Loving Jolene

Staring straight ahead, he said, “I knew all along Billy wasn’t mine. I’m not the fool

Jolene thinks I am. I know more about her than she knows about me.”

“Then the two of you have an understanding about Billy?”

“Oh, she doesn’t know that I know. I never said anything, but I knew it when she told me she was pregnant.”

Martin looked at him with surprise. “How could you know then?”

“I’m sterile, always have been,” Frank answered quietly. “But Jolene doesn’t know that. I never told her.”

“That’s a dirty trick,” Martin dared to say. Then a frown crept across his forehead. He turned to look at Frank again, this time in shock. “But, how . . .?”

“There’s no need to talk about it anymore,” Frank cut in. He turned the key in the ignition and started up the car again. “I need to get you to the station before it closes. I sure don’t want you spending the night in my house too.” He pulled the car back onto the road and drove towards the gas station.

Martin said nothing for a while. Then, “How can you take it, man?” he asked.

“I love Jolene, that’s how. I love Jolene more than anything in this world, and I know in her own way she loves me. Billy makes Jolene happy. That makes me happy.”

They pulled into the station and Frank put the car in park and left the engine running.

“I love Billy like he was my own,” Frank said, looking Martin straight in the eye. “So, there’s no need of you wondering how he’s doing. You’ve got your own family to worry about.”

“I won’t bother you or your family, Frank. I only wish you luck and the strength to go on,” Martin said with pity in his eyes. He got out of the car and closed the door.

Frank had his emotions well under control by the time he eased the Buick into the driveway of his house.

Jolene was waiting for him. She stood before him in the dim hallway, a look of uncertainty and fear on her face. “Frank, I want to explain,” she began. “I . . .”

He stepped forward and put his arms around her as best he could. She was in her eight month and beginning to blow up like a watermelon. He turned her around and led her slowly towards the staircase, his hand resting on her swollen stomach.

“Don’t worry yourself about nothing, Jolene. We’ve got a new baby coming soon.”

They mounted the stairs together.