The Julius House Page 0,22

to go fishing."

"So do I," Shelby said. "I feel for him. Well, go on if you have something else you need to be doing. We'll handle things here." "Thank you," I said again, and I meant it just as much.

That evening we had scheduled another session with Aubrey. I got to St. James early, but Aubrey was already there, sitting on the steps of the church. He was watching the sun go down, a little ritual he liked to observe every now and then. I plopped down by him, glad to sit and let my brain rest for a little bit. After our hellos, we slumped together companionably for a few minutes, thinking our separate thoughts, watching the splendor unfold to the west. Aubrey had a wonderful quality of restfulness, the inner relaxation of a man who is square with the world and its maker.

"Martin's not early, for once," Aubrey observed, after a while.

"No... guess he had a meeting."

"I think he usually comes early because he doesn't want to leave you alone with me."

"You think so?"

"Could be," Aubrey said neutrally.

"He knows I love him," I said.

"He knows other people love you."

I mulled that over.

"You're implying that he's extremely jealous?"

"Could be."

"Do you like Martin?"

"I admire him. He has many fine qualities, Roe. I don't think you'd pick a man who didn't. He's intelligent, strong, a leader. And he obviously loves you. But you're going to have to stand up to him on everything, every point, not let him get the upper hand. Once he has that, he won't be able to stop." "This is a surprise, Aubrey." I watched an ant toiling across the gray concrete of the sidewalk.

"I care about you. Of course, I care about everyone in this congregation, but you're a special person to me, and you know it. In these counseling sessions, I've seen how much Martin loves you and how much you love him, and I've seen that both of you believe in God and are trying to lead the good life. But Martin feels he is a law to himself, that he and God are each autonomous." We were sitting with our knees almost in our faces because the steps were so shallow. I leaned my head down on my knees, felt their hard caps and the movement of my muscles underneath, the amazing way my body worked. I was trying not to feel scared.

"You'll perform the wedding?"

"Yes. And I'm not saying anything to you I won't say to Martin. I just wanted to talk to you because I felt I was being prevented from doing it. And because I'll always be fond of you."

"Are you going to marry Emily?" I was being impertinent, but the evening and the quiet of the neighborhood around the church encouraged intimacy. "We're thinking about it. She hasn't been a widow very long, and her little girl is still trying to understand her daddy's absence." Emily's husband had been killed in a wreck the year before, and she'd moved to Lawrenceton because she had an aunt living here.

Emily Kaye was dull as dishwater, but of course I wasn't going to say that to Aubrey. At least my intended was exciting.

And here he came in his Mercedes. Martin was groomed to a T even after a long day at work, his striped shirt still crisp, his suit unwrinkled. My heart gave its familiar lurch at the sight of him, and I sighed involuntarily. "You're really in love," Aubrey said very quietly, as if to reassure himself.

"Yes."

I smiled at Martin as he got out of the car and came toward us, and he didn't look jealous or even uneasy at Aubrey and me sitting t锚te-?-t锚te. But he pulled me up by my hands and gave me a kiss that lasted too long and was almost ferocious.

"I'll go unlock the office," Aubrey murmured, and rose from the steps.

"Your friends got in today," I told Martin.

"Shelby called me. What did you think of Angel?"

"I've never met anyone like her, or like Shelby, for that matter." "What do you mean?" We began walking down the south sidewalk to the parish hall where Aubrey's office was, the dusk gathering around us. I could see the desk lamp shining through Aubrey's uncurtained window. "Well," I said slowly and carefully, "they seem used to having very little, to needing very little." I was uncertain how to phrase my next thought. "They're very quick to understand your wishes and act on them, and they don't reveal anything about