her mind, replacing the emptiness she’d been feeling.

  When he slowly pulled his mouth away from hers, she moaned in disappointment and frustration.

  “It’s okay, baby,” Randolph murmured against her lips. “There’s more. As much as you want.”

  The husky whisper in his voice heated Jenna’s insides. Her breath got caught in her lungs when she met his gaze and she saw desire and tenderness in his eyes.

  “Come on. Let’s go into the living room and talk.” Taking her hand in his Randolph led Jenna out of the kitchen and to the sofa. He started to sit with her in his lap, then thought better of it. He didn’t want her daughter to wake up and come upon them in such an intimate way. Besides, he needed to get a few things straight with her and the less he touched her, the better. When Jenna sat next to him on the sofa he took her hands in his.

  “Do you remember that day we spent on Glendale Shores, vowing our love for each other over my great-grandmother’s Bible?”

  Jenna held his gaze. “Yes.”

  “And do you remember the pledge we made?”

  Her voice was barely a notch above a whisper when she answered. “Yes. But so much has happened since then, Randolph. We aren’t the same people.”

  He gave her hand a gently squeeze. “No, we aren’t. But we owe it to ourselves to try and recapture what we had, regardless of anything else.”

  “Regardless of Angela?”

  His quiet sigh echoed in the room and his hold on her hand tightened. “My life ended with Angela two years ago and as far as our marriage, there never really was one. Our only connection is Trey. He was the reason I married her, the only reason. You of all people should know that. I didn’t want to marry her although everyone kept telling me it was the right thing to do; and even though you gave up everything we had just so I could. And I didn’t want a baby; least of all a baby from her. But all it took was one look at Trey when he was born, and that fatherly love hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He instantly became my heart, a part of what I’d been missing in my life. A purpose.”

  He decided not to add that from that day forward, Angela had used his love for his child to keep him in a loveless marriage for ten years. “But what I felt for Angela was another matter all together,” he said quietly. “As far as I was concerned there was no purpose for our marriage. I couldn’t love her. I didn’t even try. I told her up front that our marriage wou
ld be in name only. That meant we would not share a bed and our only interest would be Trey.”

  “That wasn’t fair to her,” Jenna said silently.

  “For nearly nine years I thought so too, and felt bad as hell about it. I felt guilty that I was married to one woman but still in love with another. And at one point I had decided I owed it to Trey to make things work between his mother and me, especially since Angela went to the extreme to paint a picture for our son that we were so much in love.”

  Randolph’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “But then I discovered she was sleeping around and had been for a while. And later I found out the truth about what she’d done that time she and I slept together, while at Howard and then felt she got just what she deserved. That day you found us in bed together I had been drugged.”

  Jenna’s eyes widened in shock. “Drugged!”

  “Yes. A few years ago I ran into Kathy Taylor, Angela’s best friend who had also been her roommate in law school. After quite a few drinks she got loose lips and told me the whole story. Including the fact that Angela wasn’t the virgin she had claimed to be. It seems while at Bronson she screwed practically anything in pants and even got pregnant and had an abortion. I verified everything Kathy said by hiring my own team of investigators, so it wasn’t just idle gossip I got from Kathy that night. To this day Angela doesn’t know that I know the truth. But finding out about that wasn’t why I finally divorced her. The reason I divorced her was because I found her in bed with another man. I had ignored her adulterous behavior until that day. Finding another man in bed with her under my roof was the last straw.”

  Jenna shook her head sadly. “She never deserved you. But your son did. He still does, Randolph.”

  “Yes, and Trey has me. He always will have me. Trey means everything to me. I love him very much.” Randolph brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed them. “I want things for us, Jenna, but I don’t want to rush things, and I want to make sure you want what I want as well. I suggest we take things slow, like we did in the beginning at Howard and get to know each other again. I want to get to know Haywood and I want you to get to know Trey. Will you think about us doing that?”