Just Joe (10 page)

"Jen!" Mattie
heard Dumbronkowski roar gently. "What are you doing here? I told you to
wait in the stands. I was going to come for you after I took my shower. You
shouldn't have come to the game anyway. You'll strain yourself, trying to do so
much. You push yourself too hard, beloved." He continued to berate gently
as Jen reached up and brushed a kiss across his sweaty, dirt-smudged cheek,
replacing his admonishing expression with one of such fatuous adoration that
Mattie simply stared.

"Marion, darling, I'm
fine," Jen assured him indulgently. "I wanted to tell you how well
you played—even though they had you double-teamed."

Dumbronkowski—
Marion
—Mattie
corrected herself, began again to fuss over Jen, completely oblivious to
Mat-tie's continued presence.

"Mattie." Joe's
voice came from behind her, and Mat-tie jumped startled.

"Joe!"

Joe regarded her
curiously. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No! No," she
denied dazedly. "I've just been talking with—Marion." There was still
an undertone of faint hysteria in her tone, and Joe's eyes narrowed
consideringly.

"Freight's our nose
guard," he murmured solemnly.

Mattie studied the
straight blade of Joe's nose carefully. "He's doing a very good job."

Joe shook his head,
smiling. "Mattie, a nose guard doesn't—"

But Mattie was bubbling
with laughter, her eyes gleaming. "Freight? You call him Freight?"

Joe regarded her
incredulously. "You don't honestly think any of us are going to call him
Marion, do you?"

Both Mattie and Joe turned
to study the huge six-foot-five, 265-pound linebacker hovering protectively
over the redhead.

"Jen did,"
Mattie noted.

"Jen is his
wife," Joe pointed out dryly.

"Is this their first
child?" Mattie asked idly.

"Good Lord, no! This
will be their fifth."

"Their fifth!"
Mattie was incredulous. "But—but—" She gestured vaguely to the
couple.
"He's fussing
so."

Joe regarded her oddly.
"He loves her, Mattie."

"He loves her,"
Mattie repeated blankly, her eyes on the couple. She said nothing more about
Marion and Jen Dumbronkowski, but her eyes remained on them as she changed the
subject.

"He wasn't going to
let me wait for you," she told Joe idly.

"Oh?"

Mattie nodded solemnly.
"He thought I was some football floozy out to break your heart."

Joe smiled ruefully.
"We all kind of try to protect each other from them."

"Are there many?
Football floozies, I mean?" Mattie repeated the words with relish.

Joe answered carefully.
"A fair number, I guess."

Mattie looked away.
"Do they—do they bother you much?"

Joe shrugged.
"Quarterback is a glamour position. They want the thrill of being seen
with a football player. They don't want me."

Mattie tentatively reached
out and touched his hand, and Joe's questioning eyes flew to hers. "Then
they don't know what they're missing."

Joe smiled slowly, a
haunting light burned in his eyes. "Damn, you're something."

Mattie drew her hand
self-consciously from his and squared her shoulders. "So, onward and
upward. Ready to go?"

Mattie and Joe were
heading for Joe's cabin in the Hill Country. Joe had told her days ago that he
needed to go "winterize" the cabin, and Mattie had eagerly
volunteered to help. The Hill Country outside of Austin was one of the most
beautiful areas in Texas, and she wanted to see Joe's own little piece of it.

"Don't expect
much," Joe warned her lightly. "It's just a weekend escape. Nothing
fancy."

"Indoor
plumbing?" Mattie questioned hopefully.

Joe laughed. "Indoor
plumbing," he agreed. "Let's go."

When they drew even with
Jen and Marion Dumbronkowski, Joe stopped. Marion ceased scolding his wife long
enough to study Mattie suspiciously.

"Joe!" Jen cried
welcomingly, placing a friendly kiss against his cheek. "It's so good to
see you. How have you been?"

As Joe and Jen fell into a
lively discussion, Mattie's guileless gaze locked with Marion. She read the
distrust in his eyes, and a mischievous imp overtook her—fueled, no doubt, by
her feeling of safety in Joe's presence.

Wrinkling her nose in an
unconsciously enchanting gesture, she surreptitiously stuck out her tongue.

Freight's eyes widened for
one incredulous moment, then he burst into a roaring roll of laughter. It's
sheer volume startled Mattie.

Joe and Jen broke off
their conversation to study the other two with friendly curiosity.

"I guess you know
this one, huh, Joe?" Freight's voice rumbled out proddingly.

Joe took the hint. Smiling
wryly, he made the introductions. "Sorry. Mattie, Fd like you to meet Jen
and Freight Dumbronkowski. Jen, Freight, this is my.. .friend, Mat-tie
Grey."

Mattie didn't even notice
the hesitation, but Freight did, and his eyes sharpened.

"You can call me
Marion," Dumbronkowski told her, holding her hand with a delicate
awkwardness.

Mattie suddenly realized
that the knowledge of his own strength must have been hard learned and she
relaxed. After all, he had laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him, hadn't
he?

Joe made a strangled sound
in his throat at the invitation, and Marion's eyes turned to challenge his
fiercely. While they were locked in silent combat, Jen moved closer to Mattie
to whisper confidingly, "When he asks you to call him Marion, you know he
likes you."

Mattie smiled at her,
flattered. "Does that mean he doesn't like Joe?"

