{"id":978,"date":"2012-06-03T18:24:26","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T00:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theproviso.com\/?page_id=978"},"modified":"2026-02-22T19:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:29:22","slug":"the-married-man","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/extras\/vignettes-outtakes\/dirty-little-secrets\/the-married-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Married Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FEBRUARY 2018<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I WATCHED HIM from across the room as he stood surrounded by people, mostly women, chatting, laughing. Other women throughout the room, married ones, watched him as well. Oh, I knew he was married and so did they. I twiddled my wedding ring with my thumb.<\/p>\n

Still, I couldn\u2019t keep my eyes off of him. Tall, broad-shouldered, white beginning to take over the black of his hair, he took my breath away even from where I stood. Up close, one would be able to see his vivid green eyes that flashed kindness and intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiselle,\u201d said a man to my left, whose name I did not know, \u201cis your husband taking any new clients?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d I answered politely, annoyed at discussing my husband\u2019s business at a holiday get-together. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do that,\u201d he assured me, then asked, \u201cHow\u2019s Duncan doing, by the way?\u201d<\/p>\n

My annoyance fled and I perked up at the mention of my nine-year-old son, the light of my life. \u201cWonderful, thanks. He loves Scouts and karate\u2019s going great. Just started eighth grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my! More like his father every day, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled wistfully and again looked at the man across the room from me, all the women surrounding him wanting his attention the same way I did. \u201cYes, indeed,\u201d I murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood! Good! Well, I think I\u2019ll go find your husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck,\u201d I said, intending to tell him exactly where to find my husband, but he\u2019d left.<\/p>\n

The man who had caught my eye turned. I could see the burn scars on the left side of his face, from the house fire that had widowed him. The scars didn\u2019t make him less attractive. They made him more so, gave him character and identified him as a survivor. Coupled with his pretty smile and obvious charm, he was irresistible.<\/p>\n

He laughed and I could hear it from where I stood alone. It was deep and rich, like liquid dark chocolate. He looked up at that moment and caught me staring. He smirked to let me know he\u2019d caught me, and I blushed. I turned away, a little embarrassed but very pleased that of all the beautiful women vying for his attention, I had caught it from so far away.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagnificent, isn\u2019t he?\u201d came the voice of a woman I didn\u2019t know. She must be new in town; I knew everybody. She watched him with the same level of fascination I had.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I agreed. \u201cHe is. He\u2019s also married.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately,\u201d she said with some regret. \u201cI don\u2019t think he knows how attractive he is, with all those scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agreed again because it certainly didn\u2019t seem as if he knew he was being flirted with, competed over.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, I\u2019m Teri.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGiselle,\u201d I said and shook hands with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you ever met his wife?\u201d she asked me abruptly, as if she had made up her mind about something and only needed a little more information.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs she pretty?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs she here tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, she must have something going for her, to keep him home and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said nothing to that. I didn\u2019t feel the need to encourage her in a quest I knew would be futile.<\/p>\n

He looked up at me again, and again he smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Teri breathed. \u201cExcuse me.\u201d With that, she set out across the room toward him, walking gracefully and without appearing too eager. I wished I could master that, but I\u2019m not that sophisticated and never will be.<\/p>\n

Then he saw her and politely disentangled himself from the knot of women to turn and walk out the door behind him. Teri stopped, stared at the now-empty spot, and pressed her lips together. I didn\u2019t know if she was angry or about to cry, but she stayed glued to the spot.<\/p>\n

I was impressed. Most of the women I knew would have ignored the hint to tried again.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiselle,\u201d said my husband from behind me. He had sneaked up on me while I watched Teri deal with her embarrassment. \u201cLet\u2019s go home before I get dragged into shop talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m enjoying myself,\u201d I said without looking at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure you are,\u201d he returned with wry amusement. \u201cBut I\u2019d rather stay home and watch TV with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

My husband took my hand and brought it to his lips for a soft kiss. At that moment, Teri turned and saw us together. She flushed, then strolled away with a dignity I knew I couldn\u2019t have mustered.<\/p>\n

I finally looked up at my husband. His vivid green eyes and scars had me as entranced as the day I\u2019d met him twelve years ago. \u201cI\u2019m not very nice to women who want my husband,\u201d I confessed.<\/p>\n

He chuckled warmly. \u201cI noticed. It\u2019s cute.\u201d<\/p>\n

★<\/p>\n

2026022<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FEBRUARY 2018 I WATCHED HIM from across the room as he stood surrounded by people, mostly women, chatting, laughing. Other women throughout the room, married ones, watched him as well. Oh, I knew he was married and so did they. I twiddled my wedding ring with my thumb. Still, I couldn\u2019t keep my eyes off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":4139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-978","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23499,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978\/revisions\/23499"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}