"Oh, no!" Jen
was vehement. "He never lets any of the guys call him Marion. He says it
doesn't convey the proper image." Jen laughed charmingly, and Mattie
suddenly knew that, for Jen, the world revolved around her huge, gentle
husband.

"Joe tells me you
have four children," Mattie murmured. "I take it Marion didn't press
you to name any of them Marion, Jr."

Jen looked horrified.
"No indeed. Before each baby was born, he spent months trying to sell me
on names like Bruiser and Mack."

"And did he-?"
Mattie inquired interestedly, muffling a giggle as she pictured what a Bruiser
Dumbronkowski would look like.

Jen shook her head.
"He caved in after each of our girls was born. Not a Bruiser in the
lot."

"Each of your
girls?" Mattie repeated incredulously. "You have
four
girls?''

The redhead laughed
delightedly at Mattie's expression and patted her bulging abdomen. "Maybe
five."

It was Mattie's turn to
shake her head. "Is he going to make you keep trying until you get a
boy?" she asked seriously.

Jen regarded her oddly.
"Not at all. He adores our girls. They smile and Marion melts. It's just
that we both love children. And our children are a very powerful affirmation of
our love for each other."

"Aren't you—worried
about giving him all those daughters?" Mattie questioned Jen with helpless
fear.

Joe's voice broke in
before Jen could give voice to the questions in her eyes. "We should be
hitting the road, Mattie."

Mattie nodded a little vaguely
and murmured goodbye to the Dumbronkowskis. They had taken perhaps five steps
down the tunnel when Marion's booming voice stopped their progress.

"You bring your
friend to dinner next week, Joe."

Joe turned to meet
Marion's understanding gaze.

"You're on," he
called back. His eyes shifted to Mattie. "Okay?"

Mattie smiled.
"Okay." She took one more look at the seemingly mismatched couple
before them—Jen so slight and Marion so threatening—and walked away with a
thoughtful expression.

"Joe, what do you think...
love is?"

Joe stilled, the ax he was
using to chop logs halting in midair, as Mattie's hesitant question reached
him. She was supposed to be helping him stack wood for the winter months, but
she had been staring into space for well over five minutes. Now he knew why.

He brought the tool down
carefully, his breath misting in the frigid air. It was a damn cold day, he
thought irrelevantly. "What kind of love, Mattie?"

Mattie faced him, puzzled.
"You know...
love."

"The kind of love
between a man and a woman," Joe defined factually.

"Yes."

"That's a tough
one," Joe told her wryly. "I think—I've always thought—that love like
that is gentle, but not always. Protective, but not smothering. Love is not
feeling... complete without her beside you. And a smile means more than all the
words in the world. There's a warmth where there used to be an emptiness—"
He broke off in disgust, running his hands through his wind-tousled black hair.
"This sounds so trite."

"No!" Mattie
protested, self-consciously blinking away the tears in her eyes. "No. It
sounds.. .beautiful. I didn't know men thought like that. But that's not all
there is to-loving, is there?"

"What makes you say
that?" Joe was wary.

"Well," Mattie
began reasonably, "what you described is the way I feel about you."

Joe took a deep breath,
his eyes intent on hers. "Is it, Mattie?" His voice was muffled.

"Yes. Especially the
part about feeling warm when you're around and not empty anymore. But there's
more."

"Yes," Joe
admitted softly. "There's more. Between a couple in love, there's also
a... need to physically express that love," Joe explained carefully, his
eyes shifting away awkwardly.

"Sex," Mattie
defined flatly.

Joe turned back to
challenge her. "Making love."

"Is there a
difference?"

"Oh, yes, there's a
difference. Mattie, sex can mean nothing, or it can be only physically
satisfying. Making love can touch the soul." Joe paused a second or two
before adding, "I think."

Mattie peeked up at him.
"You think?" she repeated politely.

Joe shrugged wryly.
"I'm probably not the man to ask about it. I've had sex, Mattie. I've
never made love."

Mattie shifted
uncomfortably as the conversational person changed from "a man" and
"a woman" to Joe himself, but she didn't want to relinquish the
subject yet. Too many questions were unanswered after her introduction to Jen
and Marion Dumbronkowski.

"Not all men feel
that way, surely," she persisted nervously. "I mean, do you suppose
every time Marion makes love to his wife, he sits up and thinks, 'Gee, that
really touched my soul'?"

Joe's mouth twitched
irrepressibly. "No," he agreed solemnly.

"Aha!"

"I think sometimes he
just
lies
there and thinks, 'Gee, that really touched my soul'!''

Joe's twinkling eyes met
Mattie's, inviting her to share the laughter. Mattie could not resist. Together
their mirth rose on the crisp air and danced on the wind.

Finally, when the laughter
had subsided, they resumed their task of storing wood in the shed. They worked
in silent harmony for a while before Joe broke the silence.

"Why all the sudden
curiosity about love, Mattie?" He kept his voice painstakingly casual, but
his body was tense.

Mattie shrugged
self-consciously. "I guess it was seeing Jen and Marion," she
admitted uneasily. "He's so much bigger than she is, but so gentle. I—I
didn't know it could be like that."

Joe watched her closely.
"Freight would walk through the fires of hell rather than hurt Jen or his
girls."

"But what if he got
mad at her?" Mattie persisted. "What if he got really mad at
her?"

Joe realized that they
were no longer discussing Freight and Jen. There was so much more in Mattie's
voice, fear and confusion. He knew his answer would be very, very important to
the future of their relationship, and he struggled for the right words.